Venue: 

University of Catania

Palazzo Centrale, Piazza Università 2

Catania (Italy)

Ever since the discovery of the stele containing the 282 laws, King Hammurabi of Babylon has become widely recognized as one of the most prominent historical figures of the ancient Near East in the Western world. His code is not only a significant representation of Mesopotamian culture, but also holds great importance in European education over the past century. Even before his legacy gained popularity among modern scholars, the intellectual construction of Hammurabi's cultural impact had already begun under his successors. The complex and charismatic personality of Hammurabi, shaped through his political and military conquests, became the spirit of his era, enduring for thousands of years in the memories of later ancient Near Eastern civilizations. It served as a significant political and cultural milestone in the collective consciousness of Mesopotamia. This international conference aims to investigate the historiographic perception of Hammurabi and his era, at various stages of later history and in modern cultural contexts.

The conference is linked to the exhibition “Da Babilonia a Baghdad - Sulle Tracce di Hammurabi” and organized by the EC-C in cooperation with the University of Catania (Italy) and the Freie Universität Berlin.

PROGRAM

Friday, 6.12.2024

SESSION 1 | OPENING OF THE EXHIBITION

09:00 (CET)

Welcome Desk

10:00

Institutional Greetings

10:30

Exhibition Opening

SESSION 2 | OPENING OF THE CONFERENCE

12:00

Conference Introduction

Nicola Laneri (University of Catania) and Cinzia Pappi (EC-C/FU-Berlin)

12:30

Lectio Magistralis: Hammurabi’s Kingdom over Time. The Evolution to an Empire

Dominique Charpin (Collège de France, Paris)

SESSION 3 | HAMMURABI THROUGH THE AGES | CHAIR: DOMINIQUE CHARPIN

15:00

The Hammurabi Stela: Shamash Lord of Time and Divine Kingship

Lorenzo Nigro (Sapienza University of Rome)

15:30

The Origins of Hammurabi’s Historiographic Tradition: Understanding ‘Hammurabi’s Deeds’

Nele Ziegler (CNRS, Paris)

16:00 | Coffee Break

16:30

The Legacy of Hammurapi in Ancient Mesopotamia

Eva Cancik-Kirschbaum (EC-C/FU-Berlin)

17:00

Temporal Entanglements: Ancient Babylonia and German Conceptions of Law, Morality, and History at the Turn of the 20th Century CE

Felix Wiedemann (EC-C/FU-Berlin)

17:30

Building up Hammurabi: Assyriology and Modern Historiography

Cinzia Pappi

18:00

Discussion

Respondents: Elena Devecchi (University of Torino) and Nicola Laneri

Saturday, 7.12.2024

SESSION 4 | HAMMURABI BEYOND BABYLON | CHAIR: NICOLA LANERI

09:30

Hammurabi’s Words, Words for Hammurabi: Personality and Fortune of the Babylonian King Through the Old Babylonian Letters

Annunziata Rositani (University of Messina)

10:00

Fragments of Hammurabi’s Laws at the Iraq Museum

Hanan Hamza (Iraq Museum, Baghdad)

10:30

“When the God Enlil Gave the Land and People to Him to Rule and Entrusted Their Nose-Rope in His Hands”: Hammurabi and his Neighbors in the Collections of the Louvre Museum

Sophie Cluzan (Louvre, Paris)

11:00 | Coffee Break

11:30

“Gaining Great Influence in the Country…”: The Rise (and Fall?) of Hammurabi in British and American Museums During the 20th Century CE

Nancy Highcock (Ashmolean Museum, Oxford)

12:00

Babylon’s Ishtar Gate: From the Old Babylonian Period to Nebuchadnezzar II and Beyond

Helen Gries (Pergamon Museum, Berlin)

12:30

Discussion and Closing Remarks

Respondents: Eva Cancik-Kirschbaum, Cinzia Pappi and Felix Wiedemann

> Program (PDF)