Find out how four civilizations managed all these feats and more in Great Civilizations, a new educational series for adults beginning in September at Forsyth County Public Library.
Slavery in Ancient Rome
Monday, September 9 at 7:00 p.m. (Add to Calendar)
Post Road Library, 5010 Post Road, Cumming
The rise of Rome as an ancient superpower led to the capture and enslavement of hundreds of thousands of people from the areas it conquered, especially Greece, the Middle East, and modern-day France and Britain.
Roman slavery differed from much later U.S. slavery because it was not based on race, but was the expected fate of all those defeated in war (including Romans when they fell into enemy hands).
Dr. Judith Evans Grubbs, Betty Gage Holland Professor of Roman History at Emory University, will discuss about what we know of the lives of these slaves, including their family relationships and opportunities for freedom.
The Mongol Empire and the Chinggis Exchange
Tuesday, September 10 at 7:00 p.m. (Add to Calendar)
Sharon Forks Library, 2820 Old Atlanta Road, Cumming
Stretching from the Sea of Japan to the Mediterranean, the Mongol Empire territory covered approximately 14 million square miles (roughly the size of Africa). While contemporaries viewed the Mongols on par with natural disasters, the apocalypse, and even the anti-christ, the level of death and destruction caused in the conquest obscures an influence and legacy that continues to shape the world today.
Dr. Timothy May, Associate Dean of Arts & Letters and Professor of Central Eurasian History at the University of North Georgia, explores how the Mongol Empire became the largest contiguous empire in world history. Dr. May is the author and editor of nine books on the Mongol Empire and Mongolia, including The Mongols (2019), The Mongol Empire (2018), and The Mongol Art of War (2007, 2016).
Exploring the Ancient Maya*
Thursday, September 12 at 7:00 p.m. (Add to Calendar)
Hampton Park Library, 5345 Settingdown Road, Cumming
The ancient Mayan civilization spread throughout southern Mexico and Central America, an area known as Mesoamerica. Dr. Tamara Spike will explain how they lived, what they ate, and what they loved to do.
The Maya are notably famous for their use of mathematics, astronomy, and science in many aspects of their culture and religion, as well as technology which enabled them to build cities and pyramids, many of which still stand and can be visited today. Dr. Spike's discussion will highlight our current understanding of Mayan glyphs and their unique calendar system.
Tamara Spike, Ph.D., is the Interim Associate Department Head of History, Anthropology, and Philosophy at the University of North Georgia. She is a historian of Latin America with a specialization in ethnohistory and her research focuses on the cultural reconstruction of the Timucuan Indians of Spanish Florida.
Ancient Egypt
Monday, September 23 at 7:00 p.m. (Add to Calendar)
Cumming Library, 585 Dahlonega Street, Cumming
The ancient Egyptians are most famous for their elaborate funerary preparations, but these practices were only a small part of a broader Egyptian worldview in which the practices not only made sense, but were regarded as absolutely necessary.
Dr. Rune Nyord, Assistant Professor of Ancient Egyptian Art and Archaeology at Emory University, explores the ways in which the ancient Egyptian experience of the world was shaped by elements such as landscape, agriculture, and technology, and seeks to understand the place of funerary religion within this larger whole.
Dr. Nyord's research focuses on ancient Egyptian funerary culture and ancestor cult, especially of the Middle Kingdom (early 2nd millennium BCE). He is the author of the monograph Breathing Flesh: Conceptions of the Body in the Ancient Egyptian Coffin Texts (Copenhagen, 2009), as well as numerous papers and book chapters on ancient Egyptian religion, art, and language.
All events in the Great Civilizations series are free and open to the public. Registration is not required and you do not need a library card to attend.
For information on these and other events at the library, please visit www.forsythpl.org.
* Edited September 4, 2019 to reflect a change in the guest lecturer.
