{"version":"1.0.0","segments":[{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":14.88,"endTime":17.46,"body":"Welcome to the Thin"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":14.88,"endTime":17.46,"body":"End of the Wedge, the podcast"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":17.46,"endTime":20.19,"body":"where experts from around the"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":17.46,"endTime":20.19,"body":"world share new and interesting"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":20.19,"endTime":24.12,"body":"stories about life in the"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":20.19,"endTime":24.12,"body":"ancient Middle East. My name is"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":24.12,"endTime":27.81,"body":"Jon. Each episode I talk to"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":24.12,"endTime":27.81,"body":"friends and colleagues, and get"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":27.81,"endTime":31.02,"body":"them to explain their work in a"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":27.81,"endTime":31.02,"body":"way we can all understand."},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":32.07,"endTime":36.09,"body":"This episode we meet a foreign"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":32.07,"endTime":36.09,"body":"dynasty who become the"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":36.09,"endTime":41.97,"body":"quintessential Babylonians, and"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":36.09,"endTime":41.97,"body":"preside over a golden age. The"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":41.97,"endTime":46.71,"body":"early history of the Kassites is"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":41.97,"endTime":46.71,"body":"still shrouded in mystery. And"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":46.71,"endTime":49.92,"body":"many details of their activities"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":46.71,"endTime":49.92,"body":"remain to be discovered by"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":49.92,"endTime":54.21,"body":"future researchers. It's a bit"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":49.92,"endTime":54.21,"body":"like studying English history,"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":54.51,"endTime":58.32,"body":"without being sure quite how"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":54.51,"endTime":58.32,"body":"many Henry's there were, or"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":58.32,"endTime":60.9,"body":"which one is involved in a"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":58.32,"endTime":60.9,"body":"particular event."},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":63.21,"endTime":67.95,"body":"But under the Kassites Babylonia"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":63.21,"endTime":67.95,"body":"flourishes. It forms part of the"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":67.95,"endTime":71.34,"body":"international network of great"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":67.95,"endTime":71.34,"body":"powers, in regular"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":71.34,"endTime":75.15,"body":"correspondence with the"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":71.34,"endTime":75.15,"body":"Egyptians and the Hittites. It's"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":75.15,"endTime":78.66,"body":"a time of huge investment in the"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":75.15,"endTime":78.66,"body":"traditional infrastructure of"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":78.66,"endTime":83.28,"body":"the country. And under them,"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":78.66,"endTime":83.28,"body":"learning and literature blossom."},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":85.17,"endTime":90.3,"body":"Our guest is an expert in the"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":85.17,"endTime":90.3,"body":"Kassites. He offers us a gentle"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":90.3,"endTime":95.13,"body":"introduction to their world and"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":90.3,"endTime":95.13,"body":"their legacy. How do we identify"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":95.13,"endTime":98.19,"body":"them? And where can we explore"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":95.13,"endTime":98.19,"body":"their history?"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":98.85,"endTime":102.75,"body":"So get yourself a cup of tea,"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":98.85,"endTime":102.75,"body":"make yourself comfortable, and"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":102.75,"endTime":104.4,"body":"let's meet today's guest."},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":112.92,"endTime":116.13,"body":"Hello, and welcome to Thin End"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":112.92,"endTime":116.13,"body":"of the Wedge. Thank you for"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":116.13,"endTime":116.88,"body":"joining us."},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":117.39,"endTime":120.42,"body":"Jonathan, how nice"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":117.39,"endTime":120.42,"body":"to hear you this morning. Lovely"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":120.42,"endTime":120.99,"body":"to see you."},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":121.8,"endTime":125.31,"body":"Can you tell us"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":121.8,"endTime":125.31,"body":"please: who are you, and what do"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":125.31,"endTime":125.82,"body":"you do?"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":126.54,"endTime":130.17,"body":"My name is Tim"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":126.54,"endTime":130.17,"body":"Clayden, and I'm a Bursar at one"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":130.17,"endTime":134.73,"body":"of the Oxford colleges--Green"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":130.17,"endTime":134.73,"body":"Templeton. But I'm also a member"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":134.73,"endTime":138.78,"body":"of Wolfson College, Oxford,"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":134.73,"endTime":138.78,"body":"where I did my doctorate in the"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":138.81,"endTime":143.37,"body":"archaeology of the Kassite"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":138.81,"endTime":143.37,"body":"period in Iraq. So I'm an"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":143.37,"endTime":146.97,"body":"independent researcher on"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":143.37,"endTime":146.97,"body":"Kassite culture, history,"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":147.15,"endTime":153.06,"body":"anything to do with the"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":147.15,"endTime":153.06,"body":"Kassites."},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":149.39,"endTime":153.05,"body":"The first question"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":149.39,"endTime":153.05,"body":"then, is who were the Kassite"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":153.26,"endTime":154.61,"body":"and what do we know about them"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":154.0,"endTime":159.22,"body":"A great place to"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":154.0,"endTime":159.22,"body":"start, Jonathan. The Kassites"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":159.25,"endTime":162.64,"body":"were not indigenous to"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":159.25,"endTime":162.64,"body":"Babylonia. We're talking about"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":162.64,"endTime":168.46,"body":"ancient Iraq. And they ruled"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":162.64,"endTime":168.46,"body":"Babylonia for about 300 years"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":168.46,"endTime":176.14,"body":"from about 1450 BC to 1154 BCE."},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":168.46,"endTime":176.14,"body":"But they had been in Babylonia"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":176.14,"endTime":180.04,"body":"for about 300 years prior to"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":176.14,"endTime":180.04,"body":"that. But that's another story."},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":180.75,"endTime":183.18,"body":"They had their own language,"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":180.75,"endTime":183.18,"body":"although we know very, very"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":183.18,"endTime":186.33,"body":"little about it. We've got the"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":183.18,"endTime":186.33,"body":"remains of a couple of"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":186.33,"endTime":189.84,"body":"dictionaries. Some of them are"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":186.33,"endTime":189.84,"body":"in the British Museum. And they"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":189.84,"endTime":193.41,"body":"give the Akkadian equivalents of"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":189.84,"endTime":193.41,"body":"a few words. Akkadian being the"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":193.41,"endTime":197.55,"body":"language of ancient Iraq. And"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":193.41,"endTime":197.55,"body":"there's a lot of discussion"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":197.55,"endTime":200.61,"body":"about whether the language has"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":197.55,"endTime":200.61,"body":"an Indo-European root or not."},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":201.12,"endTime":204.12,"body":"But frankly, we know so little"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":201.12,"endTime":204.12,"body":"about it, that it's difficult to"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":204.12,"endTime":209.37,"body":"be conclusive. They adopted the"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":204.12,"endTime":209.37,"body":"Babylonian religion. They had a"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":209.37,"endTime":213.0,"body":"few deities of their"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":209.37,"endTime":213.0,"body":"own--Shuqamuna and Shumaliya,"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":213.42,"endTime":216.51,"body":"but fundamentally they accepted"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":213.42,"endTime":216.51,"body":"the indigenous Babylonian"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":216.54,"endTime":220.05,"body":"religion. They arrived in a"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":216.54,"endTime":220.05,"body":"period when there was a bit of a"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":220.05,"endTime":224.04,"body":"dark age between the famous Old"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":220.05,"endTime":224.04,"body":"Babylonian period of the first"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":224.04,"endTime":228.03,"body":"half of the second millennium"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":224.04,"endTime":228.03,"body":"BCE. And essentially they bridge"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":228.03,"endTime":232.65,"body":"the dark age between that and"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":228.03,"endTime":232.65,"body":"when they took over in the late"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":232.68,"endTime":236.91,"body":"15th century, early 14th"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":232.68,"endTime":236.91,"body":"century, by which time they were"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":236.91,"endTime":241.86,"body":"also present in the Gulf, and up"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":236.91,"endTime":241.86,"body":"towards the border with modern"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":241.86,"endTime":246.12,"body":"day Iran. So they became one of"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":241.86,"endTime":246.12,"body":"the great kingdoms of the"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":246.12,"endTime":250.02,"body":"ancient Near East, equivalent to"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":246.12,"endTime":250.02,"body":"the pharaohs over in Egypt,"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":250.68,"endTime":254.19,"body":"and--when the Assyrian Empire"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":250.68,"endTime":254.19,"body":"grew--to the Assyrian Empire."