Lecture Series
Film Series
Gallery Tours
Evening for Educators
Family Activity Day
Ancient Stories
Lecture Series 
A lecture series, featuring ancient Near Eastern art scholars and archaeologists from across the United States, will explore and provide insights into various aspects of the exhibition "Breath of Heaven, Breath of Earth: Ancient Near Eastern Art from American Collections."
Breath of Heaven, Breath of Earth:
Ancient Near Eastern Art from American Collections
September 6, 2013 at 5 p.m.
Willamette University College of Law, Paulus Lecture Hall
Dr. Trudy Kawami, Director of Research at the Arthur M. Sackler Foundation in New York and co-curator of Breath of Heaven, Breath of Earth: Ancient Near Eastern Art from American Collections, will present an illustrated lecture on the divine, human, and animal realms in the art and architecture of the ancient Near East.
Return to Babylon: Travelers, Archaeologists, and Monuments in Mesopotamia
September 12, 2013 at 7:30 p.m.
Mary Stuart Rogers Performing Arts Center, Hudson Concert Hall
Dr. Brian Fagan, one of the foremost archaeologists in the United States and the author of over 60 books on the history and theory of archaeology, will present an illustrated lecture on the heroic era of Mesopotamian archaeology (when every excavator had to carry a gun), and the American discovery of the ancient Near East in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Gifts for the Gods: Sumerian Art from the Temple
September 26, 2013 at 7:30 p.m.
Willamette University College of Law, Paulus Lecture Hall
Dr. Jean Evans, Research Associate at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago and author of The Lives of Sumerian Sculpture: An Archaeology of the Early Dynastic Temple, will present an illustrated lecture on Sumerian mythology and religious beliefs as reflected in the votive sculptures, plaques, and other items found in Sumerian temples.
King of the Four Quarters of the World:
The Art and Architecture of Assyrian Kingship
October 10, 2013 at 7:30 p.m.
Willamette University College of Law, Paulus Lecture Hall
Dr. Marian Feldman, Associate Professor of Art History and Near Eastern Studies at The Johns Hopkins University and author of Diplomacy by Design: Luxury Arts and an "International Style" in the Ancient Near East, 1400-1200 BCE, will present an illustrated lecture on the Assyrian concept of kingship as reflected in the complex visual narratives carved on palace walls.
Syria and the Levant:
Life in the Lands of the Hebrew Bible
October 24, 2013 at 7:30 p.m.
Willamette University College of Law, Paulus Lecture Hall
Dr. Ronald Wallenfels, Adjunct Associate Professor of Hebrew and Judaic Studies at New York University and a consultant in the Department of Ancient Near Eastern Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, will present an illustrated lecture on daily life in the ancient Syria and the Levant from the fourth to the first millennium BCE.
Lions, Bulls, Snakes, and Scorpions:
Animals in Ancient Iranian Art and Thought
November 7, 2013 at 7:30 p.m.
Willamette University College of Law, Paulus Lecture Hall
Dr. Holly Pittman, Professor of Art History at the University of Pennsylvania, curator in the Ancient Near Eastern section at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, and co-curator of the 1998 exhibition Treasures from the Royal Tombs of Ur, will present an illustrated lecture on animals in ancient Iranian art, culture, and thought.
Film Series 
Step into Agatha Christie's archaeologically inspired murder mysteries with this film series, featuring her famous sleuthing character Hercule Poirot. Christie married archaeologist Sir Max Mallowan and actively participated in her his archaeological digs that spanned more than 20 years. Christie was was involved in labeling, cataloging, cleaning and conserving objects from various sites that included the excavations at Nimrud, Ur and Ninevah. Her archaeological adventures inspired a number of the murder mysteries that will be featured in this film series.
Death on the Nile
October 1, 2013 at 7:30 p.m.
Hallie Ford Museum of Art, Roger Hull Lecture Hall
A wealthy British heiress is stalked by a former friend, whose boyfriend she had stolen before making him her new husband. Hercule Poirot, on vacation in Egypt, investigates (color, 98 minutes).
