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P R O G R A MM E
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24 JUNE 2016
14:00-18:30 CONFERENCE DESK OPEN FOR REGISTRATION
18:30-19:30
OPENING: KEYNOTE LECTURE BY PROF. ANDREAS FUCHS (TÜBINGEN):
GEDANKEN ZUM "DIALOG DES PESSIMISMUS"
19:30
RECEPTION HOSTED BY THE SWISS SOCIETY FOR ANCIENT NEAR EASTERN STUDIES
25 JUNE 2016 - MORNING
9:00 - 9:15
GREETING AND BRIEFING (BASEMENT)
ROOM 1
P1: Reconstructing missing evidence
9:15-9:30
9:30-9:45
9:45-10:00
10:00-10:15
10:15-10:30
10:30-10:50
P2: Contextualising symbolism
Beck, Julien et.al. (Geneva): The Bay of Kiladha Project
(Argolid, Greece): Bridging East and West
Dermech, Sarah (Strasbourg): The Tell 'Uqair temple
(4th mill.BC) : colours and iconography
Fasnacht, Walter (Meilen, CH): Agia Varvara - Almyras
(Cyprus). The only complete chain of ancient copper
production on the Copper Island
Beck, Julien et.al. (Geneva): Linking a rural sanctuary
with ancient metallurgy at Kataliondas Kourvellos
(Cyprus)
Boertien, Jeannette (Groningen): Loom weights as a
research tool
Kapiec, Katarzyna (Warsaw): Oils and linen in Ancient
Egyptian mortuary temple rituals (Thutmosid period)
Wespi, Fabian (Heidelberg): Puzzling Papyrus Puzzles
Kühne, Carina (Heidelberg): Egyptian Execration
Figurines
First, Grzegorz (Krakow): Polymorphic iconography common influences or individual features in the Near
Eastern perspective
Masson, Emilia (Paris): Recent Discovery of Sacred
Marriage in Vallée des Merveilles (Protohistoric Site of
Mont Bego)
COFFEE BREAK / BOOK PRESENTATIONS (10:35 STAVI)
10:50-11:05
Čech, Pavel (Prague): Easy-going: the treatment of
written records in the ancient Syropalestine
11:05-11:20
Mäder, Michael (Bern) et. al.: Some new Linear Elamite
inscriptions
11:20-11:35
ROOM 2
P1: Final Q & A
(Moderation: A. Sollee)
Jacobson, Ofir (Tel-Aviv): The Motive of Hieros Gamos
in Jesus's Baptism in the Jordan River and in Jewish
Kabballah
Shamir, Orit (Jerusalem): Garments and Shrouds of
Egyptian and Nubian Pilgrims from Qasr el-Yahud,
Ninth Century CE
P2: Final Q & A
(Moderation: F. Lippke)
11:40-12:15
ROUND TABLES (1ST FLOOR)
12:15-13:45
LUNCH (GROUNDFLOOR)
25 JUNE 2016 - AFTERNOON
ROOM 1
ROOM 2
P3: Localising influence and identity
P4: Identifying ancient paradigms
Mouheyddine Ossman (Bern): Thoughts on the possible
Iranian origins of the Jemdet Nasr painting style
Bartash, Vitali (Munich): Children in Sumerian Palaces
and Temples as a Socioeconomic Phenomenon (4-3 mill.
BC)
Loktionov, Alexandre (Cambridge): Importing the law?
Possible elements of the Mesopotamian legal tradition in
New Kingdom Egypt
Nebiolo, Francesca (Paris): «A foe of God whoever...»:
an oath-curse in the Old Babylonian Sippar
14:35-14:50
Redina-Thomas, Marina (St. Petersburg): Provincial
Administration in Babylonia: A Case of Kassite Nippur
Pallavidini, Marta (Pavia/Berlin): Political Metaphors in
Hittite Diplomatic and Historiographic Texts
14:50-15:05
Frei, Philipp (Bern): Urartu, Kingdom of the Mountains.
A Forgotten Site of Memory?
Ito, Sanae (Helsinki): Scribes and Royal Archives in the
Assyrian Empire: the Mechanisms of the Linguistic
Management and the Knowledge Transfer
Davtyan, Ruben (Munich): Mesopotamian cylinder seal
from Lori Berd (Armenia): An object in an unusual
location?
13:45-14:00
Fraser, James (London) et.al.: The visible dead: dolmens
and the landscape in Early Bronze Age Jordan
14:00-14:15
Stavi, Boaz (Kiryat Tiv'on, Haifa province, Israel): The
Treatment of Troublesome Regions
14:15-14:30
15:05-15:20
15:20-15:35
Venanzi, Alessia (Paris): «All Aram» and «Upper and
Lower Aram»: what the Sefire Inscription suggests us
about the Aramaean ethnicity
P3: Final Q & A
P4: Final Q & A
(Moderation: A. Sollee)
(Moderation: M. Gander)
15:35-16:10 COFFEE BREAK / BOOK PRESENTATIONS (15:40 MASSON, 15:55 ČECH)
P5: Assessing transition
16:10-16:25
16:25-16:40
16:40-16:55
16:55-17:10
17:10-17:25
Benz, Marion (Freiburg i. Br.) et.al.: Evidence for early
sedentism at Körtik Tepe, southeastern Turkey, during
the Younger Dryas
Lippke, Florian (Fribourg): In search of Late Phoenician
Culture – test cases between text and image
Alkhalid, Mohammed (Bern): Following the Collapse;
Regeneration or Transformation of the Urban Societies?
Charaf, Hanan (Paris): The Iron Age I in the Northern
Levant: New perspectives from Lebanon
P6: Reconsidering the past
Martin Worthington (Cambridge): Questions and
Reconstruction of Akkadian Etiquette
Durgun, Pinar (Providence, RI): The never-ending Quest
for the Elites: New Approaches to the Study of Cemeteries and Social Organization
Von Peschke, Sebastian (Bern): Adaptability in the early
development of new oriental religions
P5: Final Q & A
P6: Final Q & A
(Moderation: M. Novák)
(Moderation: H. Mönninghoff)
17:25-18:00
COFFEE BREAK / BOOK PRESENTATIONS (17:35 PALLAVIDINI)
18:00-18:30
SUMMARY OF RESULTS (BASEMENT)
18:30 -19:00 MUSICAL CLOSING SESSION: NAJAT SULEIMAN & HASSAN TAHA
(GROUNDFLOOR)
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The idea for a "Berner Altorientalisches Forum" sparked out of a conversation with Mirko
Novák who has been actively involved in this project from the beginning and invested much
of his time and expertise to make it happen.
