Selena Wisnom

Selena Wisnom is a Lecturer in the Heritage of the Middle East at the University of Leicester, within the School of Archaeology and Ancient History. She specializes in ancient Iraqi languages, literature, and culture, with a focus on Babylonian poetry and divination. Her research explores intertextuality in Mesopotamian texts, particularly in works like Enuma Elish, Anzû, and Erra and Išum, analyzing how these poems compete and reshape earlier traditions.

Wisnom holds a DPhil from MPhil studies in Cuneiform Studies and has held roles including an AHRC Cultural Engagement Fellowship (building theatre-academia links) and a Junior Research Fellowship at The Queen's College, Oxford. She also lectured at the University of Cambridge (2017–2019) before joining Leicester in 2020.

Her recent publications include Weapons of Words: Intertextual Competition in Babylonian Poetry (2020) and upcoming books like The Library of Ancient Wisdom (2025). Her articles and talks emphasize the role of poetry in Mesopotamian scholarship, magic, and cultural preservation, alongside outreach efforts through theatre and public lectures.

Wisnom’s work bridges ancient texts and modern understanding, highlighting Mesopotamia’s foundational contributions to law, literature, and science. She actively engages with divination practices, ritual texts, and the material culture of cuneiform writing, offering innovative interpretations of millennia-old manuscripts.