The Lyre Ensemble, OI Video Podcast, Part 1 | Recreating the Gold Lyre of Ur The Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures 2026-09-27 | The Lyre Ensemble, OI Video Podcast, Part 1 | Recreating the Gold Lyre of Ur
Korshi Dosoo | Christian Egypt and its Pagan Past The Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures 2024-05-30 | Christian Egypt and its "Pagan" Past: Perspectives on Pharaonic Civilization from Coptic MagicKorshi Dosoo, Julius Maximilian University of WürzburgKorshi Dosoo, leader of the project The Coptic Magical Papyri: Vernacular Religion in Late Antique and Early Islamic Egypt at the Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg, presents a lecture that focuses on his research of magical and lived religion in Egypt from the Ptolemaic to the Mamluk periods as revealed by papyrological and epigraphic sources.
Marie-Laure Chambrade | Flying Under a Screen of Clouds The Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures 2024-05-24 | Flying Under a Screen of Clouds: A Snapshot of Aerial Archaeology in West AsiaISAC special exhibition lecture for Pioneers of the Sky: Aerial Archaeology and the Black DesertMarie-Laure Chambrade, exhibition curatorFor more information on Pioneers of the Sky, visit: https://isac.uchicago.edu/pioneers-skyClose to sunset one evening in 1929, Père Antoine Poidebard flew his plane almost parallel to the ground, under low cloud cover, to photograph archaeological sites in Syria, their features accentuated by the sun’s concentrated, raking light. He would later call this procedure “flying under a screen of clouds.” Aerial photography has been responsible for the discovery of more archaeological sites than any other survey method, thanks to vi sionary scholars and enthusiasts, like Poidebard, and their bold experimentation with balloons, kites, airplanes, drones, and satellite imagery. In this lecture, presented in connection with the ISAC Museum special exhibition Pioneers of the Sky: Aerial Archaeology and the Black Desert, Marie-Laure Chambrade, exhibition curator, will provide an overview of the history of aerial imagery and its application to the archaeology of West Asia, ranging from survey purposes to excavation follow-up and monitoring endangered heritage. She will highlight portraits of pioneers in the field, the close connection between aerial archaeology and military intelligence, and principal advancements of this century-old discipline.
Nele Ziegler | Music and Musicians in Mari – a Diachronic Overview The Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures 2024-05-10 | Music and Musicians in Mari – a Diachronic OverviewNele Ziegler, Director of Research at the French Center of Research (CNRS, Paris)Music and its performers played an important role in Mesopotamian culture, and some musicians could have high ranking social positions. The cuneiform tablets from the royal palace of the ancient city of Mari (Tell Hariri, Syria) present a uniquely detailed picture of how musicians lived and music was experienced at court. Most notably, letters sent by the musicians themselves to the various kings who successively ruled over the city provide a window into the lives of male and female musicians, the nature of musical performance, the instruments they played and the way musical education was organized. Dr Ziegler, the author of Les musiciens et la musique d'après les archives de Mari (Paris, 2007) and of many articles on the topic, will offer a diachronic overview on how music was lived and experienced in the capital city of Mari, from the mid-third millennium BCE until the destruction of the palace by Ḫammurabi of Babylon in the 18th century BCE… and beyond.
Dominique Charpin | Epigraphic Discoveries in Southern Iraq (Ur and Larsa), 2015-2023 The Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures 2024-05-01 | Epigraphic Discoveries in Southern Iraq (Ur and Larsa), 2015-2023Dominique Charpin, Professor of Mesopotamian Civilization, Collège de France (Paris)The ancient Mesopotamian city of Ur (Tell el-Muqayyar), famously home of Abraham in the Hebrew Bible (“Ur of the Chaldeans”), was first rediscovered and brought to the attention of the public through the excavations of the Anglo-American team led by Leonard Woolley between 1922 and 1934. However, it wasn't until 2015 that archaeological research resumed on the site, under the initiative of the late A. Al-Hamdani. Four campaigns were conducted there between 2015 and 2022, during which many cuneiform documents have been recovered in a variety of contexts from five excavation spots. At Larsa (Tell es-Senkereh), the French excavations that were interrupted in 1989 resumed in 2019, revealing cuneiform inscriptions on tablets, seals, and bricks that date back to the Old Babylonian period (2002-1595 BCE) and open up new chapters in the history of the city and kingdom. As a field epigraphist for both excavations, Professor Charpin will present these recent discoveries, which are currently in the process of being published, and share some of the new insights they offer on early second millennium BCE Mesopotamia.Prof. Charpin’s visit to Chicago is part of longstanding collaboration between the University of Chicago and the College de France and is made possible through a partnership between the France Chicago Center (FCC), the Collège de France, and the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures (ISAC).
Jeffrey Stackert | Judah in the Shadow of the Assyrian Empire The Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures 2024-04-18 | Judah in the Shadow of the Assyrian EmpireISAC welcomes the University of Chicago’s Jeffrey Stackert, Professor of Hebrew Bible, for a lecture titled: Judah in the Shadow of the Assyrian Empire. A biblical scholar who situates the Hebrew Bible in the context of the larger ancient Near East, Stackert’s research focuses on the composition of the Pentateuch, ancient Near Eastern prophecy, cultic text, and ancient Near Eastern Law. His first book, Rewriting the Torah: Literary Revision in Deuteronomy and the Holiness Legislation was the recipient of the 2010 John Templeton Award for Theological Promise.This program is made possible by the support of ISAC Members.
The Decipherment of Meroitic | Claude Rilly, Sorbonne The Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures 2024-03-14 | The Decipherment of MeroiticClaude Rilly, Sorbonne UniversityWe are excited to welcome Claude Rilly, one of the world’s foremost scholars in Meroitic Writing for a lecture that approaches the translation of this ancient language from Sudan. Meroitic was the language spoken in ancient times in the land of Kush, north of present-day Sudan. During the last phase of this civilization, strongly influenced by Pharaonic Egypt and known as the "Kingdom of Meroe" (270 BC/330 AD), an alphasyllabic script was created to transcribe the language. Around two thousand texts, often long and varied, are known to date. Meroitic disappeared in the early Middle Ages without leaving any descendants. The script was deciphered in 1911, but after a century of research, the language has yet to be fully translated. Recent progress has been made, largely thanks to the identification of its linguistic family. In the near future, we can hope to finally understand the texts of the oldest written language in sub-Saharan Africa.
