About

As an Assyriologist who has also trained in archaeology and gained considerable experience of Near Eastern excavation, my primary interest is in combining textual information and material culture in the study of Mesopotamian society and economy. I apply this approach to the study of the Babylonian city and to investigating house and household.

Between 2017 and 2019 I was PI of the international project Machine Translation and Automated Analysis of Cuneiform Languages (MTAAC), funded by SSHRC through the Trans-Atlantic Platform Digging into Data Challenge.

Research Interests
My work focuses on the social, political and economic history and material culture of 1st millennium BC Mesopotamia, with a particular interest in Babylonian urbanism and the built environment, and in the Neo-Assyrian royal household. My research and publications cover the following topics:

  • urbanism and the built environment

  • religious architecture

  • house and household

  • integration of textual and archaeological data

  • Hellenistic Babylonia (especially the city of Uruk)

  • the Assyrian royal palace and household

  • onomastics and naming practices

  • prosopography

  • slavery

  • society and economy

  • political history

  • cuneiform archives and archival practices


Employment

  • 2014–present: Assistant Professor in Ancient Near Eastern History, Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations, University of Toronto

  • 2009—2014: Senior Postdoc and PI of project “Royal Institutional Households in First Millennium BC Mesopotamia,” Institut fūr Orientalistik, University of Vienna

  • 2003–2009: Postdoc, START Project “The Economic History of Babylonia in the First Millennium BC,” Institut fūr Orientalistik, University of Vienna

  • 1999–2002: Research Associate, State Archives of Assyria Project, University of Helsinki; from July 1999, Editor-in-Charge of The Prosopography of the Neo-Assyrian Empire

  • 1993–1998: Editorial Assistant/IT Assistant (part-time), A Lexicon of Greek Personal Names (a British Academy Major Research Project)

  • 1994–1995: Curator Grade G (part-time), Department of the Middle East, the British Museum

  • 1984–1989: Field Archaeologist employed on various excavation and post-excavation projects in England, Cyprus, Turkey, Jordan, and Iraq

Education


  • DPhil, Assyriology (University of Oxford)

  • MPhil, Cuneiform Studies (University of Oxford)

  • BA, Archaeology (University of Cambridge)

Other Publications

Books

  • Baker, H. D. 2017. Neo-Assyrian Specialists. Crafts, Offices, and Other Professional Designations. Prosopography of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, Vol. 4/I. Helsinki: Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project & Finnish Foundation for Assyriological Research.

  • Baker, H.D. & M. Jursa (eds). 2014. Documentary Sources in Ancient Near Eastern and Greco-Roman Economic History: Methodology and Practice. Oxford & Philadelphia: Oxbow Books.

  • Baker, H.D., K. Kaniuth & A. Otto (eds) 2012. Stories of Long Ago. Festschrift für Michael D. Roaf. AOAT 397. Münster: Ugarit-Verlag.

  • Baker, H.D. (ed.) 2011. The Prosopography of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, 3/II: Š–Z. Helsinki: The Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project.

  • Baker, H.D.,  E. Robson & G. Zólyomi (eds) 2010. Your Praise is Sweet: a Memorial Volume for Jeremy Black from Students, Colleagues and Friends. London: British Institute for the Study of Iraq.

  • Bryce, T., in consultation with H.D. Baker, D.T. Potts, J.N. Tubb, J.M. Webb & P. Zimansky 2009. The Routledge Handbook of the Peoples and Places of Ancient Western Asia. From the Early Bronze Age to the Fall of the Persian Empire. London & New York: Routledge.

  • Baker, H.D. & M. Jursa (eds) 2005. Approaching the Babylonian Economy. Proceedings of the START Project Symposium Held in Vienna, 1–3 July 2004. AOAT 330 Münster: Ugarit-Verlag.

  • Baker, H.D. 2004. The Archive of the Nappāḫu Family. Archiv für Orientforschung Beiheft 30. Vienna: Institut für Orientalistik.

  • Baker, H.D. (ed.) 2001. The Prosopography of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, 3/I: P–Ṣ. Helsinki: The Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project.

  • Baker, H.D. (ed.) 2000. The Prosopography of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, 2/II: L–N. Helsinki: The Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project.

  • Baker, H.D. (ed.) 1999. The Prosopography of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, 2/I: Ḫ–K. Helsinki: The Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project.

