Channel Title: The Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures Channel Description: Located on the campus of the University of Chicago, ISAC is a research organization and museum devoted to the study of ancient West Asia and North Africa. Founded in 1919, the Institute is an internationally recognized pioneer in the archaeology, philology, and history of these regions. Join us on ISAC YouTube channel as we bring the cutting edge of scholarship from both ISAC and world academics into your home. Explore our shared past with a showcase of the history, art, and archaeology of ancient Egypt, Nubia, Persia, Mesopotamia, Syria, Anatolia, Megiddo, and more. <video> ISAC Short Class: How to Become an Art Historian Class 4 Description: But is what we see what we see? </video> <video> Emily Teeter | The Epigraphic Survey and Chicago House Description: The Epigraphic Survey and Chicago House Celebrating Emily Teeters new book, Chicago on the Nile: 100 Years of the Epigraphic Survey Emily Teeter, ISAC (Retired) In 1924, an Egyptologist, an artist, and a photographer—the staff of the University of Chicago’s new Epigraphic Survey—began the task of recording the scenes and inscriptions carved on the walls of the enormous, 3,000-year-old temple of Pharaoh Ramesses III at Medinet Habu near Luxor. It was the culmination of a long-standing dream of James Henry Breasted, the first American Egyptologist and founder of ISAC (then the Oriental Institute), to both copy and publish all the historical texts in the Nile Valley. The Epigraphic Survey was established to undertake this unimaginably ambitious program of field research. A century later, the Epigraphic Survey continues to fulfill Breasted’s mission. Housed at Chicago House in Luxor, the expedition has documented some of the most important—and endangered—records to survive from ancient Egypt, using a well-established and tested method to create highly accurate facsimiles of the carvings and texts and to publish them as a permanent archive. </video> <video> Marie-Laure Chambrade | Flying Under a Screen of Clouds Description: Flying Under a Screen of Clouds: A Snapshot of Aerial Archaeology in West Asia ISAC special exhibition lecture for Pioneers of the Sky: Aerial Archaeology and the Black Desert Marie-Laure Chambrade, exhibition curator For more information on Pioneers of the Sky, visit: https://isac.uchicago.edu/pioneers-sky Close 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. </video> <video> ISAC Short Class: How to become an Art Historian Week 2 Description: What is it that we have done, when we did Art History? </video> <video> ISAC Short Class: How to Become An Art Historian Week Three Description: So, what exactly is it that we do, when we do Art History ? </video> <video> Jacquelyn Williamson | The Sun Temple of Queen Nefertiti Description: Jacquelyn Williamson, George Mason University The Sun Temple of Queen Nefertiti The Sun Temple of Queen Nefertiti reviews the history of the Amarna Period and the lives of King Akhenaten and his Queen Nefertiti. This talk reviews the evidence from the site called 'Kom el-Nana' at Tell el-Amarna, which demonstrates the area was Nefertiti's sun temple. The talk also reviews the function and purpose of the temple, and how they reveal the role of the queen in her husband's iconoclastic religion. Dr. Jacquelyn Williamson is an Egyptologist, with a special focus on gender and religious power. Her book, Nefertiti’s Sun Temple: A New Cult Complex at Tell el-Amarna, part of Brill’s Harvard Egyptology Series, was published in September 2016. She is involved in the ongoing investigation of Kom el-Nana at Tell el-Amarna in Egypt, the site of a sun temple associated with Queen Nefertiti, which is the subject of her first book. She has been a member of several archaeological missions in Egypt and has worked in many museums including the Egyptian Museum in Cairo and the Harvard Semitic Museum, and has held teaching and research positions at UC Berkeley, Harvard University, and Brandeis University. Dr. Williamson teaches classes on the art and archaeology of the Ancient Mediterranean World. </video> <video> Rune Nyord | The Modern Making of the Ancient Egyptian "Book of the Dead" Description: The Modern Making of the Ancient Egyptian "Book of the Dead" Rune Nyord, Associate Professor of Ancient Egyptian Art and Archaeology, Emory University The Egyptian “Book of the Dead” is one of the most famous products of ancient Egyptian culture, rivaling pyramids and mummified bodies in the modern imagination. Equally well known is the standard interpretation of the work as a guide to the afterlife containing literal descriptions and depictions of what the ancient Egyptians believed the hereafter was like. However, the work itself is rather coy about what it is actually about, raising the question of how we came to be so certain of this conventional interpretation. This talk traces the modern conception of the “Book of the Dead” from its 19th-century beginnings, arguing that in many ways, key expectations were coming more from the Christian background of early scholars than from the ancient sources which were only gradually and imperfectly becoming known. The second part addresses the resulting question: If the modern understanding of the “Book of the Dead” is so historically contingent, what might a framework look like that is less burdened with modern conceptual baggage and more firmly rooted in ancient social and intellectual contexts? </video> <video> ISAC Short Class: How to become an Art Historian Class Five Description: But is what we see a story told ? </video> <video> Eric H. Cline | After 1177 BC Description: After 1177 BC: The Survival of Civilizations Eric H. Cline, George Washington University AIA National