News: Egyptian Town Anxiously Awaits Tourists' Return

Egyptian Town Anxiously Awaits Tourists' Return 

by Corey Flintoff

February 27, 201

Weekend Edition Sunday

[4 min 27 sec]

February 27, 2011

The political upheaval of Egypt's revolution barely touched the tourist town of Luxor, but the economy was hit hard. Tourists fled the temples, tombs and resorts in the first days of the revolution, and hotels have been virtually empty ever since. Most people in the industry have been laid off, and they're watching desperately as the first tourists begin to show up.

See the chronicle of news about the Oriental Institute.

Exhibition Preview: Before the Pyramids: The Origins of Egyptian Civilization

Before the Pyramids: The Origins of Egyptian Civilization

Oriental Institute Museum displays some of Egypt's earliest artifacts

Visitors will have a chance to get a rare look at beautifully made statues, vessels, figurines, and other artifacts from the dawn of the Egyptian culture at a special exhibition at the Oriental Institute Museum at the University of Chicago.

"Before the Pyramids: The Origins of Egyptian Civilization" will run from March 29 to December 31, 2011, at the museum, 1155 East 58th Street. The museum holds the Chicago area's largest collection of Egyptian art and artifacts as well as galleries devoted to the other cultures of the ancient Middle East.

The new exhibition shows that the most fundamental aspects of ancient Egyptian civilization — architecture, hieroglyphic writing, a belief in the afterlife, and allegiance to a semi-divine king — can be traced to Egypt's Predynastic and Early Dynastic eras more than 1,000 years before the pyramids were built...

Teaching the Middle East: A Resource for Educators

Teaching the Middle East: A Resource for Educators

Scholars from the University of Chicago developed this teacher resource  to provide an overview of Middle Eastern cultures and their  contributions to the world. 

Discover the great currents of continuity and change throughout Middle Eastern history…

This resource was written by many of the best scholars in the field of Middle Eastern studies and created in partnership with the National Endowment for the Humanities and three University of Chicago units, the Oriental Institute, the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, and the eCUIP Digital Library Project.


The goal of Teaching the Middle East: A Resource for Educators is to provide teachers of Middle Eastern history and culture with a rich, reliable, and easily accessible resource that draws upon sound humanities scholarship to help build student understanding of Middle Eastern history and culture. Drawing upon the unparalleled expertise of renowned scholars from the University of Chicago, the archaeological resources of a world-famous research facility and museum, and the inherent flexibility and strengths of the Internet, it is our hope that this resource will enhance teaching and learning about the Middle East in the nation’s classrooms.


Academically rigorous, thoughtful, and stimulating, Teaching the Middle East seeks to offer new ways of seeing and understanding by crossing cultural divides and illuminating how our shared human concerns cross oceans, time, and cultures.

For an up to date list of all Oriental Institute publications available online see

AWOL - The Ancient World Online - 2: The Oriental Institute Electronic Publications Initiative.

New Chief Curator for the Oriental Institute Museum

Announced 2/15/11 at What's New

Dr. Jack Green has been selected as the new Chief Curator for the Oriental Institute Museum. Dr. Green is coming to us from the Ashmolean Museum where he is Curator for the Ancient Near East. Prior to his current role, he held positions in the British Museum as well as the University of Liverpool. He received his PhD from the Institute of Archaeology at the University College London. Dr. Green will begin his appointment on August 1, 2011.

Audio Tours of Visible Language: Inventions of Writing in the Ancient Middle East

What’s New: February 8, 2011

Nine audio tours of the Oriental Institute Museum's current exhibit, Visible Language: Inventions of Writing in the Ancient Middle East are now available for free download, so that you can use your own iPod or other MP3 player to listen to museum staff discuss the exhibition as you view it.

Oriental Institute Museum Self-guided Audio Tours

Look at the Oriental Institute!

The OI spycam.  Unless someone there comes out and waves at the camera, there isn't much happening.

