Ancient Languages of Anatolia Summer Program (ALA) Online

Date: 4 August – 21 August 2020

The earliest historical documents from Anatolia were recorded on clay in a dialect of Akkadian known as Old Assyrian, by Assyrian merchants trading in Anatolia in the Middle Bronze Age (c. 2000-1750 BCE). The archives of the Hittite Empire preserve documents in Hittite and Akkadian that date to the Late Bronze Age (c.17th-12th centuries BCE). In the subsequent Iron Age, the Assyrian Empire expanded into Anatolia and left records shedding light on Anatolian history.

Organized by Koç University Research Center for Anatolian Civilizations (ANAMED), this 4-weeks intensive summer program (revised in 2020 because of the global pandemic to a concentrated three-week online program), aims to develop the skills necessary to explore these earliest historical records of Anatolia:

• a basic knowledge of the Hittite, Akkadian and Sumerian languages
• a basic knowledge of the cuneiform script
• the ability to follow scholarly editions of cuneiform texts using primary Assyriological and Hittitological resources
• an introduction to Sumerian and Luwian languages

The language of the program is English.

1. Classes & Activities

Classes:

The program will offer Hittite and Akkadian language classes at an introductory level for two weeks.

Classes will be conducted five days a week (Monday–Friday) and participants are expected to attend all the classes and workshops. Weekends will be reserved for homework and research. (see: updated Tentative Syllabus & Schedule)

The program will feature two intensive workshops:

• Introduction to Luwian
  In this three-day intensive workshop, students will learn the basics of Luwian grammar and epigraphy.
• Introduction to Sumerian
  In this three-day intensive workshop, students will learn the basics of Sumerian grammar and epigraphy.

Activities:

The program will also feature a guest lecturer (online – TBA). In the past years, program had the privilege to feature Dr. Nancy Amelia Highcock, Dr. Mark Weeden, Prof. Ignacio Márquez Rowe, Prof. Barbara Alexandra Böck, and Assoc. Prof. Eva von Dassow.

2. Materials

All course materials will be provided electronically. Classes will be conducted as live classes through Zoom.

Dr. N. İlgi GERÇEK (Bilkent University) – Hittite Instructor & Coordinator

Dr. Gerçek is a faculty member at the Department of Archaeology, Bilkent University. She holds a BA in Archaeology and History of Art from Bilkent University, and obtained her MA and PhD in Hittite and Mesopotamian Studies from the University of Michigan. Her professional affiliations include a postdoctoral research fellowship at the University of Copenhagen, as well as research and teaching positions at ANAMED (Koç University) and the Istanbul University Department of Hittitology. She is interested in the social and political history of Anatolia in the Late Bronze Age and has written on imperialism, frontiers, identity, and mobility in Hittite Anatolia.

Doç. Dr. Selim Ferruh ADALI (Social Sciences University of Ankara) – Akkadian Instructor

Dr. Adalı is faculty member at the Social Sciences University of Ankara, Department of History. He holds a PhD in Ancient History from the University of Sydney (2009), and has taught Akkadian, Sumerian and Hittite at Bilkent University between 2009–2015. He was a Senior Fellow at Koç University’s Research Center for Anatolian Civilizations between 2013-2014.  He conducts research in the role of climatic change in the Late-Assyrian period, Assyrian and Babylonian literature and omen texts, as well as the role of the Scythians and the Cimmerians in the ancient Near East. His PhD dissertation was published in 2011 as part of the series State Archives of Assyria Studies in Helsinki. Among his latest publications is an edition of the Prostration Hemerology, in partnership with Enrique Jiménez and published in Zeitschrift für Assyriologie.

Dr. Jana MATUSZAK (SOAS) – Sumerian Instructor

Dr. Matuszak studied Ancient Near Eastern Languages, Ancient Near Eastern Archaeology and Comparative Religion in Tübingen (Germany), London (UK) and Bern (Switzerland). She obtained her PhD in 2017 from the University of Tübingen for her dissertation entitled ‘“And you, you are a woman?!” Studies in Sumerian literary debates between women with an editio princeps of Two Women B.’ Her dissertation was awarded the Dissertation Prize of the International Association for Assyriology (2018) and the Johannes Zilkens Dissertation Prize in Humanities and Social Sciences of the German Academic Scholarhip Foundation (2019). She is currently Lecturer in Ancient Near Eastern Studies at SOAS University of London, where she teaches Akkadian, Sumerian and Hittite, and continues her research on Sumerian literature.

Doç. Dr. Hasan PEKER (Istanbul University) – Luwian Instructor

Dr. Peker is a faculty member at the Istanbul University, Department of Ancient Languages and Cultures. He holds BA’s in Hittitology and Near Eastern Archaeology, an MA and a PhD (2009) in Hittitology from the Istanbul University. He has taught Hittite and Luwian at Koç University between 2015–2016. He is teaching Hittite, Luwian, Akkadian and Ancient Egyptian at Istanbul and Boğaziçi Universities. He is interested in the political history and chronology of Anatolia and Syria in the Late Bronze and Iron Ages. In his latest publications he has reconstructed the new chronologies of the Late Hittite Kingdom Karkamis and Gurgum (Maraş). He is the Deputy Director of the Turco-Italian Archaeological Expedition at Karkemish.

4. Certificates and transcripts

ANAMED issues digital certificates to all students who successfully complete the program. If you need an officially issued transcript, please get in touch with anamedprograms@ku.edu.tr in timely manner.

5. Fees

The drastically reduced tuition for the 2020 online Ottoman Summer Program is $500 USD.

6. Scholarships 

A limited number of scholarships are provided by Koç University Research Center for Anatolian Civilizations (ANAMED).

Please note that the synchronous (live) classes will not be recorded and daily participation in them is mandatory for all students. Students regularly missing classes will be dropped from the program.

Please kindly get in contact with anamedprograms@ku.edu.tr for further inquiry.