oi.uchicago.edu

JAN 1 0 1992

RESEARCH ARCHIVES -DIRECTOR'S LIBRARY THE ORIENTAL INSTITUTE

EGYPTOLOGY AT THE ORIENTAL INSTITUTE OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO

Internet publication of this work was made possible with the generous support of Misty and Lewis Gruber

Oriental Institute, University of Chicago Printed by University of Chicago Printing Department, 1983

On the cover: Painted Decoration at Medinet Habu Cleaned by the Epigraphic oi.uchicago.edu

,At work in anlent Thebes.

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The Oriental Institute and the World of the

n the desert west of the , an Egyptologist scrutinizes the traces of an inscription on a temple wall: comparing an artist's drawing with the wall itself, he will occa- sionally add a line to the drawing or take one away. Earlier the wall was photographed in fine detail, but since a camera cannot discriminate between the effects of weathering and the signs carved by an ancient craftsman, an artist working di- rectly on an enlargement of the photograph made a drawing that allows the carvings to be distin- guished from accidental marks. When the drawing was completed, the photograph was bleached out, leaving a facsimile of what survives of the original craftsman's work. Now the Egyptologist is checking for any trace of ancient carving that the artist might have missed, or any clues that might have escaped the camera s eye. The Egyptologist, the photog- rapher and the artist are members work in concentrates pri- Artist comparing drawing with of a team of specialists working on marily on the documentation of the the original scene. the Oriental Institute's Epigraphic Pharaonic monuments in the Survey, an expedition which is at- area, but the boundaries in both tempting to preserve the fast- time and space are flexible. Thus, crumbling records of ancient teams from the Institute partici- Egypt's civilization. pated during the 1960s in the ar- The Oriental Institute's field- chaeological salvage in Nubia, oi.uchicago.edu

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AMembers of the Epigraphic before that land was flooded folt- office at the Oriental Institute in Survey team discusing a frag- lowing the completion of the High Chicago, researchers are hard at ment of relief at Luxor Temple. Dam at in 1969. A more re- work applying the modern tech- cent field project involves the ex- niques of dictionary-making to an cavation of a Red Sea port that ancient form of Egyptian writing linked the Nile Valley with the known as . Based on their larger world in Roman and medi- own studies and on the publica- eval Islamic times. tions of scholars around the world, the staff of the Demotic I)ictionary A ll Egyptologists at the Univer- is compiling every known usage of sity of Chicago (do fieldwork each word. When completed, the in Egypt at some time in their ca- Demotic Dictionary will be an in- reers, but much of the work of re- valuable tool for deciphering many constructing the past is carried on as yet unstudied records of the far from the original site. In one Egyptian past. But for now that oi.uchicago.edu

dictionary in the making exists only on 125,000 file cards that have been collected since the project was be- gun in 1976. In another dusty office is an ar- chaeologist, studying artifacts re- , covered from Nubia. He has found among the clay-colored and black- ened pots and other objects a re- storable incense burner with an incised scene showing what may be the earliest known representation of a . Moreover, the in- cense burner comes from an area not generally suspected of having such an early and advanced civilization. Discovering evidence of a lost Pharaoh or an unknown kingdom is not typical of an Egyptologist's daily work, whether (lone in the Nile Valley or in Chicago; but when the pieces fall into place or some anomaly is resolved, the skill and ingenuity invested in the painstak- ingly slow and tedious work are re- warded with valuable results.