ISAC Lecture, Carolina Lopez Ruiz The Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures 2024-02-15 | The Phoenicians Strike Back!Carolina López-Ruiz, Professor of Ancient Mediterranean Religions and Mythology in the Divinity School and the Department of Classics, University of ChicagoRevisit the Phoenicians in Iberia and celebrate ISAC’s participation in the Málaga project as we welcome Carolina López-Ruiz, Professor of Ancient Mediterranean Religions and Mythology in the Divinity School and the Department of Classics. López-Ruiz’s research centers around comparative mythology and cultural exchange in the ancient Mediterranean, exploring the idea that mythological narratives and religious practices act as loci for cultural exchange and provide mechanisms for groups in close contact to negotiate tensions, adopt to change, and bolster their resilience.Our lectures are free and available to the public thanks to the generous support of our members. To become a member, please visit: http://bit.ly/2AWGgF7
The Hand of Irulegi The Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures 2024-01-11 | University of Chicago professor, Sofía Torallas Tovar travels to Madrid to explore the Hand of the Irulegi, unearthed in 2021 at the archaeological site of the Irulegi, south of modern Pamplona. The bronze artifact, shaped like a hand, features four lines of text that may shed new light on the ancient Basque language and people. Join Sofía for a conversation with Eugenio R. Lujan, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, as they discuss this fascinating text.
Law and Morality in Sumerian Satirical Tales | Jana Matuszak, ISAC The Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures 2023-12-12 | Law and Morality in Sumerian Satirical TalesJana Matuszak, ISAC, University of ChicagoAncient Iraq is famous for producing the world’s earliest compilations of casuistic law; the Laws of Hammurabi being the most renowned example. But what happens when a legal problem occurs that has not been considered by royal legislation? Jana Matuszak, assistant professor of Sumerology, ISAC, explores two Sumerian short stories that raise potentially subversive questions – and provide surprising solutions.Our lectures are free and available to the public thanks to the generous support of our members. To become a member, please visit: http://bit.ly/2AWGgF7
What Did You Learn in School Today? | Paul Delnero, Johns Hopkins The Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures 2023-11-14 | What Did You Learn in School Today? A Day in the Life of Mesopotamian Student.Paul Delnero, Johns Hopkins UniversityThere is a wealth of evidence for education in ancient Mesopotamia exceeding that of any culture or period of the ancient or pre-modern world. At the city of Nippur, the religious center of Mesopotamia in the early second millennium BCE, and at "House F" in particular, the entire sequence of lists and texts that were taught to pupils learning to read and write can be reconstructed from the beginning until the end of their training. By studying the thousands of exercise copies produced by Mesopotamian pupils at different stages in their education a vivid picture emerges of not only what students learned, but also how and why they learned it. In this talk an overview of what has, and what can still be discovered by examining the discarded homework of pupils almost 4000 years ago will be presented to paint a portrait of a day in the life of a Mesopotamian student. Our lectures are free and available to the public thanks to the generous support of our members. To become a member, please visit: http://bit.ly/2AWGgF7
Back to School in Babylonia: The Aims of Babylonian Education | Susanne Paulus, ISAC The Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures 2023-10-06 | What was it like going to school in Babylonia? Who were the students? How did they learn to read and write cuneiform? In conjunction with our newest special exhibition Back to School in Babylonia, this lecture explores school life in ancient Babylonia around 1740 BCE using a school and its artifacts excavated by the Joint Expedition to Nippur of ISAC and the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. While exploring the curriculum and topics of education. UChicago professor, Susanne Paulus, addresses the aims of Babylonian education more broadly, touching on topics like literacy, skill training, and the formation of a scribal elite.Our lectures are free and available to the public thanks to the generous support of our members. To become a member, please visit: http://bit.ly/2AWGgF72024, ISAC
Mesopotamian Ruins and Contemporary Art in Post-Conflict Iraq | Hanaa Malallah and Kiersten Neumann The Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures 2023-08-11 | Dr. Hanaa Malallah, Iraqi-British artist and academic, and Dr. Kiersten Neumann, ISAC Museum curator, join in a virtual conversation to talk about their collaboration on the ISAC Museum special exhibition, “Artifacts Also Die,” as well as Malallah’s artistic career and the art community in Iraq, among other topics. The special exhibition “Artifacts Also Die” (April 5–August 27, 2023) is part of the research project “Ruins, Rubble, and Renewal: Co-existent Ruins—Exploring Iraq’s Mesopotamian Past through Contemporary Art,” led by Hanaa Malallah, who works in collaboration with local Iraqi artists at specific ancient sites inside Iraq. Visit the special exhibit webpage to learn more: https://isac.uchicago.edu/artifactsThis program was recorded in July 2023.
Visualizing the Pyramids: Old Digs, New Technologies | Peter Der Manuelian, Harvard The Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures 2023-06-09 | Peter Der Manuelian, Harvard University's Giza ProjectThe Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures welcomes back alumni Peter Der Manuelian, Barbara Bell Professor of Egyptology; Director of the Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East, and Harvard University’s Giza Project Director. Manuelian will present an illustrated lecture summarizing some of the great discoveries, archaeological significance, and fascinating personalities behind the expeditions to the tombs and temples surrounding the famous Giza Pyramids. This includes George Reisner, the only rival to James Breasted for the title of greatest American Egyptologist of the time. He will present new technologies for bringing old digs back to life for international collaborative research and teaching.
