LECTURE: Food, Culture and Empire in ancient Anatolia
20 February 2019 19:00 to 21:00 | Ankara
The British Institute at Ankara, Wolfson Foundation Conference Room, Atatürk Bulvarı 154, first floor, 06690
A BIAA lecture by Prof. Stephen Mitchell, (FBA - BIAA Hon. Chairman)
A lecture In memory of Professor Gordon Hillman, archaeobotanist extraordinaire
Summary: You are what you eat! Nothing defines the character and identity of a nation more clearly than its food culture. This was as true in ancient Anatolia as it is in modern Turkey and in Europe. This lecture will explore the history of food in Asia Minor, tracing the changes and developments which were introduced by the Persian Empire, the spread of hellenism, the Galatian invasions, and ultimately by Roman rule. The food that nurtured the inhabitants of ancient Turkey reflected regional cultures as well as patterns of imperial power.
Professor Stephen Mitchell is chairman of the BIAA. Since 2004 his main research project in Turkey has been the publication of the Greek and Latin inscriptions of Ankara, in collaboration with the former BIAA director, David French. He is the author of Anatolia. Land, Men, and Gods in Asia Minor (2 vols. 1993), and A History of the Later Roman Empire AD 284-641 (2nd edition 2015), which appeared in a Turkish translation published by the Turkish Historical Society in January 2017.
