Oriental Institute

Package Addressed to Indiana Jones to be Displayed at The Oriental Institute

In December, the College admissions office received a mysterious package addressed to Henry Walton Jones, Jr.--better known as Indiana Jones (AB'22), one of the University's more famous, albeit fictional, alumni. The package, which included a handwritten journal as well as notes and photographs from Raiders of the Lost Ark, attracted quite a bit of media attention until the mystery was solved. Paul Charfauros, who makes replica journals, sold the prop to a collector on Ebay, and while in transit the outer envelope was separated from the package addressed to Indy. Believing the package to be real, the post office added the correct zip code and sent it to the University. Upon learning of the mix-up, Charfauros donated the prop.

The package and its contents will be on display at the Oriental Institute. Chief curator Jack Green joked that the collectible belonged in a museum because, after all, "Maybe it contains information our scholars need." The exhibit, dubbed "Raiders of the Lost Journal," will run until March 31, when the package will be retired to the archives.

Connection between Magic and Medicine in Ancient World Discussed during Recent Lectures

In October at the Oriental Institute, several professors participated in the lecture series "Medicine and Magic in the Ancient World, A Search for the Cure", which sought to explore the connection between the physical and the psychological aspect of healing within ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Greece. Robert Ritner, Professor in Egyptology, opened the series with his talk titled “The Theory and Practice of Medicine and Magic in Ancient Egypt”, Christopher Faraone, the Frank Curtis Springer and Gertrude Melcher Springer Professor in the Humanities, and the College, and Elizabeth Asmis, Professor in Classics, presented "Medical Healing in Ancient Greece". Walter Farber, Professor of Assyriology, discussed how people came to understand and fight against contagious diseases in his lecture titled "Diseases and Epidemics in Ancient Mesopotamia: Medical Conceptualization and Responses", while Robert Biggs, Professor Emeritus in Assyriology, focused on Mesopotamian religious practitioners and their approach to illness and misfortune in his talk "Religious and Magical Elements in Babylonian Medical Practice." The series closed on October 27 with a presentation by John Wee, a postdoctoral scholar in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, titled "Mesopotamian Texts and the Knowledge Assumptions of Medical Diagnosis". To find out about upcoming lectures at the Oriental Institute, please visit their Events and Programs web page.

New Oriental Institute Curated by Graduate Student

Rozenn Bailleul-LeSuer, a PhD candidate in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations studying Egyptology, curated "Between Heaven and Earth: Birds in Ancient Egypt," which is on display at the Oriental Institute Museum until July 28, 2013. A variety of events accompany the exhibit, including a free public symposium on November 10 and a free guided tour with Bailleul-LeSuer on November 14.

From the article:

The exhibit includes several mummified birds along with 40 artifacts that emphasize how omnipresent birds were in ancient Egyptian culture. Those birds included ducks, ibises and other waterfowl as well as eagles, vultures and falcons, as well as more exotic birds such as ostriches. Some birds lived in the wild along the Nile while others were domesticated.

The exhibit primarily showcases objects from the Oriental Institute, many of which have never been exhibited, such as the legs for a folding stool that are beautifully inlaid in ivory in imitation of duck heads, the mummy of an eagle with remains of gilding, and a small bronze coffin topped with a figure of a falcon wearing a crown.

To learn more about the exhibit and register for affiliated events, please visit the Oriental Institute's Special Exhibit Events website.

Chicago Demotic Dictionary Featured in the 'New York Times'

The New York Times recently featured the completion of a dictionary of ancient Demotic Egyptian, a language named by the Greeks to denote its use by the demos, or common people. Janet Johnson, the Morton D. Hull Distinguished Service Professor at the Oriental Institute and editor of their Demotic dictionary, explains that the language "was used for business and legal documents, private letters and administrative inscriptions, and literary texts, such as narratives and pieces of wisdom literature" and that the 2,000-page dictionary is "an indispensable tool for reconstructing the social, political and cultural life of ancient Egypt during a fascinating period of its history."

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