At work compiling the Demotic Dictionar. r

Studying artifacts recovered *Sam from Nubia. oi.uchicago.edu

A tourists~ view of a scholar at work in King Tutankhamns Co~lo nnade at L uxor Temple. oi.uchicago.edu

The Endangered Record

us closer to the ancient he that the Ori- ental Institute is working to themselves-a people whose preserve and interpret is paradox- knowledge of anatomy and practi- ically both familiar and largely un- cal medicine was renowned in an- known to the average American, for tiquity, who developed the 24-hour it exists in three distinct aspects, the day and the 365-day year; and who, Egypt of myth, the Egypt of the over 4,500 years ago, built with tourist, and the Egypt of the primitive tools one of the seven scholar. wonders of the ancient world, the The Egypt of myth is a com- pyramids of the Pharaohs. pound of romance, legend, and the For all the differences between fear that burial rites commonly in- fact and fancy, all three views of spire. Much of it is fanciful: who Egypt share one thing in common: has not heard tales of King Tut's fascination with the splendor of her curse or the claims for a mysterious monuments. The golden treasures power inherent in the pyramid from King Tut's tomb, which shape? 'I'he only truth in the Egypt Americans crowded to see in the of myth is its testimony to the endur- 1977 traveling exhibit cospon- ing fascination of this ancient world sored in Chicago by the Oriental that devoted so much of its energy Institute and the Field Museum, to the pursuit of eternal life. provided only a glimpse, however The tourist's Egypt also has its breath-taking, of the elegance and share of romance: colossal statues, sophistication of that ancient golden treasures, enormous tem- culture. ple ruins silhouetted against cloud- less skies, tombs with vivid scenes W hen the monuments were of gods and royalty as well as the young, grave robbers plun- daily life of ordinary people. Awe dered their contents, but the build- comes easily to the tourist viewing ings themselves remained intact. the pyramids, the great sphinx, and Respect for the old religion en- the temple complexes. sured that the tombs and temples The scholar's Egypt is less ro- survived to tell the story written on mantic but more wonderful. It is a their walls. But with the eclipse of treasure house for recovering his- pagan civilization, the monuments toric truth. Research has brought lost their significance, and ne- oi.uchicago.edu

glect-sometimes even hostility- millennia of wind and sun. Bus- became agents of their destruction. loads of tourists who come to ad- Families built homes in the ruins, mire these wonders thoughtlessly burying them in damp organic de- touch the reliefs and painted sur- bris and blackening the sacred im- faces. Day after day tour guides tap ages with smoke from cooking fires. the walls in places to make a point, Natural erosion weathered the and modern vandals scratch their stones, blunting the sharp edges of initials in the stone. Decorated stone their carvings, and the dust and dirt and painted plaster quietly disap- of centuries dulled the paintings. pear only to turn up again for illicit Sometimes the ruins were used as sale on the international art market. an easy source of building material, For more than a century archae- but those that did survive were ologists have been aware of the in- often vandalized by their inhabit- sidious and all-pervasive danger to ants, who sought to neutralize the the monuments from salts. Evap- power of the ancient figures on the oration of moisture attracted by salt walls that towered above them. in the rock causes the dissolved salts These are the damages the mon- to migrate to the surface of the uments have suffered in the past. stone, where they crystallize in de- The present danger to the mon- posits that first obscure the reliefs, A smoke-blackened wall. uments is greater than exposure to then cause the carved surfaces to oi.uchicago.edu

blister and flake off, leaving behind alarmingly. Although the water ta- Fragile wall surface at Luxor at best fragile traces of the original ble no longer fluctuates as dra- Temple damaged by salts. decoration. matically as it once did, continual This process was unwittingly ac- irrigation has created a high water celerated in the last century by ex- table throughout the year. Exten- cavation which exposed the sive use of chemical fertilizers has weakened, salt-impregnated stone also increased the salinity of the soil, of many major monuments to at- and the large lake behind the dam tack. Since the completion of the has resulted in a rising level of hu- Aswan High Dam, the annual in- midity and rainfall, a combination undation, which regularly washed that may spell the doom of the much of the salt from the soil, has monuments on the banks of the stopped, and salt concentrations in Nile. the Nile Valley are increasing oi.uchicago.edu

