Papers by Gian Pietro Basello
The Ancient Near East Today 10/9.1 (September 2022)
Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und Vorderasiatische Archäologie 112, pp. 11-60, 2022
Linear Elamite writing was used in southern Iran in the late 3 rd /early 2 nd millennium BCE (ca.... more Linear Elamite writing was used in southern Iran in the late 3 rd /early 2 nd millennium BCE (ca. 2300–1880 BCE). First discovered during the French excavations at Susa from 1903 onwards, it has so far resisted decipherment. The publication of eight inscribed silver beakers in 2018 provided the materials and the starting point for a new attempt; its results are presented in this paper. A full description and analysis of Linear Elamite writing, employed for recording the Elamite language, is given here for the first time, together with a discussion of Elamite phonology and the biscriptualism that characterizes this language in its earliest documented phase
The Encyclopedia of Empire, 2016
Elamite Kingdom is an umbrella term used today to refer to the ancient polities that succeeded ea... more Elamite Kingdom is an umbrella term used today to refer to the ancient polities that succeeded each other in ruling over a variable portion of southwestern Iran from the 3rd millennium to the 6th century BCE (i.e., from the beginning of history to the rise of the Achaemenid dynasty). They exerted their power mainly from the city of Susa (modern Shush, Khuzestan province) in the lowlands, extending it to the intermontane valleys in the highlands to the east and as far as the Persian Gulf to the south. A common Elamite civilization among these polities is acknowledged by modern scholars, confirmed by the inscriptions of Elamite kings (e.g., IRS 38) recording their predecessors as early as c.750 years before. Elam was characterized by its own language, customs, cults, monuments, and artistic expressions; notwithstanding these evolving components of Elamite identity, affinities with theMesopotamian civilizations can be recognized in the cultural milieu. The Elamite language (Stolper 2004) became pre-eminent only after c.1400 BCE. It is written in cuneiform characters, but it is not linguistically connected to Sumerian or Akkadian, remaining a language isolate. A relationship with the Dravidian language family is taken for granted by some scholars. The area of Elamite political control included the fertile lowlands of Khuzestan (a southeastern extension of the Mesopotamian plain) and the highland Zagros range to the east (broadly the present-day provinces of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad and western Fars with its capital Shiraz), touching the shores of the Persian Gulf to the south (Bushehr province). Susa, in the lowlands, is the most extensive site (c.250 hectares), while the best known urban centers in the highland and gulf areas are respectively Anshan (modern Tall-e Malyan, c.200 hectares encircled by a wall but not fully settled) and Liyan (modern Tol-e Peytul, close to Bushehr; not fully excavated). Like Malyan, which lies in the Marv Dasht plain (c.1600 m above sea level) where Persepolis was established in the 6th century BCE, the main settlements in the highlands were on fertile intermontane plains, along the main route connecting Susa to Anshan and, later, Persepolis. The widest plains are, rising from west to east, Ramhormoz (c.150 m above sea level), Behbehan (c.320 m), and Fahliyan (c.850 m). To the north of Ramhormoz, the plain around Izeh (c.820 m) lay probably along an alternative route; several Elamite rock reliefs and inscriptions were carved at its edges. Elam is commonly used today as an umbrella term covering lowland Susiana and highland Anshan, whose exact borders, changing over time, are not well defined (Potts 2011). One of the main ancient centers lying in the middle was Huhnur, which in a year name (IS 9) of Ibbi-Sin (Ur III dynasty) is called “the bolt (i.e., the key access) of the land of Anshan”; a modeled stone found at Tappeh Bormi (RH-11) in the Ramhormoz plain celebrates the capture of Huhnur with a Sumerian inscription of the Ur III king Amar-Sin, but its place of discovery has been recently questioned. Both Susiana (with its great rivers Karkheh, Karun, Dez, and Marun) and the intermontane plains were exploited for agriculture and cattle breeding. Susa was also involved in the trade in resources coming 1
Zeitschrift für Assyriologie und vorderasiatische Archäologie
Linear Elamite writing was used in southern Iran in the late 3rd/early 2nd millennium BCE (ca. 23... more Linear Elamite writing was used in southern Iran in the late 3rd/early 2nd millennium BCE (ca. 2300–1880 BCE). First discovered during the French excavations at Susa from 1903 onwards, it has so far resisted decipherment. The publication of eight inscribed silver beakers in 2018 provided the materials and the starting point for a new attempt; its results are presented in this paper. A full description and analysis of Linear Elamite of writing, employed for recording the Elamite language, is given here for the first time, together with a discussion of Elamite phonology and the biscriptualism that characterizes this language in its earliest documented phase.
