Massimo MAIOCCHI

Position
Associate Professor
Telephone
041 234 6346
E-mail
massimo.maiocchi@unive.it
Academic discipline
History of Ancient Western Asia and the Ancient Eastern Mediterranean [STAA-01/A]
Website
https://www.unive.it/people/massimo.maiocchi (personal record)
Office
Department of Humanities
Website: https://www.unive.it/dep.humanities
Where: Malcanton Marcorà

Office hours

Office hours: Wednesday 10:30 AM - 12:30 PM or by appointment to be arranged via email. Location: office no. 1A09, Palazzo Malcanton.

Teaching activity current year

Teaching activity previous years

ANTROPOLOGIA CULTURALE, ETNOLOGIA, ETNOLINGUISTICA [FM10]
Master's Degree Programme (DM270)

SCIENZE DELL'ANTICHITÀ: LETTERATURE, STORIA E ARCHEOLOGIA [FM2]
Master's Degree Programme (DM270)

ANTROPOLOGIA CULTURALE, ETNOLOGIA, ETNOLINGUISTICA [FMR10]
Master's Degree Programme (DM270)

SCIENZE DELL'ANTICHITÀ: ARCHEOLOGIA, LETTERATURE E STORIA [FMR2]
Master's Degree Programme (DM270)

CONSERVAZIONE E GESTIONE DEI BENI E DELLE ATTIVITÀ CULTURALI [FT1]
Bachelor's Degree Programme

LETTERE [FT3]
Bachelor's Degree Programme

STORIA [FT5]
Bachelor's Degree Programme

LETTERE [FTR3]
Bachelor's Degree Programme

STORIA [FTR5]
Bachelor's Degree Programme

ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS FOR THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD [LT7]
Bachelor's Degree Programme

ANTROPOLOGIA CULTURALE, ETNOLOGIA, ETNOLINGUISTICA [FM10]
Master's Degree Programme (DM270)

SCIENZE DELL'ANTICHITÀ: LETTERATURE, STORIA E ARCHEOLOGIA [FM2]
Master's Degree Programme (DM270)

CONSERVAZIONE E GESTIONE DEI BENI E DELLE ATTIVITÀ CULTURALI [FT1]
Bachelor's Degree Programme

LETTERE [FT3]
Bachelor's Degree Programme

STORIA [FT5]
Bachelor's Degree Programme

ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS FOR THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD [LT7]
Bachelor's Degree Programme

ANTROPOLOGIA CULTURALE, ETNOLOGIA, ETNOLINGUISTICA [FM10]
Master's Degree Programme (DM270)

SCIENZE DELL'ANTICHITÀ: LETTERATURE, STORIA E ARCHEOLOGIA [FM2]
Master's Degree Programme (DM270)

LETTERE [FT3]
Bachelor's Degree Programme

STORIA [FT5]
Bachelor's Degree Programme

ANCIENT CIVILIZATIONS FOR THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD [LT7]
Bachelor's Degree Programme

ANTROPOLOGIA CULTURALE, ETNOLOGIA, ETNOLINGUISTICA [FM10]
Master's Degree Programme (DM270)

SCIENZE DELL'ANTICHITÀ: LETTERATURE, STORIA E ARCHEOLOGIA [FM2]
Master's Degree Programme (DM270)

CONSERVAZIONE E GESTIONE DEI BENI E DELLE ATTIVITÀ CULTURALI [FT1]
Bachelor's Degree Programme

LETTERE [FT3]
Bachelor's Degree Programme

STORIA [FT5]
Bachelor's Degree Programme

ANTROPOLOGIA CULTURALE, ETNOLOGIA, ETNOLINGUISTICA [FM10]
Master's Degree Programme (DM270)

SCIENZE DELL'ANTICHITÀ: LETTERATURE, STORIA E ARCHEOLOGIA [FM2]
Master's Degree Programme (DM270)

CONSERVAZIONE E GESTIONE DEI BENI E DELLE ATTIVITÀ CULTURALI [FT1]
Bachelor's Degree Programme