Preparing faIcsimile drawing for publication, oi.uchicago.edu

Salvaging the Past: 1II The Epigraphic Survey

At the turn of this century, enormous body of ancient records , a still surviving in Egypt." young archaeologist and Oriental scholar, made his first journey to T hus was born the idea of the Egypt and was alarmed at "the dis- Epigraphic Survey. This proj- tressing amount of damage suf- ect continues to be the single most fered by the monuments since the important work of the Universitv early recording expeditions had of Chicago's Egyptology program. worked" on them. Since its founding in 1924, the Epi- 's Egyptian campaign graphic Survey has taken to the (1798) and the discovery of the field every year, with the exception Stone (1799) had sparked of 1940-45, producing volume international interest in the civili- after volume of facsimile drawings zation of the Pharaohs, and during of the inscriptions and other dec- the nineteenth century every ma- orations on the monuments, pri- jor power in Europe fielded its own marily those in the area of the je(1r11?v' lPirV Bi~ ted (mdU1118 scientific expedition to the ancient ancient city of Thebes. laiit (inan Egyl)tati t'Pfl/de Near East. Ruins that had lain half buried for thousands of years were excavated, and once they were ex- posed, the ravages of time could not be stopped, nor could the mon- uments be preserved in all their splendor. But there was a way to give a kind of perpetual life to the monuments, by making a meticu- lous and complete record of every- thing that remained or could still be recaptured. Breasted concluded that it was "a supreme obligation of the present generation of ori- entalists to make a comprehensive effort to save for posterity the oi.uchicago.edu

Since the Survey requires a sus- American archaeological mission tained, long-term effort, an Egyp- in Egypt, Chicago House plays host tian headquarters, Chicago House, to many visitors. Members of ar- was established in Luxor on a three- chaeological expeditions from acre site owned by the University many countries have used its ser- of Chicago. Besides comfortable vices, especially the library, which living quarters, offices, and work- is the only Egyptological archive shops, Chicago House contains one south of . of the most important Egyptolog- ical libraries in the world. Its com- W ith Chicago House as their plete record of current knowledge base, the Oriental Institute's of language and writ- Egyptologists have developed an ing, history, culture and archaeol- extraordinarily effective approach ogy makes the library indispensable to recording the monuments ac- to the Epigraphic Survey. In ad- curately. A team of five specialists The library at Chicago dition, because it is the only per- collaborates on every project: a House. manent headquarters of an photographer, an artist, two epig- raphers, and the field director. All five must approve the finished product, and the published work of the Epigraphic Survey reflects their combined skill, judgment and experience. The work begins with the pho- tographer. If the surface is a flat, well-preserved wall, a photograph alone may, on rare occasions, give an accurate record. But if the sur- face is weathered or has been recut by some ancient Pharaoh trying to obliterate the work of a predeces- sor, a photograph cannot supply a clear record of the scenes and in- scriptions. Therefore, an artist is given a photographic enlargement on which to make a preliminary drawing. Using the photograph as a guide, he can easily indicate the exact shapes and proportions of the original carvings and at the same time eliminate those accidental markings that obscure the design. When the photograph is bleached out, the line drawing that remains is clearer and more reliable than the original photograph. The epigraphers then compare the artist's drawing with the carv- oi.uchicago.edu

Chicago House in 1933. ing on the wall. On the basis of their knowledge of related scenes and texts, they can suggest ways in which damaged parts of a relief might once have appeared. Re- peated consultation between artist, epigraphers and field director en- sures a finished drawing that is as faithful as possible to what is ac- tually preserved.

Sometimes, by applying their knowledge of ancient Egyptian writing and artistic conventions or by comparing the evidence with earlier records, the Egyptologists can recover a whole text from something that appears hopelessly damaged. A good example is the badly defaced "crossword" hymn Specialists working together to verify details on a drawing. from the tomb of Kheruef, a The- ban noble who lived during the Eighteenth Dynasty. The inscrip- tion was intentionally mutilated in the time of Akhenaten, the non- oi.uchicago.edu