Of course, the organisation of the 1st Berner Altorientalisches Forum would not have been
possible without the time and support provided by the various members of the BAF
committee:
Pascal Attinger, Universität Bern
Susanne Bickel, Universität Basel
Max Gander, Universität Zürich
Florian Lippke, Université de Fribourg
Josy Luginbühl, Universität Bern
Patrick Michel, Université de Genève
Hannah Mönninghoff, Universität Bern
Mirko Novák, Universität Bern
Alexander Sollee, Universität Bern
Vincent Serneels, Université de Fribourg
Johanna Tudeau, Universität Bern
Special thanks go to Max Gander, Florian Lippke, Mirko Novák and Alexander Sollee for
taking up the role of moderators.
Also to be thanked here are Michelle Brunner, Patric Guggisberg and Alexandra Kull for their
technical support during the event, Michael Mäder for his general help, as well as the rather
cool persons __________, __________, __________, (fill in the gaps) who will be heading
the round tables on Saturday and whose identities are still unknown as this programme goes
into print...
Our gratitude equally goes to Najat Suleiman and Hassan Taha for bringing music to the
BAF.
Last but not least, we would like to acknowledge the excellent support and service provided
throughout the organisation of this forum by Mr Martin Affolter and his team (Haus der
Universität, Universität Bern), Mr Thomas Habegger and his colleagues (Informatikdienste,
Universität Bern), and Mr Dirk Verdicchio and Mrs Nicole Kneubühl (Universitätsbibliothek,
Universität Bern).
1 ROUND TABLES: INSTRUCTIONS
Saturday, 11:40- 12:15 (1st Floor)
Optional. For those interested in something kind of new...
Make your way to the first floor. Look out for the "Round Tables" signs. They will take you
to three tables, each table chaired by a different person. Please join the table of your choice.
You are invited to sit around the tables and meet other participants around some very general
questions. A different question is asked at each table. Feel free to circulate.
MUSICAL CLOSING SESSION
Saturday, 18:45-19:30 (Basement)
The day will conclude with some music... We are delighted to welcome the Syrian musicians
Najat Suleiman (singing) and Hassan Taha (oud) who will perform traditional and popular
songs from the Middle East that reflect upon love, liberty and peace, drawing on various
oriental musical styles and Arabic singing techniques.
Najat Suleiman studied singing at the Damascus School of Music, where she completed a
degree in singing. As she lived in Syria and also during her time in Switzerland, she held
various concerts in Syria and across European cities. Suleiman performs traditional oriental
songs as well as the works of her husband Hassan Taha.
Hassan Taha, composer, oud player and hornist, completed his musical degree at the
Damascus School of Music. In 2003 he studied composition at the conservatory of Maastricht
(Holland). In 2012 he obtained the master in composition at the Hochschule der Künste in
Bern. Taha's works have been performed in Syria as well as in various Arab and European
countries.
Songs to be performed for the BAF:
1. The moon shines (Rahbani brothers, Lebanon)
2. As she seemed to sway (Andalusian poem)
3. Charming girl (Old Syrian tune)
4. Tell me about my country, tell me. (Rahbani brothers, Lebanon)
5. Oh pretty brunette! (Rahbani brothers, Lebanon)
6. Oh rose lover! (Zaki Nassif, Lebanon)
2 PARTICIPANTS Mohammed Alkhalid, Universität Bern
Alexandre Loktionov, University of Cambridge
Vitali Bartash, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität
München
Moira Looney, Universität Bern
Julien Beck, Université de Genève
Marion Benz, Universität Freiburg i. Br.
Patrizia Birchler Emery, Université de Genève
Jeannette Boertien, University of Groningen
Michael Mäder, Universität Bern
Emilia Masson, CNRS, Paris
Hannah Mönninghoff, Universität Bern
Reto Moser, Universität Bern
Sebastian Borkowski, Universität Bern
Hanan Charaf Mullins, University of Paris I –
Sorbonne
Pavel Čech, Charles University in Prague
Francesca Nebiolo, EPHE Paris - UMR 719
Ruben Davtyan, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität
München
Mirko Novák, Universität Bern
Sarah Dermech, Universität Bern
Irene Deubelbeiss, Université de Genève
Pınar Durgun, Brown University
Walter Fasnacht, Universität Zürich
Mouheyddine Ossman, Universität Bern
Marta Pallavidini, University of Pavia
Simon Plachtzik, Universität Bern
Nicolai Rawyler, Universität Bern
Grzegorz First, Jagiellonian University in Krakow
Marina Redina-Thomas, Institute of Oriental
Manuscripts, Russian Academy of Sciences
James Fraser, British Museum
Vincent Serneels, Université de Fribourg
Philipp Frei, Universität Bern
Orit Shamir, Israel Antiquities Authorities
Andreas Fuchs, Universität Tübingen
Alexander Sollee, Universität Bern
Max Gander, Universität Zürich
Boaz Stavi, Oranim Academic College
Nicole Gäumann, Universität Bern
Claudia Suter, Universität Bern
Willem Hendriks, Niederlande
Johanna Tudeau, Universität Bern
Maylawi Herbas, Universität Bern
Alessia Venanzi, UMR 8167-Laboratoire Orient et
Méditerranée (Paris)-Mondes sémitiques
Laura Higson, Universität Bern
Sanae Ito, University of Helsinki
Ofir Jacobson, Tel-Aviv
Katarzyna Kapiec, University of Warsaw / Polish
Academy of Science
Sebastian Von Peschke, Universität Bern
Florian Wespi, University of Heidelberg
Martin Worthington, University of Cambridge
Ekin Kilic, Freie Universität Berlin
Carina Kühne, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität
Heidelberg
Florian Lippke, Université de Fribourg
3 FACTSHEETS
(in alphabetical order)
Mohammed Alkhalid (Bern): Following the Collapse; Regeneration or Transformation of the Urban
Societies?
The period under analysis is the late third millennium and the Beginning of the second millennium BC,
(ca. 2200-1900. BC) traditionally named “the late third millennium Collapse” of the Early Bronze age
civilization. This paper took in consideration the many previous studies on that period in particular the
studies on the Middle Euphrates area and inner Syria, and more generally the studies on the collapse and
the regeneration of the ancient civilization.
The paper will focus particularly on the case of Ebla and inner Syria, where the last archaeological
discoveries from the site dated to that period, provided new information on how the material culture and
social complexity transformed during the three decades, when the Amorites start to arrive to the settled
cities.
Vitali Bartash (Munich): Children in Sumerian Palaces and Temples as a Socioeconomic Phenomenon
(4-3 mill. BC)
TERMINOLOGY FOR CHILDREN IN SUMERIAN ADMINISTRATIVE RECORDS
Region: Southern Mesopotamia = Sumer.
