Vito Messina
Vito Messina is Professor of Archaeology of ancient Asia (University of Torino).
He is the co-director and member of archaeological campaigns in Iran, Iraq and Turkmenistan.
He is the PI of the projects (in)visible collections, Afterlife, Lost Hellenistic Sculptures of Mesopotamia and Iran and Pietro della Valle, held in collaboration with international Institutions; he is the co-investigator of the projects Eranshahr and PolEmA.
He is the Director of the School of Archaeology (University of Torino) and served as visiting professor and researcher at the University Lyon 2, University of Rome La Sapienza, and Getty Research Institute.
He is affiliated to the Centro Ricerche Archeologiche e Scavi di Torino per il Medio Oriente e l’Asia, the ISMEO, and the Societas Iranologica Europæa, and member of the editorial boards of the Journals Parthica, Open Archaeology and Abstracta Iranica.
Among his key qualifications and research interests, are ‘cultural interactions in the ancient Near East and Mediterranean’, 'institutional landscape of empires', ‘new methods for documentation and preservation of endangered Heritage, ‘new technologies for Cultural Heritage’, ‘administration procedures in the ancient world’, ‘royal ideology in Hellenistic Asia’.
He is the co-director and member of archaeological campaigns in Iran, Iraq and Turkmenistan.
He is the PI of the projects (in)visible collections, Afterlife, Lost Hellenistic Sculptures of Mesopotamia and Iran and Pietro della Valle, held in collaboration with international Institutions; he is the co-investigator of the projects Eranshahr and PolEmA.
He is the Director of the School of Archaeology (University of Torino) and served as visiting professor and researcher at the University Lyon 2, University of Rome La Sapienza, and Getty Research Institute.
He is affiliated to the Centro Ricerche Archeologiche e Scavi di Torino per il Medio Oriente e l’Asia, the ISMEO, and the Societas Iranologica Europæa, and member of the editorial boards of the Journals Parthica, Open Archaeology and Abstracta Iranica.
Among his key qualifications and research interests, are ‘cultural interactions in the ancient Near East and Mediterranean’, 'institutional landscape of empires', ‘new methods for documentation and preservation of endangered Heritage, ‘new technologies for Cultural Heritage’, ‘administration procedures in the ancient world’, ‘royal ideology in Hellenistic Asia’.
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metodologici volti alla comprensione delle relazioni tra uomo, potere politico e territorio nell’Iran tra III sec. a.C. e VII d.C. In tale quadro si è scelto di focalizzare l’attenzione su tre aree nodali dell’Iran antico: le regioni storiche dell’Elimaide (Khuzestan), della Persia (Pa¯rs) e della Media (Ma¯d e Pahlaw) (Fig. 1). Le regioni prese in considerazione, pur caratterizzate da notevoli differenze, furono al centro delle trasformazioni del periodo e forniscono informazioni utili per la ricostruzione di specifiche dinamiche storico-culturali. In particolare, il Khuzestan si configura come caso studio privilegiato per il periodo arsacide, il Pa¯rs per la genesi e affermazione della dinastia sasanide, l’area di Ma¯d e Pahlaw per i secoli che condurranno alle significative riforme di periodo tardo sasanide e al crollo della dinastia.
Here, the possibility that one or more now-lost statues representing the mušḫuššu, the serpo-dragon of Marduk, were erected at Babylon at least since the Late Babylonian period is discussed on the basis of both epigraphic and iconographic evidence.
Elam/Elymais. The term ‘Elam’ and its Greek
version ‘Elymais’ emerge in epigraphic records and
historical sources of different periods as a state or
confederation of states that interacted with other
important political entities of the ancient Near
East. Elam/Elymais benefited from the variety
of its terrain and privileged position between the
Mesopotamian alluvium and Iranian plateau.
