The Joslyn Art Museum held the final lecture of the academic year for the Omaha-Lincoln chapter of the Archaeological Institute of America’s on Sunday.

The AIA has a partnership with Creighton, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and the Joslyn in order to join together for funding and marketing and be able to reach a larger audience for its early set of lectures.

“Our main mission is to provide high-quality and engaging public talks on the latest archaeological discoveries and research by experts in the field for the interested public and students in Lincoln and the greater Omaha community,” said Erin Averett, current president of the local Omaha-Lincoln chapter of the AIA, assistant professor of archaeology at Creighton University and an adjunct curator of antiquities at the Joslyn.

This academic year, the organization was able to host three lectures in Omaha and an additional three in Lincoln.

Dana Robinson, an historian and the Honors Postdoctoral Fellow for the honors program at Creighton, was the presenter for Sunday’s event with a lecture entitled “From Dinner Theater to Domestic Church: Transforming the Triclinium in Late Antique Antioch.”

“In my head, the title for this talk is ‘How to Throw a Christian Dinner Party in the Roman Empire,’” Robinson said.

The lecture was focused on John Chrysostom, a 4th century priest who criticizes the upper-class and their focus on displaying their wealth.

“I’m primarily an ancient historian, so I was excited for the opportunity to talk about my research to a wider audience and to connect across academic disciplines with archaeologists and art historians,” Robinson said.

The lecturers gain an average audience size of 70-110 but can also reach as high as 300.

“Dr. Robinson had mentioned the upcoming lecture in class and it sounded really interesting,” Honors Program student Julia Crawford said. “The lecture was really informative but still easy for me to understand and I really appreciated that.”

Each lecture is free and open to the public and is attended by many people ranging from elementary students to retirees.

It is encouraged to become a member of the society if you wish to regularly attend the lectures in order to help support the organization; however, it is not a requirement to attend.