Karen Radner

Last updated

Karen Radner (11 May 1972) is an Austrian Assyriologist, the Alexander von Humboldt Professor of Ancient History at the University of Munich. [1]

Contents

Early life and education

Karen Radner started her studies at the University of Vienna in 1990 in Ancient Near Eastern Languages and Archaeology. She graduated in 1994 with an MA (summa cum laude) and 1997 with a PhD (summa cum laude). [2] Her doctoral work was titled Die neuassyrischen Privatrechtsurkunden als Quelle für Mensch und Umwelt ("The Neo-Assyrian Private Legal Documents as Source for Mankind and Environment"). This study was published in 1997 as part of the State Archives of Assyria Studies Series (Vol. 6) based at the University of Helsinki.

Following her doctoral studies, Radner spent two years in the University of Helsinki as a junior research fellow (1997-1999) and one year at the University of Tübingen as a research fellow (1999). In 1999, Radner moved to the University of Munich as a research assistant and started her Habilitation, which was completed in 2004 and is entitled "Die Macht des Namens. Altorientalische Strategien zur Selbsterhaltung" ("The Power of a Name: Ancient Near Eastern Strategies for Self-Preservation"). This was published in 2005. From 2005-2015, Radner worked at University College London as a lecturer, reader, and then professor in Ancient Near Eastern History. During this time, she was also a guest professor at the University of Verona, the University of Innsbruck, UCL Qatar, Doha, and Koç University, Istanbul.

Humboldt Professorship

In 2015, Radner won an Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Award in Classical and Ancient Studies. [3] As part of this award, she received a professorship at the University of Munich, where she is the Alexander von Humboldt-Professur für die Alte Geschichte des Nahen und Mittleren Ostens (Alexander von Humboldt Professor for the Ancient History of the Near and Middle East) as part of the Faculty of History and the Arts, Department of History: Ancient History program. [4] She is also a member of the Center for Advanced Studies at the University of Munich.

Project leadership

Radner has led several projects, including ("'Assyrian empire builders:' Governors, Diplomats and Soldiers in the Service of Sargon II and Tiglath-pileser III, Kings of Assyria" and "Knowledge and Power in the Neo-Assyrian Empire".

Other honors and awards

In 2016, Radner was elected to the Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften (Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities). Since 2015, Radner has also been an Honorary Professor of Ancient Near Eastern History at University College London.

Publications

Related Research Articles

Assyria Major Mesopotamian civilization

Assyria was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization which existed as a city-state from the 21st century BC to the 14th century BC and then as a territorial state and eventually an empire from the 14th century BC to the 7th century BC.

Sinsharishkun Assyrian king (died 612 BC)

Sinsharishkun or Sin-shar-ishkun was the penultimate king of Assyria, reigning from the death of his brother and predecessor Ashur-etil-ilani in 627 BC to his own death at the Fall of Nineveh in 612 BC.

Assur Archaeological site in Iraq

Aššur (; Sumerian: 𒀭𒊹𒆠 AN.ŠAR2KI, Assyrian cuneiform: Aš-šurKI, "City of God Aššur"; Syriac: ܐܫܘܪ Āšūr; Old Persian 𐎠𐎰𐎢𐎼Aθur, Persian: آشور: Āšūr; Hebrew: אַשּׁוּר, Aššûr, Arabic: اشور), also known as Ashur and Qal'at Sherqat, was the capital of the Old Assyrian State (2025–1750 BC), the Middle Assyrian Empire (1365–1050 BC), and for a time, of the Neo-Assyrian Empire (911–608 BC). The remains of the city lie on the western bank of the Tigris River, north of the confluence with its tributary, the Little Zab, in what is now Iraq, more precisely in the al-Shirqat District of the Saladin Governorate.

Simo Parpola

Simo Kaarlo Antero Parpola is a Finnish Assyriologist specializing in the Neo-Assyrian Empire and Professor emeritus of Assyriology at the University of Helsinki.