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conforming Pharaoh who rejected O nce the nature and interpre- most of the gods worshipped be- tation of the traces have been fore his time. A photograph agreed on, the artist adjusts the showed a meaningless jumble of preliminary drawing, removing chisel marks, and the preliminary unwanted ink lines and substitut- drawing which was made showed ing the correct ones. nothing but the remains of the The knowledge gained through nearly obliterated signs of the orig- the study of each scene is absorbed inal. But because certain patterns into two files: one, a master dic- of lines, however incomplete, could tionary file containing every word be part of a limited number of' in each text copied; and the other, hieroglyphs and no others, the a record of every characteristic and epigraphers finally managed to distinctive form of each hieroglyph reconstruct the text. Intriguingly, in the inscription. These two files it turned out to be a hymn in which form a permanent archive that Akhenaten (in the earliest years of' grows with every inscription that is his reign) glorified not only the sun deciphered. But the major focus of god but also the god Amun, whom the work of the Epigraphic Survey he would attack later. This evi- is the publication of massive folio dence for Akhenaten's change of volumes reproducing fascimile policy, as well as the unusual layout copies of the scenes and inscrip- of the text itself-one version in tions, making this material avail- vertical columns, the second able to scholars and to the general "across"-were rewarding divi- public throughout the world. dends after weeks of hard, pains- taking work.

Classroom use of Epigraphic Survey volume. oi.uchicago.edu

Epigraphic Survey drawing of -'t T,.V - a scene showing offering to the god Amun-Re. ) ~

Portraitof Tutankhamun from - Luxor Temple.. ..

1974, the Epigraphic Sur- Sincevey has been working on the Colonnade at Luxor Temple, the largest and most important stand- ing building decorated by the Pharaoh the world knows best, Tut- ankhamun, popularly known as "King Tut." It reflects the most sig- nificant act of his reign, his return to the orthodox cult of Amun after the short-lived revolution of his predecessor, Akhenaten. Soon after he inherited the kingship, Tutankh- amun returned to the old religion and to Thebes, its holiest city. The decoration in the Colon- nade is testimony to Tutankha- mun's restoration of the old faith. Most prominent is a long series of reliefs depicting the Opet Festival, a major event in the traditional re- ligion which centered on the an- nual visit of the state god Amun- Re of to the Luxor Temple. These reliefs, which are generally oi.uchicago.edu

Searchingfor fragments of the Colonnade around Luxor Temple. considered to be among the finest examples of post- art, have never before been copied accu- rately, even though the monument has been accessible for nearly a century. Hitherto unpublished in- scriptions in the Colonnade shed fresh light on the still controversial reign of Tutankhamun and have led to a radically new understand- ing of the religious rituals cele- brated at the Luxor Temple.

An unusual added feature of the Oriental Institute's work on the Colonnade is the restora- tion of upper sections of some of the walls that were dismantled as long as 2000 years ago, when large Egyptologists have identified more Reconstructing on paper the blocks of stone were knocked down, than 450 fragments from individ- upper part of the wall. broken into smaller pieces, and ual scenes, enabling them to recon- carted away for reuse as building struct on paper some of the upper material. Fragments were some- parts of the walls. Where possible, times reshaped, and the few that the actual wall is being rebuilt, in- survive no longer fit neatly to- corporating the fragmentary gether. Despite these difficulties, blocks. oi.uchicago.edu

Besides recording and restoring original decoration as possible, the these Theban monuments, the conservators treat the crumbling Oriental Institute now devotes ma- stone to prevent any further loss. jor efforts to conserving them. The Epigraphic Survey's two conser- onservation of a different sort vators are consolidating the fragile is taking place at the Eigh- blocks of Luxor Temple with syn- teenth Dynasty temple at Medinet thetic resins to preserve the deli- Habu, to which the Epigraphic Sur- cately carved reliefs of Tutankha- vey is turning its attention as work mun's time. Large sections of the on the Colonnade at Luxor is com- walls are heavily encrusted with pleted. Here, the Oriental Institute salts, and in places the stone has team is removing centuries-old flaked off. The only record of many grime and soot that obscure beau- important details is found in two tiful paintings from the reign of sets of photographs published be- Queen . Small cotton fore 1935. While the Survey's swabs dipped in a carefully for- Egyptologists study these photo- mulated cleaning solution are Eighteenth Dynasty temple at graphs in the Chicago House li- gently rolled across the surface of Medinet Habu. brary to recover as much of the the reliefs. The dirt and greasy soot