  • Baker, H.D., R.J. Matthews & J.N. Postgate 1993. Lost Heritage. Antiquities Stolen from Iraq’s Regional Museums, 2. London: British School of Archaeology in Iraq.


Articles

  • Baker, H.D. in press. ‘Textual information and archaeology.’ In G. Rubio (ed.), A Handbook of Ancient Mesopotamia. Berlin: De Gruyter.

  • Baker, H.D. 2017. ‘Slavery and personhood in the Neo-Assyrian empire.’ In J. Bodel and W. Scheidel (eds), On Human Bondage. After Slavery and Social Death. Wiley-Blackwell, pp. 15–30.

  • Baker, H.D. 2016. ‘Urban craftsmen and other specialists, their land holdings, and the Neo-Assyrian state.’ In J.C. Moreno García (ed.), Dynamics of Production in the Ancient Near East 1300–500 BC. Oxford: Oxbow Books, pp. 53–73.

  • Baker, H.D. & Groß, M. 2015. ‘Doing the King’s Work: Perceptions of Service in the Assyrian Royal Correspondence.’ In S. Procházka, L. Reinfandt and S. Tost (eds), Official Epistolography and the Language(s) of Power. Proceedings of the First International Conference of the Research Network Imperium & Officium. Comparative Studies in Ancient Bureaucracy and Officialdom. University of Vienna, 10–12 November 2010. Papyrologica Vindobonensia 8. Vienna: Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, pp. 73–90.

  • Baker, H.D. 2015. ‘Family structure, household cycle and the social use of domestic space in urban Babylonia.’ In M. Müller (ed), Household Studies in Complex Societies. (Micro) Archaeological and Textual Approaches. OIS 10. Chicago: Oriental Institute, pp. 371–407.

  • Baker, H.D. 2015. ‘“I burnt, razed (and) destroyed those cities”: the Assyrian accounts of deliberate architectural destruction.’ In J.M. Mancini & K. Bresnahan (eds), Architecture and Armed Conflict: The Politics of Destruction. London & New York: Routledge, pp. 45–57.

  • Baker, H.D. 2015. ‘The transmission of offices, professions and crafts within the family in the Neo-Assyrian period.’ In A. Archi (ed.), Tradition and Innovation in the Ancient Near East. Proceedings of the 57th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale at Rome, 4–8 July 2011. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, pp. 587–596.

  • Baker, H.D. 2015. ‘Uraš (toponym).’ Reallexikon der Assyriologie 14/5–6: 406–407.

  • Baker, H.D. 2014. ‘House size and household structure: quantitative data in the study of Babylonian urban living conditions.’ In H.D. Baker and M. Jursa (eds), Documentary Sources in Ancient Near Eastern and Greco-Roman Economic History: Methodology and Practice. Oxford & Havertown, PA: Oxbow Books, pp. 7–23.

  • Baker, H.D. 2014. ‘Tiglat-pileser I.’ Reallexikon der Assyriologie 14/1–2: 19–21.

  • Baker, H.D. 2014. ‘Tiglat-pileser II.’ Reallexikon der Assyriologie 14/1–2: 21.

  • Baker, H.D. 2014. ‘Tiglat-pileser III.’ Reallexikon der Assyriologie 14/1–2: 21–24.

  • Baker, H.D. 2014. ‘Trennwand (party wall). B. Im 1. Jahrtausend.’ Reallexikon der Assyriologie 14/1–2: 121–122

  • Baker, H.D. 2014. ‘Turm. A.I.’ Reallexikon der Assyriologie 14/3–4: 195–196.

  • Baker, H.D. 2014.  ‘Ulmaš-šākin-šumi.’ Reallexikon der Assyriologie 14/3–4: 310.

  • Baker, H.D. 2014. ‘The Babylonian cities: investigating urban morphology using texts and archaeology.’ In N.N. May and U. Steinert (eds), The Fabric of Cities: Aspects of Urbanism, Urban Topography and Society in Mesopotamia, Greece and Rome. Leiden: Brill, pp. 171–188.

  • Baker, H.D. 2014. ‘Babylonian city walls in a historical and cross-cultural perspective.’ In H. Neumann, R. Dittmann, S. Paulus, G. Neumann, & A. Schuster-Brandis (eds), Krieg und Frieden im Alten Vorderasien. 52e Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale / International Congress of Assyriology and Near Eastern Archaeology, Münster, 17.-21. Juli 2006. AOAT 401. Münster: Ugarit-Verlag, pp. 87–96.