Affluent Suburbs or Disenfranchised Banlieue: The Urban Edge at Nippur, Iraq The Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures 2023-05-05 | Augusta McMahon, professor of Mesopotamian archaeology, ISAC, University of ChicagoThe Sumner Memorial LectureJoin Augusta McMahon, professor of Mesopotamian archaeology, as she examines the nature of occupation in the southern edge zone at Nippur. This southern edge was inhabited only during periods of the city’s maximum growth, particularly in the Ur III (late 3rd millennium BCE) and Kassite (late-2nd millennium BCE) periods. In each of these periods, the regional government of the time commissioned expansions of the religious institutions at Nippur, which may have caused both internal movements of city residents and immigration of new administrators and laborers. The new Nippur project aims to compare the use of the city’s southern edge zone in these two key periods. Previous excavations suggest that this area was occupied in the 2nd millennium BCE by suburban houses of the affluent. Was the situation the same in the earlier, 3rd millennium BCE, phase of expansion, or was this area a crowded banlieue of internally displaced poor residents and newly-arrived workers? Did past city growth mirror modern processes of urban expansion?c. ISAC, 2023
Do You Believe in Thoth? My Life With an Amiable Ancient Egyptian God The Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures 2023-04-05 | Richard Jasnow, Professor of Egyptology; Chair, Department of Near Eastern Studies, Johns Hopkins University joins us for an Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures Members Lecture.While he does not profess to be a historian of religion, Richard Jasnow has been engaged with Thoth, the Egyptian "god of wisdom" for the past thirty years. Thoth has an immense range of responsibilities: writing, magic, astronomy, time itself. As is the case with all Egyptian deities, Thoth can be difficult, if not impossible to pin down, a true shape-shifter. In this talk, Jasnow explores in image and text various aspects of this divine being. Thoth is a profoundly approachable god, and the Ancient Egyptians often turned to him in times of need. Jasnow is especially interested in the relationship between us humans and this powerful deity.c. ISAC, 2023
The OI has changed its name to ISAC The Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures 2023-04-04 | In recent years, the Oriental Institute (OI) of the University of Chicago has worked to develop a more accurate way of reflecting the geographic focus of our work and collections. As a result of this process, we have changed our name to Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures, West Asia & North Africa (ISAC).Although our name and logo have changed, our mission remains the same, and more vital than ever. Since our founding in 1919, we continue to strive to be one of the world’s leading research centers on the ancient cultures of West Asia and North Africa by combining innovations in theory and methodology with the highest standards of rigorous scholarship. To learn more about our name change, please visit www.isac.uchicago.edu
Skulls and Animate Houses: The Development of Sedentism and Agriculture in Central Anatolia The Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures 2023-03-03 | Douglas Baird, Garstang Chair of Archaeology, University of LiverpoolThe Braidwood Vising Scholar LectureOne of the great things about an archaeological perspective is the ability to examine social developments and social practices at a range of temporal and spatial scales simultaneously. The Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures welcomes Douglas Baird for a lecture that explores the development of the Neolithic in the Konya plain, based on c. 20 years of excavations at the sites of Pınarbașı and Boncuklu, the later apparently a direct antecedent of Çatalhöyük. This lecture allows a focus the contemporaneous adoption of variable sedentary practices, small-scale cultivation and herding and in some cases avoidance of farming by early Neolithic communities. The role of the development of distinct community identities within such networks of diverse proximate communities will be evaluated, as will more intimate and specific household and individual histories and identities, ritual and ancestral practices within these longer-term developments.Our lectures are free and available to the public thanks to the generous support of our members. To become a member, please visit: http://bit.ly/2AWGgF72023, ISACMusic credit: bensound.com
Cultural Heritage and Mass Atrocities, a panel discussion The Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures 2023-02-24 | Hugh Eakin, Patty Gertenblith, James A. Robinson, Gil Stein, and Thomas G. Weiss join us for a discussion to mark the Getty’s publication of "Cultural Heritage and Mass Atrocities," co-edited by James Cuno, president emeritus, J. Paul Getty Trust, and Thomas G. Weiss, Presidential Professor of Political Science, and director emeritus of the Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies at the City University of New York Graduate Center.This event is co-sponsored by the Getty Trust, the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures, the Pearson Institute, and the Chicago Center for Cultural Heritage preservation. Originally aired February 2023ISAC lectures are free and available on YouTube thanks to the generous support of our members. To become a member, please visit: http://bit.ly/2AWGgF7 2023, ISACMusic credit: bensound.com
Mauritzio Forte | Unlocking Digital Archaeology The Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures 2023-02-17 | Unlocking Digital Archaeology: In Between Humans and Artificial BrainsVirtual Archaeology (1996), Cyberarchaeology (2008) and AI-Archaeology (2022) mark important milestones in the history of digital visualization of the past. The simulation process underpins the relationship between these three research domains. Indeed, if we have a better grasp of the past, it is because of the numerous simulations and models in which human minds, computational and artificial intelligence interact to generate a higher level of informative content. Future research will therefore focus primarily on two areas: 1) the study of human brains in relation to the perception of virtual models and material culture (neuroarchaeology); 2) the application of artificial intelligence and virtual reality to approach the interpretation process in innovative ways. In VR-real-time scenarios, generative AI could review digital consistency research challenges within an unlimited framework of different hypotheses. Given the regime of ambiguity with which we contend and the fact that our interpretations, whether archaeological or historical, are always extremely subjective, we "perform the past" rather than recreate it, according to this methodological perspective. In other words, the more virtual/digital situations we generate, the more capable we are to reinterpreting a place, monument, landscape, or relic. A generative process could one day solve the unsolvable problem of time (4D) representation: the building of the past as a fluid, co-evolving, perceptual, and continuous process. In the near future, AI archaeology could be considered as a generative-autopoietic system that generates its own hypotheses, digital codes, models, and syntaxes in between human and artificial brains.This event is co-sponsored by the Interdisciplinary Archaeology Workshop, The Program in Digital Studies, and the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures.Originally aired February 2023ISAC lectures are free and available on YouTube thanks to the generous support of our members. To become a member, please visit: http://bit.ly/2AWGgF7 2023, ISACMusic credit: bensound.com
