ALESSIO AGOSTINI

Corsi del II semestre 2025:

► Il corso di Epigrafia semitica (LT) inizia il 6 marzo 2025 e avrà questo orario: gio. 16-18 (Aula F) e ven. 14-16 (Aula F).

Link di iscrizione alla pagina di Google Classroom (solo per account @studenti.uniroma1.it): https://classroom.google.com/c/MjMwOTk0NTQzNjJa?cjc=cq5n2au

► Il corso di Epigrafia e filologia semitica (LM) inizia il 5 marzo 2025 e avrà questo orario: merc. 14-16 (Aula Seminario, dip. SEAI) e giov. 10-12 (Aula F).

Link di iscrizione alla pagina di Google Classroom (solo per account @studenti.uniroma1.it): https://classroom.google.com/c/MjEzMDU3NjU5MTVa?cjc=43blgrq

► The course of Semitic Philology (I and II) begins on the 5 March 2025 and continues with the following timetable: Wednesday, 4-6 pm (Aula F, 2nd Floor) and Friday, 4-6 pm (Sala Riunioni, 1st Floor).

Link to join the Google Classroom page (only for those with an account @studenti.uniroma1.it): https://classroom.google.com/c/MjMwOTk0NTQ0NTVa?cjc=tvsbjpo

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The forthcoming exams of Semitic Philology I/II (Ancient Semitic Languages and Textual Sources) will be: 

• 9 April 2025
• 18 June
• 2 July
• 16 July
• 12 September
• 24 September
• 12 November
• 21 January 2026

► If unable to book on Infostud, students must send an email to the Professor a few days before to communicate the chosen date for the exam and to receive pratical information about the time and place of the exam.

SSD L-OR/07: Semitistica – Lingue e letterature dell’Etiopia
SC 10/N1: Culture del Vicino Oriente antico, del Medio Oriente e dell’Africa

orcid.org/0000-0001-8856-4393

Dipartimento di Scienze dell’antichità
Facoltà di Lettere e filosofia
Sapienza Università di Roma

1. ACADEMIC POSITION

a. Present position
2020/– Associate Professor (Dipartimento di Scienze dell’antichità. Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia. Sapienza Università di Roma).

b. Previous positions
2011/2020 Researcher (Dipartimento di Scienze dell’antichità. Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia. Sapienza Università di Roma).
2010/2011 Marie Curie Fellow (Chercheur à temps déterminé – Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship), UMR 8167 “Orient et Méditerranée”, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris.

2. EDUCATION AND DEGREES

2008 PhD in Linguistics. Università di Firenze. Tutor: prof. Paolo Marrassini.
2006 Visiting Fellow to Institut de Recherche sur le Monde Musulman et de la Méditerranée (Aix en Provence) – summer.
2002 MA Languages and Literatures of ancient Ethiopia. Università di Firenze. Tutor: prof. Paolo Marrassini.

3. RESEARCH INTERESTS

• Comparative Semitic linguistics, lexicon and onomastics;
• Epigraphy and archaeology of pre-Islamic South Arabia;
• Aspects and patterns of the pre-Islamic Arabian society and religion, esp. concerning the expiation rituals;
• Birth and diffusion of the Western Semitic linear scripts;
• Ancient Aramaic documentation.

4. RESEARCH ACTIVITIES

a. Archaeological Missions
2017 Mission archéologique franco-éthiopienne à Wakarida (Western Tigray, Ethiopia), dir. I. Gajda (CNRS) – Participation to the archaeological investigations.
2013 Khor Mughsayl excavation (Dhofar, Oman), Office of His Majesty the Sultan for Cultural Affairs – Italian Mission to Oman (University of Pisa) – Direction of the excavation.
2003/– Italian Archaeological Mission to Yemen (dir. prof. Alessandro de Maigret - IsIAO, Rome / University of Naples “L’Orientale”). Excavations to Barāqish/Yathill – Field direction as archaeologist and epigraphist.
2003/2008 French-Italian Archaeological Mission to Qatabān, Yemen (dir. A. de Maigret - Ch. Robin - IsIAO - University of Naples “L'Orientale” - MAE (IT) - CEFAS (FR) - MAE (FR) - Ministry of Finance (YE). Archaeological investigations to Tamnaʿ and Ḥayd ibn ʿAqil – Archaeologist and epigraphist.

b. Other scientific collaborations
2019/– Dizionario fenicio-punico (project “Dizionari del Vicino Oriente antico”). Unione Accademica Nazionale – ISMEO. Member of the working group.
2016 “Yemen patrimonio dell’umanità, archeologia arte e architettura”. Museo d’Arte Orientale di Ca’ Pesaro, Venice (20 October – 16 December 2016) – Scientific collaboration to the exhibition.
2010 Corpus of South Arabian Inscriptions (CSAI). University of Pisa (dir. prof. A. Avanzini). Research Fellowship: Scientific collaboration, editing of epigraphic and archaeological cards.

