Univ.-Prof. Mag. Dr. Michael Jursa
T: +43-1-4277-43413

Discipline: Ancient Near Eastern Philology and Near Eastern Archaeology

Summer term 2024
141136 VO Introduction to Sumerian - To be completed together with UE 141048
420012 SE EurAsian Transformations Doctoral Seminar - New Perspectives in the Philological, Historical and Cultural Studies of EuraAsia: Basic Methods and Interdisciplinary Approaches

Jursa, M. (2024). Names of Officials ('Beamtennamen'). In C. Waerzeggers, & M. Gross (Eds.), Personal Names in Cuneiform Texts from Babylonia (c. 750–100 BCE) (pp. 81-92). Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009291071

Jursa, M., & Cauchi, R. (Accepted/In press). City, Temple and Palace Gates in Iron Age Babylonia. In L. Cousin, L. Quillien, & M. Ramez (Eds.), Material Culture of Babylonia and Beyond: Craft, Religion and Daily Life Peeters Publishers. Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta


Jursa, M. (2023). The Neo-Babylonian Empire. In K. Radner, N. Möller, & D. Potts (Eds.), The Oxford History of the Ancient Near East: Volume V: The Age of Persia (Vol. V, pp. 91-173). Oxford University Press.

Jursa, M., & Sandowicz, M. (2023). 'We shall hear their case.’ Neo-Babylonian letters from judges. In L’empreinte des empires au Proche-Orient ancien: Volume d’hommage offert à Francis Joannès (pp. 232-251 ). Archaeopress. Études Mésopotamiennes - Mesopotamian Studies No. 3 https://doi.org/10.32028/9781803274331



Jursa, M. (2021). Babylonian Sources. In B. Jacobs, & R. Rollinger (Eds.), A Companion to the Achaemenid Persian Empire I (pp. 101-116). WILEY-BLACKWELL PUBLISHING, INC. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119071860


Jursa, M. (2021). Gift, bribe and the remuneration of officials in Late Babylonian sources. In U. Gabbay, & S. Gordin (Eds.), Individuals and Institutions in the Ancient Near East: A Tribute to Ran Zadok (pp. 146-159). Walter de Gruyter. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781501514661

Jursa, M., & Tost, S. (2021). Greek and Roman slaving in comparative ancient perspective: the state and dependent labour. In S. Hodkinson, M. Kleijwegt, & K. Vlassopoulos (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Greek and Roman Slaveries Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199575251.013.21

Jursa, M. (2021). The Arshama corpus through the lens of Babylonian epistolography. In Aršāma and his World: The Bodleian Letters in Context, Volume III Oxford University Press.

Debourse, C., & Jursa, M. (2020). Late Babylonian Priestly Literature from Babylon. In P. Dubovksy, & F. Giuntoli (Eds.), Stones, Tablets, and Scrolls: Periods of the Formation of the Bible (pp. 253-281). Mohr Siebeck.

Jursa, M. (2020). Agriculture in Bronze Age Mesopotamia. In D. Hollander, & T. Howe (Eds.), A Companion to Ancient Agriculture: Blackwell Companions to the Ancient World (pp. 151-172). WILEY-BLACKWELL PUBLISHING, INC. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118970959



Jursa, M. (2020). Wooing the Victor with Words: Babylonian Priestly Literature as a Response to the Macedonian Conquest. In K. Trampedach, & A. Meeus (Eds.), The Legitimation of Conquest. Monarchical Representation and the Art of Government in the Empire of Alexander the Great (pp. 166-177). Franz Steiner Verlag. Studies in Ancient Monarchy Vol. 7



Michael Jursa
Department of Near Eastern Studies
Discipline: Ancient Near Eastern Philology and Near Eastern Archaeology

Research Interests

Ancient Near Eastern studies, in particular Babylonian social and economic history and the history of mentalities

Curriculum vitae

Oct 1990–May 1991     Research Assistant (half-time) at the Institut für Orientalistik, Vienna University.

Jun 1991–Jul 1991       University Assistant (half-time) at the Institute.

Aug 1991–Sep 2000     University Assistant (full time) at the Institute.

1 Oct 2000                  Associate Professor.

Oct 2002–Sep 2008        On leave to conduct research for the START Project.

Oct 2008-                   Full professor of Assyriology at the University of Vienna.

