Free online talks

There are many videos/audios about Assyriology available on the internet. It can sometimes be hard for non-experts to know whether a video is giving reliable information or is giving outdated or bogus information, or peddling conspiracy theories. Contrary to what is sometimes claimed, scholars are not trying to hide evidence, nor are museums hiding objects in a basement. There is no evidence for contact with aliens, there were no ancient nuclear wars, no DNA manipulation, and there is no connection to pyramids. The reality of the ancient past, based on the reasonable interpretation of actual evidence, is much more interesting and satisfying. Here are some videos/audios by scholars in the field, on a range of topics.

Cuneiform

Walther Sallaberger: Die Keilschrift

Cuneiform Revealed: Writing a cuneiform tablet

Walther Sallaberger: Die Bedeutung der Schrift

Paola Corò: Cunei-Lab: la scrittura cuneiforme nel Vicino Oriente antico

Martha Roth: The Chicago Assyrian Dictionary: The Final Chapter

Irving Finkel: How does ancient Assyrian language sound?

OI exhibit traces invention of writing

Christopher E. Woods: New light on an administrative device from the dawn of writing in the Ancient Near East

Cécile Michel: L’écriture cunéiforme au Proche-Orient antique: enseignement, apprentissage et acteurs

 

Objects from the ancient Near East

John Curtis: The Cyrus Cylinder from Ancient Babylon and the Beginning of the Persian Empire

Irving Finkel: The Ark Tablet (University of Dundee Christmas Lecture 2014)

Irene Winter: The Stela and The State

St. John Simpson | Unlocking Stories From Objects

Ariane Thomas: La Mésopotamie au Louvre Lens

Ariane Thomas: L’Histoire commence en Mésopotamie

 

Ancient Near Eastern history and culture

Frans Wiggermann: over de goden en heersers in Mesopotamië

Irving Finkel: The Tower of Babel

John Curtis: Babylon: A Wonder of the Ancient World

Irving Finkel: The Babylonian mind

Walther Sallaberger: Die Uruk-Kultur

Walther Sallaberger: Sumerer

Mark Kenoyer: Meluhha: the Indus Civilization and Its Contacts with Mesopotamia

Ann Gunter: Tracking the Frontiers of the Hittite Empire

James Osborne: The Syro-Anatolian City States: A Neglected Iron Age Culture

Lisa Cooper: Encounters with Ancient Splendors: Gertrude Bell

Hartmut Kühne: The Collapse of the Assyrian Empire and the Evidence of Dur-Katlimmu

Eckart Frahm: The Psychohistory of an Assyrian king

Walter Farber: Health Care and Epidemics in Antiquity: The Example of Ancient Mesopotamia

Gil Stein: Sweet Honey in the Rocks: Honey, Bees, and Beekeeping in the Ancient Near East

Robert Ritner & Theo van den Hout: The Battle of Kadesh: A Debate

Irving Finkel: The Ark Before Noah: A Great Adventure

Jerry Cooper: Everything You’ve Always Wanted to Know about Sex in Babylonia . . .

Steve Tinney: Great Beasts of Legend: Anzu the Lion Headed Eagle

Steve Tinney: Great Myths and Legends: Adapa the Sage: Flood, Myth and Magic in early Mesopotamia

Grant Frame: Great Wonders: Searching for the Hanging Gardens of Babylon

Steve Tinney: Great Voyages: Gilgamesh: Journeys to the End of the World

 

Ancient Near East archaeology

Sophie Cluzan: L’archéologie en Mésopotamie

Gil Stein: Exploring the Roots of Mesopotamian Civilization: Excavations at Tell Zeidan, Syria

Augusta McMahon: Death and the City: Recent Work at Tell Brak, Syra

Royal Tombs of Ur

Persepolis From the Air

Excavating Tools and Trinkets of the World’s First Cities

Donny George Youkhana: One Scholar’s Contribution to Mesopotamian Archaeology

Eleanor Robson: Agriculture and elephants: writing in rural Babylonia

Amer Abdul Razzaq: Tour of the archaeological site of Eridu

Amer Abdul Razzaq: Tour of the archaeological site of Girsu

 

 

The Berner Altorientalisches Forum (BAF) posts videos of all the (max. 10 minute) talks held at each conference. The talks are on a wide range of topics related to the Ancient Near East.