Vito Messina | Università degli Studi di Torino (original) (raw)

Books by Vito Messina

Edited books by Vito Messina

This report makes available the results of the research conducted between 2008 and 2011 by the Ir... more This report makes available the results of the research conducted between 2008 and 2011 by the Iranian-Italian Joint Expedition in Khuzestan in the valley of Hung-e Azhdar (or Hung-e Nauruzi), about 17 km north of the modern city of Izeh. The project’s aim was to acquire new data, and shed new light, on the Parthian rock carving there located, one of the most famous and disputed panels of ancient Iran for the incoherent scene it depicts and remote place in which is located. The exact meaning and chronology of the represented figures have been particularly debated, to the extent that dates spanning from the 2nd century BC to the 2nd century AD were alternatively proposed for the sculpting –or re-sculpting– of the scene. The different interpretations advanced by scholars in the last decades completely change the framework of the panel’s commission and sculpturing, which are of basic importance for the understanding of the events characterizing the history of the region in which it was carved: ancient Elymais.

Papers by Vito Messina

Common Dwelling Place of all the Gods. Commagene in its Local, Regional, and Global Context, 2021

In this contribution different types of documents and classes of materials from Seleucia on the T... more In this contribution different types of documents and classes of materials from Seleucia on the Tigris are presented and discussed with the purpose of identifying global and local trends in both their production and meaning Subsequently, this paper explores how these trends coexisted, interacted and affected the city and its society In many instances, materials that are deemed as ‘local’ at Seleucia have been considered part of a globalizing process; however, this paper addresses this issue by proposing that fully developed global systems, like those that came into being in the Hellenistic world, were in fact fostered by globalizing processes that had already been underway The aim of this essay is to show that global and local trends at Seleucia appear to go beyond their characterization as ensembles of exclusively Greek and Babylonian origin As in Hellenistic Commagene, we seem to be dealing here with ‘cultural scenarios’ that acquired very different meanings over time In particular, the use of Greek elements, which I will define as ‘Hellenistic mainstream’, in Seleucia on the Tigris, appears to be potentially comparable to what was happening in Commagene at the Euphrates simultaneously.

SCIENZE DELL’ANTICHITÀ , 2021

L’arco temporale che si pone a cavallo tra due transizioni politiche di notevole importanza, la ... more L’arco temporale che si pone a cavallo tra due transizioni politiche di notevole importanza, la prima tra la dinastia dei Seleucidi e quella degli Arsacidi, la seconda tra la dinastia dei Sasanidi e il califfato islamico, costituisce un contesto cruciale per la messa in pratica di diversi approcci
metodologici volti alla comprensione delle relazioni tra uomo, potere politico e territorio nell’Iran tra III sec. a.C. e VII d.C. In tale quadro si è scelto di focalizzare l’attenzione su tre aree nodali dell’Iran antico: le regioni storiche dell’Elimaide (Khuzestan), della Persia (Pa¯rs) e della Media (Ma¯d e Pahlaw) (Fig. 1). Le regioni prese in considerazione, pur caratterizzate da notevoli differenze, furono al centro delle trasformazioni del periodo e forniscono informazioni utili per la ricostruzione di specifiche dinamiche storico-culturali. In particolare, il Khuzestan si configura come caso studio privilegiato per il periodo arsacide, il Pa¯rs per la genesi e affermazione della dinastia sasanide, l’area di Ma¯d e Pahlaw per i secoli che condurranno alle significative riforme di periodo tardo sasanide e al crollo della dinastia.

Parthica, 2020

This article sets out to establish the cultural and cultic relationship between Hatra in northern... more This article sets out to establish the cultural and cultic relationship between Hatra in northern Mesopotamia and Hierapolis in the north of Syria. Starting point is the reproduction of the cult statue of Nabu from Hierapolis that was found in Hatra. Nabu's statue in Hierapolis bears testimony to the spread and local interpretation of the Mesopotamian god. The increased visibility of cult statues from the Hellenistic period onwards, partly explains the diffusion of reproductions throughout the region. The copy that was found in Hatra, shows that the Hierapolitan god and his cult were adapted to the religious situation of his new home. As such, the statue not only testifies to the close cultural and religious connection between both cities, but also illustrates the dynamics of millennia-old traditions in hellenized Mesopotamia. The present study of the statue's origin and its local reinterpretation shows that Nabu's cult in Hatra was by no means a straightforward continuation of the god's traditional cult centres in Borsippa and Babylon.

Applied Sciences

This research investigates fundamental problems in object recognition in earthen heritage and add... more This research investigates fundamental problems in object recognition in earthen heritage and addresses the possibility of an automatic crack detection method for rammed earth images. We propose and validate a straightforward support vector machine (SVM)-based bidirectional morphological approach to automatically generate crack and texture line maps through transforming a surface image into an intermediate representation. Rather than relying on the application of the eight connectivity rule to a combination of horizontal and vertical gradient to extract edges, we instruct an edge classifier in the form of a support vector machine from features computed on each direction separately. The model couples a bidirectional local gradient and geometrical characteristics. It constitutes of four elements: (1) bidirectional edge maps; (2) bidirectional equivalent connected component maps; (3) SVM-based classifier and (4) crack and architectural line feature map generation. Relevant details are ...

