Alessio Agostini (MA and PhD, University of Florence) teaches Semitic Epigraphy and Philology at the Sapienza University of Rome. His main interests focus on the archaeology and ancient languages of the pre-Islamic Arabian Peninsula. Since 2002, he has been member of the Italian Archaeological Mission in Yemen, directed by the late Alessandro de Maigret (IsIAO – ‘Orientale’ University of Naples), where he has been field director and epigraphist at the sites of Baraqish, Tamna‘ and at the necropolis of Hayd ibn ‘Aqil. He has been Marie Curie Fellow at the French CNRS (UMR 8167 “Orient & Méditerranée”, Paris) and collaborator to the Corpus of South Arabian Inscriptions (direction of A. Avanzini, University of Pisa). In recent years he also conducted excavations and field surveys in the Sultanate of Oman (2013) and Ethiopia (Tigray, 2017). Francesca Balossi Restelli graduated at the Sapienza University of Rome (1998) in Prehistory of the Near East, she took a master’s course at the University of Michigan, USA (1999). PhD at the University of Rome La Sapienza. Aggregate professor since 2008 at the same university. Alexander von Humboldt fellow in 2016-18. Habilitation for Associate Professor in Prehistory and in Ancient Near Eastern Cultures, in 2012. She teaches Prehistory of the Near East for the BA, Ma and graduate school. She is member of the Doctoral School in Archaeology and Associate Editor of the Journal “Origini”. Field research activities: yearly, since 1993, in Europe, Central America and the Near East. Vice-Director of the excavations at the site of Arslantepe, Turkey. She is part of the working group for the construction of a site management plan for Arslantepe and is involved in community programs for the enhancement of the knowledge on the site of Arslantepe. Research Interests: Neolithic and Chalcolithic periods in the Near East, domestication, development of complex societies, specialization of craft production, commensality as an instrument of social cohesion and/or social success, and as expression of socio-cultural identity. Maria Giovanna Biga. Since 2001 Associate professor at the Sapienza University of Rome. From 1976 to 2010 (date of the last archaeological mission before the war in Syria) epigraphist of the Italian Archaeological Mission at Ebla. She published, with A. Archi and L. Milano, two volumes of the Serie Archivi Reali di Ebla with editions of Ebla texts, the volume I Babilonesi (Carocci ed.) and with Gloria Capomacchia the volume Il politeismo vicino-orientale (Poligrafico dello Stato ed.). She published on Italian and international revues several articles on different topics of the Ebla culture, establishing the chronology of the Ebla texts, reconstructing the military campaigns, studying the commerce and fairs, the society and the life of the Ebla court. She also published several articles on different topics of different periods of the History of the ancient Near East. She was visiting professor in Paris (three times) at EPHE and once at the Collège de France (four lessons) and in Spain (Zaragoza). She gave (invited) several lectures in Universities in Italy, Europe and US. She participated (invited) to several international conferences in Europe and US. Julian Bogdani is Researcher (fixed-term) at the Sapienza University of Rome. He obtained his PhD in 2009 at the University of Bologna. He has been Research Fellow at the University of Bologna from 2011 to 2016, where he collaborated with several archaeological projects, both in Italy (regions of Emilia-Romagna, Marche, Basilicata, Trentino-Alto Adige, Campania) and abroad (Albania, Egypt, Iraqi Kurdistan, Iran, Croatia, Afghanistan) etc. His main research interests are: landscape archaeology, archaeological field survey, Hellenistic archaeology, topographical survey and data management, Geographical Information and database Systems applied to cultural heritage, Information Technology applications to archaeology and history. He presently teaches Digital Heritage at the Sapienza University of Rome and is responsible for the Information System, web database and the construction of the online Atlas of the ERC Advanced project “PAThs - Tracking Papyrus and Parchment Paths (directed by Paola Buzi). Paola Buzi is Full Professor of Egyptology and Coptic Studies at the Sapienza University of Rome and Honorary Professor of the same disciplines at the University of Hamburg. She got a PhD in Egyptology in 2002. She has been working at the University of Bologna and at the Akademie der Wissenschfaten zu Göttingen/University of Hamburg. She sits on the Board of the International Association of Coptic Studies (IACS) and is a member of the International Associations of Egyptologists and the Academia Europaea. She is Senior Reseach Fellow of the School for Advanced Studies of