Excavated. Accumulated. Exhibited.

Introductory Texts:

"Hilprecht and the Archaeological Museum"

The conditions in Nippur made the excavations an exhausting undertaking for everyone involved. When Hilprecht was offered a position at the Archaeological Museum in Constantinople because of his expertise in cuneiform studies, he gratefully accepted with the approval of the University of Pennsylvania.

Between 1893 and 1903, he spent much of his time on the Bosporus rather than in the “hated” field, cataloguing tablets, including numerous finds from Nippur.

As a mark of special esteem, he was granted access to the museum’s storage collections, entrusted with its keys, and permitted to take tablets to his private quarters for study.

"Hilprecht and the Fate of the Finds"

Under the direction of Osman Hamdi Bey and in accordance with the Ottoman Antiquities Law, the Archaeological Museum was responsible for decisions regarding the registration, export, and allocation of the finds from Nippur.

Hilprecht proved to be a skilful negotiator on behalf of the University of Pennsylvania and succeeded in securing more favourable export arrangements for the university than his rival Peters.

The Ottoman officials held Hilprecht’s scholarly work for the museum in high regard. In recognition of his contributions, Sultan Abdul Hamid II presented portions of the Nippur finds to Hilprecht as a “gift.”

Object Labels:

"Osman Hamdi Bey" (c. 1900)

Hamdi Bey was an internationally renowned painter, archaeologist, and director of the Archaeological Museum in Constantinople.

In 1884, he drafted a stricter antiquities law intended to prevent the uncontrolled export of artefacts from the Ottoman Empire.

Under this law, duplicates of artefacts could be exported from the Ottoman Empire, under the condition that the Archaeological Museum retained one copy.

"Hermann Volrath Hilprecht" (c. 1900)

In Constantinople, Hilprecht also worked as co-curator at the Museum of the Ancient Orient, which was part of the Archaeological Museum under Hamdi Bey’s direction.

Hilprecht, who was familiar with ancient scripts, catalogued the finds from the excavations at Nippur for the museum.

He saw only limited value in the large number of ordinary texts discovered at Nippur. Therefore, he created a guide for his colleagues in Nippur explaining how to identify “valuable” objects and encouraged them to dig deeper.

"An Old Babylonian adoption contract" (c. 1730 BC)

This contract was concluded between two adult women. It was intended to provide for Lamassum in her old age, as her brothers were no longer able to support her due to rising food prices.

Through the contract, the adopted daughter Šāt-Šamaš committed herself to providing her adoptive mother Lamassum annually with grain, oil, and wool. In return, Lamassum transferred ownership of land to her adopted daughter.

The clay envelope of this contract is still preserved in Istanbul today. When the find was divided, the pieces belonging together were separated from one another.

About this translation:
This English version was created by students as part of the project. As a small-scale initiative, the translations were produced in-house and have not undergone professional language editing. We appreciate your understanding.