Period: Ca. 3200-2000 BC, i.e. Early Bronze Age.
Sources: Administrative cuneiform texts from temple and palace archives.
Subject: Children of low-rank social status in temple and palace households.
Aims: 1) Systematize the terminology for children and offer an overview of its development.
2) Identify what biological social characteristics of children are hiding behind these terms.
3) Recognize the characteristic features in the terminology for children.
Methods: Philological, historical, sociological (sex-age groups/classes).
Key facts: 1) Children as dependents in central households appear in cuneiform records as early as the
Uruk IV Period (ca. 3350-3250 BC).
2) The documents allow to reconstruct several sets of terms to describe human resources in
temple and palace households. A substantial part of this terms describe two main biological
characteristics of children: their sex and age group.
3) Originally, during the earliest periods, the terminology for humans and children in
particular bore a strong resemblance with the terms for animals, which implies that the
former is an offshoot of the latter.
Main point: Other age groups, adults and elderly, received specific terms that were reserved exclusively
to designate these age groups. The striking fact conclusion about the child terminology is
that it obstinately remained dependent on the terminology for animal youth.
The comparison of the bureaucratic terms for children with the lexical evidence (“”ancient
dictionaries”) demonstrates that the rich selection of terms within the field
“children/childhood” that existed in the Sumerian society did not find reception in the
administrative practice.
4 Julien Beck, Athos Agapiou, Patrizia Birchler Emery, Dragos Constantin, Vasiliki Lysandrou,
Bertrand Merminod, Kyriakos Themistocleous1: Linking a rural sanctuary with ancient metallurgy at
Kataliondas Kourvellos (Cyprus)
Kataliondas Kourvellos is located at the base of an unusual rock knob, in the lower Troodos foothills,
about 20 kilometers south of Nicosia. Recent excavations by the University of Geneva revealed that the
site was occupied both in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic period, at the end of the 8th millennium BCE, and in
the Cypro-Classical period, in the 4th century BCE.
During the Cypro-Classical period, the site seems to have functioned as a rural sanctuary, but the purpose
of its location there is not clear: among other explanations, one could be its link with the mining,
smelting, and/or trade of metal resources (the lower Troodos foothills have been exploited since the
Bronze Age for their copper and other mineralogical resources).
Julien Beck, Patrizia Birchler Emery, Despina Koutsoumba and Ioanna Kraounaki2: The Bay of
Kiladha Project (Argolid, Greece): Bridging East and West
The project, a joint research program between the University of Geneva, under the aegis of the Swiss
School of Archaeology in Greece, and the Greek Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities, aims at finding
traces of prehistoric human activity in a small bay of the southern Argolid, near the Franchthi Cave, a
major prehistoric site used from 40,000 years ago to 5,000 years ago. For most of these 35,000 years,
because of global sea-level change in prehistory, the Bay of Kiladha was in fact a small coastal plain,
where the sedentary farmers of the Neolithic period had probably their village.
Research currently focuses on two parts of the bay: the Franchthi sector, close to the Cave (submerged
Neolithic village) and the Lambayanna sector, just a few hundred meters to the north of Franchthi Cave
(HA II fortified settlement).
Marion Benz (Freiburg i. Br.), Corinna Rössner, Katleen Deckers, Simone Riehl, Kurt W. Alt and
Vecihi Özkaya: Evidence for early sedentism at Körtik Tepe, southeastern Turkey, during the Younger
Dryas
Location: Körtik Tepe, Province Diyarbakır, Southeastern Turkey, at the confluence of the River Tigris
and the Batman Creek.
Period: Younger Dryas to Early Holocene (10400-9200 BCE)
Focus: Archaeological evidence for permanent occupation of the site; conditions favouring early
sedentism at the intersection of two ecological regimes: the riverine environments and the steppe/treesteppe mountain ranges of the hinterland; ecological and socio-economic impact of sedentism and of
climatic changes from the Younger Dryas to the Early Holocene; interpretation of burial customs
comparing evidence of daily practices and emerging differentiation in burial rituals.
Methods: Archaeobotany, stable isotope analyses, modelling of radiocarbon sequences; holistic approach.
Jeannette Boertien (Groningen): Loom weights as a research tool
Loom weights are often the only preserved remnant of a loom used in antiquity. Because of their ubiquity,
loom weights are the main key to the study of textile production at Iron Age Levantine sites.
1 Beck, Emery: Département des sciences de l’Antiquité, University of Geneva, Switzerland; Agapiou, Lysandrou, Themistocleous: Department of Civil Engineering and Geomatics, Cyprus University of Technology; Constantin, Merminod: (3) Geodetic Engineering Laboratory, EPFL, Switzerland 2 Beck, Emery: Département des sciences de l’Antiquité, University of Geneva, Switzerland; Koutsoumba, Kraounaki: Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities, Greece. 5 During excavations loom weights are easy recognizable if they are made of metal, stone or ceramics, or
when accidentally fired in burnt layers.
But it is difficult to recognize and securely excavate unfired raw clay loom weights. The two main
problems are: 1) unfired loom weights disintegrate when they get wet; 2) when excavating a mudbrick
site, the clay of the loom weights resembles the matrix they were found in.
Raw clay loom weights, when properly excavated and preserved, can be classified and studied in a
meaningful way, enabling us to reconstruct textile production.
The practical part: How do you register loom weights? -> Sharing and discussing a registration form for
loom weights.
Pavel Čech (Prague): Easy-going: the treatment of written records in the ancient Syro-Palestine
Persons involved: Clayton Christensen, Kim B. Clark Professor of Business Administration at the
Harvard Business School, Irving Finkel, Assistant Keeper, Department of the Middle East, British
Museum, Orly Goldwasser, chair of Egyptology at the Hebrew University (her research interests range
from the origins of the alphabet to the relationship between ancient Egyptian "determinatives" and
modern theories regarding world classification), Anson F. Rainey, former Professor of Ancient Near
Eastern Cultures and Semitic Linguistics at Tel Aviv University, Goldwasser-Rainey debate:
biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-artifacts/inscriptions/who-really-invented-thealphabet%E2%80%94illiterate-miners-or-educated-sophisticates/
Definitions
Disruptive innovation: process by which a product or service takes root initially in simple applications at
the bottom of a market and then relentlessly moves up market, eventually displacing established
competitors
Center and Periphery: The centre–periphery model is a spatial metaphor which describes and attempts to
explain the structural relationship between the advanced or metropolitan ‘centre’ and a less developed
‘periphery’
Hanan Charaf (Paris): The Iron Age I in the Northern Levant: New perspectives from Lebanon
-Paucity of archaeological sites dating to the end of the Late Bronze Age/beginning of the Iron Age in
Lebanon (first quarter of the 12 century BC). Sites that have yielded Iron Age I stratigraphy are: Beirut,
Sidon, Sarepta, Tyre, Tell el-Ghassil, and Kamed el-Loz.
