The Devastation of Iraq's Past. "Since the looting of the Iraq Museum in Baghdad in April 2003, the international press has accorded considerable space to the country's imperiled ancient heritage. Much of this coverage, however, has been devoted to the museum, the impressive campaign to recover its stolen works, and the continued struggle to reopen its galleries. Only occasional, anecdotal reports—mostly from the first year of the conflict—have borne witness to
large-scale plunder of archaeological sites, to which the damage is irreversible."
posted by homunculus
on Jul 23, 2008 -
9 comments
Iraq is full of fabled
ancient ruins, many in
bad shape, but which still fire the imagination. Some highlights:
Ur,
birthplace of Abraham, still contained
many beautiful artifacts when it was last excavated in the 1920s. Then there is vanished
Cunaxa, near Baghdad's airport, where the Ten Thousand, a group of Greek mercenaries, fought their way back to Greece in a 1,000 mile, two-year-long retreat described by
Xenophon in the
Anabasis (and which served as the inspiration for
cult films/games and
bad science fiction alike). The ruins of the city of
Nineveh were discovered in the 19th century just across the river from Mosul,
containing art confirming elements of the Biblical account of the conquests of King Sennacherib. Most famously, the ruins of Babylon (
not much to look at, the
best bit being in Berlin) have seen much abuse, from
Saddam's awful rebuilding of the palace of Nebuchadnezzar to reports of
recent damage by coalition troops.
posted by blahblahblah
on Jan 11, 2006 -
15 comments
'...Today, such famous sites as the Assyrian capital of Nineveh, the ziggurat at Ur, the temple precinct at Babylon, and a ninth-century spiral minaret at Samarra have been scarred by violence, while equally important ancient sites, particularly in the southern provinces, are being ravaged by looters who work day and night to fuel an international art market hungry for antiquities. Historic districts in urban areas have also suffered from vandalism, looting, and artillery fire. In response to such widespread damage and continuing threats to our collective cultural heritage and the significance of the sites at risk,
World Monument Fund has taken the unprecedented step of including
the entire country of Iraq on its
2006 list of 100 Most Endangered Sites.'
The 2003- Iraq War & Archaeology
The Smash of Civilizations
posted by y2karl
on Jul 8, 2005 -
11 comments
Protecting the Cradle Kirkuk Air Base -- US Army Colonel works with Iraqi archaeological officials to protect nearby ancient sites.
Meanwhile at more secluded mounds,
looters continue to plunder the sites and to erase the tangible record of the world's earliest civilizations. "When you come here at night, it looks like a city, there are so many lights," [Archaeological official Abdul-Amir] Hamdani said, looking out over the arid scrubland where thieves swarm after dark.
posted by mcgraw
on May 25, 2004 -
6 comments
Have I ever told you what the river is like on a hot summer night? At dusk the mist hangs in long white bands over the water; the twilight fades and the lights of the town shine out on either bank, with the river, dark and smooth and full of mysterious reflections, like a road of triumph through the midst. - Gertrude Bell writing of the Euphrates near Baghdad. Gertrude Bell -
daughter of the desert,
Uncrowned Queen of Iraq, Advisor to kings and Ally of Lawrence of Arabia.
Gertrude Bell was a
traveller and mountaineer, recruited by British Intelligence to work in the Middle East during the First World War and, who later worked for the British Government in Baghdad.
Bell's influence on Middle Eastern politics made her the
most powerful woman in the British Empire in the years after World War I. She was a archeologist, writer, translated the poetry of
Hafiz and a
photographer as well. 1909: Letters from Gertrude Bell, dated
May 14 and
May 20. She died early in the morning of July 12th, 1926, 58 years old, from an overdose of sleeping pills--whether accidental or not is not known. She is buried in Baghdad, where her grave is still visited and her memory revered.
Cherchez La Femme
posted by y2karl
on Mar 23, 2003 -
12 comments
The stuff from which Myth is made. A recent discovery of a meteor impact crater in the middle-east, dating around 2300BC, is shedding new light on the decline of many cultures and the rise of many legends.
posted by mkn
on Nov 15, 2001 -
19 comments
