Assyriology (research)

Specialisation of: Classics and Ancient Civilisations (research)
Degree: Master of Arts in Classics and Ancient Civilisations (research)
Mode of Study: Full-time
Duration: 2 years
Start date: September, February
Language of instruction: English
Location: Leiden
Croho/isat code: 60039
Share |

Assyriology is taken in its broadest sense here and includes the multi-disciplinary study of the various civilisations employing the cuneiform script for different languages. A strong emphasis on society and administration makes a valuable contribution to the methodological framework of the Research Master’s programme as such.

Leiden University is a pre-eminent location to study the ancient Near Eastern cultures that used the cuneiform script—invented pre-3000 BC—as a writing system. Leiden’s Assyriology programmes have gained international recognition, through such projects as the Altbabylonische Briefe in Umschrift und Übersetzung series, which consist of a corpus of epistolary texts from the Old Babylonian period.

Prof. Joan Booth

Joan Booth

“It extends the connection-making process beyond Greece and Rome to the ancient civilizations of the Near-East.”

“Classics, and especially the specialisation Classics within the Research Master Classics and Ancient Near Eastern Civilisations, is about making connections – between Greek and Latin, language and culture, text and image, source and reception, ancient and modern ways of thinking, speaking, believing and behaving.

Almost uniquely within a single programme, the Classics programme offers the opportunity of extending the connection-making process beyond classical Greece and Rome to the ancient civilizations of the Near-East.

The intersection and interaction of East and West around the Ancient Mediterranean and its hinterlands in a particular historical period is the focus one of the common courses (Cultural Contact in the Hellenistic World), while the similarities and divergences in the scholarly approach to the texts of each culture lie at the heart of another (The Commentary). The prospect is an exciting symbiosis of specialised perspective and bigger picture.”