Research & Events

Hittite Anatolia (1700-1200 BC) produced the most extensive textual corpus of cult festivals of antiquity. Festivals are also reflected in several archaeological datasets. Both sources are highly relevant to the study of cult practices and religious experience. However, they have never been the object of a systematic comparative investigation. The project The art of the stage in Bronze Age Anatolia (2023-2025) hinges on the analytical integration of texts and images within the framework of current anthropological perspectives on the sensory environment. We plan to explore the role of Hittite festivals as ‘total social facts’ (M. Mauss), creating deeply affective atmospheres. In doing so, we pursue a multiproxy approach, ie, we use multiple lines of proxy evidence simultaneously in a coordinated theoretical framework. The focus is on two intersecting case studies, the festivals of the sacred city of Arinna attested in the Hittite textual record, and the material remains at the site of Alacahöyük (Turkey) which, considered in their broader context and comparative perspective, provide highly representative datasets.

The research program is multiscalar, with three main objectives built on each other: (1) a parallel analysis of the cuneiform texts on the cults of Arinna and the material remains connected with religious activity at Late Bronze Age Alacahöyük, (2) the development of a methodology for the combined study of Hittite written and material evidence and its digital management, with particular regard to terminological interoperability and the analysis of spatial and temporal aspects, and (3) an interdisciplinary reconstruction of Hittite festivals in the city of Arinna and at the site of Alacahöyük. The planned outputs include critical editions of the festivals of Arinna, a detailed reappraisal of the Sphinx Gate of Alacahöyük, an open digital archive for the combined analysis of textual and visual evidence, and a comparative, anthropologically informed analysis of the religious festivals at Arinna and Alacahöyük. Outreach modules targeting education and research will produce a scale model of the Sphinx Gate at Alacahöyük and graphic information panels, to be realized by middle and high schoolers within a dedicated pedagogical program pursued in collaboration with the Museo Orientale Umberto Scerrato and the NPO Maestri di Strada (Naples).

Cooperation partners

Project Das Corpus der hethitischen Festrituale. Staatliche Verwaltung des Kultwesens im spätbronzezeitlichen Anatolien (German Academy Programme; Philipps-Universität Marburg, Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur Mainz)
Graduiertenkolleg 2844 Inszenierung religiöser Atmosphäre in antiken Kulturen (Philipps-Universität Marburg)
Maestri di Strada ONLUS, Naples

International Conference “Religious atmospheres in Hittite Anatolia and the Ancient Near East”

University of Naples ‘L’Orientale’, Palazzo Corigliano, Sala Conferenze, Piazza S. Domenico Maggiore 12, Naples - November 5-7, 2025

Link: https://www.unior.it/it/eventi/international-conference-religious-atmospheres-hittite-anatolia-and-ancient-near-east

View/download here the programme

View/download the book of abstracts

The concept of ‘atmosphere’, initially developed within the fields of phenomenology and aesthetics and later applied to other disciplines such as architecture, sociology, human geography, and theology, is now beginning to be employed also in the study of the history of religions. The historian of religions Martin Radermacher suggests understanding atmospheres as “the realized sensory, affective and semantic potential of socio-spatial arrangements”, that facilitate semantic attributions, reduce complexity, and stabilize social and communicative systems (Religion und Atmosphäre, 2024, 18, our translation).

Of particular interest for applying the concept of atmospheres to the study of past civilizations is the approach proposed by the German philosopher Gernot Böhme, where atmospheres are examined from the perspective of the production aesthetics, or, in Platonic terms, of τέχνη φανταστική. In this way, they are related to the paradigm of the ‘art of the stage’: the design of spatial, material and sensory arrangements aimed at eliciting, under specific conditions, certain sensations in participants (for a concise account, see his paper The art of the stage set as a paradigm for an aesthetics of atmospheres, 2013). The potential for applying this approach to ancient cultures is highlighted by today’s developments exploring sensory dimensions, cf. the spatial, somatic, affective, or material ‘turns’, and by new data and perspectives from disciplines such as anthropology, ethnoarchaeology, archaeobotany, archaeomusicology, visual studies, performance studies, and festive studies. A particularly fruitful area for exploring atmospheres in the ancient Near Eastern world, including in Hittite Anatolia, is the cultic sphere, for which an extensive and rich corpus of textual and material sources is available.

