A History of Hittite Literacy

Theo van den Hout is Arthur and Joann Rasmussen Professor of Hittite and Anatolian Languages in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. He is the Chief Editor of the Chicago Hittite Dictionary project, corresponding member of the Royal Dutch Academy of Arts and Sciences, a 2016 Guggenheim Fellow, Senior Fellow at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World in New York, and the author of various books.

• 1. Writing and Literacy among the Anatolians in the Old Assyrian Period; 2. From Kanesh to Hattusa; 3. First Writing in Hattusa; 4. Literacy and Literature in the Old Kingdom until 1500 bc; 5. The Emergence of Writing in Hittite; 6. A Second Script; 7. The New Kingdom Cuneiform Corpus; 8. The New Kingdom Hieroglyphic Corpus; 9. The Wooden Writing Boards; 10. The Seal Impressions of the Westbau and Building D and the Wooden Tablets; 11. In the Hittite Chancellery and Tablet Collections; 12. Scribes and Scholars; 13. The End and Looking Back.

'Theo van den Hout is to be congratulated for having produced a groundbreaking book, which will remain for many years to come an essential reference work not only for all scholars in Hittitology and ancient Near Eastern studies, but also for anybody who wants to approach the topic of literacy in ancient societies.' Michele Cammarosano, Bulletin of the American Society of Overseas Research