  • Baker, H.D. 2014. ‘Temple and city in Hellenistic Uruk: sacred space and the transformation of Late Babylonian
    society.’ In E. Frood & R. Raja (eds), Redefining the Sacred: Religious Architecture and Text in the
    Near East and Egypt 1000 BC – AD 300. Turnhout: Brepols, pp. 183–208.

  • Baker, H.D. 2013. ‘Beneath the stairs in the Rēš temple of Hellenistic Uruk. A study in cultic topography and spatial organization.’ Zeitschrift für Orient-Archäologie 6: 18–42.

  • Baker, H.D. 2013. ‘The image of the city in Hellenistic Babylonia.’ In E. Stavrianopoulou (ed.), Shifting Social Imaginaries in the Hellenistic Period: Narrations, Practices, and Images. Mnemosyne Supplements 363. Leiden & Boston: Brill, pp. 51–65.

  • Baker, H.D. 2013. ‘Wirtschaft und Verwaltung in Babylonien.’ In N. Crüsemann, M. van Ess, M. Hilgert & B. Salje (eds), Uruk – 5000 Jahre Megacity, pp. 275–281.

  • Baker, H.D. 2013. ‘Testament. 1 Jt.’ Reallexikon der Assyriologie 13/7–8: 611–613.

  • Baker, H.D. 2012. ‘The Neo-Babylonian empire.’ In D.T. Potts (ed.), A Companion to the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, 2 vols. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, pp. 914–930.

  • Baker, H.D. 2011. ‘From street altar to palace: reading the built environment of urban Babylonia.’ In K. Radner & E. Robson (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Cuneiform Culture. Oxford: OUP, pp. 533–552.

  • Baker, H.D. 2011. ‘Babylonian land survey in socio-political context.’ In G.J. Selz & K. Wagensonner (eds), The Empirical Dimension of Ancient Near Eastern Studies / Die empirische Dimension altorientalischer Forschungen. Wiener Offene Orientalistik 6. Vienna & Berlin: LIT Verlag, pp. 293–323.

  • Baker, H.D. 2011. ‘The statue of Bēl in the Ninurta temple at Babylon.’ Archiv für Orientforschung 52 (2011 [published 2013]) 117–120.

  • Baker, H.D. 2011. c. 400 contributions to H.D. Baker (ed.), The Prosopography of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, 3/II: Š-Z. Helsinki: The Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project.

  • Baker, H.D. 2011. ‘Sippar A. II. Im 1. Jahrtausend. § 3.5. Topographische Informationen.’ Reallexikon der Assyriologie 12/7–8: 535–536.

  • Baker, H.D. 2011. ‘Šit/dirparna.’ Reallexikon der Assyriologie 12/7–8: 558.

  • Baker, H.D. 2010. ‘The meaning of ṭuppi.’ Revue d’Assyriologie 104 (2010 [published June 2012]) 131–162.

  • Baker, H.D. 2010. ‘The social dimensions of Babylonian domestic architecture in the Neo-Babylonian and Achaemenid periods.’ In J. Curtis & S. Simpson (eds), The World of Achaemenid Persia—History, Art and Society in Iran and the Ancient Near East. London: IB Tauris: 179–194 (Chapter 16).

  • Baker, H.D. 2010. ‘Babylonian shops.’ NABU 2010/88.

  • Baker, H.D. 2009. ‘A waste of space? Unbuilt land in the Babylonian cities of the first millennium BC.’ Iraq 71: 89–98.

  • Baker, H.D. 2009. ‘Correction to NABU 2008/27.’ NABU 2009/49.

  • Baker, H.D. 2008. ‘Salmanassar I.’ Reallexikon der Assyriologie 11/7–8: 579–580.

  • Baker, H.D. 2008. ‘Salmanassar II.’ Reallexikon der Assyriologie 11/7–8: 581.

  • Baker, H.D. 2008. ‘Salmanassar III.’ Reallexikon der Assyriologie 11/7–8: 581–585.

  • Baker, H.D. 2008. ‘Salmanassar IV.’ Reallexikon der Assyriologie 11/7–8: 585.

  • Baker, H.D. 2008. ‘Salmanassar V.’ Reallexikon der Assyriologie 11/7–8: 585–587.

