Dr. Martin Worthington

Dr. Martin Worthington

Al Maktoum Associate Professor, Near & Middle Eastern Studies

https://www.tcd.ie/nmes/staff/martin-worthington.php

Biography

Born in York and raised in Italy, Martin studied Ancient History and Egyptology at UCL. In the course of this degree he became intrigued by Ancient Mesopotamia, and a 1-year scholarship from the German Academic Exchange Service enabled him to spend a year at Leipzig University, to start studying Babylonian, Assyrian and Sumerian under Annette Zgoll and Claus Wilcke. These languages stayed with him ever since. He went on to do an MPhil and PhD in Assyriology at Cambridge, supervised by Nicholas Postgate. Most of Martin"s research is on Mesopotamian philology, literature, or the relation between the two. His first book, Principles of Akkadian Textual Criticism (De Gruyter, 2012) was the first extended exploration for Babylonian and Assyrian of a crucial question: how far can we trust our manuscripts? And what if they contain mistakes? His more recent book Ea"s Duplicity and the Gilgamesh Flood Story (Routledge, 2019) is an extended argument about nine remarkable lines of Babylonian poetry: he argued that these lines, uttered by the god Ea, are so worded as to be understandable in different ways " a feature which Ea used to trick humans into building the Ark. This argument about Ea"s duplicitous utterance, whose nature and implications extend in many directions, was widely reported in international media as a discovery of the earliest example of `fake news". Martin has also published on topics including Babylonian/Assyrian magic and medicine, Mesopotamian social history, Sumerian lexicography, and narrative strategies in Middle Egyptian literature. Always happy to be invited to talk in schools, Martin is a great believer in public outreach. In this vein he directed the world"s first Babylonian-language film, The Poor Man of Nippur (freely available on Youtube), and authored Teach Yourself Complete Babylonian (2nd ed. 2018). Before joining Trinity in August 2020, Martin was a junior research fellow at St John"s College, Cambridge, then a British Academy Postdoctoral Research Fellow at SOAS, University of London, then Lecturer and then Senior Lecturer at the University of Cambridge, where he was also a Fellow of St John"s College. At Trinity, Martin contributes to various parts of teaching on the Ancient Near East, in the Department of Near and Middle Eastern Studies. He is open to taking on doctoral students, who are encouraged to contact him directly in advance of submitting a formal application. His current main lines of research include `Mesopotamian Orality", `The structure of the Akkadian poetic line", and `Sargon"s Riddle". You can read several of his publications here: https://tcd.academia.edu/MartinWorthington/Papers