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dissolve slowly and are absorbed by projects. Acting through the Conservator cleaning smoke- the cotton swabs: the brilliant colors Smithsonian Institution, the U.S. blackened wall at Medinet underneath have not been visible government has underwritten the Habu. for some 1500 years. Photographs Epigraphic Survey's operating ex- of this newly cleaned decoration will penses in Egypt for two decades: provide a vastly improved base for no other field mission has been sup- facsimile drawings. ported longer or been given higher priority. Ironically, this support was Over the past twenty years, the given when official American pres- Oriental Institute's funding tige in Egypt was at its lowest ebb for the work the Epigraphic Survey and the Oriental Institute was one does in the field has been supple- of a handful of private institutions mented by government "counter- continuing to represent Americans part funds"-monies due from the in Egypt. With the successful rees- sale of wheat to Egypt: in the last tablishment of diplomatic activities four years alone, this support has in Egypt, this source of support is amounted to almost $350,000. By drying up, and it will run out com- arrangement between the govern- pletely in the spring of 1985. The ments of Egypt and the United fiuture scope of the Epigraphic Sur- States, a share of the "excess" of vey's work, and perhaps its very ex- the funds was allocated in local cur- istence, will depend on what new rency for the use of American funding becomes available. Egyptological and archaeological oi.uchicago.edu

IV Uncovering the Past: The Archaeological Campaigns

that was, at best, poorly understood. A secoilndcommitment mjor by Egyptological the Oriental Although the fieldwork con- Institute was its participation in the sisted of seven seasons of excava- international campaign to save the tion between 1960 and 1968, the antiquities south of the new clam task of making sense of the find- at Aswan, in the land known as Nu- ings and preparing them for pub- bia. The dam project was under- lication has proved almost as taken to benefit modern Egypt, to arduous as the excavating itself, and control flooding, to reclaim several far more time-consuming. The million acres of land for agricul- quantity of material discovered in ture, and to provide hydroelectric the variety of excavated sites, in- power for further industrializa- cluding fortresses, royal burial tion; but it would also destroy a sig- mounds, a monastery, private A Nubian temple under water. nificant part of the ancient world houses, and cemeteries of both oi.uchicago.edu

a) Photo of the early royal in- cense burnerfrom Nubia. b) Decoration on the incense burner c) Restored drawing of the deco - ration on the burner. courtiers and common people, cov- with unanticipated results. A most ering a time span of more than 4000 important discovery made in the years, is overwhelming. These ma- course of publishing the Nubian terials, collected some twenty years collection involved piecing to- ago, continue to yield new and sur- gether an incense burner found in prising information. For instance, a tomb of a late prehistoric ceme- they provide evidence of human tery at Qustul, containing tombs of settlement in Nubia at periods when great size and wealth. It was clear it was generally thought to be de- that, engraved on the incense serted: Thus, archaeological evi- burner, there were three boats con- dence, including royal tombs taining several human and animal belonging to the Blemmyes, a little- figures. When all the figures were known nomadic people who played studied, it emerged that one figure a major role in Egypt during late could only be that of a P'haraoh Roman and Byzantine times, has wearing the traditional white been clearly identified for the first of southern Egypt. Moreover, the time. carving included a falcon and the facade of a palace, which are con- Occasionally, pieces that look ventional symbols of Egyptian hopeless are fitted together kingship. In coptext with the other