Aššūr-nādin-apli, inscribed maš-šur-SUM-DUMU.UŠ, was king of Assyria. The alternate dating is due to uncertainty over the length of reign of a later monarch, Ninurta-apal-Ekur, where conflicting king lists differ by ten years. His name meant "Aššur is the giver of an heir" in the Akkadian language. He was a son of Tukulti-Ninurta I.

Aššur-rā’im-nišēšu, inscribed mdaš-šur-ÁG-UN.MEŠ-šu, meaning “(the god) Aššur loves his people,” was ruler of Assyria, or išši’ak Aššur, “vice-regent of Aššur,” written in Sumerian: PA.TE.SI (=ÉNSI), c. 1408–1401 BC or c. 1398–1391 BC, the 70th to be listed on the Assyrian King List. He is best known for his reconstruction of the inner city wall of Aššur.

Aššur-šaddûni or -šaduni, inscribed maš-šur-KUR-ú-ni or [maš-šur-K]UR-u-ni and meaning “(the god) Aššur (is) our mountain,” was the ruler of Assyria for just "one complete month" during the 15th century BC, the 64th to appear on the Assyrian King List. He succeeded his father, Nur-ili, but was ousted in a coup by his uncle, Aššur-rabi I.

Achaemenid Assyria Aspect of history

Athura, also called Assyria, was a geographical area within the Achaemenid Empire in Upper Mesopotamia from 539 to 330 BC as a military protectorate state. Although sometimes regarded as a satrapy, Achaemenid royal inscriptions list it as a dahyu, a concept generally interpreted as meaning either a group of people or both a country and its people, without any administrative implication.

Neo-Assyrian Empire Fourth period of Assyrian history

The Neo-Assyrian Empire was the fourth and penultimate stage of ancient Assyrian history and the final and greatest phase of Assyria as an independent state. Beginning with the accession of Adad-nirari II in 911 BC, the Neo-Assyrian Empire grew to dominate the ancient Near East throughout much of the 8th and 7th centuries BC, becoming the largest empire in history up to that point. Because of its geopolitical dominance and ideology based in world domination, the Neo-Assyrian Empire is by many researchers regarded to have been the first world empire in history. At its height, the empire was the strongest military power in the world and ruled over all of Mesopotamia, the Levant and Egypt, as well as portions of Anatolia, Arabia and modern-day Iran and Armenia.

Çineköy inscription

The Çineköy inscription is an ancient bilingual inscription, written in Hieroglyphic Luwian and Phoenician languages. The inscription is dated to the second half of the 8th century BCE. It was uncovered in 1997 near the village of Çine, that is located some 30 km south of Adana, capital city of the Adana Province in southern Turkey.

Bazaya, Bāzāia or Bāzāiu, inscribed mba-za-a-a and of uncertain meaning, was the ruler of Assyria c. 1649 to 1622 BC, the 52nd listed on the Assyrian King List, succeeding Iptar-Sin, to whom he was supposedly a great-uncle. He reigned for twenty-eight years and has left no known inscriptions.

Assyrian continuity Continuity between ancient and modern Assyrians

Assyrian continuity is the theory of continuity between the modern Assyrian people, an ethnoreligious minority in the Middle East, and the people of ancient Assyria. Assyrian continuity is a key part of the identity of the modern Assyrian people. Given that there is no evidence of the original Assyrian population being replaced in the aftermath of the fall of the Assyrian Empire, contemporary scholarship generally supports Assyrian continuity, recognizing the modern Assyrians as descendants of the Aramaic-speaking populations of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, which were composed of both the old native Assyrian population and of Aramean settlers in the Assyrian heartland.

Ashur-uballit II, also spelled Assur-uballit II and Ashuruballit II, was the final ruler of Assyria, ruling from his predecessor Sinsharishkun's death at the Fall of Nineveh in 612 BC to his own defeat at Harran in 609 BC. He was possibly the son of Sinsharishkun and likely the same person as a crown prince mentioned in inscriptions at the Assyrian capital of Nineveh in 626 and 623 BC.