Murder in Mesopotamia
October 15, 2013 at 7:30 p.m.
Hallie Ford Museum of Art, Roger Hull Lecture Hall
While Hercule Poirot is on holiday in Iraq, the wife of the head scientist at an archaeological dig confides to him that she is the target of threatening letters (color, 100 minutes).
Appointment with Death
October 29, 2013 at 7:30 p.m.
Hallie Ford Museum of Art, Roger Hull Lecture Hall
While accompanying her husband on an archaeological dig in Syria in 1937, overbearing, abusive Lady Boynton is found stabbed to death. Hercule Poirot investigates (color, 80 minutes).
Murder on the Orient Express
November 12, 2013 at 7:30 p.m.
Hallie Ford Museum of Art, Roger Hull Lecture Hall
Hercule Poirot investigates the murder of a shady American businessman stabbed in his compartment on the famous Orient Express en route from Istanbul to Paris (color, 89 minutes).
Gallery Tours 
Join a museum docent for a guided tour of the exhibition.
Tuesday tours September 3 - December 17
Meet at 12:30 p.m. at the Hallie Ford Museum of Art, Maribeth Collins Lobby
Admission is complimentary
Saturday tours will be held on the following dates:
September 7
September 21
October 5
October 19
November 2
November 16
December 7
December 21
Meet at 2 p.m. at the Hallie Ford Museum of Art, Maribeth Collins Lobby
Included with museum admission
Evening for Educators 
Tuesday, September 17, 2013 from 4:30-6:30 p.m.
The Hallie Ford Museum of Art
This preview of the exhibition will be presented by Elizabeth Garrison, The Cameron Paulin Curator of Education at the Hallie Ford Museum of Art, and is designed for general classroom and art teachers to learn more about the exhibition and available curriculum resources. Light refreshments will be served. Admission is free, but we ask that teachers RSVP by September 13 to 503-370-6855 if they plan to attend.
Family Activity Day 
October 12, 2013, Noon-4 p.m.
Hallie Ford Museum of Art, Maribeth Collins Lobby
Join education curator Elizabeth Garrison, Salem artists Sonia Allen and Helen Nute Wiens, and CASA coordinator April Miller as they guide parents and children through a variety of art-making and archaeological activities related to the exhibition. Children will learn about cylinder seals, repoussé and chasing, and a number of different archaeological practices and techniques.
Sponsored by the Hallie Ford Museum of Art, the Center for Ancient Studies and Archaeology at Willamette University, the Marion County Cultural Corporation and an Archaeological Institute of America Society Outreach Grant.
Stories from Ancient Mesopotamia 
Associate Professor of Rhetoric, Jeanne Clark and her students invite you to step into the past as they present the ancient literature, proverbs and fables of Mesopotamia.
Rhetorics of Kingship from Shulgi to Sennacherib
September 28, 2013, 2 p.m.
Hallie Ford Museum of Art, Melvin Henderson-Rubio Gallery
Associate Professor Jeanne Clark shares a program of literature, ranging from Sumerian poetry through Assyrian chronicles, that examines the character and roles of ancient Mesopotamian rulers. The literature presents the kings as they want themselves to be seen.
Creation and Destruction: Conceiving and Considering Cities
October 26, 2013, 2 p.m.
Hallie Ford Museum of Art, Melvin Henderson-Rubio Gallery
The Sumerian myth of Enki and Ninsikila celebrates the formation of an ancient trade center. The mythohistoric poem, The Cursing of Akkade, relates how a flourishing city is made a wasteland when a misguided ruler violates the divine will. Willamette students under the direction of Associate Professor Jeanne Clark perform excerpts from the two poems.
Common Sense from an Uncommon Time: Performing Sumerian Proverbs and Fables
November 9, 2013, 2 p.m.
Hallie Ford Museum of Art, Melvin Henderson-Rubio Gallery
From inconvenient flies to crafty mongeese, Willamette students under the direction of Associate Professor Jeanne Clark present characters that illuminate the wit and wisdom of ancient Sumerian culture.