Scherman Lecture: "Shattered Window on the Persian Empire: Rescuing the Persepolis Fortification Archive," Dr. Matthew Stolper

Speaker: Dr. Matthew Stolper, Professor of Assyriology, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, and John A. Wilson Professor of Oriental Studies, Oriental Institute, University of Chicago The Persepolis Fortification Archive, made up of tens of thousands of clay tablets, is the richest, most complex, and most consequential source of information about languages, art, institutions, religion, and society in the heart of the Achaemenid Persian Empire at its noonday (the reign of Darius I, ca. 500 BC). This presentation will discuss what the archive is, why it matters, and what the Persepolis Fortification Archive Project is doing to record and reconnect its elements.