-No evidence for widespread destructions at the end of the Late Bronze Age at Tell Arqa, Sarepta, Tyre,
and Kamed el-Loz. But smooth transition from the Late Bronze Age to the Iron Age.
-No compelling evidence for foreign settlement on these sites.
- Architecture from the transitional period LB/IA is of domestic nature, usually flimsy and is
characterized by a widespread use of pits and silos. No evidence for foreign elements (such as hearths or
spoolweights).
-Local pottery retains old characteristics; yet integrated into a few new shapes and fabrics. Mycenaean
ceramics disappear but appearance of Aegeanizing ceramics.
-Foreign-inspired pottery (Handmade Burnished Ware) made locally at Tell Arqa.
th
Ruben Davtyan (Munich): Mesopotamian cylinder seal from Lori Berd (Armenia): An object in an
unusual location?
Archaeological Site: Lori Berd (Northern Armenia); cemetery, dating from Middle Bronze Age till
Achaemenid period.
Tomb No. 106: stone chamber. Ceramic and part of the finds date to Achaemenid period. Also a pinkish
chalcedony cylinder seal with gold caps on gold pin. Iconography: standing figure, seizing two
upstanding caprids surrounded by symbolic fillings.
6 Dating: a Neo-Babylonian cylinder seal of late 8th till 7th century BC.
Similar example: usage of Neo-Assyrian/Babylonian cylinder seal by Irtashduna (wife of Darius I) around
500 BC.
Interpretation: suitable for reciprocity of gifts in prestige-goods system of Achaemenid period. Perhaps a
gift from satrap to local chief.
Sarah Dermech (Strasbourg): The Tell ‘Uqair temple (4th mill.BC) : colours and iconography
Date: ca. 3400-3100 BC, late Uruk period, first urbanization of south Mesopotamia.
Location: Tell ‘Uqair, Babylonia, Iraq.
Abstract: This contribution presents the “painted temple” of Tell ‘Uqair, which has provided evidences
for bright paintings on the interior. Based on the archaeological report, as well as on in-depth
comparisons with other urukean building, we focus on a colorful reconstruction of one of the characters,
offering new interpretation of its symbolic meaning.
Pınar Durgun (Providence RI): The never-ending Quest for the Elites: New Approaches to the Study of
Cemeteries and Social Organization
The Early Bronze Age in Anatolia (3100/3000-2000) is considered a period of great transition when
urban societies developed and when extramural cemeteries started to emerge. Sites like Troy and Külloba
have yielded monumental walls, or architecturally distinct quarters. However none of these sites have
yielded extramural cemeteries. Extramural cemeteries of the EBA are only associated with small-scale
sites such as Karataş and Demircihöyük which have been referred to as “chiefdoms”. Labeling these nonurban sites as chiefdoms inevitably led to the quest of finding the chief in these cemeteries. As a result,
certain burial types, and burials with grave goods of higher quantity and better quality have been used as
evidence for wealth and status, hence the presence of ruling elites. In this paper I suggest different ways
of making use of the archaeological data from cemeteries to understand the social organization without
falling into the same social evolutionary pitfalls.
Walter Fasnacht (Zürich): Agia Varvara – Almyras, Cyprus. The only complete chain of ancient copper
production on the Copper Island
Place: Agia Varvara-ALMYRAS, Lefkosia District, Cyprus
Time Period: Cypto-Archaic II, Cypro-Classical and Cypro-Hellenistic II, 600 - 150 BC, dated by pottery
and dozens of radiocarbon dates
Argument: The site of Agia Varvara - ALMYRAS was discovered in 1982 and excavated until 2014 by
the present author. The site was only used for primary copper production, i.e. the smelting of sulphidic
copper ores (chalcopyrite), and only in the advanced Iron Age. Almyras owes its existence to the fact that
in the first Millennium BC, orebodies hitherto inaccessible could be exploited, because of steel tools. This
boosted a new copper-eldorado, as the copper produced from these Cypriot ores was the purest on the
market, as stated in numerous written records throughout the Greek, Roman and Medieval Period.
Almyras, however, still is the only site on Cyprus, where the entire chaîne opératoire of copper
production can be documented and analysed, from all ancient copper producing periods.
Grzegorz First (Kraków): Polymorphic iconography – common influences or individual features in the
Near Eastern perspective
Definition: polymorphic iconography in Egyptian religious iconography - special, mixed, theriomorphic,
combining image / icon / form, always had additional animal heads, double pair of wings, phallus, and
also multiplied magical symbols.
Archaeological evidence: images appear on small size flat amulets, papyri fragments, also serving as
amulets, bronze statuettes and magical, healing statues.
7 Textual evidence: lack of distinct, own name
Place: Egypt, without special area of provenance
Date: Late Period (7th – 4th centuries BC), Ptolemaic and Roman Periods (from 4th century BC)
Important terms:
Pantheistic as an idea of all-embracing god (Pantheos)
ba as an emanation / form / manifestation of a god, significantly associated with the image of the god.
The animals were ba of gods.
bau - strength, power, good and bad at the same time, affecting the whole world, and humans in
particular. With the help of magic, bau can be manipulated, to ensure people their health and success.
Key problem: distribution of polymorphic iconography in other cultures, parallels, influences on the
visual level (codification of symbols) and also on ideological level (magical activity hidden / symbolised
in a representation)
Question of the talk: to define potential influences in the Near Eastern perspective - is the polymorphic
idea individual for one culture or common for ancient religious thinking about deity?
James Fraser (London), Ben Anderson: The Visible Dead: Dolmens and the Landscape in EBA Jordan Overview: Dolmens are usually described as part of a regional megalithic phenomenon that spanned the
5th-2nd millennia BC. However, this presentation assumes that most ‘dolmens’ are mis-identified. When
strictly defined, dolmens better reflect a local funerary tradition of the 4th millennium BC.
Definition: The term dolmen includes a variety of features whose only similarity is their use of large stone
slabs. This presentation defines a dolmen as a rectangular chamber formed by two upright orthostats
along each long side, and a single roof slab over the top.
Distribution: Dolmens, as defined above, concentrate within a limited area of the east rift escarpment of
the Jordan Valley, consistent with a local funerary tradition.
Chronology: Recent dolmen excavations have yielded assemblages that date exclusively to the EB I
(c.3700-3000 BC). This talk examines the close spatial relationship between dolmens and EB I settlement
sites in a discrete geographical zone.
Philipp Frei (Bern): Urartu, Kingdom of the Mountains. A Forgotten Site of Memory?
