“Heroes: Mortals and Myths in Ancient Greece” an exhibition at the San Diego Museum of Art, May 22 – September 5, 2010. Organized by the Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, this international exhibition features more than 100 objects that examine the origins of the hero through the lens of Greek art and mythology. For more information, see: http://www.sdmart.org/exhibitions.html

by Prof. Tom Levy (UCSD), in G101 Mesa College, 7:15-9:00 PM

Prof. Tom Levy will present “King Solomon’s Mines – New Data and Debates from Southern Jordan,” on Friday, September 24, 2010. Levy holds the Norma Kershaw Chair in the Archaeology of Ancient Israel and Neighboring Lands at the University of California, San Diego.  The principal investigator of a number of interdisciplinary archaeological field projects in Israel and Jordan, Levy is particularly interested in the role of technology, especially early mining and metallurgy, on social evolution from the beginnings of sedentism and the domestication of plants and animals in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic period (ca. 7500 BCE) to the rise of the first historic Levantine state level societies in the Iron Age (ca. 1200 – 500 BCE).

In “King Solomon’s Mines – New Data and Debates from Southern Jordan,” Levy will discuss recent UCSD – Department of Antiquities of Jordan excavations and surveys in Jordan’s Faynan copper ore district that have produced a wealth of new archaeological data concerning mining and metallurgy during the 10th BCE – the period commonly linked to the reigns of King David and Solomon.  This illustrated lecture describes the new data and scholarly debates concerning the issue of ‘King Solomon’s mines’ as well as the problem of linking ancient sacred texts with the archaeological record.  Some of the new digital archaeology methods developed at UCSD’s California Institute of Telecommunication and Information technology and used recently in Jordan are also discussed.

by Prof. John Papadopoulos (UCLA), in G101 Mesa College, 7:15-9:00 PM

Prof. John K. Papadopoulos will share his lecture “Arthur Evans, the Palace of Minos at Knossos & the Dawn of European Civilization,” on Friday, October 8, 2010.  Papadopoulos is Professor of Classics and Archaeology with the Classics Department, Cotsen Institute, UCLA, and holds his Ph.D. from the University of Sydney.  His areas of specialization are Aegean prehistory and Classical Archaeology, especially the Early Iron Age, the archaeology of colonization, and the integration of literary and material evidence.  He has excavated widely in Australia at Aboriginal and historic sites, as well as in Greece, Albania and Italy.

Prof. Papadopoulos’ lecture will discuss how, in 1900, Arthur Evans began his historic excavations at the low mound then known as “Tou Tseleve he Kephala” and almost immediately came across the building he was to call the Palace of Minos at Knossos. By 1930, Evans had transformed the site from poorly preserved ruins into a controversial multi-storied concrete complex. For Evans, reinforced concrete was to become the tool that gave his vision of the past substance in the present. Evan’s radical intervention, which in time developed its own historical identity, raises a variety of issues that are rarely addressed by archaeologists. After Evans’s death in 1941, the restored palace became one of the most visited sites in the world and a major problem of conservation. Beyond Knossos, Evans was to have a much greater influence on archaeological thought than is currently conceded. The Victorian era provides the backdrop against which the inception – or invention – of Minoan culture can best be viewed.

by Prof. Elizabeth Pollard (SDSU), in G101 Mesa College, in G101 Mesa College, 7:15-9:00 PM

Prof. Elizabeth A. Pollard will unravel “The Spellbinding Journey of the Greek Magical Papyri,” on Friday, November 5, 2010.  Pollard is Associate Professor of History at San Diego State University and holds her degrees from University of Pennsylvania (Ph.D., M.A.) and North Carolina State University (B.A.).   Her areas of specialization include the literary and material evidence for witchcraft at ancient Rome, Roman-Indian trade relations, and women in antiquity.  She has excavated in Jordan and has studied magical manuscripts excavated in Egypt and now held in European libraries such as the British Library, the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris, University of Oslo, and Austrian National Library.

“The Spellbinding Journey of the Greek Magical Papyri” traces how magical handbooks were created, collected, and used in antiquity, and how after being excavated in Egypt in the nineteenth century, they ended up in European libraries.  The lecture shares images and findings from Pollard’s close physical examination of P.Oslo 1 (PGM 36), in particular.  This lecture discusses the physical features of the more than eight-foot long P.Oslo 1, the layout of the spells on the scroll, the illustrations on the papyrus (one of the most illustrated papyri of its day), gender-specific interlinear corrections, holy names and scribal notations on the papyrus, and the logic of the spells grouped in this grimoire.  This discussion contributes to an understanding of books/codices and book production (both new developments with the advent of Christianity), as well as libraries in the late Roman world.

by Prof. Carlson (Texas A&M), in G101 Mesa College, in G101 Mesa College, 7:15-9:00 PM

Prof. Deborah Carlson will discuss “The Tektaş Burnu Shipwreck: Shedding New Light on Classical Ionia,” on Friday, February 11, 2011. Carlson is with the Nautical Archaeology Program at Texas A&M, and holds her degrees from the University of Arizona (B.A. and M.A.) and the University of Texas at Austin (Ph.D.).  Her areas of specialization are underwater archaeology, classical seafaring, and Greek and Roman pottery, and she has done extensive field work on shipwrecks off the coast of Turkey.  She is the AIA’s Joukowsky Lecturer for 2010/2011.

“The Tektaş Burnu Shipwreck” wrecked between 430-425 BCE, at a time when Athens was the leading naval power in the Mediterranean, a position the Athenians achieved through the economic exploitation of allied city-states and heavy-handed control over maritime trade.  As the only Classical shipwreck ever to be fully excavated in Aegean waters, the Tektaş Burnu ship promises to shed light on local trade networks at a time when Ionia was thought to be mired in an “economic paralysis” brought on by the high cost of Athenian imperialism in the decades following the Ionian Revolt of 499 B.C.  Remains of the ship include a pair of marble ophthalmoi – the only eyes ever found in association with an ancient vessel – and the earliest securely dated examples of lead-filled anchor stocks.  The vessel was carrying a primary cargo of wine and pine tar contained in more than 200 transport amphoras and smaller quantities of East Greek pottery.  The amphora cargo includes jars from Mende, Chios, and the Samian peraia, but the largest portion is represented by previously unattributed type that can now be assigned to Ionian Erythrae.