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FromtheDirector's

Study

'NCE MORE IT IS A PLEASURE to greet the members and f r iends ofthe Or i en t a l In s t i t u t e and to g ive t hem a f ew g l impses i n to t he worki t has been do ing increas ing ly wi th t he i r he lp and the i r suppor t .

In m any respec t s t he year 1956-57 was o f c ruc i a l im por t a nce fo r t hoseconcerned wi th t he Near Eas t , par t l y because o f t he compl i ca t i onsdeve lop ing on th e po l i t i ca l scene and pa r t l y because o f t he g ro w ingin t e res t i n t he monumen t s and the s tudy o f t he anc i en t pas t . Need lessto say , we have been deeply concerned in and af fected by these developmen t s . Happ i ly , ou r pos i t i on bo th a t home and ab road has beens t r eng thened by the competence o f ou r s t a f f members and by the ass i s t ance we have r ece ived f rom many hands .

1956-57 marked the f i r s t year i n wh ich an a r r angemen t worked ou twi th t he Chance l lo r o f t he Un iver s i t y o f Ch icago made i t poss ib l e fo ru s t o d r a w o u r su p p o r t p r o p o r t i o n a t e l y fr o m e n d o w m e n t i n c o m e , c o n t r i bu t ions f rom Univer s i t y funds , a spec i a l g i f t f rom Mr . John D.R o c k e f e ll e r, J r . , a n d a m a t c h i n g c o n t r i b u t i o n f r o m o u r M e m b e r s h i pIncome Fund . Indeed , t he i n t e res t and suppor t shown by ou r Ch icagomembers and f r i ends p l ayed no smal l par t i n mak ing ava i l ab l e t o u sth e g if t o f M r . Rockefe l l e r . Th e mem bers h ip , t here fo re , no w sharess igni f icant ly in al l we do .

Wi th t he use o f t hese funds , we have become increas ing ly ac t i ve i n

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able to recrui t a smal l number of new staff members in thej un i o r b r acke t s . We hav e en te r ed upon an a r r angem en t w i t hthe Univers i ty Press tha t fac i l i t a tes and has tens the publ ica-t ion of our books . Ways and means have been found for theexchange of v i s i t s be tween our s t a f f members and the scholarso f o t he r i n s t i t u t i ons a t hom e and ab r oad . We have deve l opededuca t i ona l con t ac t s be t ween ou r Mus eum and t he s choo l s o ft he Gr ea t e r Ch i cago a r ea . We have en r i ched t he ho l d i ngs o fo u r M u s e u m .

The tempo of our ac t iv i ty has been s tepped up , and we canalready foresee a s t i l l faster tempo in the coming year .

C A R L H . K R A E L I N GDirector

V

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IM N SPITE OF DISTURBED pol i t ica l condi t ions , r i s ing pr ices for se rv ices ,

s c a r c i ty o f ma te r i a l s , a n d t ig h te n in g c o n t r o l s , th e I n s t i tu te ' s wo r k ini ts chosen f ie ld , the Near Eas t , con t inued dur ing the year 1956-57a lmos t as p lanned .

In Egypt the s ize of the Epigraphic Survey s ta f f was cu t in ha lf bythe inab i l i ty o f our th ree Br i t i sh a r t is ts and our Br i t i sh engineer tojoin the group. This reduced the scope of our effor ts , but our Americans ta f f members , Dr . and Mrs . Hughes and Dr . and Mrs . Nims and onear t is t w h o is a r es iden t o f Eg yp t , r ema ined a t Chica go Ho use evenwh e n b o mb s we r e f a l l in g o n th e Lu x o r a i r p o r t . Th e y u s e d th e q u ie twin te r to tack le the par t icu la r ly d i f f icu l t job of t r ac ing the insc r ip t ionson the round co lumns in the hypos ty le ha l l o f the Temple of RamsesI I I a t Me d in e t Ha b u a n d h a v e th e s a t i s f a c t io n o f k n o win g th a t th e s ema te r i a l s , in a c c e s s ib le to p h o to g r a p h y , h a v e n o w b e e n r e c o r d e d .