Publications and Further Research Outputs

  • Martin Worthington, Ea's Duplicity in the Gilgamesh Flood Story, 1st, Abingdon and New York, Routledge, 2019, i-xxxii + 1-489ppBook, 2019, DOI , URL
  • Martin Worthington, Of Sumerian Songs and Spells: the meanings and uses of ser3-ku3, Altorientalische Forschungen, 62, (2), 2019, p270 - 300Journal Article, 2019, DOI , URL
  • Spellings and linguistic awareness in the Middle Assyrian Laws in, editor(s)Eva Cancik-Kirschbaum J. Cale Johnson , Encoding metalinguistic awareness: Ancient Mesopotamia and beyond, Gladbeck, Germany, PeWe Verlag, 2019, pp137 - 160, [Martin Worthington]Book Chapter, 2019
  • Martin Worthington, Orthographic Abbreviation in Babylonian and Assyrian of the Second and First Millennia BC, Henoch, 43, 2021, p7 - 41Journal Article, 2021
  • Martin Worthington, The Great Green Dragon and Neo-Assyrian Modifier Sequences, State Archives of Assyria Bulletin, 2022, p159-171Journal Article, 2022
  • Theatre and Migration in Gilgamesh in, editor(s)Yana Meerzon, Stephen Elliot Wilmer , Palgrave Handbook on Theatre and Migration, Palgrave, 2023, pp171-181 , [Martin Worthington]Book Chapter, 2023, TARA - Full Text
  • Martin Worthington, Principles of Akkadian Textual Criticism, Boston, De Gruyter, 2012, xxiv+352ppBook, 2012, DOI , URL
  • Martin Worthington, Complete Babylonian, 2nd, John Murray Learning ('Teach Yourself' series), 2010, xx+418ppBook, 2010
  • Literatures in Dialogue: A Comparison of Attitudes to Speech in Babylonian and Middle Egyptian Literature in, editor(s)R. Enmarch and V. M. Lepper , Ancient Egyptian Literature: Theory and Practice , London, The British Academy, 2013, pp261-292Book Chapter, 2013
  • North, Richard and Worthington, Martin, Gilgamesh and Beowulf: foundations of a comparison, Kaskal, 9, 2012, p177--217Journal Article, 2012
  • Worthington, Martin, On Names and Artistic Unity in the Standard Version of the Babylonian Gilgamesh Epic, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, 21, (4), 2011, p403--420Journal Article, 2011
  • i-ba-a - u-ú vs. i-ba-a - u from Old to Neo-Babylonian in, editor(s)Leonid E. Kogan, Natalia Koslova, Sergey Loesov, and Serguei Tishchenko , Language in the Ancient Near East, Winona Lake, IN, Eisenbrauns, 2010, pp661--706 , [Worthington, M]Book Chapter, 2010
  • Worthington, Martin, Dialect Admixture of Babylonian and Assyrian in SAA VIII, X, XII, XVII and XVIII, Iraq, 68, 2006, p59--84Journal Article, 2006
  • Worthington, Martin, Some new patterns in Neo-Assyrian orthography and phonology discernible in nouns with monosyllabic stems, Journal of Near Eastern Studies, 69, (2), 2010, p179--194Journal Article, 2010
  • Gilgamesh, Epic of in, editor(s)Bagnall, Roger S; Brodersen, Kai; Champion, Craige B; Erskine, A , The Encyclopedia of Ancient History, Wiley, 2013, [Worthington, Martin]Book Chapter, 2013
  • Hagen, Fredrik; Johnston, John; Monkhouse, Wendy; Piquette, Kathryn; Tait, John; Worthington, Martin, Narratives of Egypt and the Ancient Near East, Leuven, Peeters, 2011Book, 2011
  • Kogan, Leonid and Worthington, Martin, Accusative casus pendens: some further examples, Babel und Bibel, 6, 2011, p487--492Journal Article, 2011
  • Some notes on medical information outside the medical corpora in, editor(s)A. Attia, G. Buisson , Advances in Mesopotamian medicine from Hammurabi to Hippocrates, Brill, 2010, pp47--77 , [Martin Worthington]Book Chapter, 2010
  • Worthington, Martin, Question and answer in Middle Kingdom dialogues, The Journal of Egyptian Archaeology, 90, (1), 2004, p113--121Journal Article, 2004
  • Worthington, Martin, Planets, Livers and Omens in Mesopotamia, Early Science and Medicine, 9, (2), 2004, p136-143Review Article, 2004
  • Salbung in, editor(s)M. P. Streck , Reallexikon der Assyriologie, XI, Berlin, De Gruyter, 2006, pp574--5 , [Worthington, Martin]Book Chapter, 2006
  • Worthington, Martin, Mamma(n) ul and Its Alternatives in Babylonian Literature, Kaskal, 7, 2010, p123--142Journal Article, 2010
  • Schankwirt(in) in, editor(s)M. P. Streck , Reallexikon der Assyriologie, XII, Berlin, De Gruyter, 2009, pp132--4 , [Worthington, M]Book Chapter, 2009
  • Worthington, Martin, Style, Syntax, and Gilgamesh XI, Babel und Bibel, 7, 2013, p309--317Journal Article, 2013
  • Worthington, Martin, Einiges über die Paläographie des Papyrus Rollin, Göttinger Miszellen, (183), 2001, p93--98Journal Article, 2001
  • M. Piccin and M. Worthington, Schizophrenia and the Problem of Suffering in the Ludlul Hymn to Marduk, Revue d'Assyriologie et d'Archéologie Orientale, 109, 2015, p113-124Journal Article, 2015
  • Martin Worthington, Lilith Unsexed, Le Journal des Médecines Cunéiformes, 40, 2023, p54-64Journal Article, 2023, TARA - Full Text
  • Gilgamesh in, Oxford Bibliographies, 10.1093/OBO/9780195393361-0325, Oxford University Press, 2024, [Martin Worthington]Book Chapter, 2024
  • Martin Worthington, Solving the Starry Symbols of Sargon II, Bulletin of the American School of Oriental Research, 2024, p(unknown)Journal Article, 2024
  • Akkadian in, editor(s)Tim Whitmarsh , Oxford Classical Dictionary, New York, 2024, pp(unknown) , [Martin Worthington]Book Chapter, 2024
  • Worthington, Martin, A Discussion of Aspects of the UGU Series, Le Journal des Médecines Cunéiformes, 2, 2003, p2--11Journal Article
  • Worthington, Martin, Edition of UGU 1 (= BAM 480 etc.), Le Journal des Médecines Cunéiformes, 5, 2005, p6--43Journal Article
  • Worthington, M, Addenda and Corrigenda to "Edition of UGU 1 (= BAM 480 etc.)" and "Edition of BAM 3", Le Journal des Médecines Cunéiformes, 5, 2007, p43--46Journal Article
  • Worthington, Martin, Medicine, Comedy, Power and their Interconnections in Babylonia and Assyria, Le Journal des Médécines Cunéiformes, (15), 2010, p25--39Journal Article
  • Martin Worthington, The wobbly wedge, or: Variants and Corruptions in the world of Cuneiform, academic workshop 'Criticism of the Variant', Akademie der Wissenschaften, Hamburg, 8.xii.2022, 2022, Akademie der Wissenschaften, HamburgInvited Talk, URL

