Position:

Research Associate in Assyriology, CSCDL Oxford

Faculty / College Address:

Oriental Institute

Email:

klaus.wagensonner@orinst.ox.ac.uk

Research Interests:

After finishing a master thesis on Sumerian Divine Journeys my research focuses to a great extent on Sumerian literature. The participation in the COST project “Stability and Change of Classification Systems in a Cross-Cultural Perspective” (2006-2010) led to a dissertation dealing with the early outcomes of lexicography in Mesopotamia. Lexical texts are among the first recorded textual evidence and demonstrate already in their earliest stages a complex knowledge organization.

Further interests are the transmission of literary and lexical texts in the Middle Assyrian period as well as Neo-Babylonian epistolography.

Within the framework of the CSCDL project I participate in endeavours to digitise cuneiform tablets and to provide a new way of accessing Sumerian literary compositions.

Current Projects:

Creating a Sustainable Cuneiform Digital Library (CSCDL)

Courses Taught:

• Introductory courses in Akkadian and Sumerian<
• History classes

Recent Publications:

• “Götterreise oder Herrscherreise oder vielleicht beides?, Wiener  Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes 97 (2007), 541-559.
• “Nin-Isina(k)s Journey to Nippur Reconsidered, Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes 98 (2008), 277-294.
• Review of Mittermayer, Altbabylonische Zeichenliste der sumerisch-literarischen Texte (OBO Sonderband), Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes 98 (2008), 391-393.
•  “What is the matter with the numun-plant? BM 120011 Reconsidered,” Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes 99 (2009), 355-376.
• Review of Klinger, Die Hethiter, Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes 99 (2009), 409-411.
• “Non-textual markers or pseudo-written references. Some glimpses from the Mesopotamian field,” in: Petra Andrássy, Julia Budka & Frank Kammerzell (eds.), Non-Textual Marking Systems, Writing and Pseudo Script from Prehistory to Modern Times, Lingua Aegyptia – Studia monographica 8 (Göttingen 2009), 33-67.
• “Early Lexical Lists Revisited. Structures and Classification as a mnemonic device,” in: L. Kogan, N. Koslova, S. Loesov and S. Tishchenko (eds.), Language in the Ancient Near East. Proceedings of the 53e Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale. Vol. 1. Part 1. Babel und Bibel 4/1. Winona Lake: 285-310.
• “When I was going, when I was going. BM 15794 Re-visited,” Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes 100 (2010), 219-242.
• “A Scribal Family and its Orthographic Peculiarities. On the Scientific Work of a Royal Scribe and his Sons,” in: Gebhard J. Selz & Klaus Wagensonner (eds.), The Empirical Dimension of Ancient Near Eastern Studies. Die empirische Dimension altorientalischer Forschungen, Wiener Offene Orientalistik 6 (Wien 2011), 645-701.
• “New Light on ʽSîn-iddinam and Iškurʼ,” Kaskal 8, 11-42.
• “Early Lexical Lists and Their Impact on Economic Records. An Attempt of Correlation Between Two Seemingly Different Kinds of Data-Sets,” Compte rendu de la Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale 54 (to be published).
• “nam-dub-sar-ra a-na mu-e-pad₃-da-zu … De l’apprentissage et l’éducation des scribes médio-assyriens,” Compte rendu de la Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale 55 (in print).