Katharine Raff | From Plaster to Marble The Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures 2023-02-10 | From Plaster to Marble: The Evolution of Ancient Mediterranean Sculpture at the Art Institute of Chicago The Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures welcomes Katharine Raff, Elizabeth McIlvaine Associate Curator, Arts of the Ancient Mediterranean and Byzantium, Art Institute of Chicago for a talk associated with the current OI Museum special exhibition, Making Sense of Marbles: Roman Sculpture at the OI. For more than a century, the city of Chicago has been home to several major ancient Mediterranean collections, specifically those of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Field Museum of Natural History, and the ISAC Museum. Among the three institutions, the Art Institute has long served as the city’s primary venue for ancient Greek and Roman art, with a collection including sculptures in stone, terracotta, and bronze, as well as coins, glass, vases, jewelry, and mosaics. However, in 1957, OI Director Carl H. Kraeling (1897–1966), stated his aspiration to “give Chicago more of what it needs”, namely by building “a representative collection of classical sculptures” for the ISAC Museum. Given ISAC’s longstanding emphasis on the ancient Middle East and North Africa, Kraeling’s quote seems curious to us today––why attempt to form such a collection of “classical” sculpture if one already existed at the Art Institute? In this talk, Raff contextualizes Kraeling’s ambitious and admirable goal in relation to the history of the Art Institute’s collection of ancient Mediterranean art. Focusing on the development of the museum’s holdings in Greek and particularly Roman sculpture, Raff explores the factors that impacted the formation of this area of the museum’s collection over time, from its origins in the late nineteenth century to the present. Originally aired February 2023ISAC lectures are free and available on YouTube thanks to the generous support of our members. To become a member, please visit: http://bit.ly/2AWGgF7 2023, ISACMusic credit: bensound.com
Felipe Rojas Silva | Cuneiform and Cross: Early Armenian Reuse of Urartian Inscriptions The Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures 2023-02-02 | The Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures welcomes Felipe Rojas Silva, Associate Professor of Archaeology and the Ancient World and Egyptology and Assyriology, Brown University for a lecture that explores how people make sense of and manipulate material traces of the past in situations of colonial contact and religious conversion. Rojas examines the deliberate re-use by early Armenian Christians of Iron-Age stelae bearing cuneiform inscriptions in the region around Lake Van (now eastern Turkey and Armenia). Scholars have noted such re-use in passing since the 19th century, but there has been no concerted effort to collect or interpret relevant evidence holistically. Combining archaeological and literary sources, Rojas contextualizes those cases of re-use as clashes of historical consciousness, expressed via material culture, and distinguish several distinct trends in Armenian engagements with cuneiform (and hieroglyphic) inscriptions in their native territories over the course of the first millennium AD. Our lectures are free and available to the public thanks to the generous support of our members. To become a member, please visit: http://bit.ly/2AWGgF72023, ISACMusic credit: bensound.com
Alison Whyte | Venus With Cupid: Discoveries in the Conservation Lab The Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures 2023-01-24 | Venus with Cupid: Discoveries in the Conservation LabISAC Museum Special Exhibition Lecture Every conservation treatment begins with an investigation: How was the object made? What materials were used to construct it? And what has happened to it since it was created? Join ISAC conservator Alison Whyte to learn more about the discoveries made during the examination and treatment of OIM A30908, a statuette of Venus with Cupid, currently on display in the OI Museum special exhibition Making Sense of Marbles, Roman Sculpture at the OI, on view from September 15, 2022–March 12, 2023 (https://oi.uchicago.edu/marbles). Originally aired November 2022ISAC lectures are free and available on YouTube thanks to the generous support of our members. To become a member, please visit: http://bit.ly/2AWGgF7 2023, ISACMusic credit: bensound.com
Sofia Torallas Tovar | Egyptians in Athens: Following the Trails of Words The Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures 2022-12-21 | It is the year 458 BCE, and Aeschylus presents The Suppliants at the theatre of Dionysus in Athens. The plot of this tragedy brings a chorus of the daughters of Danaus to Argos, fleeing from a forced marriage to their Egyptian cousins, and Aeschylus places Egyptian words in the Greek speech of the actors. The Athenian audience had some knowledge of their southern neighbor. Not only had Herodotus and others described the marvels and rarities of the Land of the Nile, but there were also Egyptian born residents in Athens working at the harbor and the markets. Sofia Torallas Tovar joins us for a lecture that invites you to hear the ancient Egyptian voices in Athens, by exploring The Suppliants and other sources that attest to the linguistic contact between Greece and Egypt before Alexander’s conquest.The Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures welcomes Sofia Torallas Tovar, Professor of Classics and Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago, for this Members Lecture.Our lectures are free and available to the public thanks to the generous support of our members. To become a member, please visit: http://bit.ly/2AWGgF72022, ISACMusic credit: bensound.com
Emily Teeter | Why Tut Matters The Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures 2022-11-22 | On November 4, 1922, Howard Carter and his team uncovered the tomb of King Tutankhamun on the west bank of the Nile in Luxor, Egypt. Join us as we celebrate the centennial of this re-discovery, and examine the impact this boy king continues to have on our collective global imagination.Why Tut MattersWith Emily Teeter, EgyptologistOur lectures are free and available to the public thanks to the generous support of our members. To become a member, please visit: http://bit.ly/2AWGgF72022, ISACMusic credit: bensound.com
