Iranian Persepolis Tablets & Controversy With Israel

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A politically active acquaintance of mine at UCLA recently invited me to the following event. I thought the case would be of interest to the forum members.

The University of Chicago along with the Governments of both Iran & the U.S. agree: current laws do not permit the sale of these tablets. So why then is US Courts and the Israeli Government/Interest Groups insistent on auctioning off these priceless artifacts?

Professor Matthew Stolper, from the OI, will be holding a talk on the significance of the Achaemenid Elamite tablets and the legal predicament they have been subject to by US courts, which are intent on seizing and auctioning them--for they deem them as integral part of Iranian assets--with the proceeds to be distributed among the victims of acts of terror perpetrated in the land of Israel.


The Program of Iranian Studies and the Musa Sabi Chair in Iranian Studies at UCLA announce:

The Persepolis Fortification Tablets:

What They Are, What They're Good For, What They're Worth.

A Lecture by Matthew W. Stolper, Professor of Assyriology and the John A. Wilson Professor of Oriental Studies at the Oriental Institute-University of Chicago

UCLA
Friday, April 13, 2007
at 4:00 PM
Royce Hall 314

What they are: clay tablets and fragments, remains of administrative documents from the time of Darius I, around 500 BCE, excavated almost 75 years ago at the imperial palace complex of Persepolis, in the heartland of the Persian Empire, and today embroiled in litigation and
controversy.

What they are good for: the largest documentary source of information from the interior of the Persian Empire, they have transformed every aspect of modern study of the Achaemenid civilization: languages, history, administration, and art.

What they are worth: priceless, in many senses.

(Event organizer: These tablets do NOT belong to Israel and should not be auctioned off to pay for victims of terror in Israel. Governments come and go; these tablets have been around for thousands of years. They belong to the people of Iran.)

Some informational URL's about the tablets and the current controversy:

http://www.iranian.com/History/2004/May/Tablets/index.html

http://magazine.uchicago.edu/0610/chicagojournal/worth.shtml

From http://www.abanet.org/litigation/litigationupdate/2007/april_hottopics.html :

The Persepolis Tablets: Terror Victims Target Ancient Persian Artifacts

By Alicia M. Hilton

Rubin v. The Islamic Republic of Iran

The University of Chicago and the Islamic Republic of Iran are unlikely allies in a suit brought by American victims of a Hamas terrorist attack. Litigation in the federal district court in Chicago may decide the fate of priceless Persian artifacts.

On September 4, 1997, three Hamas suicide bombers killed five people and injured nearly 200 others. Americans injured during those terrorist bombings and their family members commenced suit against Iran, its Ministry of Information and Security, and certain Iranian officials in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The defendants refused to appear and were defaulted by the district court. Following a four-day evidentiary hearing in which the plaintiffs presented extensive evidence that Iran had sponsored and armed the Hamas terrorist organization, the district court held that the plaintiffs had produced “clear and convincing evidence