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. To download or purchase the book, please visit: https://isac.uchicago.edu/research/publications/ISACMP/isacmp2

OI Podcast Episode 16 Afrofuturism: Ancient Egypt in Speculative Fiction Ytasha Womack Time as a web, weaved in storytelling to offer a remix of narratives exploring who we are and how we got here. Author Ytasha Womack, "Afrofuturism: The World of Black Sci-Fi and Fantasy Culture," joins us for a discussion that examines the Black Speculative Arts Movement in general and the roles that ancient Egyptian culture and religion play in her upcoming graphic novel, "Blak Kube." To explore this topic, look for "Afrofuturism" by Ytasha Womack, Lawrence Hill Books, 2013. Available everywhere books are sold. The graphic novel "Blak Kube" is coming soon! This podcast continues our Contemporary Artist/Ancient Voices series, a set of conversations with artists who draw inspiration from the ancient Middle East. These conversations focus on individual artists interpretations of the ancient world, and are not intended to provide historical accuracy. A video version of this discussion with images can be viewed on the Oriental Institute YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/bPBnrU8mUnI To support OI research, become a member of the Oriental Institute. To explore the benefits of joining, please visit: https://oi.uchicago.edu/join-and-give/become-member Please excuse the audio and video quality, this was recorded at home during the pandemic. 2021, Oriental Institute Image credits and original art: Tim Fielder, Infinitum John Jennings Album covers: The ArchAndroid, Janelle Monáe, Wonderland Arts Society, Atlantic, Bad Boy, 2013 Raise!, Earth Wind and Fire, ARC, Columbia, 1981 Next Lifetime, Erykah Badu, Kedar Records, 1997 Music: Andrew List Intro Music: bensound.com

OI Podcast Episode 15 Egyptian Influences/Contemporary Music Andrew List Ancient Egypt offers a feast of inspiration. From the mammoth carved temples to the intimate, painted tombs, visitors to these sites often daydream a fantasy of what life must have been like. Earlier this year, composer Andrew List, Berklee College of Music, reached out to the OI for permission to use translations from the Book of the Dead by OI scholar Thomas Allen George in a composition that is influenced by his own recent travels and a lifelong fascination with this ancient religion. Join us as we listen to selections from List's works, The Temple of Dendera and From the Heart of Ra, while exploring how the ancient Egyptian world continues to influence his compositions. This podcast continues our Contemporary Artist/Ancient Voices series, a set of conversations with artists who draw inspiration from the ancient Middle East. These conversations focus on individual artists interpretations of the ancient world, and are not intended to provide historical accuracy. To listen to The Temple of Dendera and From the Heart of Ra visit: https://soundcloud.com/andrewlist/sets/from-the-temple-of-dandera-twelve-etudes-for-piano-inspired-by-the-egyptian-zodiac https://soundcloud.com/andrewlist/from-the-heart-of-ra-for-viola-and-piano-1 A video version of this discussion with images can be viewed on the Oriental Institute YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/aP_TkAuD_JI To support OI research, become a member of the Oriental Institute. To explore the benefits of joining, please visit: https://oi.uchicago.edu/join-and-give/become-member 2021, Oriental Institute Music: Andrew List Intro Music: bensound.com

OI Podcast Episode 14 The Lyre Ensemble, Part 2 Playing the Gold Lyre of Ur Contemporary music played on an ancient Lyre. The Lyre Ensemble continues a discussion on the recreation of the Gold Lyre of Ur, focusing on both the possibilities and trappings of creating music on an ancient replica. Andy Lowings, Jennifer Sturdy, Mark Harmer, and Stef Conner sit down with the OI for a look at their project, The Flood, a piece of music that incorporates ancient texts into a speculation on what ancient music might have sounded like. To watch part 1, visit: https://youtu.be/CimbNIhc70E To listen to part 1, visit: https://soundcloud.com/orientalinstitute/oi-podcast-episode-13-the-lyre-ensemble-part-1 Part 2 of the Lyre Ensemble podcast, continues our Contemporary Artist/Ancient Voices series, a set of conversations with artists who draw inspiration from the ancient Middle East. A video version of this discussion with images can be viewed on the Oriental Institute YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/PaWPtHdRV58 To learn more about the Lyre Ensemble, please visit: http://lyre-ensemble.com/admin/ To explore the text used in the Lyre Ensemble's recordings, click on these two dramatic interpretations of the death of Enkidu produced by the Lyre Ensemble, the first video is in Akkadian, the second is in English: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qlMQtxg-JA&t=58s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vUdllauhlvM&t=5s To support OI research, become a member of the Oriental Institute. To explore the benefits of joining, please visit: https://oi.uchicago.edu/join-and-give/become-member 2021, Oriental Institute Music: They Lyre ensemble Intro Music: bensound.com

