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By Roxana Wang A part of the Ishtar Gate still above the ground when German excavation began in 1920 © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Vorderasiatisches Museum, Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft/photographer unknown Nazi Germany is remembered for its eugenic ideologies and persecution of its victims, and some know how the Nazi fervor fit the academia: Albert Einstein, an anti-Nazi Jew, renounced his citizenship and fled to the US, but others like Martin Heidegger complied with the Nazis and jotted down anti-semitic thoughts in his black notebook. As apolitical as Ancient Near Eastern Studies might sound, this discipline was appropriated to serve the narrative of the Third Reich. Some Assyriologists and Egyptologists who betrayed their academic integrity are still revered in the Ancient Studies curriculum today. This two-part study maps out how politics was implicated in German studies of the ancient Near East (a discipline known in German as Altorientalistik) from its foundation in the 19th century up to the 1940s and examines the scholarship of individual scholars who supported the Nazi worldview. While Nazi Germany was an extreme case, the appropriation of ancient civilizations has been a common strategy for regimes around the world to justify their ideological agenda. The ultimate moral of the story is that we should always be alert to the racial and political presumptions that shaped and still shape studies of the ancient world. 1. Imagining “Us” and “Them”: German Oriental Studies 18th-19th century Altorientalistik flourished in the 19th century thanks to developments in philology and archaeology. During this period, German philologists contributed to the deciphering of ancient Near Eastern languages, and German archaeologists excavated important Egyptian and Mesopotamian sites. However, the studies of ancient languages and material culture, however, were not safely aloof from politics. This chapter will show how these areas of study were instrumentalized to fuel nationalism and serve political ends. Since its very beginning, Altorientalistik went hand in hand with politics. Languages can be an important part of national identities. Contemporary scholars have differed on the exact definition of nationalism, but most would agree with Anthony Smith’s description of a “nation” as a “named community possessing an historic territory, shared myths and memories, a common public culture, and common laws and customs.” [1] Nationalism, the ideology justifying the existence of the nation, reinforces the sentiment of a “community” sharing something in common. According to Benedict Anderson, a prominent scholar of nationalism, the cohesive community is realized through language. He writes in his groundbreaking Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism (1983) that: What the eye is to the lover – that particular, ordinary eye he or she is born with – language – whatever language history has made his or her mother-tongue – is to the patriot. Through that language, encountered at mother’s knee and parted with only at the grave, pasts are restored, fellowships are imagined, and futures dreamed. [2] In other words, people know their “root” through their mother-tongue: from hearing lullabies in cradles to conversing with their compatriots, people know their origin and form bonds when this familiar language resounds. The language accompanies the inhabitants of a nation from birth to death, forming the medium through which they retell their history and imagine their shared future. It is thus no coincidence that in the 18th to 19th centuries, when European states were unifying, breaking away from old empires, and transforming into the modern nations as we see on the map today, that European scholars avidly advanced the study of languages, ancient and modern—they were as interested in linguistics as in national identities. With the heightened importance of languages in mind, we now focus on the case of Germany. In the 18th century, a unified Germany did not exist. Instead, there existed more than three hundred German states. The fragmentation of the states posed an obstacle to Germany’s nation-building: the Germans could not find a sense of unity in a shared social structure, nor did they all share the same religion. Language and literary culture thus became the only commonality among the German people. [3] Out of the myriad of linguistic theories circulating in German-speaking academia since the late 18th century, a connection between language and nationalism was gradually conceived. In his work Letters for the Advancement of Humanity (Briefe zu Beförderung der Humanität), Johann Gottfried Herder (1744–1803) proposed that “a nation is built and reared by means of language”, centering the role language plays in fostering the cohesion of a community (4). Later, Wilhelm von Humboldt, the forefather of German liberal education, argued that language creates the unique worldview (Weltansichten) of a people and is an embodiment of their “national character”. [5] Such theories did not merely allow the Germans to consider themselves as a unified entity sharing one language and one cultural identity, but it also prompted them to uncover the shared myths and memories of their civilization by researching their connections with ancient cultures. German linguists looked eastward in their search for a shared past. The first ancient Eastern language to attract attention was Sanskrit. In 1808, Friedrich Von Schlegel (1772-1829) published his ground-breaking book, On the Languages and Wisdom of India (Über die Sprache und Weisheit der Indier). In this book, Schlegel compared Sanskrit with Greek, Latin, and German. Noticing many similarities, he proposed that Sanskrit is the oldest