The Final Sack of Nineveh: The Discovery, Documentation, and Destruction of King Sennacherib`s Throne Room at Nineveh, Iraq [Hardcover]

Professor John Malcolm Russell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 11, 1998

In the "Palace without Rival" at Nineveh, ancient Assyrian King Sennacherib immortalized his 701 B.C. campaign against Jerusalem with a series of spectacular wall relief sculptures. Amazingly, when the palace was rediscovered twenty-five centuries later in 1847, the sculpture in the throne room areas remained largely intact. But today, air pollution, animal damage, vandalism, neglect, and -- worst of all -- looting for the international antiquities market by Iraq's own sanctions-stricken people, have brought ruin to the palace. The splendor of Sennacherib's palace now survives only in this irreplaceable book.

Art historian and archaeologist John Malcolm Russell, who in 1989 set about creating the only extensive photographic record of rbc palace architecture, sculptures, and inscriptions ever made, has preserved in pictures much that has since been lost. This book presents for the first time Russell's own photographs, along with new drawings of many of the throne room sculptures, old excavation photos, views of the architectural setting, photographs of unpublished inscriptions, and more. Russell explains the unique and important aspects of the sculptures, documents their progressive deterioration, and examines the various causes. He proposes standards in archaeological excavation, documentation, and public policy that will help preserve cultural artifacts in an unstable world.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 248 pages
• Publisher: Yale University Press (October 11, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0300074182
• ISBN-13: 978-0300074185
• Product Dimensions: 11.5 x 10 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #375,567 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #73 in Books > History > Ancient > Assyria, Babylonia & Sumer

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5.0 out of 5 stars Lost forever..., May 25, 2003

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This review is from: The Final Sack of Nineveh: The Discovery, Documentation, and Destruction of King Sennacherib`s Throne Room at Nineveh, Iraq (Hardcover)

This book, `The Final Sack of Nineveh: The Discovery, Documentation, and Destruction of King Sennacherib's Throne Room at Nineveh, Iraq', by John Malcolm Russell, is an important work of preservation in archaeology. Much of archaeological work can be, in fact, rather destructive -- careful documentation is vital, as layers are swept away to reveal lower levels, and in the process, much is in fact destroyed. Archaeologists readily admit this fact, little realised by non-archaeologists, but it has been accepted as a necessary part of the trade. As much as can be preserved will be, but archaeology has other dangers besides the clearing away of layers. The 'final sack of Nineveh' does not refer to a final battle in history, but rather events a mere decade old.

Russell gives a brief essay of the history of excavation at Nineveh. The first excavations of the palace occurred in 1847 - 1849 by British amateur archaeologist Austen Henry Layard. The excavations remained undisturbed for over 50 years, until another British explorer, Leonard William King, was sent on behalf of the British Museum. Some of Russell's reports in this text represent the first published accounts of King's expedition and excavations, as much of his work remained unpublished for a century.

Again it was over half a century, 1965, before more excavations and work was done on Sennacherib's palace. Tariq Madhloom of the Iraqi Department of Antiquities and Heritage re-excavated the throne room suite (yes, re-excavated; in an effort to preserve that which will be not be studied again for a long while, archaeologists will often re-bury their finds). This became important as one of the modern plagues of archaeological sites -- encroaching urban sprawl -- threatened the site of ancient Nineveh.

Russell, associate professor of Art History and Archaeology at Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, came to Nineveh first in 1981, and returned in 1989 as associate director of the University of California Berkeley excavation team to record in detail through narrative and photography the great palace of Sennacherib, the first (and as it turns out, will be the only) documentary work of this magnificent structure. Forty figures of maps, line art, drawings and old photographs complement the 277 plates of photographs and line-details of details of the palace. Virtually no stone was left unturned in this documentary piece -- cornerstones, walls, rooms, floors, doors, court slabs - all the details are recorded in meticulous detail, in situ, with many details drawn out on the black-and-white photographs. Black-and-white photographs are often preferable for seeing the details of writing, carvings and engravings on stonework, so the majority of the images in this book are high-quality black-and-white. There are also colour images which give a sense of the stone work and environment.

In addition to the structure itself, Russell records some of the sculpture and artwork that adorned the palace. In room by room descriptions, Russell describes the statuary, inscriptions and artwork, which help show some of the important images and ideas for the Assyrians.

Finally, Russell describes the patterns of destruction, ancient and modern. The palace originally burned, which is a tragedy not only for the structure, but for its reconstruction.

However, this is perhaps not the most tragic of destructive times for Sennacherib's palace. Russell highlights three periods of destruction in the modern era. The first he terms collecting, something the European archaeologists, largely amateurs, were famous for doing. Layard's first expedition in the 1840s removed a relatively small amount, but was destructive nonetheless. Some of the greatest of sculptures where destroyed in the effort to remove them to the British Museum.

This period, however, led to the second phase of destructiveness, exposure. Things uncovered that are not recovered begin to deteriorate rapidly, particularly if no one returns for 50 years to help preserve things. Layard did backfill many items, but not all. Russell discovered that either some areas had not been backfilled as Layard, and then by King in the early 1900s, or had been uncovered and destroyed by unknown people sometime prior to 1965.

The third destructive phase comes from looting. This is not a problem unique to Nineveh, nor is it a problem that has been dealt with. Many of the figures and plates in Russell's work show 'before and after' scenes -- a beautiful relief on the throne room wall in 1989; a missing slab with broken stones scattered about in 1997. Russell had hoped to return in 1990 to work on extensive preservation, but it was not to be.

Russell has not been able to return to the site, due to travel restrictions, but has had photographs supplied to him from Iraq showing the extensive damage, and many of those are included in this book.

Russell ends his narrative with a plea to include preservation of antiquities as an internationally recognised priority, beyond politics and border concerns. He repeats the concern about documentation and publication that plagues the field, and reminds readers that backfilling after excavation is a necessary step for continuing preservation. So much is at risk in the ancient world.

This is not really a book for amateurs. It is a scholarly book, so the narrative to the non-historian and non-archaeologist may seem flat. It is meant to be a report rather than a story, and it serves that purpose well. Likewise, the photographs are technical in nature, rather than 'glamour shots' -- measuring sticks and scale devices are seen frequently in the photographs, and the lighting is meant to highlight important archaeological details, rather than for aesthetic effect. It is also an expensive book if purchased standard retail. However, you may be able to find it on a special deal, as I did, in which case you will have in your hands the last remnants of Sennacherib's grand palace.