Urartu as kingdom of the Iron Age in the Armenian Highlands shall be analysed as a site of memory. This
term goes back to the famous theory of Pierre Nora. In combination with the theory of Jan Assmann,
called the cultural memory, the question shall be tracked how this process of memorization took its
course. The comparison with another monument, the snake column of the Greek sanctuary in Delphi, will
help to understand where the parallels with a typical place of memory lie and why Urartu is special in its
kind.
Ofir Jacobson (Tel-Aviv): The motive of Hieros Gamos in Jesus’s Baptism in the Jordan River and in
Jewish Kabballah
Symbolism is a universal language
Disappearance of old traditions and beliefs (symbols) might be an illusion as they merely hide beneath the
surface and tend to rebreach, sometimes centuries later.
The meaning of Hieros Gamos
The dove as one of the symbols of the great goddess
The gradual 'immigration' of Inanna-Ishtar from Mesopotamia through Syria-Canaan, Cyprus all the way
to the Aegean world.
The dove's roll in crowning ceremonies:
- Courtyard 106 in the palace of Mari (mid-18th century BCE)
- Zohar 3, 164, b
8 - Visual representations from Tadmor (8 century CE)
- Registrum Gregorii (983/4)
- Protoevangelium of James (around 145 CE)
- Jesus’ Baptism in the Jordan River
Some connections and similarities between the figures of Inanna-Ishtar, Asherah, Shekhinah, Aphrodite,
goddess-dove, Holy Spirit, Malchut, and many more.
Sanae Ito (Helsinki): Scribes and Royal Archives in the Assyrian Empire: the Mechanisms of the
Linguistic Management and the Knowledge Transfer
The Assyrian Empire (10-7th century BC) was vastly expanded multi-cultural multi-lingual country. To
create, administer, and hold together the empire, it was vital to organize the written communication and
documentation. The ones who carried out such a task were scribes. They were high-ranking state officials
engaged in scribal duties in the royal palaces. They were at the same time the bearers of the cuneiform
culture and scholarships. Scholars also received scribal education. To my knowledge, roughly 1200
scribes and scholars are attested, but most of them remain uninvestigated. Thus, I will carry out
comprehensive research on the scribes and scribal cultures in the Assyrian Empire. My research will
develop existing prosopographical data so that I can reveal the roles of the scribes as officials and
scholars, their identity, and networks. The research will also examine scribal practices, knowledge
transfer, and the function and utilization of the archives and libraries.
Katarzyna Kapiec (Warsaw): Oils and linen in Ancient Egyptian mortuary temple rituals (Thutmosid
period)
Oils and linen constitute popular sacrificial items used in different kinds of mortuary temple rituals in
Ancient Egypt. According to myths and iconographical contexts where they are mentioned or represented,
their mulit-layered meaning is connected particularly with life, light and regeneration aspects – the
principals of the Egyptian kingship concept. As for oils and ointments, their luminosity properties are
emphasized, which symbolize freshness, brightness, arising sun – generally rebirth. Transformative and
regeneration power of linen is expressed through its colour – red and green are often associated with
freshness and life. The aim of the talk is to discuss those elements in broader concept of ritual in order to
examine its role and reflection in the functioning of the mortuary temple.
Research on the oils and linen is a part of a wider project of publication of the Southern Room of Amun
in the temple of Hatshepsut at Deir el-Bahari, Egypt.
Carina Kühne (Heidelberg): Egyptian Execration Figurines
Time span: 6th dynasty - Ptolemaic period (ca. 2200 – ca. 200 B.C.)
Execration ritual:
Sources:
-­‐ figurines (all times)
-­‐ texts (mostly later periods)
-­‐ depictions in temples (Ptolemaic)
Course of the ritual (Louvre 3129; B44-48; Ptolemaic):
“Binding (the figurine ... spitting on it …), trampling on it (…), stabbing it (…), cutting it (…),
putting it into the fire (…), spitting on it in the fire (…).”
Execration figurines:
Number of known figurines:
-­‐ more than 1000 figurines
-­‐ from more than 40 deposits
Characteristics:
9 -­‐ figurines of bound prisoners (ca. 5 - 15 cm)
-­‐ sometimes with inscription
-­‐ sometimes with loop
Material:
-­‐ wax, wood
-­‐ limestone, unbaked clay, baked clay, alabaster…
Brooklyn 73.32
BM EA 75190
Source: online catalogue
Source: online catalogue
www.brooklynmuseum.org
www.britishmuseum.org
RMO F 1941.8/3
Source: online catalogue
www.rmo.nl
Florian Lippke (Fribourg): In search of Late Phoenician Culture – test cases between text and image
Aḥirôm of Byblos ( ~ 1 000 BCE)
Yeḥimilk of Byblos (~ 950 BCE)
Abibaʿal of Byblos (~ 930 BCE)
Elibaʿal of Byblos (~ 920 BCE)
Yeḥawmilk of Byblos (~ 450 BCE)
Tabnit of Sidon (5th cent. BCE)
Eshmunazôr of Sidon (5th cent. BCE)
Phoenicians (Byblians, Sidonians, Samarians)
Key places/region: Phoenicia (Byblos, Sidon, Tyros), Samaria, Wadi ed-Daliye (near Jericho)
Time periods: Iron Age in the Southern Levant (starting 1200 BCE), IA 1/2/3, Persian to Hellenistic
periods
Main argument: In the presented examples texts and images take different paths: Official language and
script in epigraphic attestations of Phoenicia remain in a stable condition. Although Old Byblian
(Ahirom) in the 10th cent. BCE and the Late(r) Byblian in the Persian era (Yeḥawmilk, Tabnit,
Eshmunazôr) differ in a certain number of features the factors of continuation are clearly visible. Many
developments in script are rooted in the increasing cursive forms. This is contrasted by the iconographic
account: Earlier Northern (Anatolic) stylistics (Aḥirôm) are replaced by Egyptian art works (Abibaʿal,
Elibaʿal) and later by iconographic renderings in Persian-Egyptian mixed attestations (Yeḥawmilk of
Byblos). Also the reception of the reused material differs to a certain extent (Tabnit, Eshmunazôr).
Having these aspects in mind it is not an easy task to identify Phoenician art in distance to the proper
main land (Samaria, Wadi ed-Daliye) and in later epochs. Speaking in systemic terms Phoenicia was one
10 of the mimicry-cultures of the Eastern Mediterranean and a complex scenario has to be expected for strata
with a deficiency considering material culture.