OI Podcast Episode 13 The Lyre Ensemble, Part 1 Recreating the Gold Lyre of Ur What might ancient Mesopotamian music sound like? Inspired by both this question and the 2003 looting at the Baghdad Museum, harpist Andy Lowings set out to recreate a playable replica of the iconic Gold Lyre of Ur. Andy, along with his friend Jennifer Sturdy, enlisted the help of academics, students, artisans, and musicians to faithfully reconstruct the ancient instrument. Their journey resulted in a series of recordings, concerts, and radio broadcasts, all featuring the haunting sounds of the ancient lyre. With part 1 of the Lyre Ensemble podcast, we start our Contemporary Artist/Ancient Voices series, a set of conversations with artists who draw inspiration from the ancient Middle East. A video version of this discussion with images can be viewed on the Oriental Institute YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/CimbNIhc70E To learn more about the Lyre Ensemble, please visit: http://lyre-ensemble.com/admin/ To support OI research, become a member of the Oriental Institute. To explore the benefits of joining, please visit: https://oi.uchicago.edu/join-and-give/become-member

OI Podcast Episode 12 Demons in Ancient Egypt Rita Lucarelli From Pazuzu to Baphomet, demons in modern pop culture are figures of dark terror and fear. In the ancient world, the concepts of demons weren't always so simple. The OI's Steven Townshend sits down with Rita Lucarelli, University of California, Berkeley, for a podcast that explores the many different roles and natures of demons in the ancient Egyptian world. A video version of this discussion with images can be viewed on the Oriental Institute YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/68ZXXYEX3Zo To support OI 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.

In the Wake of the Phoenicians: Makers of the Mediterranean Presented by David Schloen, OI From olive oil to the alphabet, the Phoenicians left a lasting mark on the Mediterranean. The OI's David Schloen guides us through exciting new research into this ancient civilization and anticipates future excavations of Phoenician colonies in coastal Spain. In the Wake of the Phoenicians: Makers of the Mediterranean **This is an at home lecture, please excuse the audio and video quality. This audio recording was originally presented as an illustrated lecture on November 4, 2020. The video of this lecture is available on the OI YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/fofxL3WEhZc 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 2020, OI Music credit: bensound.com

OI Podcast Episode 11 Who Is Medjed? Ilaria Cariddi An obscure Egyptian deity has exploded into Japan's popular culture. Who is this mysterious marshmallow? And why is it becoming more popular than Isis and Osiris? The OI's Steven Townshend sits down with Ilaria Cariddi, research fellow at the University of Florence, to try and make sense of this this enigmatic creature. A video version of this discussion with images can be viewed on the Oriental Institute YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/L5uibTPClJ0 To support OI 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.

Truth or Consequences: The Public Display of Things from the Holy Land Presented by Morag M. Kersel, DePaul University When museums place items on display they take on multiple roles as custodians of sacred relics, shapers of public interpretation, fiduciary institutions, and educational establishments. The public counts on the museum to tell the truth, to act ethically, and to be responsible and transparent in the presentation of the past–they place their trust in the organization. This lecture examines the differing strands of attachment to objects and the consequences created by the desire to “own,” interpret, and display the material remains from the Holy Land. A survey of exhibitions of artifacts from the Holy Land at institutions like the Royal Ontario Museum, the Israel Museum, and the Museum of the Bible allows for the consideration of truth and consequences in these museums. **This is an at home lecture, please excuse the audio quality. To learn more about the Eastern Badia Archaeological Project, click this link: https://oi.uchicago.edu/research/projects/eastern-badia This audio recording was originally presented as an illustrated lecture on October 14, 2020. The video of this lecture is available on the OI YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/WwWWQqT6OwQ 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 2020, Oriental Institute Music credit: bensound.com

OI Podcast Episode 10 Plague Prayers of the Ancient Hittites Part 2 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 part two in the 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/7rhpDi86xm4 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 Please excuse the audio and video, this podcast was recorded at-home.

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! Subscribe to our Oriental Institute YouTube channel to receive first notice of all of our future lectures and live streams. 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