Medo-Babylonian conquest of the Assyrian Empire Last war fought by the Neo-Assyrian Empire between 626 and 609 BC

The Medo-Babylonian conquest of the Assyrian Empire was the last war fought by the Neo-Assyrian Empire, between 626 and 609 BC. Succeeding his brother Ashur-etil-ilani, the new king of Assyria, Sinsharishkun, immediately faced the revolt of one of his brother's chief generals, Sin-shumu-lishir, who attempted to usurp the throne for himself. Though this threat was dealt with relatively quickly, the instability caused by the brief civil war may have made it possible for another official or general, Nabopolassar, to rise up and seize power in Babylonia. Sinsharishkun's inability to defeat Nabopolassar, despite repeated attempts over the course of several years, allowed Nabopolassar to consolidate power and form the Neo-Babylonian Empire, restoring Babylonian independence after more than a century of Assyrian rule. The Neo-Babylonian Empire, and the newly-formed Median Empire under King Cyaxares, then invaded the Assyrian heartland. In 614 BC, the Medes captured and sacked Assur, the ceremonial and religious heart of the Assyrian Empire, and in 612 BC, their combined armies attacked and razed Nineveh, the Assyrian capital. Sinsharishkun's fate is unknown but it is assumed that he died in the defense of his capital. He was succeeded as king only by Ashur-uballit II, possibly his son, who rallied what remained of the Assyrian army at the city of Harran and, bolstered by an alliance with Egypt, ruled for three years, in a last attempt to resist the Medo-Babylonian invasion of his realm.

Libbali-sharrat Ancient Assyrian queen

Libbali-sharrat was a queen of the Neo-Assyrian Empire as the primary consort of Ashurbanipal. Libbali-sharrat married Ashurbanipal before he became king, probably in 672 BC, and may have lived beyond her husband's death, as documents from the reign of her probable son, Ashur-etil-ilani reference the "mother of the king". Libbali-sharrat enjoys the distinction of being the only known individual from ancient Assyria who was not a king to be depicted holding court since she is depicted in one of Ashurbanipal's reliefs as hosting him at dinner in the palace garden, surrounded by her own female servants.

Tashmetu-sharrat was a queen of the Neo-Assyrian Empire as the primary consort of Sennacherib. Tashmetu-sharrat is mostly known from an inscription by Sennacherib which praises her great beauty and in which the king hopes to spend the rest of his life with her. It is not known which of Sennacherib's children were children of Tashmetu-sharrat; the king's successor Esarhaddon was the son of Naqi'a, another woman.

Qalat-i Dinka

Qalat-i Dinka is an archaeological excavation site in Iraq, which is located on the Little Zab, in the Sulaymaniyah Governorate, in the very north-east of the country. Excavations have been taking place there since 2016 after a fragment of a cuneiform tablet came to light by chance. The excavation results are available annually in preliminary reports and excavation publications.

Rʻuth-Assor 2nd century AD Assyrian ruler

Rʻuth-Assor, also transliterated Rʻuṯassor, Rʻūṯ’assor or Rʻūṯassor, was a local Assyrian king or city-lord in the early 2nd century AD, ruling the city of Assur under the suzerainty of the Parthian Empire. The continued veneration of Ashur and other Assyrian gods under Rʻuth-Assor and his predecessors and successors, as well as their stelae greatly resembling those erected under by the old kings of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, suggests that Rʻuth-Assor and the other rulers of Assur during this time saw themselves as the continuation of the ancient line of Assyrian kings.

The post-imperial period was the final stage of ancient Assyrian history, covering the history of the Assyrian heartland from the fall of the Neo-Assyrian Empire in 609 BC to the final sack and destruction of Assur, Assyria's ancient religious capital, by the Sasanian Empire c. AD 240. There was no independent Assyrian state during this time, with Assur and other Assyrian cities instead falling under the control of the successive Neo-Babylonian, Achaemenid, Seleucid and Parthian empires. The period was marked by the continuance of ancient Assyrian culture, traditions and religion, despite the lack of an Assyrian kingdom. The ancient Assyrian dialect of the Akkadian language went extinct however, completely replaced by Aramaic by the 5th century BC.

References