Contact with Mesopotamia seems to have been
particularly frequent, as attested by written records
and the material culture of Susiana.
metodologici volti alla comprensione delle relazioni tra uomo, potere politico e territorio nell’Iran tra III sec. a.C. e VII d.C. In tale quadro si è scelto di focalizzare l’attenzione su tre aree nodali dell’Iran antico: le regioni storiche dell’Elimaide (Khuzestan), della Persia (Pa¯rs) e della Media (Ma¯d e Pahlaw) (Fig. 1). Le regioni prese in considerazione, pur caratterizzate da notevoli differenze, furono al centro delle trasformazioni del periodo e forniscono informazioni utili per la ricostruzione di specifiche dinamiche storico-culturali. In particolare, il Khuzestan si configura come caso studio privilegiato per il periodo arsacide, il Pa¯rs per la genesi e affermazione della dinastia sasanide, l’area di Ma¯d e Pahlaw per i secoli che condurranno alle significative riforme di periodo tardo sasanide e al crollo della dinastia.
Here, the possibility that one or more now-lost statues representing the mušḫuššu, the serpo-dragon of Marduk, were erected at Babylon at least since the Late Babylonian period is discussed on the basis of both epigraphic and iconographic evidence.
Elam/Elymais. The term ‘Elam’ and its Greek
version ‘Elymais’ emerge in epigraphic records and
historical sources of different periods as a state or
confederation of states that interacted with other
important political entities of the ancient Near
East. Elam/Elymais benefited from the variety
of its terrain and privileged position between the
Mesopotamian alluvium and Iranian plateau.
Contact with Mesopotamia seems to have been
particularly frequent, as attested by written records
and the material culture of Susiana.
One of the areas excavated was at Tell 'Umar, the main mound of the city that conceals the ruins of a Greek theatre.
The most recent building unearthed at Tell ‘Umar by the Italian expedition is dated the end of the Sasanian period, after the ruin of the theatre, which collapsed in the late 2nd century AD, remained abandoned for centuries and was only sporadically frequented.
The Sasanian building was built-up on the still emerging ruins of the cavea, which were partially used as substructures for the new brick masonries, and is composed by a massive elliptic wall, built with the purpose of containing the preceding ruins, and by a square tower-like structure, which, laying on what remained of the cavea and orchestra, is now approximately located at the centre of the tell.
This was a wathctower built for guarding the outskirts of the nearby capital of Veh Ardashir.
This paper focuses on the features of the Sasanian tower.
topography and settlement of the area of al-mada’in,
in central mesopotamia, one of the largest and most
important complexes of ancient settlements in the
world. research was conducted following a multitemporal
approach in which photo-interpretation of
remote-sensing data is interpolated with the analysis
of previous information of different nature (published
and unpublished), collected during on-site surveys
and excavations. settlement models, connectivity and
hypotheses on the location of ancient mega-sites are
particularly addressed. Further studies on the area
will considerably advance our knowledge of environmental
planning, impact assessment, land use and
settlement of Central mesopotamia in the centuries
preceding the muslim conquest.
This paper focuses on the visual language that was used for conveying Seleucid propaganda, particularly emphasising the use of small-size media and the different strategies followed in the dissemination of royal portraits: these appear to have been rather sophisticated and adapted to particular situations, pointing to the role of the king’s entourage as an instrument of power.
The experience of the Achaemenid administrative apparatus was
reinterpreted, reaching a high degree of complexity and led to the birth of supra- regional political entities that had agency over a domain of unprecedented extension.
Such entities –that we onventionally call empires– were able to rule over regions of disparate traditions, religions, and languages thanks to a network of land, water and maritime routes that empowered societies with an immense potential of connectivity.
Such a network was counterbalanced by the presence of nodes that exerted gravitational attraction at a global level, allowing people and things to move over wide-ranging routes: these nodes were large cities, often newly founded, which for dimension, social importance and centrality in the trade network were described in ancient sources and still are known in narratives that have come down to the present day. In the global system, entities of this type can be therefore described as polycentric empires.
