University of Chicago Oriental Institute

The Art-Deco doors of the Oriental Institute, sculpture by Ulric Ellerhusen.

Head of a bull that once guarded the entrance to the Hundred-Column Hall in Persepolis.

The Oriental Institute (OI), established in 1919, is the University of Chicago's archeology museum and research center for ancient Near Eastern studies.

History and purpose

James Henry Breasted built up the collection of the Haskell Oriental Museum. He dreamed of establishing a research institute, “a laboratory for the study of the rise and development of civilization”, that would trace Western civilization to its roots in the ancient Middle East.^[1] As World War I wound down, he sensed an opportunity to use his influence in the new political climate. He wrote to John D. Rockefeller Jr. and proposed the foundation of what would become the Oriental Institute. Fundamental to the implementation of his plan was a research trip through the Middle East, which Breasted had optimistically, or perhaps naively, suggested was ready to receive scholars. Breasted received a reply from Rockefeller pledging $50,000 over five years for the Oriental Institute. Rockefeller also assured University of Chicago President Judson that he would pledge another $50,000 to the cause. The University of Chicago contributed additional support, and in May 1919 the Oriental Institute was founded. The Institute is housed in an unusual Art-Deco/Gothic building at the corner of 58th Street and University Avenue, which was designed by the architectural firm Mayers Murray & Phillip. Construction was completed in 1930, and the building was dedicated in 1931.

The Museum of the Oriental Institute has artifacts from digs in Egypt, Israel, Syria, Turkey, Iraq, and Iran. Notable works in the collection include the famous Megiddo Ivories; various treasures from Persepolis, the old Persian capital; a collection of Luristan Bronzes; a colossal 40-ton human-headed winged bull (or Lamassu) from Khorsabad, the capital of Sargon II; and a monumental statue of King Tutankhamun.

The Oriental Institute (OI) is a center of active research on the ancient Near East. The building's upper floors contain classrooms and faculty offices, and its gift shop, the Suq, also sells textbooks for the University's classes on Near Eastern studies. In addition to carrying out many digs in the Fertile Crescent, OI scholars have made contributions to the understanding of the origins of human civilization. The term "Fertile Crescent" was coined by J.H. Breasted, the OI founder, who popularized the connection of the rise of civilization in the Near East with the development of European culture.

Among other projects, OI scholars in 2011 completed publication of the 21-volume Chicago Assyrian Dictionary, a basic cultural reference work. The effort was begun in 1921 by J.H. Breasted, and continued by Edward Chiera and Ignace Gelb, with the first volume published in 1956. Dr. Erica Reiner as editor-in-charge led the research teams for 44 years. She was succeeded by Dr. Martha T. Roth, dean of humanities at the university. Similar dictionaries are under way, including the Chicago Hittite Dictionary and one for Demotic.

The museum has free admission, although visitors are encouraged to donate US$ 7.00 for adults and $4.00 for children.^[2]

Controversy

Main article: University of Chicago Persian antiquities crisis

A lamassu from the palace of Sargon II at Dur-Sharrukin.

A collection comparable to the Institute's treasures could not be assembled today, since Middle Eastern governments no longer allow foreign archeologists to take home half of what they find. This had been the typical arrangement in the 19th and early 20th centuries, when most of the holdings were excavated, until the 1930s, when new antiquities laws were instituted.

In 2006, the Oriental Institute became the center of controversy when U.S. federal courts ruled to seize and auction its valuable collection of ancient Persian artifacts. The proceeds were to compensate the victims of a 1997 bombing in Ben Yehuda Street, Jerusalem, an attack which the United States claimed was funded by Iran. The ruling threatened the university's invaluable collection of ancient clay tablets; held by the Oriental Institute since the 1930s, it is officially owned by Iran. The Achaemenid (or Persepolis^[3]) clay tablets were loaned to the University of Chicago in 1937.^[4] They were discovered by archaeologists in 1933 and are legally the property of the National Museum of Iran and the Iran's Cultural Heritage Organization.^[5][6] The artifacts were loaned based on the understanding that they would be returned to Iran.^[3] The tablets, from Persepolis, the capital of the Persian Empire, date to about 500 B.C.^[3][4][5]

The tablets give a view of daily life, itemizing such elements as the daily rations of barley given to workers in nearby regions of the empire. The tablets were sent to the capital to provide a record of what they were paying workers.^[5] Gil Stein, director of the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago, said that details largely concern food for people on diplomatic or military missions.^[3] Each tablet is about half the size of a deck of Playing cards and has characters of a dialect of Elamite, an extinct language understood by perhaps a dozen scholars in the world.^[3]

Stein described the tablets as providing "the first chance to hear the Persians speaking of their own empire."^[3] Charles Jones, Research Associate and Librarian at the Oriental Institute and tablet expert, compared them to "credit card receipts."^[4] Most of current knowledge about the ancient Persian empire comes from the accounts of others, most famously the Greek storyteller Herodotus.^[3] Stein added, "It's valuable because it's a group of tablets, thousands of them from the same archive. It's like the same filing cabinet. They're very, very valuable scientifically."^[3] The university's Oriental Institute had been returning them to Iran in small batches.^[4][5][6] The Institute had already returned several hundred tablets and fragments to Iran and were preparing another shipment when David J. Strachman intervened.^[3]

See also

• Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 54
• Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 69
• Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 72
• Papyrus Oxyrhynchus 75

Ancient Near East portal

References

1. ^ C. Breasted, Pioneer to the Past, p. 238
2. ^ "Oriental Institute"
3. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i} Slevin, Peter (2006-07-18). "Iran, U.S. Allied in Protecting Artifacts". Washington Post. p. A03. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/17/AR2006071701177.html. Retrieved 2006-08-29. 
4. ^ ^{a b c d} "University of Chicago returns ancient Persian tablets loaned by Iran". 2004-04-29. http://www-news.uchicago.edu/releases/04/040428.tablets.shtml. Retrieved 2006-07-27. 
5. ^ ^{a b c d} Herrmann, Andrew (2006-06-27). "Victims claim win in fight for U. of C. tablets". Chicago Sun-Times. http://www.suntimes.com/output/news/cst-nws-uofc27.html. Retrieved 2006-07-27. 
6. ^ ^{a b} "Iranian Antiquities May Be Seized in Suit". 2006-06-28. http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=8504070161. Retrieved 2006-07-27. 

External links

• the Oriental Institute, University of Chicago – home page for the Oriental Institute
• Abzu – A guide to open access material of the Ancient Near East
• A database on the Oriental Institute's website maintained by Dr. Clemens Reichel documenting artifacts stolen from the Iraq Museum in April 2003
• Persepolis Fortification Archive Project
• The Oriental Institute: Fragments for a History of an Institution. A collaborative project intended to focus ideas and thoughts on the history of the Oriental Institute of The University of Chicago