The UCSC Society of the Archaeological Institute of America and the President’s Chair in Ancient Studies present a lecture in an ongoing series on “Archaeology and the Ancient World”

This lecture will present the results of current research at Sardis in western Turkey, the capital city of the Lydians and of their last king, Croesus. Recent excavation has dramatically changed our ideas about the Lydian city, with the discovery of the monumental city wall, terraces that regularized and organized the rugged natural topography, very probably used as a palatial quarter; houses burned by the Persian sack of the city in 547 BC. It will consider the later history of the city, including the temple of Artemis, the Hellenistic theater, and a temple of the Roman imperial cult.

Nicholas D. Cahill earned his B.A. at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor in 1981. After that, Cahill went on to the University of California-Berkeley to earn both his M.A. in 1984 and his Ph.D. in 1991 in Ancient History and Archaeology. Cahill specializes in Greek and Anatolian archaeology, especially urbanism and housing. He has done field work in Turkey, England and Israel. Professor Cahill has been honored with the National Endowment for the Humanities / American Research Institute in Turkey award for sabbatical year research (2005-2006); the title of UW Humanities Institute Fellow (2000-2001); and the American Council of Learned Societies Fellowship (1995-1996.) Nicholas is currently teaching at the University of Wisconsin (Madison) where he has been employed since 1993.

Talk begins at 5:00 pm, refreshments served at 4:30 pm, with a reception following lecture.