Collection of Ancient Oriental Studies

The collection of Mesopotamic cuneiform texts that only came into existence after World War II covers the entire area of the development of writing in the Ancient Orient from the 3rd until the 1st millennium BC. Over this long time span, the gradual changes of the pictograms can be followed. The texts give an insight into different genres of ancient oriental writing such as official documents, letters, lexical lists and royal inscriptions. Items of craftwork like original seals and copies of ancient oriental sculptures and relief art supplement the collection. A medal commemorates Georg Friedrich Grotefend, one of the early pioneers of Ancient Oriental Studies and one of the first researchers who managed to decipher cuneiforms in part.

To the collection in the eMuseum