Institut del Pròxim Orient Antic (IPOA)

The existence in our university area of ​​an Interuniversity Institute of Ancient Near Eastern Studies is justified by the very nature of these studies, highly specialized, up to very minority levels, and extremely complex and, on the other hand, with very high linguistic and cultural training requirements. The Institute aims to open new study plans and research in fields of great significance in the history of culture and which generate great social interest today. These studies are presented as the complement and natural scientific specialization of the academic plans of the departments of Semitic philology, classical philology, ancient history, linguistics and theoretical philosophy.
 
The Institute of the Ancient Near East aims to be the point of convergence of interdepartmental and interuniversity research that provides for current legislation and the same statutes of the promoting universities, and also offer a series of courses, fully developed in terms of content and methods, even though due to their complex, minority or new nature they have no place in our academic system and are, nevertheless, indispensable. Together with this strictly research task, it is intended to fulfill an irreplaceable social and academic function.
 
In response to these reasons and after passing the procedure of administrative instances and controls provided for by the University Reform Law (11/1983), the Institute was officially created by Decree of the Presidency of the Generalitat of Catalonia of November 24 of 1993.