AnatoLinks
Thursday 4 December 2025 LPP Faculty Large Seminar Room, The Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities
and Friday 5 December 2025, Ertegun House
Due to space limitations, we regret that we are unable to accommodate all attendees in-person. We more than welcome all interested parties who would like to attend online, however, and we ask that those who would like to do so would please register for online attendance via this link.
AnatoLinks is a PhD / early career two-day conference dedicated to the study of Ancient Anatolia through the lenses of Linguistics, Philology, History, and Archaeology, to be held at the University of Oxford on 4–5 December 2025.
The conference aims to foster interdisciplinary dialogue and encourage meaningful exchange between different approaches to the ancient Anatolian world. We particularly welcome joint presentations by researchers from different fields engaging with shared material or questions. We strongly encourage submissions from PhD candidates and early career researchers whose work explores Ancient Anatolia through innovative methodologies, comparative frameworks, or new analytical tools.
The conference will feature the keynote lectures by David Sasseville (EPHE, Paris) and Giulia Torri (University of Florence).
Follow this link for the Call for Papers (deadline: 1 October 2025).
This conference is organized in collaboration between the Ancient Anatolia Network – University of Oxford, the ERC project CAncAn: Communication in Ancient Anatolia (project number 101088363) – University of Venice, the ISAW – New York University, and the PhD School of History – University of Pavia.
Organizing Committee: Emanuele Alleva (Ca' Foscari University of Venice), Giulia Cozzi, (University of Pavia), Sveva Elti di Rodeano (Ca' Foscari University of Venice), Romeo Gessaga (University of Oxford), Gabriele Giannecchini (University of Oxford), Olga Olina (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin), Jonathan Walls (University of Oxford), Leopoldo Fox-Zampiccoli (ISAW - NYU).
PROGRAM:
THURSDAY DECEMBER 4th
9:00-9:15 Registration
9:15-9:30 Welcome address
9:30-10:15 David Sasseville, École Pratique des Hautes Études, Paris: The Impact of Restoring Palaic Clay Tablets on Anatolian Historical Grammar
10:15-11:00 First session
10:15-10:30 John Clayton, University of California Los Angeles, New Encoding Protocols for Hittite Transliteration and their Applications
10:30-10:45 Helen Young, Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Lexicographical Research in the TLHdig Digital Repository of Hittite Texts on Hittite Words for “Palace”
10:45-11:00 Lucrezia Manganelli, Freie Universität Berlin, Sargon of Akkad as a Model of Heroic Kingship: Textual Reception in Northern Mesopotamia and Anatolia
11:00-11:30 Coffee break
11:30-13:00 Second session
11:30-11:50 Marco Ammazzini, Università per Stranieri di Siena, The Proto-Anatolian Second Person Singular Pronoun *tī: A Reassessment of Competing Hypotheses
11:50-12:10 Muhammad Rehan, University of California Los Angeles, The Development of Word-Final Stops in Hittite
12:10-12:30 Caroline M. J. Cambré, Universiteit Leiden, The Absence of Simple Thematic Present Verbs and the Core Indo-European Subjunctive in Anatolian
12:30-13:00 Discussion
13:00-14:00 Lunch
14:00-15:00 Third session
14:00-14:15 Ryan Schnell, New York University/Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, Approaching a Synthesis of Monumental Anatolian Hieroglyphic Writing North of the Taurus
14:15-14:30 Gabriele Biancalani, Università Ca' Foscari (Venice), Karatepe Inscriptions Revisited: Geography, Audience and Hybridization
14:30-14:45 Agne Pilvisto, University of Tartu, Atargatis in Asia Minor
14:45-15:00 Şebnem Balım Çapkan, Lancaster University, Tracing the Sound of Seikilos: Imperialism, Landscape Transformation and Heritage Displacement in Western Anatolia
15:00-15:30 Coffee Break
15:30-17:30 Fourth session
15:30-15:50 Emily Smith, University of Chicago, A Feature Not a Bug: The Multifunctionality of the Hittite Reflexive Particle ⸗ z(a)
15:50-16:10 Eleanor Home, University College London, Assessing Variation in Classifier Use Across Hittite Text Genres
16:10-16:30 Melvin Pötzsch – John Clayton, Philipps-Universität Marburg & UCLA, The Etymology of 'God' in Luwic
16:30-16:45 Coffee Break
16:45-17:05 Julia Irons, University of Chicago, Hipponax and the Anatolian Palmus
17:05-17:25 Jasper Chen, Columbia University, Sardis: A Millennium of Adaptation
17:25-18:00 Discussion
FRIDAY DECEMBER 5th
9:00-9:45 Giulia Torri, Università degli studi di Firenze: Excavating the Manuscripts of the Hittite Laws
09:45-11:00 First session
09:45-10:00 Naomi Harris, University of Chicago, “The Sun’s in My Heart”: Literary Style in The Disappearance of Telipinu (CTH 324) and Singin’ in the Rain.
10:00-10:15 Claire Hobbs, University of New Hampshire, New Hittite Rhetorical Strategies of Group Differentiation and Exclusion through the Lens of Fascist Studies
10:15-10:30 Ethan Coulson-Haggins, University of Liverpool, Hoplites Beyond Borders: Rethinking ‘Greekness’ in Lycian Martial Iconography
10:30-10:45 Philip Christian Höhre, Philipps-Universität Marburg, Hellenistic Royal Agents in Anatolia – Podilos, Charmidas, and Lakrines of Crete
10:45-11:00 Alan Avdagić, Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Egypto-Carian qan ‘dog’ and the development of PIE palato-velars in Luwic
11:00-11:30 Coffee break
11:30-13:00 Second session
11:30-11:50 Oscar Billing, Uppsala Universitet, Labiovelars in Lycian and Relative Chronology
11:50-12:10 Fiona Philips, University of Oxford, The Archaic Carian Alphabet
12:10-12:30 Alexander Robert Herren – Cinzia Tuena, Universität Basel, Idrieus and Ada in the Greek-Carian Bilingual of Sinuri
12:30-13:00 Discussion
13:00-14:00 Lunch
14:00-14:45 Lorenzo D’Alfonso, Università di Pavia and New York University: Between Phrygia and Urartu: Cimmerians and the Invisible Late Iron Age of the Anatolian Plateau (7th – 6th Century BCE)
14:45-15:15 Third session
14:45-15:00 Ashley Cercone, Middle East Technical University (Ankara), A Game of Mimicry: Ceramic Production and Interaction Along the ‘Great Caravan Route’ in EBAIII Anatolia
15:00-15:15 Iringó Tatár, Eötvös Loránd University (Budapest), Drills and Saws in Stoneworking Traditions: From Boğazkale to Tell es-Salihiyeh
15:15-15:45 Coffee break
15:45-17:45 Fourth session
15:45-16:05 Kevin Parachaud, University of Toulouse, The Territorialisation of the Galatians in Central Anatolia (3rd – 1st Centuries BC) Through Archaeological, Historical, and Linguistic Data
16:05-16:25 Giulia Adelaide Grandi, Università di Torino, Tradition and Transformation in Middle Bronze Age Anatolia: Red Slip Ware Ceramic Transition
16:25-16:40 Coffee break
16:40-17:00 Sarvenaz Parsa, Universität Konstanz, Religious Connections Between Persia and Anatolia: Tracing Fire Temples, Zoroastrian Religion and Persian Influence in Anatolia
17:00-17:20 Finn Conway, University of Oxford, Lydians in Miniature: New Coins with Lydian Legends
17:20-17:45 Discussion
17:45-18:00 Closing remarks
18:30 Social Event
