Roth, Professor of Assyriology, named Deputy Provost

Martha Roth, Professor of Assyriology in the Oriental Institute and the College, has been appointed Deputy Provost for the University. Roth, whose appointment begins Thursday, July 1, succeeds Anne Robertson, the Claire Dux Swift Professor in Music and the College.

“I want to thank Professor Robertson warmly for the superb judgment, high standards and conscientious attention she has brought to the position,” said Richard Saller, Provost.

Roth, the editor-in-charge of the 26-volume Chicago Assyrian Dictionary, researches and publishes on the legal and social history of the ancient Near East. Her primary interests have been family law, women’s legal and social issues, and the compilation and transmission of laws. Currently, she is working on a project on Mesopotamian law cases.

Roth earned her B.A. in Near Eastern studies from Case Western Reserve University in 1974 and her Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania’s department of oriental studies in 1979. She taught and researched at the University of Pennsylvania before coming to Chicago in 1979.

Roth has received fellowships and grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Council of Learned Societies.

Among her publications is Law Collections from Mesopotamia and Asia Minor, which is the most up-to-date and comprehensive collection, with translations, of Mesopotamian laws, including the famous law collection of King Hammurabi of Babylon.