News Article

Gonzaga University’s 2005-06 Archaeology and Ancient History Lecture Series will continue this spring with lectures set for Feb. 28 and March 31. Gonzaga history Assistant Professor Andrew Goldman gave the first lecture in the series Nov. 17, 2005, titled, “Discovering a Roman Military Post: The 2004-05 Excavations in the Roman Town at Gordion (Turkey).”

Bradley Parker, assistant professor of ancient Near Eastern history and archaeology in the University of Utah history department, is slated to speak at 5 p.m., Tuesday, Feb. 28 in the Jundt Auditorium at the GU Jundt Art Center on “Geographies of Power: Neo-Assyrian Imperialism in Theoretical Perspective.” The lecture, which is free and open to the public, will combine archaeological and textual data from the Mesopotamian Iron Age to reconstruct the mechanics of Assyrian expansion into southeastern Anatolia between 1000 and 600 B.C.

Parker argues that Assyrian imperial expansion was not a process of conquering contiguous areas and creating an empire in which clear lines could be drawn between those regions that were under Assyrian control and those that were not. Instead, Parker asserts, Assyrian imperialism was a process in which “islands”of territorial control were planted in peripheral zones.

These islands were linked to the imperial core by a network of communication and transportation corridors forming an empire made up of provinces in which the Assyrians held complete territorial control, vassal states in which the Assyrians held varying degrees of indirect control, and buffer states and zones where the Assyrians had no control, Parker contends.

The Assyrians were a Semetic people living in northern Mesopotamia (modern Iraq and Iran) who conquered much of the Middle East between 883 and 612 BC, creating a vast empire which they maintained through harsh measures such as mass deportation.

Then, at 4:30 p.m., Friday, March 31, Cheryl Ward, assistant professor of anthropology at Florida State University, will explore the topic of “Pirates: Ancient Harbors, and Underwater Archaeologists in Rough Cilicia.” That lecture also will be at Gonzaga’s Jundt Auditorium.

For more information about either lecture or the series, please contact Assistant Professor Goldman at (509) 323-6691 or via e-mail at goldman@gonzaga.edu