54
Assyrology
UNIVERSITÀ DEGLI STUDI DI NAPOLI "L'ORIENTALE"
Overview
Date/time interval
Syllabus
Course Objectives
► Knowledge and understanding
By the end of the course, students will have acquired:
- a basic knowledge of cuneiform writing and the Akkadian language, including its main morphosyntactic structures and interpretative issues;
- a critical understanding of Mesopotamian textual sources, through the analysis of original documents (particularly from Elam and central Mesopotamia) within their historical and cultural contexts;
- competence in navigating the various textual genres of Akkadian, including administrative, educational, literary, and scientific texts, also in a comparative perspective;
- an introductory knowledge of the Mesopotamian literary tradition, with particular focus on the Epic of Gilgamesh and its ideological and cultural significance;
- familiarity with the main scholarly tools (grammars, syllabaries, dictionaries, repertoires) and digital resources for the study of Akkadian and cuneiform writing.
► Applying knowledge and understanding
Students will be able to:
- decode and understand Akkadian texts written in cuneiform by using both guided and independent application of basic linguistic and philological tools;
- contextualise Akkadian texts within their historical, geographical, and cultural frameworks, interpreting their contents in relation to archaeological and historiographical evidence;
- apply philological and lexicographic approaches to the translation and commentary of Mesopotamian texts, including reflection on their material form (medium, archaeological context, and original function);
- relate linguistic analysis to broader cultural themes, such as political identity, knowledge transmission, cultural diplomacy, and scribal practices;
- make use of the skills acquired to undertake further studies in Assyriology or in interdisciplinary fields (such as Near Eastern studies, archaeology, or the history of religions).
FURTHER EXPECTED LEARNING OUTCOMES
► Autonomy of judgement:
The student will acquire the autonomy of judgement necessary to contextualise an Akkadian text and to critically navigate the bibliography relating to the Akkadian language and Mesopotamian textual documentation.
► Communication skills:
The student will acquire the basic scientific terminology (in Italian and English) necessary to study the Akkadian language and the textual genres of the Akkadian textual documentation. The student will also acquire the basic cuneiform syllabary and elementary Akkadian vocabulary.
► Learning skills:
The student will become familiar with the main tools (grammars, syllabaries, dictionaries), bibliographical materials and digital resources (including online) for the independent comprehension and study of an Akkadian text.
Course Prerequisites
The teacher will assess the prior competences of the individual participants during the first lessons and, if needed, will suggest individually synthetic readings on the history of the Near East, knowledge of which is a useful prerequisite for a more linear development of the course.
The course is akin to History of the Ancient Near East, Anatolistics, Archaeology and Art History of the Ancient Near East.
Teaching Methods
Classes with the support of handouts (with cuneiform copying and transliteration of the texts studied) and visual materials.
The critical study of morphology and syntax will be carried out progressively, together with the presentation of the basic principles of cuneiform writing.
Particular attention will be paid to the physical support of the textual documentation and its meaning. The contexts of discovery, when known, will be presented using photographic and cartographic material (including satellite images).
An online bibliography will be made available to course participants. Online resources for Assyriological research will also be used.
Assessment Methods
The examination consists of an oral presentation of the topics in the syllabus and the textual analysis of four of the Akkadian inscriptions studied at the student’s choice.
► Assessment criteria:
Ability to understand an Akkadian text, ability to make connections between the texts and the proposed readings, then ability to deal with transversal themes relating to Mesopotamian history, culture and literature, ability to synthesise, correct use of terminology.
Texts
0. Introductory essay (to be consulted as needed):
► Federico Giusfredi, Il Vicino Oriente antico. Breve storia dalle origini alla caduta di Babilonia (Quality Paperbacks 599), Roma: Carocci, 2020.
1. Grammar (to be consulted as needed):
► Franco D’Agostino, Maria Stella Cingolo & Gabriella Spada, La lingua di Babilonia, Milano: Hoepli, 2016.
2. On Akkadian in Elam (required reading):
► Katrien De Graef, ‘The Use of Akkadian in Iran’, in D.T. Potts (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Iran, pp. 263-282, Oxford – New York: Oxford University Press, 2013.
3. Akkadian text and glossary of the Epic of Gilgamesh, tablet XI, for use in classroom:
► Simo Parpola, Epic of Gilgamesh. Cuneiform text, transliteration, glossary, indices and sign list (State Archives of Assyria Cuneiform Texts 1), Helsinki: The Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project, 1997.
