Ancient Near Eastern Philology

Ancient Near Eastern Philology is the academic study of the cultures of the Ancient Near East (excluding Egypt) based on textual sources. It encompasses the cultural regions of ancient Mesopotamia, ancient Syria, ancient Anatolia, and ancient Iran. The chronological scope spans from the development of cuneiform, the (presumably) oldest writing system in the world, around the transition from the fourth to the third millennium BCE, to the time around the birth of Christ, when cuneiform was ultimately replaced by Aramaic and Greek alphabetic scripts. Over these approximately three millennia, cuneiform was the most significant writing system in the Near East, used to represent a wide variety of languages. Notably, due to its use for Accadian, which was widely recognized as a language for trade, communication, and diplomacy, cuneiform also influenced neighboring cultural spheres, including those of ancient Egypt and the Aegean region.

Ancient Near Eastern Philology is a relatively young academic discipline. Accadian cuneiform texts have only been readable for about 150 years, and documents written in Sumerian, Hittite, and other cuneiform languages have only become comprehensible in recent decades. The languages known from the Ancient Near East are the oldest representatives of some of the largest language families. In addition to Accadian, Eblaite, Amorite, and Ugaritic, which belong to the Semitic language group, ancient Persian, Hittite, Luwian, and Palaic are known as languages of the Indo-European family. Furthermore, texts and text fragments exist in several other languages whose classification remains unresolved (Hurrian, Urartian) or which appear to be isolated (Elamite, Hattic, Kassite, Sumerian). Among all these languages, Accadian, Sumerian, and Hittite stand out due to the quantity and quality of the known textual evidence. Accadian, as the most extensively preserved, widely used, and best-understood cuneiform language, is central to the field of study.

The field focuses equally on the linguistic analysis of texts and the questions arising from these texts related to history and chronology, religion, literature, economy, society, law, science and technology, as well as other aspects of the cultures of the Ancient Near East. Consequently, Ancient Near Eastern Philology is not a purely philological discipline but rather a field of exceptional breadth, with connections and overlaps with numerous other disciplines. Examples include Old Testament studies, legal history, Indo-European and comparative linguistics, and Semitic studies. Particularly close ties exist with Near Eastern archaeology, which examines the material remains of Ancient Near Eastern cultures, including periods and regions without written records. The two fields are also closely linked in terms of their academic history, as they only became separate disciplines in Germany after World War II.

Studying Ancient Near Eastern Philology is therefore an ideal complement to a focus on Near Eastern archaeology, and conversely, students specializing in Ancient Near Eastern Philology are especially encouraged to consider Near Eastern archaeology as a minor.

The minor program in Ancient Near Eastern Philology provides foundational subject knowledge and a basic overview of the discipline. Central to the program is learning cuneiform script and (at least) one Ancient Near Eastern language, with Akkadian, the lingua franca, taking precedence. The goal is to equip students with the ability to critically assess and apply their reading and language skills. Building on this, introductory and reading courses will enable the interpretation of cuneiform texts, which are essential for understanding Ancient Near Eastern cultures and are also relevant to neighboring disciplines.

For more information about the minor in Ancient Near Eastern Philology, please visit the department’s webpage.