معرفی
Susanne Paulus is an Associate Professor of Assyriology at the University of Chicago's Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations (NELC), where she has been teaching since 2015. She is affiliated with the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures (ISAC) and specializes in the Social, Legal and Economic History of the Ancient Near East, with particular focus on the Middle Babylonian Period/Kassite Period (1500–1000 BC).
Education:
- Ph.D. from the University of Münster (2011)
Professor Paulus's research focuses on the lesser-studied Middle Babylonian Period, which serves as a crucial bridge between the Old and Late Babylonian eras. She works with the rich but largely unpublished material from cities like Nippur and Ur, where only 10-15% of over 12,000 texts have been properly edited. Her methodology combines traditional archival reconstruction, diplomatics, and prosopography with newer Digital Humanities approaches to reconstruct archival contexts, family structures, administrative organization, and the broader social-political and economic landscape of Babylonia. Her work particularly emphasizes legal rules and social norms regarding redistribution, sale, debt management, and jurisdiction. She also researches ancient forgeries, applying diplomatic methods to understand how and why inscriptions and documents were forged in antiquity.
Her recent publications show a consistent focus on Kassite Babylonia, legal and administrative practices, and educational systems in ancient Mesopotamia. She has published extensively on kudurru inscriptions (boundary stones with legal significance), Babylonian economic practices, and school texts from ancient Mesopotamia. Her work increasingly incorporates Digital Humanities approaches to analyze archival materials and has resulted in significant publications including "Babylonia under the Sealand and Kassite Dynasties" (2024), "Back to School in Babylonia" (2023), and "The Adventures of Inanaka and Tuni" (2023), which explore ancient educational practices.
Professor Paulus teaches courses including "Mesopotamian Literature" in the Ancient Near Eastern Thought and Literature sequence, Introduction to Babylonian (Elementary Akkadian), and advanced classes in Akkadian. Her signature Humanities class, "The Age of Innovation: Famous Firsts 5,000 Ago," explores the first legal and administrative systems, the first schools, and the first records of women, family, and daily life using original texts and objects from the ISAC collections. She is currently on leave for winter and spring 2024.
