Late last week , a disturbing ISIS propaganda videoemerged demo the wanton destruction of ancient artifacts at the Mosul Museum in Iraq . After a careful exam of the video , antiquities expert say the wrong bring down by the stunt is “ utterly annihilating . ”
In the video , Jihadists can be seen toppling sculptures , smashing them to bits with sledgehammers , and using office tools to powderise the faces of some statues .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEYX_CbwAD8
According to the so - called Islamic State’sSalafi interpretation of Islam :
These ruination … are idols and statue that the great unwashed in the past used to idolise instead of Allah … The Prophet Mohammed took down idol with his bare hand when he went into Mecca . We were order by our seer to take down perfection and destruct them .
antiquity expertChristopher Jones , a Ph.D. student in ancient Near Eastern history at Columbia University in New York , has analyzed the video in detail to evaluate the extent of the scathe . His report was divided into two parts , assessing the damage done to Assyrian artifacts , andassessing the damage done to the sculpture from Hatra . He was aid by Dr. Suzanne Bott , Hubert Debbasch , and Dr. Lamia al - Gailani Wer .
Mercifully , most of the impairment impose on the Assyrian artefact , many date back 3,000 days , were done to replicas . Back in 2003 , some 1,500 objects from the Mosul Museum were relocate to the Iraqi Museum in Baghdad for safekeeping , while large statues either too large or too tenuous to be moved stayed there . But while a routine of replicas were destroyed , many others were probable originals .
The most important of the Assyrian losses were the lamassu — large fly human being - headed bulls — at the Nergal Gate , one of which was exceptionally well preserved . This gorgeous and intricately decorated logic gate was built during the expansion of Nineveh sometime between 704 and 690 BC .
In the ISIS TV , the right lamassu had its face chiseled off with a jackhammer , and the damage seem irreparable . This is a peculiarly dishearten loss , as these lamassu are some of the few still lead in their original locating to greet visitors the same room they would have greeted visitors in ancient Assyria .
But the risky harm was done to the 2,000 - year - previous sculptures from Hatra , a city that was once a wealthy trading hub in the desert in the south of Mosul coveted by ancient Rome and other would - be conqueror . Over the years , its unique geographical position allowed it to be charm by both east and west , resulting in a naturalistic but still signally eastern artistic style .
“ The damage by ISIS to the aesthetic legacy of Hatra has been catastrophic , ” writes Jones . “ This tragedy is compounded by the fact that Hatrene sculpture has been inveterate understudied . Almost all of it was excavated in the 20th one C and the find never left Iraq . The primary publishing of the uncovering is in an Arabic - language book often inaccessible in the West . Very few scholars out of doors of Iraq have had the opportunity to study the statue . ”
harmonise to Jones , the destruction to four statues of kings of Hatra represents a loss of 15 % of all statues of Hatrene kings in existence .
All this said , the Mosul Museum is home to many more items which were not shown in the ISIS television . The Islamic art wing was n’t show at all , while most of the Assyrian section was abstracted . Jones care that many of these artifact were also destroyed , but he remains bright that they ’re still inside the museum or that they were sold on the antiquities market .
“ disregarding , he tell , “ from what we can see in this video the loss for the study the Roman and Parthian Near East is absolutely crushing . ”
translate Christopher Jones ’s entire account : Part OneandPart Two . Many more photo there if you may stomach it .
ArchaeologyScience
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