Assyriology
Assyriology is an interdisciplinary research subject dealing with all cultures during the first half of human history ca. 3400 BCE–100 CE writing in cuneiform on clay tablets. The several hundred thousand preserved cuneiform texts give a unique possibility to conduct an intensive study of contemporary society from many diverse aspects by means of a combination of texts and archaeological material. The subject consists of two main parts: a philological and linguistic study of Akkadian (Assyrian-Babylonian) and Sumerian cuneiform texts from various periods and of a wide range of different types, and partly a study of the archaeology, political and cultural history, and the history of religion in the entire ancient Near East.
The subject provides historical and linguistic perspectives, in part through interdisciplinary perspectives, and can be used as a complementary discipline in studies of, among others, other linguistic, historical and cultural subjects.
Research Areas
Assyriology is an interdisciplinary research discipline which deals with all cultures during the first half of the history of humankind, ca. 3000 BCE–100 CE, writing in cuneiform on clay tablets. The several hundred thousand preserved cuneiform texts provide a unique possibility for intense study of contemporary society in the ancient Near East from different aspects using a combination of texts and archaeological material.
The research projects at Uppsala University have on the one hand studied the larger categories in the ancient Near East in the form of archives and libraries encountered in different ancient cities, on the other hand, during the past few years, focused on the city of Babylon from a number of social scientific, linguistic and archaeological perspectives, which contribute to the understanding of the function of the city. Further projects have shed light on questions concerning royal ideology, onomastic research, linguistic and cultural interaction in the multilingual Near Eastern urban environments.
Geomapping Landscapes of Writing
TextWorlds
Other current projects
Completed projects
Events