Collection of the objects from The Babylonian Collection of the Department of Near Eastern Civilizations of the Yale University
The Babylonian Collection is an independent branch in the Yale University. It originated from a gift of J. Pierpont Morgan in 1909. It includes the largest assemblage of cuneiform inscriptions of the world and is one of the five largest in the United States as regards documents, seals, and other artifacts from ancient Mesopotamia. In addition, the Yale Babylonian Collection houses a small selection of South Arabian antiquities.
This group of objects includes 11 inscribed items, mainly bases of stela and statue, five alabaster heads, and three other small articles, i.e. one bull’s head, one small statue fragment and one small alabaster jar lid.
The items were purchased for Yale from Mr. C. Tutenberg by Prof. C. C. Torrey in 1926, with a subvention from Simeon Baldwin, former governor of the State of Connecticut. On the basis of the object typology and of the onomastics, Prof. F. Renfroe maintained that the items are Qatabanian and that their original provenance was Timnaʿ.
The Yale South Arabian collection was photographed in June 2012 by a team of the DASI project including Prof. Alessandra Avanzini, Alessia Prioletta (epigraphist) and Gianluca Buonomini (photographer). Ulla Kasten, YBC associated curator, provided us with her organizational support.
Photos are courtesy of the Yale Babylonian Collection.