Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale 64
It is our pleasure to thank and congratulate the organizers of the 64th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale for a highly successful meeting!
A few months ago, in the third week of July 2018, scholars from near and far convened in the heart of the Austrian Alps, at charming Innsbruck. All week long the city showed its best side, with a bright and warm sun shining upon the Assyriologists strolling along its streets to reach the conference venues. The organizing committee gave us a warm welcome and ensured that the conference flowed smoothly and problem-free. We hope that you will join us in offering them our sincere thanks.
Photo credit: Hammurabi Barasmat
“The Intellectual Heritage of the Ancient Near East”
In Innsbruck, for the first time the conference combined a Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale with a Melammu Symposium, to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Melammu Project (funded in Helsinki in 1998). The two events share a common interest in promoting comparative studies dealing with ancient Near Eastern cultures and their cultural influence on Western thought.
The papers presented at the conference dealt with the investigation of continuity, transformation, and diffusion of Mesopotamian and Ancient Near Eastern cultures from the third millennium BCE, through the ancient world, to the early Islamic period and beyond.
The Rencontre was particularly rich, with no fewer than 20 sessions and 17 workshops that covered every possible nuance of Assyriological studies. They included a 2 days-long session that presented for the first time a thorough reflection on the history of our discipline. Other sessions dealt with different aspects of cultural transfer throughout ancient Near Eastern civilizations: ideology and authority, landscape and geography, rituals, magic and medicine, grammar, and much more.
Some of these workshops and sessions, like the session about the Digital Humanities in the Ancient Near Eastern Studies, and the workshops on Cuneiform Paleography or Current Epigraphic and Archaeological Research in Iraq, are becoming regular appointments in the programs of the past years. The Innsbruck committee, together with the Board of the International Association of Assyriology had the pleasure to host a small delegation of colleagues from Iraq, including Prof. Dr. Kozad Ahmed (University of Slemani), Prof. Dr. Laith Hussein (University of Baghdad), and Prof. Dr. Ahmed Kamel, former director of the Iraq Museum and member of the IAA Board.
RAI 64 was a rich and varied one that demonstrated the liveliness and breadth that our discipline has developed in recent years.
Photo credit: Astrid Rief
Innsbruck was also a place of entertainment: in addition to the traditional welcoming reception offered on Monday, and the main reception on Thursday, where some colleagues from Innsbruck played live Tirolean music. The committee also organized the first-ever Assyriological pub quiz in the history of the Rencontre.
Last but not least, during the rencontre two films were shown. Monday evening saw a screening of “Edubba A” (http://www.baf.unibe.ch/baf_35_mm/) – a cinematographic adaptation of a Sumerian text about school life.
Then, on Thursday evening the conference participants could enjoy a preview of the Akkadian folktale called “The Poor Man of Nippur” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxYoFlnJLoE), acted by Assyriology students and other members of the Mesopotamian studies community at the University of Cambridge. These are the first films ever made in Sumerian and Akkadian (or do you know others?).
The Annual General Meeting of the IAA was held on Wednesday afternoon, and the full minutes of the meeting are now available online.
To Paris
With the new year already started, we turn our attention to Paris for the 65th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale. The conference will take place from July 8th to 12th, 2019, on the theme of ‘Gods, Kings and Capitals in the Ancient Near East’.
The website for this RAI is already online (https://rai2019.digitorient.com/en/), and the first circular provides important information on the event. A second circular should be available very soon, with more details regarding the organization of the Rencontre and associated events (receptions, museum visits, etc.).
The Organising Committee reminds us that, as Paris is a popular tourist destination in the summer, participants are invited to book their accommodation as early as possible.
See you soon in Paris!
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