Email: frantisek.valek@upce.cz
Office hours: Tuesday 10:00-11:00, EA 12028 (and always also via email or MS Teams)
Research interests
Religions of the Ancient Near East, Anthropology of Religion, Digital Humanities
Professional experience
2025–present – Vice-dean for Internal Affairs and Infrastructure Developement, Faculty of Arts and Philosophy, University of Pardubice
2022–present – Assistant Professor, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Faculty of Arts and Philosophy, University of Pardubice
2020–present – Researcher and Data Analyst in Digital Humanities, National Library of the Czech Republic (Projects DL4DH and DigiLab)
past:
2023–2025 – Researcher, Institute of Ancient Near Eastern Studies, Faculty of Arts, Charles University
2020–2023 – Grant Advisor, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Faculty of Arts, Charles University
2019–2023 – Member of the editorial board of the student religious studies journal Sacra
2019–2020 – Assistant coordinator of Salesian camps, Salesian Youth Centre, České Budějovice
2016–2019 – Student assistant, Library of the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Faculty of Arts, Charles University
Education
2019–2024 – Ph.D. in Religious Studies, Faculty of Arts, Charles University (thesis: Life, Society and Politics in Relation to Religion at Ugarit in the Late Bronze Age)
2019–2022 – M.A. in Egypt and the Ancient Near East, specialisation Assyriology, Faculty of Arts, Charles University (thesis: The Epic of Zimrī-Lîm)
2017–2019 – M.A. in Religious Studies, Faculty of Arts, Charles University (thesis: Foreign Influences in Religion of Ancient Syria)
2013–2017 – B.A. in Religious Studies, Faculty of Arts, Charles University (thesis: Kultické užití alkoholu v náboženství starověké Sýrie)
Grants
2023–2025 – team member; Archaeology of Texts. Tradition, Transmission, and Transformation in the Ancient Near East (GAČR 23-05181S, principal investigator prof. PhDr. Jana Mynářová, Ph.D.), Faculty of Arts, Charles University
Publications
2025 "Motifs of Drought in Ugaritic Narratives." Bulletin of the American Society of Overseas Research 394: 147–160 [link (paywall)]
2025 Pokorný, J., Válek, F., Maixnerová, L., Charypar, M., Plecháč, P. „Strojové učení v knihovně: Výzvy, problémy a přínosy určování autorství a datace: Korpus českých autorů na přelomu 19. a 20. století". ITlib.Informačné technológie a knižnice 29/1: 55–61. [link].
2024 "The Epics of Aqhat and Kirta as Social Myths?" AulaOrientalis 42/2, 253–280. [link]
2024 "RS 25.435 – Not the Epic of Tukultī-Ninurta at Ugarit." N.A.B.U. 2024/3, 107–108. [link]
2023 "Divination and Political Administration at Ugarit" Axis Mundi 18/2, 49–56. [link]
2023 Válek, F. a Hajič J. Jr., "Problems of Authorship Classification: Recognising the Author Style or a Book?" Digital Humanities Quarterly 17/4. [link]
2023 "Cultural Transfer in Light of Seth Baˁal and Their Relationship." In Robert Rollinger, Irene Madreiter, Martin Lang and Cinzia Pappi (eds.), The Intellectual Heritage of the Ancient Near East. Proceedings of the 64th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale and the 12th Melammu Symposium, University of Innsbruck, July 16-20, 2018 (Melammu Symposia 12), Vienna: Austrian Academy of Sciences Press, 2023, 443–458.
2022 Válek, F., Mokrý M. et al. (eds.) Sacra 2022 (19/1): Bohové, démoni a lidé východního Středomoří ve starověku. [link]
2021 "Foreigners and Religion at Ugarit." Studia Orientalia Electronica 9/2, 47–66. [link]
Reviews
2025 "Dying and Rising Gods: The History of a Mythologem in West Asia of the Second Millenium bce." Bulletin of the American Society of Overseas Research 394: 239–240. [link (paywall)]
2021 "Tugendhaft, Aaron. The idols of ISIS: from Assyria to the Internet." Religio 2021 (29/1), 98–100.
2020 "Yelle, R. A. (2019). Sovereignty and the Sacred: Secularism and the Political Economy of Religion." Sacra 2020 (18/1), 54–55.
2018 "Sedláček, T. (2017). Doklady raného náboženstva Churritov v starovekom Urkeši." Sacra 2018 (16/2), 67–70.