Jonathan M. Hall | Archaeology and Myth: Some Reflections The Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures 2022-11-03 | Cases such as the “House of David” stele from Tel Dan, “Amazon” burials in western Russia and Ukraine, the fortifications and first palace of Romulus at the foot of the Palatine hill in Rome, or the tomb of St Peter in the Vatican, to name just a few, have inspired triumphalist claims that the “science” of archaeology has succeeded in proving the historicity of traditions that many had consigned to the field of myth. Such claims, however, betray a fundamental misunderstanding as to the nature and function of myth. Since myth typically exists in a plurality of variants and since the concept of “truthfulness” is generally immaterial to myth’s efficacy, the notion that it can be either proven or disproven by archaeology is deeply problematic. This lecture will offer some reflections on the relationship between archaeology and myth, with particular reference to the controversy surrounding the historicity of the Trojan War.The Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures welcomes Jonathan M. Hall, Phyllis Fay Horton Distinguished Service Professor in the Humanities and Professor in the Departments of History and Classics and the College, University of Chicago, for this Members Lecture.Our lectures are free and available to the public thanks to the generous support of our members. To become a member, please visit: http://bit.ly/2AWGgF72022, ISACMusic credit: bensound.com
K. Neumann and R. Rumora | Revisiting Roman Sculpture at the OI: Ptolemais and Beyond The Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures 2022-10-17 | ISAC Special Exhibition LectureRevisiting Roman Sculpture at the OI: Ptolemais and BeyondKiersten Neumann, Interim Chief Curator, ISAC Museum; and Roko Rumora, PhD candidate, Department of Art History, University of Chicago, join us for a lecture that explores the newest ISAC Museum special exhibition, "Making Sense of Marbles: Roman Sculpture at the OI." On view as a group for the first time, the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures’s collection of Roman sculpture illustrates how we can makes sense of marbles with divergent histories and the fundamental importance of archaeological context in telling an object’s story. The special exhibition, co-curated by Kiersten and Roko, will be on view from September 15, 2022 to March 12, 2023.Our lectures are free and available to the public thanks to the generous support of our members. To become a member, please visit: http://bit.ly/2AWGgF72022, ISACMusic credit: bensound.com
Making Sense of Marbles: Roman Sculpture at the OI | A Special Exhibition The Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures 2022-09-30 | “Making Sense of Marbles: Roman Sculpture at the OI”A Special ExhibitionSeptember 15, 2022–March 12, 2023https://oi.uchicago.edu/marblesOn view as a group for the first time in an exhibition co-curated by Kiersten Neumann, OI Museum interim chief curator, and Roko Rumora, PhD candidate, Department of Art History, University of Chicago, the OI’s collection of Roman sculpture illustrates how we can make sense of marbles with divergent histories and the fundamental importance of archaeological context in telling an object’s story. The majority of the collection was excavated by OI archaeologists at the site of Ptolemais in Libya in 1956–1958, a veritable highlight being two life-size marble statues, once displayed in the City Baths at Ptolemais. In the exhibition, this abundance of contextual information is placed in sharp contrast with Roman works purchased from the antiquities market. Sixty-five years after they were first on view in the galleries of the OI Museum, we can appreciate the OI’s collection of Roman marbles in a new light, conscious of their complex history.Visit the exhibition webpage for visitor information and related programming: https://oi.uchicago.edu/marbles c. 2022 OI
Jorke Grotenhuis | Hieroglyphic Sign Lists: The Thoth Sign List, Towards a Unicode Expansion The Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures 2022-09-29 | OI Explorers LectureJorke Grotenhuis, postdoctoral scholar, University of California, BerkeleyThis academic year, we introduce a new OI Explorers Lecture series. For our first lecture, we welcome Jorke Grotenhuis, postdoctoral scholar at Berkeley, as he presents Hieroglyphic Sign Lists: The Thot Sign List, Toward a Unicode Expansion.Hieroglyphic sign lists have been a staple of modern Egyptology since the decipherment of the hieroglyphic script and are known to most Egyptologists as very beneficial tools. In this lecture, Grotenhuis presents a short history of sign lists, up to and including the development of the Thot Sign List. OI lectures are free and available on YouTube thanks to the generous support of our members. To become a member, please visit: http://bit.ly/2AWGgF72022, OIMusic credit: bensound.com
Talinn Grigor | Persepolis After Lindon Smith: The Modernist Afterlife of the Ruins The Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures 2022-06-01 | Persepolis After Lindon Smith: The Modernist Afterlife of the RuinsPresented by Talinn Grigor, UC DavisOriginally aired Tuesday, April 26, 2022Talinn Grigor traces the art history of the ruins of Persepolis in the aftermath of its excavation by Ernst Herzfeld and artistic renderings by Joseph Lindon Smith in the 1930s, including Reza Shah’s 1930s urban reform in Tehran and Mohammad Reza Shah’s 1971 celebration of “the 2,500-year Anniversary of the Founding of the Persian Empire by Cyrus the Great.” This lecture is in connection with the OI Museum Special Exhibition, "Joseph Lindon Smith: The Persepolis Paintings," now on display.c. 2022, OI
OI Cultural Heritage Initiative The Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures 2022-04-04 | The OI's Cultural Heritage Initiative is currently working in Central Asia to train conservation students and professionals.Thank you!C. OI, 2022Music, bensound.com
Hannah Moots | From Wheat to Watermelon: Clues from Ancient DNA about Food and Diet The Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures 2022-03-23 | From Wheat to Watermelon: Clues from Ancient DNA about Food and Diet in the Ancient WorldOI Museum Collections Talk SeriesHannah Moots, OI postdoctoral researcherHave you always wondered about what’s in collections storage at the OI Museum? Less than two percent of the over 350,000 ancient Middle Eastern artifacts in the OI Museum collections are on display. Join us for the March installation of our Collections Talk as Hannah Moots, OI postdoctoral researcher, takes us behind the scenes! What can we learn about plant and animal domestication from ancient DNA? What did early watermelons look and taste like? How have scientists been able to grow a species of extinct date palm after over 1000 years? What varieties of wine were the Romans drinking? What insights into the wild progenitors of corn and wheat have been gained using this new technology? Not only will we discuss how humans changed plants and animals, we’ll also discuss how our changing relationships with other species changed us. For instance, lactase persistence, the ability to drink milk into adulthood, has long been “hailed as one of the clearest examples of gene-culture co-evolution in humans” and has been intensively studied as such for nearly 30 years, however new evidence is calling into question when and how lactase persistence emerged. New bioarchaeological approaches are rewriting and refining our understanding of the history of lactase persistence and shedding light on the evolutionary history of other food intolerances.Originally aired lived in March 2022OI lectures are free and available on YouTube thanks to the generous support of our members. To become a member, please visit: http://bit.ly/2AWGgF7