Chiedi alla terra Scavi e ricerche archeologiche del Dipartimento di Studi Storici dell’Università di Torino a cura di Diego Elia, 2020

Kasion 2 (Zaphon Münster), 2020

This paper deals with the possibility of retracing the monumental setting of ancient contexts now... more This paper deals with the possibility of retracing the monumental setting of ancient contexts now lost and not documented directly by the study of indirect sources that describe them, literally or visually. The assumption is that monuments that did not come down to the present day can nonetheless be studied and contextualized thanks to what is echoed in literary or epigraphic sources and to their depiction in other media.
Here, the possibility that one or more now-lost statues representing the mušḫuššu, the serpo-dragon of Marduk, were erected at Babylon at least since the Late Babylonian period is discussed on the basis of both epigraphic and iconographic evidence.

Parthica, 2019

This paper addresses patterns of models' appropriation through Asian regions in the Hellenistic p... more This paper addresses patterns of models' appropriation through Asian regions in the Hellenistic period, and focuses on two case-studies: on the one hand, subjects reproduced on miniature and widely diffused media (seal impressions from Seleucia on the Tigris), on the other, subjects engraved on luxuries linked to royal ideology and propaganda (ivory rhytons from Old Nisa). The same subjects occur at both sites, revealing that iconographies-and thus ideas-widely circulated and could be envisioned, devised, and appreciated in different contexts and by users of different communities or classes. Their meaning, originated in a Greek milieu, was object of appropriation and could be (re)elaborated for satisfying the demand of a multifarious patronage.

AfarinNameh Essays on the Archaeology of Iran in Honour of Mehdi Rahbar Edited by: YOUSEF MORADI With the assistance of Susan Cantan, Edward J. Keall and Rasoul Boroujeni, 2019

The plain of Izeh was a pivotal region of ancient Elam/Elymais. The term ‘Elam’ and its Greek v... more The plain of Izeh was a pivotal region of ancient
Elam/Elymais. The term ‘Elam’ and its Greek
version ‘Elymais’ emerge in epigraphic records and
historical sources of different periods as a state or
confederation of states that interacted with other
important political entities of the ancient Near
East. Elam/Elymais benefited from the variety
of its terrain and privileged position between the
Mesopotamian alluvium and Iranian plateau.
Contact with Mesopotamia seems to have been
particularly frequent, as attested by written records
and the material culture of Susiana.

Rivista degli studi orientali, 2018

Monumental cult terraces appear to have been characteristic of Parthian Elymais. Two famous terra... more Monumental cult terraces appear to have been characteristic of Parthian Elymais. Two famous terraced sanctuaries were excavated by the Délégation Archéologique Française en Iran at Masjed-e Solaymān and Bard-e Nešānda. Terraces also characterise the sanctuary and cemetery recently investigated by the Iranian-Italian Joint Expedition in Khuzestan at Qalʽe-ye Chandar, in the valley of Šāmi. A survey carried out at Qalʽe-ye Bardi, a site in the same area of the previous one, allowed the members of the latter expedition to spot one more terraced site. The results of this survey are here addressed preliminarily: information acquired is far from being exhaustive, but what was possible to recognise, although very rapidly, allow the author to put forward the identification of this terrace-the fourth so far discovered-as a religious building, because its typology appears the same of that defined at the sites mentioned above.

Parthica, 2018

This report makes available the preliminary results of the excavation conducted in 2015 by the Ir... more This report makes available the preliminary results of the excavation conducted in 2015 by the Iranian-Italian Joint Expedition in Khuzestan at Kal-e Chendar, in the valley of Shami (ancient Elymais). The expedition started regular excavation in 2013 and brought to light the remains of buildings of various type, size and technique, almost certainly made for religious purposes on monumental terraces. Family tombs of a wide cemetery were also recognized that must have been used by a wealthy plutocracy.

L’ORIENT EST SON JARDIN. HOMMAGE À RÉMY BOUCHARLAT, 2018

Preliminary results of the surveys and excavations conducted in the highlands of Khuzestan (ancie... more Preliminary results of the surveys and excavations conducted in the highlands of Khuzestan (ancient Elymais) by the Iranian-Italian Joint Expedition in Khuzestan are here offered to Rémy Boucharlat for his constant support and help. These point to the existence of two mountainous sanctuaries in the region of the river Karun, at Kal-e Chendar and Qal-e Bardi, which can be compared for their features and importance to the well known terraces discovered at Majid-e Sulayman and Bard-e Nechandeh, but still remained almost unexplored up to now. Both have been located on the ground and surveyed by our expedition with the purpose of creating a geo-referenced, multi-layer and multi-temporal system in which the data acquired on the ground could be integrated with satellite imagery and previous cartography.

