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.

The clay sealing is not well preserved, but it is from a cylinder seal rolled on clay that would have been used to authe...
09/03/2026

The clay sealing is not well preserved, but it is from a cylinder seal rolled on clay that would have been used to authenticate and secure a storage jar. In Egypt prior to the advent of scarab seals, cylinder seals, an idea imported from Mesopotamia, were used. This particular sealing is of King Narmer, who is thought to be the king who unified Egypt. Although it is difficult to see, the line drawing makes Narmer's name clearer. First, his name is enclosed in a serekhs, or a palace building with a Horus falcon on top of it. Inside the serekhs is a catfish (n'r) and then the chisel (mr) is outside the serekhs. Sometimes the mr is inside the serekhs or absent altogether. The presence of the serekhs would have made it clear that this individual was the king.

E6718, unbaked clay, Egypt, Dynasty 1 (ca. 3100 BCE)

It's ! For some rulers, it is the quantity of inscriptions that matters and this is certainly true of Gudea, the ruler ...
09/01/2026

It's ! For some rulers, it is the quantity of inscriptions that matters and this is certainly true of Gudea, the ruler of Lagash. On this nail/cone, Gudea describes himself as the "ruler of Lagash" who has "made things functional they should" and restored the temple for the god Ningirsu. This is the most frequent inscription left by Gudea with over a thousand examples, not just clay cones like this one, but also stamped on bricks and carved on stone tablets, blocks and door sockets. Since Gudea left behind so many inscriptions and statues that commemorate himself, he remains a well known ruler today.

A1129, baked clay, Iraq, First Dynasty of Lagash (ca.. 2144–2124 BCE)

This week we're looking at royal titles and inscriptions in the ISAC Museum collection. It is not only rulers themselves...
09/01/2026

This week we're looking at royal titles and inscriptions in the ISAC Museum collection. It is not only rulers themselves, but also those individuals who worked for them, who record the ways in which those rulers described themselves. Here, in a sealing found at the site of Adab (modern Bismaya) the title of the ruler is fairly simple. The king, Shar-Kali-Sharri, is described simply as the "King of Agade" and the individual who has sealed this particular bulla is "Kirbanum the scribe." Flanking the inscription are two lions standing on their hind legs, with tails in an "S" curve, with their backs to the inscription. Although we do not have the original cylinder seal, it clearly would have been quite impressive.

A917, baked clay, Iraq, Akkadian Empire (2217-2193 BCE)

ISAC spotlight! As part of their work in the ISAC Archives this summer, students Noel and Kameryn explored Charles Nims’...
08/30/2026

ISAC spotlight! As part of their work in the ISAC Archives this summer, students Noel and Kameryn explored Charles Nims’ use of glass stereo slides as documentation of ancient sites (as well as for his own personal travel photography). Stereo slides feature two similar but offset images per slide to create a pseudo-3D effect when viewed through a special projector or stereo viewer. Charles Nims kept his Stereo Vivid slide projector, and when his materials were donated to ISAC, the projector became part of the Archives. While cataloging his collection this summer, we found that it still works! You can see how it projects the two side-by-side images, and then when adjusted on the projector, the images overlap to create a more dynamic projection. View more of Nims’ photographic equipment and stereo slides in the ISAC Archives!

ISAC Spotlight! This summer at the ISAC, Noel Cormack (University of Chicago, BA ‘27) and Kameryn King (University of Ch...
08/30/2026

ISAC Spotlight! This summer at the ISAC, Noel Cormack (University of Chicago, BA ‘27) and Kameryn King (University of Chicago, BA ‘29), interns from the Summer Institute, worked with ISAC staff in the Archives and Library to complete the first comprehensive organization and cataloging of the Charles Francis Nims Papers. This collection contains materials spanning archaeological site photography, 35mm and stereographic slides, correspondence and research notes to personal memorabilia and historic 19th century photographs.

Noel and Kameryn dove deeply into archival processing and cataloging to make these materials available for future researchers, providing insight into the role of photography in documenting ancient Egyptian sites and history of the ISAC Epigraphic Survey. The collection also contains elements of Nims’s stereo photography with the .3d

Search the Nims collection on ISAC’s website!

