December 6, 2017-September 2018, Divinity Library
Often called the cradle of civilization, the ancient Near East witnessed the emergence of remarkable cultures from the fourth through the first millennia BCE. From those cultures surfaced novel systems of writing that addressed the range of lived experience, artistic and literary expression, and history and politics. While plentiful but not ubiquitous, clay became the medium for communication in inscriptions, in addition to its role as an essential material for construction, figurines and utensils. The Vanderbilt Divinity Library’s Cultures in Clay: The Shaping of Ancient Near East Civilizations exhibit showcases original artifacts from this period, as well as photographs and descriptions, to provide an overview of these civilizations and their contributions to our understanding of the ancient Near East.
View Online: Cultures in Clay | Digital Exhibit