Chair of Ancient History of the Near and Middle East - Prof. Dr. Karen Radner

Establishing this chair in August 2015 was made possible by the Humboldt-Foundation and funding provided by the BMBF. The chair's full title is thus "Alexander von Humboldt-Professorship for the Ancient History of the Near and Middle East."

The staff associated with the chair focus on the Ancient History of the Near and Middle East in both research and teaching. One of our key objectives it to make textual and archaeological sources from the ancient cultures between Nile and Indus accessible for the purpose of historical study and teaching.

The research conducted in these geographical areas brings together researchers from a wide variety of disciplinary backgrounds and engages in close cooperation with researchers in neighbouring disciplines. Current projects are concerned especially with Egypt, Anatolia, Assyria, and Babylonia. Chronologically, the focus is on the 1st millennium BCE. In sum, the professorship therefore aims to extend the traditional disciplinary boundaries of Ancient History with the aim of making Ancient History World History.

When Karen Radner was awarded a Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize in 2022, three new projects were inaugurated: the publication projects Royal Inscriptions of Assyria and Royal Inscriptions of the Kassites and Kudurrus continue the long-term goal of updating, expanding and completing the material published by A. Kirk Grayson between 1987 and 1996 for the Toronto-based Royal Inscriptions of Mesopotamia project, while the new archaeological fieldwork undertaken at Assur heralds a return to the Assyrian heartland for LMU Munich.