Biografia

Franco D'Agostino

Prof. ricercatore
SSD: L-OR/03
Assiriologia

franco.dagostino@gmail.com

Current Position:

1996: Senior Researcher (Assyriology)

Education:

1995: Post-PhD Specialization (Sumerology), Univ. Of Naples, “L’Orientale”

1992: PhD in “Scienze Filologiche dell’Asia Occidentale Antica” (Philological Sciences of Ancient Western Asia), Univ. of Naples “L’Orientale”

1992: Period of 6 months study in Chicago, USA, in the Oriental Institute (M.W. Stolper)

1991: Period of 6 months study in St. Petersburg, Russia, in the Institut Vostokovedenija (M.A. Dandamaev)

1988: 4 months scholarship in the University of Aix-Marseille, in Aix-en-Provence, to study of Pre-islamic arabic languages with Prof. C. Robin in the Maison de la Méditerranée

1987: Univ. Degree in “Lettere e Filosofia” (Humanities), spec. Assyriology (History and Philology)

1987: 2 months scholarship in the University of Heidelberg, courses of Sumerian language with Prof. H. Waetzoldt (administrative Ur III Texts)

1985: Degree of “Teacher of Russian language and literature for foreigners” in the Associazione Italia-URSS

1984: 1 year scholarship in Moscow

1979-1981: Courses in the Pontificio Istituto Biblico of Ugaritic language and literature and Fenicio-Punic languages with Prof. M. Dahood, and of Syriac language and literature with Prof. F. Pavlovskij

1979: Degree in Classical Studies

1977-1979: Courses of Hebrew and Arabic language with Prof. F. Israel and of History of Israel with Prof. J.A. Soggin, in the Università Valdese of Rome

Fieldwork in Middle-East Countries

I spent many times in fieldwork in Iraq (Baghdad, Mossul, Suleimaniya – Kurdistan), Iran (Teheran, Kerman), Oman (Muscat, Sur).

University teaching:

1993-1996: Teaching of Cuneiform palaeography, Sumerian grammar (literary and administrative texts); Akkadian grammar (literary texts)

1996- Regular courses of Sumerian and Akkadian languages and on many aspects of the Mesopotamian civilizations (history, literature, legal tradition, religion)

2000-2003: Professor of Sumerology in the Facoltà di Conservazione dei Beni Culturali of Ravenna (Univ. di Bologna)

2001- Professor of Assiriology in the Facoltà di Studi Orientali of the Univ. of Rome “La Sapienza”

The courses which I have offered include

1  Sumerian Grammar

2  Akkadian (Babylonian and Assyrian) Grammar

3  The Sumerian Mythology (esp. Inanna and Enki Cycles)

4  The Epic of Gilgameš (History and Formation)

5  Reading of Administrative Texts (Old Akkadian and Ur III)

6  The Humorous Literature in Babylonia

7  Eblaic Language

Extra-University teaching:

1989-1990: Teacher and Director of courses of Russian language and literature in the “Associazione Italia-URSS”

1993-1997: Professor of History of the Ancient Near East in the “Nuova Università degli Studi” of Rome

1997-1998: Professor of Assyro-Babylonian language and literature and History of the Ancient Near East in the Centro di Studi sul Vicino Oriente of Milano.

1998-1999: Professor of Semitic Languages in the Centro di Studi sul Vicino Oriente of Milano

Membership of Editorial Boards:

1991-1995: Member, editorial board of Oriens Antiquus

1994-2000: Co-editor of the project for the publication of the administrative texts of Ebla, Thesaurus Inscriptionum Eblaicarum, in collaboration with G. Pettinato

1995-1996: Member, editorial board of Orientis Antiqui Miscellanea

1996-: Member and Editor-in-Chief, editorial board of Rivista degli Studi Orientali

2004-: Member, editorial board of Journal of Magan Studies, Bologna

Administrative Roles:

1997-2003: Member of the Commission of the Dean of the Department of Oriental Studies

2005-: Member (Representative of the Researcher) in the Commission of the University of Rome “La Sapienza”, Sub-Athenaeum for Sciences and Humanities

2005-: Member of the Commission for Scholarships for Specialization abroad of the Humanities (Sapienza), CUN 10

International Research Activities:

1993-2000: Co-editor of the project of the Thesaurus Inscriptionum Eblaicarum, for the first three volumes (A/1, A/2, B)

1990-1997: Collaborator in the research «The Commerce of Mesopotamia from 9000 to 3000 a.C.», directed by Prof. L. Cagni in the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche

1989-2000: Collaborator in the international project “The Sumerian Dictionary of the Third Millennium BC.”, directed by Prof. G. Pettinato in the Unione Accademica Nazionale

2004: Member of the Project for the Reconstruction of the Magan Boat of the Omanite Government (Univ. of Bologna, Philadelphia, Harvard)

Main Current Projects:

2011-: Co-Director of the Excavations in Abu Tbeirah, Southern Iraq

2010-: Co-Director of a Project aimed at the formation of museum personnel and university students in Arbil (Kurdistan) financed by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs through the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage (fin. 1.800.000 Euros)

2007-: Director of a project aimed at the formation of museum personnel in the area of Nassiriya (South Iraq, Republic of Iraq), financed by the Ministero degli Affari esteri, in cooperation with the Politecnico di Milano (Engineer University) and Epistematica s.r.l. (a private company experienced in Semantic Web Technology) (fin. 205.000 Euros)

2006-: Director of the Project for the complete cataloguing of the Cuneiform Texts kept in the Museum of Suleimaniya (Müze-ye Sleimani), Suleimaniya (Oriental Kurdistan), Republic of Iraq

2005-: Director of the Project for the complete cataloguing of the Mesopotamian Texts kept in the Museum Ir?n-e b?st?n, Theran, Islamic Republic of Iran, financed by the Istituto Italiano per l’Africa e l’Oriente, Rome

2004-: Member of the project for the publication of the administrative neo-sumerian texts from Umma and Lagaš kept in British Museum

2000-: Member of the International Project on the “Computer-aided Analysis of the Administrative Documentation of the Third Dynasty of Ur”, together with M. Molina, M. Such, M. Sigrist, F. Pomponio, P. Mander

Mother Language: Italian

Languages: (very good) English, Russian, German; (good) French