Hervé Reculeau | How Did Ancient Mesopotamians Deal with Climate Change The Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures 2022-03-07 | Presented by Hervé Reculeau, OIPresent-day anxiety about anthropogenic climate change and its dramatic impact on our own civilization, combined with increasingly precise datasets available to reconstruct past climates, have led to a renewed interest in how ancient societies coped with climate change, specifically with episodes of Rapid Climate Change (RCC) that had the potential to disrupt the basis of their subsistence and alter their perception of their environment. In recent years, such studies have overwhelmingly been driven by simplistic narratives of climate-induced civilizational collapse. By placing in dialogue paleo-climatic science, archaeological data and textual evidence, it is however possible to offer a more nuanced and balanced approach to the interactions between climate and social change (or lack thereof), one that gives back their voice and agency to the members of the ancient societies. This lecture proposes such an approach for various Mesopotamian societies of the Bronze and Iron Ages (mid-third to mid-first millennium BCE).Our lectures are free and available to the public thanks to the generous support of our members. To become a member, please visit: http://bit.ly/2AWGgF72022, OIMusic credit: bensound.com
Kiersten Neumann I Documenting Persepolis and the Paintings of Joseph Lindon Smith The Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures 2022-02-25 | Documenting Persepolis and the Paintings of Joseph Lindon SmithOI Museum Special Exhibition Opening LectureKiersten Neumann, OIFrom 1931–39 the OI Iranian (Persian) expedition carried out the first scientifically controlled archaeological excavations at Persepolis, the great Achaemenid city founded by Darius I (533–486 BC) and sacked by Alexander III of Macedon in 330 BC. OI founder and then director James Henry Breasted’s invitation to Joseph Lindon Smith (1863–1950) to visit and paint the ruins of Persepolis was indicative of the innovative documentary efforts that defined the OI’s fieldwork, which at the time also included still photography and film, both on the ground and aerial. Smith, an American artist renowned for his faithful renderings of archaeological subjects, created with stark realism portraits of the Apadana reliefs and in vibrant polychrome vast landscape scenes of the monumental terrace—on display in the OI Museum’s special exhibition, “Joseph Lindon Smith: The Persepolis Paintings.” Yet the expeditions’ photographs and Smith’s paintings belong to a long history of recording this city’s ruins. Join Kiersten Neumann, OIM curator, in an exploration of Smith’s Persepolis paintings and the artistic corpus to which they belong.Originally aired live in February 2021This lecture celebrates the opening of the OI Museum Special Exhibition, "Joseph Lindon Smith: The Persepolis Paintings," curated by Kiersten Neumann and on display January 27–August 28, 2022: https://oi100.uchicago.edu/jls.OI lectures are free and available on YouTube thanks to the generous support of our members. To become a member, please visit: http://bit.ly/2AWGgF7 c. OI, 2022
James Osborne I Ancient Pottery for Beginners: Why Archaeologists Study Ceramics The Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures 2022-02-03 | Ancient Pottery for Beginners: Why Archaeologists Study CeramicsOI Museum Collections Talk SeriesHave you always wondered about what’s in collections storage at the OI Museum? Less than two percent of the over 350,000 ancient Middle Eastern artifacts in the OI Museum collections are on display. In this installation of our Collections Talk! James Osborne, Assistant Professor of Anatolian Archaeology, will discuss the three main reasons why archaeologists spend so much time working with ceramics. Learn why the potsherds found in fieldwork are actually the most important artifact class that archaeologists encounter.Originally aired live in November 2021OI lectures are free and available on YouTube thanks to the generous support of our members. To become a member, please visit: http://bit.ly/2AWGgF7 c. OI, 2022
Joseph Lindon Smith: The Persepolis Paintings | A Special Exhibition at the OI Museum The Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures 2022-01-26 | "Joseph Lindon Smith: The Persepolis Paintings"A Special ExhibitionJanuary 27–August 28, 2022https://oi100.uchicago.edu/jlsJoseph Lindon Smith (American, 1863–1950) was already an accomplished painter, celebrated for his ability to capture archaeological subjects with vivid realism, when he was invited to Persepolis by James Henry Breasted, OI founder and then director, in 1935 to join the OI Iranian (Persian) Expedition (1931–39). Smith's Persepolis paintings—ultimately three portraits and three landscapes—complemented the work of the expedition, whose goal was to rigorously document and preserve the site for perpetuity. The special exhibition, Joseph Lindon Smith: The Persepolis Paintings, curated by Kiersten Neumann, exhibits all six large-scale paintings to the public for the first time in over 80 years.Visit the exhibition webpage for visitor information and related programming: https://oi100.uchicago.edu/jlsc. 2022 OI
Yassaman Ameri | The Inheritance & The Artist The Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures 2021-12-13 | The Inheritance & The ArtistAn OI Museum Special Exhibit Talk by Yassaman AmeriOver the course of 25 years, multimedia artist Yassaman Ameri researched and created the series The Inheritance. This collection is born of a gift Ameri received from her mother some 25 years ago, a postcard containing 36 small and faded portraits of mostly unveiled women, produced during the Qajar era in Iran. Selected images from The Inheritance are currently displayed in a special exhibition entitled Antoin Sevruguin: Past and Present at the Oriental Institute Museum (through December 31, 2021). The relationship Ameri explores between various sources of Qajar imagery in The Inheritance invites a fresh perspective on the values and assumptions found in Sevruguin’s own work from that same period. In this talk, Ameri shares her personal account of how The Inheritance came to be and the intention behind the choices she made in creating these images. Tasha Vorderstrasse, curator of Antoin Sevruguin: Past and Present, will join Yassaman for a discussion and Q & A following the talk. Originally aired December 2021OI lectures are free and available on YouTube thanks to the generous support of our members. To become a member, please visit: http://bit.ly/2AWGgF72021, OIMusic credit: bensound.com
