60th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale in Warsaw

A report by Valeria Zubieta Lupo.

Between the 21st and the 25th of July the 60th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale took place in Warsaw, Poland. The theme of this year's conference was "Fortune and Misfortune in the Ancient Near East".
The University of Warsaw during the 60th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale (photo: Valeria Zubieta Lupo).
The welcoming session was held on Monday 21st by Prof. Marta Kicińska-Habior (Vice-Rector of the University of Warsaw), Prof. Jolanta Sierakowska-Dyndo (Dean of the Faculty of Oriental Studies of the University of Warsaw), Dr. hab. Małgorzata Sandowicz (Chair of the Warsaw RAI Organizing Committee), and finally by Prof. Piotr Michałowski (President of the International Association for Assyriology). During the opening session, three lectures related to the conference's topic were presented by Prof. Piotr Steinkeller (Harvard University), Prof. Stefan Zawadzki (Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań), and Prof. Peter A. Miglus (University of Heidelberg). Furthermore, a variety of approaches to the theme were presented by experienced and young researchers, whom explored different angles of the Ancient Near East's perception of fortune and misfortune. Particularly interesting for the Research Training Group (RTG) 1876 were the contributions about the conceptualization of disease and the topics related to it.

The 60th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale was divided into several workshops, where various presentations and its respective discussions took place:
  • Monday 21st: "Divination Masked by Religion", "Millennium Elam and Assyria", and "Literature: Myths".
  • Tuesday 22nd: "In Honour of Prof. Piotr Michalowski and Prof. Piotr Steinkeller", "Beyond Military: Fortifications and Territorial Policies in the ANE", "Millennium Peripheries", "Omens and Divination", and "In Memoriam Pierre Bordreuil".
  • Wednesday 23rd: "Patients and Patronage: At the Intersection of the Mesopotamian Technical Disciplines and their Clients (BabMed)", "Current Research in Cuneiform Palaeography", and "The Reign of Esarhaddon", "Wisdom and Hymns", and "Archeology".
  • Thursday 24th: "New Sources and Insights on the Middle Assyrian Period", "Early Dynastic and Ur III", "Neo- and Late Babylonian Society", and "Beyond Hierarchies: Heterarchy and Gender".
  • Friday 25th: "Neo-Babylonian History", "Medicine and Rituals", "Old Babylonian", "Old Assyrian", and finally the closing session.

The Research Training Group (RTG) 1876 was represented by Professor Doris Prechel and myself, PhD-candidate Valeria Zubieta Lupo. On Tuesday 22nd, I had the opportunity to present a poster based on my PhD-project "The conceptualization of the Hittite imaginary of disease", which remained in exposition until the end of the conference:
Poster by Valeria Zubieta Lupo.
Poster session (photo: Valeria Zubieta Lupo).
For more information see here.

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