Amar Annus

Amar Annus is an Associate Professor of Near Eastern Religions at the University of Tartu, Faculty of Arts and Humanities, School of Theology and Religious Studies since 2021. He has held visiting positions at institutions like the Free University of Berlin (Marie Curie Fellow) and École française d’Extrême Orient in Pondicherry, India.

• PhD in Assyriology from the University of Helsinki (2003)
• Specializes in Assyriology and Cognitive Science of Religion
• Active in translating and commenting on classical Near Eastern texts

His research interests span ancient Mesopotamian mythology, royal ideology, cognitive science of religion, and intertextuality between ancient Near Eastern and Judeo-Christian texts. His 2025-2024 publications focus on Assyrian royal genealogy, Enochic responses to Mesopotamian sages, and comparative cognitive models in ancient scholarship. He received Estonian National Science Awards in 2023, 2022, and earlier Akadeemia magazine awards. Annus supervises two PhD students and has led major projects like Forms of Creativity in the Intellectual History of Ancient Mesopotamia (2017-2020), funded at €177,600.