CIRO LO MUZIO

INDEX

Exam sessions
Hindi Language and Translation I and II exam sessions (Winter session 2026)
Syllabus and bibliography – Master’s degree course a.y. 2025–26 (2nd semester)
Syllabus and bibliography – Bachelor’s degree course a.y. 2025–26: Archaeology and History of Indian Art, 1st semester
Syllabus and bibliography – Bachelor’s degree course a.y. 2025–26: Archaeology and History of Central Asian Art, 1st semester
Hindi Language and Translation I
Hindi Language and Translation II
Programs from previous years

1)

EXAM SESSIONS

Winter session January–February 2026
15 January, 10:00, Room 103 (Marco Polo Building, 1st floor)
5 February, 10:00, Room 106 (Marco Polo Building, 1st floor)
18 February, 10:00, Room 106 (Marco Polo Building, 1st floor). To register, send an email to the teacher (ciro.lomuzio@uniroma1.it); if possible, also indicate the course code and the teaching code.

Extraordinary spring session (2026)
24 April

Summer session 2026
10 June
30 June
15 July

Autumn session 2026
9 September
25 September

Extraordinary autumn session 2026
13 November

Winter session 2027
8 January
28 January
17 February

2)

Hindi Language and Translation I and II – EXAM SESSIONS

Winter session 2026

First session:
Written test: 13 January, 11:00, Laboratory 1 (Marco Polo); register by emailing the teacher (ciro.lomuzio@uniroma1.it) by 11 January
Oral test: 14 January, 11:00, Laboratory 1 (Marco Polo)

Second session:
Written test: 11 February, 11:00, Laboratory 3; register by emailing the teacher (ciro.lomuzio@uniroma1.it) by 9 February
Oral test: 12 February, 11:00, Laboratory 3

3)

Master’s Degree Course a.y. 2025–26 (2nd semester): ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY OF ART OF INDIA AND CENTRAL ASIA

Classroom code: 3dbogdxb

Archaeological research in Eastern Central Asia (Xinjiang)

The course will provide an overview of archaeological research in Xinjiang (China), from the late 19th century to the present.

Bronze and Iron Ages: funerary practices, material culture, relations with Eurasian cultures.
Historical period: history of archaeological research; oasis cultures in southern and northern Xinjiang; Chinese written sources compared with archaeological evidence; the impact of international trade.
Buddhism in Central Asia: modes of diffusion; Central Asian masters and translators; architectural and figurative models.
Urban centers and Buddhist foundations in the oases along the southern and northern edges of the Taklamakan: Loulan, Miran, Khotan, Kashgar, Tumshuq, Kucha, Karashahr and Turfan.
Architecture, figurative arts, material culture.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

GENERAL
Lo Muzio, Ciro. Archeologia dell'Asia Centrale preislamica, Mondadori Università – Milan 2017, Introduction and chapters 7, 9, 10 and 11.

FURTHER READING

Bronze Age
On the Xiaohe necropolis (also known as Ördek Necropolis; Small River no. 5):
Mair, Victor H. The Rediscovery and Complete Excavation of Ördek’s Necropolis. The Journal of Indo-European Studies, 34/3-4, 2006, pp. 273–318

Miran
Filigenzi, Anna, “From Saidu Sharif to Miran”, Indologica Taurinensia, XXXII, 2006, pp. 67–89

Karadong
Keriya, mémoires d’un fleuve. Archéologie et civilisation des oasis du Taklamakan, ed. C. Debaine-Francfort and Abduressul Idris, Paris – Editions Findakly, 2000, pp. 82–105
Lo Muzio, Ciro, “Buddhist Painting in the South of the Tarim Basin: a Chronological Conundrum”

Rawak
Lo Muzio, Ciro, “Some Remarks on Rawak (Khotan Oasis, Xinjiang): The Stūpa, Clay Sculptures and Wall Painting” […]

Kucha Oasis
Santoro, Arcangela, “Dalla Nascita all'Illuminazione: su quattro scene della vita del Buddha storico nella Grotta dei Pavoni (Kizil, Xinjiang)”, Rivista degli studi orientali 2001, Vol. 75, pp. 205–238

Turfan
Konczak, Ines, “Origin, Development and Meaning of the Praṇidhi Paintings on the Northern Silk Road”, in Buddhism and Art in Turfan, Ryukoku University, 2012, pp. 43–55, 71–75

Iconographic sheets (painting and sculpture in Tumshuq, Kucha, Shorchuk, Turfan), limited to the works examined during lectures and included in PowerPoints:
Härtel, Herbert – Yaldiz, Marianne. Along the Ancient Silk Routes, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1982

4)

Bachelor’s Degree Course a.y. 2025–26 (1st semester): ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY OF INDIAN ART

Classroom code: iyegvrwp

Introduction to the art and architecture of the Indian Subcontinent, from the Bronze Age to the 8th century CE.

