José Ángel

Zamora López

José Ángel Zamora López is a specialist in the ancient cultures of Syria-Palestine and their Mediterranean influence and expansion. His research focuses on the history and culture of these regions during the Bronze and Iron Ages, primarily through epigraphic sources.

He earned a degree in Geography and History from the University of Zaragoza (1994, specializing in Classical and Ancient World Studies, with a postgraduate degree in Ancient History, 1996), and a Ph.D. from the same university (1999), with a dissertation on viticulture and wine in Ugarit (an ancient Syrian city with cuneiform tablets in a local Northwest Semitic language). He completed predoctoral (1994-99) and postdoctoral (2000-02) studies in the languages, cultures, and history of the Ancient Near East at the Institute of Philology in Madrid (CSIC), and at Sapienza Università di Roma and the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome. He was a predoctoral (1995-99) and postdoctoral fellow (1999-02) under the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology and other programs (such as the "Residencia de Estudiantes" in Madrid, the "Europa CAI" Program, and the "Spanish Academy in Rome"). He held a postdoctoral position for three years at the "Istituto per la Civiltà Fenicia e Punica" (CNR, Rome). He earned research positions in the competitive programs I3P (2003-04) and "Ramón y Cajal" (2004-07), and received an I3 certification for "Outstanding Research Trajectory." Since 2008, he has held a permanent position as a Tenured Scientist at CSIC, first at the Institute of Islamic and Near Eastern Studies (Zaragoza), and since 2010, at the Institute of Mediterranean and Near Eastern Languages and Cultures (ILC) in Madrid. From 2015 to 2020, he was Head of the Ancient History Division at the Spanish School of History and Archaeology in Rome, and since 2023, he has been the Head of the Department of Ancient Near Eastern Studies at ILC (CSIC).

He has led or participated in national and international competitive projects, including seven Spanish Ministry of Science "Plan Estatal" projects, serving as Principal Investigator for four: HUM2005-03852, FFI2010-17342, FFI2013-46126-P, PID2019-106923GB-I00. He has undertaken research stays at centers, museums, and archaeological excavations in Spain, Germany, Syria, the UK, Italy, France, Lebanon, and Cyprus. He is the author of over 100 scientific works (books, book chapters, articles in international journals), has presented at over 60 conferences, and organized 25+ research activities. He has taught advanced courses and lectures, supervised research work and doctoral theses, and participated in public outreach programs and events. He was also one of the curators of the "Carthago" exhibition at the Parco Archeologico del Colosseo (Rome, 2019-20). He is co-editor of the Encyclopaedic Dictionary of Phoenician Culture, co-leader of the Corpus Inscriptionum Phoenicarum necnon Poenicarum, and member of the International Committee of Phoenician and Punic Studies.

Areas of Expertise: Northwest Semitic languages and epigraphy (Ugaritic, Phoenician, Punic). Socio-economic and cultural history of Syria-Palestine in the late 2nd millennium BCE. History of the Levant and the Phoenician-Punic Mediterranean during the 1st millennium BCE. History of Northwest Semitic religions. History of alphabetic writing (origins, development, and expansion). Digital Humanities.