Discoveries in the Ruins of Nineveh and Babylon
With Travels in Armenia, Kurdistan and the Desert: Being the Result of a Second Expedition Undertaken for the Trustees of the British Museum

An 1853 account in two volumes of the British archaeological expedition that discovered the palace of the Assyrian king Sennacherib.

Austen Henry Layard (Author)

9781108016773, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 31 August 2010

392 pages, 127 b/w illus.
21.6 x 14 x 2.2 cm, 0.49 kg

Sir Austen Henry Layard (1817–1894) was one of the leading British archaeologists of the nineteenth century. His excavations provided important evidence about ancient Mesopotamia, particularly about the Assyrian civilisation, and his books - part travel writing, part specialised archaeological studies - are beautifully evocative. First published in 1853, this two-volume study follows the earlier Nineveh and its Remains (1849). It describes Layard's second expedition to the Near East, in 1845, which led to the identification of Kouyunjik as the great Assyrian capital Nineveh. In this richly illustrated book, Layard focuses on the description and interpretation of ruins, as he tells of the discovery of the lost palace of the Assyrian king Sennacherib (eighth century BCE) in northern Iraq. Volume 1 is an account of the excavations at Kouyunjik, and also describes a journey along the Khabur river in Syria, where Layard assesses the influence of Assyrian art on the region.

Preface
1. The trustees of the British Museum resume excavations at Nineveh
2. The Lake of Wan
3. Reception by the Yezidis
4. State of the excavations on my return to Mosul
5. Renewal of excavations at Kouyunjik
6. Discovery of grand entrance to the Palace of Kouyunjik
7. Road opened for removal of Winged Lions
8. Contents of newly-discovered chamber
9. Visit to the Winged Lions by night
10. Visit to Kalah Sherghat prevented
11. Preparations for a journey to the Khabour
12. Arban
13. Residence at Arban
14. Leave Arban
15. Departure from the Khabour.

Subject Areas: Archaeology by period / region [HDD]