Recognition

  • Jonas C. Greenfield Prize for Younger Semitists (American Oriental Society) 2009
  • Fellow of the 'Advanced Seminar in the Humanities: Literature and Culture in the Ancient Mediterranean: Greece, Rome and the Near East' (Venice International University). November 2008, September 2009
  • Ambizione Scholarship (Swiss National Science Foundation; deferred until 2012-2015, then declined, to take up the lectureship) 2010-2013
  • AHRB Scholarship (deferred from 2000) for the MPhil 2001-2002
  • Sir George Staunton Prize (awarded jointly; Royal Asiatic Society) 2011
  • German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) one-year scholarship (Jahresstipendium) 2000-2001
  • "Teaching Hero" Award (The Irish National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in collaboration with the Union of Students in Ireland) 2021
  • British Academy Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship (four years, but interrupted in 2012, to take up the Cambridge lectureship). 2010-2012
  • German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) re-invitation scholarship March-May 2006
  • Benefactor's Scholarship for the PhD (St John's College, Cambridge) 2003-2005
  • The British Institute for the Study of Iraq
  • The Philological Society
  • 'Babylonian Consultant' for the Warner Bros film "Godzilla: King of the Monsters" (i.e. I translated part of the sound-track into Babylonian, set to music by Bear McCreary) 2019
  • External assessor for PhD "Confirmation of status" (2nd year report), The Oriental Institute, Oxford University May 2013
  • referee for Brill Academic Publishers for a book manuscript on Intertextuality 2018
  • referee for the Verlag der österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, philosophisch-historische Klasse (Vienna), for a book on Babylonian astrological medicine 2013
  • referee for the Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences (Oxford) 2019-
  • referee for Harvard Theological Review (Cambridge, MA) 2021-
  • 'Babylonian and Sumerian Consultant' for Marvel film Eternals (i.e. I translated the relevant parts of the script into Babylonian, and sent written text and audio recordings for the actors to practice with the dialect coach) 2021
  • volume editor for Tzvi Abusch's volume on Maqlû for the book series Writings from the Ancient World (Society of Biblical Literature) 2014
  • referee for De Gruyter for volume 2 in the series Mythological Studies 2019
  • External Examiner for three MRes dissertations, University of Birmingham March 2017
  • Editorial Board Member of the academic book series "Mythological Studies" (De Gruyter) 2019-
  • referee for the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (London) 2011-
  • referee for Brill Academic Publishers for N. J. C. Kouwenberg's Grammar of Old Assyrian 2016
  • co-editor (secrétaire de rédaction) of Le Journal des Médecines Cunéiformes (Paris) 2006-
  • referee for Routledge on a 3-chapter book proposal on ANE literature 2020
  • External assessor for PhD "Confirmation of status" (2nd year report), The Oriental Institute, Oxford University November 2013
  • succeeded W. G. Lambert as referee for the series Royal Inscriptions of the Neo-Assyrian Period (RINAP). So far have done volumes 2, 3/2 and 3/3 2012-
  • editorial board member of the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society (London) 2011-2016
  • referee for Cambridge University Press for a book manuscript entitled Written Languages 2018
  • referee for the journal "Iraq" 2011-
  • referee for Aula Orientalis (Barcelona) 2019-
  • European Research Council: assessor for an ERC grant application on 19th Century philology 2020
  • External assessor for MRes dissertation in Ancient History at Macquarie University December 2020
  • referee for Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies (London) 2018-
  • referee for the Journal of Near Eastern Studies (Chicago) 2013
  • referee for Studia Orientalia (Helsinki) 2018-
  • editorial board member for the Bryn Mawr Classical Review (Bryn Mawr) 2014-