descendent of the origin of all languages. [6] Drawing on ancient history and mythology, Schlegel went further to propose that the greatest civilizations in history, like Ancient Egypt, were founded by Indians. Germans, according to him, were offspring of the first people to emigrate out of Asia. In this way, Schlegel contributed to the “Ayran myth” that centered the so-called Aryan people who settled in the Indus Valley and spread their language and civilization through their migration. Schlegel’s conclusions are problematic from today’s perspective: firstly, his idea that Sanskrit was the oldest language was disproven even in his time; secondly, the assumption that language indicates racial relationship is delusive; thirdly, despite all the theories proposed by European scholars, ancient Persian and Indian texts never recorded the existence of an “Aryan” ethnic group. [7] Nevertheless, Schlegel was a pioneer of comparative linguistics, introducing the framework to juxtapose eastern and western languages and cultures. The examination of Near Eastern civilizations began a little later. While copies of cuneiform inscriptions from Persepolis were made available in Europe by the German traveler Carsten Niebuhr in as early as 1765, serious attempts to decode cuneiform only started in the early 19th century. German scholar Georg Friedrich Grotefend (1775-1853) and German-French scholar Julius Oppert (1825–1905) were two of the most prominent European philologists contributing to this effort. [8] Grotefend made out the names of Persian kings in the inscriptions copied by Niebuhr, while Oppert deciphered a variety of historical, religious, and astrological inscriptions. Archaeological discoveries complemented the development in philology and further enriched 19th-century German knowledge of the ancient Near East. Unlike France, which already possessed a great hoard of Egyptian treasure due to Napoleon's campaign in Egypt (1798-1801), and Britain, whose colonial interest in the Middle East also facilitated archaeological expeditions, Germany was a late-comer to the scramble for antiquities. Britain and France began to systematically excavate ancient Near Eastern sites in the 1840s, and the artifacts hauled away, often without the consent of the locals, filled the Louvre and the British Museum. Compared with these two superpowers, Germany had not expressed much ambition for excavations abroad. In 1845, the Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft was formed with the aim of promoting the study of oriental languages and culture in Germany but did not actively pursue excavations. [9] The status quo of European archaeology, however, was challenged when the German Empire was founded in 1871. Under the ambitious emperor Wilhelm I and chancellor Bismarck, the unified nation acquired colonies and protectorates in East Africa and Asia and began to strengthen its economic and military ties with the Ottoman Empire. [10] An announcement in National Newspaper (National-Zeitung) articulates the changed attitude toward archaeology at this time: Germany’s inferior position with respect to excavations in Asia Minor, especially in Babylon and Assyria, in no way equivalent [to that of other European nations], stands in the sharpest contrast to the intensive and successful research in philology, general history, and cultural history that we have conducted precisely in this area. This inferior position affects not only our museum collections, but also is reflected in the public’s prevailing view of oriental history and artifacts. [11] An ambitious vision is evident here: Near Eastern archaeology was a matter tied with the empire’s self-esteem. Germany felt competitive pressure to conduct more excavations in the Near East, both to catch up with other European nations and to educate its domestic population. In 1898, the Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft (DOG) was established in Berlin with ample funding from James Simon, an influential industrialist and enthusiast of antiquities. [12] The DOG’s chief goals were the acquisition of Near Eastern antiquities and the promotion of scholarship. By the early 20th century, the DOG, along with previously established institutions like the German Archaeological Institute, had excavated a range of highly important sites including Tell El-Amarna (1911-14) , the capital of the reformist pharaoh Akhenaten; Babylon (1898-1917), one of the most glorious cities of the ancient world; and Uruk (1912-13), the ancient megacity where cuneiform was invented. [13] A new era of active German archaeological research on Near Eastern civilizations was dawning. 2. The Boom and the Blast In the early 20th century, ancient Near Eastern artifacts were no longer confined to the scholars’ libraries but were increasingly accessible for the public in museums. In 1898, the Vordasiatisches Museum (Near Eastern Museum, today a part of the Pergamon Museum) was being built to house the DOG’s findings in Babylon, Assur, and Uruk. When the museum opened in 1930, the Ishtar gate of Babylon was an absolute star of the exhibition. Built in the late 6th century BCE, the gate started its afterlife when it was rediscovered in fragments by the German archaeologist Robert Johann Koldewey (1855 –1925) in 1902, brought to Berlin in two batches in 1903 and 1926, and restored in just 2 years. [14] While stunning exhibits like the Ishtar Gate attracted 600,000 visitors to the Vordasiatisches Museum in the first 4 months of the museum’s opening, other smaller-scale exhibitions on the Ancient Near East also opened in Berlin. [15] Max von Oppenheim (1860–1946), who led the excavation of the ancient Hittite site Tell-Halaf, opened his private Tell Halaf Museum in Berlin-Charlottenburg in 1930 to showcase his important finds. [16] The Ishtar Gate of Babylon, a