OI Podcast Episode 9

Plague Prayers of the Ancient Hittites

Theo van den Hout

Early in the 14th Century BCE, the Hittites faced a twenty year plague. How did these ancient Anatolians deal with pandemics? While the methods may be different, not much has changed.

Join Theo van den Hout, the Arthur and Joanne Rasmussen Professor of Anatolian Languages and Cultures, OI, for a discussion on plague prayers and scapegoating rituals used to combat plague in the ancient Hittite world.

A video version of this discussion with images can be viewed on the Oriental Institute YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/CNAEjsBYFKE

To 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/member

Please excuse the audio and video, this podcast was recorded at-home.

Uncovering History Episode 8

Searching the Hittite Skies

Emily Smith

PhD student in Hittitology, OI

Just in time for summer stargazing, Emily Smith joins Steven Townshend for a discussion on comets, eclipses, and other celestial occurrences in the ancient skies.

To support this and all of our research, become a member of the Oriental Institute. To explore the benefits of joining, please visit: oi.uchicago.edu/member

Uncovering History Episode 7

Awakening the Dead for Love Part 2 | Robert Ritner, Rowe Professor of Egyptology, and Foy Scalf, OI

In this episode Steven talks from home with Robert Ritner, the Rowe Professor of Egyptology, OI, and Foy Scalf, head of the OI research archives to continue the conversation about their recently published, and unique, erotic love spell from ancient Egypt written on papyrus in Demotic.

A video version of this discussion with images can be viewed on the Oriental Institute YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/c_tgomCPDcg

To support this and all of our research, become a member of the Oriental Institute. To explore the benefits of joining, please visit: oi.uchicago.edu/member

Awakening the Dead for Love | Robert Ritner, Rowe Professor of Egyptology, and Foy Scalf, OI

In this episode Steven talks from home with Robert Ritner, the Rowe Professor of Egyptology, OI, and Foy Scalf, head of the OI research archives to explore their recently published, and unique, erotic love spell from ancient Egypt written on papyrus in Demotic.

A video version of this discussion with images can be viewed on the Oriental Institute YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/VadMR0RW4CY

To 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/member

Joey Cross, PhD candidate in the department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Chicago, presents an at-home lecture that explores the elements of storytelling in the Achaemenid and Hellenistic periods, while shining a light on how scholars reconstruct the world of this art form.

Joey is currently writing a dissertation on novellas written in Egypt and Judea during the Achaemenid and Hellenistic periods. This interdisciplinary project explores a new type of storytelling shared uniquely by these two cultures, with remarkably similar literary features, cultural concerns, and social contexts. Joey also teaches online courses for the OI and contributes to the museum's docent training program.

This lecture is part of our weekly at-home social media exploration of the ancient Middle East. Join us on OI social media for up-to-date content and themes!

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Our lectures are free and available to the public thanks to the generous support of our members. To become a member of the OI, please visit: http://bit.ly/2AWGgF7

This audio recording was originally presented as an illustrated lecture on October 3, 2018. The video of this lecture is available on the OI YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/1d9npCDAbE0

Oriental Institute Membership lecture for Centennial

The Rise of Ancient Israel and Other Problematic Entities

Ayelet Gilboa, Director of the Zinman Institute of Archaeology

This audio recording was originally presented as an illustrated lecture on October 2, 2019. The video of this lecture is available on the OI YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/H1FnyQgFNBE.

Our lectures are free and available to the public thanks to the generous support of our members. To become a member, please visit: bit.ly/2AWGgF7

Exploring the Roots of the Vine: The History and Archaeology of the Earliest Wines

Stephen Batiuk

Stephen Batiuk examines new archaeological fieldwork and biomolecular chemistry and genetics that are pushing the origins of wine back to the Neolithic period. Batiuk explores how ancient migration possibly led to the spread of wine culture across the Near East and Mediterranean world.

This audio recording was originally presented as an illustrated lecture on October 3, 2018. The video of this lecture is available on the OI YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/sWVY2g0JyjI .

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

OI Centennial Year Members' Lecture

"On Judicial Violence in Mesopotamia: The Problem of an Eye for an Eye"

Martha Roth

Chauncey S. Boucher Distinguished Service Professor of Assyriology

Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations

University of Chicago

Oriental Institute

This audio recording was originally presented as an illustrated lecture on March 4, 2020. The video of this lecture is available on the OI YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/qhlx1CPVRnc.

Our lectures are free and available to the public thanks to the generous support of our members. To become a member of the OI, please visit: bit.ly/2AWGgF7

Star Wars and Religion

Russell Johnson

University of Chicago Divinity School

Russell Johnson, University of Chicago Divinity School, uses the core episodes of George Lucas's epic vision to explore several of the worlds religious traditions. This lecture is based on Russell's popular University of Chicago course, Star Wars and Religion.

This audio recording was originally presented as an illustrated lecture on December 23, 2019. The video of this lecture is available on the OI YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/wzv7SvY5rWQ.

Our lectures are free and available to the public thanks to the generous support of our members. To become a member of the OI, please visit: http://bit.ly/2AWGgF7

The Marija Gimbutas Memorial Lecture

Anatolians on the Move: From Kurgans to Kanesh

Petra Goedegebuure

Associate Professor of Hittitology

Last year Sir Colin Renfrew opened the Marija Gimbutas lecture series acknowledging that she was essentially right when she said that the Proto-Indo-Europeans came from north of the Black Sea and then dispersed east and west. And you may recall that Colin Renfrew originally said that Indo-Europeans came out of Anatolia. So what he did was, acknowledging that she was correct, and he used very recent ancient DNA research that really show that Proto-Indo-Europeans are from the north of the Black Sea, but he left open what happened in Anatolia. So what I want to talk about is the Hittites who are from Anatolia. They are kind of an outlier. We do not know how and when they arrived from north of the Black Sea. And this is what I want to explore. So I want to look at what do the Hittites say themselves about their origins, what legends do they have, what do models—linguistic models of language contact—tell us about what happened in prehistory in Anatolia. And finally I want to incorporate some very very recent ancient DNA research basically published in 2020, so this month, and see if that can bring this a little bit closer to understand how the Hittites arrived in Kanesh.

This audio recording was originally presented as an illustrated lecture on Feruary 5, 2020. The video of this lecture is available on the OI YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/Pe4jnBdVxjw

Our lectures are free and available to the public thanks to the generous support of our members. To become a member, please visit: bit.ly/2AWGgF7