Alexandre Loktionov (Cambridge UK): Importing the law? Importing the law? Possible elements of the
Mesopotamian legal tradition in New Kingdom Egypt
Features of New Kingdom justice not attested earlier
• Oracle courts (especially Deir el-Medina)
• Increase in severe corporal punishment (e.g. mutilation of nose and ears; which becomes standard
in oaths)
• Detailed protasis-apodosis legal decrees (Nauri Decree of Seti I, Karnak Decree of Horemheb)
Why might this be connected to Mesopotamia/Semitic law?
• “Hyksos” period immediately prior to New Kingdom
• Amarna letters/greater exposure to Akkadian in Egypt during New Kingdom
• Legal associations: Akkadian and Egyptian copies of Ramesses II – Hattusili III treaty (where
corporal punishment is a prominent topic)
• Mesopotamian law (and broader scholarship) often associated with protasis-apodosis
• Mesopotamian law often associated with severe corporal punishment (e.g. Codex Hammurabi,
Middle Assyrian Laws etc.)
Why might this NOT be connected to Mesopotamia/Semitic law?
• Were earlier periods truly different, or is this down to chance preservation of sources?
nd
• Protasis-apodosis has precedents in the Middle Kingdom (e.g. Illahun Medical papyrus, 2 Semna
stela of Senusret III).
Michael Mäder, Nicolai Rawyler, Laura Higson, Mathias Zust und Simon Plachtzik (Bern):
Some new Linear Elamite inscriptions
The Linear Elamite writing system was used in the late 3rd millennium in ancient Iran.
The underlying language is supposed to be Elamite – an isolate language otherwise known from
cuneiform sources. 40 to 60% of the Elamite words and morphemes are decoded.
In early 2016, about ten new inscriptions and fragments were presented at the University of Hamedan,
Iran. They are now in the Mahboubian Gallery. Some of these new texts are the longest ones ever found,
depicting up to 200 signs.
In the past months, the Deciphering Crew at the Institut für Sprachwissenschaft, Universität Bern, has
made drawings of the so far unpublished inscriptions and compiled a sign catalogue.
Preliminary results show that fragments from Gonur and Altyn Depe formerly tagged as “Linear
Elamite” do not belong to the Linear Elamite text corpus.
The Deciphering Project is hoping to collaborate with scholars of different fields. The web page
http://sbalmer.github.io/elamicon/ is an open source project.
Emilia Masson (Paris, CNRS): Recent Discovery of Sacred Marriage in Vallée des Merveilles
(Protohistoric Site of Mont Bego)
Key-Words: Sacred Marriage, Hieros Gamos, Mesopotamia, Mont Bego, Vallée de Fontanalba, Vallée
des Merveilles, Open Sky Sanctuary, Religious Universals, mythical, ritual Practices, Fertility, Fecondity,
Abundance, Nuptial Ceremony, Realistic Iconography, Sexual Intercourse, Agro-pastoral Society,
Terrestrial domain, Our Word, Celestial Caracter, Beyond, Winter Solstice, Summer Solstice, Renewal,
Ingravings, Tanum, Oldest european Representation of the Sacred Marriage
11 Francesca Nebiolo (Paris): “A foe of God whoever…“: an oath-curse in the Old Babylonian Sippar
In Mesopotamia the role of the oath is central mostly in the legal and diplomatic procedures, but its
influence spreads in every aspects of society. Beside a common structure, which is found throughout
Mesopotamia, especially from the beginning of the II mill. BC on, start to appear some new oath
structures The city of Sippar, in the Old Babylonian period, presents a wide range of traditions for the
formulation of oath. In addition to the standard formulas, in Sippar, more than in other regions, local
traditions as well as external traditions coexist. The lemnum-curse formula is an example of a Sippar
specific tradition, where the curse-form takes the syntactical place of oath and influences the nišumconstruction.
Mouheyddine Ossman: Thoughts on the possible Iranian origins of the Jemdet Nasr painting style
Dates: ca. 3150-2900 B.C.E.
Places: Western Iran and Central Mesopotamia
Main argument: It is admitted that Iran had an influence on the southern Mesopotamian region during the
Jemdet Nasr period, but the mechanisms of this influence are not clear. This talk would like to suggest
some Iranian influence arrived in Central Mesopotamia during the collapse of the so-called "Uruk
system", which coincides with the reappearance of painting on ware.
Marta Pallavidini (Pavia/Berlin): Political Metaphors in Hittite Diplomatic and Historiographic Texts
Research topic: In the Hittite historiographic and diplomatic texts some concepts are formulated
metaphorically. In particular we can find metaphors based on expressions of motion; involving body
parts; recalling the comparison between a person and an animal; describing the concepts of life and death;
concerning the lexicon of the family and relatives.
Theoretical approach: These metaphors are to be considered as expressions of a system of thinking, i.e.
as conceptual metaphors (Lakoff – Johnson 1980).
Research questions: Which metaphors are attested? How are they structured? How do they dependent on
context, language, and/or genre? Which metaphors are of Hittite origin? Which functions do they have?
Research goals: identification, classification and description of the metaphors; analysis of their functions;
description of the changes in their use in relation to the genre and through time.
Method: the Metaphor Identification Procedure (MIP) of the Praggelejaz Group.
Marina Redina-Thomas (St Petersburg): Provincial Administration in Babylonia: A Case of Kassite
Nippur
Ruling of the Kassite dynasty in Babylonia: ca. 1531-1155 BC, short chronology
About 90% of all written sources from this period (almost 12000 cuneiform tablets) come from a single
location – the city of Nippur, the religious center of the country
Most of these texts cover timespan for about 150 years – roughly from the beginning of the reign of
Burna-Buriaš II (ca. 1359 B.C.) till the end of the reign of Kaštiliashu IV (1225 B.C.).
Documents mention administrators and officials of different levels responsible for various transactions
(record keeping of economic accounts, maintaining agricultural and irrigational activities, distributing the
harvest and goods, supervising the workforce). Territorially the texts mostly cover activities in the
“Nippur region” – the Nippur province and the adjacent province Pān-ṣēri.
12 Important source listing Babylonian high-ranking officials is the texts of narû-stelae (“kudurru”)
The chief governor of Nippur (šandabakku in Akkadian, GÚ.EN.NA / GÁ.DUB.BA(.A) in Sumerian)
was the head of the local administration and reported directly to the king.
References
Brinkman J.A. A Political History of Post-Kassite Babylonia. 1158-722 B.C. Analecta Orientalia 43. Roma: Pontificum
Institutum Biblicum, 1968; Brinkman J.A. Materials and Studies for Kassite History. Vol. I. A Catalogue of Sources Pertaining
to Specific Monarchs of the Kassite Dynasty. Chicago: The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 1976; Cole S.W.
The Early Neo-Babylonian Governor’s Archive from Nippur. Nippur IV. The University of Chicago Oriental Institute
Publications 114. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1996; Cole S.W. Nippur in Late Assyrian Times. C. 755-612 B.C.
