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Durant les annees 1870, on voit emerger en Angleterre des travaux portant sur les monuments de Syrie et d’Anatolie portant des inscriptions que l’on appelle alors Luwian or Anatolian Hieroglyphic. C’est l’epoque des premieres tentatives de dechiffrement de ces inscriptions, sous l’impulsion de G. Smith et A.H. Sayce. Par ailleurs, W. Wright et A.H. Sayce attribuent ces monuments aux Hittites. Le debat se developpe au sein de diverses societes savantes, comme le British Museum, mais aussi plusieurs clubs, avec un melange de cooperation et de rivalite entre les principaux chercheurs. Le present article propose la premiere vue d’ensemble d’une recherche en cours au depart d’archives inedites conservees a Londres, Cambridge et Oxford.

A recent study of the unpublished papers of Archibald H. Sayce kept at The Queen's College and other Oxford institutions has disclosed an impressive collection of documents which, inter alia, illustrates his cosmopolitan attitude towards Assyriological studies during the late Victorian and Edwardian era. Of particular interest in his correspondence are the letters that Sayce received from prominent German colleagues such as Friedrich Delitzsch, Fritz Hommel, Paul Haupt and Eduard Meyer before and after his appointment to the first Oxford chair of Assyriology in 1891. The aim of this paper is to highlight some of the main topics dealt with in these letters, against the background of the changing relationships between the British and German orientalist milieux before the First World War.

The study of the civilization of the Hittites developed in the fruitful European cosmopolitan atmosphere of Ancient Near Eastern Studies in the late 19th - early 20th century. Precisely during the years of World War I, the study of the civilization of the Hittites became an autonomous discipline with a preeminent philological and linguistic character. Since the Hittite language turned out to belong to the Indo-european family, the incipient pre-classical Anatolian Studies focused on topics such as origin and race, crucial matters during the World War I years. The study of the early excavations at Bo?azköy is therefore a privileged vantage point for analyzing the effects of the Great War on Ancient Near Eastern Archaeology.

Among the outstanding figures in the history of the University of Oxford is to be counted the Anglican clergyman Archibald Henry Sayce (1845 - 1933), comparative philologist, religious scholar, Assyriologist, Hittitologist, and Egyptologist. This article offers an overv iew of the Sayce Papers kept at The Queen's College and almost all unpublished. They throw light on aspects not previously known of Sayce life and of his religious and professional activities. They are also relevant for a better understanding of the worldwide intellectual milieus and networks he frequented.

Bei den ,,Tagebuchblättern" handelt es sich um Aufzeichnungen einer Forschungsreise in die Türkei, die der Schweizer Keilschriftforscher und Hethitologe E.O. Forrer (1894-1986) mit Unterstützung der Deutschen Orient-Gesellschaft (DOG) und weiterer Sponsoren vom 17. August bis 28. Oktober 1926 unternahm. Während der gesamten Reise begleitete ihn der Würzburger Religionswissenschaftler und Byzantinist E. Weigand als Kenner der türkischen Sprache und der Türkei. Über weite Strecken dieser Reise mit von der Partie war auch der Altorientalist H.H. von der Osten aus Chicago. Forrers Ziel dieses Unternehmens war es zum einen, die Richtigkeit seiner von Fachkollegen angezweifelten Lokalisierungen hethitischer Orte und Länder archäologisch nachzuweisen. Zum anderen wollte er einen für eine Grabung geeigneten Ort ausfindig machen, die er unter seiner Leitung plante, und die unter der Schirmherrschaft der DOG stattfinden sollte. In unserem Vortrag möchten wir über einige interessante Aspekte, insbesondere über Erfolge und Misserfolge, von Forrers Reise sprechen, aber auch über Schwierigkeiten berichten, die sich bei unserer Arbeit an der Edition seiner Tagebuchblätter ergaben.

Il contributo presenta una panoramica aggiornata sulle attività del progetto internazionale GRISSO (Gruppo di Ricerca Interdisciplinare di Storia degli Studi Orientali) dedicate agli orientalisti inglesi di età vittoriana, con particolare attenzione alle figure di A. H. Layard e A. H. Sayce.

Diplomazia2 is framed within the program "Science for Diplomacy: Multi-disciplinary Training Program", and it is the result of closer and more mature collaboration between the Directorate General for Cooperation on Development of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MAECI), the Italian Agency for Cooperation on Development (AICS) and the National Research Council (CNR). The implementation of joint projects such as DIPLOMAzia2 highlights the effectiveness of the diplomacy-science partnership as the driving force behind the achievement of relevant goals jointly pursued by the international community.

The paper focuses on early research in Hittite studies and archaeology. Special attention is devoted to the English Assyriologist Rev. Archibald H. Sayce and to the German historian Eduard Meyer.

Presentazione della documentazione d'archivio (con particolare attenzione ai carteggi tra studiosi) utile alla ricostruzione della storia della disciplina ittitologica.

Presentazione della situazione degli studi sul Vicino Oriente antico durante l'età dei totalitarismi, con riferimento a H.G. Guterbock e A. Goetze, emigrati rispettivamente in Turchia (Ankara)e poi USA (Chicago) e USA (Yale).

