The project was born from an Italian initiative that early on (from 1995) began to work together with a Spanish team.

Friendly and profitable contacts started between a working group directed by Paolo Xella at what was then the Istituto per la Civiltà Fenicia e Punica of Rome (CNR) and the Laboratorio de Hermeneumática of Madrid (CSIC) directed by the late Jesús-Luis Cunchillos. These contacts assisted collaboration in a project sharing common aims.

The institutional background changed after several reforms in both the CNR and the CSIC. As a result, the project now has its headquarters in the Istituto di Studi sul Mediterraneo Antico (ISMA, CNR) in Rome and in the Instituto de Lenguas y Culturas del Mediterráneo y Oriente Próximo of the Centro de Ciencias Humanas y Sociales (ILC, CCHS, CSIC) in Madrid. Both centers adopt the lines of research already mentioned. The director of the Project is P. Xella (CNR) and the Vicedirector J. Á. Zamora (CSIC).

For further information and a basic list of funded research projects related to the CIP, please see section More Information about the Project.