Archaeology Lecture with Irene Bald Romano

Irene Bald Romano (University of Arizona) will speak on “A Recent Discovery of Late Hellenistic Marble Sculpture from Parthian/Adiabenian Qalatga Darband in Iraqi Kurdistan”. Lunch will be at 12, the lecture will be at 12:30.

Lecture Abstract:

In this lecture Dr. Romano will examine a group of Greek marble statuettes of the late 2nd or 1st centuries BCE that were discovered at the Parthian/Adiabenian site of Qalatga Darband (eastern Iraqi Kurdistan) in a British Museum excavation between 2016 and 2021. The sculptures were found in an impressive building that was likely the manor house of an official of this fortified town strategically situated guarding a tributary of the Tigris River, as well as a major overland passage through the Zagros Mountains. The statuettes are thoroughly Greek—in material, iconography (Greek divine or mythological figures), technique, and style. It is very unusual to find such a large corpus of Hellenistic sculpture—60 fragments of at least 10 to 11 mid-to large-scale statuettes—in this eastern region. Some of the intriguing research questions are: Who were the sculptors and where were their workshops? What were the circumstances that brought these Greek sculptures to this Parthian/Adiabenian town? Were they purchased or acquired as booty or received in a gift exchange? How were the sculptures used in this location? Who destroyed the building in which they were found?