LETTERE [FT3]
Bachelor's Degree Programme

STORIA [FT5]
Bachelor's Degree Programme

Activities and research skills

Main departmental research areas and fields
Area: Storia e Antropologia Linea: Epigrafia e paleografia
The Multimodality of Cadastral Plans in Babylonia
SSD:
L-OR/03
Other members of the research group:
Paola CORO'
Mapping and Annotating Plots (MAP): the Multimodality of Cadastral Plans in Antiquity (Babylonia and Rome)
Funding body:
MUR - PNRR
Type:
PRIN
Role in the project:
LD
Starting date:
Year: 2023 Length in months: 24
Other members of the research group:
Paola CORO'

Publication highlights

Massimo Maiocchi Legal Regulations at Ebla - An Overview , Keilschriftrecht zwischen Theorie und Praxis, Harrassowitz, vol. 43, pp. 39-55 (ISBN 978-3-447-12452-2) (ISSN 2365-5666)
2026, Book Article - ARCA card: 10278/5109434


Massimo Maiocchi A Critical Examination of the Current Paradigms on the Origin of Writing in Mesopotamia in ENKI & PTAH, vol. 1, pp. 85-100 (ISSN 3103-5752)
DOI - URL correlato 2025, Journal Article - ARCA card: 10278/5109435


Massimo Maiocchi Legal Regulations at Ebla – Part I: Toward a New Understanding of ARET XVI, 1 in STUDIA EBLAITICA, vol. 11, pp. 107-128 (ISSN 2364-7124)
DOI 2025, Journal Article - ARCA card: 10278/5110107


Massimo Maiocchi Three New IriKAgina “Reform” Fragments from Girsu in ARCHIV ORIENTÁLNÍ, vol. 93, pp. 27-42 (ISSN 0044-8699)
DOI - URL correlato 2025, Journal Article - ARCA card: 10278/5110109


Francesco Di Filippo, Antonio Giovanni Iennaco, Massimo Maiocchi, Palmiro Notizia, Sasha Alessandro Volpi Per una storia economica delle prime città-stato in Mesopotamia e Siria: fonti, metodi e prospettive nel quadro del progetto “Urban Economy Begins” , Egitto e Vicino Oriente Antichi. Studi sull’Egitto il Vicino Oriente Antico in Italia., Firenze, Logisma, vol. 26, pp. 153-158, Convegno: Egitto e Vicino Oriente Antichi, 18-19/06/2024 (ISBN 979-12-82392-00-6) (ISSN 2283-2033)
2025, Article in Conference Proceedings - ARCA card: 10278/5109433


List of publications

Curriculum vitae

Massimo Maiocchi is an expert in History of the Ancient Near East,with special reference to early urbanization in between the late forth and the end of third millennia BCE.

He is PhD in Ancient Near East at the University of Naples "L'Orientale" (2007) and a MA in Humanities at Ca' Foscari (2003). He has been a Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellow at the Centre national de la recherche scientifique (France, 2020-2021), and post-doc at the University of Chicago (USA, 2012-2015). He also collaborated with the International Institute for Mesopotamian Area Studies, Los Angeles (USA, 2016). In addition, he has been a research fellow at Ca' Foscari, as well as at the Venice International University. Early in his education, he studied in Finland (University of Helsinki) and Germany (Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen). In Chicago, he taught History of the Ancient Near East, Philology of cuneiform sources, History of Writing Systems. He took part in research missions in international institutions and museums: British Museum, Cornell University, Musée du Louvre, Iraq Museum.He also took part in archaeological missions and surveys in Syria (Urkesh, modern Tell Mozan) and Iraq (Iraqi Kurdistan).

He published four monographs, as well as several articles in scientific journals, on topics such as: origin and diffusion of writing, grammatology, palaeography, organization of knowledge, palaeo-archivistics, techniques and technologies for the transmission of information in the ancient world, their impact in terms of cultural evolution and intellectual history; administration, accounting systems, standards for weights and measures, circulation of precious items; techniques for transformation and conservation of almentary products, palaeo-nutritional practices; social history; legal practices and law collections; developments in royal ideology in third and second millennia BCE; current methodologies for the study of ancient history.

His approach combines traditional research and Digital Humanities solutions, such as implementation of databases for the study of ancient inscriptions (Ebla Digital Archives; Archaic Text Graphemics), network analysis, and scripting. 

He is part of an internationa network of research, including experts from France, Spain and United States. Presently, he has active collaborations with the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (Rome), as well as the Centre national de la recherche scientifique (Nanterre, Francia). Since September 2023 he is P.I. for the project "Early Economy Begins", funded by PRIN.