Qualifications

Venia docendi Ancient Near Eastern and Semitic studies

Award Date: 14 Mar 2000

Ancient Near Eastern Studies, Dr. phil., Universität Wien

Award Date: 12 Oct 1994

Ancient Near Eastern Studies, MA, Universität Wien

Award Date: 1 Apr 1991

Awards

May 2017                    Fellow (“Wirkliches Mitglied”) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences

11/2015                     Rudolf-Meimberg Prize 2015 (Akademie der Wissenschaften und Literatur, Mainz)

May 2013                    Corresponding Fellow of the Austrian Academy of Sciences

1/2012                       Visiting Professor at the Collège de France, Paris

14 Dec 2007               Fellow of the Austrian Academy of Sciences’ “Junge Kurie”

2002                           Awarded a START Prize by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) for a project on “The Economic History of Babylonia in the First Millennium BC”.(1.2 mio EUR)

2002                           APART grant (Austrian Academy of Sciences; not accepted as not compatible with START Prize).

2002                           Henry Frankfort Fellowship awarded by the Warburg Institute, London (not accepted as not compatible with START Prize).

2001                           Grant from the Hochschuljubiläumsstiftung der Stadt Wien

1991                           Würdigungspreis des Bundesministers für Wissenschaft und Forschung.

Administrative Duties

2011/3-2016/9 Director, Department of Near Eastern Studies

2016/10- Vice-Director, Department of Near Eastern Studies

2016/10-2020/9 Vice-Dean, Faculty of Philology and Cultural Studies

Raccontare il passato o inventarlo: letteratura sacerdotale nella Babilonia ellenistica

Michael Jursa (Speaker)

29 Nov 2021

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionScience to Science


Precious Metal in Babylona in the Middle Bronze Age and in the Iron Age

Michael Jursa (Speaker)

4 Mar 2021

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionScience to Science


Precious Metals in Private Households in Babylonia in the Middle Bronze Age and in the Iron Age: a Comparative Approach, SHAMO seminar.

Michael Jursa (Speaker) & Rosaura Cauchi (Speaker)

4 Mar 2021

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionScience to Science


Sacred/Sacrificial/Temple Economy: some observations from an Assyriologist’s perspective

Michael Jursa (Speaker)

10 Dec 2020

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionScience to Science


Court Officials in Babylonia (in the Neo-Babylonian Empire)

Michael Jursa (Speaker)

3 Nov 2020

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionScience to Science


Assur, Babylon und die Entstehung der Thora

Michael Jursa (Speaker)

5 Oct 2020

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionScience to Public


Spätbabylonische Priesterschriften

Michael Jursa (Speaker)

26 Jun 2020

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionScience to Science


Identity Construction in Hellenistic Babylonia: Late Babylonian Priestly Literature

Michael Jursa (Speaker)

12 Mar 2020

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionScience to Science


A family of exorcists from sixth century Uruk and their soap

Michael Jursa (Speaker)

16 Dec 2019

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionScience to Science


‘Us and them, and their stuff’: access to resources, real and imagined, as ordering principle in the Ancient Near Eastern worldview

Michael Jursa (Speaker)

29 Nov 2019

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionScience to Science


A Babylonian ‘Sacrificial Economy’? A case study from the sixth century BCE

Michael Jursa (Speaker)

10 Oct 2019

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionScience to Science


Household wealth in Babylonia and Prosperity: A Comparative Approach

Yuval Levavi (Speaker) & Michael Jursa (Speaker)

12 Jul 2019

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionScience to Science


Late Babylonian Priestly Literature

Céline Debourse (Speaker) & Michael Jursa (Speaker)

3 Jul 2019

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionScience to Science


Von der Leberschau zur rechnenden Astronomie: Babylonische Priester und ihr Weltbild

Michael Jursa (Speaker)

18 Jun 2019

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionScience to Science


Westsemitic Names in the Yahudu Archives: Orthographic Variation and its Implications

Michael Jursa (Speaker)

28 Feb 2019

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionScience to Science


The Levant as Seen from Babylonia in the Sixth Century BCE - Session in Honour of Nadav Na'aman

Michael Jursa (Speaker)

