Praise for the OI's Open Access Policy

Adam McCollum of the Hill Museum & Manuscript Library (HMML), Saint John’s University writes in hmmlorientalia:

Two important Syriac books from OI (Chicago)

For some time the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago has very generously made available PDFs of its great store of books in Egyptology, Assyriology, archaeology, history, etc. Very recently the accessibility of two books of definite interest for Syriac scholars have been announced:

• Martin Sprengling and William Creighton Graham, Barhebraeus’ Scholia on the Old Testament, pt. I, Genesis-II Samuel, Oriental Institute Publications 13 (Chicago, 1931).

This is part I, but that is all that appeared. The only complete edition is that from the Bar-Hebraeus Verlag, 2003. Full information on manuscripts, editions, and studies will be found in Hidemi Takahashi’s always handy Barhebraeus: A Bio-Bibliography (Piscataway, 2005), 147-173.

• James Edward Dean, Epiphanius’ Treatise on Weights and Measures: The Syriac Version, foreword by Martin Sprengling, Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization 11 (Chicago, 1935).

Lagarde, with his interest in the Greek versions of the Hebrew Bible had worked on this Syriac text before and published it (as he did for other works) in Hebrew script (see here for bibliography of Epiphanios in Syriac). I cannot refrain from quoting Sprengling’s humorous report (p. ix) on Lagarde:

…our last predecessor in a similar undertaking [work on the Syriac Bible], the curious Paul de Lagarde of Göttingen. Lagarde had therefore undertaken an extensive study and a series of editions of this Epiphanius material. In his usual fashion he scattered this work around in a series of odd publications, many of them in small editions. These are not easy to get and, when obtained, generally not easy to use. The Syriac text, for example, he printed in Hebrew letters, because there was no Syriac type in Göttingen. His translation into German is curious. In various notes voicing his disgust and alleging (a thing Lagarde does not often admit) his incompetence, he shows that this was to him no labor of love. Jülicher’s statement in Pauly-Wissowa that the text is “sehr schlect ediert” by Lagarde is, indeed, too harsh a judgement. But a better, more easily accessible, more usable, and in every way more definitive edition than that of Lagarde, dated 1880, was clearly called for.

Hence the book by Dean, now eminently accessible after not being so for many years.
The Greek fragments of Epiphanios’ work (CPG 3746, cf. 3747) are not all that remains in addition to the Syriac: Georgian (CSCO 460-461, by M. van Esbroeck) and Armenian (CSCO 583, by M. Stone and R. Ervine) witnesses have also been published since the time of Dean’s Syriac text. In this work, interesting in and of itself, we have another opportunity for cross-linguistic comparison.

So, hats off to the OI for sharing its resources!

The Fiery Furnaces "My Egypian Grammar"

The Fiery Furnaces have a song My Egyptian Grammar on  their album Widow City:

You'll find the lyrics over here.

I never thought it could have happened to me.
But on the morning of my eldest daughter's
Second wedding, I blacked out.
They said it was just stress, but I didn't think so: 

I couldn't remember the 15 minutes before.
A white-haired half Samoan girl from Darwin
Gave me a ride, it seems; she let me the car in.
But what it was she said, I couldn't say. 

Now, that clearly didn't happen. I consulted my Egyptian Grammar.
On p. 333 was the hieroglyph for motorcycle helmet. 

I combined this with a leather-back's shell as I felt I was instructed.
I Xeroxed it and posted it down by the bike lock-ups at the Oriental Institute.
Maybe a nether-world entity would see it and pass it on to those responsible.
That kind of thing must happen sometimes. 

Now that clearly didn't happen. I consulted by Egyptian Grammar.
On p. 428 was the hieroglyph for French Canal boat. 

I met on the Midway someone channeling up a whatever it wasn't:
There are 17 sections of cymbals in the orchestra of the oversold, it said.
Your youth is lost and doesn't it now seem
You can't make smoke--only steam? 

Now that clearly didn't happen. I consulted my Egyptian Grammar.
On p. 566 was the hieroglyph for a blue jay.

