Towards Infinity and Beyond: Big Universe, Little Universe in the Ancient Near East

Ancient Mesopotamians lived their lives in a complex urban environment in a universe that was governed by rules and regulations that were believed to have been set in place by the gods. Within this framework, Mesopotamian scholars produced cuneiform texts which, at times, hint at notions of infinity that may be compared to popular modern ideas on this subject: infinite time, infinite space, infinite stars, and even a sense of theoretical mathematical infinity. This lecture will present the evidence for an Ancient Near Eastern sense of the infinitie, and open a dialogue between the modern and ancient understandings of the term.

Speaker: Professor Wayne Horowitz, Hebrew University

Room 245