Videos

More free lessons at: http://www.khanacademy.org/video?v=OY79AuGZDNI Victory Stele of Naram-Sin, Akkadian, pink limestone, 2254-2218 B.C.E. (Louvre, Paris) This monument depicts the Akkadian victory over the Lullubi Mountain people. In the12th...

History of the Alphabet. This video introduces the Hieroglyphic, Cuneiform, Hieratic, Demotic & Phoenician writing systems. It presents information as a series of selections from a finite collection of symbols... References (book): - The...

More free lessons at: http://www.khanacademy.org/video?v=Nok4cBt0V6w Standard of Ur, c. 2600-2400 B.C.E., 21.59 x 49.5 x 12 cm (British Museum) Speakers: Dr. Steven Zucker & Dr. Beth Harris

Bushel with ibex motifs, 4200—3500 B.C.E., Susa I period, necropolis, acropolis mound, Susa, Iran, painted terra-cotta, 28.90 x 16.40 cm, excavations led by Jacques de Morgan, 1906-08 (Musée du Louvre) Speakers: Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven...

The origin of pictographic & ideographic writing systems are imagined in the first part of this story (proto-writing). The rebus principle is introduced, setting the stage for the development of an alphabet. Featuring some key artifacts from...

More free lessons at: http://www.khanacademy.org/video?v=ld8kHvz1yN4 Jade Cong, c. 2500 B.C.E., Liangzhu culture, Neolithic period, China (British Museum) A conversation between Dr. Beth Harris and Dr. Steven Zucker

More free lessons at: http://www.khanacademy.org/video?v=ENAZqOoOVaI Nude Woman (Venus of Willendorf), c. 28,000-25,000 B.C.E., Limestone, 4 1/4" high (Naturhistorisches Museum, Vienna)

See various depictions of the Tower of Babel through the ages. With British Museum curator Irving Finkel http://www.britishmuseum.org/about_this_site/audio_and_video/exhibitions_-_archive/babylon_-_video_archive/towers_of_babel_video.aspx

Hadrian built himself a vast palace in the countryside, the villa Adriana in Tivoli about 30 kilometres east of Rome. It was a huge complex, designed to accommodate thousands of people. It was his administrative capital and represents his...

For many years Hadrian was perceived as a peace-loving admirer of Greek culture and customs, a philhellene. But the one statue on which this long-standing perception was based is not all that it should be. British Museum curator Thorsten...