Digitizing the Yale Babylonian Collection

FAIN: PW-264077-19

Yale University (New Haven, CT 06510-1703)
Agnete Lassen (Project Director: July 2018 to October 2024)

Digitization of 35,000 cuneiform artifacts dating from the fourth millennium BCE to the first centuries CE, for online access via Yale digital collections portals and the Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative.

The project will create and disseminate comprehensive documentation for educational purposes and for research communities focused on deciphering the textual record of Mesopotamia and producing scholarship on the ancient Near East

Associated Products

Women at the Dawn of History (Exhibition)
Title: Women at the Dawn of History
Curator: Klaus Wagensonner
Curator: Agnete W. Lassen
Abstract: Tens of thousands of cuneiform texts, monumental sculptures, and images on terracotta reliefs and cylinder seals cast light on the fates of women at the dawn of history, from queens to female slaves, living at the bottom of society. In the patriarchal world of ancient Mesopotamia, women were often represented in their relation to men—as mothers, daughters, or wives—giving the impression that a woman’s place was in the home. But, as we explore in this exhibition, they were also authors and scholars, astute business-women, sources of expressions of eroticism, priestesses with access to major gods and goddesses, and regents who exercised power on behalf of kingdoms, states, and empires.
Year: 2020
Primary URL: http://https://babylonian-collection.yale.edu/outreach/exhibits
Primary URL Description: announcement of the exhibit

Women at the Dawn of History (Catalog)
Title: Women at the Dawn of History
Author: Klaus Wagensonner
Author: Agnete W. Lassen
Abstract: This lavishly illustrated volume gives a voice to women who lived millennia ago in Mesopotamia, present-day Iraq, Syria and Turkey, and explores their roles, representations and contributions to society. Tens of thousands of cuneiform texts, monumental sculptures, and images on terracotta reliefs and cylinder seals cast light on the fates of women at the dawn of history, from queens to female slaves. In the patriarchal world of ancient Mesopotamia, women were often represented in their relation to men—as mothers, daughters, or wives—giving the impression that a woman’s place was in the home. But, as we explore in this volume, they were also authors and scholars, astute business-women, sources of expressions of eroticism, priestesses with access to major gods and goddesses, and regents who exercised power on behalf of kingdoms, states, and empires. This volume accompanies an exhibition at the Babylonian Collection in the Sterling Memorial Library, showcasing artefacts and texts relating to women, many never exhibited or published before.
Year: 2020
Primary URL: https://babylonian-collection.yale.edu/women-dawn-history
Primary URL Description: online announcement
Secondary URL: http://https://babylonian-collection.yale.edu/sites/default/files/files/Lassen_Wagensonner_Women_at_the_Dawn_of_History_2020%20reduced.pdf
Secondary URL Description: pdf of the publication
Catalog Type: Exhibition Catalog
Publisher: Yale Babylonian Collection

Women at the Dawn of History (Conference/Institute/Seminar)
Title: Women at the Dawn of History
Author: Klaus Wagensonner
Author: Agnete W. Lassen
Author: Eckart Frahm
Abstract: This full day symposium features talks, discussions, and Museum displays exploring women's contributions to history in ancient Mesopotamia In the patriarchal world of ancient Mesopotamia, women were often represented in their relation to men—as mothers, daughters, or wives—giving the impression that a woman’s place was in the home. But, as we explore in this symposium, they were also authors and scholars, astute business-women, sources of expressions of eroticism, priestesses with access to major gods and goddesses, and regents who exercised power on behalf of kingdoms, states, and empires. This full-day symposium features talks, discussions, and museum displays exploring the roles and representations of women in ancient Mesopotamia. Zainab Bahrani (Columbia University), author of the acclaimed book Women of Babylon, will deliver the keynote address. Ticket price includes the newly released book, Women at the Dawn of History, edited by Agnete W. Lassen and Klaus Wagensonner. Tickets also include a light breakfast and lunch, as well as exclusive tours of the exhibits Ancient Mesopotamia Speaks at the Yale Peabody Museum and Women at the Dawn of History at the Yale Sterling Memorial Library.
Date Range: February 29, 2020
Location: Main auditorium, Yale Peabody Museum, Kline Geology Laboratory
Primary URL: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/women-at-the-dawn-of-history-symposium-tickets-93299056991#
Primary URL Description: eventbrite signup
Secondary URL: https://babylonian-collection.yale.edu/event/symposium-women-dawn-history
Secondary URL Description: web ad

Light matters. On cataloguing and digitizing cuneiform artifacts (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: Light matters. On cataloguing and digitizing cuneiform artifacts
Author: Klaus Wagensonner
Abstract: talk on correct imaging of cuneiform artifacts
Date: 09/06/2019
Conference Name: Workshop Cuneiform Tablets: Origins, trafficking and best practices for the future,” Smithsonian Museum, Washington/DC

Digitizing Ancient Worlds (Course or Curricular Material)
Title: Digitizing Ancient Worlds
Author: Roderick MacIntosh
Author: Agnete W. Lassen
Author: Klaus Wagensonner
Author: John Darnell
Abstract: If one of the goals of the archaeologist is to interpret the ancient landscape as seen through the eyes of past peoples, we must employ the new tools offered by digital technologies, such as 3D imaging, to imagine and recreate what those ancient people might visually have perceived. Yale is increasingly employing new technologies of computer graphics to support current research in archaeology and anthropology. Students will learn, both theoretically and practically, the basics of these techniques and how these are supporting on-going archaeological expeditions and museum collections. Foundational to the course will be the interpretation of epigraphic and archaeological material within the broader context of landscape, by means of creating a virtual model to reconstruct the sensory experiences of the ancient peoples who created those sites.
Year: 2019
Audience: Undergraduate

Build your own exhibition: Women at the Dawn of History (Article)
Title: Build your own exhibition: Women at the Dawn of History
Author: Elizabeth Knott
Author: Agnete W. Lassen
Author: Klaus Wagensonner
Abstract: “Build Your Own Exhibition: Women at the Dawn of History,” in P. Durgun (ed.) An Educator’s Handbook: Teaching about the Ancient World. ArchaeoPress: Oxford, 65-68
Year: 2020
Primary URL: https://www.archaeopress.com/ArchaeopressShop/Public/download.asp?id={2610430B-364D-4E4D-A788-540E702B4ED0}
Primary URL Description: link for the download of the pdf of the book at the publisher's website
Secondary URL: https://www.archaeopress.com/ArchaeopressShop/Public/displayProductDetail.asp?id=%7B48586A9F-7C7A-4840-97AD-3C33D17D6E2A%7D
Secondary URL Description: publisher's description of the volume
Access Model: open access
Format: Other
Periodical Title: An Educator’s Handbook: Teaching about the Ancient World.
Publisher: ArchaeoPress

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