Research Archives of the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures

Books fresh from the bindery is a satisfying thing ...

The 223rd Annual Meeting of the American Oriental Society starts tomorrow! Find our books at the display!

Have a book idea? Talk to Billie Jean; she'll be there.

Go here to download the program:
https://www.aos-site.org/

Now published!

An Annotated Sumerian Dictionary
by Mark E. Cohen

Take 30% off w/ code NR23: https://www.eisenbrauns.org/books/titles/978-1-64602-196-3.html

Happy New Year from the University of Chicago. We wish everyone in the UChicago community a happy and healthy 2023.

Here we see evidence for wine production in Egypt. This scene is from the Tomb of Ipuy (TT 217) at Deir el-Medineh dating to the time of Ramses II. This scene shows grapes being processed: picked grapes from vines, placing them in baskets, and then treading on them in vats.

to Breasted’s expeditions to Nubia in 1905-1906 and 1906-1907! Here we see a photograph of the temple reliefs from Amada, which was originally built by Dynasty 18 Pharaoh Thutmose III. His son and successor, Amenhotep II, continued to decorate the temple, and here we see him offering wine to the god Re-Horakhty.

The Day Tomorrow Began homepage The Day Tomorrow Began

Masters Programs | The University of Chicago Division of the Social Sciences The Committee on International Relations, founded in 1928, is the nation’s oldest graduate program in international affairs. Combining rigorous core instruction with an interdisciplinary curriculum, CIR allows students to explore the complexities of international relations and interact with world-...

Fruit apparently could be harvested not just by people but also trained monkeys! Here, in the Nina de Garis Davies painting of a scene from the Dynasty 12 Middle Kingdom tomb of Khnumhotep at Beni Hasan (20th century BC), we can see how this worked. We see humans gathering figs from a tree and putting them in baskets, helpfully assisted by three monkeys.

In observance of the holiday week, the OI Museum, the Research Archives, and the University of Chicago will be closed from December 24, 2022 through January 2, 2023.

Beautiful and familiar sight ...

7 books to read over winter break 2022 UChicago teaching award winners share their selections for the holidays

Join the Oriental Institute - University of Chicago on Thursday, October 6th between 1 and 4pm for the Cultural Heritage Experiment Lending Day! The CHE will loan out 50 archival objects for the 2022-2023 academic year. These materials come from the OI’s institutional archives which supports its study of ancient Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Turkey, and the Levant. For more details visit our website: https://oi.uchicago.edu/collections/cultural-heritage-experiment We hope to connect with you on Thursday!

https://youtu.be/p7gZWK2-x0Y
What a lovely setting for the Autumn Quarter Welcome Message!

UChicago 2022 Fall Welcome Message: President Paul Alivisatos and Provost Ka Yee C. Lee The start of Autumn Quarter is an exciting time with unlimited opportunities. In this message to the University community, UChicago President Paul Alivisatos...

Agnes Callard to deliver Aims of Education address on Sept. 22 UChicago tradition encourages first-year students to reflect on purpose, definition of education

The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago invites applications for a position as Professor in Arabian Peninsula and Gulf States Archaeology to commence on July 1, 2023, or as soon as possible thereafter. For more information and to apply, visit: http://apply.interfolio.com/113432
EOE/Vet/Disability.

The OI congratulates W. Raymond Johnson on his well-deserved retirement! After beginning his career as an Epigraphic Artist in 1979, Johnson became the director of the Epigraphic Survey and Chicago House in Luxor, Egypt. He held this position for the past 25 years. Over a career that has spanned 42 years, Ray has successfully contributed to and led the effort to fulfil Breasted’s vision for Chicago House: to record all of the texts that survive in Luxor for integration into the scientific record. Under Ray, the Epigraphic Survey has entered the digital era, preserving significant data that will be accessible for generations to come.

Please join all of us at the OI as we wish Ray a productive retirement!

Work with us! The OI is currently seeking an Assistant Director of Development. Reporting to the Director of Development and working collaboratively with colleagues across the OI and in central ARD, the Assistant Director of Development provides essential support to the overall OI Development program. Primary responsibilities include executing fundraising projects with instruction from others; managing cultivation and stewardship programs for current and prospective donors and the OI Advisory Council; managing reporting and data management processes; and coordinating Development team schedules.
For more information, and to apply, please visit: bit.ly/AssistantDirectorDevelopment

EOE/VET/Disability

The Oriental Institute and the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations of the University of Chicago invite applications for a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Rank of Instructor at the Tablet Collection of the Oriental Institute, expected start date of October 1, 2022, or as soon as possible thereafter. This is a twenty-four-month, non-renewable appointment. For more information, and to apply, visit:
https://oi.uchicago.edu/article/job-posting-postdoctoral-researcher-rank-instructor-tablet-collection-oriental-institute