},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":254.243,"endTime":258.623,"body":"They were great traders. But in"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":254.243,"endTime":258.623,"body":"truth, we don't know an awful"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":258.623,"endTime":261.563,"body":"lot about their history. Sadly,"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":258.623,"endTime":261.563,"body":"those documents have not"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":261.563,"endTime":265.313,"body":"survived. We do know they had"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":261.563,"endTime":265.313,"body":"battles with the Assyrians to"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":265.313,"endTime":269.573,"body":"the north, and with the Elamites"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":265.313,"endTime":269.573,"body":"over in modern Iran, but they"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":269.573,"endTime":273.563,"body":"were builders, traders. They"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":269.573,"endTime":273.563,"body":"were good Babylonians, by and"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":273.563,"endTime":278.723,"body":"large. It came to an end in the"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":273.563,"endTime":278.723,"body":"12th century, when the Elamites"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":278.753,"endTime":282.413,"body":"from the east finally conquered"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":278.753,"endTime":282.413,"body":"them. But they lived on more or"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":282.413,"endTime":285.833,"body":"less, one way or another, for"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":282.413,"endTime":285.833,"body":"another 200-300 years. And"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":285.833,"endTime":289.883,"body":"indeed, there's traces of them i"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":285.833,"endTime":289.883,"body":"some of the classical sources"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":289.883,"endTime":294.383,"body":"uring the campaigns of Alexand"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":289.883,"endTime":294.383,"body":"r the Great. So they were around"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":294.383,"endTime":295.013,"body":"for a long"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":297.04,"endTime":298.84,"body":"You said they"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":297.04,"endTime":298.84,"body":"weren't originally from"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":298.84,"endTime":303.16,"body":"Babylonia. Where did the"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":298.84,"endTime":303.16,"body":"Kassites come from? And what do"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":303.16,"endTime":305.74,"body":"we know about their arrival in"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":303.16,"endTime":305.74,"body":"Babylonia?"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":306.68,"endTime":309.38,"body":"We don't really"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":306.68,"endTime":309.38,"body":"know where they come from. But"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":309.41,"endTime":313.25,"body":"all the evidence very, very"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":309.41,"endTime":313.25,"body":"strongly points to them coming"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":313.28,"endTime":317.39,"body":"from the east, somewhere in the"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":313.28,"endTime":317.39,"body":"mountains, to the east of modern"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":317.39,"endTime":321.68,"body":"Iraq, and particularly down the"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":317.39,"endTime":321.68,"body":"Diyala corridor. Some of the"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":321.68,"endTime":325.61,"body":"early evidence we have for them"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":321.68,"endTime":325.61,"body":"comes in texts from the ancient"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":325.61,"endTime":331.19,"body":"side of Nuzi, south of Kirkuk."},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":325.61,"endTime":331.19,"body":"And that's in the late 15th"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":331.19,"endTime":334.73,"body":"century where we know they were"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":331.19,"endTime":334.73,"body":"settled. But much earlier than"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":334.73,"endTime":339.26,"body":"that, in the reign of"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":334.73,"endTime":339.26,"body":"Samsu-iluna in the 18th century,"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":339.53,"endTime":342.41,"body":"the mid-18th century, they"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":339.53,"endTime":342.41,"body":"started appearing in the texts."},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":342.89,"endTime":347.03,"body":"And they seem to have integrated"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":342.89,"endTime":347.03,"body":"into Old Babylonian society. We"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":347.03,"endTime":350.72,"body":"see them in a range of"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":347.03,"endTime":350.72,"body":"roles--merchants, bakers, just"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":350.72,"endTime":354.74,"body":"generally all over. But their"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":350.72,"endTime":354.74,"body":"specialisation appears to have"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":354.74,"endTime":359.27,"body":"been as soldiers, and they"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":354.74,"endTime":359.27,"body":"served as mercenaries. It's a"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":359.27,"endTime":362.99,"body":"modern term. But this wasn't"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":359.27,"endTime":362.99,"body":"unusual in the Old Babylonian"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":362.99,"endTime":368.09,"body":"kingdom. People from a variety"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":362.99,"endTime":368.09,"body":"of nationalities--Elamites from"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":368.09,"endTime":372.83,"body":"the Sealand, from various"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":368.09,"endTime":372.83,"body":"tribes, the Suhu, also served in"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":372.83,"endTime":376.79,"body":"detachments, named detachments,"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":372.83,"endTime":376.79,"body":"in the army of the Babylonian"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":376.79,"endTime":377.18,"body":"king."},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":377.75,"endTime":380.45,"body":"But they appeared in the reign"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":377.75,"endTime":380.45,"body":"of Samsu-iluna. We see them"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":380.45,"endTime":383.51,"body":"coming up in the texts. And"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":380.45,"endTime":383.51,"body":"their initial appearances,"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":383.51,"endTime":386.6,"body":"they're quite violent. Some of"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":383.51,"endTime":386.6,"body":"the year names--the year names,"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":386.6,"endTime":389.9,"body":"which were used to date the"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":386.6,"endTime":389.9,"body":"tablets, the texts,"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":390.38,"endTime":393.35,"body":"administrative texts of the Old"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":390.38,"endTime":393.35,"body":"Babylonian kingdom--they"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":393.44,"endTime":397.52,"body":"recorded the key event in the"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":393.44,"endTime":397.52,"body":"year of a king's reign. We see"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":397.52,"endTime":400.13,"body":"them appearing in a couple of"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":397.52,"endTime":400.13,"body":"those, and they're quite"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":400.13,"endTime":403.7,"body":"violent. So although they do"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":400.13,"endTime":403.7,"body":"appear to have integrated quite"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":403.7,"endTime":407.36,"body":"quickly, aspects of their"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":403.7,"endTime":407.36,"body":"arrival were quite violent. But"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":407.36,"endTime":411.8,"body":"they mixed into society very"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":407.36,"endTime":411.8,"body":"quickly. And they became, as I"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":411.8,"endTime":414.77,"body":"say, most prominent--and we are"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":411.8,"endTime":414.77,"body":"dependent on survival of"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":414.83,"endTime":418.34,"body":"texts--they became most"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":414.83,"endTime":418.34,"body":"prominent as soldiers serving"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":418.34,"endTime":419.6,"body":"the Babylonian king."},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":420.5,"endTime":424.58,"body":"There's some evidence that they"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":420.5,"endTime":424.58,"body":"may have come in waves in a"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":424.58,"endTime":428.15,"body":"couple of tribes. But again,"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":424.58,"endTime":428.15,"body":"that's still quite early days on"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":428.15,"endTime":432.11,"body":"being able to be definitive on"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":428.15,"endTime":432.11,"body":"that. But once integrated, they"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":432.11,"endTime":434.69,"body":"seem to have adapted themselves"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":432.11,"endTime":434.69,"body":"to the life of Old Babylonian"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":434.69,"endTime":438.59,"body":"society pretty well. And it's"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":434.69,"endTime":438.59,"body":"interesting their arrival"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":438.8,"endTime":444.38,"body":"coincides with collapse of"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":438.8,"endTime":444.38,"body":"control of southern Babylonia on"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":444.38,"endTime":448.07,"body":"the part of the Old Babylonian"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":444.38,"endTime":448.07,"body":"kingdom under Samsu-iluna based"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":448.07,"endTime":451.7,"body":"in Babylon. Now, it had been"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":448.07,"endTime":451.7,"body":"thought at one point that the"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":451.7,"endTime":454.67,"body":"Kassites helped precipitate"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":451.7,"endTime":454.67,"body":"that, but there's no real"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":454.67,"endTime":458.06,"body":"evidence for it. What actually"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":454.67,"endTime":458.06,"body":"happened in the south is"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":458.06,"endTime":462.74,"body":"unclear. Obviously, people"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":458.06,"endTime":462.74,"body":"carried on living there, but the"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":462.77,"endTime":465.98,"body":"control of that area from"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":462.77,"endTime":465.98,"body":"Babylon was limited."},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":466.31,"endTime":469.76,"body":"And in its place, a new kingdom,"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":466.31,"endTime":469.76,"body":"the kingdom of the Sealand"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":469.76,"endTime":473.21,"body":"Dynasty, which has only really"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":469.76,"endTime":473.21,"body":"come to life in the last 12-15"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":473.24,"endTime":477.32,"body":"years with the publication of"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":473.24,"endTime":477.32,"body":"tablets, and the excavation of a"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":477.32,"endTime":481.37,"body":"couple of sites. They seem to"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":477.32,"endTime":481.37,"body":"have spread their influence from"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":481.37,"endTime":485.12,"body":"the south, getting as far north"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":481.37,"endTime":485.12,"body":"as the great city of Nippur,"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":485.81,"endTime":490.55,"body":"which is sort of halfway up"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":485.81,"endTime":490.55,"body":"southern Iraq. But the Kassites"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":490.58,"endTime":495.32,"body":"lingered on. And by the time we"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":490.58,"endTime":495.32,"body":"get to the 15th century, they"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":495.32,"endTime":498.53,"body":"really got into conflict with"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":495.32,"endTime":498.53,"body":"the Sealand and eventually took"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":498.53,"endTime":501.95,"body":"over. There is some evidence"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":498.53,"endTime":501.95,"body":"that immediately after the"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":501.95,"endTime":506.09,"body":"collapse of the Old Babylonian"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":501.95,"endTime":506.09,"body":"Empire, beginning of the 16th"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":506.09,"endTime":511.7,"body":"century, about 1595 BC, very"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":506.09,"endTime":511.7,"body":"soon after that--30 or 40 years"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":511.7,"endTime":515.57,"body":"later--they started settling"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":511.7,"endTime":515.57,"body":"around, actually now within the"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":515.57,"endTime":519.11,"body":"suburbs of modern Baghdad at a"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":515.57,"endTime":519.11,"body":"site called Tell Muhammad. But"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":519.11,"endTime":522.11,"body":"it's still quite unclear just"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":519.11,"endTime":522.11,"body":"where they fit into the story."