4. In-depth readings on individual topics (only the indicated parts compulsory):
– on writing:
► Peter T. Daniels, An Exploration of Writing, Sheffield – Bristol: Equinox, 2018: chapter 6, ‘Morphemes and morphograms’; cap. 7, ‘Words and heterograms’;
► Marco Mancini & Barbara Turchetta (eds.), Etnografia della scrittura, Roma: Carocci, 2014: chapter 3, Massimiliano Marazzi, ‘Lingua vs. scrittura: storia di un rapporto difficile’;
– on Gilgamesh:
► Lorenzo Verderame, Letterature dell’antica Mesopotamia, Firenze: Le Monnier Università, 2016: chapter 3, sections 1-2: ‘Il ciclo dei re di Uruk’ e ‘L’epopea di Gilgameš’;
► Franco D’Agostino, Gilgameš. Il re, l’uomo, lo scriba (Le gerle 23), Roma: L’Asino d’oro, 2017: chapter 9, ‘Il segreto degli dèi: il Diluvio universale’;
► Irving Finkel, The Ark before Noah, London: Hodder, 2014: chapter 3: ‘Recounting the Flood’.
■ For non-attendees (in lieu of point 3 and texts taken in class):
► Andrew George, Gilgamesh (Biblioteca Adelphi 724), Milano: Adelphi, 2021: ‘Introduzione’ e ‘La versione standard dell’epopea babilonese …’ in translation (from the beginning to p. 173);
► Alan Lenzi, An Introduction to Akkadian Literature. Contexts and Content, University Park, PA: Eisenbrauns, 2019: ‘Introduction’ and chapter 1, ‘Prolegomena to the Study of Akkadian Literature’ (from the beginning to p. 76).
Alternative bibliographical material will be provided according to the requests and interests of individual students. For bibliography and other teaching materials, please refer to:
<http://www.elamit.net/corsi/#assiriologia>.
Contents
The course aims to provide an introduction to cuneiform writing and the Akkadian language through the study of textual documentation.
Akkadian was one of the most widely spoken languages in ancient Mesopotamia (3rd to 1st millennium BCE), fundamental to the daily lives of hundreds of thousands of people and to the ideological and socio-economic survival of several political entities today referred to by the ethnic labels of Sumerian, Babylonian and Assyrian. Along with the cuneiform writing system in which it was written, Akkadian was also a language of culture, and as such it was conveyed and used in the surrounding regions, including Elam (southwestern Iran).
The first two-thirds of the course will use Akkadian documentation from Elam with progressive texts chosen to highlight individual aspects of cuneiform writing (according to a critical perspective) and basic Akkadian morphosyntax. In this phase the cuneiform script and the basic Akkadian lexicon will be assimilated through the repeated occurrences of the same signs and words in the texts, in order to speed up the sight-reading and understanding of a text.
The last third, of monographic character, will consist of a taste of Akkadian literature through the continuous reading in transcription of Tablet XI of the Epic of Gilgamesh in standard Babylonian using the text and glossary of Parpola 1997.
In the first lessons, the following texts will be presented in translation with checks of individual points of interest for the study of writing and grammar on the original text in transliteration:
(1) Cr 1. A law from the Code of Khammurabi (CH §5)
(2) Nanni's letter of complaint to Ea-nasir (ME 131236)
(3) The Elamite broth (from the Akkadian cookbook YBC 4644)
(4) Beginning of the Tiglat-Pileser I prism used in the Royal Asiatic Society's competition in 1857 (BM 91033)
(5) A letter to the king about a seismic tremor (SAA1 125)
(6) Information about the equinox (SAA8 140 = K 15)
In the introductory part to the Akkadian language, the following texts from Elam will be analysed and translated, divided into two groups A-B.
► Elementary texts from the Achaemenid royal inscriptions (6th-5th century BCE):
(A1) the inscription at the entrance to Persepolis (DPg);
(A2) the epigraph deciphered by Grotefend (XPe);
(A3) the initial invocation to Ahura Mazda in the tomb inscription of Darius I at Naqsh-e Rostam (DNa §1).
(A4) the label inscription of the figure of Gaumata in the monument of Darius I at Bisotun (DBb);
(A5) workshop of cuneiform epigraphy (DSd+DSg) on unpublished fragments in collaboration with the Louvre.
► Royal inscriptions, funerary and administrative texts from the 2nd millennium BCE:
(B1) the bilingual Sumerian-Akkadian non-coterminous inscription of Itatu (IRS 6-7);
(B2) the brick inscription of Temti-Agun (IRS 14);
(B3) two loan tablets from Shush/Susa (MDP 23 191-192) to be compared with Cr 2c. One silver loan from Tell ed-Der (IM 049532);
(B4) an adoption tablet from Shush/Susa (MDP 23 285);
(B5) two funerary tablets from Shush/Susa (MDP18 252-253);
(B6) some administrative tablets from Haft Tappe (including HT 6) and the seal of Atkhibu;
(B7) the eyestone in the name of Humpan-umena (MDP53 4);
(B8) the curse of the statue of Untash-Napirisha (MDP11 89);
(B9) the bilingual Elamite-Akkadian inscription on bricks from Chogha Zanbil (TZ 31-32).
In the monographic part, the transcription of Tablet XI of the Epic of Gilgamesh will be read, morphosyntactically and textually commented, and translated using the text and glossary in Parpola 1997.
Course Language
Italian