5. ACADEMIC ACTIVITES

a. PhD boards
2013/– Member of the PhD Program in Philology and History of the Ancient World (Sapienza University of Rome).

b. Editorial and scientific commitees
2017/– Series Studi Semitici NS (Rome).
2017/– Journal Oriens Antiquus, series nova (Rome).
2015/– Museum of Near East, Egypt and Mediterraean (Sapienza University Museums, Rome).

c. Memberships
2016/– Consulta Universitaria per gli Studi su Asia e Africa – CUSTAA (Italy).
2011/– Membre associé UMR 8167 Orient & Méditerranée (CNRS, Paris).
2011/– Member Marie Curie Alumni Association (EC – Brussels).

6. TEACHING ACTIVITIES AND COURSES

2021/– Semitic Philology – Cultural Heritage in the Near and Middle East, and in Africa (ENG) – Sapienza.
2011/– Semitic Epigraphy – Archaeological Sciences; Oriental Languages and Civilizations (IT) – Sapienza.
2011/– Semitic Epigraphy and Philology – Archaeology (IT) – Sapienza.
2018/19 Semitic Philology (IT) – University of Florence.

7. NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL FINANCED PROJECTS

2021/– “Peccato, impurità e malattie. Ritualità e linguaggio del processo di espiazione nell'Arabia del I millennio a.C. in una prospettiva diacronica e comparativa” (Sapienza Projects);
2019/– “L'area sacra di Baraqish (Yemen): analisi e sviluppi comparativi dei dati inediti dalle ultime campagne di scavo nel tempio di Athtar (2004-2006)” (Sapienza Projects);
2017 Fondo di Finanziamento delle Attività Base della Ricerca (FFABR), ANVUR (Ministerial funding);
2013 “15th Meeting of Afro-Asiatic Linguistics” (Sapienza Meetings);
2010/2011 Marie Curie Intra-European Fellowship - FP7-PEOPLE-2009-IEF. Project ASACOSINS. Grant Agreement N° PIEF-GA-2009-252917 (Europaean Agency – Single beneficiary).

8. CONGRESSES AND MEETINGS IN ITALY AND ABROAD

a. Organization
2022 Egitto e Vicino Oriente antichi: tra passato e futuro (EVOA 2021) – (Sapienza University of Rome), 30 June-1 July 2022. Member of the organizing committee.
2020 Gli studi semitici di Giovanni Garbini. Una commemorazione a 3 anni dalla scomparsa (Sapienza University of Rome), 10 January 2020. Organizer.
2016 20éme Rencontres Sabéennes (Perugia), 9-11 June 2016. Member of the organizing committee
2014 15th Meeting of Afro-Asiatic Linguistics (Sapienza University of Rome), 17-19 September 2014. Organizer.