In most cases, the ancient cities that were part of the network have been continuously settled throughout the ages, to become capitals of the present day: their archaeological layers are thus found under modern buildings. Others, fewer in number, were instead abandoned and, in such a case, reliable archaeological records are available to be crossed with literary references. Glyptics and numismatics provide further valuable information.
The area of Ctesiphon, known in Arabic as al-Madāʾin (the cities), where several ancient Seleucid, Parthian and Sasanian capitals were founded, is one of the places that allow us to understand thoroughly what polycentric empires were. In this lecture, focus is set on literary and archaeological evidence from the area of Ctesiphon to interpret such evidence in a global perspective.
Oikoumene reconsidered Aigai, 27th May – 2nd June 2022
24-26 March 2022
Organisers: Milinda Hoo; Lauren Morris
(Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg and
HCARN); Sitta von Reden (Albert Ludwig
University of Freiburg).
Venue: Freiburg Institute for Advanced
Studies, Alberstraße 19, 79104.
At the Royal Netherlands Institute in Rome (KNIR), Via Omero 10/12, Roma & online via Zoom
An international conference
organised in the framework of the Leiden University VICI project Innovating Objects.
The impact of global connections and the formation of the Roman Empire
Objects and Change in Afro-Eurasia
from the 3rd to 1st centuries BC
In cooperation with the Royal Netherlands Institute in Rome (KNIR) and the German Archaeological Institute (DAI) in Rome
Lectures by: M.J. Versluys (Leiden); M. Stark (Hawaii); A. Bauer (Stanford); M. Pitts (Exeter); T. Schattner (Madrid); R. Henzel (Leiden); J.R.W. Prag (Oxford);
J.C. Quinn (Oxford); R. Krumeich (Bonn); N. Terrenato (Michigan); J. Ma (New York); M. Blömer (Münster); O. Tal (Tel Aviv) & A. Lichtenberger (Münster); K.
Stevens (Oxford); V. Messina (Turin); G. Lindström (Berlin); M. Hoo (Freiburg i.Br.); S. Hauser (Konstanz); J.G. Manning (Yale).
extending from the Mediterranean to the Indian Subcontinent, part of the
so-called oikumene, experimented with wide interaction processes thanks
to an increased propensity to connectivity. Such a propensity appears to
have been enhanced incredibly by the implementation of a network system of land and water routes that reached high effectiveness in the CE centuries.
In this network, cities of long-lasting tradition and new foundations were
nodes of edges that allowed people, things, and ideas to move over longrange distances and spread at a global level. Despite its unfavourable
geomorphology, the Iranian Plateau seems to have been integrated into the global network, as the presence of cities such as Laodikeia-Media, Antioch-Persis, Apamea-Rhagae and Seleucia-Hedyphon seems to show.
Organizers: Touraj Daryaee, Robert Rollinger, and Matthew Canepa
ACM UMAP 2021 is over.
UMAP'22 will take place 4-7 July 2022 in Barcelona and online. Check the conference website.
Eating and Drinking in the Ancient Near East
Turin, July 12-16 2021
Salt was one of the most valued commodities in antiquity. It was used for food preparation and preservation, as an aliment itself, and for other manufacturing activities. It was widely traded both at local and global levels, especially in the Hellenistic period, for it benefited from an extensive route network that worked more and more effectively at least from the Achaemenid period onwards. Salt traders thus became one of the most important components of city societies. The present overview deals with the possibility of addressing problems related to such a complex environment as clues for reconstructing, at least in part, the administration procedures and policymaking of Babylonian élites in the centuries that led to the turn of the Christian era.
Sapienza University
5-8 october 2021
AVI2CH 2020, the first Workshop on Advanced Visual Interfaces and Interactions in Cultural Heritage , which will be held in conjunction with AVI 2020 the International Conference on Advanced Visual Interfaces.
AVI2CH will will take place at the Island of Ischia, Italy - the 29th of September, 2020.
