From prehistory to the present, the human body has inspired the creation of images of men, women, and divine beings in a range of materials, from miniature clay figurines and tiny images carved on stone cylinder seals, to larger-than-life monumental sculpture.  The ancient Near East, which saw the emergence of farming villages around 10,000 years ago, and the first cities over 5,000 years ago, provides one of the largest corpuses of human images ever known. 

Join Jack Green, chief curator, Oriental Institute Museum as he explores interpretations of female “fertility” images from prehistory, representations of male kingship in early Mesopotamia, and examples of intersexuality in ancient Near Eastern art.