ISAC Podcast

Uncovering History Episode 3

In this podcast, Steven Townshend talks to Tasha Vorderstrasse about the Umayyad sieges of Constantinople, Greek Fire, and their influences on Game of Thrones.

Become a member of the OI to keep up with all the latest updates: oi.uchicago.edu/member

Uncovering History Episode 2

In this podcast, Steven Townshend talks to Tasha Vorderstrasse about the Scythians and how they potentially inspired the Dothraki in George R.R. Martin’s Game of Thrones.

Become a member of the OI to keep up with all the latest updates: oi.uchicago.edu/member

1177 BC: The Year Civilization Collapsed

by Eric Cline

Professor of Classics and Anthropology

Chair of the Department of Classical and Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations; Director of the Capitol Archaeological Institute at The George Washington University, in Washington D.C.

For more than three hundred years during the Late Bronze Age, from about 1500 BC to 1200 BC, the Mediterranean region played host to a complex international world in which Egyptians, Mycenaeans, Minoans, Hittites, Assyrians, Babylonians, Cypriots, and Canaanites all interacted, creating a cosmopolitan and globalized world-system such as has only rarely been seen before the current day. It may have been this very internationalism that contributed to the apocalyptic disaster that ended the Bronze Age. When the end came, as it did after centuries of cultural and technological evolution, the civilized and international world of the Mediterranean regions came to a dramatic halt in a vast area stretching from Greece and Italy in the west to Egypt, Canaan, and Mesopotamia in the east. Large empires and small kingdoms, that had taken centuries to evolve, collapsed rapidly. With their end came the world’s first recorded Dark Ages. It was not until centuries later that a new cultural renaissance emerged in Greece and the other affected areas, setting the stage for the evolution of Western society as we know it today. Blame for the end of the Late Bronze Age is usually laid squarely at the feet of the so-called Sea Peoples, known to us from the records of the Egyptian pharaohs Merneptah and Ramses III. However, as was the case with the fall of the Roman Empire, the end of the Bronze Age empires in this region was not the result of a single invasion, but of multiple causes. The Sea Peoples may well have been responsible for some of the destruction that occurred at the end of the Late Bronze Age, but it is much more likely that a concatenation of events, both human and natural — including earthquake storms, droughts, rebellions, and systems collapse — coalesced to create a “perfect storm” that brought the age to an end.

This audio recording was originally presented as an illustrated lecture on February 25, 2015. The video of this lecture is available on the OI YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/hyry8mgXiTk

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

Uncovering History Episode 1

In this podcast, Steven Townshend talks to Tasha Vorderstrasse about the queen Semiramis, the connection to the Assyrian queen Shammuramat, and the accounts of classical authors like Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus.

Become a member of the OI to keep up with all the latest updates: https://oi.uchicago.edu/member

A Game of Thrones and Coffins: The Death and Resurrection of Osiris

by Robert Ritner

Professor of Egyptology

This particular topic if one of great significance in the Western world. Robert Ritner discusses the primary Egyptian myth that defines many aspects of the ancient Egyptian civilization: the myth of Isis and Osiris, both of whom sit upon thrones and both of whose names are written with the hieroglyph for the throne. This game of thrones begins when Seth schemes to murder his brother Osiris as he coveted the throne of Egypt.

This audio recording was originally presented as an illustrated lecture. The video of this lecture is available on the OI YouTube channel: youtu.be/NWHOIW0ih3Q

This lecture was given to accompany the Osiris and Isis Ballet Performance, which can be viewed on YouTube at the following link:

https://youtu.be/XdyAwmXIy30

This program has been generously funded by University of Chicago Arts Council.

Oriental Institute Oral History Project

Courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution for the Smithsonian Institution Archives

Part 1 of an interview with Robert McCormick Adams (1926–2018), former Director of the Oriental Institute and Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution

Interview conducted by Pamela H. Henson in the office of Robert McCormick Adams in the Smithsonian Institution building

May 26, 1994

Pots from the City of Sin: The Consequences of Buying Holy Land Antique

by Morag Kersel

Associate Professor and Director of the Museum Studies Minor Program Anthropology

Oriental Institute Members Lecture

Whatever the motive, the demand for archaeological artifacts from the Holy Land (modern Jordan, Israel, and the Palestinian Territories) results in archaeological site destruction, theft from museums, and a compromised understanding of the past. Critical to understanding the mechanics of the antiquities trade and the motivations of the associated actors is the recognition of the commonality of demand – everyone wants to own a piece of the Holy Land. “Who doesn’t want a pot from the city of sin?” declared an interviewee when asked why they were purchasing an Early Bronze Age (3600-2000 BCE) artifact possibly from the site of Bab adh-Dhra’ (identified by some as biblical Sodom). Over 15 years of investigation have led to interesting insights related to why individuals and institutions want to own artifacts from the Holy Land? Tracing how pots move from the mound to the market to the mantelpiece or museum involves archaeological survey, aerial investigations using unpiloted aerial vehicles, archival research, and ethnographic interviews in order to understand better the competing claims for these archaeological objects and the deleterious effects on the landscape.

This audio recording was originally presented as an illustrated lecture on March 6, 2019. The video of this lecture is available on the OI YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/NWHOIW0ih3Q

Oriental Institute Oral History Project

Interview with Hervé Reculeau, Associate Professor of Assyriology

In the Research Archives of the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago

December 13, 2018

In this faculty research highlight, Professor Reculeau discusses his work as an Assyriologist and highlights his collaboration in the international project Coping with Changing Climates in Early Antiquity: Comparative Approaches between Empiricism and Theory.

This audio recording was originally recorded as a video interview on December 13, 2018. The video of this interview is available on the OI YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/albBUlAielc

Entangled Lives: Intercultural Interactions in the Nubian Borderlands

by Stuart Tyson Smith

University of California, Santa Barbara

Egyptologists have often depicted Nubia as inferior, dominated both militarily and culturally by its northern neighbor. Stuart Smith explores how recent archaeological work in Nubia is breaking the simple Egyptian-Nubian dichotomy.

This audio recording was originally presented as an illustrated lecture on November 7, 2018. The video of this lecture is available on the OI YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/EKAVLKKGve0

Due to projection and audio issues in the lecture hall, a portion of this lecture is presented with dim lighting and general mic pickup. 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

Why the West Rules — For Now

by Ian Morris

Ian Morris, Professor of History at Stanford University, lecture Why the West Rules -- For Now: The Patterns of History, and What They Reveal about the Future at the Oriental Institute on October 2, 2013.

This audio recording was originally presented as an illustrated lecture. The video of this lecture is available on the OI YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/wnqS7G3LmMo

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