Bell, Gertrude L.

(1868-1926)

   A noted English diplomat and scholar whose championing of archaeologists and founding of a major museum in Iraq greatly advanced modern studies of ancient Mesopotamia. Bell early made a name for herself by becoming the first woman to graduate with honors from Oxford University. She then traveled extensively throughout Europe and earned a reputation as an expert mountain climber, tackling some of the tallest peaks in the Alps.

   Eventually Bell made her way to Iraq, where she fell in love with the local Persian and Arab cultures. She taught herself Arabic and became so knowledgeable about Arab customs that local Arabs respectfully dubbed her "Daughter of the Desert," and "the Uncrowned Queen of Iraq." In 1920 she was appointed as an assistant to the British high commissioner in Iraq, which at the time was under British rule. Bell helped to install as king of Iraq the renowned Arab chieftain Faisal, who was a close friend of England's T.E. Lawrence, or "Lawrence of Arabia." During these years, in her official government capacity, Bell strongly encouraged ongoing archaeological digs across Iraq. She also established Baghdad's prestigious Archaeological Museum and served as Iraq's director of antiquities. Westerners and local Iraqis alike were saddened when she died of an overdose of sleeping pills in 1926. As a final service to Mesopotamian archaeology, Bell left behind some seven thousand photographs she had taken of the region. Many showed local archaeological sites in fair detail. These remain crucial to scholars because in many cases they are the only surviving visual records of sites that have since that time been altered or built over.

   See also: Assyriology