Zozan Tarhan enriched her academic knowledge acquired at the Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski by means of several academic scholarships. She carried out several specialisations in universities abroad: in the field of philology – Ancient Near Eastern Studies / Assyriology at the Department of Ancient Near Eastern Studies of Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg and at the Institute of Assyriology of Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg, as well as in the field of archaeology (Archaeology of the Ancient Near East and Classical Archaeology) – at Trakya University in Edirne and University of Warsaw.
January 2022 Zozan Tarhan received her PhD degree from the Department of Ancient History, Thracian Studies and Mediaeval History of the Faculty of History at the Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski with a dissertation entitled “Authority and Ideology in the Early Neo-Assyrian Empire (934–745 B.C.)”. February 2022 the Bulgarian version of the monograph on the topic of her dissertation was already published. The English version of the monograph is published in July 2025 in the series of State Archives of Assyria Studies (Vol. 35). Since March 2022 Z. Tarhan has been working at the Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski.
November 2023 Z. Tarhan was awarded The best early career scholar of Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski (2023), Award of Sofia Municipality for an outstanding early career scholar with a doctoral degree.
Z. Tarhan’s research interests are primarily focused in the field of Neo-Assyrian Empire and Assyrian royal ideology, Mesopotamian scholarship, and cuneiform studies. She participates in and supervises ANES projects.
Selected publications
- Tarhan, Z., 2025: Authority and Ideology in the Early Neo-Assyrian Empire (934 –745 B.C.). – State Archives of Assyria Studies 35. Helsinki: The Neo-Assyrian Text Corpus Project.
- Tarhan, Z. 2024: The Assyrian Impact on Urarṭu. – Ideologies and Encounters of Ideas at the Crossroads of the Ancient World. Special Issue of Studia Antiqua et Archaeologica 30 (2), pp. 281–289.
- Tarhan, Z., 2024: From Intention to Accomplishment: Secular and Cultic Feasts Provided by the Neo-Assyrian King. – In: S. de Martino, E. Devecchi and M. Viano (eds): Eating and Drinking in the Ancient Near East. Proceeding of the 67th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, Turin, July 12–16 2021. dubsar. Münster: Zaphon, pp. 381–393.
- Тархан, З., 2022: Власт и идеология в Ранната новоасирийска империя (934–745 г. пр.Хр.). София: ИК „Гутенберг“.
- Tarhan, Z., 2022: The Divination Motif on the Panagyurishte Amphora-Rhyton in Eastern Mediterranean Context. – Archaeologia Bulgarica, 2022, Vol. XXVI, Issue 3, pp. 31–40.