 There must be a back story.  Who can help?

H/T to TS

News: Paging Dr. Jones

Indiana Jones materials to appear on display at Oriental Institute Museum

By William Harms

December 19, 2012

The contents of a package of Indiana Jones material that mysteriously arrived at the University of Chicago will be on display beginning Thursday, Dec. 20 and continuing through February in the lobby of the Oriental Institute Museum.

The mystery began Dec. 12, when a package addressed to “Henry Walton Jones, Jr.” arrived at the University of Chicago Admissions Office.

A student worker realized that the package was meant for Dr. Indiana Jones, the famous archaeologist of Raiders of the Lost Ark fame. Inside the package was a journal of Abner Ravenwood, the fictional UChicago professor who trained Indiana Jones...

 

This story broke on the University of Chicago Admissions blog: Indiana Jones Mystery Package.  It was solved a few days later: Mischief Managed.

See the chronicle of news about the Oriental Institute.

The changing neighbohood

Some interesting visualizations of what the neighborhood of the Oriental Institute will be like once the renovation and landscaping of the Becker Friedman Institute is complete are here.

 

And the Hyde Park Herald has some background on the University of Chicago Woodlawn Avenue Plan.

Manning on Abt on Breasted

Joe Manning blogs a Brief review of Jeffrey Abt’s bio of James Henry Breasted

ASOR Reception at the OI

"Gala Reception at the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago that was held on Thursday evening (November 15th, 2012). The Oriental Institute opened its doors to ASOR and provided a lavish spread for the reception.  ASOR provided coach transportation to more to 350 attendees, and everyone had a wonderful time. Special thanks go to Gil Stein, director of the Oriental Institute, and to all of the staff. A highlight of the evening was the public announcement by ASOR of its “Building a Foundation for ASOR Campaign—Preserving the Past, Securing the Future.” This $1.3 million campaign will focus on endowment support, research and training support, and online resources. President Tim Harrison announced that ASOR has just passed the halfway mark with $670,000 in gifts and pledges, and we plan to complete the campaign by June 30, 2014 (the end of Fiscal Year 2014)".

The following are a selection of photos from the Gala Reception at the Oriental Institute:

 

New Special Exhibit, "Between Heaven & Earth: Birds In Ancient Egypt," October 16, 2012 – July 28, 2013

What's New

The Oriental Institute Museum announces its new Special Exhibit, "Between Heaven & Earth: Birds In Ancient Egypt," which opens from October 16, 2012 – July 28, 2013. Visitors to the Oriental Institute Museum will be able to step back in time to discover the world of birds in ancient Egypt as they stroll through an exhibit that recreates the feel of a marsh from the Nile, and see videos of birds flying overhead while the sounds of birds calling to each other resonate in the gallery.

The Oriental Institute Museum announces the re-publication of two short articles from this summer's News & Notes quarterly publication, both pertaining to the Museum's new Special Exhibit, "Between Heaven & Earth: Birds In Ancient Egypt," which opens from October 16, 2012 – July 28, 2013. These two articles highlight the various stages of learning and work involved in preparing several of the artifacts for exhibition in the show. 

• BIRD MUMMIES OF THE ORIENTAL INSTITUTE MUSEUM GET A CHECKUP
• BIRD MUMMY CONSERVATION - A DELICATE BALANCE

Mission Statement of the Oriental Institute Museum and the Department of Public Education and Outreach

The Mission Statement of the Oriental Institute Museum and the Department of Public Education and Outreach is now available on its website.

Mission Statement

Within the Oriental Institute, the Oriental Institute Museum and Department of Public Education and Outreach promote interest in and understanding of ancient civilizations of the Middle East, and their connections to the modern world, for a broad and diverse audience. In order to tell the story of the rise of civilizations, communicate the excitement of archaeological, linguistic, and historical discovery, enhance understanding and appreciation of cultural similarities and differences, show connections between the ancient and modern worlds, and highlight the research of the Oriental Institute:

• We preserve our collections and information about them
• We facilitate and conduct research related to the collections
• We educate our general and scholarly audiences through informative and engaging exhibits, programs, publications and website.