Presentazione del lavoro di catalogazione e studio del fondo librario appartenuto all'assiriologo Giulio Cesare Teloni (1857-1943) e attualmente conservato presso la biblioteca dell'Istituto di Studi Orientali (ISO) della Sapienza, Università di Roma. Il lavoro è stato svolto da Diego Baldi e Marco Bonechi (ISMA, CNR) in collaborazione con il personale della Sapienza, come progetto pilota del GRISSO.

Elephant remains from Gavur Lake Swamp indicate that at approximately 3500 BP the Syrian elephant (Elephas maximus asurus) populated south-eastern Turkey. The present study offers a preliminary attempt at contextualising these abundant fossil remains of elephantids in the framework of the history of Bronze and Iron Age Anatolia.

Presentazione dell'iniziativa internazionale dedicata alla storia degli studi, denominata 'Gruppo di Ricerca Interdisciplinare di Storia degli Studi Orientali (GRISSO)', istituita nel 2013 presso l'ISMA-CNR. L'attività del GRISSO è condotta in collaborazione con: Freie Universität, Berlino; Albert-Ludwig Universität Freiburg; Fondazione Leone Caetani-Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei; Sapienza Università di Roma; Università di Firenze-SAGAS; Università di Torino e Centro Scavi di Torino per il Medio Oriente e l'Asia.

In the capital of the Hittite empire, Hattusa, in Turkey, archaeological excavations have brought to light archives and libraries of cuneiform tablets that can be dated to the second half of the 2nd millennium BC. The texts come mainly from three areas of the city: Temple I in the Lower City, two buildings on the Acropolis, and a building known as the 'House on the Slope'. In particular, this paper presents the results of a study of the two buildings on the Acropolis (Building E and Building A), which was conducted using a combination of archaeological and philological data. New information about the find-spots and contexts of the tablets discovered during the first excavations, dating back to 1906-1907, can be deduced from unpublished archival documents preserved in Berlin. This interdisciplinary study has made it possible to clarify both the diverse nature of the two deposits of texts (personal archive of the royal family and palace library) and their chronology.

The interpretation of recently discovered Hittite and Luwian materials stands out as one of the great historiographical debates at the turn of the Twentieth Century. The discussion of aspects of cultural identity from a linguistic, anthropological and ethnographical point of view was of crucial importance. The debate focused on the role played by ethnic differences, not only during the formative period of the Hittite kingdom, but also in its crisis and collapse at the end of the XIII century. Archibald Henry Sayce, Eduard Meyer and Felix von Luschan were among the main representatives of the debate, which also captured the interest of Luigi Schiaparelli and of the Jesuit Cesare Antonio De Cara in Italy. The chapters devoted to Hittites and Luwians in the numerous editions of Meyer's influential Geschichte des Alterthums (from 1884, on) serve to illuminate the evolution of the debate. However, a deep understanding of the topic would be incomplete without also studying unpublished archival documents, and even more importantly, correspondence between scholars.

In the first half of 1914 Hrozný spent some months at the Imperial Ottoman Museum in Constantinople, working on the cuneiform tablets discovered at Boghazköy, the capital of the hittite empire by Hugo Winckler during the excavations carried out in 1906-1907 and 1911-1912. Important unpublished documents mainly preserved in the archive of the Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft (DOG) in Berlin provide information on the planning of Hrozný's stay, the scientific work he undertook in Constantinople and the impact it had in the following years on the nascent field of Hittitology. Thanks to his work in Constantinople Hrozný managed to decipher the hittite language.

The Instructions for Priests and Temple Personnel (CTH 264), a text of the later Middle Hittite period preserved in numerous New Hittite copies, has been frequently discussed because of the information its content provides on various aspects of the Hittite religious beliefs and practices. The article focuses on a much less investigated topic, that is, the use of rhetorical strategies displayed by this text. In particular, instances of interrogative phrases and rhetorical questions, of repetitions and reiterations generating a climax, and of anecdotes and proverbs as storytelling devices are analyzed. The trial-like structure and the sapiential flavour informing the § 7 of the text are put in evidence.

Studio della composizione e caratteristiche della struttura familiare ittita sulla scorta della documentazione cuneiforme, con particolare attenzione ai testi che riportano proverbi e aneddoti su questo argomento.

In the first half of 1914, Hugo Heinrich Figulla and Bedrich Hrozny spent some months at the Imperial Ottoman Museum in Constantinople, working on the cuneiform tablets discovered at Boghazköy by Hugo Winckler and Theodor Makridi Bey during the excavations carried out in 1906-1907 and 1911-1912. Important unpublished documents mainly preserved in the archive of the Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft (DOG) in Berlin provide information on the planning of Figulla's and Hrozny's stays, the scientific work they undertook in Constantinople and the impact it had in the following years on the nascent field of Hittitology

The paper focuses on the motif of the Sun-god's quadriga with its satellites in the Prayers to the Sun-god for appeasing an angry god (CTH 372-374) and on Mesopotamian texts which may have served as a model for the Hittite passage. Special attention will be paid to "Fears (nahsariattes)" and "Terrors (weritemas)".