  • Baker, H.D. 2008. ‘Šamšī-Adad II.’ Reallexikon der Assyriologie 11/7–8: 635–636.

  • Baker, H.D. 2008. ‘Šamšī-Adad III.’ Reallexikon der Assyriologie 11/7–8: 636.

  • Baker, H.D. 2008. ‘Šamšī-Adad IV.’ Reallexikon der Assyriologie 11/7–8: 636.

  • Baker, H.D. 2008. ‘Šamšī-Adad V.’ Reallexikon der Assyriologie 11/7–8: 636–638.

  • Baker, H.D. 2008. ‘Šamši-ilu.’ Reallexikon der Assyriologie 11/7-8: 639–640.

  • Baker, H.D. 2008. ‘The layout of the ziggurat temple at Babylon.’ NABU 2008/27.

  • Baker, H.D. 2008. ‘Babylon in 484 BC: the excavated archival tablets as a source for urban history.’ Zeitschrift für Assyriologie 98/1: 100–116.

  • Baker, H.D. 2008.  ‘Onbebouwde Grond in Babylonische Steden.’ Phoenix 54/3 (2008) 177–192 (themed issue ‘De stad in het eerste millennium v. Chr.’) [published 2009].

  • Baker, H.D. 2007.  ‘Occupations (Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near East).’ In P. Bogucki (ed.), Encyclopedia of Society and Culture in the Ancient World. New York: Facts on File.

  • Baker, H.D. 2007. ‘Scandals and corruption (Mesopotamia and the Ancient Near East).’ In P. Bogucki (ed.), Encyclopedia of Society and Culture in the Ancient World. New York: Facts on File.

  • Baker, H.D. 2007. ‘Urban form in the first millennium BC.’ In G. Leick (ed.), The Babylonian World. London: Routledge, pp. 66–77.

  • Baker, H.D. 2005. ‘The property portfolio of a family of builders from Hellenistic Uruk.’ In H.D. Baker and M. Jursa (eds), Approaching the Babylonian Economy. Proceedings of the START-Project Symposium Held in Vienna, 1–3 July 2004. AOAT 330. Münster: Ugarit-Verlag, pp.  7–43.

  • Baker, H.D. & Jursa, M. 2005. ‘Introduction.’ In H.D. Baker and M. Jursa (eds), Approaching the Babylonian Economy. Proceedings of the START-Project Symposium Held in Vienna, 1–3 July 2004. AOAT 330. Münster: Ugarit-Verlag, pp. 1–6.

  • Baker, H.D. 2004. ‘Emendations to BiMes 24 19 // BRM 2 28.’ NABU 2004/94.

  • Baker, H.D. 2004. ‘OIP 122 12: some remarks.’ NABU 2004/90.

  • Baker, H.D. 2004. ‘Casting off the fetters: BM 41449 reconsidered.’ NABU 2004/89.

  • Baker, H.D. 2004. ‘The “small cubit”: a note on Late Babylonian surface mensuration.’ NABU 2004/70.

  • Baker, H.D. 2003. ‘Record-keeping practices as revealed by the Neo-Babylonian private archival documents.’ In M. Brosius (ed.), Ancient Archives and Archival Traditions. Concepts of Record-keeping in the Ancient World. Oxford Studies in Ancient Documents. Oxford: OUP, pp. 241–263.

  • Baker, H.D. 2002. ‘Approaches to Akkadian name-giving in first millennium BC Mesopotamia.’ In C. Wunsch (ed.), Mining the Archives. Festschrift for Christopher Walker on the Occasion of his 60th Birthday. Babylonische Archive 1. Dresden: ISLET: 1–24.

  • Baker, H.D. 2002. 295 contributions to H.D. Baker (ed.), The Prosopography of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, 3/I: P-Ṣ. Helsinki: The Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project.

  • Baker, H.D. 2001. ‘Degrees of freedom: slavery in first millennium BC Babylonia.’ In P. Mitchell (ed.), The Archaeology of Slavery. World Archaeology 33/1: 18–26.

  • Baker, H.D. 2001. c. 600 contributions to H.D. Baker (ed.), The Prosopography of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, 2/II: L–N. Helsinki.

  • Baker, H.D. & Wunsch, C. 2001. ‘Neo-Babylonian notaries and their use of seals.’ In W.W. Hallo and I.J. Winter (eds), Seals and Seal Impressions. Proceedings of the XLVe Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, Part II. Yale University. Bethesda, Maryland: CDL Press: 197–213.