the Sapienza University of Rome (SSAS). She combines archaeological, historical- religious, and philogical interests applied to both Egyptological and Coptic studies. She is co-Director of the Archaeological Mission at Bakchias (Fayyum, Egypt) and Director of the Course for Advanced Studies in Egyptology “From Formation to Research”. Mario Casari is Aggregate professor in Persian Language and Literature at the Italian Institute of Oriental Studies, 'Sapienza' University of Rome. His research deals mainly with the circulation of texts and cultural relations between Europe and the Islamicate world from medieval times to the modern age, with a wide variety of approaches, presented in several publications: medieval narrative literature, with special attention to the oriental travel of the Alexander Romance; history of children’s literature in Iran and the Arab world; Oriental studies in Europe; Arabic and Persian gastronomic literature. He has presented lectures, seminars, and conference papers on all aspects of his research in Italy and internationally. In 2011 he was awarded the Al-Farabi-UNESCO prize for his book Alessandro e Utopia nei romanzi persiani medievali (1999). In 2018 he was awarded the “Premio per la Cultura Mediterranea” for his translation work from Arabic and Persian. He is scientific coordinator of the 'Islamic Civilisation' Curriculum for the Doctorate, 'Civilisations of Asia and Africa', 'Sapienza' University of Rome. He is a member of the Editorial Board of the Rivista degli Studi Orientali, and a member of Scientific Board of the Institut für Iranistik, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften, Wien. Carlo G. Cereti is Full Professor of Iranian Studies at the Sapienza University of Rome and director of the winter school in Cultural Heritage in the Near and Middle East. Former Cultural Counsellor (2009-2017) at the Italian Embassy in Teheran, he collaborates with the UMRS 7528 “Monde iranien et indien” of the CNRS and with the Institute for technologies applied to cultural heritage of the CNR. He is also a Fellow of the School for Advanced Studies of the Sapienza University of Rome (SSAS) and Director of the Mediterranean branch of the Association for the Study of Persianate Societies. His research focuses on pre-Islamic Iran, combining interests in historical-religious, philological and archaeological aspects of this area. He presently directs the Italian Archaeological Mission to Iraqi Kurdistan and the research project “Transitional Dynamics in Iranian Society. From the Sasanians to Caliphal authority”. Angelo Colonna is Research Fellow in Egyptology at the Sapienza University of Rome, where he obtained his PhD in 2014. Since 2015, he has been collaborating with the Chair of Egyptology and Coptic Studies as “Cultore della Materia” and has been Tutor of the Course for Advanced Studies in Egyptology “From Formation to Research”. He conducted a postdoctoral research with the support of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei (2016) and the Istituto Italiano per la Storia Antica (2017) and was Academic Visitor at the Oriental Institute – Oxford University (2017) under the supervision of John Baines. Since 2017, he is member (Junior Staff, Egyptologist) of the ERC project “PAThs - Tracking Papyrus and Parchment Paths” (directed by Paola Buzi). He is member of the International Association of Egyptologists. As field archaeologist, he has participated in archaeological missions and surveys in Egypt and North Sudan. His main research interests focus on: state formation; early ideology and writing (development, uses); material aspects of Egyptian High Culture (monumental art and religious iconography of the 3rd mill. BC); historical reconstruction of religious forms and practices (value and role within society), with special attention to animal worship. Michelina Di Cesare is Assistant Professor in Archeology and History of Islamic Art (PhD) at the Department of Sciences of Antiquity of Sapienza University of Rome and Junior Fellow of the Advanced School of Advanced Studies Sapienza. Prior to this position, she carried out her researches at the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz-Max- Planck-Institut in Florence, at the Italian Institute for Historical Studies in Naples, at the Internationales Kolleg für Geisteswissenschaftliche Forschung “Schicksal, Freiheit und Prognose. Bewältigungsstrategien in Ostasien und Europa” of the Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen- Nürnberg, as well as at the Department of Science of Antiquity of the Sapienza University of Rome. She has lectured and participated in numerous national and international conferences in Europe and the United States. Maria Vittoria Fontana Since 2000 Full Professor of Islamic Archaeology and History of Art