Nederlands Instituut voor het Nabije Oosten, Leiden Videos

WEEK VAN HET OUDE SCHRIFT – Vergeet u niet aan te melden for het Week van het oude schrift. Het vindt plaats van 14 t/m 21 september 2023, van 17.00-18.00 uur, in het Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Tempelzaal. De lezingen zijn gratis. Meer informatie over het programma en aanmelden via: https://www.rmo.nl/uw-bezoek/activiteiten/week-van-het-oude-schrift/.

WEEK VAN HET OUDE SCHRIFT – 8 t/m 16 september 2022 Volg lezingen over oude schriften uit het Middellandse Zeegebied en Nabije Oosten, zoals hiërogliefen, spijkerschrift, het latijnse alfabet, en over nog niet ontcijferde schriften. Entree is gratis! Programma & aanmelding via de RMO-website. #weekvanhetoudeschrift is een samenwerking tussen Rijksmuseum van Oudheden, Taalmuseum, Things That Talk en NINO.

COVID-19 UPDATE – Face masks no longer compulsory at Leiden University... including in the NINO Library!

Micro-CT scan of clay tablet in envelope (NINO, Leiden: Böhl Collection)
SEEING THROUGH CLAY: THE INVISIBLE TRANSLATED – Wrapped snugly in its envelope, this clay tablet has been hidden from view for some 4000 years. Do envelope and tablet carry the same information? On the micro-CT scans made at TU Delft we can now see that the master text inside actually has a bit more. Rients de Boer translates: ENVELOPE: Received 15,280 liters of sesame seeds in the “gur” measure of the king from Lu-Ningirsu, son of Bazi. Signed by Ur-Abba. Date: the year Enmaḫgalanna, in which the En-priestess of Nanna was installed ( = regnal year 4 of Amar-Suen, King of Ur = ca. 2041 BCE). The seal on the envelope reads “The scribe Ur-Abba, son of Bazi” and shows a standing man who is introduced to a seated deity by a protective goddess. TABLET: 11,050 liters of sesame seeds in the “gur” measure of the king, the first time; 4,230 liters the second time – from Lu-Ningirsu, for the labor of the female workers, Ur-Abba has received. Date: the year Enmaḫgalanna, in which the En-priestess of Nanna was installed ( = same as on envelope). Note that this document from ancient Girsu, a province in the Kingdom of Ur, is a delivery made from brother to brother: Lu-Ningirsu and Ur-Abba have the same father. The tablet specifies that the sesame was delivered in two instalments, and that it was payment for work done by “the female workers”. One might imagine that Lu-Ningirsu had commissioned textiles, beer, or other commodities from a workshop owned by his brother Ur-Abba, and paid him in produce from his sesame farm. For full transcription and translation, and additional images, see www.nino-leiden.nl/message/seeing-through-clay-4000-year-old-tablets-in-hypermodern-ct-scanner Video: micro-CT scans of a clay tablet in an envelope, from the Ur III Period (Böhl Collection, NINO Leiden, inv.no. LB 2640). Images by Dominique Ngan-Tillard, Delft University of Technology.

Rolling a cylinder seal
ROLLING A CYLINDER SEAL – Placing a signature, Mesopotamian style: Carmen Gütschow making an impression of a cylinder seal from our Böhl Collection.

Rients showing Böhl objects to VU students
TEACHING WITH THE BÖHL COLLECTION – Last Friday, a group of students from VU University, Amsterdam, visited us with their professor Rients de Boer. Rients, who has worked extensively with the cuneiform inscriptions in our Böhl Collection in Leiden, introduced his students to a few of the most important objects in our collection. In this short clip he shows an inscribed clay nail to his students, while several cuneiform tablets and terracottas are on the table.