Other reserach results
2025 Válek, F. Cuneiform Intertextuality Analysis [online: https://digitalhumanities.upce.cz/CuneiformIntertextuality/ and https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18049416]
2025 Válek, F. Temple of Baal at LBA Ugarit - Virtual Reality [online: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18098547]
2024 Válek, F. Cuneiform Text Analysis 1.0.0. [online: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.14577024]
2024 Válek, F. „Ugarit Texts Database“ [online: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.12820381]
2024 Válek, F. „(Re)Building Temple of Ba’al: Tracking the Networks of Craftsmanship“ presented at DIĜIR II workshop “Arts and craftsmanship associated with ritual practices in ancient Western Asia”, Lille, 15th–16th April 2024. Video available at https://webtv.univ-lille.fr/video/12832/rebuilding-temple-of-ba%E2%80%99al-tracking-the-networks-of-craftsmanship-la-production- [17th May 2024]
2023 Válek, F. 3D Reconstruction of the Temple of Baˁal at Ugarit. [online: https://github.com/valekfrantisek/DigitalReligion-Ugarit/tree/main/3DTempleOfBaal ]
2022 Válek, F.; Vozár, Z.; Zbíral, D.; Bežová, M.; Hrzinová, J.; Novák, D.; Religionistická mapa literárních významů: Citace Bible v prvorepublikovém tisku [online; https://dl4dh.nkp.cz/]
2022 Lehečka, B., Novák, D., Kersch, F., Hladík, R., Bíšková, J., Sekyrová, K., Válek, F., Vozár, Z., Bodnár, N., Sekan, P., Bežová, M., Žabička, P., Lhoták, M., Straňák, P. 2022 Metodika přípravy dat z digitálních knihoven pro využití v digitálních humanitních vědách. Knihovna AV ČR, v. v. i., Certifikovaná metodika DG20P02OVV002.
2022 Válek, F., Hajič, J., Holub, M., Szromek, J., & Vozár, Z. AuthorGuesser. https://github.com/DigilabNLCR/AuthorGuesser
2022 Vozár, Z., Holomek, J., Holub, M., Hajič, J., Válek, F., Charypar, M., Szromek, J., Habětínová, P., Skoupá, I., & Bilwachs, M. AuthorshipAttributionLine. https://github.com/DigilabNLCR/AuthorshipAttributionLine
2021– Near Eastern Royal Epics, The NERE Project [http://oracc.org/nere/]
Popularisation
2026 Válek, F. and Miller, Z. „The True Story of Danel: From Ugarit to the Bible“, host na YouTube podcastu What Your Pastor Didn’t Tell You, 16. 1. 2026 [online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JY5JBgjE1aU&t=1s]
2025 Válek, F. „Náboženství a politika na starověkém Předním východě“, přednáška v rámci cyklu Náboženstvá pod lupou (Centrum pre religionistiku a historické štúdiá). 12. 3. 2025 [online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ro_FuQggWKw&t=1s]
Research Travels
2025 (October 31–November 9): Wheaton College; Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures, The Universty of Chicago
2025 (March 21–28): Altorientalisches Institut, Universität Leipzig
2024 (June 16–24): Altorientalisches Institut, Universität Leipzig
2023 (August 15–25): Institut für Assyriologie und Hethitologie, Ludwig-Maxmilians-Universität München
2023 (June 5–16): Institut für Assyriologie, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg
2023 (January 9–February 7): Altorientalisches Institut, Universität Leipzig
Participation in International Conferences and Workshops
2025 „Automatising Intertextuality Detection in Cuneiform Literature“ presented at XXIII World Congress of the International Association for the Study of Religions (IAHR), Kraków, 24th–30th August 2025.
2025 „Motifs of Drought in Ugaritic Narratives“ presented at 70th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, Prague, 7th–11th July 2025.
2024 „Tracking the Networks of Near Eastern Royal Epics“ presented at 69th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, Helsinki, 8th–12th July 2024.
2024 „(Re)Building Temple of Ba’al: Tracking the Networks of Craftsmanship“ presented at DIĜIR II workshop “Arts and craftsmanship associated with ritual practices in ancient Western Asia”, Lille, 15th–16th April 2024. Video available at https://webtv.univ-lille.fr/video/12832/rebuilding-temple-of-ba%E2%80%99al-tracking-the-networks-of-craftsmanship-la-production- [17th May 2024]
2023 „Towards Visualising Religion – Three Cases from Ancient Ugarit“ presented at 20th Annual Conference of the European Association for the Study of Religions: Religions and Technology, Vilnius, 4th–8th September 2023.
2023 „The epics of Aqhat and Kirta: Constructing royal ideology in times of crisis?“ presented at 68th Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, Leiden, 17th–20th July 2023.
2022 „Bible Quotations in the Czech Press: a Digital Humanities Intertextuality Case Study,“ předneseno na Conference of the European Association for the Study of Religions, University College Cork, 27. 6.–1. 7. 2022.
2019 „Foreigners and Religion at Ugarit,“ předneseno na The Strange and the Familiar: Identity and Empire in the Ancient Near East, University of Helsinki, 22.–24. 8. 2019.
2018 „Cultural Transfer in the Light of Seth Baˁal and Their Relationship,“ předneseno na 64. Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, Innsbruck, 16.–20. 7. 2018.
Participation in International Conferences and Workshops (in Czech Republic)
2022 (spoluautor Jan Hajič) „Authorship classification at varying levels of delexicalization,“ předneseno na Conference on Authorial Style, It's Analysis, and Limits of Automatic Recognition, Národní Knihovna České republiky, 27. 9. 2022.
2017 „Božská pitka ve starověkém Ugaritu: KTU 1.114 jako projev antistruktury,” předneseno na Mezinárodní studentské vědecké konferenci, Slovácký dvůr, 29.–31. 5. 2017.
Participation in National Conferences and Workshops
2022 „Religionistická mapa literárních významů: Citace Bible v prvorepublikovém tisku – use case z oblasti religionistiky“ předneseno na Konference DL4DH – Digital Libraries for Digital Humanities: Vytěžování obsahu digitálních knihoven pro výzkum v humanitních vědách, Praha, 7. 12. 2022