gem of the Pergamon Museum © Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Vorderasiatisches Museum / Olaf M. Teßmer In 1908, Sardanapal: Historical Pantomime (Sardanapalus: historische Pantomime) made its debut at the Royal Opera in Berlin. The pantomime is about Sardanapalus, an Assyrian king who indulged in pleasure and let his empire fall into chaos. It was adapted from Paulo Tanglioni’s ballet Sardanapal, which was based on Lord Byron’s 1821 tragedy of the same name. It was produced with the avid support of the emperor Wilhelm II, an enthusiast of Assyriology who self-reportedly “busied [himself] with archæology and was active in excavation work” during vacations. [17] What is striking about this production was its historical accuracy: despite the ahistoric and fantastical nature of Byron’s original play, the production of the pantomime was managed by the leading Assyriologist Friedrich Delitzsch (1850–1922), who choreographed the movement of the dancers based on Assyrian reliefs. The stage, meanwhile, was designed by Walter Andrae (1875-1958), the supervisor of the excavation at Assur. The meticulous attention to archaeological facts, however, appeared dry and didactic to the audience, causing the production to flop. [18] The popular newspaper Berliner Volkszeitung criticized this production, asking: “Why should such strenuous work, why should such horrendous cost, research, and skillfulness be devoted to this work?” [19] The unpopular historical accuracy of Sardanapal: Historical Pantomime did not represent the overall reception of ancient Near Eastern art in early 20th-century Germany. The cultural atmosphere of Weimar Germany (1918-1933) was characterized by innovations in art, theater, and photography. Expressionism, an artistic style that emphasizes individuals' emotions through dramatic forms and colors, enabled artists to visualize the chaos of modernity and World War I in the 1910s, though it continued to flourish into the 1930s. The expressionists often turned to ancient, non-European art for inspiration, believing that the “primitivism” of these artworks enabled them to criticize the vice of modernity. The expressionist science-fiction film Metropolis (1927), directed by Fritz Lang, utilized the allegories of the Tower of Babel and the decadent Babylon to tell a story of the “alienating and depersonalizing aspects of progress”. [20] Despite this intended critique of modernity, the archaeological discoveries of ancient Near Eastern art inspired modern German art and architecture. For example, the ziggurat, a kind of stepped temple tower seen in many ancient Mesopotamian cities, became a source of inspiration for the expressionist architect Erich Mendelsohn (1887 –1953) as he designed the Einstein Tower, a landmark astrophysical observatory in Potsdam. [21] A poster of Metropolis, featuring a building meant to resemble the Tower of Babel (1927) A model of a ziggurat The Einstein tower ©Astrophysikalisches Institute Potsdam The prosperity of Weimar Germany, however, was essentially a dance on the edge of a volcano. [22] After all, the dazzling cultural scene could not gloss over the conflicts and imbalances in the post-war German society. Democracy was constantly threatened by the leftist uprisings and rightist putsches and the major political parties’ inability to cooperate since the Weimar Republic’s foundation in 1919. Meanwhile, the myth that Germany lost in World War I only due to the “stab in the back” by the Jews and other marginalized groups flamed mistrust among communities. Against the backdrop of political chaos and public anxiety, National Socialism (German Nationalsozialismus, more well-known as Nazi) and its notorious standard-bearer, Adolf Hitler, gradually rose to power. The Nazi party was founded in 1920 in Munich. In its early years, it was a rather minor one among the many far-right groups in Germany. The party attempted to organize several putsches against the Weimar democracy, but all ended in failure. Under Hitler’s leadership, the party opted for a different strategy—run in elections and unravel the democracy from within. The Nazis’ chance came with the economic recession in 1930. The Nazis maneuvered and manipulated all sides, promising an end to economic woes and eradication of fabricated enemies to the struggling populace, and enticing rich investors with an anti-communist agenda. [23] By 1932, the Nazi party had become the largest political party in Germany. In 1933, Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor. Hitler spent the first few months of his chancellorship consolidating his power by pursuing the policy referred to as Gleichschaltung (literally, “coordination”). His ultimate goal was to subject all aspects of the German society—politics, civil service, economy, and even culture—to the Nazi ideology. On March 23rd, 1933, the Reichstag passed the Enabling Act under Nazi coercion, an act that allowed Hitler to pass laws without parliamentary approval. From that point on, any atrocity committed by the Nazi regime could be justified by law. Just two weeks later, on April 7th, 1933, the Nazis passed the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service (also known as the Civil Service Law), which established that, for the purpose of establishing a “national” civil service, civil servants who were non-Aryan or did not adhere to the regime’s political agenda should be fired. [24] Following the law’s passage, many non-Aryans and opponents to the regime lost their positions, including most Jewish professors in the country. [25] Among the victims of Nazi persecution of academics are some notable scholars of the ancient Near East. In 1933, the Assyriologist Albrecht Goetze (1897 – 1971) lost his position in Marburg, not for being Jewish but for being “politically unreliable” by