},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":522.71,"endTime":527.27,"body":"There's no real archaeological"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":522.71,"endTime":527.27,"body":"type fossil, as it were, that we"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":527.27,"endTime":530.42,"body":"can point, that points to the"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":527.27,"endTime":530.42,"body":"Kassite arrival. All this"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":530.42,"endTime":534.14,"body":"evidence comes from texts. So I"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":530.42,"endTime":534.14,"body":"think it's easiest to say they"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":534.14,"endTime":538.55,"body":"came in from the east in the"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":534.14,"endTime":538.55,"body":"18th century, started"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":538.55,"endTime":542.09,"body":"integrating into the Old"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":538.55,"endTime":542.09,"body":"Babylonian society. And we know"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":542.09,"endTime":545.27,"body":"that from the names and the"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":542.09,"endTime":545.27,"body":"professions, they were obviously"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":545.27,"endTime":549.56,"body":"specialists as soldiers. And"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":545.27,"endTime":549.56,"body":"eventually, in the mid 15th"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":549.56,"endTime":554.75,"body":"century BCE, conquered the"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":549.56,"endTime":554.75,"body":"Sealand dynasty and took over"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":554.75,"endTime":558.47,"body":"control of Babylonia. And"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":554.75,"endTime":558.47,"body":"remained in control for another"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":558.47,"endTime":559.43,"body":"300 years."},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":560.42,"endTime":563.39,"body":"So we have this"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":560.42,"endTime":563.39,"body":"group who arrive in Iraq, and"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":563.39,"endTime":567.56,"body":"they rule a great kingdom that"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":563.39,"endTime":567.56,"body":"rivals Egypt. But what makes the"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":567.56,"endTime":570.68,"body":"Kassites so interesting and"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":567.56,"endTime":570.68,"body":"important to study?"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":571.22,"endTime":574.31,"body":"I think one of the"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":571.22,"endTime":574.31,"body":"key characteristics of the"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":574.34,"endTime":578.51,"body":"Kassite dynasty is that they"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":574.34,"endTime":578.51,"body":"kept ancient Babylonian"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":578.51,"endTime":584.03,"body":"civilisation not just alive, but"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":578.51,"endTime":584.03,"body":"they refurbished it. When the"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":584.03,"endTime":589.22,"body":"great king Kurigalzu took the"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":584.03,"endTime":589.22,"body":"throne round about 1400 BCE. We"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":589.22,"endTime":592.61,"body":"don't know exactly when he took"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":589.22,"endTime":592.61,"body":"over, but he died something like"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":592.64,"endTime":598.43,"body":"1375 BCE. When he took control"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":592.64,"endTime":598.43,"body":"of the country, one of the first"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":598.43,"endTime":601.79,"body":"things he did was really"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":598.43,"endTime":601.79,"body":"refurbish many of the temple"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":601.79,"endTime":606.68,"body":"complexes in the southern cities"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":601.79,"endTime":606.68,"body":"of Babylonia. We recall that"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":606.71,"endTime":610.1,"body":"they had probably been ... well,"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":606.71,"endTime":610.1,"body":"they had no royal patronage."},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":610.25,"endTime":613.73,"body":"Royal patronage was important to"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":610.25,"endTime":613.73,"body":"keep these buildings alive and"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":613.73,"endTime":617.45,"body":"going. The great temples, they"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":613.73,"endTime":617.45,"body":"had no royal patronage for"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":617.48,"endTime":621.77,"body":"300-400 years since the reign of"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":617.48,"endTime":621.77,"body":"Samsu-iluna. Kurigalzu in what"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":621.77,"endTime":625.82,"body":"was obviously a very, very"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":621.77,"endTime":625.82,"body":"deliberate political--not just"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":625.85,"endTime":629.51,"body":"political as in politics, but in"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":625.85,"endTime":629.51,"body":"a geopolitical, as an expression"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":629.51,"endTime":633.02,"body":"of where he was"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":629.51,"endTime":633.02,"body":"ruling--statement, rebuilt some"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":633.02,"endTime":636.29,"body":"of the temples, the great cities"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":633.02,"endTime":636.29,"body":"of Ur, for example, down in the"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":636.29,"endTime":641.0,"body":"south, and so on. And he"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":636.29,"endTime":641.0,"body":"refurbished those temples,"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":641.06,"endTime":643.94,"body":"restored the cults, got them all"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":641.06,"endTime":643.94,"body":"back up and running."},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":644.48,"endTime":648.05,"body":"There's a fascinating excavation"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":644.48,"endTime":648.05,"body":"going on at the moment being led"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":648.05,"endTime":651.65,"body":"by Iraqi colleagues from the"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":648.05,"endTime":651.65,"body":"University of Babylon at the"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":651.65,"endTime":655.55,"body":"great site of Dilbat, where we"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":651.65,"endTime":655.55,"body":"see again, it's a very new,"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":655.73,"endTime":660.17,"body":"breaking excavation, evidence"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":655.73,"endTime":660.17,"body":"for his rebuilding the great"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":660.17,"endTime":665.0,"body":"temple there. So the fact that"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":660.17,"endTime":665.0,"body":"that refurbishment, that repair,"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":665.0,"endTime":668.69,"body":"that restoration of ancient"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":665.0,"endTime":668.69,"body":"Babylonian temples and cultic"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":668.69,"endTime":674.3,"body":"practices after 200-300 years,"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":668.69,"endTime":674.3,"body":"of really not much going on at"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":674.3,"endTime":677.18,"body":"all, and if we remember that"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":674.3,"endTime":677.18,"body":"these buildings are all built of"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":677.18,"endTime":681.35,"body":"mud brick, and you have to keep"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":677.18,"endTime":681.35,"body":"repairing refurbishing and"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":681.35,"endTime":686.78,"body":"patching mud brick, because the"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":681.35,"endTime":686.78,"body":"rain simply melts it. 200-300"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":686.81,"endTime":689.42,"body":"years of neglect would have seen"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":686.81,"endTime":689.42,"body":"these buildings in a pretty"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":689.42,"endTime":693.65,"body":"sorry state. Well, he pulled"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":689.42,"endTime":693.65,"body":"them back together again."},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":694.35,"endTime":697.74,"body":"We also see very early on from"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":694.35,"endTime":697.74,"body":"even before the reign of"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":697.77,"endTime":704.31,"body":"Kurigalzu, so in the late 15th"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":697.77,"endTime":704.31,"body":"century, we know that the king"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":704.34,"endTime":708.87,"body":"in Babylonia, the Kassite king,"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":704.34,"endTime":708.87,"body":"was in contact with the pharaoh"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":708.9,"endTime":713.49,"body":"in Egypt. Well, that's a long"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":708.9,"endTime":713.49,"body":"way away from southern Iraq. But"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":713.49,"endTime":716.28,"body":"they were on corresponding"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":713.49,"endTime":716.28,"body":"terms, and called each other"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":716.31,"endTime":719.25,"body":"\"brother\". And that's"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":716.31,"endTime":719.25,"body":"fascinating, because what it"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":719.25,"endTime":723.78,"body":"suggests is that there's a whole"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":719.25,"endTime":723.78,"body":"backstory, as it were, to what"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":723.78,"endTime":727.56,"body":"was going on in that part of the"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":723.78,"endTime":727.56,"body":"ancient world, before the"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":727.56,"endTime":731.19,"body":"records give us evidence for"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":727.56,"endTime":731.19,"body":"what was really happening. So"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":731.22,"endTime":735.69,"body":"the fact that this group of"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":731.22,"endTime":735.69,"body":"people took control, didn't come"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":735.69,"endTime":741.24,"body":"in introducing and imposing new"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":735.69,"endTime":741.24,"body":"buildings, new religions, but"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":741.24,"endTime":744.57,"body":"pretty much adopted the ancient"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":741.24,"endTime":744.57,"body":"religion that had been there for"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":744.75,"endTime":749.7,"body":"a millennia. And refurbished and"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":744.75,"endTime":749.7,"body":"restored is in itself"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":749.7,"endTime":753.72,"body":"interesting, really interesting."},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":749.7,"endTime":753.72,"body":"And then they became a great"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":753.72,"endTime":757.17,"body":"power. So when they started off,"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":753.72,"endTime":757.17,"body":"it was the Hittites, the"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":757.17,"endTime":761.34,"body":"Egyptians and the Babylonians."