Strahil V. Panayotov studied Assyriology, Ancient History, Egyptology and Near Eastern Archaeology in Berlin, Heidelberg, Sofia and Toronto. He began a PhD on ‘Mesopotamian Amulets’ in Heidelberg, specialized in Berlin and completed it in Sofia. Large parts of his studies in Germany were funded by the prestigious stipend of German people – Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes. He was a Post-Doc researcher in the first of its kind ERC project on Babylonian Medicine in Berlin (under the leadership of Markham J. Geller) – and a Curator for Assyrian Medicine in the British Museum. Strahil is a research assistant in the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.
His main interests are Cuneiform Medicine and Magic, and in particular the transmission of medical knowledge in the Ancient World.
Recent key discoveries and contributions in peer-reviewed literature and online publications:
- 2023 – 2020. NinMed – online publications of the Nineveh Medical Encyclopaedia (Treatises on Eyes, Ears, Oral, Bronchial, Renal, Rectal, Abdominal regions – transliterations, notes and English translation @ https://build-oracc.museum.upenn.edu//asbp/ninmed/project/index.html
- 2020. Healing in Images and Texts: The Sickbed Scene. In Patients and Performative Identities: At the Intersection of the Mesopotamian Technical Disciplines and Their Clients, edited by J. Cale Johnson. Eisenbrauns, the Pennsylvania state university press: 129-158
- 2020. With M. J. Geller. Mesopotamian Eyes Disease Texts: The Nineveh Treatise. Die babylonisch-assyrische Medizin in Texten und Untersuchungen 10. Leiden–Boston: Walter de Gruyter
- 2018. With L. Vacín. Mesopotamian Medicine and Magic: Studies in Honour of Markham J. Geller. Ancient Magic and Divination 14. Leiden–Boston: Brill
- 2018. Notes on the Assur Medical Catalogue with Comparison to the Nineveh Medical Encyclopaedia. In Assyrian and Babylonian Scholarly Text Catalogues: Medicine, Magic and Divination, ed. U. Steinert. Die babylonisch-assyrische Medizin in Texten und Untersuchungen 9. Leiden–Boston: Walter de Gruyter: 88-118
- 2018. Magico-Medical Plants and Incantations on Assyrian House Amulets. In Sources of Evil. Studies in Mesopotamian Exorcistic Lore, ed. G. Van Buylaere, M. Luukko, D. Schwemer and A. Mertens-Wagschal. Ancient Magic and Divination 15. Leiden–Boston: Brill: 192-222