Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures

Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures A leading research center for the cultures of ancient West Asia and North Africa
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The Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures is a world-renowned showcase for the history, art, and archaeology of the cultures of ancient West Asia and North Africa. The museum displays objects recovered by ISAC excavations in permanent galleries devoted to ancient Egypt, Nubia, Persia, Mesopotamia, Syria, Anatolia, and the ancient site of Megiddo, as well as rotating special exhibits.

This week we're looking at hieroglyphic inscriptions in the ISAC Museum! The text here is of Khenmes and has a typical ḥ...
06/16/2025

This week we're looking at hieroglyphic inscriptions in the ISAC Museum! The text here is of Khenmes and has a typical ḥtp-di-nsw offering formula which is found on many funerary stele. Offerings to the deceased could therefore be made in the tomb itself with actual food and drink or through saying the formula, as well as in inscriptions and depictions of the offerings. In this case the offerings are not listed, rather the deceased, Khenmes states that the overseer of the priests Djefi sent him to the town
to Iushenshen. He found that the town was destroyed so he (re)founded it, took its cattle; and inspected the gifts of the town. The town was located near Coptos, perhaps at modern Khozam and it seems to have been an important center in the Old Kingdom with elites being buried here.
Want to learn how to read a stela like this one? The ISAC class: Handy Hieroglyphs: a beginners guide to impressing friends and colleagues (in museums) starts next week. Register here: https://bit.ly/ISACHandyHieros

E12105, stone, Egypt, Dynasty 11 (ca 2150 BC–1991 BCE

"If she weighs the same as a duck..."Most of the weights we have been looking at this week have been quite small, but th...
06/13/2025

"If she weighs the same as a duck..."
Most of the weights we have been looking at this week have been quite small, but the duck weight here was made out of basalt and weighs 14 kg (or 30 pounds). It was clearly meant to weigh something far more substantial than the other weights and presumably one would also have had to use larger scales as well. Duck weights are commonly used in Mesopotamia and come in various sizes; presumably this duck weight was a local adaptation used at Tell Tayinat in the Iron Age.

A27852, basalt, Türkiye, Iron Age II (720-680 BCE)

to the ISAC collection of photographs by the Armenian-Iranian photographer Antoin Sevruguin! Originally trained as a p...
06/12/2025

to the ISAC collection of photographs by the Armenian-Iranian photographer Antoin Sevruguin! Originally trained as a painter, Sevruguin was interested in staging his photographs to make the image particularly striking. The photograph here is of bread being weighed, with the merchant merchant who is weighing the bread on the balance scales, looking directly (and intensely) at the camera. This is also true of the young boy who has bread over his shoulders and another young boy who is nearly out of shot, while an additional boy has to back to us and is presumably buying the bread.

Join us on Friday, June 13 at 5 pm for a conversation "An exploration of orientalist photography" moderated by ISAC Muse...
06/12/2025

Join us on Friday, June 13 at 5 pm for a conversation "An exploration of orientalist photography" moderated by ISAC Museum Director and Chief Curator Marc Maillot with Liz Siegel, Chief Curator at the Milwaukee Art Museum; Nicolas Revire, the Daniel F. and Ada L. Rice Research Fellow at the Art Institute of Chicago; Laetitia Zecchini, senior researcher at the CNRS and director of the UChicago-CNRS Humanities International Research Lab. The panelists will reflect on the current ISAC Museum exhibition. "Staging the East: Orientalist Photography in Chicago Collections" and share their experience in a conversation moderated by Marc Maillot, diving into photographic collections in Chicago Museums. Register here: https://bit.ly/ISACPhotographyPanel

Even though they are supposed to be standardized and trustworthy, weights can also be altered. Bronze weights, such as t...
06/11/2025

Even though they are supposed to be standardized and trustworthy, weights can also be altered. Bronze weights, such as this octagonal example, were a common type of weight used in the Islamic period, only ceasing to be used in the Ottoman period. In this case, made a gouge in the top of the weight, thereby erasing the name of the early 12th century Fatimid caliph (likely al-Amir-bi-Akham Allah or al-Hafiz li-Din Allah based on the shape). The fact that the attacked the name of the ruler specifically, rather than shaving off some other part of the weight, argues that they were targeting the name of the ruler rather than the weight. It is possible that this was a result of regime change with the coming of Ayyubid rule in Egypt in 1171, meaning that the weight effectively became anonymous and there would be no problems with its use.

