Dr. Cinzia Pappi is an Assyriologist and Near Eastern archaeologist with a focus on the cultural landscapes of Mesopotamia in the second and first millennia BCE. She received her PhD from the University of Udine (Italy) and has held academic positions and participated in international research projects at several institutions, including the University of Leipzig, Brown University (USA), the University of Innsbruck (Austria), and the Einstein Center Chronoi at Freie Universität Berlin.

Her research focuses on religious topography, political structures, and the material culture of the ancient Near East. Within the framework of Chronoi, she co-directed two Explorations projects together with Prof. Dr. Eva Cancik-Kirschbaum: Synchron Worlds, dedicated to chronological synchronisms in the second millennium BCE, and The Multiple Life of Hammurabi, exploring the reception and reinterpretation of the historical figure of Hammurabi across different periods and cultural contexts. For several years, she has been directing archaeological excavations in Iraqi Kurdistan (Satu Qala, Qala Shila, Archaeological Survey of the Koya Project) and has published extensively on urbanism, ritual spaces, and political geography.

As part of the HyMes project, Dr. Pappi is responsible for project coordination supporting the project leadership and conducts research on the hydrography and canalization of Babylonia in the second millennium BCE.

Academic activities

• 11.2021 bis 31.12.2025: Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin (Koordination und Forschung) an der Einstein Center Chronoi (https://www.ec-chronoi.de/)

• 01.10.2024 bis 31.1.2025: Lehrbeauftragter an der Universität Hamburg (Vertretung Prof. Dr. Nicole Brisch, Altorientalistik)

• 1.10.2021 bis 28.2.2022: Lehrbeauftragter an der Universität Innsbruck (Institut für Alte Geschichte und Altorientalistik)

• 2020 (März bis Mai): Gastwissenschaftlerin an der Kollegforschergruppe 2615 „Re-thinking Oriental Despotism“ (https://www.geschkult.fu-berlin.de/e/rod/Team-und-Fellows/fellows/Pappi.html)

• 2018 bis 2020: Shelby White and Leon Levy Publication Grant „Archaeological Excavations at Satu Qala, the Ancient Idu, Fieldwork 2010-2013“ (https://whitelevy.fas.harvard.edu/people/cinzia-pappi)

• 2015 bis 2018: Universitätsassistentin Post-Doc (Ersatzkraft) am Institut für Alte Geschichte und Altorientalistik der Leopold-Franzens-Universität Innsbruck.

• 2012-2013: Postdoc Visiting Professor am Department für Egyptology and Ancient Western Asian Studies an der Brown University (U.S.A)

• 2008 - 2015: Wissenschaftliche Assistentin (Akademische Rätin auf Zeit) am Altorientalischen Institut, Universität Leipzig.

• 2007-2008: Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin im Projekt "Sources for Early Akkadian Literature" am Altorientalischen Institut, Universität Leipzig.

• 2007: Promotionsabschluss in Altertumswissenschaften (Scienze dell’Antichità, XVIII ciclo) an der Universität Udine; Dissertation zum Thema „Religiösen Landschaften und Kultreisen in der Mari-Zeit“ (Gli Itinerari di culto nell’età di Mari).

• 19.10.2001: Hochschulabschluß (Laurea) in Altertumswissenschaften und Kulturgutschutz (Facoltà di Lettere e Filosofia, corso di laurea in conservazione dei beni culturali) der Universität Udine, Italien. Schwerpunkt: Archäologie, Altorientalistik. Benotung 110/110 Cum Laude. Titel der Diplomarbeit: „Il Jebel Bishri nelle fonti del Vicino Oriente antico“.

2021-2025: Research Associate at the Einstein center Chronoi of the Freie Universität Berlin

2020: Postdoc Fellow at the School of Advanced Studies, DFG-Kollegforschergruppe 2615 “Re-thinking Oriental Despotism.”

2018-2020: White-Levy Fellow (Freie Universität Berlin) Title of the Project “Archaeological Excavations at Satu Qala, the Ancient Idu, Fieldwork 2010-2013.

2015-2018: Visiting Ass. Professor at the Institute for Ancient History and Ancient Near Eastern Studies at the Leopold-Franzens University Innsbruck.

2008 - 2015: Lecturer (Wissenschaftliche Assistentin) at the Institute of Ancient Near Eastern Studies, University of Leipzig (Germany).

2012-2013: Postdoc Visiting Professor at the Department for Egyptology and Ancient Western Asian Studies, Brown University (U.S.A).