Newly Reprinted: OIP 82, The Egyptian Book of the Dead

 Announced yesterday on What's New

Dating from 1960, and out of print for years, OIP 82, The Egyptian Book of the Dead: Documents in the Oriental Institute Museum at the University of Chicago, edited by Thomas George Allen, has been digitally reprinted, and is available for purchase in hardback format. It remains available for downloading in the Adobe Portable Document Format (pdf) as well.

Recent Open Access Dissertations from NELC

A number of recent dissertations from the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations have been made accessible free of charge through Open Access ProQuest Dissertations & Theses (PQDT Open):

Agents, archives, and risk: A micronarrative account of Old Assyrian trade through Salim-ahum's activities in 1890 B.C.
by Stratford, Edward Paul, Ph.D. The University of Chicago. 2010: 492 pages; AAT 3419777.


Incubation as a type-scene in the Aqhatu, Kirta, and Hannah stories: A form-critical and narratological study of KTU 1.14 I--1.15 III, 1.17 I--II, and 1 Samuel 1:1--2:11
by Kim, Koowon, Ph.D. The University of Chicago. 2010: 469 pages; AAT 3397291. 


The shehnamecis of Sultan Suleyman: `Arif and Eflatun and their dynastic project
by Eryilmaz Arenas Vives, Fatma Sinem, Ph.D. The University of Chicago. 2010: 302 pages; AAT 3419770. Supplemental Files.


Jordan first: A history of the intellectual and political economy of Jordanian antiquity
by Corbett, Elena Dodge, Ph.D. The University of Chicago. 2009: 532 pages; AAT 3362463. 


The geographical background of the Persepolis tablets
by Arfaee, Abdolmajid, Ph.D. The University of Chicago. 2008: 150 pages; AAT 3300414. 

And see also the Dissertations in Ancient Near Eastern Studies Approved by the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, The University of Chicago served from the Oriental Institute Research Archives

The Oriental Institute in Atlas Obscura

Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago 
By M Rebekah Otto / January 6, 2011 

Curators typically organize museums with some editorial guidelines. In art, it may be by era, style, or nation; in the natural sciences, by geography, genus, or age. But some museums (usually museums married to a university rather than purely for the public visitor) resemble the curiosity cabinets of yore. Their crowded display cases say, “Look at all the cool stuff I found.”
 
Based out of the University of Chicago’s Archaeology Department, The Oriental Institute rests nicely in between; the collection is one of the few places to view a university's acquisitions from archaeological digs, as most universities keep their closed to the public. I visited the museum last week, drawn by an exhibit on the origins of written language...

Oriental Institute Job Posting: Chief Curator, Oriental Institute Museum

Oriental Institute Job Posting: Chief Curator, Oriental Institute Museum

The University of Chicago's Oriental Institute is an internationally recognized research center for studying the archaeological and textual record of the ancient Near East. A primary unit within the Institute is its Museum, which houses over 300,000 registered objects from across the Near East. We seek applicants for the position of Chief Curator, who reports to the Director of the Oriental Institute and is responsible for the successful management of all museum operations, notably exhibits and collections management. The ideal candidate combines museum experience with a commitment to research and publication. The Chief Curator interacts regularly with the Institute's research faculty, who serve as its governing board. Candidates must have academic qualifications in a Near Eastern field of specialty, ideally in one of the areas covered by the Oriental Institute's collections (Egypt, Nubia, Mesopotamia, Syria-Palestine, Anatolia, Iran). Candidates must also have demonstrated leadership and project management skills enabling them to conduct and supervise curatorial tasks, exhibit development and grant writing. Based on the selected applicant's qualifications, a secondary academic appointment as Research Associate in the Oriental Institute will be considered. To apply for this position, please go to http://jobs.uchicago.edu, create a profile and apply for requisition #085902.

Review of applications will begin on December 10, 2010.

Email inquiries can be directed to oi-administration@uchicago.edu with the subject heading "Chief Curator Search".

The University of Chicago is an Affirmative Action / Equal Opportunity Employer.