Editing Museum (section)

===Ancient===
[[File:Clay 'label' from Bel-Shalti-Nannar's museum LOC matpc.09949 (cropped).jpg|thumb|150px|left|[[Bel-Shalti-Nanna|Bel-shalti-nannar]]'s museum label (circa 530 BCE), first museum label known) in city of [[Ur]] (modern Tell el-Muqayyar, [[Iraq]]]]One of the oldest museums known is [[Ennigaldi-Nanna's museum]], built by Princess [[Ennigaldi]] in modern [[Iraq]] at the end of the [[Neo-Babylonian Empire]]. The site dates from {{Circa|530 BC}}, and contained artifacts from earlier [[Mesopotamia|Mesopotamian civilizations]]. Notably, a clay drum label—written in three languages—was found at the site, referencing the history and discovery of a museum item.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://io9.gizmodo.com/5805358/the-story-behind-the-worlds-oldest-museum-built-by-a-babylonian-princess-2500-years-ago|title=The story behind the world's oldest museum, built by a Babylonian princess 2,500 years ago|last=Wilkens|first=Alasdair|date=25 May 2011|website=io9|access-date=31 March 2018|archive-date=1 April 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180401004752/https://io9.gizmodo.com/5805358/the-story-behind-the-worlds-oldest-museum-built-by-a-babylonian-princess-2500-years-ago|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite conference |last1=Manssour|first1=Y. M.|last2=El-Daly|first2=H. M.|last3=Morsi|first3=N. K.|title=The Historical Evolution of Museum Architecture |conference=Al-Azhar Engineering Thirteenth International Conference |url=http://www.cpas-egypt.com/pdf/Nouran-Khaled/Research/THE%20HISTORICAL%20EVOLUTION%20OF%20MUSEUM%20ARCHITECTURE.pdf|page=2|journal=|access-date=12 January 2022|archive-date=21 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220121071817/http://www.cpas-egypt.com/pdf/Nouran-Khaled/Research/THE%20HISTORICAL%20EVOLUTION%20OF%20MUSEUM%20ARCHITECTURE.pdf}}</ref>

Ancient Greeks and Romans collected and displayed art and objects but perceived museums differently from modern-day views. In the classical period, the museums were the temples and their precincts which housed collections of votive offerings. Paintings and sculptures were displayed in gardens, forums, theaters, and bathhouses.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=van Buren |first=E. Douglas |date=1922 |title=Museums and Raree Shows in Antiquity |journal=Folklore |volume=33 |issue=4 |pages=337–53 |doi=10.1080/0015587X.1922.9720240 |jstor=1256361|url=https://zenodo.org/record/2307860 }}</ref> In the ancient past there was little differentiation between libraries and museums with both occupying the building and were frequently connected to a temple or royal palace. The [[Musaeum|Museum of Alexandria]], identical to the [[Library of Alexandria]], was an inspiration during the early Renaissance period and thus originally libraries were called museums.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Philipp Hainhofers: Reise-Tagebuch, enthaltend Schilderungen aus Franken, Sachsen, der Mark Brandenburg und Pommern : im Jahr 1617 - Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek |url=https://www.deutsche-digitale-bibliothek.de/item/55JM23RLWQ6JYZEVVGOJWOGV7CXIVVWU |access-date=2024-12-18 |website=deutsche-digitale-bibliothek.de |language=de}}</ref> The royal palaces and temples, such as the Roman temple of Peace, also functioned as a kind of museum outfitted with art and objects from conquered territories and gifts from ambassadors from other kingdoms allowing the ruler to display the amassed collections to guests and to visiting dignitaries.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Museums in the Ancient Mediterranean|url=https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1530/museums-in-the-ancient-mediterranean/|access-date=2021-11-05|website=World History Encyclopedia|language=en|archive-date=5 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211105155315/https://www.worldhistory.org/article/1530/museums-in-the-ancient-mediterranean/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Also in Alexandria from the time of [[Ptolemy II Philadelphus]] (r. 285&ndash;246&nbsp;BCE), was the first zoological park. At first used by Philadelphus in an attempt to domesticate [[African elephants]] for use in war, the elephants were also used for show along with a menagerie of other animals specimens including [[hartebeest]]s, [[ostrich]]es, [[zebra]]s, [[leopard]]s, [[giraffe]]s, [[rhinoceros]], and [[Pythonidae|pythons]].<ref name="Left Coast Press">{{Cite book |title=Museum Origins: Readings in early museum history and philosophy |publisher=Left Coast Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-1-59874-197-1 |editor-last=Genoways |editor-first=Hugh |location=Walnut Creek, California |pages=13–15 |language=English |editor-last2=Andrei |editor-first2=Mary Anne}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hubbell |first=H. M. |date=1935 |title=Ptolemy's Zoo |journal=The Classical Journal |volume=31 |issue=2 |pages=68–76 |jstor=3290815}}</ref>