2007-2008: Research Assistant at the project "Sources for Early Akkadian Literature" at the Institute of Ancient Near Eastern Studies, University of Leipzig (Germany).

Books

The Multiple Lives of Hammurabi. Chronoi Reihe, De Gruyter. (In Preparation)

With C. Blasetti Fantauzzi, Sacred Timescapes: The Temporalities of Sacred Space in the Ancient World. Chronoi Reihe, De Gruyter. (In Preparation)

The Religious Landscape of Mari (In Preparation)

Pappi, C. (2007). Gli itinerari di culto nell’età di Mari. PhD Dissertation, Universität Udine.

Pappi, C. (2004). Cuneiform Texts of the Iraq Museum. A Preliminary Catalogue. Neo-Assyrian Texts from Nimrud. Part I. (Materiali per il Vocabolario Sumerico 14). Rom: CNR.

Edited Books

 

G. B. Lanfranchi, D. Morandi Bonacossi, C. Pappi, S. Ponchia, Leggo! Sudies presented to Prof. Frederick Mario Fales on the Occasion of his 65^th Birthday (Leipziger Altorientalistische Studien 2), Harrassowitz 2012.

R. Rollinger, I. Madreiter, M. Lang, C. Pappi, The Intellectual Heritage of the Ancient Near EastProceedings of the 64th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale and the 12th Melammu Symposium, University of Innsbruck, July 16‒20, 2018. Melammu Symposia 12. ÖAW. 2023.

 

Articles in Journals and Book Chapters

 

“A Tale of Two Ladies: Exploring Hurrian Origins and Assyrian Regeneration of the Divine Nature of Ishtar of Arbela” State Archives of Assyria Bulletin (submitted August 2025)

“Un Patchwork Imperiale: riflessioni su “stati vassalli” e governance di frontiera nell’Assiria medio assira.” Vicino Oriente (submitted August 2025)

With C. W. Hess and Azeez Awmar, N. “The Toponym Ḫunaba Reconsidered: A New Epigraphic Find from the Region of Koisanjak (Erbil, Iraq)”, Revue d’Assyriologie e d’Archéologie Orientale 119 (2025), 105–112.

With Coppini, C. and Azeez Awmar, N. “Borderland Histories: The Archaeological Survey of Koya/Koisanjaq (2016-2022) From Local Chronology to Imperial Periodization: The Koya Region, Paleolithic to Parthian”, Ash-sharq: Bulletin of the Ancient Near East – Archaeological, Historical and Societal Studies, 9 (2025/2), 350–374. 

With Azeez Awmar, N. “Listening to the Past: Archaeology, Oral History, and Memoryscapes in the Koya Region (Iraq).” Ash-Sharq: Bulletin of the Ancient Near East – Archaeological, Historical and Societal Studies, 9 (2025/2), 385–404.

“Reconsidering the Chronology of Idu: The Evidence of BM 122635+” N.A.B.U. 2025/3 n. 79, 119.

“On the Localization of Zaqqu.” N.A.B.U. 2025/3 n. 80, 119-20.

“Holy Water or Healing Water? See, Salt, Rivers, and Wells in Middle Bronze Age Tall Hariri/Mari (Syria). Analysis Archaeologica 8, (2025) 213–232.

“Come, Tell Me Where You Live! Perceptions of Local Antiquity and Cultural Awareness in the Region of Koya” in Nathalie Kallas, Bridging the Gap: Disciplines, Times, and Spaces in Dialogue – Volume 2, Archaeopress (2025).

With C. Coppini, The Plain of Koi Sanjaq/Koya (Erbil, Iraq) in the 3rd Millennium BCE. History, Chronologies, Settlements, and Ceramics in Barbara Couturaud (Ed.), Early Bronze Age in Iraqi Kurdistan, BAH 226, Ifpo Press (2024), 71-84.

 

“Portrait of an ancient borderland: Settlement patterns and mobility in the region of Koi Sanjaq/Koya (Erbil, Iraq)”, in L. d’Alfonso, I. Calini, R. Hawley, M.G. Masetti-Rouault (Eds) Between the Age of Diplomacy and the First Great Empire in Ancient West Asia (1200-900 BC): Moving Beyond the Paradigm of Collapse and Regeneration, ISAW. (2024) 301-324.

