AJA Open Access

January 2019 (123.1)

Image Gallery

The Middle East Galleries at the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, Philadelphia: A Permanent Exhibit

By Marian H. Feldman

View Article Abstract

Unless otherwise noted in the caption, images are by the author. Images are not edited by the AJA to the same level as those in the published article.

Fig. 1. Visitors examine renderings of the Great Death Pit at Ur in which six male guards and 68 female royal attendants are believed to have been bludgeoned to death and sent to join Queen Puabi in the afterlife (E. Sucar; courtesy Penn Museum, Philadelphia).

Fig. 2. A view in the Penn Museum’s Middle East Galleries. On the right, finely crafted jewelry made of gold and precious stones, excavated from the royal tombs at Ur. The central case features materials from the excavation of a warrior’s grave, dating to ca. 100 years after the royal tombs at Ur, likely the tomb of an important warrior, who was richly adorned and buried along with numerous weapons. In the background is visible the resin-cast reconstruction of Ur-Namma’s stele from ca. 2100 B.C.E. (courtesy Penn Museum, Philadelphia).

Fig. 3. The Bull Lyre, found in the King’s Grave at the Royal Cemetery of Ur, ca. 2450 B.C.E. It was associated with the sun god Utu/Shamash, who proclaimed the destinies of both the living and the dead (E. Sucar; courtesy Penn Museum, Philadelphia).

Fig. 4. In the center of the third gallery space, a monumental relief of Assyrian winged genie from the Palace of Ashurnasirpal II (r. 883–859 B.C.E.), Nimrud, Iraq (courtesy Penn Museum, Philadelphia).

Fig. 5. A Khusraw Watching Shirin Bathing, from a copy of Nizami’s Khamsa by Qasim Katib Muharram-Jumada II, 1583 C.E., obj. no. NEP3, fol. 49B. The exhibition features a changing selection of pages from this copy of the 12th-century quintet of stories in verse, the most beloved storybook in Persian culture (courtesy Penn Museum, Philadelphia).

Fig. 1. Visitors examine renderings of the Great Death Pit at Ur in which six male guards and 68 female royal attendants are believed to have been bludgeoned to death and sent to join Queen Puabi in the afterlife (E. Sucar; courtesy Penn Museum, Philadelphia).

Fig. 2. A view in the Penn Museum’s Middle East Galleries. On the right, finely crafted jewelry made of gold and precious stones, excavated from the royal tombs at Ur. The central case features materials from the excavation of a warrior’s grave, dating to ca. 100 years after the royal tombs at Ur, likely the tomb of an important warrior, who was richly adorned and buried along with numerous weapons. In the background is visible the resin-cast reconstruction of Ur-Namma’s stele from ca. 2100 B.C.E. (courtesy Penn Museum, Philadelphia).

Fig. 3. The Bull Lyre, found in the King’s Grave at the Royal Cemetery of Ur, ca. 2450 B.C.E. It was associated with the sun god Utu/Shamash, who proclaimed the destinies of both the living and the dead (E. Sucar; courtesy Penn Museum, Philadelphia).

Fig. 4. In the center of the third gallery space, a monumental relief of Assyrian winged genie from the Palace of Ashurnasirpal II (r. 883–859 B.C.E.), Nimrud, Iraq (courtesy Penn Museum, Philadelphia).

Fig. 5. A Khusraw Watching Shirin Bathing, from a copy of Nizami’s Khamsa by Qasim Katib Muharram-Jumada II, 1583 C.E., obj. no. NEP3, fol. 49B. The exhibition features a changing selection of pages from this copy of the 12th-century quintet of stories in verse, the most beloved storybook in Persian culture (courtesy Penn Museum, Philadelphia).