Indus Valley Civilization (ca. 2600–1800 BCE): urban planning, architecture, figurative arts, seals.
From the Vedic period to urbanization in the Ganges plain (ca. 1500–500 BCE).
Protohistory in the Deccan: megaliths and other Iron Age archaeological evidence.
The Mauryas (320–185 BCE): monumental architecture; rock-cut sanctuaries; dynastic monuments such as Aśoka’s pillars—their morphology, symbolic meaning, and relationship with Buddhism.
Earliest Buddhist architecture and art (2nd century BCE – 1st century CE): stūpa, monastery, figurative arts, patronage; sites such as Bharhut, Sanchi, and Deccan cave sites (Bhaja, Bedsa, Karle).
Kushan period (1st–3rd century CE): Gandhāra and Mathurā art; emergence of the anthropomorphic Buddha; narrative imagery; western influences; Kushan dynastic aspects.
Andhra: Amaravati and Nagarjunakonda.
Gupta period (4th–6th century CE): Hindu iconography and Buddhist developments (Mathura and Sarnath schools).
Origins and types of Hindu temples.
Ajanta caves.
Elephanta sanctuary.
Southern dynasties: Pallavas and Chalukyas (6th–8th century CE): Mamallapuram temples; Rājasimheśvara temple in Kanchipuram.
Ellora: Kailasanatha temple.

Bibliography
Handout on protohistory.
S. Huntington, The Art of Ancient India, 1985 (selected chapters).
L. Giuliano, An Introduction to Gandhāran Art, 2010, pp. 15–48.

Schedule
Wednesday, 10–12, Room E (ex Vetrerie)
Thursday, 12–14, Laboratory 2 (Marco Polo)
Start of classes: 8 October 2025

5)

Bachelor’s Degree Course a.y. 2025–26 (1st semester): ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY OF CENTRAL ASIAN ART

Classroom code: qdcprsao

Introduction to the archaeology of Western Central Asia from the Bronze Age to the 8th century CE.

Topics:
Bronze Age: Oxus Civilization; Andronovo culture
Iron Age and Achaemenid period
Hellenism in Bactria
Ai Khanum
Takht-i Sangin: Temple of the Oxus
Nomadic necropolises: Tillia Tepe
Kushan cities and art
Dilberjin
Spread of Buddhism in Bactria/Tokharistan and Margiana
Early Middle Ages
Sogdian cities: Samarkand (Afrasiab), Penjikent, Varakhsha
Sogdian painting: technique, style, iconography
Art of early medieval Tokharistan

Bibliography
Lo Muzio, Archeologia dell'Asia Centrale preislamica, selected chapters.

Schedule
Wednesday, 14–16, Lab 2 (Marco Polo)
Thursday, 16–18, Room 104 (Marco Polo)
Start: 8 October 2025

6)

HINDI LANGUAGE AND TRANSLATION I (annual, 12 ECTS)

Classroom code: jlkbhs6h

Chapters 1–12 of Corso di Lingua Hindi (Milanetti–Gupta, Hoepli, 2007).
During the exam, students must demonstrate the ability to read, translate texts, complete exercises, and answer grammar questions.

Schedule
Tuesday, 14–16, Lab 2 (Marco Polo)
Start: 7 October 2025

7)

HINDI LANGUAGE AND TRANSLATION II (annual, 12 ECTS)

Classroom code: w2opvtrh

Chapters 1–20 of Corso di Lingua Hindi (Milanetti–Gupta, Hoepli, 2007)
Texts: Translation of the short story “Baalak” (Premchand)

Schedule
Tuesday, 10–12, Lab 1 (Marco Polo)
Start: 7 October 2025

Ciro LO MUZIO

Personal Details
Name: Lo Muzio Ciro
Nationality: Italian
Academic Position: Associate Professor (L-OR/16 Archaeology and Art History of India)

Business Address
Dpt. Italian Institute of Oriental Studies
Sapienza University of Rome
Circonvallazione Tiburtina 4, 00185 - Rome
email: ciro.lomuzio@uniroma1.it
https://uniroma1.academia.edu/CLoMuzio

Education

1994 PhD (1994) in Eastern Asian Art History (Central Asian curriculum) at the Università degli studi di Genova.
1984 MA in Foreign Languages and Literature (Oriental section, curriculum art history and archaeology), Istituto Universitario Orientale of Naples (now Università degli Studi di Napoli „L’Orientale“)

Post-doctoral fellowships

2000-
2002 Research grant (Assegno di ricerca), Sapienza University of Rome

Academic qualifications
Habilitated as Full Professor in 2019, sector 10/n3 (Cultures of Central and Eastern Asia).

