Commission for Research into Cuneiform Writing and the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East
Reallexikon der Assyriologie und Vorderasiatischen Archäologie
(Encyclopedia of Assyriology and the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East)
The Commission publishes the Reallexikon der Assyriologie und Vorderasiatischen Archäologie (RIA) (Encyclopaedia of Assyriology), a handbook of Ancient Near Eastern Studies. It covers the area where the old cultures in western Asia (Mesopotamia, northern Syria, and Anatolia) used cuneiform writing, as well as adjoining areas, from the 3rd to the 1st millennium BC.
The contents of the dictionary include important people, gods, places and excavation sites, as well as terms (e.g. "purchase", "sacrifice", "horse"), which are examined from a philological perspective as well as from an archaeological one. The articles have a German heading, but are written in German, English or French; in addition to the text they contain illustrations, sketches and maps.
Furthermore the Commission conducted or was involved in excavations at several sites in western Asia, for example in Isin/Ishan-el-Bachriyat and Assur/Qualat Shergat, while this work could still be carried in Iraq, and since then on Höyük near Sirkeli in southern Turkey. It publishes its excavation reports in the Academy’s Abhandlungen (treatises) and in scientific journals, such as the MDOG and the IstMit.
Above: Detail from a relief in the northern palace of Assurbanipal in Niniveh. Right: Clay tablet with a religious text in cuneiform (Hymn by King Assurbanipal to the god Assur), found in Niniveh. 7th century BC.