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materials that came from this cem- etery, this discovery indicated that inceOriental the Nubian Institute campaigns, has done theno Nubia had participated more fully further excavating in the Nile Val- than anyone had ever supposed in ley itself, but it has an ongoing field the development of Pharaonic project excavating a small Red Sea civilization. port called Quseir el-Qadim. Al- The Nubian campaign has left though never a major Egyptian unchanged no aspect of' research port, it was the eastern end of the into the and history of shortest overland route linking the Egypt's close geographical and cul- Nile Valley with the Red Sea-a tural neighbors. New evidence will trading center and meeting place continue to alter our understand- for many different cultures. The ing of the relations between Egypt site offered a chance to discover and Nubia for years to come, as the how domestic traders interacted materials from the Oriental Insti- with traders from foreign lands and Drawing a woven sandal found tute's Nubian expeditions are how they coped both with an in- in the excavations at Quseir. studied. hospitable environment and their remoteness from the great urban centers of their day. Three seasons of excavation, funded by the Smithsonian Insti- tution and the National Geo- graphic Society, have shown quite clearly that there were two pe- riods of occupation at Quseir: early Roman (first and second centuries A.D.) and medieval Islamic (thir- teenth and fourteenth centuries). This was a blessing in disguise, be- cause it provided a clear cross-sec- tion of two very different societies over one thousand years apart. Clarifying the economic and po- litical patterns of these two periods could suggest hypotheses for ulti- mately reconstructing the area's role in earlier times.

Quseir has presented some in- teresting archaeological chal- lenges, besides enabling Oriental Institute archaeologists to hone their skills and giving a few stu- dents an opportunity for some practical field experience. There are many riddles in sorting out and interpreting the decayed remains oi.uchicago.edu

of two cultures that were engaged in trade with many other cultures. So far, seven languages have been found in inscriptions at Quseir, giving some indication of the ex- tent of the trading zone. Quseir also provides an oppor- tunity to study the relations of the port to the urban centers in the Nile Valley that it served. Moreover, it poses the problem of explaining the rise and fall of the port in both Ro- man and Islamic times. On both occasions the port was established. [ " with initial optimism, and both times, apparently, outside stresses and the fragility of its artificial eco- nomic underpinning led to its fail- Excavating at Quseir al-Qadim. ure and collapse. As in any archaeological project, the work progresses from an in- formed hypothesis to proof or disproof. Areas of excavation are n selected each season in order to an- swer questions raised by the pre- ceding season's work. Without the patient labor it requires to collect Mrs uk K data in the field, we would know EGYPT far less than we do now about the achievements of ancient man and his ability to conquer his physical M ARABIA environment.

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Quseir and world trade; cour- tesy of Archaeology ?nagazine. oi.uchicago.edu

Reading the Record: The Demotic Dictionary

and rituals, the battles and coii- Egyptians covered the Ancientwalls and columns of their quests, the ceremonies, customs great buildings with pictures and and even the daily life of one of writing, making the writing part of the great civilizations of antiquity. the decoration. Early in their his- The challenge for modern man tory, they learned how to make pa- has been to read this record. Over per from papyrus and on this they the millennia while stone carvers, wrote even more-letters, legal artists and scribes labored to per- documents, literature and reli- petuate the story of gods and Pha- gious texts. For "scratch paper" they raohs and lesser mortals, the f'orm used potsherds and flakes of lime- of writing changed, as did the Wall decoration incorporating stone. All this activity has left an structure of the language-its writing within a scene. unusually rich record of the beliefs grammar, syntax and vocabulary. Three distinctive forms of writ- ing evolved: hieroglyphic, , and Demotic. Hieroglyphs, the decorative pictographs used as early as 3000 B.C., remained in use throughout the period of the Pha- raohs. It was the classical mediium for inscriptions carved on monu- ments and stone slabs. Standard dictionaries and grammars for reading hieroglyphic texts are readily available to the modern scholar. Hieratic, a script derived from hieroglyphs, was used mainly for texts written on papyrus when the purpose was to communicate rather than decorate. Basic re- search tools also exist for hieratic.