Fr. Dr. Iskandar Bcheiry | The Life and Homilies of Jacob of Serugh in a Manuscript in the OIM The Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures 2021-12-06 | The Life and Homilies of Jacob of Serugh in a Manuscript in the OIMA lecture by Fr. Dr. Iskandar Bcheiry, OI Museum Collections Research Grant recipientThe story of this identification goes back to the year 1911, when the Syriac orthodox monk Afrem Barṣawm (1887–1957), who later became the patriarch of his church, visited the region of Ṭūrʿabdīn, nowadays in southeast Turkey, and examined the manuscripts that were preserved in its churches and monasteries. Among the sources that Barṣawm examined, there was a Syriac manuscript copied in 12th or 13th century that contains numerous homilies composed by early church fathers, and mainly by Jacob of Seruj, a famous Syriac poet (451–29 November 521), whose 1500 anniversary is celebrated this year. Barṣawm claimed that this manuscript was lost with other Syriac manuscripts during the World War I, however it was only recently identified in the OI Museum collection. Join us to learn more about this manuscript in a lecture by Fr. Dr. Iskandar Bcheiry, OI Museum Collections Research Grant recipient. Fr. Dr. Iskandar Bcheiry, Metadata Editor at Atla, holds a Ph.D. in Church History from the Pontifical Oriental Institute, Rome, and another Ph.D. in World Christianity and Global Missions-Christian-Muslim Studies from the Lutheran School of Theology-Chicago. Fr. Dr. Bcheiry has published a collection of books such as: "An Early Christian reaction to Islam: Išū‘yhab III and the Muslim Arabs" (Piscataway, N.J: Gorgias Press, 2019); "Hagiography, History, and Manuscript Culture: Studies in Syriac Christianity" (Kaslik: Lebanon, 2018); "Collection of Historical Documents in Relation with the Syriac Orthodox Community, in the Late Period of the Ottoman Empire" (Piscataway, N.J: Gorgias Press, 2010). Also, Fr. Dr. Bcheiry published numerous articles on the history of Syriac Christianity and cataloged several collections of Syriac and Arabic manuscripts. He is also a Priest for the Syriac Orthodox Church and serves as a pastor of his community in Chicago since 2006.Originally aired November 4th, 2021OI lectures are free and available on YouTube thanks to the generous support of our members. To become a member, please visit: http://bit.ly/2AWGgF72021, OIMusic credit: bensound.com
Ruth Tringham | Old Europe: House, Fire, the Goddess, and Ambiguity The Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures 2021-12-02 | The Marija Gimbutas Memorial LecturePresented by Ruth Tringham, University of California BerkeleyOld Europe: House, Fire, the Goddess, and AmbiguityLecture begins at 7:46.Marija Gimbutas has always held a special place in Ruth Tringham's life. A few times their paths crossed, but mostly like ships passing in the night. In this talk, Tringham focuses on an earlier pre-Indo-European Neolithic population located in southeast Europe and Anatolia, an area Marija Gimutas referred to as Old Europe, whose prehistoric culture believed in a nurturing "Goddess" in her various forms and manifestations. Join us as Tringham draws our attention to aspects of Old Europe that played only a small role in Marija Gimbutas's narrative—house, clay, fire, and the intimate view—while asking the question of how we feel about the level of certainty we attribute to these narratives based in archaeology.This lecture is made possible by a generous donation by Dr. Audrius Plioplys.OI lectures are free and available on YouTube thanks to the generous support of our members. To become a member, please visit: http://bit.ly/2AWGgF72021, OIMusic credit: bensound.com
Eric Cline | Digging Up Armageddon: Chicagos Search for the Lost City of Solomon The Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures 2021-11-17 | Presented by Eric Cline, Professor of Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies and of Anthropology; Director of the GWU Capitol Archaeological InstituteThe numerous publications produced by the Chicago excavators who dug at Megiddo from 1925-39 are still held in high regard – both used and debated -- by archaeologists working in the region today. However, these provide virtually no insight into the daily activities of the team members or the stories behind their discoveries, including what are still commonly called “Solomon’s Stables.” Fortunately, they also left behind more than three decades worth of letters, cablegrams, cards, and notes, as well as their diaries, that are now in the archives of the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures. There are also additional materials in the archives of the Israel Antiquities Authority and the Rockefeller Foundation, as well as other material that is in the hands of the team members’ descendants and other family members. Digging through these materials provides a glimpse behind the scenes, including intrigues, infighting, romance, and dogged perseverance over the years, situated against the backdrop of the Great Depression in the United States as well as the growing troubles and tensions in British Mandate Palestine between the two world wars. Based on the new book entitled Digging Up Armageddon by the speaker, some of the more interesting details will be shared in this lecture, including the fact that the excavations almost ended just one week after they began; that they paid rent for the excavated land to the wrong people for the first three years; that team members included a high school dropout and a possible spy for the Haganah; and that they were the first, or among the first, to use a Munsell color chart and balloon photography on an excavation in the Near East. Our lectures are free and available to the public thanks to the generous support of our members. To become a member, please visit: http://bit.ly/2AWGgF72021, ISACMusic credit: bensound.com
Visiting the Museum The Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures 2021-10-20 | Get into the spirit of the Halloween season with a family friendly screening of the short film Visiting the Museum, created by Latino Art Beat and filmed on location at the OI and the University of Chicago campus. Log on for a bit of a chill as two high school teens visit our museum and come face to face with an ancient Egyptian spell!2012, Latino Art Beat
Black Adam: Ancient Influences/Contemporary Anti-Hero | Stanford Carpenter, OI Video Podcast The Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures 2021-10-14 | Shazam! Our Contemporary Artists/Ancient Voices podcast series concludes with a look at the influences that ancient Egypt and the Middle East had on the creation of the American comic book hero. Cultural anthropologist and comic book scholar Stanford Carpenter joins us for a discussion on the sense of other in comics centered around the character of Black Adam, the primary Shazam villain turned anti-hero. Tune in as we anticipate the upcoming Black Adam film, and explore how creators have used ancient religions and mythology to redefine a character that is soon to become a household name.This podcast concludes our Contemporary Artist/Ancient Voices series, a set of conversations with artists who draw inspiration from the ancient Middle East.To support OI research, become a member of the Oriental Institute. To explore the benefits of joining, please visit: https://oi.uchicago.edu/join-and-give/become-memberPlease excuse the audio and video quality, this was recorded at home during the pandemic.2021, Oriental InstituteImages: DC Comics, Warner Brothers, and Marvel ComicsIntro Music: bensound.com
