Exhibitions
Wine, Worship, and Sacrifice: The Golden Graves of Ancient Vani, the inaugural exhibition at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at New York University, features spectacular finds from four graves excavated at Vani, a major administrative and religious center of ancient Colchis (present-day Republic of Georgia) and the setting for the myth of Jason and the Golden Fleece. More than 100 objects from these graves, which date from the fifth and fourth centuries B.C., are on display and include an impressive array of locally produced jewelry as well as imported goods from its Greek and Persian neighbors. Together, these objects create a clear picture of Vani as a crossroads city, providing compelling testimony to the complex interrelations that occurred in this region throughout its rich history.
Click here for exhibition highlights, conference information, and directions.
Hours: 11 a.m. - 6 p.m. | Friday: 11 a.m. - 8 p.m. | Closed Monday.
Past
Romila Thapar (Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi)
Recognising Historical Traditions in Early India
Prof. Thapar's talk will revolve around three questions: what is the reason for the statement that Indian civilisation lacked a sense of history; in what way do current ideas about history help us to identify historical traditions in early India; and what form did these traditions take?
Monday April 28 at 6pm in the Salmon Room on the 2nd Floor.
Please RSVP to isaw@nyu.edu.
Cross-cultural Approaches to Family and Household Structures in the Ancient World
The Fellows at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World (ISAW) at New York University are planning a conference entitled “Cross-cultural approaches to family and household structures in the ancient World”, May 9-10, 2008.This conference seeks to shed new light on the formation patterns and structural differences and similarities between family and household in ancient societies from the western Mediterranean to China. In an attempt to initiate conversations between ancient historians, archaeologists, and social anthropologists of all regions and periods of the ancient world, the conference welcomes papers from across disciplines. Comparative approaches and proposals that use new methods of analysis or interpretation of documentary evidence, are particularly welcome.
Click here for more information
Judith Herrin (King's College London)
The Lure of Byzantium: Medieval Western Attitudes to Princesses 'Born in the Purple'
During the Middle Ages western European rulers displayed a constant awareness of Byzantine princesses 'born in the purple'. Whenever they negotiated political alliances with the Eastern Empire, to be sealed by a marriage, they specified that they wanted such a princess. The epithet 'porphyrogennitos', purple-born, derives from the Porphyra, a purple chamber in the Great Palace of the emperors in Constantinople, where empresses gave birth to their children. In the mid-eighth century Emperor Constantine V built it as a device to perpetuate his ruling dynasty in Byzantium. It reflected his determination, as the son of a usurper, to bestow legitimacy on his eldest son and heir. Children of both sexes carried the title and princesses were regularly sought as 'purple-born' brides for western, Slavic and Russian rulers.
Part of the enduring attraction of such alliances was due to the spectacular Byzantine gifts that accompanied diplomatic embassies to all parts of the known world. Although neither Theophano nor Maria Agyropoulaina were in fact 'born in the purple', their lavish dowries confirmed western appreciation of Byzantine luxury objects: silks, enamels, ivories and jewelry. By the mid-eleventh century, however, Byzantine brides began to provoke anxiety, even condemnation, in the West. In this illustrated talk I will examine the reasons for this shift and set the purple-born princesses in the context of medieval international diplomacy.
Wednesday April 16th at 6pm in the Salmon Room on the 2nd Floor.
Please RSVP to isaw@nyu.edu, and find the press release here.