Archaeology Lecture, What Archaeology Can Tell Us About Ancient Assyrian Queens

Amy Gansell (St. John’s College of Liberal Arts and Sciences) will join us to speak on “What Archaeology Can Tell Us About Ancient Assyrian Queens of Nimrud’s Northwest Palace (c. 865-705 BCE, Iraq).”

Refreshments will be available from noon to 12:30 p.m., and the lecture will take place from 12:30 to 2 p.m.

Archaeology has prominently revealed the “treasures” with which ancient Assyrian queens were buried beneath the Northwest Palace at Nimrud. Rather than focusing on individual objects, this presentation will place these treasures and other major palace assemblages in their archaeological context. In particular, the discussion will investigate the regalia and ritual equipment preserved in the queens’ tombs, the architecture and luxury installations of their throne room suite, and a corpus of ivory carvings that may have once adorned the queens’ furnishings and personal belongings. Through the study of these archaeological assemblages and contexts, we can gain insights into both the material culture of queenship and the queens themselves. Indeed, archaeology reveals the beauty, power, and presence of ancient Assyrian queens as a palpable force, eternally enmeshed in palace and empire.