befriending the pacifist Jewish mathematician, Emil Gumbel. [26] Being barred from employment, the Jewish Hittologist Hans Gustav Güterbock (1908 – 2000) had to leave Germany in 1935. [27] In the same year, Ernst Herzfeld (1879–1948), a highly influential scholar of ancient Near Eastern and Islamic art and archaeology, was forced into early retirement due to his Jewish descent. [28] Georg Steindorff (1861-1951), a Jewish Egyptologist, had to emigrate to the US in 1939. [29] The exodus of such prominent scholars from Germany impoverished the German academia but greatly strengthened ancient Near Eastern studies in the US: Goetze taught at Yale University and made Yale a leading institution of Hittitology, Güterbock joined University of Chicago’s Oriental Institute, and Herzeld sold his invaluable archive of notes and sketches to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. This was, unfortunately, just the beginning of the doomed fate of ancient Near Eastern Studies under Nazism. As we have seen so far, Altorientalistik was, even in its founding stage, associated with national ideologies. When the regime exerted more control over academia, the scholars who chose to stay felt increasing pressure to align their research with the Nazi political agenda. Thus, we shall soon see how a humanities discipline was appropriated and distorted to court a most inhumane regime. Part II coming soon… [1] Anthony Smith, National Identity, Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1991). Quoted in Blagoj Conev, “Theories of Nations and Nationalism: A Comparative Outline”, in European & Balkan Perspectives (2019), 7. [2] Benedict Anderson. Imagined Communities Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism, (London, New York: Verson, 2006), 154). [3] Christian Jansen, “The Formation of German Nationalism, 1740–1850,” in The Oxford Handbook of Modern German History, ed. Helmut Walser Smith (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008), 241, https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199237395.013.0011) [4] Johann Gottfried Herder. Briefe zu Beförderung der Humanität (1795), quoted in Tuska Benes. In Babel’s Shadow: Language Philology, and the Nation in Nineteenth-Century Germany (Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2008), 45. [5] Nationalcharakter; “So lässt sich, ohne Verwechslung der wirkenden Ursachen, eine Eigenthümlichkeit in den Sprachen erkennen, die wirklich die ihrige ist, oder doch zu der ihrigen wird, und man würde das innerste Wesen und die bedeutungsvolle Mannigfaltigkeit der Sprachen verkennen, wenn man das Gepräge des Nationalcharakters in ihnen unbeachtet ließe”, Wilhelm von Humboldt, “Über den Nationalcharakter der Sprachen,” in Wilhelm von Humboldt: Gesammelte Werke, ed. Albert Leitzmann (Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 1905), 425). [6] “Das alte indische Sonskrito d. h. die gebildete oder vollkommne auch Gronthon d. H. die Schrift- oder Büchersprache hat die größte Verwandtschaft mit der römiſchen und griechischen so wie mit der germanischen und persischen Sprache. Die Ähnlichkeit liegt nicht bloß in einer großen Anzahl von Wurzeln, die sie mit ihnen gemein hat, sondern sie erstreckt sich bis auf die innerste Structur und Grammatik. Die Uebereinstimmung ist alſo keine zufällige, die sich aus Einmiſchung erklären liesse; sondern eine wesentliche, die auf gemeinschaftliche Abstammung deutet. Bei der Vergleichung ergiebt sich ferner,daß die indische Sprache die ältere sei, die andern aber jünger und aus jener abgeleitet.” Friedrich Von Schlegel, “Erstes Kapitel: Von der indischen Sprache überhaupt,” in Ueber die Sprache und Weisheit der Indier ( Heidelberg: Mohr und Zimmer, 1808), https://www.deutschestextarchiv.de/book/show/schlegel_indier_1808.) [7] Knight Dunlap, “The Great Aryan Myth,” The Scientific Monthly 59, No. 4 (1944): 296-7, https://www.jstor.org/stable/18253). [8] Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Georg Friedrich Grotefend." Encyclopedia Britannica, December 11, 2022. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Georg-Friedrich-Grotefend;“Professor Julius Oppert.” The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, 1906, 272–77. http://www.jstor.org/stable/25210244). [9] “Aims,” Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft, https://www.dmg-web.de/page/zielsetzung_en). [10] Matthew David Penix, “German Imperialism and Applied Orientalism: German Encounters with the Ottoman Empire, 1850-1918,” (Phd diss., Western Michigan University, 2022),92-131, https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/dissertations/3852/). Germany’s interest in archaeological colonialism followed swiftly. [11] “Eine Deutsche-Orient Gesellschaft.” National-Zeitung, January 19, 1898, quoted in Frederick N. Bohrer, Orientalism and visual culture: imagining Mesopotamia in nineteenth-century Europe (Cambridge, UK ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2003), 279-80, https://www.libs.uga.edu/reserves/docs/scans/bohrer-germanys-mesopotamia.pdf) [12] James Simon: Der große Mäzen der Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin,” Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, https://www.smb.museum/museen-einrichtungen/james-simon-galerie/ueber-uns/james-simon/). [13] Kristen E. Twardowski, “Excavating Imperial Fantasies: The German Oriental Society, 1898–1914”, (master’s thesis, University of Northern Carolina, 2015), 54,https://doi.org/10.17615/70j0-ks86.). [14] Vom Fragment zum Monument: Das Ischtar-Tor in Berlin,” Pergamonmuseum, https://www.smb.museum/ausstellungen/detail/vom-fragment-zum-monument/). [15)] Michaela Gericke, “Masterplan für die Museumsinsel,” February 10, 2005, Deutschlandfunk, https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/masterplan-fuer-die-museumsinsel-100.html). [16] Lutz