<div> <p>The discovery of a photographic album acquired on the antiquarian market and... more <div> <p>The discovery of a photographic album acquired on the antiquarian market and entitled <i>Po r. Jagnobu 1898-1900</i> («Along the Yaghnob river 1898-1900», in Russian) prompted a research on K.M. Aframovicˇ whose name is handwritten below a piece of poetry on the second page of the album. The photographs show a wide range of mountain landscapes, focusing especially on a Central Asia village and a group of three women in Western clothes; works in progress, involving open air areas paved with stones by local workers controlled by Russian soldiers, are also depicted in the album. Thanks to some newspapers and medical journal chronicles, it has been possible to discover that Aframovič (1857-?) was a doctor sent to the village of Anzob together with some nurses to fight a plague broken out in 1898 and leading to the death of more than 200 local people. The open air works were related to the construction of two graveyards, still visible today at Anzob. The authors visited Anzob, now in northern Tajikistan (Sughd province), several times in recent years and found many of the places depicted in the album, collecting many memories of the plague from today inhabitants, descendants of the survivors.</p> </div>
Over the Mountains and Far Away: Studies in Near Eastern history and archaeology presented to Mirjo Salvini on the occasion of his 80th birthday, 2019
American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 2019
Giornale di Astronomia, 2017
Recensione a Non licet stare caelestibus. Studies on Astronomy and Its History Offered to Salvo D... more Recensione a Non licet stare caelestibus. Studies on Astronomy and Its History Offered to Salvo De Meis (Indo-Iranica et Orientalia, Series Lazur, 13; curato da Antonio Panaino con la collaborazione di Eleonora Bacchi, Stefano Buscherini & Paolo Ognibene; Milano – Udine: Mimesis, 2014), Giornale di Astronomia, 43/1 (marzo 2017), pp. 53-58.
Archäologische Mitteilungen aus Iran und Turan, 2014
In: Tol-e Ajori: aMonumental Gate of the Early Achaemenian period
in the Persepolis Area. The 20... more In: Tol-e Ajori: aMonumental Gate of the Early Achaemenian period
in the Persepolis Area. The 2014 excavationseason
of the Iranian-Italian project ‘FromPalace to Town’.
By Alireza Askari Chaverdi, Pierfrancesco Callieri and Emad Matin.
Published in 2016.
Tra i reperti della collezione Carla Maria Burri, ora conservata presso il Museo Civico di Crema ... more Tra i reperti della collezione Carla Maria Burri, ora conservata presso il Museo Civico di Crema e del Cremasco, figurano tre mattoni recanti un’iscrizione cuneiforme su una faccia laterale. Questi mattoni rappresentano una testimonianza, tra le pochissime in collezioni italiane, di documenti in elamico, una lingua parlata per due millenni (XXII-V sec. a.C. almeno) nell’Iran sud-occidentale prima che la dinastia achemenide associasse a questo territorio il nome di Persia. Nel testo, identico nei tre mattoni, parla il re medio-elamita Untash-Napirisha (XIV sec. a.C.) attribuendosi il merito della costruzione di una ziqqurat, probabilmente quella di Chogha Zanbil (non lontano dalla città biblica di Susa), dove altri mattoni con la stessa iscrizione sono stati ritrovati in situ nella muratura.
