Construction of Identities and late Mesopotamian archives (after 539 BCE) - 12-13/03/2020, Helsinki

The Centre of Excellence in Ancient Near Eastern Empires (ANEE) asks: How do changing imperial dynamics impact social group identities and lifeways over a long period of time? ANEE marshals a cross-disciplinary arsenal of methods and scholars, working through the periods of Neo-Assyrian, Neo-Babylonian, Persian, Hellenistic, and early Roman/Parthian control, enabling dialogues between ancient historians, archaeologists and social scientists. Geographically, the two main focus areas of ANEE are the Mesopotamian heartland and the Levant. ANEE consists of three research teams. Team 1 utilizes recent advances in the digital humanities to examine multiple social group identities present in the empires and their margins. Supported by traditional archival work, it engages with two digital approaches: language technology and social network analysis. Building contextual semantic models from primary sources offers novel possibilities for understanding first millennium BCE Mesopotamia from an emic perspective.

FECHA /DATE/DATA: 12-13/03/2020

LUGAR/LOCATION/LUOGO: Siltavuorenpenger 3A, Athena, City Centre Campus, University of Helsinki (Helsinki, Finland)

ORGANIZADOR/ORGANIZER/ORGANIZZATORE: The Centre of Excellence in Ancient Near Eastern Empires (ANEE); Team 1 / Sebastian Fink & Saana Svärd

INFO: web

INSCRIPCIÓN/REGISTRATION/REGISTRAZIONE: Gratis/free/gratuito

Se ruega enviar un email a /please contact/ si prega di inviare una email a Sebastian.fink@helsinki.fi

PROGRAMA/PROGRAM/PROGRAMMA:

The workshop focuses on the second half of the first millennium. Our aims are twofold: I. Outline and discuss the available sources after 539 BCE. Additionally, we hope to build a comprehensive overview of already digitized materials that might be available for digital approaches (e.g. SNA or language technology). II. Discuss how we can research different facets of identity in these late sources. We hope to identify promising areas of research for digital as well as for traditional methods.

Thursday, 12.03.2020

Athena 302 (Siltavuorenpenger 3A)

09:00–09:30 Sebastian Fink (University of Helsinki): Welcome and Introduction 09:30–10:15 Jason Silverman (University of Helsinki): Mesopotamia as Part of the Persian Empire 10:15–11:00 Tero Alstola (University of Helsinki): The Continuation of Babylonian Archives after the Persian Conquest

11:00–11:30 Break

11:30–12:15 Reinhard Pirngruber (University of Vienna): Us and them. Babylonia and its Rulers in the Seleucid and Parthian Periods 12:15–13:00 Paola Coro (University of Venice) / Laurie Pearce (University of California, Berkeley): Non-Babylonians' identity construction and social location: insights gained from prosopography and SNA

13:00–14:00 Lunch

14:00–14:45 Kerstin Droß-Krüpe (University of Kassel): Changing Mesopotamian Identities through Graeco-Roman Eyes: the Case of Semiramis 14:45–15:30 Kai Ruffing (University of Kassel): Greek Texts from Mesopotamia

15:30–15:45 Break

15:45–16:30 Martin Lang (University of Innsbruck): The Graeco-Babyloniaca

Friday, 13.03.2020

Athena 167 (Siltavuorenpenger 3A)

09:00–09:45 Martti Nissinen (University of Helsinki): Changing Identities in Mesopotamia through Biblical Eyes 09:45–10:30 Ingo Kottsieper (University of Göttingen): Beyond Identity: Aramaic in the ANE

10:30–11:00 Break

11:00–11:45 Rocio Da Riva (Universitat de Barcelona): Why Did They Write Down Temple Rituals in the Late Babylonian Period? 11:45–12:30 Michael Jursa (University of Vienna): Identity Construction in Hellenistic Babylonia: Late Babylonian Priestly Literature

12:30–15:30 Lunch break and visit to the Helsinki University Museum

15:30–16:15 Sebastian Fink (University of Helsinki): The late Emesal-archives and Scribal Identity in the First Millennium 16:15–17:00 Willis Monroe (University of British Columbia): School Friends and Family Relations: Quantifying Relationships and Identities in Late Babylonian Scribal Culture

17:00–17:45 Saana Svärd (University of Helsinki): Response and final discussion

19:00- Conference dinner