Events Calendar

Penn Museum Scholars Lunch Lecture Series

State Formation As Cultural Revolution:

Pilgrimage And Political Legitimacy In Northern Mesopotamia

 Lauren Ristvet, Dyson Assistant Curator, Near East

The emergence of political complexity in Mesopotamia constituted an important cultural revolution which transformed how people within nascent states understood their communities.  Archives from Ebla and Beydar and archaeological material from years of intensive excavation and survey in Northern Mesopotamia provide data that allow for a reconsideration of the rise of the state.  This study explores the metaphor of the journey in texts and iconography and the archaeological evidence for access to a range of political and ritual spaces in cities and the countryside.  It suggests that movement through newly created political and religious landscapes was critical to the development of a cognitive schema that made sense of these polities.

Guests are welcome to bring their lunch. 

The lecture will be held in Classroom 2. 

Lecture Admission: Pay-what-you-want.