Istanbul, Arkeoloji Müzesi

What did I expect when I decided to visit the Istanbul Archaeological Museum? I only had some vague notions about the collection, but nothing more. I knew that the famous Alexander sarcophagus and a well-known bust of Diocletian were there; the oldest Jewish calendar, from Gezer, belonged to the collection, and a lot of finds from Troy. And of course there was the head of one of the serpents of a column from the ancient Constantinople hippodrome – a column that once stood in Delphi to commemorate the Greek victory in the Persian War (below).

What I really wanted to photograph was an inscription found on the Temple Mount, which says that pagans were to be killed when they came within a sacred court (photo to the left). It proves that the Jewish Temple was indeed on the temple mount, something that no one who is compos mentis will deny, but has been challenged by the former great-mufti of Jerusalem, Ekrima Sa’id Sabri. Unfortunately, this insane idea -which does not deserve to be dignified by a refutation- is gaining currency, and I have already encountered it in a book by a serious ancient historian (if someone who is unable to recognize Intifada propaganda can be called a serious historian).

One of my travel compagnons had told that the museum was bigger than the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations in Ankara, but I had not expected that a visit to the Istanbul museum takes at least six hours. You can visit the oriental department (among the finds is the Kadesh treaty), which is in a separate building next to the entrance. In the main building, you will find on the ground floor a very large collection of Anatolian sarcophagi, the royal cemetery of Sidon (includes the Alexander sarcophagus), and a department of Greek art. Behind this is a three-storey building that contains Thracian and Bithynian art, a collection of finds from Constantinople (which includes the chain that once was in the Golden Horn), artifacts from Troy, and a collection of art from Cyprus and Palestine.

The department of Greek art, where you can see the splendid bust of Diocletian on the photo to the left, has reasonable dimensions – the other parts are immodestly big, and I wondered which museum had the largest archaeological collection: Istanbul or the Paris Louvre. I had not expected a museum of these dimensions, and was exhausted after visiting it three times in three days. And every object is splendid. It is, to paraphrase Truman Capote, like eating an entire box of chocolate liqueurs in one go.

Most departments of the museum close at five o’ clock, but the main building closes at seven. In the garden, between the ancient columns, tombstones, and sarcophagi, you can buy coffee, tea, and soft drinks. You will probably need them to survive this big, beautiful museum.

This museum was visited in 2008, 2012.

86 pictures related to this museum

Hattusa, Letter of king Hattusilis III to king Kadashman-Enlil II of Babylonia	Valentinian II	Roman tombstone from Iskenderun. "Be brave! Agatheisa".	Adad-Nirari III
Aelia Eudocia II	Forum of Theodosius, Orpheus	Magian venerating the fire	Sarcophagus from the Persian age
Troy IX, statuette of Cybele	Syllabilary with old and new cuneiform signs	Aquilifer of I Adiutrix	The Gezer Calendar
Tombstone of a Macedonian warrior	Tombstone of Severius Acceptus of VIII Augusta (AE 1934, 125)	Lion	Aššur, Door plaques of Šalmaneser III
Troy VIII, treaty between Troy and six other towns	Magians with a sacrifice of a sheep and a bull	Detail of the Alexander sarcophagus, perhaps Perdiccas	Sarcophagus with the Dioscuri
Troy VIII, head of Zeus	Temple of Athena, façade	Detail of the Alexander sarcophagus, probably Abdalonymus of Sidon	Forum of Theodosius, relief with soldiers
Tombstone of Paulus, from Perinthus, third century	A tribute to Euripides	Bor, Relief of king Warpalas	Alexander the Great
Portrait of a man	The Temple Inscription	Alexander on the Alexander sarcophagus	Hattusa, Kadesh Treaty
Ivriz, king Warpalas and the god Tarhunza	Hattusa, Deeds of Suppililiuma	Alexander the Great	Temple of Athena, façade
Dascylium, funerary stele, detail: dinner scene	Bor, Relief of king Warpalas, inscription	Arcadius	Dascylium, funerary stele, detail: chariot
Aššur, Altar of Tikulti-Ninurta I	Marble decoration of the Royal Gate	Temple of Athena, façade	Aššur, Parthian stele of a worshipper
Troy VI, "Minaean" pottery	Hippodrome, Porphyrius Monument of the Greens	Adana, bust of Hadrian.	The Assyrian king Naram-Sin
Augustus	Dascylium, funerary stele, inscription	Heracles as archer (Samos)	Dascylium, funerary stele
Hippodrome, Porphyrius Monument of the Blues	Alexander the Great	Relief of a hero	Head of Zeus
Dascylium, frieze: women on horseback	Golden Gate, statue of a tetrarch	Snake head from the Greek victory monument in Delphi, later brought to Constantinople	Roman tombstone from Iskenderun. "Phouseinia, who never caused pain. Farewell".
Early Roman gravestone from Abydus: "Here, the Boule buried Agathe, the daughter of Papos"	Agrippina the Elder	Dascylium, funerary stele	Tenedos, archaising bust of Hermes
Dascylium, funerary stele, detail: chariot	Tombstone of a soldier of I Adiutrix	Roman statue of the Egyptian god Bes from Amathous	Jupiter Heliopolitanus from Palmyra.
Hattusa, Hittite laws about personal damage	Troy VIIb, pottery	Tombstone of Menios	Siloam Inscription
Temple of Jupiter, lion	Coin of the Bosphorus	Diocletian	Detail of the Alexander sarcophagus, probably Hephaestion
Lysippus' Alexander	Šalmaneser III, statue from Aššur	Miletus, statue of Apollo	Troy VIII, metope
Aššur, Old Palace, Head of a lamassu	Anastasius' Passage Law from Abydus	Sidon, Alexander Sarcophagus	Pergamene copy of the Alcamenes herm
Hippodrome, Kathisma, capital	Hellenistic funeral stele