Archaeology lectures to dig up stories of the past: November 18, 19 and 26: MELBOURNE
ARCHAEOLOGY is the theme behind a series of free lectures to be held by the School of Historical Studies this month. 
Investigating the Sacral City of the Mother Goddess Cybele: Pessinus in Central Turkey
Gocha Tsetskhladze is set to speak on investigations in Pessinus in Central Turkey - the Sacral City of the Mother Goddess Cybele.
Cybele was the most popular and widely worshipped female deity in the ancient world. From the Anatolian empires of Phrygia and Lydia at the beginning of the 1st millennium BC, her worship spread to the Greek world and then to Rome and onward throughout its empire, thus becoming one of the major cults of antiquity. According to ancient Greek and Roman writers, the cult began at Pessinus in Central Anatolia, established in the 8th century BC by the semi-mythical King Midas of Phrygia as Cybele?s sacral city, in effect a temple-state that housed her main sanctuary/temple. Ghent University excavated at Pessinus from 1967 to 2008, before the University of Melbourne took over the project in 2009.
This lecture will give a general outline of the site and its investigation, the first results from 2009 and future plans, and will discuss the challenges posed by the site and its place in the wider Anatolian and Mediterranean world.
When: Wednesday, 18 November, 6.30pm
Where: The University of Melbourne, ICT Theatre 1, 111 Barry St, Parkville
On the Cusp of Empires: Archaeology in Central CaucasusAntonio Sagona is set to report on two seasons of fieldwork at Samtavro, in Mtskheta, Georgia, a collaborative project between the University of Melbourne and the Georgian National Museum.
Caucasus, an isthmus of land separating the Black and Caspian Seas, satisfies almost any definition of a frontier. For much of antiquity, the lands south of the great Caucasus mountain range had their own cultural landscape, which was quite distinct from other centres of power. Such was the Iberian Kingdom of Caucasus - at one time a client state of Rome, at another annexed by Persia.
When: Thursday, 19 November, 6.30pm
Where: Royal Society of Victoria, 9 Victoria St, Carlton (SW corner Exhibition Gardens)
Scythians in the Altay Mountains: Survey, Inventory and Landscape Study
To be presented by Jean Bourgeois (Ghent University). Further details to be posted at www.arts.unimelb.edu.au/ in coming weeks.
When: Thursday 26 November, 6.30pm
Where: The University of Melbourne, ICT Theatre 1, 111 Barry St, Parkville
To find out more about any of these free lectures, please contact June McBeth at jmcbeth@unimelb.edu.au or phone +61 3 8344 5963.