},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":757.17,"endTime":761.34,"body":"And then, a little while later,"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":761.49,"endTime":766.5,"body":"the Assyrians to the north in"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":761.49,"endTime":766.5,"body":"northern Iraq, their power grew"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":766.5,"endTime":769.65,"body":"and they became another part of"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":766.5,"endTime":769.65,"body":"the club of great powers, as it"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":769.65,"endTime":773.85,"body":"were. At the start of that, the"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":769.65,"endTime":773.85,"body":"Babylonians rather objected."},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":774.12,"endTime":777.21,"body":"They weren't particularly keen"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":774.12,"endTime":777.21,"body":"on seeing a new member join that"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":777.21,"endTime":782.55,"body":"club. And indeed, north and"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":777.21,"endTime":782.55,"body":"south ancient Iraq remained"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":782.55,"endTime":786.87,"body":"enemies throughout the history,"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":782.55,"endTime":786.87,"body":"so warfare between the two areas"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":786.87,"endTime":788.61,"body":"in the Kassite period continued."},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":789.98,"endTime":793.55,"body":"They also codified much of the"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":789.98,"endTime":793.55,"body":"literature. So they set up"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":793.55,"endTime":797.48,"body":"scribal schools, and cuneiform"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":793.55,"endTime":797.48,"body":"and Akkadian as you know,"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":797.48,"endTime":800.93,"body":"Jonathan, it's your field of"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":797.48,"endTime":800.93,"body":"expertise, this is a complex"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":800.93,"endTime":804.8,"body":"language. It's a complex script."},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":800.93,"endTime":804.8,"body":"It requires an enormous amount"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":804.8,"endTime":809.69,"body":"of training. And they took on"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":804.8,"endTime":809.69,"body":"the inheritance of all these"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":809.69,"endTime":813.89,"body":"ancient texts, which would have"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":809.69,"endTime":813.89,"body":"been physically quite"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":813.89,"endTime":817.43,"body":"interesting how they found them."},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":813.89,"endTime":817.43,"body":"All the centres would have been"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":817.82,"endTime":821.72,"body":"not quite in ruins. The great"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":817.82,"endTime":821.72,"body":"city of Nippur continued, but"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":821.72,"endTime":824.12,"body":"they were sufficiently"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":821.72,"endTime":824.12,"body":"interested. They went and looked"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":824.12,"endTime":827.69,"body":"for them. And so some of the"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":824.12,"endTime":827.69,"body":"great stories that have survived"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":827.69,"endTime":831.47,"body":"from ancient Iraq were pulled"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":827.69,"endTime":831.47,"body":"together and codified in the"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":831.5,"endTime":834.17,"body":"Kassite period. Again, that's"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":831.5,"endTime":834.17,"body":"really interesting."},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":835.11,"endTime":838.77,"body":"And the fact that it was a"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":835.11,"endTime":838.77,"body":"stable dynasty. It remained"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":838.8,"endTime":843.27,"body":"pretty much in place for 300"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":838.8,"endTime":843.27,"body":"years. There was a short"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":843.27,"endTime":848.16,"body":"interregnum in the 13th century,"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":843.27,"endTime":848.16,"body":"when the Assyrians finally"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":848.22,"endTime":851.7,"body":"conquered the Babylonians, they"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":848.22,"endTime":851.7,"body":"took their king, the Babylonian"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":851.7,"endTime":854.97,"body":"king Kashtiliashu, back to"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":851.7,"endTime":854.97,"body":"Assyria and there's evidence,"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":855.21,"endTime":858.6,"body":"they sort of kept him and his"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":855.21,"endTime":858.6,"body":"family as sort of honoured"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":858.6,"endTime":862.47,"body":"guests, honoured captive guests,"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":858.6,"endTime":862.47,"body":"in the royal court. And the"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":862.47,"endTime":866.19,"body":"Assyrians controlled the high"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":862.47,"endTime":866.19,"body":"politics of Babylonia for"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":866.19,"endTime":870.6,"body":"perhaps 20 years, 10-20 years."},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":866.19,"endTime":870.6,"body":"But that really is the only"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":870.6,"endTime":874.68,"body":"break. Otherwise, the dynasty"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":870.6,"endTime":874.68,"body":"carried on all the way through."},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":875.28,"endTime":881.19,"body":"So for me, it's that these"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":875.28,"endTime":881.19,"body":"strangers who came in in the"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":881.19,"endTime":885.75,"body":"18th century, ended up the ones"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":881.19,"endTime":885.75,"body":"who restored, codified,"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":885.81,"endTime":890.52,"body":"stabilised, made Babylonia"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":885.81,"endTime":890.52,"body":"great. It's just interesting how"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":890.52,"endTime":893.73,"body":"that process happened. So that's"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":890.52,"endTime":893.73,"body":"why I would say they're"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":893.79,"endTime":896.88,"body":"fascinating--an international,"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":893.79,"endTime":896.88,"body":"literate power."},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":897.99,"endTime":900.57,"body":"They've also left an"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":897.99,"endTime":900.57,"body":"important physical legacy,"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":900.57,"endTime":900.99,"body":"haven't they?"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":901.8,"endTime":906.03,"body":"They have Jon, and"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":901.8,"endTime":906.03,"body":"one of the most striking remains"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":906.06,"endTime":910.29,"body":"in modern Iraq from the ancient"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":906.06,"endTime":910.29,"body":"period is the city"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":910.53,"endTime":913.98,"body":"Kurigalzu--the Kurigalzu who I"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":910.53,"endTime":913.98,"body":"was talking about just now, who"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":914.34,"endTime":919.8,"body":"started his reign about 1400 BC."},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":914.34,"endTime":919.8,"body":"And it's the city of modern Aqar"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":919.83,"endTime":924.15,"body":"Quf, which is now on the western"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":919.83,"endTime":924.15,"body":"outskirts of modern Baghdad,"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":924.15,"endTime":929.49,"body":"about 20-30 kilometers to the"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":924.15,"endTime":929.49,"body":"west. And it was named for"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":929.55,"endTime":933.84,"body":"Kurigalzu, so the ancient name"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":929.55,"endTime":933.84,"body":"was Dur Kurigalzu, named after"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":933.84,"endTime":939.06,"body":"the king. And it is the best"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":933.84,"endTime":939.06,"body":"remains we have have a ziggurat"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":939.12,"endTime":943.44,"body":"that survived from ancient Iraq."},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":939.12,"endTime":943.44,"body":"The ziggurat still stands about"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":943.44,"endTime":948.57,"body":"57 meters high. It stands on a"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":943.44,"endTime":948.57,"body":"limestone ridge, the whole city"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":948.57,"endTime":952.17,"body":"stood on a limestone ridge,"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":948.57,"endTime":952.17,"body":"which in a plain that would have"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":952.17,"endTime":956.82,"body":"been surrounded by water for"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":952.17,"endTime":956.82,"body":"large periods of the year, it"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":956.82,"endTime":959.91,"body":"would have been the most"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":956.82,"endTime":959.91,"body":"striking sight on the horizon of"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":959.91,"endTime":963.51,"body":"a city wall and there's great"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":959.91,"endTime":963.51,"body":"ziggurat. It's still one of the"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":963.51,"endTime":968.91,"body":"highest points in Iraq, and is"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":963.51,"endTime":968.91,"body":"an absolute landmark, was a"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":968.91,"endTime":972.27,"body":"landmark all the way through to"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":968.91,"endTime":972.27,"body":"the early 20th century for"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":972.27,"endTime":974.73,"body":"travellers coming across the"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":972.27,"endTime":974.73,"body":"desert from Syria."},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":975.45,"endTime":979.44,"body":"And there's a whole city there,"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":975.45,"endTime":979.44,"body":"a massive temple complex, large"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":979.44,"endTime":983.61,"body":"palace, and we have evidence for"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":979.44,"endTime":983.61,"body":"some of the private housing. So"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":983.61,"endTime":987.45,"body":"that is the very, very visible"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":983.61,"endTime":987.45,"body":"remains. Our Iraqi colleagues"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":987.45,"endTime":991.59,"body":"have been excavating the site"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":987.45,"endTime":991.59,"body":"since about 1942. And it has"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":991.59,"endTime":996.15,"body":"been restored, very heavily"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":991.59,"endTime":996.15,"body":"restored most recently and has"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":996.15,"endTime":1000.05,"body":"been, and let's hope it will be"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":996.15,"endTime":1000.05,"body":"again one day, a tourist"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1000.05,"endTime":1004.13,"body":"attraction for visitors from"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1000.05,"endTime":1004.13,"body":"Baghdad. So that's a very"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1004.13,"endTime":1008.03,"body":"visible, easily accessible"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1004.13,"endTime":1008.03,"body":"remain from the Kassite period."