V.T. van Vilsteren, J. Mokandeh (eds), Iran. Bakermat van de Beschaving, 2018

This report presents the preliminary results of the excavation conducted between 2013 and 2016 by... more This report presents the preliminary results of the excavation conducted between 2013 and 2016 by the Iranian-Italian Joint Expedition in Khuzestan at Kal-e Chendar, in the Shami Valley (ancient Elymais). The site is well known for the outstanding antiquities discovered accidentally in 1936 followed by the excavation carried out briefly by the famous explorer Aurel Stein. But it remained neglected for decades despite its importance. It is presumably one of the most important sanctuaries of Iran at least in the Hellenistic and Parthian periods. Further to a survey conducted in 2012, the Iranian-Italian expedition started regular excavation and brought into light the remains of buildings of various type, size and technique, almost certainly made for religious purposes on monumental terraces, similar to those already found in the sanctuaries of Majid-e Sulayman and Bard-e Nechandeh, which are located in the same area. Family tombs of a wide cemetery were also recognized, hypothesise th...

Common Dwelling Place of all the Gods. Commagene in its Local, Regional, and Global Context, 2021

SCIENZE DELL’ANTICHITÀ , 2021

Parthica, 2020

Applied Sciences

Chiedi alla terra Scavi e ricerche archeologiche del Dipartimento di Studi Storici dell’Università di Torino a cura di Diego Elia, 2020

Kasion 2 (Zaphon Münster), 2020

Parthica, 2019

AfarinNameh Essays on the Archaeology of Iran in Honour of Mehdi Rahbar Edited by: YOUSEF MORADI With the assistance of Susan Cantan, Edward J. Keall and Rasoul Boroujeni, 2019

Rivista degli studi orientali, 2018

Parthica, 2018

L’ORIENT EST SON JARDIN. HOMMAGE À RÉMY BOUCHARLAT, 2018

V.T. van Vilsteren, J. Mokandeh (eds), Iran. Bakermat van de Beschaving, 2018

LE ARCHEOLOGIE DI MARILLI. Miscellanea di studi in ricordo di Maria Maddalena Negro Ponzi Mancini, a cura di Paolo de Vingo, 2018

In 1964 the Centro Ricerche Archeologiche e Scavi di Torino per il Medio Oriente e l’Asia started... more In 1964 the Centro Ricerche Archeologiche e Scavi di Torino per il Medio Oriente e l’Asia started field research at Seleucia on the Tigris, the Babylonian capital of Seleucid Asia.
One of the areas excavated was at Tell 'Umar, the main mound of the city that conceals the ruins of a Greek theatre.
The most recent building unearthed at Tell ‘Umar by the Italian expedition is dated the end of the Sasanian period, after the ruin of the theatre, which collapsed in the late 2nd century AD, remained abandoned for centuries and was only sporadically frequented.
The Sasanian building was built-up on the still emerging ruins of the cavea, which were partially used as substructures for the new brick masonries, and is composed by a massive elliptic wall, built with the purpose of containing the preceding ruins, and by a square tower-like structure, which, laying on what remained of the cavea and orchestra, is now approximately located at the centre of the tell.
This was a wathctower built for guarding the outskirts of the nearby capital of Veh Ardashir.
This paper focuses on the features of the Sasanian tower.

Mesopotamia, 2017

This paper presents some results of a study on the topography and settlement of the area of al-m... more This paper presents some results of a study on the
topography and settlement of the area of al-mada’in,
in central mesopotamia, one of the largest and most
important complexes of ancient settlements in the
world. research was conducted following a multitemporal
approach in which photo-interpretation of
remote-sensing data is interpolated with the analysis
of previous information of different nature (published
and unpublished), collected during on-site surveys
and excavations. settlement models, connectivity and
hypotheses on the location of ancient mega-sites are
particularly addressed. Further studies on the area
will considerably advance our knowledge of environmental
planning, impact assessment, land use and
settlement of Central mesopotamia in the centuries
preceding the muslim conquest.

Parthica, 2017

This report makes available the preliminary results of the excavation conducted in 2014 by the Ir... more This report makes available the preliminary results of the excavation conducted in 2014 by the Iranian-Italian Joint Expedition in Khuzestan at Kal-e Chendar, in the valley of Shami (ancient Elymais). The expedition started regular excavation in 2013 and brought to light the remains of buildings of various type, size and technique, almost certainly made for religious purposes on monumental terraces. Family tombs of a wide cemetery were also recognized that must have been used by a wealthy plutocracy.

C. Antonetti, P. Biagi (eds.), With Alexander in India and Central Asia Moving East and Back to West, 2017

Archaeological records testify to the fact that iconography and kingship were strictly interrelat... more Archaeological records testify to the fact that iconography and kingship were strictly interrelated in Seleucid Asia, where ancient traditions, filtered through the Achaemenid experience, interacted with the Greek culture in the making of the king’s image.
This paper focuses on the visual language that was used for conveying Seleucid propaganda, particularly emphasising the use of small-size media and the different strategies followed in the dissemination of royal portraits: these appear to have been rather sophisticated and adapted to particular situations, pointing to the role of the king’s entourage as an instrument of power.