  • Baker, H.D. 2000. 350 contributions to H.D. Baker (ed.), The Prosopography of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, 2/I: Ḫ–K. Helsinki: The Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project.

  • Baker, H.D. 1999. 50 contributions to K. Radner (ed.), The Prosopography of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, 1/II: B–G. Helsinki: The Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project.

  • Baker, H.D. 1998. ‘Mesopotamia’ and ‘The Development of Early Maps.’ In The Reader’s Digest Family Encyclopedia of World History.

  • Baker, H.D. 1997. text edition no. 10 in M. Weszeli and H. Baker, ‘Eseleien II.’ Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes 87: 231–247.

  • Baker, H.D. 1995. ‘Small Finds.’ In H.D. Baker et al., ‘Kilise Tepe 1994.’ Anatolian Studies 45: 186–189.

  • Baker, H.D. 1995. ‘Neo-Babylonian Burials Revisited.’ In A.R. Green and S. Campbell (eds), The Archaeology of Death in the Ancient Near East. Oxbow Monographs 51. Oxford: Oxbow Books: 209–220.

  • Baker, H.D. 1993. ‘The Grinding Stones.’ In A. Green (ed.), The 6G Ash-Tip and its contents. British School of Archaeology in Iraq, Abu Salabikh Excavations 4. London: British School of Archaeology in Iraq, pp. 163–165.


 

Conference Papers

(* = invited paper)

  • *Assyrian Names in Babylonian Texts (Onomastics Training Week, Ca’ Foscari University, Venice, 29 May–1 June 2018)

  • *Journey to the Late Babylonian City: the Final Phases of Mesopotamian Urbanism (Centre for Ancient Studies Annual Symposium Cities in the Ancient World, Penn Museum, Philadelphia, 20–21 April 2018)

  • Quantifying the use of space in the Babylonian house of the first millennium BC (ASOR Annual Meeting, 15–18 November 2017)

  • Investigating Neo-Assyrian society using digital prosopography (Canadian Society for Mesopotamian Studies Annual Symposium “Digital Cuneiform: New Approaches to the Study of Ancient Near Eastern Written Sources,” Toronto, 30 September 2017)

  • Neo-Assyrian Prosopography: Past, Present, and Future (63rd Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, Marburg, 24–28 July 2017)

  • The use of writing boards in Assyria (CSMS Symposium ‘Ancient Near Eastern Archives: Dealing with Incomplete Datasets,’ Toronto, 1 October 2016)

  • The historical topography of Ur in the first millennium BC (62nd RAI ‘Ur in the 21st Century CE,’ Philadelphia, 11–15 July 2016)

  • *The economic interests of Urukean scholars (TOPOI workshop ‘Scholars, Priests and Temples – Babylonian and Egyptian Science in Context,’ Berlin, 12 May 2016)

  • Domestic space and private enterprise in urban Babylonia (10th ICAANE, workshop ‘Working at Home in the Ancient Near East,’ Vienna, 25–29 April 2016)

  • *What do we do with all of the data in The Prosopography of the Neo-Assyrian Empire? (workshop ‘Ancient History: Assyriological Perspectives,’ Brown University, Department of Egyptology & Assyriology, 26–27 February 2016)

  • *Neo-Assyrian administration in the Southern Levant: the view from the centre (workshop ‘The Southern Levant Under Assyrian Domination,’ Ben Zvi Institute, Jerusalem, 11–12 November 2015)

  • *Looking for slaves in Assyria (workshop ‘Between Slavery and Freedom: Aspects of Manumission in the Ancient World. The Ancient Near East, Greece, and Rome,’ Edinburgh, 1 May 2015)

  • A Neo-Babylonian plan of a temple and its captions: BM 68840+ Reconstructed (61st RAI, theme ‘Text and Image,’ Geneva and Bern, 22–26 June 2015)

  • Gifts and bribes in 1st millennium BC Mesopotamia (5th International Conference of the Research Network ‘Imperium and Officium,’ theme ‘Governing Ancient Empires,’ Vienna, 5–7 November 2014)

  • *Communicating kingship: the Assyrian ruler and his people (workshop ‘The Legitimation of Autocracy in the Ancient World,’ NYU Abu Dhabi, 2–3 November 2014)