The project The Art of Stage in Late Bronze Age Anatolia aims to contribute to the reconstruction of Hittite religious atmospheres through the dual case study of the cults of the sacred city of Arinna, as known from written sources, and the Sphinx Gate at the site of Alacahöyük. The conference seeks to present the main findings achieved within the project while situating them within the broader context of the ancient Near East, and to place the chosen case studies and methodological approach in dialogue with other case studies and perspectives.

International Conference “The Hittite Art of the Stage. Exploring Religious Festivals by combining textual and visual evidence”

Venice, Ca’ Foscari University, Aula Baratto, Dorsoduro 3246, January 21-22 2025

January 21/2025, 17:00-18:30

Institutional greetings

17:30 Keynote lecture

Ignazio Buttitta (Università degli Studi of Palermo),

Analizzare il simbolismo festivo: una prospettiva storico comparativa (Analyzing Festive Symbolism: A Historical-Comparative Perspective)

January 22/2025

10:00-12:30 Morning session: The visual evidence. Chair: Elena Rova (Ca’ Foscari University of Venice)

10:15-10:35 Dirk Paul Mielke (University of Münster), Hittite relief pottery: content, contexts and significance

10:45-11:05 Clelia Mora (University of Pavia), Miniature reproductions of stage performances?

11:35-11:55 Tayfun Yıldırım (Ankara University), New thoughts about the scenes depicted in the Alaca Höyük reliefs

12:05-12:30 Round table. Discussant: Marina Pucci (University of Florence)

15:00-18:00 Afternoon session: The textual evidence. Chair: Michele Cammarosano (University of Naples L'Orientale)

15:15-15:35 Andrey Shatskov (University of Naples L'Orientale), The reconstruction of the text of the Great Festival of Arinna (CTH 634)

15:45-16:05 Charles Steitler (Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur Mainz), Arinna and the Formation of the Itinerant AN.DAḪ.ŠUM Festival

16:30-16:50 Adam Kryszen (Philipps-Universität Marburg), Autumn in Arinna. Religious Topography in Hittite Texts

17:00-17:30 Round table. Discussant: Massimo Maiocchi (Ca’ Foscari University of Venice)

17:30-18:00 Conclusion and Hands-On Session with KWANZA! digital tool

Workshop 'La narrazione nel mondo antico. Nuovi metodi e approcci'

Università Ca' Foscari, Venezia, 23.1.2024

Chair: Giovanna Gambacurta (Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia) / Alessandra Gilibert (Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia)

9:30-9:45 Introduzione

9:45-10:05 Elena Rova (Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia), Never-ending images or chunks of images: which story do ancient Near Eastern seal images tell us? Immagini infinite o spezzoni di immagini: che storia ci raccontano i sigilli dell'antico Vicino Oriente?

10:15-10:35 Michele Cammarosano (Università di Napoli L’Orientale) / Alessandra Gilibert (Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia) / Elisa Girotto (Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia) / Renzo Orsini (Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia) / Andrey Shatskov (Università di Napoli L’Orientale), L’arte ittita dello spettacolo: come integrare fonti visuali e fonti scritte con Kwanza!

10:45-11:05 Massimo Maiocchi, Sull'importanza di leggere le scene narrative mesopotamiche nella lingua che le ha prodotte: alcune riflessioni sui sigilli di epoca sargonica

11:35-11:55 Giovanna Gambacurta (Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia), Luca Zaghetto, Il linguaggio dell'Arte delle situle tra Oriente e Occidente: appunti di metodo

12:05-12:25 Elisa Rossberger (Freie Universität Berlin)

12:35-13:00 discussione: Giovanna Gambacurta, Alessandra Gilibert

Mostra Fabulae - Museo di Storia Naturale e Archeologia di Montebelluna

14:20 treno per Montebelluna - 19:20 rientro a Venezia

Conference: Feste e calendari cerimoniali. Un percorso multidisciplinare

Palermo, Museo Internazionale delle Marionette A. Pasqualino, 16.10.2024

Ore 9.00

Saluti istituzionali e introduzione

Ore 9:15. Presiede Gioele Zisa

Sebastiano Mannia, Università degli Studi di Palermo - Michele Cammarosano, Università degli Studi di Napoli L’Orientale - Alessandra Gilibert, Università Cà Foscari Venezia, Presentazione del Progetto PRIN 2022 The art of the stage in Bronze Age Anatolia. Reconstructing Hittite festivals using texts, images and comparative cultural anthropological evidence

