Hrozný and Hittite: The First Hundred Years

The Institute of Comparative Linguistics, Institute of Classical Archaeology, and Czech Institute of Egyptology of the Faculty of Arts, Charles University and the Oriental Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic are pleased to announce an international conference to celebrate the centennial of Bedřich Hrozný’s epochal identification of Hittite as an Indo-European language. The meeting will bring together specialists in cuneiform philology, Anatolian and Indo-European comparative linguistics, and Ancient Near Eastern history, archaeology, and religion to survey the latest scholarship in the field and evaluate the prospects for Hittite studies in its second century.

The conference will begin on the morning of Thursday, 12 November and run until the afternoon of Saturday, 14 November, with an optional walking tour of Prague on Sunday. Planned panels include a “Tribute to Bedřich Hrozný”, with discussion of Hrozný’s pioneering contributions and continuing impact on Hittite and cuneiform studies, as well as special thematic sessions on Hittite and Indo-European; the Anatolian and Assyrian trade networks; and Anatolia and Syria in the Late Bronze Age. The confirmed plenary speakers are Gojko Barjamović (Harvard), Heiner Eichner (Vienna), and H. Craig Melchert (UCLA).

We welcome contributions on all aspects of Hittite and Ancient Near Eastern studies, including but not limited to those listed above. Paper presentations will be 20 minutes, plus 10 minutes for questions; a poster session is also planned. Due to popular demand, the deadline for abstracts has been postposed until 30 March 2015; note once again that abstracts should not exceed 1000 words in length. We expect to send out notifications by the end of April, to allow all participants ample time for travel plans. The languages of the conference are English, German, and French.

Please refer to the conference website hrozny2015.ff.cuni.cz for further notices and updates. We look forward to seeing you in Prague later this year!