Research title (provisional): 

The Babylonian socio-economic landscape as mirrored in the archive of a priestly family in the first millennium BCE

Supervisor

Prof. Dr. Kristin Kleber (Universität Münster, Münster, DE)

Co-supervisors

Prof. Dr. Johannes Hackl (Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, Jena, DE)

Prof. Dr. Bas ter Haar Romeny (Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, NL)

Summary

The aim of my research is to present the editio princeps and an in-depth analysis of hitherto unpublished Neo-Babylonian cuneiform tablets, once belonging to the archive of the Ilia family. This priestly clan lived in Borsippa, the second most important city of Babylonia (today the southern part of Iraq).  The study of this archive will contribute towards a deeper understanding of social relationships in Neo-Babylonian society (late-seventh – late-fourth century BCE).

The Neo-Babylonian period features truly ground-breaking developments, such as the change from traditional modes of production towards a market-oriented and monetized urban society. Although in the past 30 years considerable progress has been made, both in the publication of texts and in their interpretation, many texts are still undeciphered and the social landscape of the period remains underexplored. Circa 2.200 cuneiform tablets stem from Borsippa, but only a fraction of them has been published. Borsippean texts, therefore, form the most conspicuous still unexplored corpus of private archives from first-millennium Babylonia.

By editing and studying one of the largest archives from Borsippa (circa 300 tablets), I will be able to reconstruct the family members’ biographies and social statuses. Their socio-economic micro-histories are perceived as mirrors reflecting the historical and socio-economic developments on a larger scale (macro-level). The micro-data will be contextualised and compared with other (published) private archives from the period in order to gain a deeper understanding of the social environment of the urban elite in first-millennium Babylonia.

Master of Art (research) in Archaeology of Ancient Near East - Università La Sapienza (RM, Italy) - 2017

Bachelor of Art in Archaeology of Ancient Near East - Università La Sapienza (RM, Italy) - 2015

NWO grant for PhD in the Humanities 2019/2023

DAAD Short-Term Grant – 2018/2019

NWO Aspasia funding – 2018

Borsa di Perfezionamento all’Estero (Sapienza Università di Roma) – 2017/2018

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