ishtartv.com-
blog.oup.com
By David Kertai
May
19th 2015
n
March 2015, ISIS
released a video depicting the demolition of one of the most important
surviving monuments from the Assyrian empire, the palace of Ashurnasirpal in
the ancient city of Nimrud.
As archaeologists, we are all too familiar with destruction. In fact, it is one
of the key features of our work. One can only unearth ancient remains, buried
long ago under their own debris and those of later times, once. It brings with
it an obligation to properly record and make public what is being excavated.
The documentation from Ashurnasirpal’s palace is generally disappointing. This
is due to the palace mostly having been excavated in the early days of
archaeology. Still, the resulting information is invaluable and will continue
to allow us to answer new questions about the past.
Ashurnasirpal’s
palace was constructed around 865 BCE during a period in which Assyria was
slowly becoming the empire that would rule most of the Middle East two
centuries later. The palace had probably been emptied by those who conquered
the empire in 612 BCE and by those who reoccupied its remains thereafter. (This
explains why its rooms were mostly devoid of precious objects.) It is the first
known royal palace from the Assyrian Empire (little has survived from the
centuries before), and is among the few Assyrian palaces to have been excavated
(more or less) in its entirety. Measuring at least two hectares, it must have
been one of the largest and most monumental buildings of its time. Though
Nimrud itself is 180 times the size of the palace, and still mostly unexplored,
the palace’s destruction is yet another blow to the cultural heritage of Iraq.
It was without doubt one of the most important sites from that time in the
world.
The
palace was first excavated from 1847 onwards by Austen Henry Layard, with most
finds ending up in the British Museum, which was just being constructed.
Contrary to the later royal palaces, it used war scenes sporadically in the
decoration of the palace, only using them in the throne-room and in the two
reception rooms to its southwest. Hardly any of these reliefs remained in
Nimrud, many were taken away during the reign of King Esarhaddon (680-669 BCE),
when the palace no longer functioned as a royal residence, to be reused in his
new palace. Most reliefs with war scenes were later shipped to the British
Museum by Layard.
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The
other monumental rooms of the palace were decorated with apotropaic scenes that
depicted different otherworldly creatures. The palace depicted a varied group
of such figures, but most walls depicted only a single type. In order to limit
the number of reliefs coming their way, the British Museum asked Layard not to
send “duplicates”. Layard therefore started giving them away to people visiting
his excavations. People continued to visit the site in the decades thereafter
to take away reliefs for their own, and as a result, the palace’s reliefs ended
up throughout the world. ISIS has now destroyed the last reliefs that remained
in Nimrud.
The
remaining contents of the palace were also taken away during excavations, with
the valuable finds mostly ending up in museums in Iraq and England. Original
items still remaining included architectural features, such as floors and
drainage, and stone reliefs that had been deemed less valuable by European museums
and collectors. The walls blown up by ISIS were mostly reconstructed during the
past decades.
A
sense of irony pervades the tragedy of the destruction. The Assyrians were
renowned destroyers of cultural heritage themselves and masters in letting the
world know about their deeds. They were highly skilled in the art of propaganda
and used all the media available at the time. Their propaganda was so effective
that the Assyrians have had a bad reputation throughout most of history.
ISIS
uses propaganda as an art of misdirection. Overall it has been destroying less
than it claims, and much more than the ones that have made headlines. To a
considerable degree, ISIS was blowing up a reconstructed, excavated, and
emptied palace. There should, however, be no doubt about the cultural and
scientific value of what had remained. The damage is irreparable and heart
breaking. The amount of destroyed heritage is only countered by the daunting
potential for more damage. ISIS controls numerous archaeological sites of universal
importance. Some of these are known to have been pillaged in order to profit
from the illegal sale of antiquities. It is a problem that goes well beyond the
area controlled by ISIS and one of which Europe is not always on the good side.
Unsurprisingly, ISIS has been less eager to highlight how the art they say to
despise is supporting them financially. Since sites can only be dug up once,
looting forever robs us of the chance to learn about the past.