{"id":48366,"date":"2026-07-14T17:20:25","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T15:20:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/iaw.uni-mainz.de\/profile-page-letizia-savino-m-a\/"},"modified":"2026-07-20T13:46:21","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T11:46:21","slug":"profile-page-letizia-savino-m-a","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/iaw.uni-mainz.de\/en\/profile-page-letizia-savino-m-a\/","title":{"rendered":"Profile Page Letizia Savino, M.A."},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Letizia Savino is an Assyriologist specialising in the philology and cultural history of the ancient Near East. She is currently a postdoctoral researcher at Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, where she teaches Akkadian language and cuneiform literature. Her research focuses on Akkadian scholarly and literary traditions, with particular emphasis on medicine, healing practices, and the transmission of specialised knowledge across the ancient Near East. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her work explores Akkadian medical texts from \u1e2aattu\u0161a, Mesopotamian therapeutic and ritual traditions, the circulation of experts and expertise during the second millennium BCE, and the interaction between Mesopotamian and Anatolian intellectual traditions. More broadly, she is interested in the history of cuneiform scholarship, textual transmission, and the movement of knowledge, people, and practices across linguistic and cultural boundaries. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her research combines close philological analysis with broader historical perspectives to investigate how cuneiform texts illuminate processes of knowledge production, cultural exchange, and intellectual history in the ancient Near East.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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04\/2021\u201312\/2025<\/strong>
PhD in Assyriology. The Doctoral thesis project (Title of the disseration: Medicine Across Borders. Circulation of Medical Experts and Expertise in the Second Millennium BCE in the Ancient Near East <\/em>) focused on the mobility of specialists in the medical (as\u00fbtu) and ritual medical field (a\u0161iputu) in the Second Millennium BCE in the ancient Near East, in particular starting from the data contained in Hittite epistolary documents and medical texts; the research was supervised by Prof. Dr. Doris Prechel (since 2021), by Prof. Dr. Alexander Pru\u00df (2022-2023), and by Dr. habil. Ulrike Steinert (since 2023). The dissertation was defended on 13\/04\/2026 and received the grade summa cum laude.
11\/2018\u201311\/2020<\/strong>
Master\u2019s degree in Archaeology and Ancient History achieved with a grade of 110\/110 summa cum laude with a thesis titled Un rituale accadico contro la febbre di montagna (CTH 811) (\u201cAn Akkadian ritual against mountain fever (CTH 811)\u201d), supervised by Prof. Dr. Elena Devecchi. The thesis received praise and was deemed worthy of publication. It was also nominated for the Silver Medal for the best thesis of the Department of Ancient Studies for the academic year 2019\/2020.
10\/2019\u201303\/2020<\/strong>
Erasmus scholarship at the Julius-Maximillians-Universit\u00e4t W\u00fcrzburg. Passed with a certificate of excellence (ECTS grade A).
09\/2014\u201310\/2018<\/strong>
Bachelor\u2019s degree in Beni culturali (Cultural heritage) with main focus on Archaeology at the Universit\u00e0 degli Studi di Torino, Italy. Title of the Bachelor\u2019s thesis was Forme di performance nel Vicino Oriente antico: musica, danza e sport in Mesopotamia e Anatolia (\u201cPerformative arts in the Ancient Near East: music, dance and sport in Mesopotamia and Anatolia\u201d); supervised by Prof. Dr. Elena Devecchi. <\/p>\n\n\n<\/jgu-base-accordionitem>\n\n\n \n\n

Since 11\/2025<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Research fellow and teaching assistant for Ancient Near Eastern Studies at the Johannes Gutenberg-Universit\u00e4t Mainz (11\/2025-03\/2026: 50%; since 04\/2026: 80%). The role combines research and teaching activities in Ancient Near Eastern Studies, including counselling for B.A.- and M.A.-level courses, preparation of course materials and examinations, student supervision, coordination of the Erasmus+ programme for the students of Ancient Near Eastern studies, and participation in departmental academic and organisational activities. The post further requires independent research, academic writing, and the use of philological and digital research tools. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

11\/2023-10\/2025<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Research assistant (50%) for the three-year DFG-funded project Akkadian and Hittite Emotions in Context (AHEC). The research project pursued a comprehensive study of the semantic domain of emotions in both Akkadian and Hittite to systematically research how emotions in the two languages were differentiated and delimited linguistically and contextually. For my position a good knowledge of the Akkadian language and the corresponding literature, as well as the use of digital writing programmes was required. My primary contribution consisted of an analysis of wisdom literature (dialogues, monologues, fables, \u2026), for which I mapped the lexicon of emotions, both from a semantic perspective, by providing glosses and conducting textual and contextual analyses, and from a diachronic perspective, by investigating how Akkadian terms have been interpreted, translated, and at times even localised in major modern European languages. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

02\/2022-03\/2024<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Associated Member of the Research Training Group 1876 \u201cEarly Concepts of Man and Nature: Universal, Specific, Interchanged\u201d (Graduiertenkolleg 1876 \u201cFr\u00fche Konzepte von Mensch und Natur: Universalit\u00e4t, Spezifit\u00e4t, Tradierung). The RTG was interested in establishing where and when similar beliefs and concepts originated, whether this happened independently, or whether these concepts were transmitted or even exchanged between ancient cultures, and how and why they changed over time. The time frame of the RTG went from the dawn of history (about 100,000 years BCE) to the Middle Ages in an area that includes the ancient Near East, the Mediterranean, and Europe. During my years as an associate member, I had the opportunity to attend conferences and congresses funded by the RTG, thereby expanding my knowledge and establishing a network of collaborations with other scholars. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

01\/2021-10\/2023<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Research assistant (50%) for the three-year DFG-funded project Thesaurus Linguarum Hethaeorum digitalis (TLHdig), in a team composed also by Dr. Fabio Bastici and Prof. Dr. Doris Prechel. The project envisaged the creation, by 2023, of an open content and open access digital archive with a catalogue of Hittite texts in transcription according to HFR standards. For my position a good knowledge of the Hittite and Akkadian languages, and in general of cuneiform languages, as well as the use of digital writing programmes was required. My main contribution was the transliteration of all the Akkadian fragments catalogued under CTH 800-819, as well as of the Akkadian letters sent between the Hittite and foreign courts. <\/p>\n\n\n<\/jgu-base-accordionitem>\n\n<\/jgu-base-accordion>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<\/jgu-base-heading>\n\n\n\n

ANA – Associazione Nazionale Archeologi<\/a> (member)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CuStAA – Consulta universitaria per gli Studi du Asia e Africa<\/a> (member)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

DOG – Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft<\/a> (member)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

IAA – International Association of Assyriology<\/a> (member)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ICOM – International Council of Museums<\/a> (member)<\/p>\n\n\n<\/jgu-base-tabsitem>\n\n\n \n\n

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