Friday, October 10, 2008

HUMANITIES DAY is 25 October at the University of Chicago. Norman Golb will be speaking on the Dead Sea Scrolls:
Was Shakespeare Catholic? Who really authored the Dead Sea Scrolls? How did the Chicago Renaissance differ from the more famous Harlem Renaissance? And what has happened to Iraq’s archaeological heritage since the 2003 sacking of the country’s national museum?

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Norman Golb, the Ludwig Rosenberger Professor of Jewish History and Civilization in Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations and the College, will examine one of the world’s great archaeological debates. In his lecture, Golb will present the competing theories concerning the provenance of the Dead Sea Scrolls. The roughly 1,000 scrolls, written in Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek on papyrus or parchment paper, are of enormous religious and historical significance, as they include practically the only known surviving copies of biblical documents made before 100 A.D. One of the world’s leading authorities on the scrolls’ origins, Golb has directed the Oriental Institute’s Dead Sea Scrolls Project since its creation in 1991. Golb will speak from 2 to 3 p.m. in Breasted Hall, 1155 E. 58th St.

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There's this too:
Larry Rothfield, Associate Professor in English Language & Literature and the College, and Director of the Cultural Policy Center, will discuss the aftermath of the looting of the Iraq National Museum. Reports of thieves pillaging one of the world’s most important archaeological collections in the wake of the American invasion of April 2003 shocked the world. But what has happened to Iraq’s archaeological heritage since 2003? In “Nobody Thought About Culture,” Rothfield, who edited the recently released collection Antiquities Under Siege: Cultural Heritage Protection after the Iraq War, will discuss what should be done to help Iraq protect what remains of its patrimony. Rothfield also will look broadly at how lessons from Iraq can be used to protect cultural treasures from harm in future conflicts. His talk is scheduled from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. in Harper 130, 1116 E. 59th St.
Background on Golb, e.g., here.