La conferenza presenta i luoghi di ritrovamento delle tavolette cuneiformi nella capitale dell'impero ittita, Hattusha, presso il villaggio di Bogazkale, in Turchia, risalente al II mill. a. C. I testi provengono per lo più da tre zone della città: il Tempio I nella Città Bassa; due edifici sull'Acropoli; un edificio noto come "Casa sul Pendio". In particolare, sono illustrati i risultati dello studio dei due edifici sull'Acropoli (Edificio E e Edificio A). Esso è stato condotto avvalendosi della combinazione di dati archeologici e filologici. Le notizie sui luoghi e contesti di ritrovamento delle tavolette riportate alla luce durante i primi scavi, risalenti al 1906-1907, sono desumibili da documenti d'archivio inediti, conservati a Berlino. Tale studio interdisciplinare ha permesso di chiarire sia la diversa natura dei due depositi di testi (archivio personale della famiglia reale e biblioteca palatina) sia la loro cronologia. La ricerca fa parte di un progetto internazionale sui sistemi di archiviazione dei testi ittiti a Hattusha, coordinato dalla Akademie der Wissenschaften di Mainz.

Hittite cuneiform texts show a frequent use of proverbs and sayings. These include simple proverbs with a binary structure and more complex maxims with a sapiential flavour. They can be seen as micro-texts which, among other things, shed light on a literature that has not come down to us. Studying them in context clarifies aspects of Hittite rhetoric and strategies of communication in Anatolia of the Late Bronze Age.

The historian Luigi Schiaparelli (1815-1897) from Turin and the Calabrian Jesuit Cesare Antonio De Cara (1835-1905) were the first Italian scholars to deal with the Hittites at the end of the nineteenth century. Their studies are dedicated mainly to the biblical and Egyptological aspects of Hittite history and to the themes of the origin as well as of the great migrations of the ancient populations. They show a profound knowledge of the results reached in these fields by the English, French and German scientific community before the discovery of the cuneiform texts of Boghazköy. But these scholars also have an evident link with their cultural humus. Schiaparelli, a scholar with a more national profile, was deeply involved in both the life of the University and of the city of Turin; De Cara, active and well-known also outside of Italy, belonged to the more international milieu of the Catholic church.

The chariot of the Sun-god in the ancient Near Eastern texts has received little and occasional attention, and no specific studies have been devoted to it. Aim of this paper is to collect and discuss the Bronze Age cuneiform sources from Mesopotamia and Anatolia where the motif is attested. The texts show the antiquity of some features (for instance the horses of the team and the topos of their feeding and harnessing). They also clarify the motif's close connection with important religious practices to be held early in the morning, when the Sun-god emerges from his dangerous nocturnal journey in the underworld.

Otto Puchstein (1856-1911) può essere annoverato tra i più importanti archeologi tedeschi della sua epoca. I suoi interessi spaziarono dall'archeologia e la filologia classica alla storia orientale antica. Dal 1896 fu professore ordinario di Archeologia classica alla ,,Albert-Ludwig-Universität" di Freiburg-Breisgau e nel 1905 ottenne l'incarico di segretario generale del ,,Kaiserlich-Deutsches Archäologisches Institut" di Berlino. Come archeologo lavorò tra l'altro sul Nemrud Da? (Turchia) (1881-1883), in Italia meridionale e in Sicilia (1892-1895), a Baalbek (Libano) (1901-1903) ed a Bo?azköy (Turchia) (1907). L'approccio interdisciplinare alle problematiche archeologiche e l'interesse per i rapporti tra le civiltà preclassiche vicino orientali e l'Occidente possono essere considerati i tratti caratteristici della sua personalità scientifica. I risultati dell'attività scientifica di Otto Puchstein sono noti da una serie di importanti contributi che hanno aperto prospettive di ricerca completamente nuove e che, in alcuni casi, restano un punto di riferimento tuttora insuperato (ad esempio la ricostruzione del fregio dell'altare di Pergamo nel Museo di Berlino).

A set of letters written by O. Puchstein to A. Erman during the years 1885 and 1886 throws light on the formation of the Berlin collections of Egyptian and Near Eastern Antiquities. The correspondence also reveals that Puchstein and Erman were led by aims not only of an artistic but of a scholarly and educational nature. The letters, which are kept in the State - and University Library Bremen (Germany), are published in transcription.

Presentation des fragments de tablettes decouverts a Buyukkale-Bogazkoy lors des fouilles de 1933. L'auteur de l'article en dresse une liste detaillee et precise le lieu de mise au jour de chaque morceau.

The excavation of the so-called "Kaniška" stupa at Shaji-ki-Dheri (near Peshawar) and the discovery of a reliquary... : history of this event and his reception, with unpublished letters of Spooner to Alfred Foucher., La fouille du dit "stupa de Kanishka" à Shaji-ki-Dheri (près de Peshawar) et la découverte d'un reliquaire : histoire de cet événement et de sa réception, aves des lettres inédites de David B. Spooner à Alfred Foucher.