  • *‘Go out, evil!’ The Mesopotamian house as a setting for ritual activity (workshop ‘Exploring Ritual in the Ancient Near East and Mediterranean: Performance, Texts, and Material Culture,’ ISAW, New York, 16 May 2014)

  • *The Babylonian temples: continuity, change, and politics (conference ‘Xerxes and Babylonia: the Cuneiform Evidence,’ Leiden, 16–17 January 2014)

  • Neo-Assyrian Letters and Administration (American Philological Association annual meeting, session ‘The Power of the Written Word: Cross-Cultural Comparisons’ by leaders of the Research Network ‘Imperium and Officium,’ Chicago, 2–5 January 2014)

  • *various short discussion papers (workshop ‘Living in the Multicultural Society of Iron Age Mesopotamia: the Case of the Egyptians,’ Castelen, Switzerland, 31 October–3 November 2013)

  • The Late Babylonian house: tablet and trench in harmony? (conference ‘Between Words and Walls: Material and Textual Approaches to Housing in the Graeco-Roman World,’ Birkbeck College, London, 29–30 August 2013)

  • Disordered states? Homeland security in the Neo-Assyrian empire (59th RAI ‘Law and (Dis)order,’ Ghent, 15–19 July 2013)

  • *The historical topography of Neo-Babylonian and Hellenistic Uruk: archaeology and text in the study of urban form (8th ICDOG ‘Uruk – Altorientalische Metropole und Kulturzentrum,’ Berlin, 25– 26 April 2013)

  • *Family structure, household cycle, and the social use of domestic space in urban Babylonia (Oriental Institute Symposium ‘Household Studies in Complex Societies: (Micro) Archaeological and Textual Approaches,’ Chicago, 15–16 March 2013)

  • Land and power in Assyria (3rd International Conference of the Research Network ‘Imperium and Officium,’ theme ‘Land and Power in the Ancient and Post-Ancient World,’ Vienna, 20–22 February 2013)

  • *Babylonian archives and libraries of the first millennium BC (Advanced Seminar in the Humanities guest lecture, Venice International University, 29 October–3 November 2012)

  • Doing business in Assyria: private, state, or a grey area? (58th RAI ‘Private and State,’ Leiden, 16–20 July 2012)

  • New approaches to the archaeology of the Babylonian household (BANEA Annual Conference ‘New Directions in the Ancient Near East,’ Manchester, 8–10 June 2012)

  • The spatial context of religious practice in first millennium BC Mesopotamia (8th ICAANE, Warsaw, 30 April–4 May 2012)

  • *Slavery and personhood in the Neo-Assyrian Empire (conference ‘Being Nobody? Understanding Slavery Thirty Years After Slavery and Social Death,’ Brown University, 13–15 April 2012)

  • The anatomy of a Neo-Assyrian palace archive (2nd conference of the Research Network ‘Imperium and Officium,’ theme ‘Administration, Law and Administrative Law,’ Vienna, 24–26 November 2011)

  • The transmission of offices, professions and crafts within the family in the Neo- Assyrian period (57th RAI ‘Innovation and Tradition in the Ancient Near East,’ workshop ‘From Parents to Children,’ Rome, 4–8 July 2011)

  • *Family, private property and the state in first millennium BC Mesopotamia (ESF Exploratory Workshop ‘Dynamics of Production and Economic Interaction in the Near East in the First Half of the 1st Millennium BCE,’ Lille, 28–30 June 2011)

  • ‘I razed, destroyed and burned those cities’: deliberate architectural destruction in the context of Assyrian imperial expansion and conquest (conference ‘The Politics of Architectural Destruction,’ NUI Maynooth, County Kildare, Ireland, 23–24 May 2011)

  • Crafts and the Mesopotamian city: specialisation and urban spatial organisation (BANEA Annual Conference, University of East Anglia, 6–8 January 2011)

  • Doing the king’s work: perceptions of service in the Neo-Assyrian royal correspondence (1st Conference of the Research Network ‘Imperium and Officium,’ theme ‘Official Epistolography and the Language(s) of Power,’ Vienna, 10–12 November 2010)

  • The real meaning of ṭuppi (56th RAI ‘Time and History in the Ancient Near East,’ Barcelona, 26–30 July 2010)

