Great Cities of the Ancient Near East | Saturday Seminar Series

Saturday 14 August 10am-12pm

Kültepe-Kaneš and Bogazköy-Hattuša: Land of a Thousand Gods: The Bronze Age Cities of Anatolia
Dr Joseph Lehner | University of Sydney

Abstract: From the emergence of a mosaic of distinct urban traditions in the Early Bronze Age to the sudden rise and fall of the core of the Hittite Empire in the Late Bronze Age, the cities of central Anatolia defy traditional definitions. In this lecture, we will explore two of the largest cities of the region, including Kültepe-Kaneš and Bogazköy-Hattuša, to tell the story of the rise of one of the largest territorial states in the ancient Near East – the Hittite Empire. As the centre of a vast mercantile system, Kaneš thrived during the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC and developed into one of the largest cities of its kind, only to be destroyed and abandoned by the mid 18th century BC – a pattern reflected across many of the large cities of the time. Out of the ashes of this urban phenomenon emerged the remotely located Hittite capital of Hattuša, an incredible monumental space of palaces, temples, granaries, and water management facilities. Lacking the traditional definition of a city as we know it, Hattuša was a complex of ceremonial institutions of city-scale proportions.

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These online lectures will be delivered via Zoom and will start at 10am and last for approximately two hours for each individual study day. A short 5-minute introduction will start each Saturday series, followed by a two-hour lecture by a single speaker, all except for Saturday 17 and 24 July, which will have two presentations broken into two 45-minute lectures. There will be a ten-minute coffee-break between the two sessions and there will be time for questions at the end of the presentations.

• The lectures will be held remotely via Zoom.
• The lecture will start at 10am with a break at 10.45, then the second lecture will begin at 11 am and finish at 11.45.
• The lecturer will be available to answer questions at the end of each session.
• The cost of the series is:
  • NEAF Members: $20 per session All 4 sessions: $60
  • Non-Members $30 per session All 4 sessions: $90
  • All students are free
  • A minimum of 20 is required for each lecture for this series to run – our upper limit is 300 per lecture.
• Once payment is received a receipt and Meeting ID and password will be sent to you.
• To avoid this being passed onto anyone who has not paid, participants will be matched against a list by their screen name to ensure they are a financial participant. Please ensure your zoom screen name correctly identifies you or telephone number if you are connecting via telephone and add this in the area provided when you book.

Booking

Please click here to book for this seminar

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Hosted by the Near Eastern Archaeology Foundation (NEAF)

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