From Imperial Capital to Polis: Sardis from the Lydians to the Hellenistic Period

Nicholas Cahill is Professor of Art History at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Director of the Sardis Expedition.
During the seventh and sixth centuries BCE, the Lydians, a native Anatolian culture located in what is now western Turkey, established the first empire in this region since the Bronze Age. As they conquered Greek cities along the Aegean coast and native peoples inland, the Lydians established a border between the great civilizations of the Near East and the emerging western identity in Greece. In consequence, they became both the most generous patrons of Greek sanctuaries and sages, and paradigms to the Greeks of wealthy but disordered and ignorant barbarians.

This event is sponsored by the Department of the History of Art & Architecture, the Ancient Mediterranean Studies program, and Ancient Borderlands Research Focus Group.

jwil 02.ii.2012