Armavir
with Miqayel BADALYAN (Erebuni Historical & Archaeological Museum-Reserve) & Roberto DAN (ISMEO)
in Rüdiger SCHMITT, Adriano V. ROSSI, Antonio C.D. PANAINO, Ela FILIPPONE & Velizar SADOVSKI (edd... more in Rüdiger SCHMITT, Adriano V. ROSSI, Antonio C.D. PANAINO, Ela FILIPPONE & Velizar SADOVSKI (edd.), Achaimenidica, I, Wien: Verlag der ÖAW
in Jan TAVERNIER, K. ABRAHAM, V. BOSCHLOSS & Elynn GORRIS (edd.), Topography and Toponymy in th... more in Jan TAVERNIER, K. ABRAHAM, V. BOSCHLOSS & Elynn GORRIS (edd.), Topography and Toponymy in the Ancient Near East: Perspectives and Prospects (Publications de l’Institut orientaliste de Louvain, 71), Louvain-la-Neuve
in Bruno JACOBS & Robert ROLLINGER (edd.), A Companion to the Achaemenid Persian Empire (Blackwel... more in Bruno JACOBS & Robert ROLLINGER (edd.), A Companion to the Achaemenid Persian Empire (Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World), Wiley-Blackwell
in Bruno JACOBS & Robert ROLLINGER (edd.), A Companion to the Achaemenid Persian Empire (Blackwel... more in Bruno JACOBS & Robert ROLLINGER (edd.), A Companion to the Achaemenid Persian Empire (Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World), Wiley-Blackwell
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Papers by Gian Pietro Basello
in the Persepolis Area. The 2014 excavationseason
of the Iranian-Italian project ‘FromPalace to Town’.
By Alireza Askari Chaverdi, Pierfrancesco Callieri and Emad Matin.
Published in 2016.
in the Persepolis Area. The 2014 excavationseason
of the Iranian-Italian project ‘FromPalace to Town’.
By Alireza Askari Chaverdi, Pierfrancesco Callieri and Emad Matin.
Published in 2016.
Amongst the civilizations to participate in the dynamic processes of contact and interchange that gave rise to complex societies in the ancient Near East, Elam has remained one of the most obscure, at times languishing in the background of scholarly inquiry. In recent years, however, an increasing body of academic publications have acknowledged its relevance and suggested that its legacy was more considerable and long-lasting than previously estimated.
The Elamite World assembles a group of 40 international scholars to contribute their expertise to the production of a solid, lavishly illustrated, English language treatment of Elamite civilization. It covers topics such as its physical setting, historical development, languages and people, material culture, art, science, religion and society, as well as the legacy of Elam in the Persian empire and its presence in the modern world.
This comprehensive and ambitious survey seeks for Elam, hardly a household name, a noteworthy place in our shared cultural heritage. It will be both a valuable introductory text for a general audience and a definitive reference source for students and academics.
The Elamite World assembles a group of forty international scholars to contribute their expertise to the production of a solid, lavishly illustrated, English language treatment of Elamite civilization, covering topics such as its physical setting, historical development, languages and people, material culture, art, science, religion and society. Also treated are the legacy of Elam in the Persian empire and its presence in the modern world.
This comprehensive and ambitious survey seeks for Elam, hardly a household name, a noteworthy place in our shared cultural heritage. It will be both a valuable introductory text for a general audience and a definitive reference source for students and academics.
The venue is a historic palace at the heart of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the old city of Naples and the program includes 6 lectures and 4 round tables with internationally renowned scholars of the field. This format is aimed at encouraging discussion and scholarly networking. Included in the Summer School are a guided tour of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Herculaneum, or the ‘Neapolitan Turfan’, and a special visit to the Villa of the Papyri, where a library of around 2000 papyri was discovered in 1750 (normally closed to the public).
The Summer School is built on the expertise of the project “Cultural interactions and language contacts: Iranian and non-Iranian languages in contact from the past to the present” funded as a Research Project of Relevant National Interest (PRIN) in Italy, directed by Ela Filippone (University of Tuscia).
All relevant information can be found here:
https://www.unior.it/it/studia-con-noi/didattica/offerta-formativa/altri-corsi/summer-winter-school/aramaic-and-iranian
Or writing here:
silkroadscripts@unior.it
Please share!
From one hand, I would like to discuss the interpretation of sit shamshi as an Akkadian syntagm, considering that the inscription is written in Elamite and that sit e sham- are also known as Elamite terms. On the other hand, I would like to have feedback from scholars skilled in ritual texts from Mesopotamia, trying also to understand if there is some further element in support of the sunrise ritual interpretation.
To have a look at the model, see the Louvre website: http://tinyurl.com/sit-louvre
FREE PDF at http://www.libraweb.net/articoli.php?chiave=201708801&rivista=88