Institute for the Study of the Ancient World

The Renaissance is often seen as the result of Europeans’ re-engagement with the heritage of Classical Antiquity, which Islamic societies preserved during the Dark Ages. Recent research has shown, though, that the science of Islamic societies from the twelfth through sixteenth centuries was crucial for Renaissance science. This lecture will describe this late medieval Islamic scientific culture and the fascinating stories of how it reached Renaissance Europe, often as a by-product of economic activity and as a result of a quest for social capital. In fact, European scholars in the later sixteenth century and the seventeenth century continued to value the science of Islamic societies, even after European science had blossomed. Renaissance science turns out to have more diverse foundations than previously thought.

Published 02/08/2018 — filed under: exhibition-event Located in Events Events Archive Academic Year 2017-2018

"Plato's advice to Alexander: Amir Khusraw's 'Mirror of Alexander' (1299)" introduces the poet Amir Khusraw and sets his poem in the context of the mirror-for-princes literature of the Arab and Persian Middle Ages. It considers the links of this tradition with the actual work of Plato, and also of Aristotle, and finds little direct connection. In the poem, Alexander visits the hermit Plato in his cave to obtain advice on rulership. Alexander is thus presented as a kind of philosopher-king, as much a Sufi and a sage as he is a monarch.

Published 03/02/2018 — filed under: exhibition-event Located in Events Events Archive Academic Year 2017-2018

Romance and Reason gallery tour and interview.

Published 05/15/2018 — filed under: exhibition-event Located in Events Events Archive Academic Year 2017-2018

*Video of this lecture is now available!* In the lecture HERE, Elizabeth Price will discuss a series of inter-related places and spaces that are pertinent to A RESTORATION, and her other, recent work in digital video. These include the location of the literal archive or collection, the space of the digital cache and the figurative locations established within the video’s own narrative, which include the institution of a museum and the historic site of Knossos. In addition, she will reflect upon the politics of restoration, expanding upon the proposition of the video itself, that the damaged or incomplete evidence of the past, offers an imaginative refuge: a place for radical invention.

Published 09/14/2017 — filed under: exhibition-event Located in Events Events Archive Academic Year 2017-2018

This workshop will take place in person at ISAW. Registration is required; click through for the registration link. Expanding the Ancient World is a series of professional development workshops and online resources for teachers. Learn more about Islamic art and material culture during the early Medieval Period (711–1031 CE) through the ISAW exhibition "Madinat al-Zahra: The Radiant Capital of Islamic Spain."

Published 09/09/2024 — filed under: exhibition-event, ETAW Located in Events Events Archive Academic Year 2024-2025

This lecture will take place in person at ISAW. Registration is required; click through for the registration link. This lecture is given in conjunction with ISAW's exhibition Madinat al-Zahra: The Radiant Capital of Islamic Spain. When Abd al-Rahman I established independent Umayyad rule in Cordoba in the mid-eighth century, most of his subjects were Christian. By the time Madinat al-Zahra flourished under his descendants, Abd al-Rahman III and al-Hakam II, the majority of the caliph’s subjects were Muslim.

Published 11/14/2024 — filed under: exhibition-event Located in Events Events Archive Academic Year 2024-2025

This workshop will take place in person at ISAW. Registration is required; click through for the registration link. Please join illustrator and teaching artist Joan Chiverton for an afternoon of sketching in the galleries in conjunction with the exhibition Rethinking Etruria. Develop your drawing skills and discover a new way of seeing the exhibit, as you sketch masterpieces and other objects. Following a brief introduction and tutorial, Ms. Chiverton will circulate the galleries and provide individual coaching, if desired. All skill levels are welcome, from beginner to advanced. Participants should bring their own drawing pad or paper with a board, but we will have paper on hand if necessary. Gallery specific pencils will be provided by ISAW. For conservation reasons pens, pastels, charcoal and paints need to be kept at home.

Published 05/29/2025 — filed under: exhibition-event Located in Events Events Archive Academic Year 2024-2025

This lecture will take place in person at ISAW. Registration is required; click through for the registration link. The ancient Mesopotamian world was populated with a wide range of demonic and monstrous creatures, all of which intersected with daily life in a variety of mostly-malignant ways. Most often, demons, or the chaotic figure of the witch, could cause serious harm, being associated with disease and illness, or even death, particularly in infants and young children.

Published 08/26/2026 — filed under: exhibition-event Located in Events

This lecture will take place in person at ISAW. Registration is required; click through for the registration link. Join curator Jeffrey Spier for an in-gallery exploration of the exhibition Cursed! The Power of Magic in the Ancient World. Dr. Spier will discuss the exhibition’s key themes and engage participants in close-looking at a selection of exhibition highlights.

Published 08/26/2026 — filed under: exhibition-event Located in Events

This lecture will take place in person at ISAW. Registration is required; click through for the registration link. This talk will explore how and why that was so, offering several hypotheses for why Egyptian figural art became central to the imagining of this complex psychological concept. The talk––paying special attention to Rodin’s self-described “Egyptian colossus,” his 1898 monument to Honoré de Balzac––will also probe Rodin’s highly distinctive approach to this widespread association between Egyptian art and the formal expression of the human potential for unconscious thought.

Published 11/05/2025 — filed under: exhibition-event Located in Events Events Archive Academic Year 2025-2026

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