While the pandemic keeps us apart, colleagues are working hard to find ways to organise virtual conferences. The 67th RAI is hosted by Turin this July. Elena Devecchi and Stefano de Martino explain what to expect this year, and what it means to Turin to host a RAI now. Walther Sallaberger explains the IAA's role in coordinating the RAIs. 

Reinhard reveals the wealth of information recorded in the so-called "astronomical diaries". The astronomical component was, and still is, a valuable resource. But there is so much more. The diaries document fascinating historical details, help us understand the Babylonian economy, and offer remarkable details about the ancient environment. 

2:32 introduction to astronomical diaries
5:40 what do the diaries say?
10:37 who wrote them?
12:21 why were they written?
13:47 why are they important?
16:23 relation to other texts
19:19 what they tell us about the Babylonian economy
22:21 what they tell us about the environment
25:21 computer aided analysis

Reinhard's Academia page: https://oeaw.academia.edu/ReinhardPirngruber 

Music by Ruba Hillawi

Website: http://wedgepod.org

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSM7ZlAAgOXv4fbTDRyrWgw

Email: [email protected]

Twitter: @wedge_pod 

Patreon: http://Patreon.com/WedgePod

Müge introduces us to the Hittites and their artistic world. We focus on kings, and why there are so few depictions of kings in human form. What do they look like? What are they communicating and who to? What does it tell us about the relationship between human and divine worlds?

3:45 nature and scope of Hittite art

7:22 who is it for?

10:49 relation to other ancient Middle Eastern traditions

12:41 why are there so few representations of kings in human form?

15:37 individuality or timeless kingship?

18:25 what does the king look like? 

21:03 portraits or generic forms?

22:22 relation between human and divine worlds

23:55 can we identify historical events in art?

 
Müge's university page: http://arkeo.bilkent.edu.tr/muge.html

Müge's Academia page: https://bilkent.academia.edu/mdurusu

Music by Ruba Hillawi

Website: http://wedgepod.org

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSM7ZlAAgOXv4fbTDRyrWgw 

Email: [email protected] 

Twitter: @wedge_pod  

Patreon: http://Patreon.com/WedgePod 

Adelheid, Nicolò, and Ingolf explain about the ICAANE. Why was it started, and how did it become what it is today? What does it take to organise an ICAANE? What lessons were learned from the recent, virtual ICAANE? And what can we expect from future ICAANEs? What can be done to make them more inclusive?

 
Adelheid:

2:49 About ICAANE

5:10 Scope of ICAANE

8:11 Who runs it?

10:22 Logistics of in-person ICAANE

Nicolò

14:21 Significance of ICAANE

16:20 Logistics of virtual ICAANE

23:17 Successes of virtual ICAANE Bologna

Ingolf

27:17 Why is ICAANE always in Europe?

28:55 What can we expect from ICAANE 2023 in Copenhagen?

34:10 Inclusion, and the future of ICAANE

 

Access to ICAANE 12 Bologna lectures: https://12icaane.site.ibrida.io 

ICAANE 12 Bologna website: https://eventi.unibo.it/12icaane 

OrientLab YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IjpFbH2DRU 

Music by Ruba Hillawi

Website: http://wedgepod.org

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSM7ZlAAgOXv4fbTDRyrWgw 

Email: [email protected] 

Twitter: @wedge_pod  

Patreon: http://Patreon.com/WedgePod 

The world’s first Assyrian museum opened in 1847 in Paris, at the Louvre. Since then, the Louvre has curated one of the most important collections of antiquities from the ancient Middle East. What is the modern approach to curation there? Ariane discusses the curatorial role, from displays, research, combatting illegal antiquities, heritage protection, and partnerships with colleagues and institutions in the Middle East. 