18 Nov 2018

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionScience to Science


Formen abhängiger Arbeit im Alten Orient in der Eisenzeit”,

Michael Jursa (Speaker)

8 Nov 2018

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionScience to Science


In lieu of a conclusion: some observations and questions

Michael Jursa (Speaker)

21 Mar 2018

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionScience to Science


The Urukean Priesthood between City and State

Michael Jursa (Speaker) & Shai Gordin (Speaker)

21 Mar 2018

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionScience to Science


Suitable and Unsuitable Matches: Marriage, Social Mobility and Female Inclusion in Ancient Mesopotamia

Michael Jursa (Speaker)

28 Feb 2018

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionScience to Science


Constructing the Tower of Babel: labour recruitment and the financing of public building in Iron Age Mesopotamia

Michael Jursa (Invited speaker)

23 Feb 2018

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionOther


La casa, il casato e lo stato: prosperità economica e prestigio sociale in Babilonia nel sesto secolo a.C.

Michael Jursa (Speaker)

30 Nov 2017

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionScience to Science


Economic Growth, Prosperity and Inequality in Ancient Mesopotamia

Michael Jursa (Speaker)

23 Nov 2017

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionScience to Science


The Tobiads between Mesopotamia and Yehud: the Al-Yahudu and Murashu Archives and the Bible

Michael Jursa (Speaker)

30 Oct 2017

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionScience to Science


The Closed World of the Babylonian Priest and its Collapse

Michael Jursa (Speaker)

11 May 2017

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionScience to Science


Imperial State Building beyond the Augustan Threshold in the Reign of Nebuchadnezzar

Michael Jursa (Speaker) & Shai Gordin (Speaker)

21 Apr 2017

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionScience to Science


The Sense of Smell in the Cult in Mesopotamia

Michael Jursa (Speaker)

24 Mar 2017

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionScience to Science


Purity, segregation and a literature to match: Babylonian priests from 600 to 0 BCE

Michael Jursa (Invited speaker)

2 Feb 2017

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionOther


Economic growth and growing inequality in times of empire: the Babylonian economy in the sixth century BCE

Michael Jursa (Invited speaker)

1 Feb 2017

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionOther


Purity, segregation and a literature to match: Babylonian priests from 600 to 0 BCE

Michael Jursa (Invited speaker)

1 Feb 2017

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionOther


Diplomatics in Administrative Archives: the test case of the (early) Ebabbar archive

Michael Jursa (Speaker)

6 Oct 2016

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionScience to Science


Death and Taxes? Economy, Society and the Imperial State in Babylonia in the Sixth Century BCE

Michael Jursa (Invited speaker)

29 Sep 2016

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionOther


Dead Dogs and the Lord of the Universe: Babylonians write to the Assyrian King

Michael Jursa (Invited speaker)

28 Sep 2016

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionOther


Debt, Money and Society in Babylonia: the Middle Bronze Age and the Iron Age

Michael Jursa (Speaker)

10 Jul 2016

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionScience to Science


West Semitic Names in the Yahudu Archive: orthographic variation and its implications

Michael Jursa (Speaker)

9 Feb 2016

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionScience to Science


Silber, Einkommensverteilung und Ungleichheit in Babylonischen Städten von der Mittelbronzezeit zur Eisenzeit

Michael Jursa (Invited speaker)

4 Dec 2015

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionOther


Economic growth and growing economic inequality? The case of Babylonia

Michael Jursa (Speaker)

11 Sep 2015

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionScience to Science


The Al-Yahudu material in its wider context: a ‘Babylonian perspective’

Michael Jursa (Speaker)

2 Feb 2015

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionScience to Science


Silver Use in Babylonian Cities in the Iron Age and in the Middle Bronze Age

Michael Jursa (Speaker)

13 Dec 2014

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionScience to Science


Epistolography in the Context of Hierarchical Systems

Michael Jursa (Speaker)

5 Nov 2014

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionScience to Science


Cani morti e il re dell’universo: Babilonesi scrivono al re assiro

Michael Jursa (Speaker)

22 Oct 2014

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionOther


Diplomatics and palaeography of Neo- and Late Babylonian archival documents

Michael Jursa (Speaker)

23 Jul 2014

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionScience to Science


‘Dein Name soll groß sein wie der des Königs‘: Priester und Gesellschaft in Babylonian im 1. Jahrtausend v. Chr.