},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1008.54,"endTime":1013.43,"body":"But Kurigalzu who also built in"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1008.54,"endTime":1013.43,"body":"other cities--at Ur, again,"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1013.46,"endTime":1016.94,"body":"worked on the ziggurat, but he"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1013.46,"endTime":1016.94,"body":"didn't build a ziggurat. But he"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1016.94,"endTime":1019.88,"body":"did repair a lot of the temples"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1016.94,"endTime":1019.88,"body":"and the temple structures around"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1019.88,"endTime":1020.15,"body":"them."},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1020.78,"endTime":1026.96,"body":"Other kings built in cities like"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1020.78,"endTime":1026.96,"body":"Larsa and Isin. So it's mainly"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1026.96,"endTime":1031.88,"body":"temples. Unfortunately, because"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1026.96,"endTime":1031.88,"body":"they built in mud brick, they're"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1031.88,"endTime":1035.66,"body":"not very spectacular looking at"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1031.88,"endTime":1035.66,"body":"them today. When I take my wife"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1035.66,"endTime":1038.78,"body":"to these sites, \"It looks\", she"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1035.66,"endTime":1038.78,"body":"says, \"Well, looks like a lot of"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1039.08,"endTime":1042.53,"body":"mud hills\". And to a certain"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1039.08,"endTime":1042.53,"body":"extent, that's exactly what it"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1042.53,"endTime":1046.67,"body":"is. But if we try and think of"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1042.53,"endTime":1046.67,"body":"what it would have looked like"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1046.76,"endTime":1049.94,"body":"when they did rebuild the"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1046.76,"endTime":1049.94,"body":"cities, it would have been very,"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1049.94,"endTime":1055.76,"body":"very spectacular. So they did"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1049.94,"endTime":1055.76,"body":"all that work. At the moment our"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1055.76,"endTime":1058.28,"body":"Iraqi colleagues from the"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1055.76,"endTime":1058.28,"body":"University of Babylon are"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1058.28,"endTime":1063.59,"body":"excavating a fascinating site at"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1058.28,"endTime":1063.59,"body":"Dilbat, where they found a"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1063.59,"endTime":1067.25,"body":"temple that we didn't know"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1063.59,"endTime":1067.25,"body":"about, again, refurbished by"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1067.28,"endTime":1071.57,"body":"king Kurigalzu. So you know, new"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1067.28,"endTime":1071.57,"body":"discoveries are coming all the"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1071.57,"endTime":1075.98,"body":"time. But if you Google"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1071.57,"endTime":1075.98,"body":"Kassites, the first image you're"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1075.98,"endTime":1080.18,"body":"bound to come up with 99 times"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1075.98,"endTime":1080.18,"body":"out of 100 is a photograph of"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1080.18,"endTime":1083.15,"body":"the ziggurat, Aqar Quf,"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1080.18,"endTime":1083.15,"body":"Dur-Kurigalzu."},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1084.2,"endTime":1087.62,"body":"As an archaeologist,"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1084.2,"endTime":1087.62,"body":"what would you expect to find on"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1087.62,"endTime":1091.58,"body":"a Kassite site, apart from the"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1087.62,"endTime":1091.58,"body":"monumental architecture? Are"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1091.58,"endTime":1094.7,"body":"there any characteristic objects"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1091.58,"endTime":1094.7,"body":"that suggest you found Kassite"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1094.7,"endTime":1095.45,"body":"levels?"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1096.05,"endTime":1098.84,"body":"I am an"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1096.05,"endTime":1098.84,"body":"archaeologist. And what you hope"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1098.84,"endTime":1102.53,"body":"to find are texts which tell you"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1098.84,"endTime":1102.53,"body":"a bit more about what was going"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1102.53,"endTime":1106.91,"body":"on. But on the sites that have"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1102.53,"endTime":1106.91,"body":"been excavated, you find things"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1106.91,"endTime":1113.12,"body":"like kudurrus. Now kudurrus are"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1106.91,"endTime":1113.12,"body":"stone monuments, a bit like a"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1113.12,"endTime":1118.22,"body":"milestone in scale. So perhaps"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1113.12,"endTime":1118.22,"body":"half a meter, 60-70 centimeters"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1118.22,"endTime":1123.65,"body":"high and made of stone. So very"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1118.22,"endTime":1123.65,"body":"rare in Babylonia to find things"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1123.65,"endTime":1127.79,"body":"made of stone. And they bear"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1123.65,"endTime":1127.79,"body":"inscriptions from the king,"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1128.12,"endTime":1131.48,"body":"giving a grant of land to"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1128.12,"endTime":1131.48,"body":"somebody to whom they wanted to"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1131.48,"endTime":1135.86,"body":"show favour. And these have been"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1131.48,"endTime":1135.86,"body":"found a place like Larsa, Ur,"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1136.25,"endTime":1141.41,"body":"Dur-Kurigalzu, there's quite a"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1136.25,"endTime":1141.41,"body":"lot of them around, but very"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1141.41,"endTime":1145.58,"body":"spectacular and they have symbol"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1141.41,"endTime":1145.58,"body":"of the gods carved on them as"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1145.58,"endTime":1148.4,"body":"well. So they would be"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1145.58,"endTime":1148.4,"body":"protecting these grants. So"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1148.4,"endTime":1152.03,"body":"there's sort of a contract"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1148.4,"endTime":1152.03,"body":"saying the king gives you this"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1152.03,"endTime":1155.81,"body":"grant of land, and it's yours"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1152.03,"endTime":1155.81,"body":"and your descendants forever and"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1155.81,"endTime":1159.83,"body":"the gods protecting that grant"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1155.81,"endTime":1159.83,"body":"or the terms of the grant. And"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1159.83,"endTime":1161.9,"body":"then they would have been set up"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1159.83,"endTime":1161.9,"body":"in a temple to give added"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1161.9,"endTime":1165.08,"body":"protection. So you might be"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1161.9,"endTime":1165.08,"body":"lucky finding one of those."},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1165.87,"endTime":1168.36,"body":"There's a lot of pottery,"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1165.87,"endTime":1168.36,"body":"obviously. And there's a very"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1168.36,"endTime":1171.66,"body":"distinctive type of pottery from"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1168.36,"endTime":1171.66,"body":"the Kassite period, so-called"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1171.66,"endTime":1177.75,"body":"goblet or flask. It's got a sort"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1171.66,"endTime":1177.75,"body":"of flat foot and then a flute."},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1178.38,"endTime":1182.31,"body":"And then it narrows at the top"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1178.38,"endTime":1182.31,"body":"to a mouth. We don't know what"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1182.31,"endTime":1186.54,"body":"was in them, but they're about"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1182.31,"endTime":1186.54,"body":"20 centimeters, 20-30"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1186.54,"endTime":1189.3,"body":"centimeters, high and they are"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1186.54,"endTime":1189.3,"body":"absolutely characteristic of the"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1189.3,"endTime":1193.05,"body":"period. You know you're on a"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1189.3,"endTime":1193.05,"body":"Kassite site when you find a"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1193.05,"endTime":1195.57,"body":"fragment of one of these"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1193.05,"endTime":1195.57,"body":"goblets. They're instantly"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1195.57,"endTime":1196.53,"body":"recognisable."},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1198.33,"endTime":1200.37,"body":"Some of the other more"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1198.33,"endTime":1200.37,"body":"spectacular things that have"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1200.37,"endTime":1205.2,"body":"been found are fragments of"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1200.37,"endTime":1205.2,"body":"glass axes. They were found at"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1205.23,"endTime":1212.13,"body":"Nippur. And these were axes made"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1205.23,"endTime":1212.13,"body":"to be put in a temple. They bear"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1212.13,"endTime":1216.21,"body":"inscriptions, dedicatory"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1212.13,"endTime":1216.21,"body":"inscriptions of the king. So to"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1216.21,"endTime":1220.23,"body":"the god Enlil, one of the chief"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1216.21,"endTime":1220.23,"body":"gods of the Babylonian pantheon,"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1220.68,"endTime":1223.62,"body":"and one of the chief deities"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1220.68,"endTime":1223.62,"body":"worshipped in ancient Nippur."},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1224.49,"endTime":1229.38,"body":"And they were carved onto axes"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1224.49,"endTime":1229.38,"body":"made out of glass to make them"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1229.38,"endTime":1234.0,"body":"look as though they were lapis"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1229.38,"endTime":1234.0,"body":"lazuli. It was done in the 13th"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1234.24,"endTime":1238.92,"body":"14th century BCE. And they're"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1234.24,"endTime":1238.92,"body":"quite big. They're about 20"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1238.92,"endTime":1243.3,"body":"centimeters long. They have a"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1238.92,"endTime":1243.3,"body":"haft, so they would have had a"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1243.3,"endTime":1248.49,"body":"wooden handle in them. And they"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1243.3,"endTime":1248.49,"body":"are the earliest, largest bit of"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1248.49,"endTime":1253.5,"body":"inscribed glass that we've got"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1248.49,"endTime":1253.5,"body":"from Babylonia. Chemical"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1253.5,"endTime":1256.89,"body":"analysis on them has shown that"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1253.5,"endTime":1256.89,"body":"they are made of Babylonian,"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1256.89,"endTime":1261.15,"body":"Iraqi materials. They're not"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1256.89,"endTime":1261.15,"body":"imports. So although glass was"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1261.15,"endTime":1265.44,"body":"being made in Syria and Egypt at"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1261.15,"endTime":1265.44,"body":"the time, this is an indigenous"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1265.44,"endTime":1269.79,"body":"industry. They're rather nice."