 

“Between Assyria and Adiabene: Cultural Transitions in the Valley of the Lower Zab”, in C. Coppin, R. Palermo, R. Pappalardo, R. Pierobon (Eds.), “Dark Ages”? Identifying Markers of Transition in Mesopotamia and the Near East on a Diachronic Scale, Workshop ICAANE 2018, Studia Chaburiensia, Harrassowitz (2022).

 

“Archäologische Beobachtungen II: C. Pappi, Archaeological Investigations in the Transtigrine Region: Satu Qalā and its Hinterland” in Eva Cancik-Kirschbaum & Christian Hess (unter Mitarbeit von Jaume Llop, Kristina Cassar; mit Beiträgen von Rafał Koliński & Cinzia Pappi), Toponyme der mittelassyrischen Texte : Osten und Peripherie des mittelassyrischen Reiches. Sepoa (2022).

 

With K. Pavelka und K.Pavelka jr., “Modern Possibilities of Documentation and replication of Archaeological Finds in The International Archives of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences". XLVI-M-1-2021, 531-538.

 

“745–737 v. Chr.: Godnapping – Bildpropaganda im Neuassyrischen Reich, Beute. Ein Bildatlas zu Kunstraub und Kulturerbe” in Bénédicte Savoy, Merten Lagatz, Philippa Sissis (Ed). Berlin (2021) 82-85.

With O. Maeda, “Bladelet production by pressure-flaking at the Proto-Neolithic site of Satu Qala” in L. Astruc, C. McCartney, F. Briois and V. KassianidouIraqi-Kurdistan, (Eds) Near Eastern Lithic Technologies on the Move (Studies in Mediterranean Archaeology 40), Nicosia: Astrom Editions (2019) 249-256.

 

"The Land of Idu: City, Province, or Kingdom ?" State Archives of Assyria Bulletin 24 (2018) 97-123

“Satu Qala: Stratigraphy and Material Culture of the Assyrian and Post-Assyrian Phases” in K. Kopanias and John MacGinnis (Eds), The Archaeology of the Kurdistan Region ofIraq and Adjacent Regions, Oxford: Archaeopress 2016, 297-307.

 

With W. H. Van Soldt, K. Ahmad, C.W. Hess, A. Wossink, "Tell Satu Qala: A Preliminary Report of the Seasons 2010-2011”, Anatolica 39 (2013), 197- 239.

 

“Assyrians at the Lower Zab”, in G.B. Lanfranchi, D. Morandi Bonacossi, C. Pappi, S. Ponchia (Eds), Leggo! Sudies presented to Prof. Frederick Mario Fales on the Occasion of his 65^th Birthday (Leipziger Aoltorientalistische Studien 2) Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz 2012, 577-591.

 

“Religion and Politics at the Divine Table: the Cultic Travels of Zimrī-Līm”, in G. Wilhelm (Ed.) Proceedings of the 54^th Réncontre Assyriologique Internationale, Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns 2012.

 

“The Religious Landscape of Qatna during the Mari Period”, D. Morandi Bonacossi (Hg.), Qatna I: Urban and Natural Landscapes of an Ancient Syrian Capital Settlement and Enviroment at Tell Mishrifeh/Qatna and in Central-Western Syria (SAQ 1), Udine: Forum 2008, 319-328.

 

“The Jebel Bishri in the Physical and Cultural Landscape of the Ancient Near East”, KASKAL 3 (2006), 241-256.

 

Entries for Reallexikon der Assyriologie und vorderasiatischen Archäologie (RlA), M.P. Streck u.a. (Ed.), Berlin: De Gruyter:

 

Zab RlA 15 3-4 (2017) 161-164

Waschung A RlA 15 1-2 (2016) 1-3

Tuttul. Philologisch RlA XIV/1-4 (2014) 233-236

Thron. RlA XIII/7-8 (2013) 633-635

Taškimama RlA XIII/5-6 (2012)

Sillī-Sîn von Ešnunna RlA XII/7/8 (2011) 498

Sphinx RlA XII/7-8 (2011) 643-645

Spiegel RlA XII/7-8 (2011) 645-646

Seife(npflanze), RlA XII/5-6 (2010) 353-354

Šennam von Uršum, RlA XII/5-6 (2010) 391

Šepraru , RlA XII/5-6 (2010) 39

Salbe, Salbengefäß, RlA XI/7-8 (2008) 572-574

 

Entries for Encyclopedia of Ancient History, R. Bagnall, K. Brodersen, C. Champion, A. Erskine, S. Huebner (eds), London/New York: Wiley-Blackwell 2012:

 

Ninurta.

Shamash (Utu)

Sin (Nanna)