Lectures & Symposia

Monthly Lectures
NINO organizes monthly lectures on various subjects related to the fields of research at the institute. The lectures are usually in Dutch and are held on Thursdays at 15.00 hrs in the National Museum of Antiquities (RMO), Rapenburg 28, Leiden.

For an overview of upcoming NINO lectures, see our online calendar.

Veenhof Lecture
In addition to these monthly lectures, NINO also organizes the annual Veenhof Lecture, in cooperation with the National Museum of Antiquities in Leiden (RMO). The Veenhof Lectures were established in honor of Klaas Veenhof, who retired in May 2002 as Professor of Assyriology at Leiden University.

• 2002: Nicholas Postgate: Trade before writing – Learning the lessons of the future
  
• 2003: Guillermo Algaze: Trade and development of early Mesopotamian social complexity
  
• 2004: Tony Wilkinson: Arabia’s First Towns. Bronze Age Chiefdoms in Highland Yemen
  
• 2005: Stefan Maul: Sickness and Healing in the Ancient Orient
  
• 2006: Harald Hauptmann: Temples and Deities in Early Upper Mesopotamia. A new picture of the Neolithic Revolution in the Near East
  
• 2007: Dominique Charpin: Unexpected aspects of Mesopotamian civilization – the role of the temples
• 2008: Dr. Peter Jablonka: Troy – Archaeology, History, Legend
  The lecture was preceded by a Dutch-language symposium to celebrate the 50 year anniversary of the Netherlands Institute in Turkey (NIT).
• 2009: Jesper Eidem: Qala’at Halwanji – a 4000 year old fortress in Syria
• 2010: Alfonso Archi: The Gods of Ebla
  
• 2011: Klaus Schmidt: Göbekli Tepe, a Neolithic Sanctuary in Upper Mesopotamia
  

Symposia
Every year, NINO organizes a symposium in cooperation with the School of Middle Eastern Studies (SMES) of Leiden University. The symposia papers appear in the PIHANS series published by NINO.

• 2003: “The Life and Times of Hattusili III and Tuthaliya IV”
• 2004: “The Akkadian Language in its Semitic Context”
• 2005: "Anatolia and the Jazira during the Old Assyrian Period"
• 2006: "Pictograms or Pseudo Script?"
• 2007: "Society and Administration in Ancient Ugarit
• 2008: "Archaeology of the Countryside in Medieval Anatolia" (29 February-1 March)
• 2008: "Theory and Practice of Knowledge Transfer, Comparative Studies around Cuneiform Writing Schools" (17-19 December)
• 2009: "Qasr Ibrim, between Egypt and Africa: A case study of cultural exchange" (11-12 December)