Electrum, 2015

Between 2008 and 2010, the Iranian-Italian Joint Expedition in Kūzestān conducted research in the... more Between 2008 and 2010, the Iranian-Italian Joint Expedition in Kūzestān conducted research in the area of the modern city of Īda under the co-direction of the authors of this paper. The aim of the expedition was to acquire new data on the Parthian rock reliefs recognised up to now at Kong-e Azdar, Kong-e Yār 'Alīvand and Kong-e Kamālvand by applying the most up-todate technologies, namely the GPS survey and laser scanning. Indeed, despite the several studies conducted on these works, several aspects, such as the chronology of the represented scenes, their evolution and carving techniques, still need to be clarifi ed. A preliminary elaboration of the data acquired at Kong-e Yār 'Alīvand allowed us to create a digital 3D model of the sculpted surface consisting of 2,467,745 points. The surface analysis conducted on this digital support revealed traces of an inscription on the upper part of the sculpted scene, which has been deeply eroded and was never reported in previous surveys, and still undetected iconographic details, which shed new light on the sculpted scene, usually interpreted as an investiture.

Conference nstitutional Landscape of Empire in Ancient Iran, July 4-7 İstanbul Cezayir, Hayriye Cad. 12 Galatasaray Beyoğlu, 2022

The long span of time going from the 3rd century BCE to the 6th century CE saw the growth of a ph... more The long span of time going from the 3rd century BCE to the 6th century CE saw the growth of a phenomenon of progressive and increasing political structuration in different parts of the ancient world, especially in Western Asia.
The experience of the Achaemenid administrative apparatus was
reinterpreted, reaching a high degree of complexity and led to the birth of supra- regional political entities that had agency over a domain of unprecedented extension.
Such entities –that we onventionally call empires– were able to rule over regions of disparate traditions, religions, and languages thanks to a network of land, water and maritime routes that empowered societies with an immense potential of connectivity.
Such a network was counterbalanced by the presence of nodes that exerted gravitational attraction at a global level, allowing people and things to move over wide-ranging routes: these nodes were large cities, often newly founded, which for dimension, social importance and centrality in the trade network were described in ancient sources and still are known in narratives that have come down to the present day. In the global system, entities of this type can be therefore described as polycentric empires.
In most cases, the ancient cities that were part of the network have been continuously settled throughout the ages, to become capitals of the present day: their archaeological layers are thus found under modern buildings. Others, fewer in number, were instead abandoned and, in such a case, reliable archaeological records are available to be crossed with literary references. Glyptics and numismatics provide further valuable information.
The area of Ctesiphon, known in Arabic as al-Madāʾin (the cities), where several ancient Seleucid, Parthian and Sasanian capitals were founded, is one of the places that allow us to understand thoroughly what polycentric empires were. In this lecture, focus is set on literary and archaeological evidence from the area of Ctesiphon to interpret such evidence in a global perspective.

Beyond Macedonia: the multifaceted Hellenistic Oikoumene reconsidered , 2022

Beyond Macedonia: the multifaceted Hellenistic Oikoumene reconsidered Aigai, 27th May – 2nd June ... more Beyond Macedonia: the multifaceted Hellenistic
Oikoumene reconsidered Aigai, 27th May – 2nd June 2022

HCARN 4 - ntangled Pasts and Presents: Temporal Interactions and Knowledge Production in the Stud... more HCARN 4 - ntangled Pasts and Presents: Temporal Interactions and Knowledge Production in the Study of Hellenistic Central Asia
24-26 March 2022
Organisers: Milinda Hoo; Lauren Morris
(Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg and
HCARN); Sitta von Reden (Albert Ludwig
University of Freiburg).
Venue: Freiburg Institute for Advanced
Studies, Alberstraße 19, 79104.

A HELLENISTIC REVOLUTION? At the Royal Netherlands Institute in Rome (KNIR), Via Omero 10/12, Rom... more A HELLENISTIC REVOLUTION?
At the Royal Netherlands Institute in Rome (KNIR), Via Omero 10/12, Roma & online via Zoom
An international conference
organised in the framework of the Leiden University VICI project Innovating Objects.
The impact of global connections and the formation of the Roman Empire
Objects and Change in Afro-Eurasia
from the 3rd to 1st centuries BC
In cooperation with the Royal Netherlands Institute in Rome (KNIR) and the German Archaeological Institute (DAI) in Rome
Lectures by: M.J. Versluys (Leiden); M. Stark (Hawaii); A. Bauer (Stanford); M. Pitts (Exeter); T. Schattner (Madrid); R. Henzel (Leiden); J.R.W. Prag (Oxford);
J.C. Quinn (Oxford); R. Krumeich (Bonn); N. Terrenato (Michigan); J. Ma (New York); M. Blömer (Münster); O. Tal (Tel Aviv) & A. Lichtenberger (Münster); K.
Stevens (Oxford); V. Messina (Turin); G. Lindström (Berlin); M. Hoo (Freiburg i.Br.); S. Hauser (Konstanz); J.G. Manning (Yale).

TRANS-REGIONAL ENCOUNTERS, 2022

In the centuries that led to the turn of the Christian era, the many regions extending from the M... more In the centuries that led to the turn of the Christian era, the many regions
extending from the Mediterranean to the Indian Subcontinent, part of the
so-called oikumene, experimented with wide interaction processes thanks
to an increased propensity to connectivity. Such a propensity appears to
have been enhanced incredibly by the implementation of a network system of land and water routes that reached high effectiveness in the CE centuries.
In this network, cities of long-lasting tradition and new foundations were
nodes of edges that allowed people, things, and ideas to move over longrange distances and spread at a global level. Despite its unfavourable
geomorphology, the Iranian Plateau seems to have been integrated into the global network, as the presence of cities such as Laodikeia-Media, Antioch-Persis, Apamea-Rhagae and Seleucia-Hedyphon seems to show.