Martin, “Max von Oppenheim and His Tell Halaf,” September 2020, ASOR, https://www.asor.org/anetoday/2020/09/oppenheim-tell-halaf). [17] Wilhelm II, The Kaiser’s Memoirs, trans. Thomas R. Ybarra (New York, London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1922), 203, https://www.gutenberg.org/files/43522/43522-h/43522-h.htm). [18] Valeska Hartmann, “When Imitation Became Reality: The Historical Pantomime Sardanapal (1908) at the Royal Opera of Berlin”, in Receptions of the Ancient Near East in Popular Culture and Beyond, ed. Lorenzo Verderame and Agnès Garcia-Ventura (Columbus: Lockwood Press, 2020), 83-104, https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvxrpzkx.9). [19] Sardanapal,” Berliner Volkszeitung, September 2, 1908. https://zefys.staatsbibliothek-berlin.de/list/title/zdb/27971740/) [20] Rannfrid I. Thelle, Discovering Babylon (London, New York: Routledge, 2019,159). [21] Brigitte Pedde, “Reception of Mesopotamian Architecture in Germany and Austria in the 20th Century,” in Proceedings of the 6th International Congress on the Archaeology of the Ancient Near East, ed. Matthiae et al. (Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag, 2010), 122). [22] Andrew Dickson, “Culture in Weimar Germany: on the edge of the volcano,” British Library, May 25, 2016,https://www.bl.uk/20th-century-literature/articles/on-the-edge-of-the-volcano-culture-in-weimar-germany). [23] United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, “The Nazi Rise to Power,” Holocaust Encyclopedia, https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-nazi-rise-to-power). [24] The law can be read at: https://www.geschichte-abitur.de/quellenmaterial/quellen-drittes-reich/gesetz-zur-wiederherstellung-des-berufsbeamtentums Article III: “Beamte, die nicht arischer Abstammung sind, sind in den Ruhestand (§§ 8 ff.) zu versetzen; soweit es sich um Ehrenbeamte handelt, sind sie aus dem Amtsverhältnis zu entlassen.”/ Article IV: “Beamte, die nach ihrer bisherigen politischen Betätigung nicht die Gewähr dafür bieten, daß sie jederzeit rückhaltlos für den nationalen Staat eintreten, können aus dem Dienst entlassen werden.”). [25] Higher Education in Nazi Germany”. Holocaust Sources in Context. https://perspectives.ushmm.org/collection/higher-education-in-nazi-germany. [26] See Martina Pesditschek, review of Entlassungsgrund: Pazifismus : Albrecht Götze, der Fall Gumbel und die Marburger Universität 1930 - 1946, by Harald Maier-Metz. Informationsmittel (IFB) : digitales Rezensionsorgan für Bibliothek und Wissenschaft, http://informationsmittel-fuer-bibliotheken.de/showfile.php?id=9420). [27] Silvia Alaura, “Hittite Studies at the Crossroads: Albrecht Goetze’s and Hans Gustav Güterbock’s Flight from Nazi Germany,” in Perspectives on the History of Ancient Near Eastern Studies, ed. Agnes Garcia-Ventura and Lorenzo Verderame (University Park: Eisenbrauns, Penn State University Press, 2020),https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5325/j.ctv1hcg0d9.4?seq=3. [28 Matt Saba, “The Ernst Herzfeld Papers at the Met: A Digital Resource Documenting the Study of Near Eastern Civilization,” the MET,https://www.metmuseum.org/blogs/in-circulation/2014/ernst-herzfeld-papers). [29] Georg Steindorff Collection,” Center for Jewish History, https://archives.cjh.org//repositories/5/resources/10950)

Save Ancient Studies Alliance (SASA) is pleased to announce that the Fall 2023 period of our Internship Program is open for applications! These volunteer remote internships are great opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students who are passionate about Ancient Studies to gain professional experience in the non-profit sector in work closely related to their areas of study. Our vibrant, diverse community of interns and volunteers enjoy working together to promote Ancient Studies access and participation for all. At SASA, we strongly advocate for students to develop multiple areas of expertise, both academic and professional. Interning with us is a great way to broaden your horizons! Join one of our teams, each of which are vital to SASA’s organization and mission, accomplishing a wide scope of projects and tasks: Communications Inter-Org Communications Research Fundraising Grant Writing Executive Virtual Conference Access Outreach Archaeogaming Mentorship Read more in the SASA Internship Program Brochure To Apply, visit our webpage: https://www.saveancientstudies.org/apply-with-sasa The deadline for applications is July 31st, 2023, so apply today!

SASA is honored to announce that we have been awarded a $15,000 grant from the New Jersey Council for the Humanities. With this grant, we intend on creating two new Archaeogaming Educational Modules (AEMs). These modules combine the engagement of interactive gaming with the study of the Ancient World, helping introduce Ancient Studies to young people in an educational environment. Last year, we were able to produce four new modules with the NJCH grant, and we are excited to create even more. The NJCH grant funds our research and production, enabling us to distribute the learning materials associated with our AEMs for free. As such, we can fulfill our goal of improving access to Ancient Studies for all. The grant additionally allows us to use contemporary technology to create high-quality resources and provide opportunities for early career scholars to gain critical experience by helping us develop the lessons. Thank you, New Jersey Council for the Humanities! You make our mission of channeling interest in the Ancient World and promoting access to Ancient Studies possible. And, of course, we thank our Archaeogaming Educational Module users for their continued support. If you are an educator who is interested in our existing Archaeogaming Educational Modules, please sign up to receive them for free.

