MENU THE ARTS SOCIETY NORTH WEST NORFOLK
Click here for future lectures

DateLecture
10 February 2020Board Games from Antiquity.
09 December 2019A Right Royal Christmas.
11 November 2019Wigs, Waistcoats and Weepers: Power Dressing in the 18th Century
14 October 2019Royal Jewels and the American Heiress: Antique Treasures for the New World
08 July 2019Mad Men and the Artists – how the advertising industry has exploited fine art.
10 June 2019Chinese Takeaways.
13 May 2019The GPO Film Unit – the Birth of Documentary Films.
08 April 2019Through a glass darkly: a history of glass through the eyes of the artist.
11 March 2019The Empress Josephine and the Artists of her Time.
11 February 2019Turbulent times: Russian History as depicted by its 19th century realist painters.
10 December 2018In the Kingdom of The Sweets.
12 November 2018The Victorians and their Afterlife.
08 October 2018The Art of the Steal. Nazi looting during World War II.
09 July 2018James Whistler: “The gentle art of making enemies.”
11 June 2018The Magnificent Maya – Fact or Fantasy?
14 May 2018The Herbarium of Carl Linnaeus and the Linnean Society of London.
16 April 2018NB-DATE CHANGE - Foreigners in London – 1520-1677. The Artists that Changed the Course of British Art.
12 March 2018Shaken by an earthquake; Igor Stravinsky and the Ballets Russes.
12 February 2018Wabi and Sabi: the beauty of imperfection.
11 December 2017Io Saturnalia! Happy Christmas the Roman Way.
13 November 2017Healing Stitches: Therapeutic handicraft at the time of war.
09 October 2017George Cruikshank: the man who drew Oliver Twist.
10 July 2017Sir Stamford Raffles: Art Collector and Discoverer of Singapore.
12 June 2017Masquerades, Music Lessons and Monkeys.
08 May 2017Women behind the Lens: outstanding female photographers and their contribution to the art of photography.
10 April 2017Classical Gardens: a New Perspective.
13 March 2017Indians, Buffalo, Storms: The American West in 19th Century Art.
13 February 2017A marvel of Nature: Sofonisba Anguissola
12 December 2016Excess Baggage: The Journey of the Magi from St. Matthew to the Medici.
14 November 2016Treasures of the Turf
10 October 2016Frank Matcham’s Masterpieces: Theatre design and Architecture in Britain
11 July 2016Leonardo da Vinci – Pathfinder of Science
11 July 2016ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
13 June 2016Income and Inspiration: Financial secrets of the Masters
09 May 2016Mr Barry’s Great Work: Rebuilding the Houses of Parliament
11 April 2016Powder and Poison: Cosmetics, Beauty and the Art of Portraiture
07 March 2016Faber and Faber – 90 years of excellence in cover design
08 February 2016The Elgin Marbles
11 January 2016MEMBERS’ NEW YEAR LUNCHEON
14 December 2015Unwrapping the Christmas Story: Paintings, Prose and Poetry
09 November 2015Norfolk's Power Houses : Raynham, Houghton, Wolterton and Holkham
12 October 2015'Archeological Finds in East Anglia'
13 July 2015Annual General Meeting
13 July 2015'The Baltic States: art and culture from the Medieval Hanseatic League to the Tsarist St.Petersberg'
08 June 2015'The Making of Kew'
11 May 2015'The Age of Jazz ! Art Deco, Fashion and Style'
13 April 2015'Rembrandt, Vermeer, and Francis Hals: Art in the garden of God'
09 March 2015'The Art of Waterloo'.
09 February 2015'Who says ? Can we trust the experts on Good or Bad in Art ?
08 December 2014Merrily on High: the History of the English Christmas Carol
10 November 2014The Appreciation of Contemporary Architecture
13 October 2014Three Artists of the First World War

Click on a row and scroll to display more details about the lecture

Board Games from Antiquity. Prof. Irving Finkel Monday 10 February 2020

Prof. Finkel is Assistant Keeper of Ancient Mesopotamian script, languages and cultures at the British Museum and a world-famous specialist on Ancient Sumeria, Babylon and Assyria. It was he who deciphered a 4000 year-old clay tablet about the Flood Story that provided the blueprint for the original Noah’s Ark. But this lecture focuses on one of Irving’s favourite subjects - how Board Games came into the world in about 10 000BC.  

 

The illustrated talk will investigate the most successful games of Egypt and Babylonia and Greece and Rome between 2500 BC and the First Century AD.  Irving traces their extraordinary individual histories with the help of archaeology, examines why they should have lasted for millennia and considers the implications of their study with regard to board games in our own time, where they somehow manage to endure despite the relentless incursions of commerce and computers.