Education

  • 2015 PhD, University of Michigan, Near Eastern Studies
  • 2010 MA, University of Michigan, Near Eastern Studies
  • 2007 BA, Mount Holyoke College, Asian Studies

Research

  • Sumerian and Akkadian Language
  • Sumerian and Akkadian literature, particularly literary epics and their narrative structure
  • Constructions of space and spatial theory
  • Religion and Ritual in Mesopotamia
  • Magic and Incantations
  • Monster Theory; Demons in the ancient Near East
  • Modern reception of the ancient Near East

Publications

Books

Articles

Books and Edited Volumes:

  • Identity and Empire in the Ancient Near East [Special Issue] Studia Orientalia Electronica 9/2 (2021).
  • The Divine/Demonic Seven and the Place of Demons in Mesopotamia. Ancient Magic and Divination 20. Leiden: Brill. 2023.
  • The Shape of Stories: Narrative Structures in Cuneiform Literature, eds. Sophus Helle and Gina Konstantopoulos. Cuneiform Monographs 54. Leiden: Brill. 2023.
  • As Above, So Below: Religion and Geography, eds. Gina Konstantopoulos and Shana Zaia. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2021.
  • Hic Sunt Dracones: Creating, Defining, and Abstracting Place in the Ancient World [Special Issue] Journal of Ancient Near Eastern History 4.1–4.2 (2017).

Articles and Book Chapters:

For article pdfs and current CV, see: https://hcommons.org/members/gvkonsta/

  • “In the Land of No Return: Nergal and Mesopotamian Religion in DC’s Hellblazer.” Pp. 201–20 in Theology and the DC Universe, eds. Roshan Abraham and Gabriel McKee. New York: Lexington Books/Fortress Academic. 2023.
  • “Charting Emotional Structure in Cuneiform Literature.” Pp. 144–84 The Shape of Stories: Narrative Structures in Cuneiform Literature, eds. Sophus Helle and Gina Konstantopoulos. Cuneiform Monographs 54. Leiden: Brill. 2023.
  • “Gorgeous to Gaze Upon: Forests as Liminal Spaces and Boundary Zones in Akkadian Literature.” RES: Anthropology and Aesthetics 77/78 (2022) 69–80.
  • “Women and the Interpretation of Dreams in Sumerian and Akkadian Literature.” Journal of Cuneiform Studies 74 (2022): 89–108.
  • “‘These are of the Mouth of Ea:’ the Divine Origin of Incantations and the Legitimation of the Exorcist’s Craft.” Pp. 141–62 in Uses and Misuses of Ancient Mediterranean Sources: Erudition, Authority, Manipulation, eds. Chiara Meccariello and Jennifer Singletary. SERAPHIM 12. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2022.
  • “The Many Lives of Enheduana: Identity, Authorship, and the ‘World’s First Poet.'” Pp. 55-74 in Presentation and Perception of Powerful Women in the Ancient World, eds. S. Fink and K. Droß-Krüpe. Münster: Zaphon, 2021.
  • “Gods in the Margins: Religion, Kingship, and the Fictionalized Frontier.” Pp. 3-27 in As Above, So Below: Religion and Geography, eds. Gina Konstantopoulos and Shana Zaia. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2021.
  • “Migrating Demons, Liminal Deities, and Assyria’s Western Campaigns.” Advances in Ancient, Biblical, and Near Eastern Research 1/1 (2021): 129-48.
  • “The Bitter Sea and the Waters of Death: the Sea as a Conceptual Border in Mesopotamia.” Journal of Ancient Civilizations 35/2 (2020): 171-98.
  • “Demons and Exorcism in Mesopotamia.” Religion Compass 14/10 (2020): 1-14.
  • “My Men Have Become Women, and My Women Men: Gender, Identity, and Cursing in Mesopotamia.” Welt des Orients 50/2 (2020): 358-75.
  • “Looking for Glinda: Wise Women and Benevolent Magic in Old Babylonian Literary Texts.” In Cult Practices in Ancient Literatures: Egyptian, Near Eastern and Graeco-Roman Narratives in a Cross-Cultural Perspective, eds. F. Naether. ISAW Papers 18, 2020.
  • “Deities, Demons, and Monsters in Mesopotamia.” In Ancient Mesopotamia Speaks: Highlights of the Yale Babylonian Collection, eds. A. W. Lassen, K. Wagensonner, and E. Frahm. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2019: 44-55.
  • “Inscribed Kassite Cylinder Seals in the Metropolitan Museum.” Metropolitan Museum Journal 53 (2018): 96-113.
  • “Pigs and Plaques: Considering Rm. 714 in Light of Comparative Artistic and Textual Sources.” Iraq 80 (2018): 151-165.
  • “The Disciplines of Geography: Constructing Space in the Ancient World.” Journal of Ancient Near Eastern History 4 (2017): 1-18.
  • “Through the Guts of a Beggar: Power, Authority, and the King in Old Babylonian Proverbs.” KASKAL 14 (2017): 153-168.
  • “Shifting Alignments: the Dichotomy of Benevolent and Malevolent Demons in Mesopotamia.” Pp. 19-38 in Demons and Illness: Theory and Practice from Antiquity to the Early Modern Period, eds. S. Bhayro and C. Rider. Leiden: Brill, 2017.