},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1265.44,"endTime":1269.79,"body":"And there's also not"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1269.79,"endTime":1273.99,"body":"infrequently on sites, a form of"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1269.79,"endTime":1273.99,"body":"dedicatory object called"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1274.02,"endTime":1274.83,"body":"eyestones."},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1275.22,"endTime":1278.1,"body":"You've worked on eye"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1275.22,"endTime":1278.1,"body":"stones, haven't you? What are"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1278.1,"endTime":1279.45,"body":"they? What is an eye stone?"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1280.05,"endTime":1281.97,"body":"They're called eye"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1280.05,"endTime":1281.97,"body":"stones. In fact, they were"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1281.97,"endTime":1285.93,"body":"called eye stones in ancient"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1281.97,"endTime":1285.93,"body":"Babylonia. And they are pretty"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1285.93,"endTime":1289.92,"body":"much what the word says. They're"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1285.93,"endTime":1289.92,"body":"flat disks with a rounded upper"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1289.92,"endTime":1293.49,"body":"surface, perhaps the size of a"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1289.92,"endTime":1293.49,"body":"thumbnail, some a little bit"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1293.49,"endTime":1297.69,"body":"larger, but more or less on that"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1293.49,"endTime":1297.69,"body":"scale, with a dark center--the"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1297.72,"endTime":1302.94,"body":"pupil of the eye--and a white"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1297.72,"endTime":1302.94,"body":"outer ring. And they again bear"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1302.94,"endTime":1307.8,"body":"a dedicatory inscription almost"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1302.94,"endTime":1307.8,"body":"exclusively, from the king to a"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1307.8,"endTime":1312.12,"body":"deity. So, you know, to the lord"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1307.8,"endTime":1312.12,"body":"Enlil, may he protect the life"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1312.12,"endTime":1316.83,"body":"of his servant, king Kurigalzu."},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1312.12,"endTime":1316.83,"body":"And they're pierced. So they"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1316.83,"endTime":1320.76,"body":"were probably worn as part of"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1316.83,"endTime":1320.76,"body":"necklaces on the statues of"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1320.76,"endTime":1325.5,"body":"deities inside the temple. And"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1320.76,"endTime":1325.5,"body":"the Kassites, they didn't invent"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1325.5,"endTime":1329.31,"body":"these; they appear in the Old"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1325.5,"endTime":1329.31,"body":"Babylonian period as well. But"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1329.31,"endTime":1332.31,"body":"they were most popular in this"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1329.31,"endTime":1332.31,"body":"period, in the period of the"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1332.34,"endTime":1332.88,"body":"Kassites."},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1333.51,"endTime":1336.87,"body":"The next time they show such a"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1333.51,"endTime":1336.87,"body":"degree of popularity is in the"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1336.9,"endTime":1342.9,"body":"Neo-Babylonian period, many many"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1336.9,"endTime":1342.9,"body":"centuries later, under the reign"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1342.9,"endTime":1346.38,"body":"of King Nebuchadnezzar the"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1342.9,"endTime":1346.38,"body":"Second. But there's a lot of"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1346.59,"endTime":1351.48,"body":"Kassite eye stones. And they're"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1346.59,"endTime":1351.48,"body":"rather beautiful things. And"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1351.48,"endTime":1355.17,"body":"there's a lot of other bits and"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1351.48,"endTime":1355.17,"body":"pieces. But Kassite texts, as I"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1355.17,"endTime":1361.2,"body":"say, are relatively rare"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1355.17,"endTime":1361.2,"body":"surprisingly. We haven't found"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1361.35,"endTime":1366.15,"body":"many of the archives that must"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1361.35,"endTime":1366.15,"body":"have existed. Most of the texts"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1366.15,"endTime":1370.98,"body":"we have come from the ancient"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1366.15,"endTime":1370.98,"body":"city of Nippur. But they do"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1370.98,"endTime":1374.1,"body":"appear at various other sites,"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1370.98,"endTime":1374.1,"body":"including all the way down in"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1374.1,"endTime":1378.51,"body":"the Gulf, down in Bahrain, and"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1374.1,"endTime":1378.51,"body":"Failaka. So showing that the"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1378.51,"endTime":1382.11,"body":"Kassite kingdom extended all the"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1378.51,"endTime":1382.11,"body":"way down there, or at least"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1382.23,"endTime":1385.47,"body":"merchants from the Kassite"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1382.23,"endTime":1385.47,"body":"kingdom got down to into the"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1385.47,"endTime":1389.28,"body":"Gulf. But unfortunately, there"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1385.47,"endTime":1389.28,"body":"are not as many Kassite texts as"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1389.28,"endTime":1392.19,"body":"one would like. But then that's"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1389.28,"endTime":1392.19,"body":"probably always the case."},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1393.08,"endTime":1396.05,"body":"Where can people go"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1393.08,"endTime":1396.05,"body":"to see Kassite objects like this"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1396.05,"endTime":1396.65,"body":"now?"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1397.41,"endTime":1401.85,"body":"Well, obviously the"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1397.41,"endTime":1401.85,"body":"best place is Baghdad, and I do"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1401.85,"endTime":1405.54,"body":"hope Iraqi friends are able to"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1401.85,"endTime":1405.54,"body":"go there and see them. But if"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1405.54,"endTime":1409.59,"body":"you're not lucky enough to go to"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1405.54,"endTime":1409.59,"body":"Baghdad, then the British Museum"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1409.59,"endTime":1413.16,"body":"in London has a very good"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1409.59,"endTime":1413.16,"body":"collection. Particularly of"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1413.16,"endTime":1417.03,"body":"kudurrus, many of which are now"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1413.16,"endTime":1417.03,"body":"on public display. So they're"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1417.03,"endTime":1420.45,"body":"easy to see. But there's other"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1417.03,"endTime":1420.45,"body":"Kassite objects there. The"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1420.48,"endTime":1424.41,"body":"Vorderasiatisches Museum in"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1420.48,"endTime":1424.41,"body":"Berlin has again a very, very"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1424.41,"endTime":1427.98,"body":"fine collection, particularly"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1424.41,"endTime":1427.98,"body":"from the site of Babylon. And"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1427.98,"endTime":1431.34,"body":"many of the objects on display"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1427.98,"endTime":1431.34,"body":"there, including a reconstructed"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1431.34,"endTime":1434.79,"body":"wall relief from the ancient"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1431.34,"endTime":1434.79,"body":"city of Uruk. And it's one of"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1434.79,"endTime":1438.09,"body":"the features of the Kassite"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1434.79,"endTime":1438.09,"body":"period that they decorated some"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1438.09,"endTime":1442.17,"body":"of their temple exteriors with"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1438.09,"endTime":1442.17,"body":"molded mudbrick depictions of"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1442.17,"endTime":1446.13,"body":"gods. And the one in the"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1442.17,"endTime":1446.13,"body":"Vorderasiatisches Museum there"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1446.16,"endTime":1449.91,"body":"shows the gods in molded"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1446.16,"endTime":1449.91,"body":"mudbrick from a temple surround,"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1449.94,"endTime":1454.05,"body":"as I say, from Uruk. it's male"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1449.94,"endTime":1454.05,"body":"and female and they're holding"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1454.05,"endTime":1457.23,"body":"little jugs with flowing water"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1454.05,"endTime":1457.23,"body":"coming out. It's very beautiful."},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1457.23,"endTime":1462.15,"body":"It's almost life size. It's very"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1457.23,"endTime":1462.15,"body":"spectacular. The Louvre of"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1462.15,"endTime":1465.75,"body":"course in Paris has got a number"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1462.15,"endTime":1465.75,"body":"of Kassite objects on display."},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1466.44,"endTime":1470.76,"body":"The Met in New York, and the"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1466.44,"endTime":1470.76,"body":"Ashmolean here in Oxford has a"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1470.76,"endTime":1475.65,"body":"few. There are also quite a lot"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1470.76,"endTime":1475.65,"body":"of objects in the museum in"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1475.65,"endTime":1479.4,"body":"Istanbul. Because of course,"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1475.65,"endTime":1479.4,"body":"when some of the very earliest"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1479.4,"endTime":1483.06,"body":"excavations took place in Iraq"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1479.4,"endTime":1483.06,"body":"up until the First World War,"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1483.57,"endTime":1487.47,"body":"Iraq was part of the Ottoman"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1483.57,"endTime":1487.47,"body":"Empire. So many of the objects"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1487.47,"endTime":1492.03,"body":"that were excavated before 1914,"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1487.47,"endTime":1492.03,"body":"they ended up in Istanbul and"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1492.03,"endTime":1495.27,"body":"many of them are on display"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1492.03,"endTime":1495.27,"body":"there. So there's quite a range"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1495.27,"endTime":1496.44,"body":"of places to see them."},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1497.19,"endTime":1500.25,"body":"And if that inspires"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1497.19,"endTime":1500.25,"body":"us to learn more, where's a good"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1500.25,"endTime":1501.72,"body":"place to start with that?"