Employment
Associate professor of Indian and Central Asian Archaeology and Art History in the Italian Institute of Oriental Studies, Sapienza – University of Rome (since 2015)
Assistant Professor at Sapienza University of Rome (2009-2015)
Non-tenure-track professor at Sapienza University of Rome (2002-2008)

Academic duties
Coordinator of the PhD course (Dottorato di ricerca) in Asia and Africa’s Civilisations (Italian Institute of Oriental Studies, Sapienza University of Rome), and is in the teaching staff of the same PhD course (2010-2013)
Head of the first and second level programmes in Oriental Languages and Civilisations, at the Italian Institute of Oriental Studies, Sapienza University of Rome (November 2015 to November 2021)
Member of the Board of the PhD in Civilisations of Asia and Africa, Sapienza University of Rome (since 2010)
Member of the scientific board of the Rivista degli Studi Orientali.

Research funding
2020-2023
Director of the Research project “Le arti figurative nell’oasi di Khotan (Xinjiang, Cina): elementi per una revisione della cronologia” [Figurative arts in the Khotan oasis (Xinjiang, China): elements for chronological revision], funded by Sapienza University of Rome

2023-2025
Director of the Sapienza University Research Unit within the Research Project of National Interest (PRIN) “eartHeritage - A cultural rescue initiative for earthen heritage: An interdisciplinary, diachronic and trans-areal approach to interconnected artistic productions in clay and stucco in Iran, Iraq, Central Asia and the north of the Indian subcontinent (3rd cent. BCE-8th century CE)” (principal investigator: Prof. Anna Filigenzi, L’Orientale University, Naples)

Archaeological and art-historical activities
1986. Participation to the activities the Italian Archaeological Mission to Nepal (1986) of the IsMEO (Istituto per il Medio ed Estremo Oriente).
From 1990 to 1997. Collaboration to the catalogue of the Gandharan reliefs housed in the National Museum of Oriental Art, Rome, based on a project directed by the late Dr. Domenico Faccenna.
From 1995 to 2010, member of the Uzbek-Italian Archaeological Mission to Uzbekistan, taking part to the field research (surveys, diggings) and to the study of the material, in particular terracottas and wall paintings.

Fields of research interest
Archaeology and art history of Central Asia and of the North-West of the Indian Subcontinent. Main focus on religious iconography (Buddhist mural painting and sculpture; transmission of iconography; impact of South Asian traditions to Central Asian visual arts).

MAIN PUBLICATIONS

"The “Red Hall” Murals in the Varakhsha Palace (Bukhara Oasis): Hints for a New Reading", in Le forme della città: Iran, Gandhāra e Asia Centrale. Scritti offerti a Pierfrancesco Callieri in occasione del suo 65° compleanno, a cura di Luca Colliva, Anna Filigenzi, Luca Maria Olivieri, con l’assistenza editoriale di Marco Baldi (Serie Orientale Roma, n.s. Vol. 34), Roma, ISMEO, pp. 383-397

"Hu胡 Dancers in China: a View from the West", in Sichou zhi lu yanjiu jikan. Di jiu ji 丝绸之路研究集刊 . 第九辑, Xi'an, 2003, pp. 212-229

"KHOTAN vi. Khotanese Art", in Encyclopaedia Iranica XVII/1, https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-iranica-onl...

"Some Remarks on Rawak (Khotan Oasis, Xinjiang): The Stūpa, Clay Sculptures and Wall Paintings", in Connecting the Art, Literature, and Religion of South and Central Asia. Studies in Honour of Monika Zin, edited by Ines Konczak-Nagel, Satomi Hiyama, and Astrid Klein, DEV Publishers & Distributors New Delhi, 2022, pp. 233-245

"Note euroasiatiche sulla regalità kushana", in P. BUZI - D. MONTANARI - L. NIGRO (a cura di), Onorare gli dèi, rappresentare il potere regale, ammirare il monumento. Canoni, contesti, funzioni e fruizioni della statuaria divina e regale nell’Egitto, nel Vicino e Medio Oriente e nell’Asia Centrale (Quaderni di Vicino Oriente XVII), Roma, 2021, pp. 117-127

"Persian ‘Snap’: Iranian Dancers in Gandhāra", in The Music Road. Coherence and Diversity in Music from the Mediterranean to India, edited by R. Strohm (Proceedings of the British Academy), Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2019, pp. 71-86

“Brahmanical Deities in Foreign Lands: The Fate of Skanda in Buddhist Central Asia,” BuddhistRoad Paper 6.1 Special Issue: Central Asian Networks. Rethinking the Interplay of Religions, Art and Politics across the Tarim Basin (5th–10th c.), Erika Forte, ed., Bochum, 2019, pp. 8-43.

