Lydian Lecture By Annick Payne, Ca' Foscari Venice

Lydian, the extinct Anatolian language of the Iron Age kingdom of Lydia in western Anatolia, remains one of the least understood members of the Indo-European family. This lecture offers an overview of the current state of the field, touching on key methodological and linguistic challenges — among them the persistent difficulties of dating inscriptions securely — as well as recent epigraphic advances, including new readings made possible by modern imaging technologies such as Reflectance Transformation Imaging (RTI). Together, these developments illustrate both how much has been achieved and how much remains to be done. With the standard corpus edition now decades old and covering barely half of the texts known today, and with new analytical tools at our disposal, this lecture argues that the moment is ripe for a concerted new effort in Lydian studies that could significantly advance our understanding not only of Lydia itself, but of Anatolian and Indo-European linguistics more broadly.

Online participation should be possible. Sign up for a Zoom link at: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/lecture-by-annick-payne-on-lydian-tickets-1989642813214?aff=oddtdtcreator&keep_tld=true