Congratulations to SASA interns Andrew Bielecki and Summer Sekula! We would like to congratulate two interns on receiving academic awards for their contributions to the field of Ancient Studies. Both Bielecki and Sekula volunteered as interns in the Access Team, working towards the SASA goal of making resources accessible to both students and scholars. Andrew Bielecki is the recipient of the Kathryn F. Furcolo Award at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. This award is for “outstanding interns in unpaid public service or governmental internships.” The award included a cash prize, which Andrew has decided will offset expenses for a summer study abroad trip to Oxford. Summer Sekula has been awarded one of three Mentorship Program Award Scholarships from the College of Liberal Arts, University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) for her outstanding work as an intern with SASA. Additionally, she has also been selected by the UNLV History Department to be the recipient of the John S. Wright Memorial Scholarship. Thank you to our interns for your hard work, and congratulations again! SASA is very fortunate to have had your support over the past year. We look forward to seeing all your future achievements!

Congratulations Ancient Studies Graduates of 2023! For some of you who were our interns this past spring, we would like to extend a hearty thank you for your efforts during such a busy and critical time of your academic career. We certainly hope to see you return as a participant at one of our future events! SASA has resources that can help you in your next endeavors, whether that is a job search or preparation for postgraduate studies. Our Port Ancient page displays an extensive list of companies and organizations in the humanities, from established societies to startups, that you might reach out to. Our Resources page can also be used to plan out a career path, or your next paper or application. If you fall into the latter category, we have forums to help you receive feedback from scholars and peers for your project. And of course, our Oracle Newsletter announces any and all job openings our various partners may have, including a recent paid position at Biblical Archaeology Review. On another note, our Spring Student Interns have contributed to various projects within SASA, bringing innumerable benefits to our methods and overall sense of progress in the mission of creating a community for current and future scholars of Ancient Studies. Thank you again for all your hard work, and we look forward to seeing how your time at SASA continues to inspire you or create the foundations for growth in your respective skill sets! SASA proudly presents the following list of SASA Spring Student Interns: Alex Pelaez - North Texas Branch Initiative Andrew Zucco - Recruitment Team Austin Dedomenico - Access Team Autumn Short - Mentorship Team Emma Renz - Research Team Erin Carlson - Interorganizational Communications Team Hoda Kamal - Archaeogaming Team Kemetrea Spearman - Communications Team Kendall West - Recruitment Team Marcus Mcgann - Communications Team Mark Kacyrat - Executive Team Maximilian Sinclair - Research Team Osei Kwarteng - Research Team Shruti Sharma - Access Team Summer Sekula - Access Team Overall, SASA is happy to extend a thorough congratulations to any and all Classes of 2023 in the fields of humanities and Ancient Studies. Amidst this time of uncertainty, rise in AI and seeming decrease in the human touch, and of course, the Downward Trend, we encourage your proactive pursuit of Ancient Studies, and hope to see you go far in your respective areas of study. Congratulations on becoming alumni, or as the Romans intended, “learned children” of the future.

SASA is delighted to announce that we will be continuing our Summer Reading Groups this year. Our Reading Groups are free to anyone interested in the topic, and provide a forum to engage with ancient texts in English translation in the context of a discussion group with like-minded individuals from around the world. Thanks to the generous grant from the Delmas Foundation, SASA presents a wide range of excellent groups this summer. This Summer, we are joined by a team of fantastic leaders who will facilitate 16 reading groups across a breadth of fascinating subjects in the Ancient World, offering students of all levels, backgrounds, and support networks an opportunity to dive into the study of the past with a subject expert. This year’s reading groups cover topics from Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas. Through discussion of texts and other materials, participants will engage with the past in rich and vibrant ways that apply to modern contexts. Reading Groups are either 5 weeks, or 3 weeks in duration. Groups run weekly, falling between June 1 and August 18, 2023. RSVP NOW! Catherine Nuckols-Wild, “Painted Stories: Reading Maya Mythology in Codex-Style Ceramics” Thursdays at 4 p.m. EDT June 1 - 29 (Five weeks) Guendalina Daniela Maria Taietti, “The Alexander Romance” Fridays at 11 a.m. EDT June 2 - 30 (Five weeks) John Haberstroh, “Is This Your Neighbor, Is This You? Looking at Others and Ourselves in Theophrastus' ‘Characters’” Fridays at 2 p.m. EDT June 2 - 16 (Three weeks) Sophia Elzie, “Mother, Murderer: Medeas in Antiquity and Beyond” Sundays at 3 p.m. EDT June 4 - July 2 (Five weeks) Molly Anderson Stevens, “True Stories: Classical Sci-Fi and Fantasy” Mondays at 5 p.m. EDT June 5 - July 3 (Five weeks) Mariana Castro, “Beyond the Silk Roads” Thursdays at 9 a.m. June 8 - July 6 (Five weeks) Jessica Lugo, “She's Just Not That Into You: Unrequited Love in Antiquity” Thursdays at 2 p.m. EDT June 8 - July 6 (Five weeks) Brendan Hainline, “The Pyramid Texts: The Earliest Ancient Egyptian Rituals” Thursdays at 3 p.m. EDT June 8 - July 6 (Five weeks) Julian Posch, “Tomb Robberies in Ancient Egypt: Prevention, Persecution, and Punishment” Tuesdays at 11:30 a.m. EDT June 13 - 27 (Three weeks) Kenneth Connally, “Atoms and Void: Lucretius' On the Nature of Things” Tuesdays at 1 p.m. EDT June 13 - July 11 (Five weeks) Dr. Sara Knutson, “Reading the Abbasid Past: History and Islamic Heritage” Wednesdays at 11 a.m. EDT June 14 - 28 (Three weeks) Yentl Love, “Queer Lives and Loves in Ancient History” Wednesdays at 1 p.m. EDT June 14 - July 12 (Five weeks) Charlotte Spence, “Curse Tablets: Personal Communication with the Dead and the Gods in the Ancient World” Fridays at 2 p.m. EDT June 16 - 30 (Three weeks) Naomi Moralez-Glenn, "Defying the Gods, Parallelism and Forgotten Female Rage: The Epics" Sundays at 11:30 a.m. EDT June 18, 25, July 9,16, 30, Aug 6 (No sessions July 2 & 23) (Five weeks) Karina Atudosie, “From Harlots to Heroines: Royal Women in the Hebrew Bible” Thursdays at 12 p.m. EDT June 29 - July 13 (Three weeks) Dr. Lillian Cespedes Gonzalez, “Unlocking Beowulf” Fridays at 11 a.m. EDT August 4 - 18 (Three weeks)

The SASA Spotlight for early April is Mentorship Team Leader, Agnieszka Arcisz! As the leader of the team, and one of the key volunteers who worked to bring this exciting new SASA program to fruition, Agnieszka is excited to promote her team and their efforts this summer! The Mentorship Team is the newest development in SASA's ever-growing structure. For the past year, the team has worked tirelessly to build the Mentorship Program, a recent culmination of SASA's vision of providing reliable, accessible guidance for young academics and pursuers of Ancient Studies. The principal goal of the program is to empower mentees, through an effective "cohort" model in which mentees will regularly meet online with their cohort mentors to actively participate in peer discussions, career guidance, and one-on-one guidance sessions. Agnieszka and her team strive to leave mentees with a sense of self-sufficiency to make proactive and conscious choices regarding their education and career paths. The Mentorship Program is not yet live, and is expected to be launched this summer. Until then, keep posted on our blog!

SASA is excited to introduce three new new volunteer team leaders: Sarah Richardson, Yuna Kim, and Marisa Morgan! Our team leaders are essential to the success of our work, conducting weekly meetings and guiding interns. Each of our team leaders are committed to SASA's mission to spread awareness of the importance of keeping ancient studies alive through education and resources. Sarah Richardson joined SASA this past winter, bringing her experiences in grant-writing and community outreach in the education sector. As the Outreach Team Leader, Sarah works on contacting and researching potential partners --from all around the world-- to add to our rapidly growing list. This currently includes an exciting project with a modern approach: onboarding TikTokers! Combining her experience in public education with her insight for modern trends, Sarah is working to promote the SASA message beyond the scholarly realm into the younger, and more digital demographics. As one of the newest members of SASA, Yuna Kim leads the Inter-Organizational Communications Team. She organizes SASA communications such as blog posts and newsletters for our ever-growing external network. Yuna has been involved in ancient studies from a young age, receiving the Baxter Award for Classics for her commitment to Latin studies as well as participating in the 2019 Yeronisos Island Expedition. Having just completed her M.A. Art History program in London, Yuna looks forward to leading her team with her enthusiasm and diverse experiences in global art markets. Last but not least, Marisa Morgan is our new Fundraising Team Leader! The Fundraising Team is an important branch of SASA due to our nonprofit nature. The Fundraising Team is responsible for making our projects possible through campaigning efforts and sustained networking. Marisa expects to guide her team through current significant milestones that require sustained funding efforts, such as our Birthday Bash event and the completion of the Annual Report.

Save Ancient Studies Alliance (SASA) is delighted to announce that we have been awarded a $20,000 grant for our 2024 Virtual Conference! The SASA 2024 Virtual Conference, Representations of the Past in Ancient and Modern Times, will be supported by the Wenner-Gren Foundation. This grant is the second largest SASA has received to date. With the substantial budget for advertising, we aim to surpass the number of 10,000 participants last year and achieve viewership over 30,000! The Wenner-Gren Foundation has been committed to fostering the field and academics of anthropology since 1941 through efforts such as Current Anthropology, the leading broad-based journal on anthropological scholarship and research; similarly, in 2016 the independent magazine Sapiens was launched in partnership with the University of Chicago Press. The grant marks the beginning of a thrilling relationship with a leading anthropological foundation, and the furthering of the SASA mission to bring Ancient Studies to wider audiences. The 2024 conference is scheduled for July 21-22, 2024. The grant rules do not allow payments for staff, so we will be relying on our wonderful volunteers and Virtual Conference Team Leader Anh Nguyen to lead the preparations! One of the many exciting things to come is the implementation of live interpretation into both Spanish and Arabic, allowing speakers of those languages to participate fully. We will be making further announcements in the coming weeks. In the meantime, we are excited to host this year's Virtual Conference Discovery, Science, and Technology in the Ancient World: Traditions and Innovations on July 24th and the 25th. This year, we will be joined by four keynote speakers: Dr. Adrienne Mayor, Dr. Gerardo Aldana, Dr. Geoffrey Killen and Dr. Alexander Jones. If you are looking to present, abstract submissions are due by March 31st, 2023. Click this link for more information. Disclaimer: Save Ancient Studies Alliance is a non-profit organization under IRS code section 501(c)3, dedicated to reversing the downward trend in Ancient Studies education and scholarship. For more information or to get involved, please contact David Danzig at daviddanzig@saveancientstudies.org.

