Online Talk · Splendor and Sacrifice: The Art of Ancient Mesopotamian Tombs with Art Historian Brenda Edgar
7pm ET (NYC time)
Monday, May 4, 2026
PLEASE NOTE: A link to a recording of this talk will be sent out to ticket holders after its conclusion. It will also be archived for our Patreon members. Become a Member HERE.
Ticketholders: A Zoom invite is sent out two hours before the event to the email used at checkout. Please check your spam folder and if not received, email hello@morbidanayomy.org. A temporary streaming link will be emailed after the event concludes.
In the 1920s, over 1000 ancient Sumerian graves were found in Ur (Tell el-Muqayyar), in Southern Iraq. The royal tombs there were filled with gold and silver treasures, exquisite musical instruments, and a vast human sacrifice of attendants, who all died from drinking poison. We’ll learn what the evidence suggests about the elaborate but lethal ritual that must have accompanied the deaths of these royals of Ur.
Other highlights will include the tombs of the queens of Assyria, which contained about 10,000 pieces of jewelry and hundreds of priceless decorative objects. What does it tell us about the life and afterlife of these royal women that they were laid to rest with such incalculable riches?
Join us for this richly illustrated lecture, as we explore the fascinating burial beliefs and practices of Earth’s very first civilizations, and marvel at their dazzling grave goods.
Brenda Edgar is an art historian and yoga instructor in Louisville, KY. Her art history research interests include relics, reliquaries, and all things Roman Catholic; medieval medical manuscripts and depictions of disease in medieval art; and the historical role of altered states of consciousness in the creation of art. Her free monthly public talk series, “Art History Illustrated,” is presented at the Cultural Arts Center in New Albany, Indiana; she also offers regular virtual classes through Morbid Anatomy, and teaches for Indiana University. In addition, Brenda is a certified yoga instructor with a robust teaching schedule. She lives in Louisville, KY with her two senior rescue dogs.
Image: Statuette from: Iraq | Ur, Penn Museum
7pm ET (NYC time)
Monday, May 4, 2026
PLEASE NOTE: A link to a recording of this talk will be sent out to ticket holders after its conclusion. It will also be archived for our Patreon members. Become a Member HERE.
Ticketholders: A Zoom invite is sent out two hours before the event to the email used at checkout. Please check your spam folder and if not received, email hello@morbidanayomy.org. A temporary streaming link will be emailed after the event concludes.
In the 1920s, over 1000 ancient Sumerian graves were found in Ur (Tell el-Muqayyar), in Southern Iraq. The royal tombs there were filled with gold and silver treasures, exquisite musical instruments, and a vast human sacrifice of attendants, who all died from drinking poison. We’ll learn what the evidence suggests about the elaborate but lethal ritual that must have accompanied the deaths of these royals of Ur.
Other highlights will include the tombs of the queens of Assyria, which contained about 10,000 pieces of jewelry and hundreds of priceless decorative objects. What does it tell us about the life and afterlife of these royal women that they were laid to rest with such incalculable riches?
Join us for this richly illustrated lecture, as we explore the fascinating burial beliefs and practices of Earth’s very first civilizations, and marvel at their dazzling grave goods.
Brenda Edgar is an art historian and yoga instructor in Louisville, KY. Her art history research interests include relics, reliquaries, and all things Roman Catholic; medieval medical manuscripts and depictions of disease in medieval art; and the historical role of altered states of consciousness in the creation of art. Her free monthly public talk series, “Art History Illustrated,” is presented at the Cultural Arts Center in New Albany, Indiana; she also offers regular virtual classes through Morbid Anatomy, and teaches for Indiana University. In addition, Brenda is a certified yoga instructor with a robust teaching schedule. She lives in Louisville, KY with her two senior rescue dogs.
Image: Statuette from: Iraq | Ur, Penn Museum
7pm ET (NYC time)
Monday, May 4, 2026
PLEASE NOTE: A link to a recording of this talk will be sent out to ticket holders after its conclusion. It will also be archived for our Patreon members. Become a Member HERE.
Ticketholders: A Zoom invite is sent out two hours before the event to the email used at checkout. Please check your spam folder and if not received, email hello@morbidanayomy.org. A temporary streaming link will be emailed after the event concludes.
In the 1920s, over 1000 ancient Sumerian graves were found in Ur (Tell el-Muqayyar), in Southern Iraq. The royal tombs there were filled with gold and silver treasures, exquisite musical instruments, and a vast human sacrifice of attendants, who all died from drinking poison. We’ll learn what the evidence suggests about the elaborate but lethal ritual that must have accompanied the deaths of these royals of Ur.
Other highlights will include the tombs of the queens of Assyria, which contained about 10,000 pieces of jewelry and hundreds of priceless decorative objects. What does it tell us about the life and afterlife of these royal women that they were laid to rest with such incalculable riches?
Join us for this richly illustrated lecture, as we explore the fascinating burial beliefs and practices of Earth’s very first civilizations, and marvel at their dazzling grave goods.
Brenda Edgar is an art historian and yoga instructor in Louisville, KY. Her art history research interests include relics, reliquaries, and all things Roman Catholic; medieval medical manuscripts and depictions of disease in medieval art; and the historical role of altered states of consciousness in the creation of art. Her free monthly public talk series, “Art History Illustrated,” is presented at the Cultural Arts Center in New Albany, Indiana; she also offers regular virtual classes through Morbid Anatomy, and teaches for Indiana University. In addition, Brenda is a certified yoga instructor with a robust teaching schedule. She lives in Louisville, KY with her two senior rescue dogs.
Image: Statuette from: Iraq | Ur, Penn Museum