The Ancient Egypt and Near East Cluster brings together chairs and research in Egyptology, Assyriology and West Semitic Studies (the latter including Biblical Studies).
The Mesopotamian Civilization Chair focuses on the publication and exploitation of archival documents, particularly from the Paleo-Babylonian period.
Paleo-Babylonian archives are exploited via the following projects and databases:
- Archibab: this project aims to exploit Babylonian archives from the first half of the second millennium BC(http://www.archibab.fr).
- EcritUr: this 36-month ANR project, which began on October1, 2017, gathers and analyzes textual and archaeological documentation on the city of Ur based on texts from the first quarter of the 2nd millennium BC.
- Les archives royales de Mari : This long-term project aims to publish and exploit the very rich cuneiform archives discovered in the palace of Mari by André Parrot, dating from the first half of the second millennium. It was first headed by Georges Dossin, then Maurice Birot, and is now headed by Jean-Marie Durand and Dominique Charpin. Nearly 9,000 texts have been published to date.
The aim of the Milieux bibliques chair is to conduct research into the origin and formation of the Hebrew Bible from a historical, sociological and literary perspective. The aim is to provide a better understanding of the various socio-historical contexts from the end of the second millennium BC to Roman times, the periods during which the first traditions of the Bible were born, and during which they were written down and canonized.
Research and teaching projects focus on the contribution of archaeology to research into the composition of the Hebrew Bible, particularly the Pentateuch, and the texts of the late Persian and Hellenistic periods.
The chairs of Mesopotamian Civilization and Biblical Milieus organize their research within the framework of UMR 7192 " Near East - Caucasus: languages, archaeology, cultures ". Within this framework, research in Assyriology is complemented by excavations, historical geography and the Neo-Assyrian world.
Studies on West-Semitic civilizations include epigraphic, archaeological and historical research on the Levant, notably Phoenicia, Ugarit, Qumran, Aramaic, Edomite and Moabite civilizations. Publications and analyses of inscriptions and other material data, as well as historical surveys, aim to enrich our knowledge of this pivotal region between Mesopotamian and Egyptian civilizations.