Archeologia dell'Asia centrale preislamica, Milano, Mondadori Università, 2017 ISBN 9788861844131

"Skanda and the Mothers in Khotanese Buddhist Painting", in Ch. Jahoda et alii, eds. Interactions in the Himalayas and Central Asia. Processes of Transfer, Translation and Transformation in Art, Archaeology, Religion and Polity, pp. 71-89, Vienna, Austrian Academy of Sciences, 2017, ISBN: 978-3-7001-8073-9

"Early Sogdian Painting", in A. V. Omel'čenko - Dž. K. Mirzaachmedov (eds.), Bucharskij oazis i ego sosedi v drevnosti i srednevekov'e na osnove naučnych konferencii 2010 i 2011, Sankt-Peterburg, Izdatel'stvo Gosudarstvennogo Ermitaža, pp. 109-119

“The Legacy of Gandhara in Central Asian Painting”, in In the Shadow of the Golden Age: Art and Identity from Gandhara to the Modern Age (Proceedings of the International Conference held in Bonn, 13th-14th October 2011), EBVerlag, Berlin, 2014, pp. 115-136;

New Evidence on Sogdian Painting from Uch Kulakh (Bukhara Oasis - Uzbekistan), in South Asian Archaeology and Art, 1. Changing Forms and Cultural Identity: Religious and Secular Iconographies. Papers from the 20th conference of the European Association for South Asian Archaeology and Art held in Vienna from 4th to 9th of July 2010, Brepols, Turnhout, 2014, pp. 225-236

"Remarks on the Paintings from the Buddhist Monastery of Fayaz Tepe (Southern Uzbekistan)", in C. A. Bromberg (ed.), Zoroastrianism and Mary Boyce with Other Studies (Bulletin of the Asia Institute, n.s., 22, 2008), Bloomfield Hills 2012, pp. 189-206

"Notes on Gandharan Painting", in T. Lorenzetti, F. Scialpi (eds.), Glimpses of Indian History and Art. Reflections on the Past, Perspectives for the Future. Proceedings of the International Congress Rome 18-19 April 2011, Sapienza Universitaria Editrice, Rome 2012, pp. 321-337

"La pittura buddhista in Asia Centrale: l'Oasi di Termez", in L. Giuliano (ed.), Ajanta e oltre. La pittura murale in India e Asia Centrale. La ricerca italiana. Nuovi studi e prospettive (Atti del convegno, Roma Museo Nazionale d'Arte orientale 'G. Tucci', 25-26 settembre 2009), Roma 2012, pp. 171-188

“Gandharan Toilet-Trays: Some Reflections on Chronology”, in Ancient Civilizations from Scythia to Siberia, 2011, 17, pp. 327-336;

"Archaeological Traces of Early Turks in Transoxiana", in Coins, Art and Chronology II. The First Millennium C.E. in the Indo-Iranian Borderlands, edited by M. Alram, D. Klimburg-Salter, M. Inaba, M. Pfisterer, Vienna 2010, 429-442;

“An Archaeological Outline of the Bukhara oasis”, in Journal Of Inner Asian Art and Archaeology, 2009, 4, 43-68;

"Culti brahmanici a Khotan: note sulle pitture del tempio D13 a Dandan Oiliq". in Rivista degli Studi Orientali, n.s., LXXIX, 1-4 (2006), 185-201;

India (Dizionari delle civiltà), Milano 2008 (coautore Marco Ferrandi);

"On a Buddhist Subject in the Paintings of Kara Tepe (Old Termez)". Central´naja Azija. Istochniki, istorija, kul´tura, Moskva 2005, pp. 477-496;

"Una scena di caccia dalla necropoli di Kopeny (Minusinsk)", in M.V. Fontana, B. Genito (edd.), Studi in onore di Umberto Scerrato per il suo settantacinquesimo compleanno, Napoli 2003, II, pp. 519-538;

"The Umāmaheśvara in Central Asian Art", in Rivista degli Studi Orientali, n.s., 2002, LXXVI, 1-4, pp. 49-86.

"The Dioscuri at Dilberjin (Northern Afghanistan): Reviewing their Chronology and Significance", in Studia Iranica, 1999, 28, 1, 41-71;

"OHÞO: a Sovereign God", in Silk Road Art & Archaeology, 1995-96, IV, pp.35-48.