I n I r a q th e I n s t i tu te jo in e d wi th th e Ame r ic a n Sc h o o l s o f Or ie n ta lResearch to under take a survey of the anc ien t mounds be tween theTigr is and Euphra tes in the a rea sou th of Baghdad . The survey teamw as led by Dr . Ro ber t M . Ada ms , J r . , o f Ch icag o , wh o was ass is tedb y Dr . Va u g h n Cr a wf o r d o f Ya le Un iv e r s i ty . Th e wo r k wa s in te n d e dto recons truc t and de l inea te on the map the anc ien t i r r iga t ion cana ls y s te ms u p o n wh ic h th e e c o n o my o f th e c i t i e s a n d to wn s d e p e n d e dand to de te rm ine f rom o bserv a t ion w ha t could be d iscovered abo ut th e

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eco l ogy o f t he g r ea t u r ban deve l opm en t i n sou t he r n M esopo t am i a i nea r li e s t t i m es . Req u i r i ng con t i nuous bo ne - sha t t e r i ng ove r l and t r ave lin j eeps and week- and month- long absences f rom center s of c iv i l i zat ion , the en terpr i se was an epic of gr i t and physica l endurance and hasproved of grea t impor tance not only to scholar sh ip but a l so to theI raq government in i t s e f for t s to increase the present -day economicpo t e n t i a l o f t he c oun t r y .

The spr ing months of 1957 saw an Ins t i tu t e expedi t ion r e turn toLibya for fur ther work a t t he P to lemaic c i ty s i t e of Tolmei t a inCyrenaica . Here a v i l l a of the ear ly Roman per iod , which had beenpar t ly excavated dur ing the spr ing of 1956, was comple te ly c l eared ,ph o t og r ap hed , and d r aw n , so t ha t i ts pub l i ca t i on can no w be unde r t aken . The work adds ef f ec t ive ly to our knowledge of r es idence cons t ruc t ion , of the use of geomet r i c and p ic tor i a l f loor mosaics , and oft he cha r ac t e r o f w a l l pa i n t i ng i n t h i s r eg i on . S i m u l t aneous l y , excava t i on w as begun i n ano t he r i m por t an t bu i l d i ng l oca t ed i n t he cen t r a lpar t of the ancient c i ty . Thi s proved to have been a publ i c ba th , suchas th e Ro ma ns and th e Byzan t ines a ft e r them enjoyed an d used a l so forsocia l and munic ipa l purposes . I t was d i scovered tha t the l a rge loungeor grand foyer of the ba th had been adorned wi th a number of marbles t a tues . Severa l of these have been ass igned to the Ins t i tu t e in thediv i s ion of f inds and wi l l be mounted in the Ins t i tu t e Museum.

Excavations at Tolmeita, Libya

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mr*i H E FA C T TH A T TH E N EA R EA ST i s t he O r i en t a l I n s t i t u t e ' s l abo r a t o r y does no t^ t n e a n th a t a l l our w or k i s don e over seas . Fo r tun ate ly , and necessar i ly ,

we have a home base and are an in t egra l par t of a grea t educat ionaland r e sea r ch o r gan i sm , t he U n i ve r s i t y o f Ch i cago .At our home base , Breas ted Hal l (see Cover) , our twenty-f ive staf fm em ber s pa r t i c i pa t e i n t he educa t i ona l l if e o f t he academ i c c om m u ni t yto which they be long. Here they ac t as t eacher s of s tudent s a t t he co l -

Y/yOffc l e e a n d g r adua t e l eve ls , g i v i ng i n s t r uc t i on i n h i s t o r y , a r cheo l ogy ,ancient a r t , and an amazing var i e ty of or i en ta l l anguages , a l l t oo l s

