Omeka Title: PA-CU-B07-F002-066b-1924.jpg     
Omeka ID: 4425     
Transcription: [Page 3]this year is my own experience and a working knowledge of Arabic. Besides you know how much diplomacy and side questions are here vital next to any scientifical researches. Mr Cooke of the [?awful?] ministery, on Miss GB recommendation was kind enough to take me around on a most interesting visit to the [?Khasimin?] mosque, and to one opium den, and to a real Arab dinner with 12 courses, that nearly killed me, and to a passage in a [?goufflar?] in most antique manner across the Tigris to visit the new University, a beautiful piece of architecture in a palm grove worth of Old Baghdad - we even had tea in a garden. L.C.W. the best and most refined archaeologist as you know, kindly introduced me to Col. [?Tench?] the director of the Baghdad Basra line: one Scotch among so many who rule the place, and a perfect gentleman. He is a great help to our[Page 4]Expedition. Ur junction a lovely spot in the desert! A delegation of Arabs and servants awaited and received us solemnly. At 6 at night we marched toward the Ziggurat of Ur- across the sand and took possession of the camp. The sky was of a clear deep blue. The crescent New Moon and the evening star were in conjunction. What better omina could one wish for. The next morning the tribe came down and the bargaining for labor began in a fair way. Since, work has been very active and the dust is flying around the old Ziggurat attacked on the N.W. flank. Bricks and cones of Ur-Engur, [?Kurigalzu?], Nabonidus are brought in my \"office\", where reed mar, mud plaster, and ancient tiles are conspicuous. I [?seat?] on an empty box, and I am practically eaten up by sand flies and mosquitoes - everybody sleeps in the open court to escape the pest and enjoy the fresh air. We hope for the most startling discoveries. Meanwhile I suscribe yours most devoted L. Legrain     
Media Title: Ur Notebook Scan -- 1924 - Box: 7 Folder: 2 - Page: 066b     
Page Number: 066b     
Project: CU     
Date: 1924     
Author: Leon Legrain     
Penn Archival Box Number: 7     
Penn Archival Folder Number: 2     
Crowdsource Tags: handwritten, Legrain     

People: Ur Notebook Scan -- 1924 - Box: 7 Folder: 2 - Page: 066b | Ur Notebook Scan -- 1924 - Box: 7 Folde Export: JSON - XML - CSV

People Full Name Biography
Leon Legrain Father Legrain was born in France, ordained as a priest there in 1904, and studied at the Catholic University of Lille and at the Collegium Appolinare in Rome. Assyriology professor at the Catholic Institute in Paris until WWI, he was then an interpreter in the war. He became curator of the Babylonian Section of the University of Pennsylvania Museum in 1920 and retired in 1952. A specialist in cuneiform, he was the epigraphist at Ur during the 1924-25 and 1925-26 field seasons. He published widely on texts and engraved seals, both in his time before the Penn Museum and after. He published seals and sealings from Ur (Ur Excavations volume 10), some of the tablets (Ur Excavations Texts volume 3) and was slated to publish a volume on the figurines from the site. His research and even an unpublished catalogue for this volume are in archives at the Penn Museum and now available on this website. Even after his two years at the site of Ur, Legrain played an integral role in the excavations. Not only did he research, publish, and display artifacts in the Penn Museum, but he was also the Museum's representative in the division of objects from Ur conducted almost every year in London. Legrain's letters about this process are very interesting, often in a more personal tone than Woolley's. In fact, many of his colleagues declared that Legrain was particularly entertaining and jovial, if cynical. His photographs at Ur are some of the only images we have of daily life, with many pictures of local Iraqis.
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