Michael Jursa (Invited speaker)

30 Jan 2014

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionOther


Xerxes: the case of Sippar and the Ebabbar temple

Michael Jursa (Speaker)

16 Jan 2014

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionScience to Science


The Reach of the State: Iron-Age Mesopotamia and the Roman Empire in Comparison

Michael Jursa (Speaker) & Bernhard Palme (Speaker)

3 Jan 2014

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionScience to Science


Tote Hunde und der Herr der Weltordnung: Babylonier schreiben an den assyrischen König

Michael Jursa (Invited speaker)

5 Dec 2013

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionOther


In Lieu of an Introduction: Neo-Babylonian Labour Regimes

Michael Jursa (Speaker)

27 Nov 2013

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionOther


Zur Materialität spätbabylonischer Texte: Diplomatik und Epigraphik

Michael Jursa (Invited speaker)

29 Oct 2013

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionOther


Neo-Bablyonian studies, why and how

Michael Jursa (Invited speaker)

30 Apr 2013

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionOther


„All prebendary income of the Borsippeans has been withheld” – or: how to contextualize a Neo-Babylonian letter

Michael Jursa (Invited speaker)

29 Apr 2013

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionOther


‚Ja, dürfen’s denn des?‘ Zur Bewertung der Rebellionen gegen Xerxes 484 v.Chr.

Michael Jursa (Speaker)

31 Oct 2012

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionOther


L’economia della Babilonia dell’età di ferro: continuità e cambiamenti strutturali

Michael Jursa (Invited speaker)

26 Oct 2012

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionOther


Private & State: the Neo-Babylonian Period

Michael Jursa (Keynote speaker)

16 Jul 2012

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionOther


Achaemenid Babylonia

Michael Jursa (Invited speaker)

6 Jan 201230 Jan 2012

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionOther


Law and Legal Matters in Late Babylonian Epistolography

Michael Jursa (Speaker)

25 Nov 2011

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionOther


Families, Officialdom and Families of Officials in Chaldean and Achaemenid Babylonia

Michael Jursa (Contributor)

5 Jul 2011

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionOther


Money, Monetization and the Transformation of the Agrarian Economy in Babylonia in the Sixth and Fifth Century BC

Michael Jursa (Invited speaker)

5 Jul 2011

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionOther


Market Efficiency and Market Integration in Babylonia in the ‘Long Sixth Century”

Michael Jursa (Speaker)

20 May 2011

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionOther


Babylonian evidence for the movement of people and the transport of goods in the Achaemenid Empire

Michael Jursa (Speaker)

14 May 2011

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionOther


The lost state correspondence of the Babylonian Empire as reflected in contemporary administrative letters (6th century BC)

Michael Jursa (Speaker)

9 Apr 2011

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionOther




Persuasion and Rhetorics in Late Babylonian Epistolography

Michael Jursa (Speaker)

16 Oct 2010

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionOther


The Babylonian Version of the Bisitun Inscription

Michael Jursa (Invited speaker)

3 Oct 2010

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionOther


The Neo-Babylonian Palatial Economy

Michael Jursa (Invited speaker)

17 Sep 2010

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionOther


The Ancient Near East: fiscal regimes, political structures

Michael Jursa (Invited speaker)

27 May 2010

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionOther


The Neo-Babylonian empire

Michael Jursa (Invited speaker)

25 Apr 2010

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionOther


The Language of Power I: Official Epistolography in Babylonia in the First Millennium BC

Michael Jursa (Speaker)

20 Nov 2009

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionOther


Die babylonische Priesterschaft im ersten Jahrtausend v. Chr

Michael Jursa (Invited speaker)

12 Oct 2009

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionOther



Taxation and Service Obligations in Babylonia from the Nebuchadnezzar to Darius and the Evidence for Darius' Tax Reform

Michael Jursa (Invited speaker)

24 Nov 2008

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionOther


Money and prices in Babylonia in the sixth century BC

Michael Jursa (Speaker)

18 Jul 2008

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionOther


Public administration and taxation in Achaemenid Babylonia

Michael Jursa (Invited speaker)

10 Nov 2007

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionOther


Legal innovation and economic change in Babylonia in the first millennium BC

Michael Jursa (Invited speaker)

25 Jul 2007

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionOther


The Economic History of Babylonia in the First Millennium: Some Results of an Ongoing Project

Michael Jursa (Invited speaker)

24 Jul 2007

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionOther


Am Hof Nebukadnezars

Michael Jursa (Speaker)

20 Jun 2007

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionOther


Tempelämter, Tempelpfründen und soziale Identität: Fallstudien aus dem Babylonien des ersten Jahrtausends v. Chr.