Sometimes the name of the king has been deliberately erased from the inscription. It can indicate that a king's successo...
08/29/2026

Sometimes the name of the king has been deliberately erased from the inscription. It can indicate that a king's successor wishes to erase any trace of them, or there can be other reasons that we do not necessarily know. In the stela here of the Saite Pharaoh, Necho II, we see Necho II, whose face is now missing), offering a field to the gods Osiris, Isis, and Thoth. The gods are much larger than the king who is rather squashed in the corner of the stela. After giving the year of Necho II's reign (11) and listing Necho II's various kingly titles, it notes that he has donated a field to maintain a lamp before Thoth. The text ends with a warning: "(As for) any scribe or official or any man or anyone who shall come to (this) field to take (from?) it or do things in it on earth, his name shall not exist (?) on earth, his son or daughter shall not grow up on earth, and he shall not be buried in the necropolis." Ironically, it is the name of Nacho II himself that has largely not survived as someone attempted, albeit not entirely successfully, to hack it out of the inscription. It is possible that this may have happened in the reign of Necho II's son Psammetichus II, because sometimes his name is inscribed over that of his father, but scholars still do not agree as to why the Pharaoh's name was removed here.

E13943, limestone, Egypt, Saite period (599 BCE)

The site of Türkmen-Karahöyük continues to yield exciting finds! You can read more about the latest discoveries at the s...
08/29/2026

The site of Türkmen-Karahöyük continues to yield exciting finds! You can read more about the latest discoveries at the site here in the article recently published online in “Türkiye Today” whose title points to the richness and diversity of objects excavated at the site during this year's 2026 summer excavation season: “Rare Christian amulet, 3,500-year-old Luwian seal uncovered in Türkiye.” See more here: https://bit.ly/2026TurkmenKarahoyuknews

https://isac.uchicago.edu/king-hartapu

Both sides of this slab were written engraved with the deeds of the Achaemenid King Xerxes and excavation by ISAC at the...
08/28/2026

Both sides of this slab were written engraved with the deeds of the Achaemenid King Xerxes and excavation by ISAC at the site of Persepolis in Iran. There are different version of the inscription written in Akkadian (as the example is here), Old Persian, and Elamite. In the inscription, Xerxes declares: "I am Xerxes, the great king, king of kings, king of countries containing many kinds of men, king in this great earth far and wide..." and then goes on to list all the lands he ruled. After this introduction where he establishes himself as a great and powerful ruler of all, Xerxes then goes on to say that in on place there was an issue (he does not say where). He notes that in this place there was a place where the demons (daivas) were once worshipped and Xerxes destroyed the temple and instead worshipped Ahuramazda there. He ends by stating: "King Xerxes says: May Ahuramazda protect me from harm, and my house, and this land. This I ask of Ahuramazda. This may Ahuramazda give to me." Nevertheless, despite all these deeds and declaring thet he would be protected from harm, Xerxes was assassinated in 465 BCE.

A24120, limestone, Iran, Achaemenid period (486–465 BCE)

Learn more about King Hartapu and his significance in Iron Age Anatolia in the ISAC Exhibit Lecture, "Great King Hartapu...
08/28/2026

Learn more about King Hartapu and his significance in Iron Age Anatolia in the ISAC Exhibit Lecture, "Great King Hartapu and Beyond: Türkmen-Karahöyük and the Bronze and Iron Age Context of an Iron Age Ruler." The site of Türkmen-Karahöyük is one of the largest Iron Age sites in Anatolia, but it has largely been overlooked by archaeologists. In 2024, ISAC and Bilkent University launched the Türkmen-Karahöyük Archaeological Project (TKAP) to explore the site under co-directors James Osborne, Associate Professor of Anatolian Archaeology at ISAC, and Michele Rüzgar Massa, Associate Professor at Bilkent University. This lecture, given by James Osborne, curator of the ISAC Museum special exhibition “Hartapu: The Forgotten King of Anatolia,” will present the exciting finds of the first three seasons of TKAP. Register here: https://bit.ly/ISACExhibitLectureKingHartapu or watch the live stream: https://bit.ly/ISACLectureHartapuYouTube
https://isac.uchicago.edu/king-hartapu

Some royal inscriptions were meant to be reproduced over and over again. This brick stamp dated to the reign of Naram-Si...
08/27/2026

Some royal inscriptions were meant to be reproduced over and over again. This brick stamp dated to the reign of Naram-Sin, grandson of Sargon of Akkad, simply states: Naram-Sin, builder of the temple of Ishtar. This seeming understatement belies the fact that if you can read the cuneiform, you will see that Naram-Sin has actually declared himself a god, which is clearly marked by the use of the DINGIR sign (𒀭), which is the determinative that goes in front of gods' names to indicate that they were divine beings. In this case, it is in front of Naram-Sin's name because he has declared himself a god.

A457, baked clay, Iraq (Adab), Akkadian period (ca 2255–2218 BCE)

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