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1502.5,"endTime":1504.87,"body":"I think there's"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1502.5,"endTime":1504.87,"body":"perhaps a number of ways,"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1504.87,"endTime":1508.8,"body":"Jonathan. For easy entry into"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1504.87,"endTime":1508.8,"body":"the background as it were, the"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1508.8,"endTime":1513.6,"body":"subject area, the history, the"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1508.8,"endTime":1513.6,"body":"chronology, I would recommend,"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1513.66,"endTime":1516.99,"body":"there's a couple of books on the"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1513.66,"endTime":1516.99,"body":"history of Babylon, which I"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1516.99,"endTime":1520.86,"body":"would recommend. The first was"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1516.99,"endTime":1520.86,"body":"by Joan Oates called Babylon,"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1520.86,"endTime":1524.13,"body":"which is now quite old, but is"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1520.86,"endTime":1524.13,"body":"still very, very good. And it's"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1524.13,"endTime":1527.4,"body":"got a chapter on the Kassites,"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1524.13,"endTime":1527.4,"body":"and the Kassite period. And it"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1527.4,"endTime":1530.91,"body":"just puts it into context. Her"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1527.4,"endTime":1530.91,"body":"description of the period is"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1530.91,"endTime":1535.38,"body":"still very valid. There's also a"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1530.91,"endTime":1535.38,"body":"book that's just come out a few"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1535.38,"endTime":1540.33,"body":"years ago by Paul-Alain Beaulieu"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1535.38,"endTime":1540.33,"body":"from Canada. And again, the"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1540.33,"endTime":1544.53,"body":"history of Babylon. He's got a"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1540.33,"endTime":1544.53,"body":"very good chapter of the Kassite"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1544.53,"endTime":1548.73,"body":"period. And just this period,"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1544.53,"endTime":1548.73,"body":"Stephanie Dalley, one of our"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1548.76,"endTime":1552.12,"body":"colleagues here in Oxford has"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1548.76,"endTime":1552.12,"body":"published a history of Babylon,"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1552.39,"endTime":1555.45,"body":"which again, includes a very"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1552.39,"endTime":1555.45,"body":"good chapter on the Kassite"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1555.45,"endTime":1558.81,"body":"period. So I think that would"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1555.45,"endTime":1558.81,"body":"give you a very good background"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1558.84,"endTime":1563.94,"body":"to the subject. You know, how it"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1558.84,"endTime":1563.94,"body":"fits in, and the broad outlines."},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1564.5,"endTime":1567.83,"body":"If you want to get more involved"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1564.5,"endTime":1567.83,"body":"in some of the interesting"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1567.83,"endTime":1571.31,"body":"questions that are developing at"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1567.83,"endTime":1571.31,"body":"the moment. And I should say, in"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1571.31,"endTime":1574.58,"body":"the last 10-15 years, there's"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1571.31,"endTime":1574.58,"body":"been a crop of young scholars"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1574.58,"endTime":1578.0,"body":"coming through doing some"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1574.58,"endTime":1578.0,"body":"fabulous work on the Kassite"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1578.0,"endTime":1582.41,"body":"period. It's great, really nice"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1578.0,"endTime":1582.41,"body":"for me to see the generation of"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1582.41,"endTime":1586.37,"body":"new scholars doing some really"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1582.41,"endTime":1586.37,"body":"good work coming through. And"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1586.37,"endTime":1589.07,"body":"there's two volumes I would"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1586.37,"endTime":1589.07,"body":"recommend that would give you"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1589.31,"endTime":1593.57,"body":"absolute up to date information"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1589.31,"endTime":1593.57,"body":"and outline of some of the"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1593.57,"endTime":1596.69,"body":"current issues. The first is a"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1593.57,"endTime":1596.69,"body":"book called Karduniash:"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1596.72,"endTime":1602.9,"body":"Babylonia under the Kassites,"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1596.72,"endTime":1602.9,"body":"which was published in 2017. And"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1602.9,"endTime":1607.16,"body":"that was edited by Alexa"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1602.9,"endTime":1607.16,"body":"Bartelmus and Katye Sternitzke."},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1607.88,"endTime":1611.36,"body":"It's got a collection of papers"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1607.88,"endTime":1611.36,"body":"which pretty much covers all the"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1611.36,"endTime":1614.66,"body":"current issues. And then there's"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1611.36,"endTime":1614.66,"body":"another one that appeared last"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1614.66,"endTime":1618.77,"body":"year, Babylonia under the"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1614.66,"endTime":1618.77,"body":"Sealand and Kassite dynasties,"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1619.22,"endTime":1623.63,"body":"edited by Susanne Paulus and"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1619.22,"endTime":1623.63,"body":"myself, which brings the whole"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1623.63,"endTime":1628.19,"body":"thing up to date, even more. We"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1623.63,"endTime":1628.19,"body":"included the Sealand dynasty,"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1628.22,"endTime":1632.39,"body":"because being totally frank, up"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1628.22,"endTime":1632.39,"body":"until 15 years ago, what we"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1632.39,"endTime":1636.05,"body":"could say about the Sealand"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1632.39,"endTime":1636.05,"body":"dynasty would fit in big letters"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1636.05,"endTime":1641.42,"body":"on a very small stamp. We now"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1636.05,"endTime":1641.42,"body":"know a huge amount more. And"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1641.42,"endTime":1644.99,"body":"it's giving us a much more"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1641.42,"endTime":1644.99,"body":"interesting complex vision of"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1644.99,"endTime":1649.94,"body":"what was going on in southern"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1644.99,"endTime":1649.94,"body":"Iraq in ancient Babylonia in"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1649.94,"endTime":1652.67,"body":"that period between Samsu-iluna"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1649.94,"endTime":1652.67,"body":"and the emergence of the"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1652.67,"endTime":1654.68,"body":"Kassites 300-400 years later."},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1655.01,"endTime":1657.41,"body":"So those last two"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1655.01,"endTime":1657.41,"body":"recommendations are very"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1657.41,"endTime":1661.94,"body":"academic. But I would say very"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1657.41,"endTime":1661.94,"body":"readable and come with very good"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1661.94,"endTime":1665.36,"body":"book lists. Between them, you've"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1661.94,"endTime":1665.36,"body":"got pretty much every book,"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1665.39,"endTime":1669.41,"body":"article, paper that's going on"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1665.39,"endTime":1669.41,"body":"the Kassites. The first one,"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1669.44,"endTime":1675.14,"body":"Karduniash, includes a masterful"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1669.44,"endTime":1675.14,"body":"summary by the doyen of Kassite"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1675.14,"endTime":1680.21,"body":"studies, Professor John A."},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1675.14,"endTime":1680.21,"body":"Brinkman from Chicago. And"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1680.24,"endTime":1684.44,"body":"anybody wanted to do anything on"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1680.24,"endTime":1684.44,"body":"Kassite history, Kassite texts,"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1684.65,"endTime":1686.54,"body":"would want to read that."},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1687.71,"endTime":1692.0,"body":"Another easy way of keeping in"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1687.71,"endTime":1692.0,"body":"touch is through membership of"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1692.0,"endTime":1695.42,"body":"organizations like the British"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1692.0,"endTime":1695.42,"body":"Institute for the Study of Iraq,"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1695.66,"endTime":1701.21,"body":"BISI. It's based here in the UK."},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1695.66,"endTime":1701.21,"body":"Subscriptions are relatively"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1701.24,"endTime":1706.28,"body":"cheap, and especially cheap for"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1701.24,"endTime":1706.28,"body":"students. And there's an annual"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1706.28,"endTime":1710.27,"body":"journal, there's talks, there's"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1706.28,"endTime":1710.27,"body":"a website presence. It happens"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1710.27,"endTime":1713.45,"body":"that I serve on the council for"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1710.27,"endTime":1713.45,"body":"BISI at the moment, but I've"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1713.45,"endTime":1716.96,"body":"been a member for many, many"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1713.45,"endTime":1716.96,"body":"years. And it introduces you to"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1716.96,"endTime":1720.74,"body":"the community of people studying"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1716.96,"endTime":1720.74,"body":"the subject. It's ancient and"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1720.74,"endTime":1724.25,"body":"modern. If you're looking for a"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1720.74,"endTime":1724.25,"body":"way into the field, into the"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1724.25,"endTime":1727.85,"body":"study, into the area, then you"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1724.25,"endTime":1727.85,"body":"could do a lot worse than join"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1727.85,"endTime":1728.33,"body":"BISI."},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1729.11,"endTime":1732.35,"body":"What about your own"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1729.11,"endTime":1732.35,"body":"work specifically? How can we"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1732.35,"endTime":1734.24,"body":"follow your ongoing research?"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1734.6,"endTime":1738.98,"body":"For those who use"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1734.6,"endTime":1738.98,"body":"it, Academia. All my papers are"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1739.01,"endTime":1744.26,"body":"loaded up on Academia. And I say"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1739.01,"endTime":1744.26,"body":"\"all\"; there's about 15 or so,"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1744.71,"endTime":1748.64,"body":"all about the Kassites. I've"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1744.71,"endTime":1748.64,"body":"just had a paper published in"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1748.67,"endTime":1752.45,"body":"Italy in the journal"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1748.67,"endTime":1752.45,"body":"Mesopotamia, actually looking at"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1752.51,"endTime":1757.4,"body":"the dated Kassite texts from"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1752.51,"endTime":1757.4,"body":"Iraq. So having a look at that."