Executive Editor of the Hittite Dictionary; Arthur and Joann Rasmussen Professor of Hittite and Anatolian Languages at the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures, the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, and the College
Office: (773) 834-4688
Theo van den Hout is probably best described as a philologist with strong linguistic interests. Linguistics was the initial focus of his research but it gradually shifted to more general questions of a cultural-historical nature. His dissertation (1989, published as a monograph in 1995) consisted of both a philological edition of a Late-Hittite treaty and a prosopography of the leading officials of the Hittite empire of the second half of the 13th century B.C. That period has since then been the center of his further historical-philological research. This resulted in his second book (1998) which identified and edited a large group of oracle texts and used it a source for Hittite history. His recent philological project concerns a new edition of the extensive Royal Hittite Death Ritual.
In his linguistic research he tries to combine the Hittite data with those of the other Anatolian languages like Luwian, Lycian, Lydian and Carian. The growing importance of the not related Hurrian has led him in recent years to get more involved with that language as well.
Education:
- B.A. Classical Philology 1976 (University of Amsterdam)
- M.A. Hittite and Anatolian languages, and Indo-European Linguistics 1981 (Universities of Leiden and Amsterdam)
- Study Hittite at the Ruhr-Universität Bochum (Germany) 1979-1980
- Ph.D. in Hittite 1989 (University of Amsterdam)
