ABSTRACT
The Western encounter with the ancient Middle East, for both specialists and non-specialists alike, has been mediated largely by museums where displays and exhibitions have had an important role in the formation of disciplinary knowledge. This chapter considers the ways in which the British Museum, among a number of similar institutions, has historically organized and presented its archaeological collections over nearly two centuries, and how this in turn has helped to establish and perpetuate the notion of an “ancient Middle East.” Recent critiques of Orientalism have challenged this idea and museums have responded with changing approaches to object display and interpretation. A novel cross-collections approach to display, being explored at the Ashmolean Museum, is offered as one potential method for making the cultures of the ancient Middle East more accessible to a modern, global audience.
