Inventing the Sumerians: Language, Literature & Politics in Early Mesopotamia
Wednesday, March 10, 2021, at 8 PM EST via Zoom

Gonzalo Rubio
Pennsylvania State University

Scholars and the public alike often use the label “Sumerians” when they refer to those responsible for the development of the earliest city-states in southern Mesopotamia.  There was, however, no such thing as a Sumerian ethnic identity in the third millennium BCE.

The Sumerian language was spoken in the southernmost region of Mesopotamia (Sumer).  Nevertheless, it was only after this language ceased to be anyone’s mother tongue, by the end of the third millennium, that the concerted process of the cultural production of Sumerian literature began.  This articulation of a cultural tradition in Sumerian, from legendary kings to mythology, coincides with the displacement of the centers of power towards the north, outside Sumer, especially during the Babylonian dynasty of Hammurabi.

This illustrated lecture will explore the political and theological mechanisms that lay and somehow still lie behind the invention of a Sumerian identity.

Gonzalo Rubio is Associate Professor of Classics & Ancient Mediterranean Studies at Penn State University

BAF and its sister organization in Northern Virginia (BASONOVA), are delighted to announce a joint resumption of their lecture series on the ancient Near East and Eastern Mediterranean. This series will be broadcast “live” via Zoom, and “attendees” will be able to direct questions of the presenters.

How to Access the Lecture Series

We will announce additions to the line-up of presenters on a regular basis, as it is our aim to offer more than one event each month. Members will also receive a regular listing of recommended lectures in the public domain.

If you wish to subscribe to the series*, please access the BASONOVA PayPal portal and use a credit card for a one-year subscription ($35 per family). Go to: http://www.basonova.org/membership-form.html

It is also possible to access the series one lecture at a time, for $6 per lecture. To receive your single-lecture Zoom invitation, go to: http://www.basonova.org/next-lecture-reservation.html

*Maryland residents will be enrolled in BAF and Virginians will be enrolled in BASONOVA. There is no advantage in enrolling in one group versus the other, only that when in-person lectures begin again you will be apportioned to the group that matches your state of residence.

Wednesday, March 31 at 8 pm via Zoom

From Sanctuary to Synagogue

Robert Stieglitz, Professor Emeritus at Rutgers University

This illustrated lecture details the origins of the synagogue and its decorative arts. This religious institution and its practice have roots that can be traced back to the Biblical traditions of the “sanctuary”(miškan), also known as the Tabernacle, and the subsequent permanent “house” (bayit), or temple (miqdaš) built for the God of Israel.

Special attention will be given to the artistic motifs unearthed in the ancient synagogues unearthed in Israel, structures primarily datable to the Byzantine period (4th-7th centuries C.E.). The synagogues and their art can be seen as the culmination of a long process of development, whose roots are traceable to the Hellenistic era (3rd-1st centuries B.C.E.).

BAF and its sister organization in Northern Virginia (BASONOVA), are delighted to announce a joint resumption of their lecture series on the ancient Near East and Eastern Mediterranean. This series will be broadcast “live” via Zoom, and “attendees” will be able to direct questions of the presenters.

How to Access the Lecture Series

We will announce additions to the line-up of presenters on a regular basis, as it is our aim to offer more than one event each month. Members will also receive a regular listing of recommended lectures in the public domain.

If you wish to subscribe to the series*, please access the BASONOVA PayPal portal and use a credit card for a one-year subscription ($35 per family). Go to: http://www.basonova.org/membership-form.html

It is also possible to access the series one lecture at a time, for $6 per lecture. To receive your single-lecture Zoom invitation, go to: http://www.basonova.org/next-lecture-reservation.html

*Maryland residents will be enrolled in BAF and Virginians will be enrolled in BASONOVA. There is no advantage in enrolling in one group versus the other, only that when in-person lectures begin again you will be apportioned to the group that matches your state of residence.

Wednesday, April 14, 2021, at 8 pm EST via Zoom

The Real Lives of Women in Biblical Times

Beth Alpert Nakhai, University of Arizona

The Hebrew Bible (Tanakh/Old Testament) is filled with stories about women, but no single story provides a complete picture of women’s lives – nor is any biblical woman meant to be typical of all Israelite women. So, how can we more fully understand the lives of Israelite women – and in that way, develop a fuller understanding of the lives of all ancient Israelites, those mentioned in the Bible and those the Bible never discussed?

Archaeology offers an alternate resource, one that allows us to go beyond the Bible in order to examine everyday life in Iron Age Israel. It brings us into villages and homes, and shows us dishes and tools, shrines and figurines, workplaces and tombs. This illustrated presentation uses archaeological resources to explore the lives of Israelite women, helping us place the biblical narratives into their ancient real-life setting.

Beth Alpert Nakhai, is an Associate Professor at the Arizona Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Arizona

BAF and its sister organization in Northern Virginia (BASONOVA), are delighted to announce a joint resumption of their lecture series on the ancient Near East and Eastern Mediterranean. This series will be broadcast “live” via Zoom, and “attendees” will be able to direct questions of the presenters.

How to Access the Lecture Series

We will announce additions to the line-up of presenters on a regular basis, as it is our aim to offer more than one event each month. Members will also receive a regular listing of recommended lectures in the public domain.

If you wish to subscribe to the series*, please access the BASONOVA PayPal portal and use a credit card for a one-year subscription ($35 per family). Go to: http://www.basonova.org/membership-form.html

It is also possible to access the series one lecture at a time, for $6 per lecture. To receive your single-lecture Zoom invitation, go to: http://www.basonova.org/next-lecture-reservation.html

*Maryland residents will be enrolled in BAF and Virginians will be enrolled in BASONOVA. There is no advantage in enrolling in one group versus the other, only that when in-person lectures begin again you will be apportioned to the group that matches your state of residence.