The Institute for the Study of the Ancient
World (ISAW) is a center for advanced scholarly
research and graduate education at New York
University.
ISAW's mission is to cultivate comparative,
connective investigations of the ancient world
from the western Mediterranean to China.
Areas of specialty among ISAW's faculty include
the Greco-Roman world, the Ancient Near East,
Egypt, Central Asia and the Silk Road, East
Asian art and archaeology, Late Antiquity
and the early Middle Ages, ancient science,
and digital humanities.ISAW was founded in
2006 with funding from the Leon Levy Foundation,
established to continue the philanthropic
legacy of Leon Levy, co-founder of the Oppenheimer
mutual funds.
Long interested in ancient history, Levy in
his final years, along with his wife Shelby
White, began discussions about the creation
of a path-breaking institute where advanced
scholars would explore trade and cultural
links among ancient civilizations.
After Levy’s death in 2003, one of the earliest
initiatives of the Leon Levy Foundation, was
the fulfillment of that plan.
ISAW is a discrete entity within New York
University, independent of any other school
or department of the university, with its
own endowment and its own board of trustees,
and is housed in separate facilities in a
historic six-story limestone on East 84th
Street in Manhattan.
== Governance, faculty, and staff ==
The Director of ISAW is Alexander Jones (classicist).
He succeeded the founding director Roger Bagnall
in September, 2016.As of September 1, 2018,
the following individuals served as ISAW faculty:
Lorenzo d'Alfonso
Claire Bubb
Roderick B. Campbell
Sebastian Heath
Robert G. Hoyland
Alexander Jones
Antonis Kotsonas
Beate Pongratz-Leisten
Daniel T. Potts
Sören Stark
Lillian Lan-ying TsengAs of September 1, 2018,
Senior Staff Members included:
Diane Bennett (Associate Director for Administration)
Tom Elliott (Associate Director for Digital
Programs and Senior Research Scholar)
Clare Fitzgerald (Associate Director for Exhibitions
and Gallery Curator)
Marc LeBlanc (Assistant Director for Academic
Affairs)
David M. Ratzan (Head, ISAW Library)ISAW's
website describes its governance structure
as follows:
Appointments and academic programs of the
Institute for the Study of the Ancient World
are under the jurisdiction of its faculty,
which achieved independent status in fall,
2010, and which is led by the Director.
The Director reports to the Provost and President
of New York University.
In addition, the Institute has its own Director's
Council.
Its chair is the Institute's Founder, Shelby
White.
The Council plays a crucial role in ensuring
that ISAW fulfills its mission and has the
means necessary to do so.
It provides essential advice to the Director
on strategic directions and public programming,
and its members are vital ambassadors for
ISAW in enlarging the public reached by its
work.
== Academic programs ==
ISAW's graduate program offers a PhD in the
Study of the Ancient World.ISAW offers hosts
visiting research scholars conducting postdoctoral
research.
There are three types of appointment for visiting
scholars:
Visiting assistant professors, appointed for
two years, during which they are expected
to teach two undergraduate courses and one
graduate seminar.
Visiting research scholars, appointed for
one year of research, funded in part or in
whole by ISAW.
These scholars may be at any point in their
career from postdoctoral to retired.
Externally funded scholars, who have the same
responsibilities and privileges as the categories
above, but do not receive financial support
from ISAW.Scholars in all three categories
are expected to be in residence at ISAW for
the duration of their appointment and to participate
in the intellectual life of the community,
including presenting a public lecture.
== Exhibitions ==
In order to support its mission of communicating
information about antiquity to the public,
ISAW organizes public exhibitions.