  • *Planning palaces, building empires: the role of the ruler in disseminating architectural forms in 1st millennium BC Mesopotamia (4. Treffen des Forschungsfeldes 4 des Cluster 3: ‘Orte der Herrschaft,’ DAI, Rome, 29 April–1 May 2010)

  • Accommodating the family: house size, household complexity and “working from home” (55th RAI ‘Family in the Ancient Near East: Realities, Symbolisms, and Images,’ Collège de France, Paris, 6–9 July 2009)

  • *The Babylonian cities: investigating urban morphology (TPOPOI workshop ‘Urban Topology as a Reflection of Society. Language, Image, Archaeology,’ Berlin, 18–19 June 2009)

  • *Temple and city in Hellenistic Uruk: sacred space and the transformation of Late Babylonian society (ESF exploratory workshop ‘Redefining the Sacred: Religious Identity, Ritual Practice, and Sacred Architecture in the Near East and Egypt, 1000 BC–AD 300,’ Oxford, 19–21 March)

  • *Dwelling in southern Mesopotamia: new perspectives from ancient Uruk (symposium ‘Dwelling in Temporal Perspective,’ Institute of Advanced Study & Department of Archaeology, Durham University, 14 March 2009)

  • Mind your step: access and exclusion as representations of power and control (54th RAI ‘Organisation, Repräsentation und Symbole von Macht in Altvorderasien,’ Würzburg, 20–25 July 2008)

  • Modelling urban form and urban development: quantitative data in the study of the Babylonian cities (START Project Symposium ‘Too much data?,’ Vienna, 17–19 July 2008)

  • Family, household and neighbourhood structure in Hellenistic Babylonia (workshop ‘Cross-Cultural Approaches to Family and Household Structures in the Ancient World,’ ISAW, New York, 9–10 May 2008)

  • Beyond planning: how the Babylonian city was formed (53rd RAI ‘Language’ and ‘City administration,’ Moscow & St Petersburg, 23–28 July 2007)

  • Reconstructing ancient Babylon: problems and prospects (Archäologie & Computer 11: ‘Kulturelles Erbe und Neue Technologien,’ Workshop 2: ‘How to Publish “Old” Excavations With New Technologies 2,’ Vienna, 18–20 October 2006)

  • Babylonian city walls in a historical and cross-cultural perspective (52nd RAI ‘Krieg und Frieden im Alten Vorderasien,’ Münster, 17–21 July 2006)

  • Towards a reconstruction of the urban environment in first millennium BC Babylonia (5th ICAANE, Madrid, 3–8 April 2006)

  • Unbuilt space: a question of land use in the Babylonian cities of the first millennium BC (BANEA Annual Conference, Edinburgh, 5–7 January 2006)

  • Characterising urban space and comparing neighbourhoods: the Babylonian cities in the first millennium BC (51st RAI ‘Classifications of Knowledge in the Ancient Near East: Lexicography, Iconography, Stratigraphy,’ Chicago, 18–22 July 2005)

  • The social dimensions of Babylonian domestic architecture in the Neo-Babylonian and Achaemenid periods (conference ‘The World of Achaemenid Persia,’ British Museum, London, 29 September–1 October 2005)

  • Streets and alleys in the Babylonian cities of the first millennium BC (BANEA Annual Conference, Oxford, 7–8 January 2005)

  • *Urban landscapes and domestic space: the Neo-Babylonian house in its setting (British School of Archaeology in Iraq lecture, British Academy, London, 24 March 2004)

  • *Continuity and change between the Neo-Babylonian and the early Achaemenid period from the perspective of the Babylonian private archival tablets (‘First International Conference on Ancient Cultural Relations Between Iran and Western Asia,’ Tehran, 16–18 August 2003)

  • *The use of writing in the Neo- and Late-Babylonian periods (conference ‘Symposium for the Fifth Millennium of the Invention of Writing in Mesopotamia,’ Baghdad, 23 March 2001)

  • *Mettre en ligne les textes babyloniens (with F. Joannès and M. Stolper) (conference ‘Histoire achéménide et bases de données sur Internet,’ Collège de France, Paris, 16 December 2000)

  • *Neo- and Late-Babylonian prebend texts (British Museum symposium ‘Ancient Mesopotamian Finance,’ London, 20 September 1996)


Guest Lectures & Seminars

  • Urban Babylonia: Settlement and Society in a Long-Term Perspective (Historisches Seminar, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, 4 May 2016)

