The Cuneiform Texts in the Babylon Collection of the Istanbul Archaeological Museums (Eski Şark Eserleri Müzesi)

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Nils Heeßel; Professor Dr. Daniel Schwemer
• Subject Area: Egyptology and Ancient Near Eastern Studies
• Term: since 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 438042051

The Babylon collection in the Archaeological Museums of Istanbul (İstanbul Arkeoloji Müzeleri), the B collection of the Museum for Ancient Near Eastern Artefacts (Eski Şark Eserleri Müzesi), comprises more than 200 cuneiform manuscripts, dating to the Old, Middle and Neo-/Late Babylonian periods, as well as more than 40 cuneiform records from Assyria that were mistakenly assigned a B number. In addition, approximately 90 stamped bricks and a few other cuneiform inscriptions from Babylon are part of the archaeological collection of the museum and thus bear EŞEM numbers.The project “The Cuneiform Texts in the Babylon Collection of the Istanbul Archaeo¬logical Museums (Eski Şark Eserleri Müzesi)” aims to publish these cuneiform records, both in book form and as digital editions online (open access). Most of these documents have never been published and can be edited now for the first time within the framework of the commission of the Turkish authorities to Andreas Schachner (Deutsches Archäologisches Institut, Istanbul) to publish all Babylon finds housed at the Archaeological Museums of Istanbul.During an exploratory campaign in 2018, Nils P. Heeßel and Daniel Schwemer were able to catalogue and photograph the cuneiform records from Babylon at the Istanbul museum. On this basis, the work on the philological edition of the texts has now started.The editorial work on the cuneiform records from Babylon at the Archaeological Museums of Istanbul is linked to and will feed into other relevant projects, especially those concerned with the (much larger) Babylon collection at the Vorderasiatisches Museum in Berlin.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants