Matteo Vigo is an Hittitologist. He was trained in Classics at the University of Pavia, where in 2005 he graduated in History and Civilizations of the Ancient Near East. He received a Ph.D. scholarship at the same university. He completed his Ph.D. research in Germany at the Universities of Tübingen and Konstanz in the academic year 2007-2008. In 2012 he obtained an Ambassadorial Scholarship from Rotary International and moved to the United States of America as a Postdoc researcher at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. He collaborated with the team of the Chicago Hittite Dictionary. In 2013 he obtained a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship to develop the project Textile Terminology of Hittite Anatolia (TEXTHA) at the University of Copenhagen. He taught Hittite Elementary Grammar at the Department of Linguistics. During his experience in Denmark, Matteo Vigo benefited from collaborations and research stays in international research centers, such as the Center National de la Recherche Scientifique in Paris. In September 2016 he was hired as a researcher at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the University of Würzburg, Germany. In 2017 he was a substitute Professor for Hittitology in the same department. Matteo Vigo is an adjunct Professor for Hittitology at the University of Pisa since 2018. Matteo Vigo also has a long experience in the field. He participated in several surveys and archeological expeditions as an official member and deputy director in Syria and Turkey. He has been a Senior Researcher at the Akademie der Wissenschaften und der Literatur of Mainz, leading the DFG project “Actors and Power Structures in Hittite Society” (2018-2021).

The main scientific interests of Matteo Vigo focus on the political and social history of the Hittites, the relations with Late Bronze Age Syria, and the administration of the Hittite kingdom. He also devoted to studies of lexicography, rituals and literary tradition. His current research focuses on power structures and social profiles in the Old Hittite Kingdom. The core of the investigation is primarily the study of the relevant text sources from Hittite tablet collections. The philological analysis is therefore combined with the historical interpretation of texts. The result of the current research will be a picture of the organization of power during the Old Hittite Kingdom. Matteo Vigo is also presently finishing a monograph on the Hittite textile terminology (Textilia et Vestimenta Hethaeorum). In the frame of the KFG Matteo Vigo investigates specific profiles that were active during the Old Hittite Kingdom, their relationship with the central authority, and their evolution. His research at the KFG wish to focus on analogies and differences with preceding (Old Assyrian) and contemporary (Middle Assyrian) profiles in other social contexts.

Selected list of publications

. 2021 “Plague, Pandemics and Divine Punishment among the Hittites”, in Toprak Karaman et al. (eds), COVID-19 Pandemisi’nde Disiplinlerası Bütünlesık Afet Yönetimi Uluslararası Çevrimiçi Sempozyumu Interdisciplinary Integrated Disaster Administration on COVID-19 Pandemic, Izmir 2021, pp. 14-23.

. 2020 (together with Benedetta Bellucci), “Ancora sulle sigillature multiple del deposito di Nişantepe”, in M.E. Balza, P. Cotticelli, L. d’Alfonso, M. Giorgieri, F. Giusfredi & A. Rizza (eds), Città e parole, argilla e pietra. Studi offerti a Clelia Mora da allievi, colleghi e amici, Biblioteca di Athenaeum 58, Bari 2020, pp. 81-111.

. 2019 “Staple and Wealth Finance and the Administration of the Hittite Economy”, in M. Hutter & S. Hutter-Braunsar (eds), Economy of Religions in Anatolia and Northern Syria: From the Early Second to the Middle of the First Millennium BCE, Alter Orient und Altes Testament Series 467, Münster 2019, pp. 141-151.

. 2019 (together with Salvatore Gaspa), “Textiles in Ritual and Cultic Practices in the Ancient Near East from the Third to the First Millennium BC”, Alter Orient und Altes Testament Series 431, Münster 2019.

. 2019 “Textiles and Textile Tools in Hittite Ritual Praxis. An Overview”, in S. Gaspa & M. Vigo (eds), Textiles in Ritual and Cultic Practices in the Ancient Near East from the Third to the First Millennium BC, Alter Orient und Altes Testament Series 431, Münster 2019, pp. 109-133.

. 2019 “Textiles in Ancient Near Eastern Ritual and Cultic Practices: An Introduction” (insieme a Salvatore Gaspa), in S. Gaspa & M. Vigo (eds), Textiles in Ritual and Cultic Practices in the Ancient Near East from the Third to the First Millennium BC, Alter Orient und Altes Testament Series 431, Münster 2019, pp. 1-14.

. 2018 Book review: Emanuel Pfoh, Syria-Palestine in the Late Bronze Age. An Anthropology of Politics and Power. London/New York, Routledge 2016. XV, 229 S., $ 145,–, in Historische Zeitschrift 307, pp. 775-776.