State Archives of Assyria Studies. Vol. IV. Helsinki: The University of Helsinki, 1996; Nashef Kh. Répertoire Géographique
des Textes Cunéiformes. Band 5. Die Orts- und Gewässernamen der mittelbabylonischen und mittelassyrischen Zeit.
Wiesbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert, 1982; Nashef Kh. The Nippur Countryside in the Kassite Period. / deJong Ellis M. (ed.)
Nippur at the Centennial. Papers Read at the 35e Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, Philadelphia, 1988. Occasional
Publications of the Samuel Noah Kramer Fund, 14. Philadelphia: The University of Pennsylvania Museum, 1992. P. 151-159;
Sassmanshausen L. Beiträge zur Verwaltung und Gesellschaft Babyloniens in der Kassitenzeit. Baghdader Forschungen. Bd
21. Mainz am Rhein: Verlag Philipp von Zabern, 2001.
Orit Shamir (Jerusalem): Garments and Shrouds of Egyptian and Nubian Pilgrims from Qasr elYahud, Ninth Century CE
• Qasr el-Yahud is situated on the Jordan Rivernearby Jericho, features the Monastery of Saint John the
Baptist.
• Gregory of Tour, six century CE, visited the site and wrote that the waters of the Jordan river a special
power to heal lepers who bathed in them, especially at the spot where Jesus was baptized.
• The pilgrim Felix Fabri, end of the fifteenth century, described the prayers conducted by pilgrims on
the banks of the river, dipped in the waters dressed in special clothing brought particularly for this
purpose.
• Thirty-four skeletons were retrieved, probably representing a hospital population of tuberculosis,
leprosy and facial disfigurement cases.
• The individuals were Egyptian and Nubian in origin.
• Placing seeds from the tree Egyptian Balsam in the hands of the deceased conform to Egyptian
traditions.
• 167 linen and 84 cotton textiles were found dated to 787-877 AD by carbon dating.
• The use of the textiles: tunics, head coverings, bandages and shrouds.
Boaz Stavi (Tel Aviv): The Treatment of Troublesome Regions
It is quite clear that after the Old Hittite Kingdom had been established, the Hittites focused their attention
on gaining control of Syria. At the same time, they also tried to expand to western Anatolia, but soon
learned that too great an involvement in the west left them vulnerable to attacks. From that time on, the
kings of Hatti sought to keep their military involvement in western Anatolia to a minimum, while
thwarting the emergence of any hostile coalitions there.
I find this subject fascinating—namely, how an empire that was founded on an ideology of expansion,
came to realize its natural boundaries and adjusted its ideology and practical strategy to extricate itself
from a problematic region that could not be annexed or conquered. The specific case has been discussed
only in part by Bryce (1986), so I decided to research it again in my dissertation.
Alessia Venanzi (Paris): “All Aram” and “Upper and Lower Aram”: what the Sefire Inscription suggests
us about the Aramaean ethnicity (and what the “other” sources suggest)
The Aramaeans are always presented as an “undifferentiated group present from the Lower Khabur to the
Mount Lebanon” (Sader 1992), without any ethnic affiliation. The construction of their identity may be
13 given by two opposite viewpoints: their own perspective (internal view) and that perceived by other
populations (external view). We will show this through the notion of “all Aram” in the Sefire inscription,
and by looking to some passages of Assyrian records and of the Bible. The first document is the longest
aramaic inscription (about 200 lines) found 25 km from Aleppo in 1930 and dated to the VIIIth century. It
is a treaty stipulated between the unknown king of KTK, Bargaʼ yah and the king of Arpad Matiʻel. The
other inscriptions concern, in particular, the records of Shalmaneser III and Tiglath-pileser III, who
occupied the Aramaean territories in the Ixth-VIIIth centuries, and some letters from Nippur.
Sebastian von Peschke (Bern): Adaptability in the early development of new oriental Religions
The Topic concerning dogmatism and conservatism within a religion and the often involved
incompatibility with modern way of live has been much debated in recent years. This is due to the recent
developments in Syria and in other countries in the Middle East. To resume the disscusion about religion
and its development, a new museum tour has been launched at the Bible and Orient Museum in Fribourg.
This tour is about the roots, common elements and the date of origin of the three Abrahamic religions.
Dogmatism and conservatism within a religion generate unchangeable and rigid structures, which often
results in a strong resistance for change. In many cases these changes are also violently prevented.
Interestingly, the necessity to change and adapt in social, cultural and political life was essential,
especially in the early development of religions during their establishment and identification process.
Religion demands faith in something supernatural and transcendent on the one hand and a certain
dedication and involvement with the daily economic and social life on the other hand.
In other words, religion does not only care about your spiritual life but also about your everyday life. The
conversion of a belief system into another, especially from a Polytheistic to a Monotheistic, had to be
done with moderation and tolerance, at least initially. Evidence of this tolerance are to be found in the
written sources and archaeological remains. An important insight into this early phase of the Abrahamic
religions is given especially in iconography and architecture. They are emblematic for the need for a
constant exchange between religion and the increasingly rapid social change
Fabian Wespi (Heidelberg): Puzzling Papyrus Puzzles
Papyrus Florence PSI inv. D 102:
• Demotic papyrus containing different administrative regulations of the Egyptian temples
(incl. a copy of Cambyses’ decree on the revenues of the Egyptian temples (ca. 526 B.C.) already
known from the Demotic Pap. BNU 215 vso d (the verso of the so-called ‘Demotic Chronicle’
written around 300 B.C.))
the papyrus:
• found in Tebtunis (Egypt) in 1931 by the Italian Archaeological Mission
• written in the second half of the second century A.D. (palaeography, orthography)
the text:
th
th
• compiled in the 6 or 5 century B.C. (content, language)
• presumably a copy of the ‘law of the temples’ (hp n n
ỉrp.w), which was compiled during the
reign of Dareios I in the years after 519 B.C. as part of the ‘law of Egypt’ (hp n Km.t) (according
to the description in Pap. BNU 215 vso c)
Martin Worthington (Cambridge): Questions and Reconstruction of Akkadian Etiquette
My paper will examine the use of questions in Akkadian, from the point of view of “pragmatics” and
etiquette. It will encompass Akkadian literature (from early 2nd millennium to late 2nd), Old Babylonian
(early 2nd millennium) letters, and state correspondence from the reign of Sargon II (721-705 BC). It will
14 argue for a constraint on questions being asked by inferiors, discuss the interrelations between questions
and reproaches, and point to suggestive asymmetries in the use of the verb ša’ālu “to ask”.