Save Ancient Studies Alliance (SASA) is seeking to fill 15-20 unpaid, remote internship positions during the Summer 2023 period. The internship period is May 22, 2023 to August 11, 2023. SASA is a non-profit organization supported by passionate volunteers and interns, all working to promote the liberal arts. The aim is to inspire a broad, inclusive community of scholars and students by building a grassroots movement through outreach, collaboration, accessibility, and public scholarship. The internship program is mutually beneficial, offering opportunities varying from research and grant projects to communications and virtual event planning. Interns are given the opportunity to assess which team they wish to join. SASA is looking to find interns for the following teams (see information on the Teams page and Projects page): Communications Team Live Events Team Outreach Team Research Team Access Team Fundraising & Grant Writing Team Archaeogaming Educational Modules Team Executive Team Mentoring Team Interns may be undergraduates, have completed their BA, or be in graduate school. The minimum age is 18. Ideal candidates are strong self-starters and comfortable with remote work. Internships are scheduled for the duration of 5/22/2023 -8/11/2023, with room for flexibility. Weekly internship hours range between ten to fifteen hours per week, although we can accommodate up to 25 hours per week to meet requirements for college credit. Internship applications are now open and will be reviewed on a rolling basis. Applications close May 1, 2023. To apply, please send a cover letter and resume to recruitment@saveanceitnstudies.org or upload them in the webform on our applications page. Please specify in your cover letter which skills you have and for which teams you think you would be best suited. We look forward to your application.

Save Ancient Studies Alliance (SASA) is delighted to announce we have yet again received two grants to support our free Text-in-Translation Reading Groups program for January 2023 and Summer 2023! Our January Reading Groups are funded in part by an $800 grant from the Society for Classical Studies as part of their outreach grant program, Ancient Worlds, Modern Communities. Our Summer Reading Groups will be supported in full by a $10,000 grant from the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation. These grants will support a full slate of exciting Reading Groups, as we seek to attract excellent young scholars to lead the discussion groups and to expand to new topics and a variety of areas of the Ancient World, and to provide groups in multiple languages. Groups are free and open to all, and we have seen our past groups welcome a wide range of participants in age, background, and nationality. On this exciting note, we would like to extend a Call for Reading Group Leaders! SASA seeks 15 Ancient Studies PhD Students or Early Career Scholars for the paid role of Reading Group Leader for our Summer 2023 Mini-Reading Groups. SASA’s Text-in-Translation Reading Groups are small, informal discussion groups, centered on ancient texts that the Group Leaders will choose and prepare a curriculum for. At the weekly sessions, the Group Leader will lead and expand upon discussions, giving both leaders and participants a chance to consider ancient topics in a casual and explorative manner. Feedback from our Reading Groups last January and the past two summers was incredible, as both participants and Group Leaders loved the experience. Follow this link to apply and for more information. Please note the deadline to apply is April 7, 2023. Please be on the lookout for the schedules of the January Reading Groups soon and of the Summer Reading Groups this spring. For now, check out our other free Live Events at saveancientstudies.org/events.

SASA is excited to welcome our newest SASA Ambassador, Dr. Frederick Winter. SASA ambassadors are an integral part of our team and serve as advocates for Ancient Studies. They help us spread our mission far and wide and assist in SASA’s fundraising. Dr. Winter is the latest addition to our Ambassadorial team and his years of experience and wide range of connections will aid in fostering the growth of our organization. Dr. Winter received his B.A. from the Brooklyn College of the City University of New York, and later received his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania. He has led or participated in numerous international archaeological expeditions, including trips to Israel, Turkey, Cyprus, Greece, the former Yugoslavia and Polynesia. Dr. Winter previously taught classical courses at the City University of New York. He worked as a senior grant officer for the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Department of Education. He also helped found the Archeological Institute of America’s Committee on Professional Responsibilities and worked with the Association of American Colleges and Universities. Dr. Winter is excited to bring his wide experience with grant giving foundations at the federal level and with organizations that promote higher education to SASA. With over 55 years of experience in archaeology, Dr. Winter has gained a vast knowledge of the ancient world. His expertise lies in the Late Bronze Age Aegean and Balkan prehistory, Hellenistic Eastern Mediterranean, the historical mid-Atlantic, and northern plantation archaeology and the archeology of enslavement. Now in retirement, Dr. Winter continues his involvement with archeology as a member of the Council of American Overseas Research Centers and the boards of the Cyprus American Archeological Research Institute. Dr. Winter has published over a dozen journal articles in his time as an archeologist. We are incredibly excited to welcome Dr. Winter to the team in a formal capacity and we are very much looking forward to his work with us. His work will support our growth and development as SASA continues onward and upward in our mission to promote Ancient Studies, by helping us reach our fundraising goals and expanding our network of public advocates.