EOE/VET/Disability

This is a page from Athanasius Kircher’s Turris Babel (1679), the last work published by Kircher during his lifetime, as he died in 1680. The book was a sequel to his 1675 work, Arca Noë, in tres libros digesta, which studied the time of Noah’s ark. In Turris Babel, Kircher addressed the period of history after the flood, and also looked at the creation of the Tower of Babel. Kircher is probably best known today for his attempts to decipher ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, a language that he believed dated to before the flood, which despite the errors that he made, establish Kircher as one of the important figures in the study of Egyptian hieroglyphs. Indeed, the Egyptian materials that he collected were used by Champollion when he was working on deciphering hieroglyphs.

to OI founder James Henry Breasted’s A History of Egypt: From Earliest Times to the Persian Conquest, published in 1905. The Research Archives copy of the first edition contains notes by Breasted that he added prior to appearance of the second edition of the history. The second edition contains this new sentence on page 32 where Breasted has indicated by marking up the volume in pencil. Although originally housed in the Research Archives, the importance of this annotated copy has meant that it is now housed in the OI Museum Archives for safe-keeping.

The Research Archives has a number of older volumes in its possession, in addition to more recent works of scholarship. One highlight is a 1548 printing by Sebastian Gryphius in Lyon of Livy’s history of Rome, which was pocket-sized, allowing it to be carried around more conveniently. In order to help reduce the work to such a small size, the text was printed in italics, a recent invention.

This week we open the doors of the OI’s Research Archives and explore a few of the 70,000 volumes dedicated to the ancient Middle East and North Africa that are housed there.
Notable works include Jean-François Champollion's Grammaire égyptienne ou Principes généraux de l'écriture sacrée égyptienne appliqué à la présentation de la langue parlée (Egyptian Grammar or General Principles of Egyptian Sacred Writing Applied to the Presentation of the Spoken Language). This volume was published in 1836, after Champollion’s death in 1832, by his brother Jacques-Joseph Champollion.

The Oriental Institute, University of Chicago, seeks applicants for the position of Associate Director and Chief Curator of the Oriental Institute Museum (OIM). The ideal candidate has progressively responsible leadership experience in a museum with staff management, collections care, and special exhibition projects combined with academic qualifications in an ancient Middle Eastern field of specialty. A PhD is preferred. Applications will be considered until the position is filled. The full posting is at:

https://uchicago.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/External/job/Hyde-Park-Campus/Associate-Director-and-Chief-Curator-of-the-Oriental-Institute-Museum_JR15879-1

Employees must comply with the University’s COVID-19 vaccination requirements. More information about the requirements can be found on the University of Chicago Vaccination GoForward.

The University of Chicago is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity/Disabled/Veterans Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, s*x, s*xual orientation, gender identity, national or ethnic origin, age, status as an individual with a disability, protected veteran status, genetic information, or other protected classes under the law. For additional information please see the University's Notice of Nondiscrimination.

Staff Job seekers in need of a reasonable accommodation to complete the application process should call 773-702-5800 or submit a request via Applicant Inquiry Form.

We seek a diverse pool of applicants who wish to join an academic community that places the highest value on rigorous inquiry and encourages a diversity of perspectives, experiences, groups of individuals, and ideas to inform and stimulate intellectual challenge, engagement, and exchange.

All offers of employment are contingent upon a background check that includes a review of conviction history. A conviction does not automatically preclude University employment. Rather, the University considers conviction information on a case-by-case basis and assesses the nature of the offense, the circumstances surrounding it, the proximity in time of the conviction, and its relevance to the position.

Work with us! The OI of the University of Chicago invites applications for the position of Manager of Community Engagement. For more information, and to apply by April 29, visit: https://uchicago.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/External/job/Manager-of-Community-Engagement_JR15320
EOE/VET/DISABILITY.

Lecture by UChicago NELC alum Rhyne King:

“Multilingualism and Administration in the Achaemenid Persian Empire,
559-330 BCE” with Professor Rhyne King (NYU) (virtual) Wednesday, January 26 | 6:45 p.m.
Duke University

The Graduate Student Association of Iranians at Duke (GSAID), Iranian Cultural Society of NC (ICSNC), and Duke Emamian Lectureship present a lecture by Dr. Rhyne King titled “Multilingualism and Administration in the Achaemenid Persian Empire, 559-330 BCE”. This lecture will be conducted in English. Free and open to the public.

Dr. Rhyne King is a Visiting Assistant Professor at NYU’s Institute for the Study of the Ancient World. He received his BA in Classical Languages from Duke University and his PhD in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations from the University of Chicago.

Please join us at the following link:
https://duke.zoom.us/j/96155107120
Meeting ID: 961 5510 7120

Co-sponsors: Dr. Ali and Parvin Jarrahi; Duke University Middle Eastern Studies Center; Duke Persian Studies Program; Duke Islamic Studies Center; Duke University Libraries; Graduate & Professional Student Government (GPSG); UNC Persian Studies.

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Work with us! The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago invites applications for the position of IT User Support Specialist. For more information and to apply, visit:
https://uchicago.wd5.myworkdayjobs.com/External/job/Hyde-Park-Campus/IT-User-Support-Specialist---Oriental-Institute_JR14375

EOE/Vet/Disability.⁠