Ennigaldi-Nanna's museum
{{short description|Earliest known museum}}
{{Infobox museum
| name = Ennigaldi-Nanna's museum
| native_name =
| native_name_lang =
| image = Ur-Nassiriyah.jpg
| caption = Archeological excavations at the palace grounds
| alt =
| map_type = Iraq
| map_caption =
| map_alt =
| coordinates = {{coord|30.961667|46.105278|display=inline}}
| established = Circa 530 BCE
| dissolved = 5th century-BCE
| location = Ancient Ur
| type = Mesopotamian artifacts
| collection =
| visitors =
| director =
| president =
| curator = Princess Ennigaldi
| publictransit =
| network =
| website =
}}
Ennigaldi-Nanna's museum is the earliest known public museum.{{Cite book |last=Quinn |first=Therese |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OwbZDwAAQBAJ |title=About Museums, Culture, and Justice to Explore in Your Classroom |date=2020 |publisher=Teachers College Press |isbn=978-0-8077-6343-8 |pages=11 |language=en}} It dates to circa 530 BCE.{{harvnb|Anzovin|Podell|2000|p=69 |loc=Item # 1824|ps=: "The first museum known to historians (circa 530 BCE) was that of Ennigaldi-Nanna, the daughter of Nabu-na'id (Nabonidus), the last king to Babylonia."}}{{harvnb |Casey|2009 |loc="Public Museum" |ps=: "Around 530 B.C.E. in Ur, an educational museum containing a collection of labeled antiquities was founded by Ennigaldi-Nanna the, daughter of Nabonidus, the last king of Babylonia."}}{{harvnb|Dolezal|1987|p=20|ps=: "Princess Ennigaldi-Nanna, collected antiques from the southern regions of Mesopotamia, which she stored in a temple at Ur – the first known museum in the world. }}{{harvnb|León|1995| pp= 36–37 |ps=: "...the first known museum..."}} The curator was Ennigaldi, the daughter of Nabonidus, the last king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire.{{harvnb |McIntosh|1999|p= 4}} It was in the state of Ur, in the modern-day Dhi Qar Governorate of Iraq, roughly {{convert|150|m|ft|}} southeast of the famous Ziggurat of Ur.{{harvnb|Woolley|Moorey|1982| pp= 252–259}}
Discovery
The museum was discovered in 1925, when archaeologist Leonard Woolley excavated portions of the palace and temple complex at Ur.
He found dozens of artifacts, neatly arranged side by side, whose ages varied by centuries. He determined that they were museum pieces, because they were accompanied by "museum labels"; clay drums written in three different languages, including Sumerian. {{harvnb|Encyclopaedia Britannica|1997| p= 481}}{{cite book |chapter-url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/bct/bct12.htm |chapter=The Excavations at Ur of the Chaldees |year=1926 |title=The Book of the Cave of Treasures |first1=E. A. |last1=Budge |page=275}}
History
The palace grounds that included the museum were at the ancient building referred to as E-Gig-Par, which included Ennigaldi's living quarters{{harvnb|Woolley|1954|page=235}} as well as subsidiary buildings.{{harvnb|HarperCollins|1997|p= 23}}{{harvnb|Nash|2003|p= 12}}
Ennigaldi's father Nabonidus, an antiquarian and antique restorer, is known as the first serious archeologist. He taught her to appreciate ancient artifacts and influenced her to create her educational antiquity museum.
The artifacts came from the southern regions of Mesopotamia.
Many had originally been excavated by Nabonidus and were from as early as the 20th century BCE. Some artifacts had been collected previously by Nebuchadnezzar. Some are thought to have been excavated by Ennigaldi herself.
Ennigaldi stored the artifacts in a temple next to the palace where she lived.
She used the museum pieces to explain the history of the area and to interpret material aspects of her dynasty's heritage.
Some of these artifacts were:
References
{{reflist}}
Sources
- {{cite book|last1=Anzovin|first1=Steven|last2=Podell|first2=Janet|title=Famous First Facts, International Edition: A Record of First Happenings, Discoveries, and Inventions in World History|year=2000|publisher=H.W. Wilson|isbn=978-0-8242-0958-2}}
- {{cite book|author=Encyclopaedia Britannica|title=The New Encyclopaedia Britannica|edition=15|volume=2|year=1997|isbn=978-0-85229-633-2}}
- {{cite book|last1=Casey|first1=Wilson|title=Firsts: Origins of Everyday Things That Changed the World|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OXT0MyOjhnIC|date=6 October 2009|publisher=DK Publishing|isbn=978-1-101-15946-0}}
- {{cite book|author=HarperCollins|title=HarperCollins atlas of archaeology|year=1997|publisher=Borders Press in association with HarperCollinsPublishers|isbn=978-0-7230-1005-0}}
- {{cite book|last1=Dolezal|first1=Robert J.|title=Reader's Digest Book of Facts|year=1987|publisher=Reader's Digest Association|isbn=978-0-89577-256-5}}
- {{cite book|last1=León|first1=Vicki|title=Uppity Women of Ancient Times|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j5trIcqYmT0C|date=1 January 1995|publisher=Conari Press|isbn=978-1-57324-010-9}}
- {{cite book|last1=McIntosh|first1=Jane|title=The Practical Archaeologist: How We Know what We Know about the Past|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qBtBPgAACAAJ|year=1999|publisher=Facts On File|isbn=978-0-8160-3950-0}}
- {{cite journal |editor-last=Nash |editor-first=Stephen Edward |title=Curators, collections, and contexts: anthropology at the Field Museum, 1893-2002 |date=September 30, 2003 |issue=36 |journal=Fieldiana: Anthropology |volume=1525 |publisher=Field Museum of Natural History |jstor=i29782661 }}
- {{cite book|last1=Woolley|first1=Leonard|last2=Moorey|first2=Peter Roger Stuart|title=Ur 'of the Chaldees'|year=1982|publisher=Herbert Press|isbn=978-0-906969-21-2}}
- {{cite book|last1=Woolley|first1=Leonard|title=Excavations at Ur: A Record of Twelve Years' Work|year=1954|publisher=Ernest Benn Limited|location=Great Britain|isbn=978-0-8152-0110-6}}
{{coord|30|57|42|N|46|6|19|E|type:landmark|display=title}}
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