Bloomsbury Summer School & Academy

Fascinated by ancient civilisations?

Monday 20 to 24 Friday July

Course Co-Directors: Dr Irving Finkel (British Museum)

To be held in person at UCL Institute of Archaeology (31 - 34 Gordon Square, London WC1H 0PY UK).

Monday 20 July

10:30 – 11:00*
Students gather in the BSS&A Common Room

11:00 – 11:30
BSS&A Director’s Welcome Address

11:30 – 13:00
1. Introductory PowerPoint: Cuneiform Writing and Language

Welcome Lunch in BSS&A Common Room (14:00 Short optional tour of UCL with the Director)

14:30 – 15:45
2. Basic Overview of Babylonian, to be developed throughout the week

16:15 – 17:30
3. Reading Short Royal Texts in Cuneiform

17:45
Non-BSS&A event: Get together with fellow students for a drink in the Woolf and Whistle Bar on the ground floor of the Tavistock Hotel

Tuesday 21 July

10:00 – 11:15
4. Laws from the Hammurabi Code 1

11:45 – 13:00
5. Reading from Gilgamesh 1

14:15 – 15:30
6. Laws from the Hammurabi Code 2

16:00 – 17:15
7. Reading from Gilgamesh 2

17:15 – 18:30
BSS&A Social on Common Room balcony (you are welcome to invite guests)

Wednesday 22 July

10:00 – 11:15
8. The Worm in the Tooth Spell

11:45 – 13:00
9. A Revealing Statue with a Revealing Inscription

14:15 – 15:30
10. British Museum Cuneiform-Gazing Visit

16:00 – 17:15
11. British Museum Cuneiform-Gazing Visit (cont'd

17:30
Non-BSS&A event: Get together with fellow students for dinner at Poppadom Indian Kitchen in the Tavistock Hotel

Thursday 23 July

10:00 – 11:15
12. Reading the Copper Complaint Letter to Ea-nasir of Ur 1

11:45 – 13:00
13. Reading the Copper Complaint Letter to Ea-nasir of Ur 2

14:15 – 15:30
14. The Crying Baby Problem

16:00 – 17:15
15. Banishing Demons and Ghosts

Friday 24 July

10:00 – 11:15
16. Reading Old Babylonian Medical Procedures

11:45 – 13:00
17. Reading Tushratta's letter to Amenhotep IV at Amarna

14:00 – 15:15
18. Reading the Reverse of the Babylonian Mappa Mundi

15:45 – 17:15
19. Wrapping up: Squeezing the Truth out of the Mappa Mundi

17:15 – 19:00
End-of-Course Drinks Party on BSS&A COmmon Room (you are welcome to invite guests)

*All times are London UK time

NB: Timetables, once published, are unlikely to change, but remain provisional until the first day of the course.