, needed for prof ic i ency and l eader s hip in th e r ed i scove ry and in terpre -Cvv t a t io n of th e ancie nt wor ld , Classroom s, s lide and s tudy col l ec t ions

of or ig ina l mater i a l s , and a l ibrary are on hand for the i r use .f j f )/yy)P A t ou r Ch i cago headqua r t e r s a l l t he ob j ec t s , d r aw i ngs , r eco r ds , and

photographs of the f i e ld expedi t ions are r ece ived , s tudied , processed ,and s t o r ed a com pl i ca t ed en t e r p r i s e . O ur i nven t o r i e s pe r m i t u s t oloca te , a t a moment ' s not i ce , a bead found in the excavat ion of ag iven room in an o ld Sumer ian t em ple in 1935, a ph ot og ra ph ofa pa in ted j a r f rom a g iven s t r a tu m of a mo und in I r an , or th e he igh tabove da tum of a f loor in a Hi t t i t e bui ld ing in Turkey.U s i ng o r i g i na l m a t e r i a l s p r oduced by t he excava t i ons and t he r e search ac t iv i t i es of ins t i tu t ions the wor ld over , we engage in r esearchenterpr i ses a t home qui t e as impor tant as those under t aken in the f i e ld .Such are the grea t pro jec t s of prepar ing the mater i a l for the f i r s t r ea lAssyr i an Dic t ionary , the l a rge col l ec t ion of Egypt i an Cof f in Text s , t he

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ed i t i on of t he B o ok of t he Dead . B ut i t i s no t on l y our ow n pro j ec t st ha t a re s e rved and se rv i ced f rom C hi cago bu t a l so t hose o f o t he rs . Wepe r form ex t ens i ve se rv i ces fo r t hose w h o a re i n t he p roce ss o f p repa r i ngor i l l us t ra t i ng b ook s . W e pro v i de se rv i ces and i n form a t i on t o sch o l a r sand educa t i ona l i ns t i t u t i ons wi t hout cos t and t o commerc i a l pub l i she rsfor a fee.

The u l t i ma t e purpose o f a l l our work i s pub l i c a t i on , and i n t h i s wehav e a h i g h and env i ab l e rep u t a t i on , wi t h ov e r a hun dred and f if tyi m po r t an t vo l umes t o our c red i t ( a sk fo r our c a t a l og ue ) . A new cont rac t be t ween ourse l ve s and t he Uni ve rs i t y o f C hi cago Pre s s once moreg i ve s us compl e t e con t ro l ove r t he p roduc t i on , p r i c i ng , and d i s t r i but i on of our many books . Four i mpor t an t vo l umes we re i s sued i n 1956-57, f i ve o t he rs a re i n p repa ra t i on , t wo have been repr i n t ed , and t hesuppl y of t w en t y t i t l e s t h a t w e re " ou t o f s t o ck " ha s been rep l en i shedb y a d d i n g t o t h e b o u n d c o p i e s . O n e b o o k b y a n I n s t i t u t e a u t h o r w a spubl i shed t h i s yea r i n Arab i c t r ans l a t i on ; ano t he r i s be i ng t r ans l a t edi n t o I ran i an . You can i magi ne t ha t our Edi t o r i a l Of f i c e , whe re a l lmanusc r i p t s a re p roce ssed and proof read , i s a beeh i ve of a c t i v i t y .

In the adminis t ra t ive off ices the fa r-f lung threads of our enterpr i seand t he i n t r i c a t e web of our re l a t i onsh i ps a re he l d t oge t he r andbro ug ht t o a focal po i n t . He re ques t i ons g rea t and sma l l , pe r sona l ,i n s t i t u t i o n a l , p r o m o t i o n a l , h i s t o r i c a l , d i p l o m a t i c , a n d i n t e r n a t i o n a lrece i ve such a t t en t i on a s t i me may a f ford fo r t he s t reng t hen i ng of t hee n t i r e w o r k i n g o r g a n i s m , i t s p u r p o s e s , a n d a c h i e v e m e n t s .

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