Francesco G. Barsacchi is a Hittitologist, currently assistant professor at the University of Turin (within the project: ITSERR – Italian Strengthening of the European Research Infrastructure RESILIENCE). His research interests focus on Hittite language and culture, with a special attention dedicated to the religious sphere. From this point of view, he has investigated several aspects of the relationship between man and nature, focusing in particular on Hittite festivals and rituals and on the temporal organization of the Hittite cult calendar. His PhD dissertation, published in 2017 in the academic series Studia Asiana, was centered on the philological edition of a group of festivals celebrated in connection with the metheorological phenomenon of thunder. Since 2020, he is involved in a national lexicographic project as main responsible for the redaction of the Hittite-Italian Dictionary, within the broader framework represented by the series I Dizionari del Vicino Oriente Antico, promoted by the National Academic Union.
As a member of the 7th DAI Research Network, he intends to investigate, through specific case studies and an approach that combines philological analysis of the texts and archaeological data, the socio-economic background of the Hittite cult, trying to determine to which extent the natural landscape of central Anatolia and the presence (or absence) of particular natural resources in a given territory shaped the organization of rites and festival as it is described in the Hittite textual sources.
Author: Francesco G. Barsacchi