BOOK PRESENTATIONS
Pavel Čech: "Starověké pí semnictví Levanty" (Altes Schrifttum der Levante; Authors: Jana Mynářová,
Jan Dušek, Dalibor Antalík) www.oikoymenh.cz
Emilia Masson: “Valle des Merveilles, un nouveau regard” (in collaboration with Bruno Ancel and Paul
Verdier)
Marta Pallavidini: “Diplomazia e propaganda in epoca imperiale ittita. Forma e Prassi” (Diplomacy and
Propaganda in the Hittite Empire. Form and Practice), DBH 48, 2016
Boaz Stavi: "The Reign of Tudhaliya II and Suppiluliuma I"
15 WHERE TO GO
(matching numbers and letters on map)
For a drink...
1. Effinger
(Effingerstrasse 10)
http://www.effinger.ch
2. Parterre
(Hallerstrasse 1)
https://www.facebook.com/pages/
Café-BarParterre/158071960883541
3. Adriano's
(Theaterplatz 2)
https://adrianos.ch
4. Au Trappiste
(Rathausgasse 68)
http://www.autrappiste.ch
5. Volver
(Rathausplatz 8)
http://www.barvolver.ch
6. Les Amis
(Rathausgasse 63)
http://www.lesamis.ch
7. Einstein Café
(Kramgasse 49)
http://einstein-kaffee.ch
8. Einstein au jardin
(Münsterplattform 5)
http://www.einstein-jardin.ch
9. Turnhalle
(Speichergasse 4)
http://www.turnhalle.ch
10. Kreissaal
(Brunngasshalde 63)
http://kreissaal.be/html/de/bar/inde
x.html
co-working café close to BAF venue; wifi code=
kaffeebar
round the corner Parisian oasis where artsy people
have a drink after work
best coffee in town; good selection of beverages
for beer connoisseurs
good nibbles (tapas) and chocolate cake
if you are more interested in dancing than drinking,
vintage DJ on Friday night
for a coffee before or after or instead of visiting
Einstein's house
outdoor branch of the previous; located next to the
cathedral on a leafy square with good views;
possibility of grilling your own Wurst
lively alternative place, good option to watch the
football matches
for a cocktail
For a meal...
11. Pittaria
(Speichergasse 4; Falkenplatz 1)
http://www.pittaria.ch
12. Beaulieu
(Erlachstrasse 3)
http://www.restaurantbeaulieu.ch
13. Grosse Schanze
(Parkterrasse 10)
http://www.grosseschanze.ch
popular kebab/restaurant; servings on plate better
value than sandwich option; tasty
popular Gasthaus; pleasant Biergarten
above the train station; good value self service with
view on the Alps
16 14. Toi et moi
(Bahnhofplatz 2)
http://www.toietmoi.ch
15. Pangäa (Schwanengasse 8)
http://www.restaurantpangaea.ch
16. Musigbistrot
(Mühlemattstrasse 48)
http://www.musigbistrot.ch
17. Arirang
(Hirschengraben 11)
http://www.restaurant-arirang.ch
18. Tibits
(Gurtengasse 3)
https://www.tibits.ch/en/restaurant
s.html - bern-gurtengasse
19. Lötschberg
(Zeughausgasse 16)
http://www.loetschberg-aoc.ch
20. Da Bucolo
(Amthausgasse 10)
https://dabucolo.wordpress.com
21. Café Pyrénéee
(Kornhausplatz 17)
http://www.pyri.ch
22. Altes Tramdepot
(Grossermuristalden 6)
https://www.altestramdepot.ch/de/
home
23. Park Kaffee Kleine Schanze
(Bundesgasse 7)
http://www.kleineschanze.ch
24. La Chouette (Bollwerk 39)
http://www.la-chouette-bern.ch
25. Schwellenmätteli
(Dalmaziquai 11)
http://www.schwellenmaetteli.ch
26. Entrecôte Café Fédéral
(Bärenplatz 31)
http://www.entrecote.ch
27. Kornhauskeller
(Kornhausplatz 18)
http://www.bindella.ch/de/kornhau
skeller.html
comfortable option to wait for the train
popular amongst students; good variety of stuff
outdoor terrace; good food
good value Korean food
vegetarian self service; tasty and good value
if you fancy a fondue or raclette in the summer...
tasty pizzas; gluten free option
good value bistro; popular amongst locals
animated brewery above the bear pit, good view on
river and town
outdoor eating with convenient location
tasty crêpes and bar; open until 5am on Friday, 6am
on Saturday
overlooking the river dam; if you are lucky you
might spot a beaver
where politicians have lunch
for the curious
For an ice cream...
28. Gelateria di Berna
http://www.gelateriadiberna.ch
not bad...
17 Out of hours...
A. Visit the bears
http://www.myswitzerland.com/en-ch/bern-bear-park-the-erstwhile-bear-pit.html
B. Have a swim in the Marzilibad (followed by an ice cream)
http://www.bern.com/en/attivita/adventure-fun/river-swim/marzili
C. Take a guided tour of the Bundeshaus (very interesting and free)
https://www.parlament.ch/en/services/visiting-the-parliament-building/guided-tours-of-the-parliamentbuilding
D. Climb up the cathedral tower (the highest in Switzerland) and get fit for the hike
http://www.bern.com/en/city-of-bern/attractions/cathedral-of-bern
E. Walk past the house where Einstein lived when he came up with the theory of relativity
(Gerechtigkeitsgasse 32) and have a coffee downstairs
http://www.einstein-bern.ch/index.php?lang=en&show=haus
F. Watch the medieval astronomical clock "Zytglogge" strike the hour (it is while riding on a tram on his
way to work that Einstein looked back at the receding clock and wondered what would happen if he were
travelling at the speed of light)
http://www.bern.com/en/city-of-bern/attractions/clock-tower
G. Visit the "Historisches Museum" - amongst other things, it has a very interesting permanent exhibition
on Einstein ("Einstein Museum") and a small egyptological section
http://www.bhm.ch/en/
H. Visit the Kunstmuseum which has a small but fine art collection
http://www.kunstmuseumbern.ch
I. Enter Lederach Chocolatier and buy a piece of chocolate as if it were a piece of jewellery (critics'
choice: black chocolate with almonds)
https://www.laederach.com/ch-en/shops/shops/filiale/bern-spitalgasse.html
J. Walk along the Aare southwards
http://www.aare-bern.ch
K. Wander up the Gurten, Bern's "Heimberg", and enjoy the view
http://www.timeout.com/switzerland/things-to-do/gurten
18 12
2
24
H
9
11
13
19
I
14
17
1
15
18
23
26
10
27 21x 4
3 6
F E7
20
D
8
C
B
25
G
16
28
26
B
J
→
J
→
J
H
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A 22