2:29 what a curator at the Louvre does 

4:12 display at the Louvre

12:28 how research fits in

15:50 acquisitions and combatting illegal antiquities 

20:40 Louvre’s activities in the Middle East

25:50 about the department of Ancient Near Eastern Antiquities 

30:01 what the future might hold at the Louvre

Ariane in the news: https://www.culture.gouv.fr/Presse/Communiques-de-presse/Nomination-d-Ariane-Thomas-a-la-tete-du-departement-des-antiquites-orientales-du-musee-du-Louvre 

On the Louvre website: https://www.louvre.fr/recherche-et-conservation/departement-des-antiquites-orientales 

Louvre on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MuseeLouvre 

Louvre on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/louvre

ALIPH: https://www.aliph-foundation.org/

Music by Ruba Hillawi

Website: http://wedgepod.org

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSM7ZlAAgOXv4fbTDRyrWgw 

Email: [email protected] 

Twitter: @wedge_pod  

Patreon: http://Patreon.com/WedgePod 

Many of us have spent a lot of time at home this year. What would that have been like in ancient Babylon? Heather talks about housing in the first millennium BC. What were houses like, who lived in them, and how did they use them? She discusses what houses meant to Babylonians, and how they were split and reconstituted by the family. 

 
2:34 where was housing in the city?

4:13 where did people want to live?

6:42 did houses have kerb appeal?

8:54 a typical house

12:17 how rooms were used

15:13 who lived in a typical house?

18:09 keeping a family home

22:04 what about water?

26:01 how did you find where someone lived?

https://www.nmc.utoronto.ca/people/directories/all-faculty/heather-d-baker 

https://hcommons.org/members/apkallatu/ 

https://utoronto.academia.edu/HeatherDBaker 

Music by Ruba Hillawi

Website: http://wedgepod.org

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSM7ZlAAgOXv4fbTDRyrWgw 

Email: [email protected] 

Twitter: @wedge_pod  

Patreon: http://Patreon.com/WedgePod 

Jaafar explains his love for the ancient waterways of southern Iraq. He tells us why they are so important, and what they can tell us about life in ancient Iraq. How do you find ancient waterways? And how do you investigate them? 

2:44 Jaafar's interest in waterways

4:26 why are they important?

6:35 what they can tell us

11:39 the relationship between sites and waterways

17:06 how to study waterways

21:36 collaborations

Twitter: https://twitter.com/JaafarJotheri 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001588284937 

Publications: https://scholar.google.com/citations?hl=en&user=9zuyq4UAAAAJ  

University website: http://qu.edu.iq/arc/?page_id=4405  

Nahrein Network: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/nahrein/project-team/core-team

Music by Ruba Hillawi

Website: http://wedgepod.org

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSM7ZlAAgOXv4fbTDRyrWgw 

Email: [email protected] 

Twitter: @wedge_pod  

Patreon: http://Patreon.com/WedgePod 

21. Fabienne Huber Vuillet: Meanings from the mundane

Fabienne introduces us to the Mesopotamian science of predicting the future based on things that happened during daily life. What might have meaning, and how would you find it? Who used this kind of expertise? And was there anything you could do to change the future predicted for you? 

2:34 omens from daily life

5:20 what had meaning

10:20 how did divination worked

16:49 who used the omens

19:51 could you change the future?

25:15 how the mass of knowledge was organised

Project site: https://www.unige.ch/lettres/antic/unites/mesopotamie/projets/edition-de-la-serie-divinatoire-shumma-alu/

 
Music by Ruba Hillawi

Website: http://wedgepod.org

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSM7ZlAAgOXv4fbTDRyrWgw 

Email: [email protected] 

Twitter: @wedge_pod  

Patreon: http://Patreon.com/WedgePod 

Xiaoli introduces us to silver in the Sumerian city of Umma. She explains where it came from and how people got hold of it. Who was able to use it and what for? She tells us how we might understand whether it could be called money. And explains the physical form in which silver circulated. 

5:42 What is money?

8:46 Who used silver?

13:00 How they got silver

16:55 Did silver actually circulate?

22:26 How was value set?

Music by Ruba Hillawi

Website: http://wedgepod.org

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSM7ZlAAgOXv4fbTDRyrWgw 

Email: [email protected] 

Twitter: @wedge_pod  

Patreon: http://Patreon.com/WedgePod