Michael Jursa (Invited speaker)

19 Jun 2007

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionOther


Gewalt und ihre Bewältigung in neubabylonischen Texten

Michael Jursa (Invited speaker)

3 Mar 2007

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionOther


The Remuneration of Institutional Labourers in an Urban Context in Babylonia in the First Millennium BC

Michael Jursa (Invited speaker)

3 Nov 2006

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionOther


Von Bier, Mützen und Geld: Zum ökonomischen und sozialen 'Sitz im Leben' neubabylonischer Geschäftsgesellschaften

Michael Jursa (Speaker)

26 May 2006

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionOther


Von Bier, Mützen und Geld: Zum ökonomischen und sozialen 'Sitz im Leben' neubabylonischer Geschäftsgesellschaften

Michael Jursa (Speaker)

23 May 2006

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionOther


Theft, Embezzlements and Contract Killings: the life and times of Gimillu, temple slave of Ishtar

Michael Jursa (Speaker)

4 May 2006

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionOther


And the gods gathered like flies around the offerings: on the use of Aromatics in Mesopotamia

Michael Jursa (Speaker)

3 May 2006

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionOther


Business Companies in first Millennium B.C. Babylonia: Accounting Techniques, Economic Strategies, Social Setting

Michael Jursa (Invited speaker)

9 Dec 2005

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionOther


On hired labour in first Millennium BC Babylonia

Michael Jursa (Invited speaker)

1 May 2005

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionOther


Business Companies in first Millennium B.C. Babylonia: Accounting Techniques, Economic Strategies, Social Setting

Michael Jursa (Speaker)

22 Apr 2005

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionOther


And the gods gathered like flies around the offerings: on the use of Aromatics in Mesopotamia

Michael Jursa (Speaker)

15 Apr 2005

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionOther



The Transition of Babylonia from the Neo-Babylonian Empire to Achaemenid Rule

Michael Jursa (Invited speaker)

13 Sep 2004

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionOther


Institutional Households and Money

Michael Jursa (Speaker)

2 Jul 2004

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionOther


Economic specialisation of institutional households in first millennium BC Babylonia and the issue of the importance of economic exchange

Michael Jursa (Invited speaker)

11 Jun 2004

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionOther


Theft, Embezzlements and Contract Killings: the life and times of Gimillu, temple slave of Ishtar

Michael Jursa (Speaker)

6 May 2004

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionOther


Theft, Embezzlements and Contract Killings: the life and times of Gimillu, temple slave of Ishtar

Michael Jursa (Speaker)

28 Apr 2004

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionOther


Theft, Embezzlements and Contract Killings: the life and times of Gimillu, temple slave of Ishtar

Michael Jursa (Speaker)

2 Apr 2004

Activity: Talks and presentationsTalk or oral contributionOther


Late Babylonian Priestly Literature: Ideology in Context

Jursa, M.

1/07/1930/06/21

Project: Research funding




Astronomical Diaries Digital

Pirngruber, R. & Jursa, M.

1/04/1831/05/22

Project: Research funding


The Priesthood of Uruk

Jursa, M.

1/09/1531/08/17

Project: Research funding


Diplomatik u.

Jursa, M.

4/10/1330/06/17

Project: Research funding


Epistolographie in Babylonien

Jursa, M.

1/12/0831/08/15

Project: Research funding


Imperium u. Officium

Jursa, M.

1/12/0831/08/15

Project: Research funding


Borsippäische Familien

Jursa, M.

1/01/0430/04/06

Project: Research funding


Department of Near Eastern Studies

Spitalgasse 2, Hof 4 (Campus)
1090 Wien
Room: 1F-O1-24

T: +43-1-4277-43413

michael.jursa@univie.ac.at