The application due date for IAA-DC scholarship award is extended to Saturday June 7, 2008. The 2007-2008 scholarships will be awarded in the next IAA-DC lecture on Thursday June 12, 2008.
All Iranian and Iranian-American students in Washington-Baltimore metropolitan area are eligible to apply for this award. You can find the application form and more details here.
Cyrus Cylinder
First Declaration of Human Rights
or
Merely Propaganda?
Thursday, December 13, 2007, 7:00 p.m.
By: Hossein Badamchi, LLB., LLM.
PhD Candidate, Ancient Law at Johns Hopkins University
Synopsis:
Cyrus cylinder is a document from the time of Cyrus, the great Persian king in sixth century BC. Some scholars have described the first declaration of Human Rights; some others call it pure propaganda. He will read the document and discuss its contents in his lecture. The Cyrus cylinder is a fragmentary clay cylinder with an Akkadian inscription of thirty-five lines discovered in a foundation deposit by A. H. Rassam during his excavations at the site of Marduk temple in Babylon in 1879. P. R. Berger identified a second fragment containing lines 36-45, in the Babylonian collection at Yale University. The total inscription, though incomplete at the end, consist of forty-five lines, the first three almost entirely broken away.
The text contains an account of Cyrus’ conquest of Babylon in 539 B.C., beginning with a narrative by the Babylonian god Marduk of the crimes of Nabonidus, the last Chaldean king( lines 4-8). Then follows an account of Marduk’s search for a righteous king; his appointment of Cyrus to rule the entire world, and his causing Babylon to fall without a battle (9-19). Cyrus continues in the first person, giving his titles and genealogy (lines 20-22) and declaring that he has guaranteed the peace of the country (lines 22-26). For this achievement, he and his son Cambyses received the blessing of Marduk (lines 26-30).
He describes his restoration of the cult, which had been neglected during the reign of Nabunidus, and his permission to the exiled people to return to their homeland (lines 30-36). Finally, the king records his restoration of the defenses of Babylon( lines 36- 43) and reports that in the course of the work he saw an inscription of Ashurbanipal ( lines 43-45; cf. Kuhrt 1983, pp. 85-86).
About the Lecturer:
Mr. Badamchi is currently a PhD candidate at Johns Hopkins University. He is studying “Ancient Law” with Professor Raymond Westbrook. He has also graduated from Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, in law. He has published two books on “Ancient Law” in Iran:
“The Origins of Legislation”, Tarhe No. 2003
“A History of Ancient Near Eastern Criminal Law”, SAMT 2004
Location:
Montgomery Community College (Rockville Campus)- Student Services Building (SV), Faculty and Staff Lounge
Get Directions, Bulding Location on Campus
Dues: $15 per person, $5 for students (including dinner)
Thursday Oct. 18, 2007, 7:30 p.m.
By: Mehdi Kalantari, PhD.
Synopsis:
In this talk we will discuss the major security threats that computer users may be facing in the conduct of their daily online businesses. Such threats may include: identity theft, theft of personal or financial information, computer worms and viruses, trojan horses, spasm, etc. As a part of the talk, we give major steps that users can be protected in the internet work.
About the Lecturer:
Dr. Mehdi Kalantari is an assistant research scientist at the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department of the University of Maryland (UMD). He received his BSc and MSc degrees in electrical engineering from the Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran 1996, and 1998, respectively. After gaining several years of industry experience in control and communication systems during 1996-2000, he started his PhD studies at UMD in 2000, where he received PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering in 2005, and since then he has worked there as an assistant research scientist. His research interests include Communication Theory, Internet Security and in particular Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) defense, and modeling and analysis of Wireless Networks. Dr. Kalantari received Dean’s Honor Award of the Sharif University of Technology in 1996, Business Plan Competition Award of UMD in 2004, and Award for Entrepreneurship of UMD in 2006.
Location: Tony Lin’s Kitchen
12015 Rockville Pike # G
Rockville, MD 20852
(301) 468-5858
Get directions
Dues: $15 per person, $5 for students (including dinner)
If you plan to attend please send an email to monthlylecture@iaa-dc.org for reservation.