b. Participation as speaker
2021 “Tribal movements and cultural intersections in the Yemenite Jawf valley: The case of the ʿAmīr”: Costeggiando l’Eurasia. 1° Congresso di archeologia del paesaggio e di geografia storica tra il Mare Inferiore (Oceano Indiano) e il Mare Superiore (Mar Mediterraneo) – (Sapienza University of Rome), 5-8 October 2021.
2020 “Oracular consultations in pre-Islamic South Arabia: terminology, practices and settings”: If a City is Situated on Seven Heights... Current Insights into Ancient Near Eastern Divination (Istituto Svizzero di Roma / Escuela Española de Historia y Arqueología en Roma), 23-24 September 2020 (webinar).
2020 “L’Arabia meridionale di Giovanni Garbini: tra epigrafia, storia e linguistica”: Gli studi semitici di Giovanni Garbini. Una commemorazione a 3 anni dalla scomparsa (Sapienza University of Rome), 10 January 2020.
2019 “Publishing Baraqish: some epigraphic marginalia”: 23rd Rencontres Sabéennes. Out of Arabia: South Arabian long-distance trade in Antiquity (Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien), 13-15 June 2019.
2019 “Forma del dio, spazio del culto e ‘pietre nere’: problemi aperti e qualche nuovo dato dall’Arabia preislamica”. 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. Convegno degli Orientalisti antichisti della “Sapienza” (Sapienza University of Rome), 30-31 May 2019.
2017 “The expiatory rite before Islam: data from ancient South Arabian texts”: ARAM Society for Syro-Mesopotamian Studies, 46th International Conference: “Arabs before Islam (The Oriental Institute, University of Oxford), 17-19 July 2017.
2017 “Il rito di espiazione sudarabico antico: uno sguardo ai nuovi dati dai templi di Baraqish (Yemen)”: Egitto e Vicino Oriente antichi: tra passato e futuro (University of Pisa), 5-6 giugno 2017.
2016 “L’acqua tra rito e (mala)gestione nel contesto templare sudarabico”: Giornata di studio su “Acqua e religione nel Vicino Oriente antico” (Sapienza University dof Rome), 17 November 2016.
2016 “Viaggio intorno a un Ḍād: riflessioni su alcune lingue semitiche epigrafiche tra scrittura e fonologia”: “Dalla tavoletta al tablet” II: giornata multidisciplinare di studi epigrafici tra problemi ancora aperti e nuove tecnologie (Sapienza University of Rome), 18 May 2016.
2015 “Light and shade from the epigraphic documentation in the Athtar temple at Baraqish: an overview”: Rencontres Sabéennes 19 (University of Pisa), 18-20 June 2015.
2015 “Problemi e metodi di epigrafia semitica: qualche spunto dalla documentazione sudarabica antica”: “Dalla tavoletta al tablet”: giornata multidisciplinare di studi epigrafici tra problemi ancora aperti e nuove tecnologie (Sapienza University of Rome), 23-24 February 2015.
2014 “Introduction: Rome and the Afro-Asiatic studies”: 15th Meeting of Afro-Asiatic Linguistics (Sapienza Università di Roma), 17-19 September 2014.
2014 “The excavation of the temple of ʿAthtar dhu-Qabḍ at Barāqish. Stratigraphic data and historical reconstruction”: Seminar for Arabian Studies (British Museum, London), 24-27 July 2014.
2013 “Donne d’Arabia meridionale tra mito e realtà: dalla Regina di Saba alle Ierodule”: Donne d’Oriente. 1a Giornata di studi sulla donna nel mondo vicino-orientale e mediterraneo antico (Sapienza University of Rome), 6 December 2013.
2013 “Transgression and Society: some reflections on expiatory texts”: Rencontres Sabéennes 17 (Collège de France, Paris), 6-8 June 2013.
2012 “Alessandro de Maigret and the last campaigns at Baraqish: a personal reminiscence”: Activity of the Italian Archaeological Mission in Yemen 1980-2010. A Commemoration of the Scientific and Academic Career of Professor Alessandro de Maigret (Ministero degli Esteri – Museo Nazionale di Arte Orientale, Rome), 11-12 June 2012.
2012 “Ma‘in and Yathill, Yathill within Ma‘in”: XVI Rencontres Sabéennes (University of Pisa), 6-9 June 2012.
2011 “New Perspectives on Minaean Confession of Sins”: Seminar for Arabian Studies (British Museum, London), 28-30 July 2011.
2011 “Minaean Expiatory Texts: new data from Baraqish”: XV Rencontres Sabéennes (Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences and State Museum of Oriental Art, Moscow), 25-27 May 2011.
2010 “The excavation of a small shrine in the Market Square: Observations on the last phase of Tamna”: XIV Rencontres Sabéennes (Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Pergamon Museum, Berlin), 10-12 June 2010.
2009 “Building materials in South Arabian construction inscriptions”: Seminar for Arabian Studies (British Museum, London), 23-25 July 2009.
2009 “A new construction inscription from the recently excavated Temple B in Baraqish”: XIII Rencontres Sabéennes (CNRS, Cino del Duca Foundation, Paris), 4-6 June 2009.
2008 “Excavations of the Italian Archaeological Mission in Yemen: a Minaean necropolis at Barāqish and the Qatabanian necropolis of Ḥayd bin ‘Aqīl”: Society for Arabian Studies Biennial Conference: “Death, Burial and the Transition to the Afterlife in Arabia and Adjacent Regions” (British Museum, London), 27-29 November 2008.
2008 “Clients and builders in South Arabian inscriptions”: XII Rencontres Sabéennes (IsIAO, Rome), 11-13 June 2008.

[Updated July 2022]