Read the rest here

News: Dictionary Translates Ancient Egypt Life

Dictionary Translates Ancient Egypt Life
By JOHN NOBLE WILFORD
Published: September 17, 2012 
New York Times

Ancient Egyptians did not speak to posterity only through hieroglyphs. Those elaborate pictographs were the elite script for recording the lives and triumphs of pharaohs in their tombs and on the monumental stones along the Nile. But almost from the beginning, people in everyday life spoke a different language and wrote a different script, a simpler one that evolved from the earliest hieroglyphs.

EVERYDAY SCRIPT: A Demotic Egyptian writing sample at the University of Chicago's Oriental Institute.

Graphic

These were the words of love and family, the law and commerce, private letters and texts on science, religion and literature. For at least 1,000 years, roughly from 500 B.C. to A.D. 500, both the language and the distinctive cursive script were known as Demotic Egyptian, a name given it by the Greeks to mean the tongue of the demos, or the common people. 

Demotic was one of the three scripts inscribed on the Rosetta stone, along with Greek and hieroglyphs, enabling European scholars to decipher the royal language in the early 19th century and thus read the top-down version of a great civilization’s long history. 

Now, scholars at the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago have completed almost 40 years of research and published online the final entries of a 2,000-page dictionary that more than doubles the thousands of known Demotic words. Egyptologists expect that the dictionary’s definitions and examples of how words were used in ancient texts will expedite translations of Demotic documents, more of which are unpublished than any other stage of early Egyptian writing. 

A workshop for specialists in Demotic research was held at the university last month as the dictionary section for the letter S, the last of 25 chapters to be finished, is being posted on the Oriental Institute’s Web site, where the dictionary is available free. Eventually a printed edition will be produced, mainly for research libraries, the university said. 

Janet H. Johnson, an Egyptologist at the university’s Oriental Institute who has devoted much of her career to editing the Chicago Demotic Dictionary, called it “an indispensable tool for reconstructing the social, political and cultural life of ancient Egypt during a fascinating period,” when the land was usually dominated by foreigners — first Persians, then Greeks and finally Romans...

See the chronicle of news about the Oriental Institute.

News: Lady Liberty shines at Oriental Institute exhibit

Lady Liberty shines at Oriental Institute exhibit

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Frank Mathie
More: Bio, News Team

September 11, 2012 (CHIAGO) (WLS) -- The Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago is famous for its ancient arts, but a new exhibit looks at the Statue of Liberty -- piece by piece.

The exhibit features mammoth copper slices of the Statue of Liberty. It's a mixture of sculptures that date from BC to present day.

"We thought showing these huge fragments of the Statue of Liberty would be just a wonderful thing... to juxtapose contemporary art with ancient art," Emily Teeter, curator, said. Two examples: a piece from 700 BC and another from 2012.

"I think it works," Teeter said.

The Oriental Institute is sponsoring the show in conjunction with the university's Renaissance Society. The five pieces are all to the exact scale of the real statue.

The sculptor's family escaped from Vietnam in search of freedom. Danh Vo now lives in Berlin and is reconstructing the entire statue in pieces.

"Well, the original statue came in pieces from France and this one is being made in China in a similar way. The artist was able to get hold of the blueprints. The original blueprints," Susanne Ghez, director renaissance society at U. of C., "Absolutely."

It's not all that easy to recognize the Statue of Liberty because most of these pieces are replicas of liberty's long garment. So just use your imagination and think big.

The original statue of liberty was in pieces so this does make some sense. But also ... Is there some symbolism here? Did the sculptor have something to say about democracy going to pieces?

"Very much so. I think it's his idea of spreading democracy around the world. Spreading it in bits and pieces. The military states, the wars in the Middle East. And that's a statement coming from somebody who's coming from Vietnam. It's very much a critique of democracy," Hamza Walker, associate curator Renaissance Society, U of C., said.

Ultimately there will be hundreds of such pieces and they will be exhibited around the world.

(Copyright ©2012 WLS-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)

See the chronicle of news about the Oriental Institute.