Exploring the Future of Iraq's Past at Holy Cross

WORCESTER, Mass. – When the Iraq National Museum in Baghdad was ransacked in a rush of destruction and looting in April 2003, thousands of relics from ancient civilizations, dating back as far as 5,000 years ago, were lost. But, what does the damage really mean for Iraq’s past? Has it been lost too? What about Iraq’s future? How does the loss of Iraq’s cultural history affect Americans?

Assyriologist Kathryn Slanski will address these questions and the challenges of preserving Iraqi antiquities in a talk, titled “From Baghdad to Babylon: The Sacking of the Iraq National Museum and the Future of Iraq’s Past,” on Wednesday, Feb. 18 at 4 p.m. in Holy Cross’ Rehm Library. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Slanski is a post-doctoral fellow in Assyriology at Yale University and a visiting professor at Fairfield University. She previously taught at Tel Aviv University in Israel and at Harvard University, where she received five awards for excellence in teaching.

Slanski is the author of The Babylonian Entitlement Narûs: A New Interpretation of the Babylonian Kudurrus, a book that explores the artistic traditions of ancient Mesopotamia.

This lecture is sponsored by the Center for Religion, Ethics and Culture.