Rebecca Hasselbach-Andee | Language and Cultural Contact: The Case of Ebla The Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures 2021-10-07 | Presented by Rebecca Hasselbach-Andee, Professor of Comparative Semitics, OILanguage and Cultural Contact in the Third Millennium BCE: The Case of EblaFrom almost the earliest attestations of writing, there is evidence for languages in contact. In Mesopotamia, for example, we have evidence for Sumerian and Akkadian contact from the early third millennium BCE. It is very difficult, however, to determine the extent and duration of such contact in languages that are no longer spoken. In the case of the Ancient Near East sources do not commonly tell us what language(s) individuals spoke or if the language they wrote represents the language also used for oral communication. This lecture draws attention to the difficulties involved in determining the linguistic situation “on the ground” by using the example of Eblaite, an idiom attested in the 24th century BCE in the ancient northern Syrian site of Ebla (Tell Mardikh). Our lectures are free and available to the public thanks to the generous support of our members. To become a member, please visit: http://bit.ly/2AWGgF72021, OIMusic credit: bensound.com
OI Armchair Travelers: Iraq The Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures 2021-10-01 | Has Iraq been on your travel bucket list? Sit back while Jean Evans, deputy director and chief curator of the OI, guides you through a virtual tour of this fascinating and diverse country. In 2019, Jean traveled with the OI to reopen excavations at Nippur, providing her the rare opportunity to explore the country’s natural beauty, as well as several important sites of ancient Mesopotamia.The OI Armchair Travelers series is designed to give you a taste of OI tours. Led by academics, OI tours bring you up close to the ancient world. Traveling with the OI gives you unparalleled behind the scenes access, and the opportunity to experience archaeological sites while examining current fieldwork. To learn more about upcoming OI tours, visit: https://oi.uchicago.edu/programs-events/travel-programsTo support this and all of our research, become a member of the Oriental Institute. To explore the benefits of joining, please visit: https://oi.uchicago.edu/join-and-give/become-member2021, Oriental Institutemusic: bensound.com
Drinks Through Time: ImHOPtep The Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures 2021-09-23 | This fall, mix up a crisp beverage inspired by the legendary ancient Egyptian, Imhotep. ImHOPtep can be enjoyed with or without alcohol. Ingredients:1 ½ ounces Campari / Campari alternative6 ounces IPA / non-alcoholic beer Lemon twist to garnish Non-Alcoholic Suggestions:Campari alternative: bit.ly/3CDDmUU or bit.ly/3EM5jvrNon-alcoholic IPA: bit.ly/3i1DYeW or bit.ly/39ub2rA Click subscribe for notification on this and all OI videos.
Drinks Through Time: Sargons Sour The Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures 2021-09-01 | Mix up a refreshing beverage inspired by the Neo-Assyrian ruler, Sargon II. Sargon's Sour can be enjoyed with or without alcohol. Mix up the cocktail and join us later this month as we travel to the sites of the Neo-Assyrian Empire in our upcoming Armchair Travelers' episode of Iraq. Click subscribe for notification on this and all OI videos.
OI Armchair Travelers: Sudan, Exploring Ancient Nubia The Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures 2021-08-03 | Visit Sudan and the lands of ancient Nubia from the comfort of your easy chair! As you make plans for a return to travel, join OI tour leader Emily Teeter as she guides us from Khartoum to Abu Simbel, a route traveled by OI founder James Henry Breasted. Along the way, Emily opens up the reality of traveling in Sudan and explains how the history is an impressive way to experience the ancient cultures that shape the landscape. This tour revisits the OI's 2018 trip, and anticipates our 2020 tour: The Ultimate Nile, Khartoum to Cairo. The OI Armchair Travelers series is designed to give you a taste of OI tours. Led by academics, OI tours bring you up close to the ancient world. Traveling with the OI gives you unparalleled behind the scenes access, and the opportunity to experience the sites while examining current fieldwork. To learn more about upcoming OI tours, visit: https://oi.uchicago.edu/programs-events/travel-programsTo support this and all of our research, become a member of the Oriental Institute. To explore the benefits of joining, please visit: https://oi.uchicago.edu/memberPlease excuse the audio and video, this podcast was recorded at-home.2020, Oriental InstituteImages: Emily Teeter and Judith and Steven Baxtermusic: bensound.com
Drinks Through Time: Hattusa Smash The Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures 2021-07-23 | Beat the summer heat with a cooling beverage inspired by the ancient world. This weekend, mix a Hattusa Smash! This beverage can be enjoyed with or without alcohol. Shake it up and sip as you sit back and watch the OI's interim director Theo van den Hout lead you on a virtual tour of Hattusa in our Armchair Traveler episode: youtu.be/Xym2i7XbhIE
Visit the OI Museum Today! The Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures 2021-07-09 | Explore the OI Museum with a quick video tour!Become a member of the OI and support our work both at home and in the field. To join, click on: https://oi.uchicago.edu/memberBook your visit to the OI today. For more information, visit: https://oi100.uchicago.edu/visit-museumWe have adopted health and safety protocols under the guidance of the University of Chicago and developed in conjunction with University of Chicago Medicine in order to promote a safe and enjoyable experience when visiting us.
Ytasha Womack, OI Video Podcast | Afrofuturism: Ancient Egypt in Speculative Fiction The Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures 2021-06-19 | Time as a web, weaved in storytelling to offer a remix of narratives exploring who we are and how we got here. Author Ytasha Womack, "Afrofuturism: The World of Black Sci-Fi and Fantasy Culture," joins us for a discussion that examines the Black Speculative Arts Movement in general and the roles that ancient Egyptian culture and religion play in her upcoming graphic novel, "Blak Kube." To explore this topic, look for "Afrofuturism" by Ytasha Womack, Lawrence Hill Books, 2013. Available everywhere books are sold. The graphic novel "Blak Kube" is coming soon!This podcast continues our Contemporary Artist/Ancient Voices series, a set of conversations with artists who draw inspiration from the ancient Middle East. These conversations focus on individual artists interpretations of the ancient world, and are not intended to provide historical accuracy.To support OI research, become a member of the Oriental Institute. To explore the benefits of joining, please visit: https://oi.uchicago.edu/join-and-give/become-memberPlease excuse the audio and video quality, this was recorded at home during the pandemic.2021, Oriental InstituteImage credits and original art:Tim Fielder, InfinitumJohn JenningsAlbum covers:The ArchAndroid, Janelle Monáe, Wonderland Arts Society, Atlantic, Bad Boy, 2013Raise!, Earth Wind and Fire, ARC, Columbia, 1981Next Lifetime, Erykah Badu, Kedar Records, 1997Intro Music: bensound.com
