The 44th Annual Carolyn L. Drucker Memorial Lecture “Embassies of Joy”

Amanda H. Podany, Professor Emeritus of History at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, specializes in the study of Syria and Mesopotamia in the Middle and Late Bronze Age. She is the author of several books, including Weavers, Scribes, and Kings: A New History of the Ancient Near East (Oxford University Press, 2022), for which she received the Nancy Lapp Popular Book Award from the American Society of Overseas Research. Previous books include the award-winning Brotherhood of Kings: How International Relations Shaped the Ancient Near East (Oxford University Press, 2010), The Ancient Near East: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford University Press 2014), and The Land of Hana: Kings, Chronology, and Scribal Tradition (CDL Press, 2002). Her research has focused especially on the ancient Syrian kingdom of Hana, ancient diplomacy, and chronology. Podany has also reached a wide audience with a series of 24 lectures for Wondrium / The Great Courses called “Ancient Mesopotamia: Life in the Cradle of Civilization.”