  • The spatial context of religious practice in urban Babylonia (Dept. of Archaeology, Tel Aviv University, 9 November 2016)

  • The Babylonian City in Long-term Perspective: Investigating Urban Processes Using Texts and Archaeology (ANŠE Lecture, Department of Near Eastern Studies, The Johns Hopkins University, 20 April 2015)

  • Making an Empire: Neo-Assyrian Craftsmen and Other Workers (A.K. Grayson Lecture on Assyrian History and Culture, Canadian Society for Mesopotamian Studies, University of Toronto, 14 January 2015)

  • At home in the Babylonian city: new light on domestic housing and urban living conditions (Mesopotamian Seminar, University of Cambridge, 20 November 2012)

  • Keeping up appearances: prestige in the built environment of urban Babylonia (Graduiertenkolleg ‘Formen von Prestige in Kulturen des Altertums,’ Ludwig- Maximilians-Universität, Munich, 21 June 2012)

  • Babylonian housing: the social use of domestic space (Dept. of Egyptology and Ancient Western Asian Studies, Brown University, 16 April 2012)

  • Hellenistic Uruk: temple and community in the light of texts and archaeology (Dept. of World Cultures, University of Helsinki, 4 April 2011)

  • Hellenistic Uruk: temple and community in the light of texts and archaeology (Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg, Seminar für Sprachen und Kulturen des vorderen Orients: Assyriologie & Exzellenzcluster ‘Asia and Europe,’ 1 July 2010)

  • Housing the Babylonians: domestic architecture in its social setting (Institut für Orientalistik, Vienna, 7 January 2010)

  • Temple and community in Hellenistic Uruk: a study in spatial organization (Kolloquium Alter Orient, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich, 19 May 2009)

  • Modern views on ancient Babylon: myth and reality (Akademie der bildenden Künste, Institut für Kunst und Architektur, Vienna, 3 November 2008)

  • Bridging the gap: texts and archaeology in the reconstruction of the Babylonian cities (Dept. of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations & Center for Ancient Studies, University of Pennsylvania, 12 May 2008)

  • Urban Babylonia in the first millennium BC: towards a reconstruction (Orientalisches Seminar, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität, Freiburg, 4 February 2008)

  • Reconstructing the urban landscape of Babylonia in the first millennium BC (Dept. of Assyriology and Hebrew, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, 2 April 2007)

  • Reconstructing the urban environment of Babylonia in the first millennium BC (Ancient Near East Seminar, Oriental Institute, Oxford, 21 November 2006)

  • The meaning and function of kuruppu: a new feature in the urban landscape of Babylonia (Dept. of History, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, 3 July 2006)

  • Uruk after Gilgamesh: bringing the first millennium city to life (London Centre for the Ancient Near East, SOAS, London, 20 March 2006)

  • The urban landscape in Babylonia in the first millennium BC (Dept. of Assyriology & Hittitology, Warsaw, 9 May 2005)

  • A new look at the Neo-Babylonian house (Dept. of History, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, 5 May 2005)

  • The urban landscape in Babylonia in the first millennium BC (Dept. of History, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, 5 May 2005)

  • Sanitation in the Babylonian cities (Institut für Orientalistik, Vienna, 27 April 2005)

Blog Posts

Projects


  • Machine Translation and Automated Analysis of Cuneiform Languages (MTAAC), funded by SSHRC through the T-AP Digging into Data Challenge (2017–2019)

  • Royal Institutional Households in First Millennium BC Babylonia, funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) (2009–2015)

  • BabCity: Babylonian Texts Concerning the Urban Landscape (in progress, with student assistance funded by the University of Toronto’s Work Study Program)

  • Nappahu: Digital Corpus of Neo-Babylonian Texts from the Nappahu Archive (on ORACC, in preparation)

  • Neo-Assyrian Bibliography (on Zotero)

  • PNAo: The Prosopography of the Neo-Assyrian Empire Online (on ORACC)


 

Memberships


  • British Institute for the Study of Iraq (BISI)

  • International Association for Assyriology (IAA)

  • American Schools of Oriental Research (ASOR)

  • American Oriental Society (AOS)

  • Archaeological Institute of America (AIA)

  • Canadian Society for Mesopotamian Studies (CSMS)

Heather D Baker

Profile picture of Heather D Baker

@apkallatu

Active 4 months, 4 weeks ago