Payravi Conference on Ancient Iranian History IV: Contextualizing Iranian History: The Arsacids (... more Payravi Conference on Ancient Iranian History IV: Contextualizing Iranian History: The Arsacids (ca. 250 BC - 224 AD)
Organizers: Touraj Daryaee, Robert Rollinger, and Matthew Canepa

ACM UMAP 2021 ACM UMAP 2021 is over. UMAP'22 will take place 4-7 July 2022 in Barcelona and onli... more ACM UMAP 2021
ACM UMAP 2021 is over.

UMAP'22 will take place 4-7 July 2022 in Barcelona and online. Check the conference website.

67th RAI - Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale Eating and Drinking in the Ancient Near East T... more 67th RAI - Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale
Eating and Drinking in the Ancient Near East
Turin, July 12-16 2021

Salt was one of the most valued commodities in antiquity. It was used for food preparation and preservation, as an aliment itself, and for other manufacturing activities. It was widely traded both at local and global levels, especially in the Hellenistic period, for it benefited from an extensive route network that worked more and more effectively at least from the Achaemenid period onwards. Salt traders thus became one of the most important components of city societies. The present overview deals with the possibility of addressing problems related to such a complex environment as clues for reconstructing, at least in part, the administration procedures and policymaking of Babylonian élites in the centuries that led to the turn of the Christian era.

12th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East (ICAANE)’, Bologna, Unive... more 12th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East (ICAANE)’, Bologna, Università di Bologna

1st CANELAHG - Congress of Ancient Near East Landscape Archaeology and Historical Geography Sapie... more 1st CANELAHG - Congress of Ancient Near East Landscape Archaeology and Historical Geography
Sapienza University
5-8 october 2021

AVI2CH 2020: Workshop on Advanced Visual Interfaces and Interactions in Cultural Heritage AVI2C... more AVI2CH 2020: Workshop on Advanced Visual Interfaces and Interactions in Cultural Heritage
AVI2CH 2020, the first Workshop on Advanced Visual Interfaces and Interactions in Cultural Heritage , which will be held in conjunction with AVI 2020 the International Conference on Advanced Visual Interfaces.
AVI2CH will will take place at the Island of Ischia, Italy - the 29th of September, 2020.

Contextualizing Iranian Religions in the Ancient World - 14th Melammu Symposium UCLA - Los Angele... more Contextualizing Iranian Religions in the Ancient World - 14th Melammu Symposium
UCLA - Los Angeles
Pourdavoud Center

Literary, epigraphic, and archaeological evidence all demonstrate that the religions of Arsacid Iran is a matter of complexity. The attested religious beliefs and practices reflect the cultural variability of a global empire, encompassing different regions, populations, backgrounds, and even languages. Within this framework, cults and devotion are difficult to address if not considered as part of this complex phenomenon. The degree of complexity increases with the growth of available information, as demonstrated by new data from ancient Elymais (nowadays Khuzestan), the region of Parthian Iran in which monumental religious architecture and sculpture are documented more widely than elsewhere. Surveys and excavations conducted in the highlands of Khuzestan provide new insights on the complexity of religion in that region. Not only have new monumental religious buildings been discovered, which may be classified together with the famous cult terraces of Masǰed-e Soleymān and Bard-e Nešānda, but the coexistence of religious and funerary practices in the same archaeological context was also detected in one of the most important cult places of ancient Iran: the sanctuary of Shami. In the present essay, these insights are discussed in the light of the evidence that was acquired particularly during field surveys and excavations conducted by the Iranian-Italian Joint Expedition in Khuzestan, with the purpose of offering new insights into this never-ending debate.

Payravi Conference on Ancient Iranian History III "Iran and The Transformation of Ancient Near Ea... more Payravi Conference on Ancient Iranian History III "Iran and The Transformation of Ancient Near Eastern History: The Seleucids"
Department: Classics

Date and Time: February 24, 2020 - February 25, 2020 | 10:00 AM-5:00 PM

Program & Abstracts of the international conference at the Allard Pierson Museum, 23-24 January 2... more Program & Abstracts of the international conference at the Allard Pierson Museum, 23-24 January 2018.

University of Leiden. The conference focused on the attractiveness of ‘Graecism’ and its receptio... more University of Leiden.
The conference focused on the attractiveness of ‘Graecism’ and its reception as emerging from the documents from Seleucia on the Tigris and Babylon.