},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1757.7,"endTime":1762.23,"body":"In the volume I edited, I do a"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1757.7,"endTime":1762.23,"body":"review of the Kassite period at"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1762.23,"endTime":1767.6,"body":"Ur, looking at the physical and"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1762.23,"endTime":1767.6,"body":"textual evidence. I also give a"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1767.6,"endTime":1771.11,"body":"little review of the earlier"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1767.6,"endTime":1771.11,"body":"history of the Kassites in the"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1771.11,"endTime":1775.49,"body":"area, because Ur is right at the"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1771.11,"endTime":1775.49,"body":"epicenter of where the Sealand"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1775.49,"endTime":1779.3,"body":"dynasty came to power and from"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1775.49,"endTime":1779.3,"body":"there extended power over the"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1779.3,"endTime":1783.05,"body":"rest of Iraq. So the Kassite"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1779.3,"endTime":1783.05,"body":"appearance in Ur is quite"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1783.05,"endTime":1784.73,"body":"interesting. So I've done that."},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1785.0,"endTime":1788.72,"body":"I've done a study on the glass"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1785.0,"endTime":1788.72,"body":"axes I was talking about; the"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1788.72,"endTime":1792.2,"body":"inscriptions were done, were"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1788.72,"endTime":1792.2,"body":"studied by a colleague now at"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1792.23,"endTime":1797.0,"body":"Philadelphia, Grant Frame. So"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1792.23,"endTime":1797.0,"body":"you could see the objects and"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1797.03,"endTime":1801.35,"body":"the inscriptions they bore. And"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1797.03,"endTime":1801.35,"body":"eye stones. But they're all"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1801.35,"endTime":1805.79,"body":"available on Academia. All"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1801.35,"endTime":1805.79,"body":"available for free download, and"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1805.97,"endTime":1809.15,"body":"very, very happy to be in"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1805.97,"endTime":1809.15,"body":"correspondence with anybody who"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1809.15,"endTime":1811.94,"body":"wants to find out a little bit"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1809.15,"endTime":1811.94,"body":"more about the Kassites. It's"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1811.94,"endTime":1815.99,"body":"easy to get me through Academia."},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1811.94,"endTime":1815.99,"body":"I'm in correspondence with"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1815.99,"endTime":1819.29,"body":"several scholars at the moment"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1815.99,"endTime":1819.29,"body":"doing doctorates and the like"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1819.29,"endTime":1823.34,"body":"research, always happy to look"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1819.29,"endTime":1823.34,"body":"at ideas, proposals, papers,"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1823.7,"endTime":1828.35,"body":"comment, and generally support"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1823.7,"endTime":1828.35,"body":"the study. So, yeah, Academia is"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1828.35,"endTime":1830.45,"body":"probably the easiest way to get"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1828.35,"endTime":1830.45,"body":"my research."},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1831.2,"endTime":1832.31,"body":"Thank you very much."},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1832.88,"endTime":1835.79,"body":"My absolute"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1832.88,"endTime":1835.79,"body":"pleasure. It's a fascinating"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1835.79,"endTime":1839.93,"body":"area of study. And there's no"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1835.79,"endTime":1839.93,"body":"end of interesting research"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1839.93,"endTime":1843.29,"body":"topics, things to look at."},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1839.93,"endTime":1843.29,"body":"There's a lot of unpublished"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1843.29,"endTime":1847.07,"body":"material. Anybody who's"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1843.29,"endTime":1847.07,"body":"interested in, I do encourage,"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1847.19,"endTime":1849.65,"body":"go and have a look in the local"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1847.19,"endTime":1849.65,"body":"museum, talk to the museums"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1849.65,"endTime":1852.86,"body":"about it. There's a lot of"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1849.65,"endTime":1852.86,"body":"material around. It's a"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1852.86,"endTime":1857.18,"body":"fascinating period. I get teased"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1852.86,"endTime":1857.18,"body":"now when I go to conferences:"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1857.48,"endTime":1860.78,"body":"\"Ah, it's the Kassite man!\" It's"},{"speaker":"Tim Clayden","startTime":1857.48,"endTime":1860.78,"body":"a badge I wear with honour."},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1863.63,"endTime":1866.27,"body":"Id also like to"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1863.63,"endTime":1866.27,"body":"thank our patrons: Tyler"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1866.27,"endTime":1872.27,"body":"Russell, Enrique Jimenez, Jana"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1866.27,"endTime":1872.27,"body":"Matuszak, Nancy Highcock, Jay C,"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1872.63,"endTime":1877.91,"body":"Rune Rattenborg, Woodthrush,"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1872.63,"endTime":1877.91,"body":"Elisa Rossberger, Mark Weeden,"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1878.48,"endTime":1883.97,"body":"Jordi Mon Companys, Thomas"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1878.48,"endTime":1883.97,"body":"Bolin, Joan Porter MacIver, John"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1883.97,"endTime":1890.06,"body":"MacGinnis, Andrew George, Yelena"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1883.97,"endTime":1890.06,"body":"Rakic, Michael Katsevman, Mend"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1890.09,"endTime":1896.0,"body":"Mariwany, Kathryn Topper, Zach"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1890.09,"endTime":1896.0,"body":"Rubin, Sabina Franke, Sophus"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1896.0,"endTime":1902.33,"body":"Helle, Shai Gordin, Aaron Macks,"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1896.0,"endTime":1902.33,"body":"Jonathan Stkl, Maarja Seire,"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1902.72,"endTime":1907.85,"body":"Jaafar Jotheri, Morgan Hite,"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1902.72,"endTime":1907.85,"body":"Chikako Watanabe, Mark"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1907.85,"endTime":1912.59,"body":"McElwaine, Heather Baker,"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1907.85,"endTime":1912.59,"body":"Sukanya Ramanujan, Laura"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1912.59,"endTime":1918.35,"body":"Battini, Jonathan Blanchard"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1912.59,"endTime":1918.35,"body":"Smith, Vanessa Richards, Kliment"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1918.35,"endTime":1923.99,"body":"Ohr, TT, Christina"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1918.35,"endTime":1923.99,"body":"Tsouparopoulou, Andwer Senior,"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1923.99,"endTime":1927.29,"body":"Melanie Gross, as well as those"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1923.99,"endTime":1927.29,"body":"who prefer to remain anonymous."},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1928.11,"endTime":1930.69,"body":"I really appreciate your"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1928.11,"endTime":1930.69,"body":"support. It makes a big"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1930.69,"endTime":1935.22,"body":"difference. Every penny received"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1930.69,"endTime":1935.22,"body":"has contributed towards"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1935.22,"endTime":1938.67,"body":"translations. Thanks of course"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1935.22,"endTime":1938.67,"body":"to the lovely people who have"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1938.67,"endTime":1942.09,"body":"worked on the translations on a"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1938.67,"endTime":1942.09,"body":"voluntary basis or for well"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1942.09,"endTime":1946.32,"body":"below the market rate. For"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1942.09,"endTime":1946.32,"body":"Arabic, thanks in particular to"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1946.32,"endTime":1951.06,"body":"Zainab Mizyidawi, as well as"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1946.32,"endTime":1951.06,"body":"Lina Meerchyad and May Al-Aseel."},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1951.87,"endTime":1958.41,"body":"For Turkish, thank you to Pinar"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1951.87,"endTime":1958.41,"body":"Durgun and Nesrin Akan. TEW is"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1958.41,"endTime":1961.92,"body":"still young, but I want to reach"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1958.41,"endTime":1961.92,"body":"a sustainable level, where"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1961.92,"endTime":1965.1,"body":"translators are given proper"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1961.92,"endTime":1965.1,"body":"compensation for their hard"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1965.1,"endTime":1965.55,"body":"work."},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1967.83,"endTime":1971.1,"body":"And thank you for listening to"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1967.83,"endTime":1971.1,"body":"Thin End of the Wedge. If you"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1971.1,"endTime":1974.37,"body":"enjoy what we do, and you would"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1971.1,"endTime":1974.37,"body":"like to help make these podcasts"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1974.37,"endTime":1977.46,"body":"available in Middle Eastern"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1974.37,"endTime":1977.46,"body":"languages, please consider"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1977.46,"endTime":1981.3,"body":"joining our Patreon family. You"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1977.46,"endTime":1981.3,"body":"can find us at"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1981.33,"endTime":1987.66,"body":"patreon.com/wedgepod. You can"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1981.33,"endTime":1987.66,"body":"also support us in other ways:"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1988.35,"endTime":1992.19,"body":"simply subscribe to the podcast;"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1988.35,"endTime":1992.19,"body":"leave us a five star review on"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1992.19,"endTime":1995.46,"body":"iTunes or your podcatcher of"},{"speaker":"Jon Taylor","startTime":1992.19,"endTime":1995.46,"body":"choice; recommend us to your"},{"speaker":"friends; follow us on Twitter","startTime":1995.46,"endTime":2001.67,"body":"@wedge_pod. If you want the"},{"speaker":"friends; follow us on Twitter","startTime":2001.67,"endTime":2005.21,"body":"latest podcast news, you can"},{"speaker":"friends; follow us on Twitter","startTime":2001.67,"endTime":2005.21,"body":"sign up for our newsletter. You"},{"speaker":"friends; follow us on Twitter","startTime":2005.21,"endTime":2009.02,"body":"can find all the links in the"},{"speaker":"friends; follow us on Twitter","startTime":2005.21,"endTime":2009.02,"body":"show notes and on our website at"},{"speaker":"friends; follow us on Twitter","startTime":2011.69,"endTime":2017.93,"body":"wedgepod.org. Thanks, and I hope"},{"speaker":"friends; follow us on Twitter","startTime":2011.69,"endTime":2017.93,"body":"youll join us next time."}]}