KEYNOTE ADDRESSES AND INVITED TALKS
Aftermath: Damage Control and Recovery in Neo-Babylonian Temples in the workshop “Change, Order, Remembrance: Crisis and Religion in the Ancient Near East,” 18th Annual Conference of the European Association for the Study of Religions, IAHR Regional Conference, Pisa (September 3 2021)
The Best Laid Plans: Imperial Agendas versus Local Realities in 1st Millennium Babylonia, Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, Turin, Italy (July, 2021)
Cheap Gold, Absentee Priests, and Two Dead Sheep: What a Temple’s Financial Records Can Tell Us about Imperial Activities in the Neo-Babylonian Empire (626-539 BCE), Research Cluster “Committee of Manuscript and Text Cultures,” University of Oxford (May 4, 2021)
“He Thundered Like the Storm God”: Telling War Stories in Assyria, Institute for Classical Studies Ancient History seminar ‘Writing War’, School of Advanced Study, University of London, UK (April 29, 2021)
Royal Authority in the Neo-Assyrian Empire: Representations and Realities, Manchester Classical Association, February 16, 2021, video available on Youtube
The Cosmic Front: War and its Impact on Religion in the Neo-Assyrian Empire, Biblical Studies Research Seminar Series Online, University of St. Andrews, Scotland (November 5, 2020)
In the Shadow of Nineveh: Assessing the Hierarchies and Heterarchies of Temples and Cult Cities in the Neo-Assyrian Empire, Urban Heterarchies: Changing Religious Authority and Social Power in Cities, DFG-Kollegforschungsgruppe “Religion und Urbanität: wechselseitige Formierungen” (Max-Weber-Kolleg), Erfurt, Germany (December 13, 2019)
When the King’s Away: Elite Identity and Royal Absence, The Neo-Assyrian King as a Nodal Point of Neo-Assyrian Identity, University of Helsinki, Finland (December 4, 2019)
“May the King Not Forsake His Servants!” Cultic Personnel in Minor and Peripheral Mesopotamian Cities, “Ancient Religions without Borders” conference, hosted by the Department of Near Eastern Studies, University of California, Berkeley, USA (November 19, 2019)
The Gods Who March Alongside Me: Religion and War in Assyria, Religion and War from Antiquity to Early Modernity: Historical Varieties of a Recurring Nexus, King’s College London, UK (June 24-26, 2019)
Noble Neighbours: Life in Imperial Capitals in the Ancient Near East, Near Eastern Archaeological Foundation, University of Sydney, Australia (May 29, 2019)
Die Like A King: Royal Death in Assyria, Near Eastern Seminar Series, University of Sydney, Australia (May 27, 2019)
All That Glitters: The Ideology of Gold in the Neo-Assyrian Empire (c. 1000-610 BCE), Advanced Seminar in the Humanities, Venice International University, Italy (April 12, 2019)
Property Wars, Power Abuses, Pleas to the King: A Day in the Life of a Neo-Assyrian Priest, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland (June 20, 2018)
Image Destruction and its Implications in the Neo-Assyrian Period, Re-writing History by Destruction, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany (May 16, 2018)
Kings, Priests, and Power in the Neo-Assyrian Period, Priests and Priesthood in the Near East, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel (March 20, 2018)
“Royal Death in Assyria” with Johannes Bach in the Ancient and Medieval Middle East Seminar, University of Helsinki (March 27, 2018)
Sacred Urban Landscape in Mesopotamia (Keynote Address), CSTT Annual Meeting in Lammi, University of Helsinki, Lammi, Finland (February 8, 2018)
CONFERENCE PAPERS
Tipping the Scales: Negative Consequences of Imperial Urban Development in 1st Millennium Mesopotamia, ASOR Annual Meeting, Boston, USA (November 14, 2020)
The Management and Movement of Resources Between Cities in 1st Millennium BCE Mesopotamia, ASOR Annual Meeting, San Diego, USA (November 21, 2019)
“May The King Not Forsake His Servants!” Cultic Personnel in Minor and Peripheral Mesopotamian Cities, Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting in Denver, USA (November 18, 2018)
Shepherding the Land and People: Internal Control and State Violence in the Neo-Assyrian Period, European ASOR/EPHE in Paris, France (September 4, 2018) (Talk begins around the 3 hour mark in the video)
“My Brothers Were Plotting Evil:” Family Violence in the Ancient Near East, International Society of Biblical Literature Meeting in Helsinki, Finland (July 31, 2018)
“I Made Him More Dead Than Before:” Execution and Royal Death in Assyria, 18th International Conference for Ancient East-Mediterranean Studies in Tartu (ICAEM 2018): “Power and (Op)position,” University of Tartu, Estonia (June 1, 2018)
