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DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260508T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260508T180000
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UID:21159-1778256000-1778263200@nelc.ucla.edu
SUMMARY:Pourdavoud Lecture Series: Sören Stark
DESCRIPTION:Next to Turquoise Domes: Excavating the City of Bukhara\n  \nFriday\, May 8\, 2026\n4:00pm\nRoyce Hall 306 and via Zoom\nRSVP Here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeae-G4tZTbwP58Uoqkg0uMyf4O7j_k9CihsdQn4Wj5AnL86Q/viewform \nThe city of Bukhara was once a key node along the fabled “Silk Roads.” Yet compared to other Central Asian cities of comparable importance\, the systematic archaeological investigation of Bukhara lacks considerably behind. This is now rapidly changing thanks to excavations conducted since 2020 by the Uzbek-American Expedition to Bukhara\, co-directed by Jamal K. Mirzaakhmedov and the presenter\, in a recently cleared area of ca. 0.8 ha next to the city’s ancient citadel and its main congregational mosque. \nSix extensive seasons of archaeological fieldwork have yielded a veritable treasure trove of new information about Bukhara’s long and complex history. This presentation will introduce new data derived from finds and observations made at a series of fortifications\, various kinds of dwellings\, workshops\, as well as burial contexts – all encountered in the excavation area. They speak to a wide range of historical phenomena and problems\, such as the potential existence of a Seleucid military colony in the area of the later city during the third century BCE\, the roots and stages of Bukhara’s urban growth as an important node within the Sogdiana trading networks during Late Antiquity (third to eighth centuries CE)\, transcontinental connections during the city’s hey-day under the Samanid dynasty during the tenth century\, and the health status of the urban populace on the eve of the Mongol invasion (late twelfth/early thirteenth century). \n  \nAbout the Speaker\nSören Stark is Professor of Central Asian Archaeology at NYU’s Institute for the Study of the Ancient World. He received his PhD in 2005 at the University Halle-Wittenberg (Germany) with a dissertation on the history and archaeology of Türk Empire in Central Eurasia between the sixth and eighth centuries CE. His publications include two monographs\, an exhibition catalogue\, and more than 70 single and co-authored articles and book chapters. He is co-editor of Brill’s Handbook of Oriental Studies\, Section 8: Uralic & Central Asian Studies (HO8)\, and member of the advisory board for the journals Studies in Late Antiquity\, Silk Roads Archaeology and Heritage\, and O’zbekiston Arxeologiyasi (Archaeology of Uzbekistan). \nStark has more than twenty years of experience in co-directing archaeological fieldwork in Central Asia (Tajikistan and Uzbekistan). Since 2011 he has co-directed the Uzbek-American Expedition to Bukhara\, which is currently conducting multidisciplinary investigations at the Final Bronze Age site of Kimirek-kum 1 in the prehistoric delta of the Zerafshan river (now part of the Kyzyl-kum desert)\, and in the old city center of Bukhara\, exploring contexts dating between the late Achaemenid period and the Mongol invasion. His previous fieldwork in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan focused on Bronze Age petroglyphs\, Iron Age kurgans\, early medieval fortresses\, and pre-Mongol high-mountain settlements.
URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/pls-soren-stark/
LOCATION:Royce 306
CATEGORIES:Iranian,NELC,Pourdavoud Institute
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/2026-05-08_Stark-web-image.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260422T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260422T180000
DTSTAMP:20260316T162845Z
CREATED:20260316T162845Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260316T162845Z
UID:21136-1776873600-1776880800@nelc.ucla.edu
SUMMARY:Pourdavoud Lecture Series: Jake Nabel
DESCRIPTION:Misunderstanding in Ancient Interstate Relations\nThe Arsacid Princes of the Roman Empire\nJake Nabel (Pennsylvania State University)\nWednesday\, April 22\, 2026 at 4:00 pm Pacific Time\nRoyce Hall 306 and Via Zoom\n  \nRegistration Link: https://forms.gle/ZFb7yBFBeEs2VfMt6 \nZoom: https://ucla.zoom.us/j/92060104969 \n\nIn the first century CE\, several Arsacid princes from the Iranian empire of Parthia were sent to live at the court of the Roman emperor. While Roman authors called these figures “hostages” and scholars have studied them as such\, this talk will employ Iranian and Armenian sources to argue that the Parthians would have seen them as the emperor’s foster-children. These divergent perspectives allowed each empire to perceive itself as superior to the other\, since the two sides interpreted the transfer of royal children through conflicting cultural frameworks. Moving beyond the paradigms of anarchy and hierarchy\, this focus advances a new vision of interstate relations with misunderstanding at its center. The talk is based on the book The Arsacids of Rome\, which was recently published by the University of California Press in the Pourdavoud Institute’s Iran and the Ancient World series. \n\nAbout the Speaker\nJake Nabel is the Tombros Early Career Professor of Classical Studies and an Assistant Professor of Classics & Ancient Mediterranean Studies at Penn State. He is a historian of ancient Rome\, pre-Islamic Iran\, and the points of contact between the two. Jake has published on Roman-Parthian relations\, Latin and Iranian literature\, ancient political thought\, and the Hellenistic east. His current book project is on the concept of freedom in late antique Iran. \nAbout the Book\nA free ebook version of this title is available through Luminos\, University of California Press’s Open Access publishing program. Visit www.luminosoa.org to learn more. \nAt the beginning of the common era\, the two major imperial powers of the ancient Mediterranean and Near East were Rome and Parthia. In this book\, Jake Nabel analyzes Roman-Parthian interstate politics by focusing on a group of princes from the Arsacid family—the ruling dynasty of Parthia—who were sent to live at the Roman court. Although Roman authors called these figures “hostages” and scholars have studied them as such\, Nabel draws on Iranian and Armenian sources to argue that the Parthians would have seen them as the emperor’s foster-children. These divergent perspectives allowed each empire to perceive itself as superior to the other\, since the two sides interpreted the exchange of royal children through conflicting cultural frameworks. Moving beyond the paradigm of great powers in conflict\, The Arsacids of Rome advances a new vision of interstate relations with misunderstanding at its center.
URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/pourdavoud-lecture-series-jake-nabel/
LOCATION:Royce 306
CATEGORIES:Iranian,NELC,Pourdavoud Institute
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/2026-04-22_Nabel-web-image.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260225T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260225T180000
DTSTAMP:20260121T192614Z
CREATED:20260121T192614Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260121T192614Z
UID:21058-1772035200-1772042400@nelc.ucla.edu
SUMMARY:Pourdavoud Lecture Series: Verena Lepper
DESCRIPTION:Elephantine Goes Global: Island of the Millennia\nWednesday\, February 25\, 2026\n4:00pm\nRoyce Hall 306\n  \nAlternate Live Stream on Zoom: https://ucla.zoom.us/j/94774888079\nRSVP Link: https://forms.gle/uhWcmWsk8DDH1Rdv9\n  \nOver a period of ten years a research project funded by the European Research Council (ERC) was conducted at the National Museums in Berlin entitled “Localizing 4000 years of Cultural History. Texts and Scripts from Elephantine Island in Egypt.” Elephantine is an island on the Nile River in southern Egypt. Some of the research results are the digitalization\, transcription\, and translation of more than 10\,000 texts written on papyrus or clay shards in ten different languages and scripts\, including hieroglyphics\, Hieratic\, Aramaic\, Coptic\, and Arabic. Following this research\, an exhibition was carried out on Berlin’s Museum Island\, entitled: “Elephantine. Island of the Millennia.” The online version of this exhibition has been made available very recently and will be discussed here. The entire exhibition is trilingual\, carried out in Arabic\, English\, and German\, and was put together in close collaboration with the Egyptian Ministry for Tourism and Antiquities. Museums and research can function as soft power. The exhibition and this talk showcase the relevance of 4\,000 years of cultural history across several different ancient ethnic groups\, including contemporary art. Thus “Elephantine Goes Global” now. \n  \nVerena Lepper is the Head of the Department of Antiquities at the Getty Villa and joined the J. Paul Getty Museum in October 2025. A distinguished Egyptologist and curator\, she served for eighteen years as Curator of Egyptian and Oriental Papyri at the Egyptian Museum and Papyrus Collection\, Berlin (National Museums Berlin). Lepper has led major international exhibitions and research projects in Germany and abroad\, including in Doha\, Abu Dhabi\, and at Harvard University. She also directed the Institute of Ancient Near Eastern and Hellenistic Religion at Humboldt University in Berlin. Her research focuses on Egyptian and Oriental papyri\, language and religion\, as well as literary and cultural history\, and the history of science and the arts. To strengthen cultural diplomacy between Germany and the Arab world\, she founded in 2013 the Arab German Young Academy of Sciences and Humanities (AGYA)\, which she continues to lead. She serves on several committees and supervisory boards focused on cultural and science policy. She was educated at Bonn\, Oxford and Harvard University and is the author of twenty books and numerous articles for which she received several awards.
URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/pourdavoud-lecture-series-verena-lepper/
LOCATION:Royce 306
CATEGORIES:Iranian,NELC,Pourdavoud Institute
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/2026-02-25_Lepper-web-image.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20251203T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20251203T180000
DTSTAMP:20251120T001836Z
CREATED:20251120T001651Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251120T001836Z
UID:20939-1764777600-1764784800@nelc.ucla.edu
SUMMARY:Pourdavoud Lecture Series: Antigoni Zournatzi: Greek-Persian Encounters c. 550–c. 330 BCE
DESCRIPTION:Wednesday\, December 3\, 2025 \nRoyce Hall 306\, 4:00pm \nDownload Event Flyer Here \nZoom link for online attendance: https://ucla.zoom.us/j/91230760258 \nRSVP link \nGreek-Persian Encounters c. 550 – c. 330 BCE: Looking Beyond Stereotypes\nAncient Greek—and particularly Athenian—bias against the Achaemenid empire has contributed significantly to the modern perception of historical relations between the Greeks and the Persians as a quintessential example of the clash of civilizations and East-West political\, cultural\, and ideological distinctness and conflict. This presentation considers the historical circumstances which gave rise to the negative stereotypes about the Persians reflected in ancient Greek sources. Departing from the emphasis on rivalry\, it equally seeks to draw attention to written\, archaeological\, and iconographic testimonies that speak to a more nuanced picture of Greek responses to Persia and to intercultural phenomena that were promoted by the multifaceted interactions between the Greek and Persian worlds during the Late Archaic and Classical periods. \n\n\n\nAntigoni Zournatzi\nNational Hellenic Research Foundation \n\n\n\nAntigoni Zournatzi-Tsami is Director of Research at the Institute of Historical Research of the National Hellenic Research Foundation. Her main areas of research are the interconnections between the ancient Greek world and the ancient Near East\, cross-cultural phenomena in archaic and classical Cyprus\, and the Achaemenid Empire. She is currently a Guest Researcher at the Getty Villa\, engaging in research that relates to the formative input\, of which the encounters with the Achaemenid Persian empire played a crucial part\, on the Greeks’ evolving definitions of identity and ethnicity. The ongoing project\, Mapping Ancient Cultural Encounters: Greeks in Iran ca. 550 BC – ca. AD 650\, which she coordinates\, seeks to promote a holistic view of ancient Iranian and Greek interactions in Iran proper on the strength of an integrative inventory of different source materials and sites across historical periods.
URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/pourdavoud-lecture-series-antigoni-zournatzi-greek-persian-encounters-c-550-c-330-bce/
LOCATION:Royce 306
CATEGORIES:Humanities,Pourdavoud Institute,Yarshater Center
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/2025-12-3_Zournatzi-web-image.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20251105T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20251105T180000
DTSTAMP:20251006T202234Z
CREATED:20251006T202023Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20251006T202234Z
UID:20896-1762358400-1762365600@nelc.ucla.edu
SUMMARY:Pourdavoud Lecture Series: Lucinda Dirven: Zoroastrianism in the Religious Context of the Arsacid Empire
DESCRIPTION:November 5\, 2025 \nRoyce Hall 306\, 4:00pm \nDownload Event Flyer Here \nZoom link for online attendance: https://ucla.zoom.us/j/94920554065 \nRSVP link: https://forms.gle/2BmZz73crt582bJJ8 \nZoroastrianism in the Religious Context of the Arsacid Empire\nUnlike the tendency to emphasize the multifaceted and diverse aspects of religious life in the Parthian Empire\, this talk aims to identify shared characteristics by focusing on the religious preferences of the Arsacid rulers. Although Zoroastrianism was not yet clearly defined at this time\, evidence suggests that Zoroastrian ideas influenced the ideology of Arsacid kingship. Conversely\, the ideology of the King of Kings influenced the practices of families and rulers who reigned under their suzerainty\, including those who were otherwise unaffected by Zoroastrianism. Although such practices were rare\, they still had repercussions for the religious lives of the populace in the Arsacid Empire. \n\n\n\nLucinda Dirven\nUniversity of Nijmegen \n\n\n\nLucinda Dirven is a professor of ancient religions at the University of Nijmegen in the Netherlands. She studied art history and theology (history of religions and comparative religion) at Leiden University\, where she obtained her PhD\, which was published in 1999. Following a postdoctoral fellowship in the archaeology department at the University of Amsterdam\, she taught in the history departments at the universities of Utrecht and Amsterdam. Since completing her PhD\, her research has focused on the Roman and Parthian Near East\, particularly Dura\, Hatra and Palmyra\, and the influence of these regions on the Roman West. Her research combines material culture and written sources\, primarily focusing on religion. One recent topic has been religious continuity and change in Syria and Mesopotamia\, particularly during the Roman and Parthian periods. She is currently a Getty Scholar working on a project focusing on the cult of Mithras in Dura-Europos.
URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/pourdavoud-lecture-series-lucinda-dirven-zoroastrianism-in-the-religious-context-of-the-arsacid-empire/
LOCATION:Royce 306
CATEGORIES:Humanities,NELC,Pourdavoud Institute
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/2025-11-5_Dirven-web-image.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20251008T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20251008T180000
DTSTAMP:20250911T162632Z
CREATED:20250911T155854Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250911T162632Z
UID:20802-1759939200-1759946400@nelc.ucla.edu
SUMMARY:Pourdavoud Institute and Yarshater Center 2025 Fall Welcome
DESCRIPTION:Pourdavoud Institute and Yarshater Center 2025 Fall Welcome Reception\nWednesday\, October 8\, 2025\n4:00 – 6:00 pm\nRoyce Hall 306\nRegistration Requested\nThe Pourdavoud Institute for the Study of the Iranian World and the Yarshater Center for the Study of Iranian Literary Traditions invites you to join us for a fall reception. \nIn the company of our supporters\, colleagues\, academic affiliates\, students\, and esteemed guests\, we shall be introducing the Institute and Center’s stimulating programming and research agenda for the academic year 2025–26. \nLight refreshments will be served. Parking in Lot 2 or Lot 5 is recommended. \nRSVP
URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/pourdavoud-institute-and-yarshater-center-2025-fall-welcome/
LOCATION:Royce Hall Room 306\, 10745 Dickson Plaza\, Los Angeles\, CA (CALIFORNIA)\, 90095
CATEGORIES:Iranian,NELC,Pourdavoud Institute,Yarshater Center
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/pourdavoud-fall-welcome-2025.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250521T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250521T180000
DTSTAMP:20250320T201530Z
CREATED:20250320T201230Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250320T201530Z
UID:20121-1747843200-1747850400@nelc.ucla.edu
SUMMARY:Pourdavoud Lecture Series: Gunvor Lindström
DESCRIPTION:The Denavar Satyrs as Time Travelers: From Ancient Persia to Greece\, Rome\, and 20th Century Collections\n\nThe influence of Greco-Roman artistic traditions on the Parthian Empire (c. 250 BCE–225 CE) remains a subject of debate\, with little direct evidence attesting to their presence. One long-overlooked artifact that challenges this assumption is the recently reconstructed Denavar Vase\, a monumental stone bowl adorned with a satyr frieze in the Greek style. The reconstruction of this bowl—its fragments now dispersed across museums and collections on three continents—suggests that it once formed part of a local ruler’s palace décor\, reflecting a deep engagement with the visual language of the Roman elite. The second part of this lecture traces the biographies of these fragments since their discovery around 1914. It will follow the track of famous scholars and connoisseurs who incorporated the pieces into their collections\, and go on a varied journey through the art history and historiography of Hellenistic and Parthian art. This journey also explores 19th-century decorative arts and museum presentations\, ultimately navigating the political history from the First to the end of the Second World War. \nAbout the Speaker \n\n\nDr. Gunvor Lindström is a Classical Archaeologist with a deep engagement in neighboring disciplines. A leading expert on Hellenism in the Ancient East\, she has conducted extensive research across Central Asia\, Iran\, and Mesopotamia\, focusing on the Hellenistic and Parthian periods. Since 2004\, she has conceived and led several high-profile projects at the German Archaeological Institute’s Eurasia Department. Her work on Hellenistic and Kushan Bactria includes studies of votive practices\, notably the offerings from the famous Oxus Temple. She also discovered and excavated a Hellenistic sanctuary at Torbulok in modern Tajikistan (2013–2018)\, now a key reference point for Hellenistic Bactria. In recent years\, she has focused on Hellenistic art in Central Asia and Iran\, conducting the first systematic study of bronze and marble statues from Kale-e Chendar in Khuzestan (better known as Shami) and reconstructing a monumental bronze portrait statue of a Hellenistic ruler in the National Museum of Iran. \n\nClick here to register for this event.
URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/pourdavoud-lecture-series-gunvor-lindstrom/
LOCATION:Royce 306
CATEGORIES:Iranian,NELC,Pourdavoud Institute
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Pourdavoud-Lecture-Series-Lindstroem-web-image.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250514T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250514T180000
DTSTAMP:20250407T205430Z
CREATED:20241210T215238Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20250407T205430Z
UID:19849-1747238400-1747245600@nelc.ucla.edu
SUMMARY:Pourdavoud Lecture Series: Wu Xin
DESCRIPTION:Imperial Foundations of the Silk Road: Persian Roads and Han Walls\n \nWhile the Silk Road is often celebrated as a pivotal example of early globalization\, scholarship has primarily focused on the consequences of its connectivity\, neglecting the crucial question of its formation and operational logistics. This lecture re-examines the origins and mechanisms of this trans-Eurasian network during the latter half of the first millennium BCE. It posits that the imperial ambitions of the Achaemenid Persian and Han Chinese dynasties were fundamental in establishing this communication network. Specifically\, the Persian Royal Road facilitated movement from Central Asia to the Mediterranean\, while the Han dynasty’s extensive wall systems provided security and strategic control from Chang’an to Samarkand. This analysis\, drawn on archaeological discoveries from Central Asia and wester China\, argues that the combined infrastructural investments of these geographically and temporally distinct empires laid the groundwork for the roads that ultimately interconnected the ancient Eurasian world. \nAbout the Speaker  \nWu Xin received her undergraduate and master’s training at Beijing University\, focusing on Chinese archaeology and Central Asian Buddhist Art. She earned her PhD at the University of Pennsylvania\, specializing in the art and archaeology of the ancient Near East. Her dissertation\, titled “Central Asia in the Context of the Achaemenid Persian Empire (6th to 4th Centuries B.C.)\,” reflects her interest in the interactions between Central Asia and the Achaemenid imperial power. With extensive experience in archaeological projects\, Wu Xin directed the Kyzyltepa Project in Uzbekistan and is finalizing a monograph titled Persia and the East\, which presents her renewed scholarship on the relationships between Central Asia\, the Eurasian steppe\, and the Achaemenid Empire. Previously a professor in the Department of History at Fudan University in Shanghai\, Wu Xin currently serves as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology at Bryn Mawr College. \nClick here to register for this event.
URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/pourdavoud-lecture-series-wu-xin-2/
LOCATION:Royce 306
CATEGORIES:Iranian,NELC,Pourdavoud Institute
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/Pourdavoud-Lecture-Series-Wu-Xin-web.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250129T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20250129T180000
DTSTAMP:20241112T234630Z
CREATED:20241112T234630Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241112T234630Z
UID:19679-1738166400-1738173600@nelc.ucla.edu
SUMMARY:Pourdavoud Lecture Series: Carlo Cereti
DESCRIPTION:The Rise of Persian: Understanding the Evolution of Writing in the Sasanian and Early Islamic Periods\nThis talk explores the evolution of writing during the Sasanian and early Islamic periods\, shedding light on the long-term process that led to Persian becoming the lingua franca in Western and Central Asia from Iran to the borders of China. With the groundwork laid by pioneering scholars\, we now have a stronger foundation for reading and understanding Middle Persian documents in their many forms. As Bernhard of Chartres observed\, “we are but dwarves on the shoulders of giants\,” benefiting from the invaluable contributions of previous generations. \nOur understanding of Middle Persian script has progressed in many key areas ranging from 3rd century royal inscriptions to the legends found on coins and gems\, and the wider array of secular texts written in ink on various materials. These include legal and commercial texts\, letters\, ostraca\, and dipinti found on walls and stuccos. Notable examples include the dipinti from Dura Europos (3rd century CE)\, Pahlavi papyri from the Sasanian occupation of Egypt (7th century)\, and parchments from the Iranian highlands (7th century). Additional comparable texts were found in the Indian subcontintent and range from the Quilon Copper Plates (9th century)\, to Parsi inscriptions in the Kanheri caves close to Mumbai (11thcentury) and to Nestorian crosses in Chennai and Kerala. \nWhile substantial evidence exists from the early and late Sasanian periods\, a gap persists in our record from the central Sasanian centuries. This may be due to limited archaeological investigation in major Sasanian cities\, though sociolinguistic shifts—perhaps after the Mazdakite movement disrupted the social order—may also have influenced the spread of writing. This analysis aligns with the scholarly interests of Ehsan Yarshater\, who offered profound insights into Iranian National History\, and invites further interdisciplinary inquiry to fully understand Persia’s enduring impact on the Islamic world. \nAbout the Speaker \nCarlo G. Cereti joined the University of California in 2024\,  serving as Endowed Ferdowsi Chair in Zoroastrian Studies and Prof. of Classics and Religions at UCI. He has served since 2000 as Full Professor of Iranian Studies at Sapienza University of Rome\, Dept. of Ancient World Studies\, from 2009 to 2017 he acted as Cultural Counsellor at the Embassy of Italy in Tehran.. His earliest research work focused on the history of the Zoroastrian Parsi community in India\, an intellectual interest that continued throughout his academic career\, though in time his main research field shifted to Middle Iranian Languages and Literatures and more specifically to the study of Zoroastrian literature in Middle Persian. His interest in the medieval and modern history of the Zoroastrian community\, combined with an intimate knowledge of Zoroastrian Middle Persian literature and more of Sasanian and post-Sasanian written culture led him to prepare critical editions of Middle Persian texts such as the Zand ī Wahman Yasn and many chapters of the Bundahišn\, as well as a work of synthesis on the Pahlavi tradition (La Letteratura Pahlavi) From 2006 onwards he has intensively worked on epigraphic Middle Persian\, with a focus on Narseh’s Paikuli inscription and on other epigraphic texts\, including seals and sealings as well as ostraca and documents mainly dating to the late Sasanian and early Islamic periods. This line of research has led him in recent years to dedicate an increasing amount of time to analyzing the written tradition of Sasanian and early Islamic Iran\, studying all different classes of written materials to analyze the phenomenon of literacy in its entirety and complexity. \nClick here to register for the event.
URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/pourdavoud-lecture-series-carlo-cereti/
LOCATION:Royce 306
CATEGORIES:Iranian,NELC,Pourdavoud Institute
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Pourdavoud-Lecture-Series-Cereti-Flyer-for-web.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20241115T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20241115T180000
DTSTAMP:20241112T222109Z
CREATED:20240827T153604Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20241112T222109Z
UID:19494-1731686400-1731693600@nelc.ucla.edu
SUMMARY:Pourdavoud & Iranian Studies Co-Sponsored Lecture: Panagiotis Agapitos
DESCRIPTION:Byzantium Within a Medieval Eurafricasian Literary Polysystem: Historiography\, Fictional Tales\, and the Practices of Narrative Representation\n  \nByzantium and its literature has been excluded from the national canons of European literatures. While there are some obvious reasons for this exclusion in the 18th–19th century\, it is woth noting that also Byzantinists supported this exclusion by promoting the alterity of Byzantine culture in relation to “Medieval Europe.” The talk will examine two types of entangled premodern narratives as examples which show the application of new criteria that would allow us to think inclusively in terms of broader “medieval” literary polysystems and the various regional/transregional systems that operated within them. Two such “story spaces” will be used: the Eurafricasian and the Hindosinonipponese polysystems. The first example will look at the various forms of historiography during the periods AD 700–900 and 1000–1200\, while the second example will focus on erotic tales between 1000–1300. The texts cover a broad spectrum of languages (Byzantine Greek\, Medieval Latin\, Middle High German\, Old French\, Arabic\, New Persian and Early Japanese). The comparison\, part of a narrative history of Byzantine literature – will use structural\, thematic\, stylistic and socio-cultural criteria with the aim of highlighting and explaining similarities and differences between the practices of narrative within the two medieval literary polysystems. \nAbout the Speaker \nPanagiotis Agapitos is since 2021 Fellow of Byzantine Studies at the Gutenberg Research College of the University of Mainz\, having worked before that for 25 years at the University of Cyprus as Professor of Byzantine Literature and Culture in the Department of Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies. He studied at the University of Munich and received his PhD from Harvard University in 1990. He has taught as visiting professor at the Free University of Berlin\, the High School of Social Sciences in Paris\, Stanford University and the Sapienza University of Rome. His research interests focus on Byzantine literature\, the history of manuscripts and education in Byzantium\, the critical edition of Medieval Greek texts\, narratology\, theory and practice of rhetoric\, genre studies and cultural history. He has published over 90 papers on these topics\, while his most recent book is a translation into English of the Tale of Livistros and Rodamne\, a Byzantine love romance of the 13th century (Liverpool University Press\, 2021). He is currently writing a narrative history of Byzantine literature (AD 300–1500) under contract with Cambridge University Press. In his free time he writes “mystery stories” set in ninth-century Byzantium.
URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/pourdavoud-iranian-studies-co-sponsored-lecture-panagiotis-agapitos/
LOCATION:Royce 306
CATEGORIES:Iranian,NELC,Pourdavoud Institute
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Niarchos-Lecture-flyer-for-web.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20241009T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20241009T180000
DTSTAMP:20240812T163905Z
CREATED:20240812T163905Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240812T163905Z
UID:19474-1728489600-1728496800@nelc.ucla.edu
SUMMARY:Pourdavoud Institute Fall Reception 2024
DESCRIPTION:Pourdavoud Institute Fall 2024 Welcome Reception\nWednesday\, October 9\, 2024\n4:00 – 6:00 pm\nRoyce Hall 306\nRegistration Required\nThe Pourdavoud Institute for the Study of the Iranian World invites you to join us for a fall reception. \nIn the company of our supporters\, colleagues\, academic affiliates\, students\, and esteemed guests\, we shall be introducing the Institute’s stimulating programming and research agenda for the academic year 2024–25. \nLight refreshments will be served. Parking in Lot 2 or Lot 5 is recommended. \nPlease click here to RSVP.
URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/pourdavoud-institute-fall-reception-2024/
LOCATION:Royce 306
CATEGORIES:Iranian,NELC,Pourdavoud Institute
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/UCLACampusWithFountain.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20240508T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20240508T180000
DTSTAMP:20240502T172228Z
CREATED:20240223T232102Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240502T172228Z
UID:19074-1715184000-1715191200@nelc.ucla.edu
SUMMARY:CANCELLED: Pourdavoud Lecture Series: Wu Xin
DESCRIPTION:It is with sincere regret that we have decided to cancel the upcoming lecture by Professor Wu Xin. Our campus\, like many others across the country\, is experiencing turbulent times with ongoing protests. We will reschedule this event at a later date when we will be able to welcome safely to campus our friends and colleagues.\n  \n\nRegal Metamorphosis: A Transcultural Journey of the Achaemenid Royal Women to the East\nXiwangmu\, also known as the Queen of the West\, is a significant deity in ancient Chinese mythology\, revered initially as the protector of departed souls. Her representation emerged during the late Western Han period around the 1st century BCE. Scholars have drawn parallels with Western deities such as Astarte\, Kybele\, and Athena\, yet little attention has been given to the origins of her function in Chinese funerary art. Analysis suggests that her origin lies in the queenly figures of the Achaemenid royal court. Through trade and intermarriage\, Persian noblewomen engaged with the Eurasian steppe nomads\, especially the Sakas\, who acted as cultural intermediaries between the Achaemenid court\, the steppe\, and China. This cultural exchange across Eurasia facilitated the transformation of Persian royal women into Chinese divine protectors. \nAbout the Speaker \nWu Xin received her undergraduate and master’s training at Beijing University\, focusing on Chinese archaeology and Central Asian Buddhist Art. She earned her PhD at the University of Pennsylvania\, specializing in the art and archaeology of the ancient Near East. Her dissertation\, titled “Central Asia in the Context of the Achaemenid Persian Empire (6th to 4th Centuries B.C.)\,” reflects her interest in the interactions between Central Asia and the Achaemenid imperial power. With extensive experience in archaeological projects\, Wu Xin directed the Kyzyltepa Project in Uzbekistan and is finalizing a monograph titled Persia and the East\, which presents her renewed scholarship on the relationships between Central Asia\, the Eurasian steppe\, and the Achaemenid Empire. Previously a professor in the Department of History at Fudan University in Shanghai\, Wu Xin currently serves as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Classical and Near Eastern Archaeology at Bryn Mawr College. \n  \nClick here to register for the event.
URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/pourdavoud-lecture-series-wu-xin/
LOCATION:Royce 306
CATEGORIES:Iranian,NELC,Pourdavoud Institute
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Wu-Xin-Cover-Image-version-2.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20240501T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20240501T180000
DTSTAMP:20240501T171903Z
CREATED:20240404T182007Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240501T171903Z
UID:19156-1714579200-1714586400@nelc.ucla.edu
SUMMARY:CANCELLED: Pourdavoud Lecture Series: Robert Rollinger
DESCRIPTION:Due to recent events on campus resulting in the cancellations of classes at UCLA today\, Professor Robert Rollinger’s lecture has been canceled. We apologize for any inconvienence and thank you for your understanding. We look forward to hosting you at one of our upcoming events soon.\n\nThe “Persian Wars”: An Alternative Perspective?\nThe “Persian Wars” are still regarded by many scholars and the interested general public as one of the major events in western history. The instructive and captivating narrative of Herodotus’ Histories became a pillar of Greek historical consciousness which\, after some breaks\, was transformed into a western European culture of remembrance since the 19thcentury. Scholarly literature on this event is abundant and flourishing. The underlying subtext of a permanent confrontation between allegedly well-defined blocks of cultural identities\, East and West\, Europe and Asia\, Orient and Occident\, and their charged markers of liberty vs. tyranny\, democracy vs. despotism\, truthfulness vs. shrewdness\, luxury vs. simplicity\, bravery vs. cowardness\, and individualism vs. collectivism\, have entered popular culture as well. If we look at the never-ending stream of contributions to the topic by modern scholarship one cannot avoid the conclusion that all “histories” of the “Persian Wars” are still more or less witty and erudite reproductions of Herodotus’ Histories. The basis of this approach is the adamant conviction that Herodotus was able (and willing) to separate fact from fiction and that his Histories by and large report what essentially had happened. The lecture tries to demonstrate the serious problems related to such an approach and to propose an alternative way to explore the topic. \nAbout the Speaker \nRobert Rollinger is Professor of Ancient History and Ancient Near Eastern Studies at the University of Innsbruck\, Austria\, where he has been holding\, since 2005\, the Chair for “Cultural Interactions between the ancient Near East and the Mediterranean” in the Department of Ancient History and Ancient Near Eastern Studies. Dr. Rollinger’s scholarly interests are wide-ranging and encompass the cultural expanse between the Aegean world and the ancient Near East\, with a special focus on ancient historiography\, the comparative history of empires\, and the Achaemenid Empire in particular. Dr. Rollinger is also known for his numerous publications and important editorial work: he has been (co-) editing among others the prestigious series: Oriens et Occidens (Franz Steiner Verlag); Classica et Orientalia (Harrassowitz); Studies in Universal and Cultural History (Springer); Philippika(Harrassowitz); (The Proceedings of the) Melammu Symposia(Austrian Academy of Science); and Empires Through the Ages in Global Perspective (de Gruyter). More recently\, he published together with Bruno Jacobs the Blackwell Companion to the Achaemenid Empire (Blackwell 2021)\, which shall serve as the new work of reference in the field. He is a member of numerous academic organizations and research groups\, among them: the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW); the German Archaeological Institute (DAI); and the Academia Europaea. \nClick here to register for the event.
URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/pourdavoud-lecture-series-robert-rollinger/
LOCATION:Royce 306
CATEGORIES:Iranian,NELC,Pourdavoud Institute
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/IMGP9834-1o8k0jy.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20240417T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20240417T180000
DTSTAMP:20240326T192630Z
CREATED:20240306T232558Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240326T192630Z
UID:19095-1713369600-1713376800@nelc.ucla.edu
SUMMARY:Pourdavoud Lecture Series: Hilmar Klinkott
DESCRIPTION:Consolidation of Law\, Legal Order\, and the Question of Constitutionalizing Processes in the Achaemenid Empire\nThe Old Persian inscriptions of Darius I deal with a range of legal\, particularly constitutional questions. The famous grave inscription from Naqsh-i Rustam (DNb) constitutes the conceptional center of a thematical text corpus\, exemplified in specific details and different legal aspects in other inscriptions of Darius I. However\, it is a core question if these royal inscriptions had only a function of royal representation (and for the presentation of royal ideology) or if they also claimed to consolidate (royal or imperial) law. If so\, the royal epigraphic corpus of this particular Great King seems to illustrate an overarching legal concept shaped by its textual and thematic interrelations. Consequently\, the Achaemenid royal inscriptions\, and in particular the Darius Naqsh-i Rustam b text\, thus provide a draft for an imperial legal order that fundamentally defines the Great Kingship\, both in relation to the subjects and for the position of the Great King himself. The DNb inscription can thus be understood as a manifesto which enshrines in a general and fundamental way the conditions of royal rule in the Achaemenid Empire. With this in mind\, this lecture will present the argument for constitutionalizing processes in this multiethnic and multicultural polity. \nAbout the Speaker \nHilmar Klinkott is Professor of Ancient History and History of the Near East at the Institute for Classical Studies/Department of Ancient History at the University of Kiel. He studied Ancient History\, Classical Archaeology\, and Latin at the Ruprecht Carls University Heidelberg\, earning his MA in 1997. He continued his studies at the University of Tübingen\, earning his PhD in 2002. His thesis\, Der Satrap: Ein achaimenidischer Amtsträger und seine Handlungsspielräume (Verlag Antike)\, was published in 2005. After his habilitation in Ancient History at the University of Tübingen\, he became Akademischer Rat in the Seminar für Alte Geschichte und Epigraphik at the Ruprecht Karls-Universität Heidelberg in 2012 and a member of the Heidelberg excellence cluster “Asia and Europe in a Global Context” in 2013. In the same year\, he changed his habilitation to the University of Heidelberg (“Umhabilitierung”). After Deputy Professorships in Hamburg (for Professor Christoph Schäfer\, 2009–2010)\, Mannheim (for Professor Christian Mann\, 2014/15) and Mainz (Professor Marietta Horster\, 2016)\, he was appointed Full Professor at the Institut für Klassische Altertumskunde of the Christian Albrechts University. Now at the University of Kiel\, Professor Klinkott continues to focus on the history of the ancient Near East and the Achaemenid empire. \nClick here to register for the event.
URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/pourdavoud-lecture-series-hilmar-klinkott/
LOCATION:Royce 306
CATEGORIES:Iranian,NELC,Pourdavoud Institute
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Naqsh-i-Rustam.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20240313T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20240313T180000
DTSTAMP:20231114T201421Z
CREATED:20231102T172914Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20231114T201421Z
UID:18715-1710345600-1710352800@nelc.ucla.edu
SUMMARY:Pourdavoud Lecture Series: Christian Sahner
DESCRIPTION:How Zoroastrians Argued with Muslims in the Early Islamic Period\nThis lecture will explore the early conflict between Zoroastrians and Muslims by examining the most important polemical treatise in the Zoroastrian tradition\, the Škand Gumānīg-Wizār (“The Doubt-Dispelling Disquisition”)\, written by the ninth/tenth century theologian and philosopher Mardānfarrox son of Ohrmazddād. A sophisticated work of rationalist theology\, the treatise systematically critiques several rival religions of the late antique and medieval Middle East\, including Islam. The critique of Islam in chapters 11 and 12 is the only sustained\, systematic polemic against Islam in premodern Zoroastrian literature\, one that attacks monotheism by focusing on the problem of evil. This lecture will consider Zoroastrians’ relationship with Muslims\, the influence of Islamic theology on Zoroastrian thought\, and the place of the Škand Gumānīg-Wizār in Middle Persian literature. \nAbout the Speaker\nChristian C. Sahner (Ph.D.\, Princeton\, 2015) is an associate professor of Islamic history and a fellow of New College at the University of Oxford. His work explores the history of North Africa\, the Middle East\, and Central Asia during the transition from Late Antiquity to the Middle Ages. He is especially interested in relations between Muslims and non-Muslims (principally Christians and Zoroastrians)\, religious conversion\, Islamic sectarianism\, and the intertwined histories of the Umayyad\, ʿAbbasid\, and Byzantine empires. His most recent book is The Definitive Zoroastrian Critique of Islam (Liverpool University Press\, 2023; Translated Texts for Historians). \n  \nClick here to register for the event. 
URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/pourdavoud-lecture-series-christian-sahner/
LOCATION:314 Royce Hall
CATEGORIES:Iranian,NELC,Pourdavoud Institute
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Sahner-Cover-Image_cropped.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20240221T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20240221T180000
DTSTAMP:20240123T192846Z
CREATED:20240123T192711Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20240123T192846Z
UID:18981-1708531200-1708538400@nelc.ucla.edu
SUMMARY:Pourdavoud Lecture Series: Elspeth Dusinberre
DESCRIPTION:The Collapse of Empire: Gordion’s Transition from the Achaemenid to the Hellenistic World\nThis talk will highlight the huge changes that characterized Gordion’s transition from the Achaemenid to the Hellenistic periods. Gordion\, ancient capital of Phrygia\, was a large and thriving city of secondary importance during the period of the Achaemenid Persian empire (ca 550–333 BCE)\, a period when it participated in the network of interactions and practices that bound the empire together. When Alexander’s conquest led to the collapse of Achaemenid administrative infrastructure\, the impact on Gordion’s economy and cultural circumstance was profound. Its population plummeted\, the architectural and spatial organization of the site changed dramatically\, and new directions and means of trade and cultural interaction developed. Gordion’s archaeological remains reflect and emphasize the tremendous historical and political changes attending the end of the Achaemenid empire and the beginning of the Hellenistic period. \nAbout the Speaker \nElspeth Dusinberre (AB Harvard 1991\, PhD Michigan 1997) is Professor of Distinction at the University of Colorado and a current Getty Villa Research Scholar. She is interested in cultural interactions in Anatolia. Her work has investigated the ways in which the Achaemenid Persian empire (ca. 550-330 BCE) affected local social structures in the give-and-take between Achaemenid and other cultures and has delved into pre-Achaemenid matters at the sites of Gordion and Sardis. Her first book\, Aspects of Empire in Achaemenid Sardis (Cambridge 2003)\, examines the impact of Achaemenid hegemony from the vantage of the Lydian capital. Her second and fourth books focus on the Phrygian capital: Gordion Seals and Sealings: Individuals and Society (Philadelphia 2005) and (with Ellen Kohler) The Lesser Phrygian Tumuli: The Cremations (Philadelphia 2023). Dusinberre’s third book\, Empire\, Authority\, and Autonomy in Achaemenid Anatolia (Cambridge 2013)\, considers all of Anatolia under Persian rule and proposes a new model for understanding imperialism. She has co-edited a Festschrift for Margaret Cool Root\, The Art of Empire in Achaemenid Persia (Leiden 2020)\, and at the moment is co-editing a volume on Middle and Late Phrygian Gordion. \nClick here to register for the event.
URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/pourdavoud-lecture-series-elspeth-dusinberre/
LOCATION:Royce 306
CATEGORIES:Iranian,NELC,Pourdavoud Institute
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Dusinberre-Painted-House.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20240124T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20240124T180000
DTSTAMP:20231114T201441Z
CREATED:20231102T232002Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20231114T201441Z
UID:18749-1706112000-1706119200@nelc.ucla.edu
SUMMARY:Pourdavoud Lecture Series: Neville McFerrin
DESCRIPTION:An Entangled Empire:  Dress\, Reciprocal Construction\, and the Experience of Kingship at Persepolis\nIn reliefs across Persepolis\, the Achaemenid administrative center\, depictions of mediated bodies offer insight into an imperial ideology that generates inclusion through categorical and material slippages.  The crown of the king parallels the crenellations of the architecture that surround him even as such forms double the mountainous vista beyond the site.  Rows of delegates carry dress related items to constitute their king even as their iterative forms recall both embroidered fabric borders and the unfurling impression of a cylinder seal.  This talk focuses upon such entanglements to argue that dress\, with its focus on body modification\, supplementation\, and communicative potentials\, serves as a productive lens through which to re-consider the visual program of Persepolis.  Rather than focusing upon associations between dress and regional identities\, or upon questions of garment type and construction\, it argues that the visual program of the site leverages the constitutive capacity of dress to present iterative\, entangled relationships between king and subject\, human and animal\, animate and inanimate\, presenting and complicating boundaries between these categories.  It suggests that it is through such complications that the paradox of the Achaemenid endeavor\, celebrating both the whole and its constituent parts\, is negotiated. \nAbout the Speaker  \nNeville McFerrin is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Art History at the University of North Texas.  Her work centers upon intersections between dress\, perception\, materiality\, and embodiment on the sites of Pompeii and Persepolis.  Her published and forthcoming work explores a range of topics from reconsiderations of gender on the reliefs of the Apadana to spatial negotiations and embodied perceptions of court protocol and etiquette at Persepolis\, to the fashionability of pearls in late first century BCE Pompeii.  It has appeared in multiple journals and edited volumes\, most recently The Routledge Handbook of the Senses in the Ancient Near East\, Dress in Mediterranean Antiquity: Greeks\, Romans\, Jews\, Christians\, and Fashion Studies. She is currently working on a monograph focused upon dress as a lens for reinterpreting visual and material entanglements at Persepolis. \nClick here to register for the event. 
URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/pourdavoud-lecture-series-neville-mcferrin/
LOCATION:Royce 306
CATEGORIES:Iranian,NELC,Pourdavoud Institute
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Cover-Image.jpg
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;VALUE=DATE:20231205
DTEND;VALUE=DATE:20231207
DTSTAMP:20231115T172722Z
CREATED:20231115T172329Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20231115T172722Z
UID:18821-1701734400-1701907199@nelc.ucla.edu
SUMMARY:Co-Sponsorship: Global Antiquity (Re)envisioning Ancient Worlds
DESCRIPTION:A Forum for Exchanges on Ancient Studies at UCLA\n\nDecember 5–6\, 2023 | Royce Hall 306\nGlobal Antiquity is convening a workshop titled (Re)envisioning Ancient Worlds. This event\, held at UCLA over two days\, December 5–6\, 2023\, will include invited speakers from the University of California and the greater Los Angeles area whose research focuses on the ancient worlds. Global Antiquity\, while supportive of more traditional approaches to ancient studies\, aims to encourage a broadminded and cross-disciplinary discourse on ancient worlds\, foregrounding the equivalency of past human experiences. The present workshop seeks to promote reflection on a more equitable treatment of antiquity by emphasizing the diversity of the ancient worlds\, the entanglement of past cultural achievements\, and the relevance of these perspectives for the present. It is our hope that this may stimulate new models and methods to engage all actors of the ancient worlds across disciplinary boundaries\, and inspire conversations on how the wholistic awareness of the past may engender a more empathic and accepting view of cultures in the present. \nThe event will feature speakers and topics covering a diverse array of ancient worlds\, from West Asia\, North Africa\, and the Mediterranean to East Asia and the Americas. Themes explored over these two days include: the interconnectivity of ancient states and communities; diversity within established areas of inquiry; reception; pedagogy; and working across disciplines. \nRe)envisioning Ancient Worlds is graciously co-sponsored by the following departments\, institutes\, centers\, and programs at UCLA: Asian Languages and Cultures\, Art History\, Classics\, the CMRS Center for Early Global Studies\, the UCLA/Getty Program in the Conservation of Cultural Heritage\, the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology\, the Program in Indo-European Studies\, Near Eastern Languages and Cultures\, the Pourdavoud Institute for the Study of the Iranian World\, and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Center for the Study of Hellenic Culture. \nClick here to RSVP.
URL:https://nelc.ucla.edu/event/co-sponsorship-global-antiquity-reenvisioning-ancient-worlds/
LOCATION:Royce 306
CATEGORIES:Humanities,NELC,Pourdavoud Institute
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://nelc.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/Screen-Shot-2023-10-24-at-10.29.54-AM-1024x681-1-640x430-1.jpg
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END:VCALENDAR