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Clement Hazan

Clement Hazan M.A. is a doctoral student at Tel Aviv University and a Minerva Fellow at the Institute of Ancient Near Eastern Studies at the University of Leipzig.

Personal details

  •     Born 1989 in Paris, France.


Scientific career

  •     Since 2020: working on the PhD project The Meaning of Colors in Hittite Anatolia, under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Amir Gilan, Tel Aviv University.
  •     September 2015 - June 2020: Master of Arts History of the Jewish People and Contemporary Judaism at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
  •     Thesis topic: Cult images and cult objects in Hittite Anatolia: The case of the figurative vessels in precious metal
  •     September 2008 - June 2011: Bachelor of Arts in Humanities and Social Sciences (specialization: History) at the University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne


Scholarships and prizes

  •     Since September 2023: Minerva fellow at the University of Leipzig
  •     October 2022 - September 2023: Scholar of the research project "Colors and their Meaning in Hittite Religion," ISF No. 2176/22, PI: Prof. Amir Gilan
  •     October 2022 - September 2023: Haim Rosenberg School of Jewish Studies and Archaeology Living Fellowship, Tel Aviv University.
  •     2021: Award of the Israeli Society for Assyriology and Ancient Near Eastern Studies

  • Forthcoming: “A new look at the Hittite silver vessel in the shape of a fist”, in. Sass, B. and L. Battini (eds.), Mortals, deities and divine symbols. Rethinking ancient imagery from the Levant to Mesopotamia. Studies offered to Tallay Ornan, Oxford: Archaeopress (ca. 9000 words; peer reviewed)

Colors and their Meaning in Hittite Anatolia

The purpose of my project is to provide the first systematic, in-depth analysis of colors in Hittite sources. Calling into question the traditional view according to which the Hittites recognized only five colors (white, black, red, yellow-green and blue), I collect the entire terminology that relates to this phenomenon in all of its aspects, based not only on hue, but also on brightness, tone and saturation. Besides ‘abstract’ color words, I also examine ‘concrete’ color terms referring to coloring substances (dyes, pigments) or to materials occasionally used for their color (metals, stones). Primarily a philological endeavor, this research draws on a wide variety of texts (cult and palace inventories, magic rituals, festivals, letters, historical accounts, and literary compositions) to make available to the scholars of the ancient Near East a full Hittite color lexicon. In addition, it will include three studies dedicated to the production of colors in Ḫattuša, their use in magic rituals and meaning in Hittite religion.