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Agatha Christie and Archaeology
Fathom
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| Seminar Introduction |
 | | The British Museum | |
How much I have loved that part of the world. I love it still and always will.
--Agatha Christie, An Autobiography, (1977)Agatha Christie (1890-1976) is still, more than 25 years after her death, one of the world{A146}s most successful authors. Her books are read in more than 100 countries and have been translated into 44 languages. But behind the famous name lies an unexpected story. In 1930 Agatha Christie married the archaeologist Max Mallowan (1904-78) and afterwards accompanied him on all his excavations in the Middle East.
In this seminar, Henrietta McCall, special curator for the "Agatha Christie and Archaeology" exhibition at The British Museum, retraces Agatha Christie's travels to the Middle East, and explores how those travels and life on the archaeological sites she visited provided the inspiration and setting for several of her most popular books, including Murder on the Orient Express, Death on the Nile, Murder in Mesopotamia and Appointment with Death. Archaeology benefitted as well: Agatha Christie's emotional, financial, and material aid helped Mallowan to become one of the great archaeologists of the twentieth century. His career started at the ancient Sumerian city of Ur (southern Iraq), included the sites of Nineveh, Arpachiyah, Chagar Bazar and Tell Brak, and culminated at the major city of Nimrud, as he recorded in Nimrud and its Remains.
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| Learning Objectives |
- Connect Agatha Christie's mysteries to the excavations in the Middle East that inspired them.
- Map the major British archaeological excavations of the 1930s.
- List the major archaeological achievements of Max Mallowan, Agatha Christie's second husband.
- Describe the social texture of train travel in the 1920s and 30s, and the role played by Wagon-Lits and the Orient Express.
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| Sessions |
| Session 1 | An Adventure on the Orient Express: Agatha Sets out in 1928 |
| Session 2 | 1928-1930: The City of Ur |
| Session 3 | The Excavations at Nineveh, Arpachiyah, Chagar Bazar and Tell Brak; 1931-1939 |
| Session 4 | The War Years and Beyond |
| Contributors |
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| Credits |
Copyright The British Museum
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| Technical Requirements |
To appreciate this seminar experience, it is critical that you have the appropriate software, plug-ins, and network connections. Please take the time to download the latest versions of the plug-ins mentioned below if you do not already have them.
Browser: Netscape versions 4.x up to 4.76, or Internet Explorer versions 4.x or later. Your browser must be JavaScript-enabled and must be set to accept cookies.
Network Connection: The recommended minimum connection is 56Kbps with a throughput of 34Kbps or more. A faster connection is encouraged to take better advantage of the media elements in the seminar.
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