Conference at Palazzo Madama, Turin

Accademia delle scienze, Torino

Université de Savoie Mont Blanc, Chambéry

M i s s i o n e C o n g i u n t a I t a l o-I r a n i a n a i n K h u z e s t a n n e l l a v a l... more M i s s i o n e C o n g i u n t a I t a l o-I r a n i a n a i n K h u z e s t a n n e l l a v a l l e d i S h a m i Mercoledì 30 aprile 2014, ore 17* Aula T6, Palazzo Corigliano Dipartimento Asia, Africa e Mediterraneo * A seguire la conferenza per il ciclo Vie della Seta (Cappella Pappacoda, ore 15:30). L'incontro avviene nell'ambito dell'invito per il ciclo di conferenze Archeologia delle Vie della Seta. Percorsi, immagini e cultura materiale a cura di Lucia Caterina e Bruno Genito Foto a colori: veduta dallo scavo (Shami, a nord di Izeh, Khuzestan, Iran, 2013) di Vito Messina. I "ritagli di giornale" sullo sfondo sono tratti da:

CAMNES (Center for Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Studies) in collaborazione con l’Istitu... more CAMNES (Center for Ancient Mediterranean and Near Eastern Studies) in collaborazione con l’Istituto Italiano Internazionale “Lorenzo de’ Medici”, con il patrocinio della Provincia di Firenze, del Comune di Firenze

Mesopotamia, 2021

Salt was one of the most valued commodities in antiquity. it was used for food preparation and pr... more Salt was one of the most valued commodities in antiquity. it was used for food preparation and preservation, as an aliment itself, and for other manufacturing activities. it was widely traded both at local and global levels, especially in the hellenistic period, for it benefited from an extensive route network that worked more and more effectively at least from the achaemenid period onwards. salt traders thus became one of the most important components of city societies. the present overview deals with the possibility of addressing problems related to such a complex environment as clues for reconstructing, at least in part, the administration procedures and policymaking of Babylonian élites in the centuries that led to the turn of the Christian era.

Studies in Classical Archaeology, 2021

Ancient seal impressions once employed to seal a variety of objects, particularly different kinds... more Ancient seal impressions once employed to seal a variety of objects, particularly different kinds of documents, offer a wealth of information not only about iconography, but also about the dissemination of ideas and beliefs. Their use provides evidence about the continuation, transformation, and mutual influences effecting local traditions, and casts light on administrative and bureaucratic practices. This volume brings together conference papers by twelve specialists focusing on the Hellenistic period (ca. 325-25 BCE), a period still deserving more scholarly attention. The hoards discussed by the various authors include those from Delos, Doliche, Edfu, Kedesh, Pistiros, Seleucia-on-the-Tigris, Selinunte and Uruk. The volume’s themes range from the persistence of Pharaonic imagery on Ptolemaic sealings and Greek influence on Sicilian seals to the survival of Mesopotamian traditions on Parthian clay tablets and the use of Hellenistic iconography on Bactrian finger rings. Ptolemaic and Seleucid seal impressions especially offer clues for identifying royal portraits in other media. The papers contextualize the subject within related fields of glyptics and numismatics, and in so doing elucidate day-to-day realities of social, public and private archival practices beyond political and elite levels of life. In all this publication – the first of its kind in twenty-five years – illuminates aspects of Hellenistic history that have long remained abstruse, ignored or inaccessible without the aid of seal impressions.

Living in a Territory Four Lectures from a Workshop Held in Naples, 16 May 2017, Palazzo Corigliano edited by Bruno Genito, 2020

Elam was probably the most important political and cultural entity that flourished between Mesopo... more Elam was probably the most important political and cultural entity that flourished between Mesopotamia and the Iranian Plateau. The Greek form of its name, Elymais, testifies to the fact that its importance was echoed in foreign sources. The territory that we recognize today as the heartland of this entity, or at least a large part of it, extended between the lowlands and highlands of present day Khuzestan (South-West Iran). Lowlands and highlands are characterized by different geomorphology, climate and ecological niches, to the extent that they have been often defined in terms of alternation and dualism. In this context, two sites seem to emerge clearly as pivotal centers of these different regions: Susa (unencumbered by modern occupation), in the lowlands, and Mal-e Mir (overlapped by the modern town of Izeh), in the highlands. The human presence in these two geomorphological contexts was particularly studied thanks to models that aimed at facilitating the understanding of settlement patterns. In this contribution, the effectiveness of these models is investigated, especially in consideration of the fact that the quality and quantity of data that can be acquired and processed are not easily comparable in such different regions.

AVI2CH 2020: Workshop on Advanced Visual Interfaces and Interactions in Cultural Heritage (AVI2CH 2020), 2020

This 1 paper presents iCommunity, an application that will be aimed at finding a universal method... more This 1 paper presents iCommunity, an application that will be aimed at finding a universal method for inclusive societies in decision-making processes for cultural heritage management. iCommunity is being designed as a mobile application facilitating public participation in cultural heritage management. The main idea is to give all people, who are affected by a decision, the opportunity to be involved in the decision-making process. Any cultural heritage institution will be able to publish its activities on the application so as to evaluate users' feedback before the implementation of the activity itself. Based on the user's location, the application displays ongoing activities to the user himself. As a part of a participatory approach, users share each other's experience or data related to the posted activity. They also can show their agreement or disagreement to the activities by voting. The comments, votes and user's activities will be analysed real time for helping authorities to consider the consequence of their activities for more transparent and effective decision-making.

