Tehran, 20 January 2007 (CHN) -- The
US Federal Court held a hearing yesterday about the ancient Persian tablets
loaned by Iran to the University of Chicago in the 1930s following the quarrel
after a previous judgment authorized the plaintiff to auction off the invaluable
Persian relics.
According to William Harms, the press contact
of Chicago University, the results of Federal Court Case Jan. 19 on the Persian
Tablets involving the Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago were as
follows:
The government of Iran, through its attorney,
Thomas Corcoran, asserted ownership of the tablets and pointed out that its
position is supported by the U.S. government;
The plaintiff's attorney, David J. Strachman,
sought more materials from the University and Iran related to the case; and
The judge took the matter under advisement and did
not immediately issue a ruling.
The chaos started when an American Federal Judge
ordered to confiscate the invaluable collection of Persian tablets loaned to
Chicago University's Oriental Institute and put them on auction to compensate
Israeli victims of the1997 Jerusalem bombing. Since then, the government of Iran
and authorities of University of Chicago have tried in a collective effort to
redeem the Persian tablets.
Thousands of ancient tablets made of clay and
impressed in cuneiform containing administrative details of the Persian
heartland from about 500 BC were discovered in Persepolis, Iran, in 1933 by
archeologists of the Oriental Institute of Chicago University and were lent to
this institute four years later due to its request to carry out more studies on
them.
According to Harms, in addition to administrative
information on the Empire and its governance, the texts also contain seal
impressions that indicate the existence of some otherwise-unknown administrative
offices. The texts identify for the first time leaders of various portions of
the Empire and expand on material in other non-Persian texts.
Furthermore, the tablets recording information
about the life and languages of the people of the Persian Empire gave historians
detailed information about the lifestyle of the people who lived in Ancient
Persia centuries ago.
A group of 179 complete tablets was returned in
1948, and another group of more than 37,000 tablet fragments was returned in
1951. In addition, two years ago 300 pieces of these tablets were repatriated
upon mutual agreement between Iranian cultural heritage authorities and the
Oriental Institute of Chicago University. Yet there are still large numbers of
tablets and clay fragments at Chicago University which Iran is trying to bring
back home.
View images of some of the Persian tablets which
have been returned home, here