story. is another B utDemotic Demotic refers both to a fiorm oi.uchicago.edu

of writing and a stage in the de- cause of two obstacles. The first velopment of the language used in obstacle, the inherent difficulty of the late Egyptian period. For a the writing, has been illustrated by thousand years beginning around the following comparison: Hiero- 650 B.C., Egyptians used this ab- glyphic is to printing, as hieratic breviated, very cursive script for is to handwriting, as Demotic is to documents that may be the most shorthand. Relatively few Egyp- informative and interesting of all tologists have developed the special Egyptian writing. Yet most De- skills needed to deal with this ma- motic texts have been neglected be-

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complete. It was meant only for quick reference in reading the De- motic texts then in print. Since its publication, however, many De- motic texts have been published and considerable progress has been made in determining the accurate meanings of words. The Oriental Institute supplement will include all words in texts published be- tween 1955 and 1979 which are new or for which new meanings have been established, plus corrections and additional information about words included in the glossary. Twenty-five file drawers have al- ready been filled.

T he supplement will become the core of the comprehen- sive dictionary that is the long-term goal. It is also a testing ground for Studying Demotic papyri in the terial, thereby contributing to the techniques that will serve the larger Oriental Institute collection. second obstacle: the lack of ade- project. Demotists working on the quate reference tools. supplement believe that despite its This second obstacle is some- limited objective it will contain thing the Oriental Institute hopes enough new and accurate infor- to remedy. One of its major goals mation to encourage study of the is to develop a comprehensive De- collections of Demotic materials in motic dictionary. No other Amer- universities and museums ican institution has so strong a throughout the world. tradition of Demotic studies, and none has the number of trained A wealth of I)emotic material is Demotists and the extensive collec- available, material that is es- tion of Demotic materials to un- sential to give a picture of Egyptian dertake it. society as a whole. The word "De- The comprehensive dictionary is motic" derives from the Greek root a long-term project. As an interim "demos," meaning the common step, with funds provided by two people. Hieroglyphs were used to grants from the National Endow- tell of the prowess of kings and high ment for the Humanities, Chicago officials and the glory of the gods. Egyptologists are preparing a de- Although more mundane matters tailed supplement to the only lex- were recorded in hieratic in earlier icographical tool available to the times, relatively few such docu- Demotic student today, a glossary ments are extant today. Demotic published in German in 1954. That texts, on the other hand, survive glossary was never intended to be in great abundance and contain oi.uchicago.edu

an untapped store of information ture of life in the later years of an- about everyday affairs-legal mat- cient Egypt should emerge. ters, marriage contracts, tax re- Scholars will also be better ceipts, business documents, equipped to study the interaction property ownership, magical spells, between Egyptian and Greek cul- and even private letters. Litera- tures when both shared the Nile ture, which had flourished Valley. Our understanding of Egypt throughout Egyptian history, con- under Ptolemaic and Roman rule tinued to do so in the late period. will be changed significantly. Demotic literature is particularly Moreover, when a good dictio-

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important because some of it shows nary encourages the reading and familiarity with Greek literary tra- publication of previously unstud- ditions. Familiarity with Demotic ied Demotic texts, the new ma- sources can only enrich our un- terials will be important not only to derstanding of the Hellenistic students of Egyptology, but also to Mediterranean world, because for- those interested in ancient history, Computer print-out of the eigners who came as conquerors law, science, comparative litera- "new" words to be included in were much more influenced by ture, religion and . the supplement. Egyptian culture than Egyptians were by their invaders.