Past exhibitions include:
Wine, Worship and Sacrifice: The Golden Graves
of Ancient Vani (March 12 – June 1, 2008)
The Lost World of Old Europe: The Danube Valley,
5000 – 3500 BC (November 11, 2009 – April
25, 2010)
Before Pythagoras: The Culture of Old Babylonian
Mathematics (November 12, 2010 – January
23, 2011)
Nubia: Ancient Kingdoms of Africa (March 11
– June 12, 2011)
Edge of Empires: Pagans, Jews, and Christians
at Roman Dura-Europos (September 23, 2011
– January 8, 2012)
Nomads and Networks: The Ancient Art and Culture
of Kazakhstan (March 7 – June 3, 2012)
Echoes of the Past: The Buddhist Cave Temples
of Xiangtangshan (September 11, 2012 – January
6, 2013)
Temple and Tomb: Prehistoric Malta, 3600–2500
BCE (March 21 – July 7, 2013)
Measuring and Mapping Space: Geographic Knowledge
in Greco-Roman Antiquity (October 4, 2013
– January 5, 2014)
Masters of Fire: Copper Age Art from Israel
(February 13, 2014 – June 8, 2014)
When the Greeks Ruled Egypt: From Alexander
the Great to Cleopatra (October 8, 2014 – January
4, 2015)
From Ancient to Modern: Archaeology and Aesthetics
(February 12, 2015 – June 7, 2015)
The Eye of the Shah: Qajar Court Photography
and the Persian Past (October 22, 2015 – January
17, 2016)
Designing Identity: The Power of Textiles
in Late Antiquity (February 25 – May 22,
2016)
Time and Cosmos in Greco-Roman Antiquity (October
19, 2016 – April 23, 2017)
...circle through New York (March 1 – August
31, 2017)
Restoring the Minoans: Elizabeth Price and
Sir Arthur Evans (October 5, 2017 – January
7, 2018)
Romance and Reason: Islamic Transformations
of the Classical Past (February 14, 2018 – May
13, 2018)
Devotion and Decadence: The Berthouville Treausure
and Roman Luxury (October 17, 2018 - January
6, 2019)Most exhibitions have been accompanied
by illustrated catalogs, many of which are
co-published by ISAW and Princeton University
Press.
== Library ==
ISAW houses a research library of approximately
40,000 non-circulating print volumes.
The ISAW Library is a branch library of the
NYU Division of Libraries, with facilities
located on four floors of ISAW's facilities
on East 84th Street.
The library is open to members of the ISAW
and NYU communities, as well as to scholars
from other institutions who can demonstrate
a need to access materials in the collection
for their research.
Particular areas of strength in the ISAW Library's
print collection include Greek and Roman material
culture and history, Papyrology, Egyptology,
Mesopotamian Archaeology and Assyriology,
Central Asia and Iran, and Early China.
The library is engaged in providing access
and support for new and emerging forms of
digital scholarship, scholarly communication,
and pedagogy in ancient studies.
The library's digital initiatives include
the Ancient World Digital Library (AWDL) and
a joint project with ISAW Digital Programs
to help catalog the online and open access
resources.
== Publications ==
ISAW has produced or sponsored both print
and electronic publications related to the
ancient world.
These include:
Jonathan Ben-Dov and Seth Sanders, eds.
Ancient Jewish Sciences and the History of
Knowledge in Second Temple Literature.
NYU Press, 2014.
ISBN 9781479823048
George Hatke.
Aksum and Nubia: Warfare, Commerce, and Political
Fictions in Ancient Northeast Africa.
NYU Press, 2013.
ISBN 9780814760666
David Wengrow.
The Origins of Monsters: Image and Cognition
in the First Age of Mechanical Reproduction.
Princeton University Press, 2013.
Based on the author's Rostovtzeff Lectures
delivered at ISAW in 2011.
ISBN 9781400848867
Roger S. Bagnall and Giovanni R. Ruffini.
Amheida I: Ostraka from Trimithis 1.
NYU Press, 2012.
Also published in an open-access online version.
ISBN 9780814745267
ISAW At Five, a book produced for ISAW's Five
Year Celebration in May 2012.
ISAW Papers, an open-content scholarly journal
that publishes article-length works on any
topic within the scope of ISAW's scholarly
research.
The Journal of Inner Asian Art and Archaeology
ISAW Newsletter
