Selena Wisnom

Travel back in time for an immersive tour of the extraordinary library of the Mesopotamian king Ashurbanipal, which was burnt to the ground in the seventh century but rediscovered thousands of years later. Despite the burning, the texts, carved on clay tablets, were baked and preserved by the heat. They are written in cuneiform, a language only a few hundred people on earth can read.

Assyriologist Selena Wisnom brings Mesopotamia to life in this session, illuminating the culture of the time and its impact on us today. Casting back to the customs of Mesopotamian civilisation, she will also perform haruspicy live on stage – the ancient art of divination using a real-life liver! Wisnom is lecturer in the heritage of the Middle East at the University of Leicester.