E25645, bronze, Egypt, Fatimid period (early 12th century)

It's ! The tablet here is a receipt for weight stones (4 minas, 1 mina, 1/3 of a mina, which was a standard unit of wei...
06/11/2025

It's ! The tablet here is a receipt for weight stones (4 minas, 1 mina, 1/3 of a mina, which was a standard unit of weight), as well as for a balance scale (giš-erin2 GIŠ.ŠA3.UM uruda ga2-ra) and another copper object (uruda.dili2), which might be a balance pan of the scale or a copper pitcher. Clearly, merchants would need scales and weights in order to sell goods at markets and evidently it was useful to receive such items together as sets, much as one would buy a set of weights and measures today if one invested in non-digital scales.

A2668, baked clay, Iraq, Ur III period (2112-2004 BCE)

It's weights and measures week! Weights, such as this one, were important for weighing out commodities to determine how ...
06/09/2025

It's weights and measures week! Weights, such as this one, were important for weighing out commodities to determine how much of a particular item someone had and also, how much it would then cost to buy or sell it. Handily, the weigh in this instance is actually inscribed with how much it is. The first line reads: 8 deben (which was a standard Ancient Egyptian weight), where the first two lines on the left represent the writing of the number 8 (whereby each four vertical strokes is rendered by a horizontal line) followed by the word "deben" written out. The second line repeats the number, this time with 8 vertical strokes. This avoids any confusion that might be caused by the two horizontal strokes. ⁠
⁠
E17574, flint and ink, Egypt, Dynasties 18-20 (ca. 1550-1069 BCE)

Gertrude Bell (1868-1926) travelled extensively in West Asia in the Ottoman period, ultimately settling in Iraq when it ...
06/07/2025

Gertrude Bell (1868-1926) travelled extensively in West Asia in the Ottoman period, ultimately settling in Iraq when it was part of the British Mandate, becoming the honorary Director of Antiquities in 1922. Her photographs from her various trips provide valuable information about the monuments in the region and their condition in this period. She took a large number of photographs with her two cameras that she brought with her. In some cases, such as at the early Islamic period site of Ukhaidir, she took extensive photographs of the sites she visited. Ultimately, she published an entire book on the site: "Palace and mosque at Ukhaidir : a study in early Mohanmadan architecture" in 1914. For more on Gertrude Bell, watch the ISAC lecture by Lisa Cooper, "Encounters with Ancient Splendors: Gertrude Bell’s Archaeological Discoveries and Research in Mesopotamia, 1909-1914," https://bit.ly/ISACGertrudeBell

Photo Credit: Photographs of the south facade of the palace in Ukheidir, Iraq and Panoramic View of Hit, Album of photographs taken by Gertrude Bell while travelling in Iraq (1909), Portrait of Gertrude Bell, aged 53, Bell (Gertrude) Archive, Newcastle University Library

In the ancient world, as now, individuals had a daily routine. Here we can see the tools that would have been used for p...
06/06/2025

In the ancient world, as now, individuals had a daily routine. Here we can see the tools that would have been used for personal grooming: tweezers, a kohl-stick, a probe, a hooked probe, and a razor. It was all conveniently stored together on a ring that could be attached to a belt, for example. The appearance of the tweezers and the razor are also nicely enhanced with decorative elements. The fact that it was found in a tomb points to its importance to the owner.

E22497, iron, Nubia, Meroitic period (225-300 CE)

to the historic photographs in the ISAC Museum collection! This photograph shows serving statues from the Old Kingdom ...
06/05/2025

to the historic photographs in the ISAC Museum collection! This photograph shows serving statues from the Old Kingdom tomb of Nikauinpu (probably at Giza) at the home of Nicolas Tano, who was the dealer that sold them to Breasted in 1920. A number of the statues depict individuals performing daily tasks such as milling flour, animal butchery, and pottery making. In addition, other statues depict individuals playing music, which would be more for entertainment rather than daily life activities.

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The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago is a leading research center for the ancient Middle East. The museum houses some 350,000 artifacts—around 5,000 of which are on display—excavated mainly by OI archaeologists. Founded in 1919, at a time when the Middle East was called the Orient, the OI has pioneered innovative excavations and comprehensive dictionary projects that chronicle ancient civilizations. The Oriental Institute Museum aims to understand, reveal, and protect ancient Middle Eastern civilizations.