Ennigaldi-Nanna's Museum in Mesopotamia

Coordinates: 30°57′42″N 46°6′19″E

Ennigaldi-Nanna's museum

Archeological excavations at the palace grounds
Location within Iraq
Established	Circa 530 BCE
Dissolved	5th century-BCE
Location	Ancient Ur
Coordinates	30.961667°N 46.105278°E
Type	Mesopotamian artifacts
Curator	Princess Ennigaldi

A clay cylinder inscribed with a description in three languages, as used in Ennigaldi's museum to accompany an ancient artifact; these are the earliest known "museum labels".

Ennigaldi-Nanna's museum is the earliest known public museum.^[1] It dates to circa 530 BCE.^[2][3][4][5] The curator was Ennigaldi, the daughter of Nabonidus, the last king of the Neo-Babylonian Empire.^[6] It was in the state of Ur, in the modern-day Dhi Qar Governorate of Iraq, roughly 150 metres (490 ft) southeast of the famous Ziggurat of Ur.^[7]

Discovery

The museum was discovered in 1925, when archaeologist Leonard Woolley excavated portions of the palace and temple complex at Ur.^[5] He found dozens of artifacts, neatly arranged side by side, whose ages varied by centuries. He determined that they were actually museum pieces, because they were accompanied by "museum labels" — clay drums with labels in three different languages, including Sumerian.^{[which?][5][8][7][9]}

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^[10] as well as subsidiary buildings.^[5][11][12]

Ennigaldi's father Nabonidus, an antiquarian and antique restorer,^[4] is known as the first serious archeologist.^[2] He taught her to appreciate ancient artifacts^[4] and influenced her to create her educational antiquity museum.^[2]

The artifacts came from the southern regions of Mesopotamia.^[4] 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.^[12] Some are thought to have been excavated by Ennigaldi herself.^[4]

Ennigaldi stored the artifacts in a temple next to the palace where she lived.^[4] She used the museum pieces to explain the history of the area and to interpret material aspects of her dynasty's heritage.^[8]

Some of these artifacts were:

• A kudurru, Kassite boundary marker (carved with a snake and emblems of various gods).
• Part of a statue of King Shulgi
• A clay cone that had been part of a building at Larsa.^[3]

References

1. 
   

Quinn, Therese (2020). About Museums, Culture, and Justice to Explore in Your Classroom. Teachers College Press. p. 11. ISBN 978-0-8077-6343-8.

Anzovin & Podell 2000, p. 69, Item # 1824: "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."

Casey 2009, "Public Museum": "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."

Dolezal 1987, p. 20: "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.

León 1995, pp. 36–37: "...the first known museum..."

McIntosh 1999, p. 4

Woolley & Moorey 1982, pp. 252–259

Encyclopaedia Britannica 1997, p. 481

Budge, E. A. (1926). "The Excavations at Ur of the Chaldees". The Book of the Cave of Treasures. p. 275.

Woolley 1954, p. 235

HarperCollins 1997, p. 23

Nash 2003, p. 12

1. [Encompassed within Iraqi territory is the ancient land of Sumer, which came into being between 6000 and 5000 BC during the Neolithic Ubaid period of Mesopotamian history, and is widely considered the oldest civilization in recorded history.  It is also the historic center of the Akkadian, Neo-Sumerian, Babylonian, Neo-Assyrian, and Neo-Babylonian empires, a succession of local ruling dynasties that reigned over Mesopotamia and various other regions of the Ancient Near East during the Bronze and Iron Ages.^[1]  Iraq during antiquity witnessed some of the world's earliest writing, literature, sciences, mathematics, laws and philosophies; hence its common epithet, the Cradle of Civilization. 

FROM https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Iraq]