Return to Babylon: Travelers, Archaeologists, and Monuments in MesopotamiaTells the story of archaeological travel and excavation in Iraq -- then Mesopotamia -- from the time of the great Arab geographers to the 2003 devastation of the Iraq National Museum. Fagan tells of Henry Rawlinson, Jules Oppert, and Edward Hincks, decipherers of cuneiform; Claudius and Mary Rich, observers of Nineveh and Babylon; and Émile Botta and Austen Henry Layard, who revealed the Assyrian civilisation to an astonished world. Here, also, are men like Hormuzd Rassam, whose illegal digging and plundering horrified local officials, and Wallis Budge, consummate smuggler of cuneiform tablets. Fagan also recounts the careers of the multi-talented administrator Gertrude Bell, a primary influence in the creation of the nation of Iraq, and of Leonard Woolley, renowned for his excavation of Sumerian civilisation at Ur. Bringing this remarkable history up to date, Fagan chronicles the development of scientific archaeology in Mesopotamia, the growing Iraqi involvement in archaeology, and the tragic events of recent years that led to the looting of the Iraq National Museum and many archaeological sites. |
Contents
Excavations at Khorsabad | 97 |
Layard of Nineveh | 109 |
Nimrud and Khorsabad | 133 |
Copyright | |
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Common terms and phrases
Al Hillah Aleppo ancient antiquities Arab archaeological Assyrian Austen Henry Layard Babylon Babylonian Baghdad bas-reliefs Basra became Behistun Biblical Birs Nimrod Botta bricks British Museum Budge bulls Campbell-Thompson Carchemish century chapter is drawn civilization Claudius Claudius James Rich clay tablets Constantinople consul cylinder dealers deciphered decipherment desert diggers digging diplomatic discovery early Egypt epigraph Euphrates European excavations expedition finds firman flood French German Gertrude Bell Henry Rawlinson Hilprecht Hittite Hormuzd Rassam huge Ibid India inscribed inscriptions Iraq Iraqi kellek Khorsabad kilometers king Koldewey Kuyunjik laborers later Leonard Woolley lions Loftus London looting Mallowan Mesopotamia Mesopotamian archaeology meters Mosul mound mud-brick Niebuhr Nimrud Nineveh Nippur official Oppert Ottoman Paris pasha Persepolis Persian quoted residency Rich Rich's river royal ruins Sargon Sarzec scholars sculptures Sennacherib sheikhs spent stone Sumerian Telloh temple Tigris tion took traveled trustees Turkish Ubaid Uruk visited walls West Palace Woolley's workers wrote ziggurat