Afghanistan

Bamiyan Buddha These are two ancient statues, carved into a cliff
in Bamiyan in central Afghanistan in the fifth
century. They were Afghanistan’s greatest
archaeological treasure They were destroyed by
the Taleban in March 2001, causing an
international outcry. Now, an international team
is planning to rebuild them

Bamiyan Buddha These are two ancient statues, carved into a cliff
in Bamiyan in central Afghanistan in the fifth
century. They were Afghanistan’s greatest
archaeological treasure They were destroyed by
the Taleban in March 2001, causing an
international outcry. Now, an international team
is planning to rebuild them

Bamiyan Buddhas These are two ancient statues, carved into a cliff
in Bamiyan in central Afghanistan in the fifth
century. They were Afghanistan’s greatest
archaeological treasure They were destroyed by
the Taleban in March 2001, causing an
international outcry. Now, an international team
is planning to rebuild them

Code of Hammurabi Collection of laws and edicts of king Hammurabi

of Babylonia dating to the middle of the 18th
century BC. The laws in this collection were not
made by Hammurabi, but were based upon
older Sumerian law. Today we have more than
one source to the laws, but the very most
important single one was discovered in Susa in
1901, and is now exhibited in Louvre museum in
Paris, France. This is a stone of black diorite,
about 2,2 meter high, and was made around
1740 BC. It was originally placed in the Marduk
temple in Babylon. The block was found in three
pieces, but has been restored. On this stone, the
text is written in Akkadian language with
cuneiform writing. There are 282 case laws,
which altogether cover 16 columns on the front
side (the side where Hammurabi is depicted,
receiving the the symbols that allows him to
administer the divine law from the sun-god
Shamash) and 28 on the back side.

map, Mesopotamia, Iraq COURSE_1850125_M/my_files/Iraqcopy.gif

Map of Haprrappan sites COURSE_1850125_M/my_files/harrappacopy.gif

Queen's Lyre From Ur, southern Iraq, about 2600-2400 BC
Music for the afterlife Leonard Woolley
discovered several lyres in the graves in the
Royal Cemetery at Ur. This was one of two that
he found in the grave of 'Queen' Pu-abi. Along
with the lyre, which stood against the pit wall,
were the bodies of ten women with fine
jewellery, presumed to be sacrificial victims, and
numerous stone and metal vessels. One woman
lay right against the lyre and, according to
Woolley, the bones of her hands were placed
where the strings would have been. The wooden
parts of the lyre had decayed in the soil, but
Woolley poured plaster of Paris into the
depression left by the vanished wood and so
preserved the decoration in place. The front
panels are made of lapis lazuli, shell and red
limestone originally set in bitumen. The gold
mask of the bull decorating the front of the
sounding box had been crushed and had to be
restored. While the horns are modern, the
beard, hair and eyes are original and made of
lapis lazuli. This musical instrument was
originally reconstructed as part of a unique
'harp- lyre', together with a harp from the
burial, now also in The British Museum. Later
research showed that this was a mistake. A new
reconstruction, based on excavation
photographs, was made in 1971-72. A similar
bull-lyre is depicted on the Standard of Ur.
Height: 112 cm British Museum

The Standard of Ur The Standard of Ur From Ur, southern Iraq,

about 2600-2400 BC A mysterious object with
one of the earliest representations of a
Sumerian army. This object was found in one of
the largest graves in the Royal Cemetery at Ur,
lying in the corner of a chamber above the right
shoulder of a man. Its original function is not yet
understood. Leonard Woolley, the excavator at
Ur, imagined that it was carried on a pole as a
standard, hence its common name. Another
theory suggests that it formed the soundbox of
a musical instrument. When found, the original
wooden frame for the mosaic of shell, red
limestone and lapis lazuli had decayed, and the
two main panels had been crushed together by
the weight of the soil. The bitumen acting as
glue had disintegrated and the end panels were
broken. As a result, the present restoration is
only a best guess as to how it originally
appeared. The main panels are known as 'War'
and 'Peace'. 'War' shows one of the earliest
representations of a Sumerian army. Chariots,
 each pulled by four donkeys, trample enemies;
infantry with cloaks carry spears; enemy
soldiers are killed with axes, others are paraded
naked and presented to the king who holds a
spear. The 'Peace' panel depicts animals, fish
and other goods brought in procession to a
banquet. Seated figures, wearing woollen
fleeces or fringed skirts, drink to the
accompaniment of a musician playing a lyre.
Banquet scenes such as this are common on
cylinder seals of the period, such as on the seal
of the 'Queen' Pu-abi, also in the British
Museum. Height: 21.59 cm Length: 49.53 cm
British Museum

White calcite (marble) cylinder seal White calcite (marble) cylinder seal From
Mesopotamia Late Uruk / Early Jemdet Nasr
period, about 3200-3000 BC An extensive trade
route between eastern Mesopotamia and Syria
and Egypt This seal shows animals and pots in
front of a shrine or temple. It is perhaps a ritual
scene. Monumental buildings dating to the late
fourth millennium and decorated with niches and
buttresses have been excavated in southern
Mesopotamia, especially at Uruk, and are found
at a number of sites further north along the
River Euphrates. The poles with rings were
probably the symbol of a god or goddess but
which one is unknown. The seal is typical of a
style using filed lines and drill-holes, found in
the Diyala, north-east of Baghdad, but also in
Syria. Seals like this are evidence of a trade
network between the two regions. The earliest
cylinder seals were rolled over hollow clay balls
containing tokens; later they were impressed on
clay tags and tablets marked with tally signs. A
variety of early scenes carved on the seals show
economic activities, food production, processions
or ritual acts. These may reflect different
'departments' within the central authority.
Height: 4.4 cm Diameter: 3.9 cm British
Museum
Post-Akkadian, about 2200 to 2100 BC From Mesopotamia The tree, serpent and figures
carved on this greenstone cylinder seal suggested to George Smith, an Assyriologist
working in The British Museum between 1840 and 1876, that the scene was related to
the Old Testament story of the temptation of Eve in the Garden of Eden. In fact, the seal
shows a scene that is common on seals of the twenty-third and twenty-second centuries
BC, with a seated male figure (identified by his head-dress of horns as a god) facing a
female worshipper. The date palm between them and the snake may be symbolic of
fertility, but there is no reason to connect the scene with the story in the Book of Genesis.
Height: 2.71 cm Diameter: 1.65 cm British Museum