Cult Centers in Assyria: Preliminary Remarks, CSTT Team 1 Winter Meeting, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland (December 13, 2017)
Cosmic Order: Identity, Stratification, and the Gods, Summer Symposium on the Construction of Identity in the Ancient Near East, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland (August 25 2017)
Divine Foundations: Religion and Assyrian Capital Cities, 62nd Rencontre Assyriologique International, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA (July 2016)
Adad in Assyria: A Case Study of Assyrian Authority, American Oriental Society Annual Meeting, Boston, MA (March 2016)
Gods and Kings: Divine Election in Assyria, Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations Roundtable, Yale University (March 2016)
Cults and Capitals: Royal Cities and Religion in the Assyrian Empire, University of Göttingen International Summer School, Göttingen, Germany (July 2015)
How To (Not) Be King: On Negotiating the Limits of Power Within the Assyrian Political Hierarchy, American Oriental Society Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (March 2015)
Self-Representation in the Assyrian Royal Inscriptions, Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations Roundtable, Yale University (February 2015)
Disappeared Deities: Omission in the Neo-Assyrian Records of Godnapping, American Oriental Society Annual Meeting, Phoenix, AZ (March 16, 2014)
State-Sponsored Sacrilege: “Godnapping,” Suppression, and the Subtext of Anxiety in the Neo-Assyrian Inscriptions, 32nd Deutscher Orientalistentag, Münster, Germany (September 23, 2013)
Numina Victa: Preliminary Remarks on the ‘Naturalization’ of Foreign Gods in the Neo-Assyrian Empire, Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations Roundtable, Yale University (April 25, 2013)
Let Sîn Be His Judge! The Old Syriac Curse Formula as a Neo-Assyrian Convention, 17th Annual Graduate Interdisciplinary Conference, Concordia University, Canada (March 1, 2012)
GUEST LECTURES
“Globalisation in Antiquity,” Panel Discussion Moderator, CCANESA (University of Sydney), Organizer: Professor Alison Betts (May 24, 2019)
“Academic Writing in English at the Graduate Level,” Guest Lecture in Academic Writing, University of Helsinki, Instructor: Professor Risto Uro (January 25, 2018)
“Genres in Academic Writing: Turning Your Conference Paper into a Peer-Reviewed Article,” Guest lecture in Old Testament Doctoral Seminar (University of Helsinki), Instructor: Professor Martti Nissinen (January 22, 2018)
“Ancient Mesopotamia’s Role in Modern Middle Eastern Identity Politics,” Guest Lecture in The Cultural Heritage of the Ancient Near East, University of Helsinki, Instructor: Professor Martti Nissinen (November 7, 2017)
“Transitioning to the Instructor of Record” Panel Participant, Center for Teaching and Learning, Yale University, New Haven, CT (April 13, 2017)
“The Ancient Past as a Source of Identity for Modern People” Programs in International Education Resources Summer Institute for Educators, Yale University, New Haven, CT (July 7, 2016)
“Museums and the Middle East” Programs in International Education Resources Summer Institute for Educators, Yale University, New Haven, CT (July 5, 2016)
“Cults and Capitals: Royal Cities and Religion in Neo-Assyria” Ancient Near East Workshop, Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, New York City, NY (December 10, 2015)
“Creation Stories in the Bible and the Ancient Near East: Genesis, Atra-ḫasīs, Enūma eliš,” Guest Lecture in All About Eve, Fairfield University, Instructor: Professor Robert Epstein (January 2016)
“The Shattered Cradle of Civilization: Destruction of Historical Sites in the Middle East,” Guest Lecture in Modern Islamic Movements: Religion, Ideology, and the Rise of Fundamentalism, Trinity College, Instructor: Professor Mareike Koertner (April 2015)
WORKSHOP ORGANIZATION
“Urban Sustainability: How and Why Cities Live or Die,” Session Co-Organizer and Chair, ASOR Annual Meeting, Boston, USA (November 14, 2020)
“Between Cities: Exchange and Urban Networks,” Session Co-Organizer and Chair, ASOR Annual Meeting, San Diego, USA (November 21, 2019)
“Ask the Search Committee,” Panel Co-Organizer, American Oriental Society Annual Meeting, Los Angeles, CA (March 2017)
As Above, So Below: Religion and Geography, Workshop Organizer, 62nd Rencontre Assyriologique International, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA (July 2016)
“Navigating the World of Publishing in Academic Journals,” Panel Co-Organizer, American Oriental Society Annual Meeting, Boston, MA (March 2016)
Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations Roundtable, Executive Committee Member, Yale University (2011-2013)
Dr. Shana S. Zaia 