Institute of Ancient Cultures of West Asia and North Africa

About

In May 1919, Egyptologist James Henry Breasted founded the institute as the University of Chicago's first research unit. John D. Rockefeller Jr. pledged $50,000 over five years, later matched by another $50,000, underwriting its early years. Breasted envisioned a laboratory tracing the roots of Western civilization back to the ancient societies of West Asia and North Africa. The museum building was completed in 1930 and dedicated in 1931, raised in Gothic Revival style. Most of the collection came from the institute's own excavations across Egypt, Iraq, Iran, and Turkey through the 1920s, '30s, and '40s, and its signature pieces include a 40-ton lamassu carried from Khorsabad, the Megiddo ivories, and treasures from Persepolis. Holdings now exceed 350,000 objects, ranking among the world's most extensive collections of ancient Near Eastern material. Following a name-change committee convened in 2021, the institute was renamed on April 4, 2023, from the Oriental Institute to the Institute for the Study of Ancient Cultures, West Asia and North Africa (ISAC). The change followed recognition that the word Oriental had taken on shifting, often pejorative connotations over time.