UCLA - Los Angeles
Pourdavoud Center
Literary, epigraphic, and archaeological evidence all demonstrate that the religions of Arsacid Iran is a matter of complexity. The attested religious beliefs and practices reflect the cultural variability of a global empire, encompassing different regions, populations, backgrounds, and even languages. Within this framework, cults and devotion are difficult to address if not considered as part of this complex phenomenon. The degree of complexity increases with the growth of available information, as demonstrated by new data from ancient Elymais (nowadays Khuzestan), the region of Parthian Iran in which monumental religious architecture and sculpture are documented more widely than elsewhere. Surveys and excavations conducted in the highlands of Khuzestan provide new insights on the complexity of religion in that region. Not only have new monumental religious buildings been discovered, which may be classified together with the famous cult terraces of Masǰed-e Soleymān and Bard-e Nešānda, but the coexistence of religious and funerary practices in the same archaeological context was also detected in one of the most important cult places of ancient Iran: the sanctuary of Shami. In the present essay, these insights are discussed in the light of the evidence that was acquired particularly during field surveys and excavations conducted by the Iranian-Italian Joint Expedition in Khuzestan, with the purpose of offering new insights into this never-ending debate.
Department: Classics
Date and Time: February 24, 2020 - February 25, 2020 | 10:00 AM-5:00 PM
The conference focused on the attractiveness of ‘Graecism’ and its reception as emerging from the documents from Seleucia on the Tigris and Babylon.
L'eterna frontiera
International conference
Torino 14-15December 2023
Biblioteca Erik Peterson (Sala Michele Pellegrino), Via Giulia di Barolo 3/a
Their geological horizon, the presence of rock art forms developing from prehistory to present day, and the intangible heritage of the people there settled, characterized by a durable and sustainable way of life, make the Bakthiari Land one of the most important places to protect worldwide.
The Bakthiari consist of parallel ranges alternated to synclinal valleys, which allow access to the Iranian Plateau from the Mesopotamian alluvium. This system displays high geodiversity; however, its unicity is the so-called Asmari Formation. Such a formation, a thick carbonate sequence divided into lower, middle, and upper units for the presence of foraminiferal assemblages, is the main petroleum reservoir in Southwest Iran. It was deposited on a carbonate platform developed across the Zagros, characterized by limestones, dolomitic limestones, and argillaceous limestones, and is exclusive of the Bakhtiari ranges.
In this environment, human presence has been (and still is) characterized by a high degree of integration with the mountain. Both the art and architecture witnessed in these highland regions since the 3rd millennium BCE testify to the cultural reception of the mountain as a part of daily life and local ideology. The use of strategies meant to minimize the human impact on the natural setting is likewise attested: studies of landscape archaeology show that processes of land-catching and resource exploitation have been influenced by the preservation of natural features as much as possible.
Modern Bakhtiari people are the last protectors of such an ecosystem.
Bakhtiaris’ way of life, characterized by a certain isolation and intertribal marriages, probably help them to keep their lineage almost intact. The tribal structure was likewise preserved, even in small towns such as Izeh, the main center of the highlands. The famous documentary Grass: A Nation's Battle for Life (1925) tells the story of the migration of Bakhtiari tribes from winter to summer places. Such a migration, narrated also in further documentaries, is probably the most important intangible heritage of these people.
It is worthy of mention that Bakhtiaris’ way of life is based on sustainability: pastoralism, low-built environments and non-intensive agriculture allow human communities to live in perfect symbiosis with the mountains. However, in modern times, such a way of life is being changed by globalization and such an intangible heritage needs to be protected. To keep alive this way of life will also contribute to protect the mountains from urbanization processes that are evident in other parts of Iran.
The BakLand project aims to create a geoarchaeological park to promote archaeological heritage, geoheritage and cultural heritage of the Bakthiari Land and, in so doing, protect the environment and human communities still living there.