Most work on this late period has been done by classical scholars using only Greek texts. The picture, therefore, is incom- plete and one-dimensional. When basic reference tools are available and more scholars learn to read Demotic texts, a more accurate pic- oi.uchicago.edu

V ITraining Future Egyptologists

education. Students come to study Egyptology at the University of Chicago from all over the United States and many foreign countries. They are drawn to its reputation for excellence and by the scope of' its program. The University offers both a master's and a doctor's de- gree in Egyptology, and it is one of the few places where students can start work in Egyptology as under- graduates. The Oriental Institute also offers popular courses for the general public. It is hard to imagine a better - ting for the study of Egyptology than the Oriental Institute. On the first floor is the museum, with its The Egyptian Galler of the wealth of artifacts unearthed in past The Oriental Institute is a re- Oriental Institute Museum with search institution, but its fac- excavations throughout the Near the colossal .statue of Tutankh- ulty share a strong commitment to East. Its collections range from the amun on the right. teaching. The Egyptology pro- colossal to the mundane. A giant gram is almost as old as the Uni- statue of King Tutankhamun, versity of Chicago itself. In 1895 found in western Thebes, shares James Henry Breasted, then a space with items illuminating a by- promising but unknown scholar, gone daily life: seal impressions was appointed to the faculty, hold- from wine jars dating back to 3000 ing the first chair in Egyptology es- B.C.; tools found in a 1500 B.C. tablished in the United States. From "time capsule" from a temple; a the start, the program had two ob- group of small limestone statuettes jectives: to prepare professionals, from early dynasties showing peo- and to serve students who have a ple engaged in daily occupations- general interest in learning about men with agricultural tools, a ancient Egypt as part of a liberal woman mixing mash for beer, pot- oi.uchicago.edu

An Egvptolog, class. ters and butchers plying their trades, and musicians with harps and tambourines. Upstairs are faculty offices, class- rooms, and research facilities which include an excellent collection of books, maps, photographs and other resources necessary for the serious study of Egyptology. The nearby Joseph Regenstein Library has a virtually complete collection of books on Egypt.

O ne need not plan to be an Egyptologist to take courses in Egyptian history, art, archaeol- ogy, religion and literature, or even an introductory language course at the University of Chicago. Ad- vanced students, in acquiring a rig- Research Archives of the Oriental Institute. orous and comprehensive educa- tion, receive the added stimulation of "on-the:job" training in ongoing research projects of the Oriental Institute. RESU"Ci prCHVES- !.ECTOD'S LIBRARY C-R, 1LENTL iNJi TUTE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAG5 oi.uchicago.edu

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Ancient Egypt and Modern Man

all the modern conveniences we n an age in which pressing eco- nomic and social problems re- take for granted. main unresolved, what is ancient Egypt to us, and why study it? The E gyp)tology brings the world of answer is at once obvious and com- the hara(ohs to life. It intr)o- plex. The study of antiquity takes duces us to real people at work and us back to the origins of civilized play. The discovery of Egypt, in a society; and our search seems all sense, is really just beginning. Field the more urgent owing to our frag- (jects generate new materials f )r ile hold on the past-because, study. Each new publication brings through neglect and decay, the past older data into focus and leads to( recedes into oblivion and is lost. new understanding. The body )of Man's probes into the past, just knowledge is constantly growing as his work on the frontiers of sci- and being refined as it is handed entific knowledge, are rooted in the on from generation to generation. nature of man. The spectacular But all of this work is del)endent monuments of ancient Egypt, the on continued suppmort from those golden treasure, the beautiful art who recognize the importance and inspire curiosity as well as ad- value of the study of ancient Egypt. miration. With the decline of government But we are not satisfying an idle funds, the role of private philan- curiosity. A more serious dividend thropy becomes increasingly vital of the ancient past is that it throws to keep expeditions in the field and light on the present and on human maintain ongoing research and nature. Study of our predecessors, publications. The University of however distant, is both instructive Chicago is a private university, de- and interesting. Because Egyptian pendent on contributions from in- civilization is so old and existed for dividuals, foundations and corpo- so long, it affords an opportunity rations. Gifts to the Oriental Insti- for man to look at himself over a tute are tax deductible. Such very long period of time. It gives support will enable the Oriental In- us a feeling for the creativity and stitute to continue its long-standing resourcefulness of man, the heights commitment to preserving and in- to which man can rise and the qual- terpreting the past. ity of life he can achieve without 31 oi.uchicago.edu

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