Lecture In the years after 1177 BCE, many of the Late Bronze Age civilizations of the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean lay in ruins, undone by invasion, revolt, natural disasters, famine, and the demise of international trade. An interconnected world that had boasted major empires and societies, relative peace, robust commerce, and monumental architecture had been lost. “After 1177 BC,” based on Prof. Cline’s new book, traces the compelling story of what happened during the next four centuries across the Aegean and Eastern Mediterranean world. It is a story of resilience, transformation, and success, as well as failures, in an age of chaos and reconfiguration. Those societies that failed to adjust disappeared from the world stage, while others transformed themselves, resulting in a new world order that included Israelites, Philistines, Phoenicians, Neo-Hittites, Neo-Assyrians, Neo-Babylonians, and world- changing innovations such as the use of iron and standardization of the alphabet. It is now clear that this period, far from being the First Dark Age, was a new age with new inventions, new opportunities, and lessons for us today. This lecture is sponsored by the American Institute for Archaeology Lecture begins at the 10:30 mark. </video> <video> ISAC's Epipgraphic Survey Centennial Celebration Description: Celebrate 100 years of the Epigraphic Survey in Luxor, Egypt! In 1924, an Egyptologist, an artist, and a photographer—the staff of the University of Chicago’s new Epigraphic Survey—began the task of recording the scenes and inscriptions carved on the walls of the enormous, 3,000-year-old temple of Pharaoh Ramesses III at Medinet Habu near Luxor. It was the culmination of a long-standing dream of James Henry Breasted, the first American Egyptologist and founder of ISAC (then the Oriental Institute), to both copy and publish all the historical texts in the Nile Valley. The Epigraphic Survey was established to undertake this unimaginably ambitious program of field research. A century later, the Epigraphic Survey continues to fulfill Breasted’s mission. Housed at Chicago House in Luxor, the expedition has documented some of the most important—and endangered—records to survive from ancient Egypt, using a well-established and tested method to create highly accurate facsimiles of the carvings and texts and to publish them as a permanent archive. </video> <video> Yorke Rowan | Beyond the Fertile Crescent Description: Beyond the Fertile Crescent: Late Prehistoric People of the Black Desert Yorke Rowan, ISAC At first glance, the Black Desert of eastern Jordan might appear to be a landscape that only archaeologists and film crews could love, but recent research demonstrates that prehistoric people occupied the region in far greater concentrations than previously thought. Aerial archaeology, including satellite imagery, piloted flyovers, and unpiloted aircraft (drones) dramatically changed our perspective on how many people lived and worked in the region. In this lecture with Yorke Rowan, ISAC research professor, we will explore these new perspectives by critically examining the evidence for the built environment on the landscape, including the buildings, wheels, and the animal traps known as “desert kites.” This data suggests that the Black Desert was intensively used by people who hunted wild animals with the desert kites as well as tended flocks of domesticated sheep and goats. We will look at how aerial views dramatically shifted our ability to document anthropogenic features on the ground, and have begun to establish new understandings of how prehistoric people moved through and occupied the region. This lecture is presented in connection with the ISAC Museum special exhibition, Pioneers of the Sky: Aerial Archaeology and the Black Desert (April 25–August 18, 2024). </video> <video> The Chicago Method: The Epigraphic Survey with J. Brett McClain Description: Celebrate 100 years of epigraphic fieldwork in Luxor, Egypt. J. Brett McClain, Director, Epigraphic Survey, ISAC What is epigraphy? Why has the University of Chicago's ISAC been a leader in epigraphic fieldwork for a century? Join us for a brief discussion on the Chicago Method with survey director, J. Brett McClain. </video> <video> Daniel Schwemer | Living in a Precarious World: Magical Rituals from Ancient Mesopotamia Description: Living in a Precarious World: Magical Ritual from Ancient Mesopotamia Daniel Schwemer, Julius Maximilians Universitat Wurzburg Daniel Schwemer, the director of, joins us for a lecture that explores how the people of ancient Mesopotamia viewed and used magical rituals in daily life. </video> <video> Korshi Dosoo | Christian Egypt and its "Pagan" Past Description: Christian Egypt and its "Pagan" Past: Perspectives on Pharaonic Civilization from Coptic Magic Korshi Dosoo, Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg Korshi 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. </video> <video> ISAC Short Class Video: How to Become an Art Historian Class One Description: How to become an Art Historian Class One: What is it that we do, when we do Art History? </video>

Contacts and Links

Description

Located on the campus of the University of Chicago, ISAC is a research organization and museum devoted to the study of ancient West Asia and North Africa. Founded in 1919, the Institute is an internationally recognized pioneer in the archaeology, philology, and history of these regions.

Join us on ISAC YouTube channel as we bring the cutting edge of scholarship from both ISAC and world academics into your home. Explore our shared past with a showcase of the history, art, and archaeology of ancient Egypt, Nubia, Persia, Mesopotamia, Syria, Anatolia, Megiddo, and more.

Videos from channel