Henry Layard and A Period of Public Interest

[us4-he2-gal2]

Rediscovery

For the below, Ive been able to peruse cdli wiki, and to make close use of material from the book "The Legacy of Mesopotamia" (S. Dalley), in particular its concluding section 'Rediscovery and Aftermath' (Henrietta McCall).

Henry Layard - Archeologist and Auther

In order to to isolate the period of initial public interest in Mesopotamian archeology, we would need to look back to the 1800's when, following surveys by the East India Company (and others), the first excavators arrived in the area. Its worth noting that even prior to this, the bible was not the only medium that had preserved the impression of Babylonian civilization; for even before their end, the Mesopotamian peoples were observed and were featured in the commentary's and histories of Greek and Roman Historians such as Herodotus, Ktesias and Diodoros. These writings were markedly unreliable, but would preserve for posterity notions such as the Temple at Babylon, the hanging gardens, and a quasi-historical Babylonian king Named Sardanapalos (the character and story of Sardanapalos continued to be retold, and was featured as late as 1821 A.D. in Byron's romantic tragedy of the same name.) These isolated traces of ancient culture were at best abstractions however and lacked real authenticity.

Henry Layard (1817-1894) would become an important figure in Ancient Near East archeology, the re-discovery of authentic Mesopotamian culture, and he would be directly responsible for a flourishing of European interest in these endeavors. As a boy, he had been inspired by the work of Byron and by the timeless piece "The Arabian Nights". He would accumulate as wide a knowledge of the ANE as could be obtained in that time from sources such as the Bible, classical writers, surveys from the East India Company, and so on. Although initially trained in law, Layard despaired of this course and in 1840 set off for India - however through a series of mishaps, Layard found himself surveying the ruins of Ashur, Nimrud and Nineveh for which he found an enduring interest and fascination.

At this time the first excavations were conducted in Mesopotamia by the French, who were lead by Paul Emile Botta. The French began at Kuyunjik and Nebi Yunus later moving to Khorsabad (which contained the ruins of Sargon II - Kramer 1963 pg. 15). While these efforts were ground breaking and would yield valuable archaeological materials, for various reasons (in part because of the Revolution) they were all but unheralded by the French public. Following two years later, Layard, who had received sponsorship from the British Ambassdor to Constantinople, began his excavations at Nimrud, then at Nineveh, then at Nimrud again. "In addition to the royal palaces covered with bas-reliefs, he found at Nineveh the library of King Ashurbanipal, the great grandson of Sargon II, which consisted of thousands of tablets and fragments inscribed with the lexical, religious and literary works of the ancients." (Kramer).

In contrast to the fanfare the French finds had received, and despite the original disinterest the British government had held in Layards efforts, the arrival of Layards great finds at the British Museum generated "an instant popular appeal." The story was featured in the Illustrated London News, and the public flocked to see the colossal winged bulls and lions, and larger then life sized bearded figures. The Public was enamored with the finds and as McCall reports that Layard was advised (by a friend) "Write a whooper with lots of plates; fish up old legends and anecdotes, and if you can by any means humbug people into the belief that you have established any points for the bible, you are a made man."

Layards Works:

• Nineveh and Its Remains, London 1849
  
• Monuments of Nineveh 1-2, London 1849-1853
  
• A Popular Account of Discoveries at Nineveh 1851
  
• Inscriptions in the Cuneiform Character, London 1851
  
• Nineveh and Babylon, London 1853
  

Further signs of the public interest stirred by these finds could be seen at the 1851 World's Fair where as McCall relays, 165,000 persons traveled via Thomas Mann's new train system. The author explains that the 19th century as a whole was characterized by a taste for "archaeological jewelery" Greek, Egyptian, and at the World's fair a new line of Assyrian Revival Jewelery was displayed. These designs were inspired by Layard's finds in Nineveh and featured miniaturized impressions of the sculptures contained at the British Museum (winged bulls, enthroned kings etc... pieces thus inspired are termed 'Assyrian Revival pieces' or have an "Assyrianizing" style.) The taste for these styles would continue for another twenty years in total denial of aethistic sense. Spectators at the World's fair also flocked to the 'Nineveh Court' at the Crystal palace, a Huge display which presented representations of the finds; this presentation itself would go on to inspire three panorama's in Leicestor sqaure.

"Oh - my word! Its simply Stunning Charles!"

As for Layard he retired from Archeology as early as 1851 but continued with his published works. He married in 1869 a bride who was 27 years his junior, and had a necklace fashioned for her consisting of 11 cylinder seal and 4 stamp seals - of which Queen Victory reputedly "thought well." Layard lived a distinguished life until his death in 1891.