Ore 10:00 Michael Jursa, Universität Wien, La messa in scena dell’incontro con il divino nella Babilonia dell’età del ferro

Ore 10:30 Lorenzo Verderame, Università degli Studi di Roma La Sapienza, Tempo e spazio nella celebrazione del capodanno babilonese (akītu)

Ore 11:30 Annunziata Rositani, Università degli Studi di Messina, La misurazione del tempo a Sippar durante il periodo paleo-babilonese: aspetti storici e religiosi

Ore 12:00 Angelo Colonna, Università degli Studi di Pisa, Scenari e riti festivi nell’Egitto protodinastico: paesaggi, performance, società e memoria

Ore 15. Presiede Rosario Perricone

Ignazio Buttitta, Università degli Studi di Palermo, Lo studio dei calendari festivi alla luce del metodo storico-comparativo

Ore 15:30 Alessandro Lupo, Università degli Studi di Roma La Sapienza, I calendari indigeni mesoamericani e il cristianesimo: una lunga storia di conflitto, fraintendimento e persistenza

Ore 16:00 Fabio Mugnaini, Università degli Studi di Siena, Festa e patrimonio. Tradizione e politica del festivo in Toscana

The art of the stage in Bronze Age Anatolia

Keynote at the Klausurtagung of the Graduiertenkolleg 2844 “Inszenierung religiöser Atmosphäre in antiken Kulturen”, Seminarzentrum Edersee, 26.6.2024

Alaca + Arinna lab

Exploring the syntax of religious atmosphere in the Great Festival of Arinna and the Sphinx Gate of Alacahöyük

Workshop at the Bilkent University, Ankara, April 24, 2024, 9–12

Bilkent Campus, Faculty of Humanities, Department of Archaeology, room H135

Celebrating religious festivals plays a pivotal role in shaping and sustaining the system of values and symbols crucial for most human societies. Following Marcel Mauss, festivals are “total social facts” and engender profoundly immersive atmospheres. From this vantage point, Hittite Anatolia emerges as an exceptional case study, given the voluminous and chronologically deep corpus of available texts. The so-called festival texts, a collection of prescriptive protocols, stands as the most extensive compilation from antiquity on state cult, offering detailed insights into the planning, execution, and tradition of religious festivals.The festivals of the Hittite state are well-documented in written records and depicted through various images. Clearly, both text and images are valuable resources for understanding religious practices. However, they communicate differently and have their respective strengths and limitations. Texts use language to describe events and convey a temporal sequence of events, while images use visual cues to convey space and the relationships between different elements in a scene. Because of this intrinsic difference, scholars have long found it difficult to bring together texts and images. If we give up, however, we risk losing important cues to decode the Hittite way of life! This workshop aims to explore Hittite festivals through a playful approach by combining Hittite texts and images. The workshop will focus on two specific sets of evidence - the textual evidence describing the “Great Festival of Arinna” and the figurative reliefs of the Sphinx Gate at Alaca Höyük. Our working hypothesis is that these two sets are related to the same cultic event, and our inquiry will try to unveil the guiding principles shaping the articulation of the religious performances described in them. To make the activity more engaging, we will be using clay to create a miniature religious diorama that will serve as a condensed representation of the festive performance. The workshop will last for three hours in the morning, followed by a final lunch together. Participants will first divide into two groups - an “image group” and a “text group”. Each group will try to identify ‘semantic segments’ within their set of evidence and create their own figurine sets accordingly. In the second phase, the groups will reunite for discussion and debate, setting up our Hittite action figures into a coherent diorama.

