Academic Bio
Theo van den Hout received his PhD in Hittite and Anatolian Languages from the University of Amsterdam in 1989 after a BA and MA in Classics, Comparative Indo-European Linguistics, and Anatolian Studies at both Leiden and Amsterdam. Currently he is the Arthur and Joann Rasmussen Professor of Western Civilization and of Hittite and Anatolian Languages at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, and chief-editor of the Chicago Hittite Dictionary (CHD). He is the author of several books, most recently The Elements of Hittite (Cambridge UP 2011) and many articles. A book Doing Things with Tablets on literacy in Hittite Anatolia is expected to be out in 2018. Theo is a corresponding member of the Royal Dutch Academy of Arts and Sciences, a 2016 Fellow of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation as well as a Senior Fellow at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at New York University.
While interested in all aspects of Late Bronze and Iron Age Anatolia his work focuses on Hittite culture, history, and language. Besides his work on the dictionary his recent personal interests are ancient record management, literacy and writing in Hittite society.
Recent & Regularly Taught Courses
- AANL 20125-20126 Advanced Readings: Hittite I-II
- AANL 20901 Hurrian
- AANL 10101-02-03 Elementary Hittite
- HUMA 14100 Reading Cultures-2
- AANL 20203 Hieroglyphic Luwian 2nd Millenium BC