History of the Ancient Near East
Seminar course on the historical geography of the ancient Near East: sources, methods, tools.
The course will focus on the historical geography of the ancient Near East, in particular on the analysis of the main epigraphic and archaeological sources, on contemporary digital methods and tools applied to ancient historical geography.
The course will be structured in two parts, a first part of lectures on the presentation of the sources and the main historical issues on the reconstruction of topographical and landscape aspects of the ancient Near East, with reference to the studies of the Roman school of History of the Ancient Near East founded by Mario Liverani and the Quaderni di geografia Storica series. The second part will be structured in a practical seminar, in collaboration with Francesco Di Filippo (IsMed - CNR) on digital cartography and digital tools for the study of the historical geography of the ancient Near East.
- L. Mori, Reconstructing the Emar Landscape, Quaderni di geografia storica 6, 2003;
- L. Mori – F. Di Filippo, How difficult? Mountain roads and pathways reaching ancient Melid (Malatya) in south-eastern Anatolia, SMEA 4 (2018): 41-62;
- F. Di Filippo, Patterns of movements in Upper Mesopotamia: the Urbana Yale itinerary as a case study, in FS Milano, (2016): 451-482;
- M. Liverani, Paradiso e dintorni. Il paesaggio rurale del Vicino Oriente antico, Laterza 2018.
The course is associated with the archaeological excavation of Arslantepe (south-eastern Turkey), in particular with historical and archaeological research on the Hittite and Neo-Hittite periods (Late Bronze-Iron Age). Interested trainees will be able to apply to participate in the internship on the digitization of the archives of the archaeological mission. Artslantepe is included in the Unesco Tentative List of World Heritage Sites.