Aaron discusses the ideas from his new book, The Idols of Isis: from Assyria to the Internet. The ISIS video of men smashing statues in Mosul Museum reminded him of a lost scene from Sargon’s palace. What are images? Why do we need them? Can they ever be anything other than incomplete and imperfect? And does that matter?
2:53 images, idolatry and iconoclasm
5:39 meanings of images in relation to Iraqi heritage
9:09 ISIS videos
12:44 Sargon of Assyria and ancient iconoclasm
17:52 virtuous iconoclasm?
21:55 how museums might display meanings
Idols of Isis is available from the University of Chicago Press: https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/I/bo60920783.html
Music by Ruba Hillawi
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