Ami
Asyag

Ami Asyag is a PhD student in the Institute of Archaeology’s Department of Ancient Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He studies Assyriology under the supervision of Prof. Uri Gabbay, and his research focuses on the Sumerian Emesal prayers from the ancient Mesopotamian city of Uruk.

Ami examines continuity and change in the liturgy of Uruk in ancient Mesopotamia in the second and first millennium BCE.

Uruk played a central role in Mesopotamian liturgy due to the prayers to its city goddess, Inana, which spread throughout the region to many other cities. These prayers were written in the cuneiform script on clay tablets, preserving a tradition spanning roughly 2,000 years of transmission. Ami aims to explore how the local and common features of the prayers interact and affect each other. His research looks to shed light on all prayers from Uruk while also reaching more general conclusions on the evolution of local religious practices over time.

Ami grew up in a large family of eight siblings in a small village in northern Israel. He currently lives with his wife and daughter in Jerusalem. He obtained his BA in general history (summa cum laude) at the Open University of Israel and his MA in Assyriology (magna cum laude) at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He wrote his thesis on Sumerian Emesal prayers from the ancient city of Ĝirsu (modern-day Telloh, Iraq). Ami is a member of the ERC-funded research project Ancient Mesopotamian Priestly Scholasticism in the First Millennium BCE under the guidance of Prof. Uri Gabbay. In his free time, he enjoys reading, cooking, and spending time with his family.