Venice research unit: Study of the Sphinx Gate of Alaca Höyük

By Elisa Girotto

The research involved a re-examination of the excavation reports and iconographic studies on the Sphinx Gate. Over forty sculptures were catalogued and digitally redrawn based on superimposed past drawings and photographs. Topographical plans and elevations of the monument and the site were digitally traced based on published excavations reports and studies. This work permitted testing possible reconstruction of the monument’s original appearance. Work on the topographic maps helped study the monument in relation to other buildings and features (e.g. springs), in the course of history. New hypotheses emerged regarding the meanings of the scenes. Acrobats and musicians may have staged mythic episodes, for example, those related to the hunting scenes. A nude youth could have been involved in an initiation ceremony into the royal bodyguards. The “Hathoric” sphinx type may be connected to the cult of groundwater, in relation to the presence of springs at the site. The block with the charging bull may have featured hollow cup marks on its top and possibly served as the base of a statue. Emphasis was placed on the prominent role of the royal guards in the ceremonies and visual account. The plant in the hunting scene could be the Fritillaria imperialis.

Naples research unit: Critical edition of the Great Festival of Arinna (CTH 634)

By Andrey Shatckov

The critical edition of the Great Festival of Arinna comprises a total of 49 fragments. The festival was performed in Arinna and extended over three days, during which the king and queen visited several temples—among them those of the Sun-goddess, the Storm-god, and Mezzulla—and held the Great Assembly. Although the full text cannot be reconstructed, the surviving fragments describe animal sacrifices and offerings to various sacred loci, ceremonies performed at temple entrances and on the roof of the Sun-goddess’s temple, as well as preparations for the Great Assembly and libations to the deities. Certain rituals appear to have been repeated, likely at different locations. Moreover, the recurrence of the Great Assembly’s elements at both the beginning and the end of KUB 20.76+, with only minor variations, suggests that the Assembly was held twice during the Great Festival of Arinna, most probably on two consecutive days.

Naples & Venice research units: Kwanza!-system

By Renzo Orsini

The Kwanza! system (a Luwian imperative meaning both ‘draw!’ and ‘write!’, from the Indo-European root *Kwels-) provides a framework for producing, managing and querying structured datasets combining information from both visual and textual evidence. It is developed by Renzo Orsini in collaboration with the Naples & Venice project teams.

The conceptual-logical adopted in the system uses rules-constrained Descriptions, which are made up of Descriptors drawn from a Descriptors Dictionary.

By combining the two core relations of specialization and context, adopting a formal yet simple syntax, supporting uncertainty in data, and enabling easy data entry, the Kwanza! system offers both great flexibility of application and the sophistication needed to capture and query complex relational structures – something not achievable with simple tag-based systems, yet without the rigidity and complexity of ontologies.

Naples research unit: un presepe ittita

By Laura Noviello, with Istituto Comprensivo 83° Porchiano Bordiga, Maestri di Strada ONLUS, & EST - Educazione Sogno Territorio

The outreach module Un presepe ittita ('A Hittite Nativity Scene'), coordinated by Laura Noviello, involves fourth-grade pupils from the Istituto Comprensivo 83° Porchiano Bordiga in Naples–Ponticelli, in collaboration with the ONG Maestri di Strada and EST - Educazione Sogno Territorio (Giovanna Castiello, Francesca Cirella, Fortuna Esposito, Cira Maddaloni).

One of the most distinctive features of Hittite culture is its extraordinarily rich variety of religious celebrations and their unique atmospheres. These festivals were sometimes represented through miniature depictions, which provide a fascinating point of comparison with the Neapolitan art of the nativity scene. Building on this parallel, the project aims both to introduce participants to the world of the Hittites and to actively engage local students through hands-on creative and craft activities.

The programme includes theoretical sessions, led by Hittitologists, music archaeologists, and master nativity artisans, designed to provide historical, archaeological, anthropological, and design context, as well as practical workshops, in which students will work with expert craftsmen to create a “Hittite Nativity Scene” — from shaping the scenery to modelling the figures.

The main goals are to:

– Foster understanding of Hittite culture and its festive traditions through archaeological, iconographic, and textual sources while involving schoolchildren in a multidisciplinary learning experience alongside researchers and specialists;

– Promote a cultural dialogue between Hittite festive imagery and the Neapolitan nativity art;

– Engage local students in an educational and creative process that brings together history, archaeology, and craftsmanship.

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