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Part of a series of lunchtime gallery talks: Wednesdays, November 13–May 20, 12:00–12:20pm Join us in the galleries for a 20-minute in-depth discussion of a single object from A Wonder to Behold: The Power of Craftsmanship and the Creation of Babylon’s Ishtar Gate.

Knossos in Crete is one of the most frequented archaeological sites in the world. Visitors to the prehistoric Palace of Knossos are greeted by a bronze bust of the British archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans who excavated, restored and interpreted the monument in the early 20th century, thus leaving us with an everlasting legacy on the archaeology of Crete and the Aegean. A few months ago, a second bust was erected near the first one and it shows the little-known Cretan businessman and antiquarian Minos Kalokairinos (1843-1907). Kalokairinos was the first to excavate Knossos more than two decades before Evans, and the first to discover its palace in a brief and poorly documented campaign in 1878. Although his work attracted international attention at the time, it was quickly overshadowed by the much more extensive and well-documented research of Evans and it remained entirely overlooked for nearly a century. However, recent scholarship increasingly appreciates the pioneering investigations of the Cretan antiquarian.

Bata and Osiris, the heroes of two very well known ancient Egyptian stories, have often been compared, and the similarity of some episodes in their lives has been noted. What has not been properly understood, however, is the degree to which the stories themselves are structurally identical, differing only in the gender of the characters who play the two secondary roles in the stories. The recognition of this circumstance means that the two stories can be compared, which clarifies the episodes that are essential and those that are inessential additions. More importantly, however, the results can be used to examine the assumptions the Egyptians made about gender. When are male and female characters able to do the same things, and when must the story be twisted to prevent characters from acting in ways that are inappropriate to their gender?

This conversation will introduce new discoveries and recent research related to the production technologies around the facades highlighting our current understanding of production organization and process, iconography and legacy of the grand and fascinating glazed architectures of the ancient world. *Please note Registration will open on November 12th.