. 2018 “On the terminology of some (job) titles in Hittite texts”, in A. Garcia-Ventura (ed.), What is in a name? Terminology related to work force and job categories in the ancient Near East, Alter Orient und Altes Testament Series 440, Münster 2018, pp. 271-314.

. 2017 “Textile terminology of Hittite Anatolia: Interdisciplinary research projects at the Centre for Textile Research. Project’s presentation and future perspectives”, in S. de Martino, M. Marazzi & C. Mora (eds), News from the Lands of the Hittites. Scientific Journal for Anatolian Research, Volume 1, Torino 2017, pp. 119-126.

. 2016 “Sources for the Study of the Role of Women in the Hittite Administration”, in C. Michel & B. Lion (eds), The Role of Women in Work and Society in the Ancient Near East, Studies in Ancient Near Eastern Records Series 13, Berlin 2016, pp. 337-362.

. 2015 Book review: Trevor Bryce, Ancient Syria: A Three Thousand Year History. Oxford; New York: Oxford University Press, 2014. Pp. xiv, 379. ISBN 9780199646678. £25.00, in Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2015.03.16: http://www.bmcreview.org/2015/03/20150316.html

. 2014 “Note sulla concezione del post mortem presso gli Ittiti” (insieme a Benedetta Bellucci), in I. Baglioni (ed.), Sulle Rive dell’Acheronte. Costruzione e Percezione della Sfera del Post Mortem nel Mediterraneo Antico. Atti del Congresso di Velletri (RM), 12-16 giugno 2012, Roma 2014, pp. 21-36.

. 2014 “Elements for a Comparative Study on Textile Production and Use in Hittite Anatolia and Its Neighbours”, (together with Benedetta Bellucci e Giulia Baccelli), in M.-L. Nosch, C. Michel & M. Harlow (eds), Prehistoric, Ancient Near Eastern and Aegean Textiles and Dress: An Interdisciplinary Anthology, Ancient Textiles Series 18, Oxford 2014, pp. 97-143.

. 2014 “The use of (perfumed) oil in Hittite rituals with particular emphasis on funerary practices”, in A. D’Ascoli (ed.), Consumption of perfumed oil in the ancient Mediterranean and Near East: funerary rituals and other case studies. Journal of Intercultural and Interdisciplinary Archaeology 1/2014, Roma 2014, pp. 25-37.

. 2014 “The Hattian Language”, in Actual Archaeology Magazine 11/2014, Ankara 2014, pp. 56-63.

. 2014 “Hattice”, in Aktuel Arkeoloji Dergizi 38, Ankara 2014, pp. 75-83.

. 2013 “Attività femminili a Ḫattuša. La testimonianza dei testi d’inventario e degli archivi di cretulae”(together with Clelia Mora), in N. Bolatti-Guzzo, S. Festuccia & M. Marazzi (eds), Centro Mediterraneo Preclassico. Studi e Ricerche III. Studi vari di egeistica, anatolistica e del mondo mediterraneo, Serie Beni Culturali 20, Napoli 2013, pp. 173-223.

. 2012 “La concezione di “mare” presso gli Ittiti tra simbolo e realtà”,in P. Cotticelli-Kurras, M. Giorgieri, C. Mora & A. Rizza (eds), Interferenze linguistiche e contatti culturali in Anatolia tra II e I millennio a.C. Studi in onore di Onofrio Carruba in occasione del suo 80° compleanno, Studia Mediterranea 24, Pavia 2012, pp. 261-298.

. 2010 “Linen in Hittite Inventory Texts”, in C. Michel & M.-L. Nosch (eds), Textile Terminologies in the Ancient Near East and Mediterranean from the Third to the First Millennia BC; Ancient Textiles Series 8, Oxford 2010, pp. 290-322.

. 2010 “Tarhuntaš-trġ(n)ds. Troodos?”, in L. Bombardieri & A.M. Jasink (eds), Researches in Cypriote History and Archaeology. Proceedings of the Meeting held in Florence April 29-30th 2009, Periploi – Collana di Studi Egei e Ciprioti 2, Firenze 2010, pp. 165-174.

. 2009 “Stile Internazionale e/o interferenze culturali. Breve indagine sulla produzione artistica del Tardo Cipriota”, in P. Giammellaro (ed.), Visti dall’altra sponda: Movimenti, colonizzazioni e interferenze culturali nel Mediterraneo antico. Atti del V Incontro Orientalisti. Palermo, 6-8 Dicembre 2008, Palermo 2009, pp. 75-99.

. 2008 “Tradurre e non tradire: il problema delle integrazioni. Il caso di KBo XII 39”, in B. Bellucci, E. Jucci, A. Rizza & B.M. Tomassini Pieri (eds), Traduzione di tradizioni e tradizioni di traduzione. Atti del IV Incontro Orientalista. Pavia 19-21 Aprile 2007, Milano 2008, pp. 191-248.