Gina Konstantopoulos is Associate Professor of Assyriology and Cuneiform Studies and has worked at UCLA since 2021. Her work centers on religion, magic, and literature in Mesopotamia, with a focus on the role of demons and monsters in Sumerian and Akkadian texts. Gina was raised in New York. She completed her B.A. in 2007 at Mount […]
Sean Brenner/UCLA Humanities (photo); Tina Hordzwick/UCLA (illustration)
Sean Brenner/UCLA Humanities
Lecturer Kinda Al Rifae explores words that traveled from the Islamic Golden Age into modern English UCLA Newsroom | April 29, 2026 Many English speakers use Arabic-derived words every day without realizing it. In a new video produced by UCLA Newsroom, Kinda Al Rifae, a lecturer in Arabic in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, highlights how centuries of […]
Maltese is spoken by only about 530,000 people worldwide, but it sparked a friendship between 2 UCLA grad students Jacqueline Jacobo | January 9, 2026 If you’re looking for an example of how language can bring people together, look no further than Richard Assaley and Glen Spiteri. Assaley is a doctoral student in the UCLA Department of Near […]
Sean Brenner | February 26, 2026 Charles Rhodes didn’t discover Egyptology until his junior year of college. But on Feb. 24, Rhodes — now a fourth-year UCLA doctoral student in Near Eastern Languages and Cultures — gave UCLA Geffen Academy ninth-graders a major head start on their exposure to the field. Speaking to two classes taught by Johanna Day and […]
written by Nicole Karraa January 20, 2026, taken from Bruin Life The Iranian studies program at UCLA is a beating heart rich with history and literature. Along with centers dedicated to the study of ancient Iranian and Persian literary traditions, the Program of Iranian Studies is the foothold to one of the most overlooked historical empires. Persian […]
Jonathan Winnerman, Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, studies kingship and sacred power in ancient Egypt and from a comparative perspective. He specializes in the texts and visual culture of the New Kingdom through Late Periods, and teaches all phases of the ancient Egyptian language, including Greco-Roman and Enigmatic hieroglyphs. As associate director of Global Antiquity, he […]
A new book edited by Carol Bakhos covers the extensive period between the rise of Alexander the Great and the emergence of Islam. A 1,360-page book covering more than 900 years of Jewish history? It’s no wonder Carol Bakhos compares the completion of her latest project to finishing an endurance race. “I do run marathons and I […]
Call for Applications for the Morvarid Guiv Graduate Fellowship in Zoroastrian Studies The Pourdavoud Institute for the Study of the Iranian World announces a call for applications for the Morvarid Guiv Graduate Fellowship in Zoroastrian Studies. This fellowship is awarded to outstanding graduate students whose works encompass different facets of Zoroastrian studies, that is, the […]
Image description: UCLA Library, Professor Luke Yarbrough, top right, Azeem Malik, bottom left, and pages from volumes in the Islamicate Manuscripts Initiative. Since 2022, the UCLA Library has led the Islamicate Manuscripts Initiative, an effort to describe and conserve thousands of Islamicate and Arabic-script manuscripts, and to make the materials accessible to researchers and the public. […]