Adjunct Proceedings of the 29th ACM Conference on User Modeling, Adaptation and Personalization

PROCEEDINGS OF THE EIGHTH EUROPEAN CONFERENCE OF IRANIAN STUDIES, 1, ed. by Pavel B. LURJE, Saint Petersburg The State Hermitage Publishers , 2019

At Kal-e Chendar, in the valley of Shami (Iranian Khuzestan), traces of one of the most important... more At Kal-e Chendar, in the valley of Shami (Iranian Khuzestan), traces of one of the most important sanctuaries of Hellenistic and Parthian Elymais were accidentally discovered at the beginning of the 19th century. The site was investigated for few days in 1936 by the famous explorer Aurel Stein, who wasfortuitouslyinformed of the discovery of a well-preserved and now wellknown bronze statue, portraying a nobleman in Parthian dress, kept in the Iran Bastan Museum (Tehran). Stein brought to light the remains of a rectangular building of unclear purpose, but despite the importance of these findings, no further research was systematically carried out.

Civiltà dell’Iran Passato Presente Futuro, 2018

I rIlIevI rupestrI d'elImaIde vIto messIna l'arte del rilievo rupestre fu praticata sull'altopian... more I rIlIevI rupestrI d'elImaIde vIto messIna l'arte del rilievo rupestre fu praticata sull'altopiano iranico sin da epoche antichissime, rivelandosi come una forma d'espressione naturale per un paese in cui gole, valli e pareti rocciose si succedono, quasi senza interruzione, dagli Zagros ai deserti del sistan e dagli alborz al Golfo persico. l'esempio più antico ad oggi noto, il rilievo di anubanini a sar-e pole Zahab (nell'odierno Kurdistan iraniano), risale agli inizi del II millennio, quello più famoso, scolpito a circa 60 m di altezza sulla rocca di Bisotun, non molto distante dal primo, ritrae il re dario vittorioso sugli usurpatori del trono achemenide e deve essere stato iniziato subito dopo il 522 a.C. dagli inizi del II millennio alla fine dell'età sasanide l'arte rupestre iranica diede forma ininterrotta al sentimento religioso e alla celebrazione della regalità, lasciandoci in eredità numerose opere che, se da un lato soffrono del degrado dovuto alla continua e progressiva erosione, dall'altro costituiscono ancora una delle principali fonti documentarie sull'Iran antico: dal Kurdistan al luristan, dal Khuzestan al Fars sono poco meno di 90 i rilievi identificati nel corso degli ultimi secoli, ma ognuno degli studiosi che si è dedicato alla loro comprensione sa quanto questo numero sia scarsamente indicativo. molte opere devono infatti essere state cancellate dagli elementi, mentre altre attendono ancora di essere scoperte in anfratti solo apparentemente remoti delle gole, delle valli, dei picchi che furono la dimora di popolazioni nomadi e favorirono il passaggio di carovane, delegazioni ed eserciti. I rilievi rupestri sono disseminati su una vasta area geografica che, come anticipato, si estende su almeno quattro regioni di cruciale importanza. È possibile rilevare particolari concentrazioni di opere nel tempo e nello spazio, come ad esempio il gruppo di rilievi sasanidi che costellano le pareti montane del Fars, ma non possono esservi dubbi riguardo al fatto che, allo stato attuale delle nostre conoscenze, le opere più diffusamente distribuite da un punto di vista diacronico e geografico siano i rilievi dell'elam/elimaide.

in B. Genito, L. Caterina (eds), Archeologia delle “Vie della Seta”: Percorsi, Immagini e Cultura... more in B. Genito, L. Caterina (eds), Archeologia delle “Vie della Seta”: Percorsi, Immagini e Cultura Materiale, Napoli, 2015, 95-122 (ISBN 9788867190782).

A. Krasnowolska, R. Rusek‐Kowalska (eds), Studies on the Iranian World Before Islam, Proceedings of the 7 Conference of Iranian Studies (ECIS 7), Krakow (2011), Krakow, Jagiellonian University Press, 2015

Proceedings 9th ICAANE, Basel, 2015

In 2013, the Iranian-Italian Joint Expedition in Khuzistan started its 1st season of excavation (... more In 2013, the Iranian-Italian Joint Expedition in Khuzistan started its 1st season of excavation (6th campaign) at Kal-e Chendar (fig. 1), in the Valley of Shami. This project falls in the frame of a Memorandum of Understanding signed between the Research Centre of the Iranian Cultural Heritage and Tourism Organization (RICHT-ICAR) and the Centro Ricerche Archeologiche e Scavi di Torino per il Medio Oriente e l’Asia (CST).1 The Valley of Shami extends about 30 km north of the modern city of Izeh (Iranian Khu zestan). The site of Kal-e Chendar, located in its northern part, was investigated in 1936 by Marc Aurel Stein, the famous Hungarian-British explorer, who during one of his

R. Matthews, J. Curtis (eds), Mega‐cities & Mega‐sites. The Archaeology of Consumption & Disposal. Landscape, Transport & Communication, Vol.1, Proceedings of the 7ICAANE: The 7 International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, Wiesbaden, Harrassowitz, 2012

Seleucia on the Tigris, the capital of Seleucid Mesopotamia, is assimilated to Babylon in classic... more Seleucia on the Tigris, the capital of Seleucid Mesopotamia, is assimilated to Babylon in classical sources, and the assumption that the city could have been regarded as a new Babylon in certain propaganda seems grounded in a sound historical background. Is this verifiable through the archaeological records? The aim of this paper is to offer an overview of the Italian excavations at Seleucia, focusing on the Babylonian elements that characterized the origin of the city and emerged from the archaeological evidence: the coexistence of Babylonian and Greek elements seems indeed to characterize the culture of the people dwelling in the city as well as the policy of the ruling dynasty.

