The Hittite writing system, paleography and dating of the cuneiform texts, insights into the history, society and religion by reading texts, translation and commentary.
Grammar and paleography:
R. Francia, Eelementi di grammatica ittita, Roma 2014;
Ch. Rüster - E. Neu, Hethitisches Zeichnlexikon, Wiesbaden 1989;
Dispense del docente su moodle.
General part and content of the course:
S. De Martino, Da Kussara a Karkemis, storia del Regno ittita;
Archi A., “The Propaganda of Ḫattušiliš III”, in: SMEA 14 (1971) 185-215.
Beckman G., “Hattušili III between Gods and Men”, in: Fs Ünal 69-74.
Hout Th.P.J. van den, “Hittite Canonical Compositions - Biography and Autobiography: Apology of Hattušili III”, in: Context of Scripture 1 (1997) 199-204 (Nr. 1.77).
Imparati F., “Apology of Ḫattušili III or Designation of his Successor?”, in: Fs Houwink ten Cate (1995) 143-158.
Learning Objectives
With this course, students will be able to read the Hittite cuneiform, analyze the syntactic structure and grammar of texts in order to arrive at a correct translation. They will also be able to use properly scientific literature.
Prerequisites
Hittitology
Teaching Methods
Lectures, discussion and reading of texts and scientific articles, exercises.
Type of Assessment
Written essay on a short cuneiform text.
At the end of the course, an oral examination will be conducted with questions related to the general part mentioned in the bibliography and the program explained in the lessons. A part of the exam will be devoted to reading from cuneiform, and translation with grammatical commentary of passages of lessons learned.
Course program
During the lessons we are going to read parts of two texts of different typologies to in order to give elements of history and religion of the Hittites:
1) The autobiography of Hattusili III: the historical context, the era of the so-called Pax hethitica; the literary genre of autobiography; reading and discussion of parts of the text (10 hours).
2) The ritual of construction CTH 413: the function of religion in the Hittite world, the foundation myths of royalty; reading and discussion of parts of the text (10 hours).
The chosen passage will be read in Hittite language from the cuneiform, using hand copies and photos, with grammar analysis and commentary during the lessons. Attention will be devoted to the study of paleography and scribal hands.
The last 8 hours of the course concern exercises on how to copy the texts in autography.