A workshop on the project PolEmA has been organized in the Iraqi-Italian Cultural Center for Arch... more A workshop on the project PolEmA has been organized in the Iraqi-Italian Cultural Center for Archaeological Sciences and Restoration. The project PolEmA aims to investigate Polycentric Empires in Western Asia, particularly addressing connectivity, texts and settlements from Ctesiphon to Afrasiyab and beyond. PolEmA analyses the interconnections, both in chronological and geographical terms, among three different regions of West Asia, to assess which kind of organization different political realities maintained to administer huge polycentric imperial administrations, such as the Seleucid, Arsacid and Sasanian empires (from the 3rd c. BCE to the 7th c. CE). Three specific areas of interest have been chosen on the basis of their importance for all these multicentric empires during the selected timeframe, reflecting also the research focus of each unit: the historical regions of Media (Garmegan and Syarazur), encompassing several settlements, cities and communication routes of primary importance (University of Rome La Sapienza), the fundamental area of the capital city Seleucia-Ctesiphon and its surroundings (University of Torino), and the frontier zone of Chach, with its complex interplay of languages and cultures (University of Pisa). The study involves different methodologies and approaches regarding the diverse typologies of documents concerned, such as primary and secondary written sources, archaeological excavations, landscape surveys, ancient and modern archive documentation. This strong multidisciplinary standpoint, coordinated between the Research Units, helps to collect precious information about the dynamics of interconnections between central regions and frontier zones of polycentric empires, so determine both the configuration of policies of territorial implementation by the central power and the negotiations of cultural identities of the different areas investigated by the project. Our workshop discusses both the methodology, primarily based on landscape studies intertwined with a historical approach, and the results of archaeological research so far conducted.

Last(ing) Frontier L'eterna frontiera International conference Torino 14-15December 2023 Bibliote... more Last(ing) Frontier
L'eterna frontiera
International conference
Torino 14-15December 2023
Biblioteca Erik Peterson (Sala Michele Pellegrino), Via Giulia di Barolo 3/a

IV CONVEGNO NAZIONALE _ DEI GIOVANI ARCHEOLOGI Tuscania (VT) 12 - 15 Maggio 2011

EGN 2022.16th European Geoparks Conference, 2022

The Bakthiari, at the Southeast offshoots of the Zagros Chain, are the most important mountain sy... more The Bakthiari, at the Southeast offshoots of the Zagros Chain, are the most important mountain system of the Iranian Plateau from the point of view of social-ecological resilience. They are the homeland of the last nomadic tribes of Iran and the palimpsest of a culture developed over millennia in symbiosis with the mountain.

Their geological horizon, the presence of rock art forms developing from prehistory to present day, and the intangible heritage of the people there settled, characterized by a durable and sustainable way of life, make the Bakthiari Land one of the most important places to protect worldwide.

The Bakthiari consist of parallel ranges alternated to synclinal valleys, which allow access to the Iranian Plateau from the Mesopotamian alluvium. This system displays high geodiversity; however, its unicity is the so-called Asmari Formation. Such a formation, a thick carbonate sequence divided into lower, middle, and upper units for the presence of foraminiferal assemblages, is the main petroleum reservoir in Southwest Iran. It was deposited on a carbonate platform developed across the Zagros, characterized by limestones, dolomitic limestones, and argillaceous limestones, and is exclusive of the Bakhtiari ranges.

In this environment, human presence has been (and still is) characterized by a high degree of integration with the mountain. Both the art and architecture witnessed in these highland regions since the 3rd millennium BCE testify to the cultural reception of the mountain as a part of daily life and local ideology. The use of strategies meant to minimize the human impact on the natural setting is likewise attested: studies of landscape archaeology show that processes of land-catching and resource exploitation have been influenced by the preservation of natural features as much as possible.

Modern Bakhtiari people are the last protectors of such an ecosystem.

Bakhtiaris’ way of life, characterized by a certain isolation and intertribal marriages, probably help them to keep their lineage almost intact. The tribal structure was likewise preserved, even in small towns such as Izeh, the main center of the highlands. The famous documentary Grass: A Nation's Battle for Life (1925) tells the story of the migration of Bakhtiari tribes from winter to summer places. Such a migration, narrated also in further documentaries, is probably the most important intangible heritage of these people.

It is worthy of mention that Bakhtiaris’ way of life is based on sustainability: pastoralism, low-built environments and non-intensive agriculture allow human communities to live in perfect symbiosis with the mountains. However, in modern times, such a way of life is being changed by globalization and such an intangible heritage needs to be protected. To keep alive this way of life will also contribute to protect the mountains from urbanization processes that are evident in other parts of Iran.

The BakLand project aims to create a geoarchaeological park to promote archaeological heritage, geoheritage and cultural heritage of the Bakthiari Land and, in so doing, protect the environment and human communities still living there.