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.

117 pictures related to this museum

Šalmaneser III, statue from Aššur	Sidon, Royal Tombs, Chamber 2, Mixed Egyptian-Greek-style sarcophagus	Temple of Athena, façade	Sidon, Royal Tombs, Chamber 4, Lycian sarcophagus, Sphinxes
Perinthus, Relief of Micallus	Hellenistic funeral stele	Perinthus, Portrait of Commodus	Smyrna, Sappho (Roman copy of a Hellenistic portrait)
Temple of Jupiter, lion	Sarcophagus from the Persian age	Samos, Head of a kouros	Aelia Eudocia II
The Temple Inscription	Head of Zeus	Coin of the Bosphorus	Sidon, Royal Tombs, Chamber 3, Alexander sarcophagus (09) Hephaestion
Sidon, Royal Tombs, Chamber 3, Sidon, Alexander Sarcophagus	Nicomedia, Sarcophagus	Relief of a hero	Kanesh, Letter (in an envelope) concerning silver debt
Roman statue of the Egyptian god Bes from Amathus	Arcadius	Sidon, Funerary stele of Salmamodes	Ivriz, king Warpalas and the god Tarhunza
Sarcophagus with the Dioscuri	Temple of Athena, façade	Bor, Relief of king Warpalas, inscription	Lysippus' Alexander
Sidon, Bustan esh-Sheikh, Egyptianizing head	Dascylium, funerary stele	The Gezer Calendar	Cyzicus, Kouros
Troy VI, "Minaean" pottery	Perinthus, Portrait of a man	Dascylium, frieze: women on horseback	Sidon, Royal Tombs, Chamber 3, Alexander sarcophagus (18) (Abdalonymus)
Nimrud, Northwest Palace of Aššurnasirpal II, Genie	Alexander the Great	Sidon, Funerary stele of Dioscurides	Augustus
Samos, Head of a kouros	Troy IX, statuette of Cybele	Chalcedon, Tombstone of Severius Acceptus of VIII Augusta (EDCS-05300088)	Cyzicus, Charioteer
Magians with a sacrifice of a sheep and a bull	Aššur, Door plaques of Šalmaneser III	Troy VIII, metope	Dascylium, funerary stele, detail: chariot
Pergamene copy of the Alcamenes herm	Alexander the Great	Perinthus, Tombstone of Paulus of III Italica (EDCS-30000413)	Sidon, Royal Tombs, Chamber 4, Lycian sarcophagus
Forum of Theodosius, Orpheus	Tenedos, archaising bust of Hermes	Portrait of a man	Miletus, statue of Apollo
Hippodrome, Kathisma, capital	Anastasius' Passage Law from Abydus	Diocletian	Dascylium, funerary stele, detail: chariot
Nicomedia, Sea god	Sidon, Royal Tombs, Chamber 2, Sarcophagus of Tabnit (1)	Dascylium, funerary stele, inscription	Byzantium, Forum of Theodosius, Tombstone of Aurelius Suro of I Adiutrix (EDCS-05300172)
Siloam Inscription	Yemen, Arab warrior	Troy VIII, head of Zeus	Hattusa, Letter of king Hattusilis III to king Kadashman-Enlil II of Babylonia
Nineveh, Stele of Sennacherib	Samos, Heracles as archer	Magian venerating the fire	Byzantium, Forum of Theodosius, tombstone of an aquilifer of II Adiutrix (EDCS-05300173)
Valentinian II	Hattusa, Hittite laws about personal damage	Sidon, Royal Tombs, Chamber 3, Alexander sarcophagus (02) Alexander	Constantinople, Sea Wall, Royal Gate, Marble decoration
Agrippina the Elder	Alexander the Great	Adana, bust of Hadrian.	Ephesus, Archaic temple of Artemis, Ivory statuette of the goddess
Sidon, Royal Tombs, Chamber 1, Sarcophagus of the mourning women	Syllabilary with old and new cuneiform signs	Ephesus, Archaic temple of Artemis, Ivory lion	Aššur, Parthian stele of a worshipper
Troy VIII, treaty between Troy and six other towns	Yemenite relief of a woman and a man, seated on dromedaries, meeting at a well	Roman tombstone from Iskenderun. "Phouseinia, who never caused pain. Farewell".	Sidon, Royal Tombs, Chamber 6, Sarcophagus of the satrap
Kanesh, Account of a caravan	Golden Gate, statue of a tetrarch	Hattusa, Kadesh Treaty	Snake head from the Greek victory monument in Delphi, later brought to Constantinople
Hattusa, Deeds of Suppililiuma	Tombstone of Menios	Sidon, Royal Tombs, Chamber 7, Greek-style sarcophagus	Troy VIIb, pottery
Priene, Aphrodite	Ephesus, Archaic temple of Artemis, Gold falcon	The Assyrian king Naram-Sin	Hippodrome, Porphyrius Monument of the Greens
Cyzicus, Column drum	Hippodrome, Porphyrius Monument of the Blues	Roman tombstone from Iskenderun. "Be brave! Agatheisa".	Dascylium, funerary stele, detail: dinner scene
Early Roman gravestone from Abydus: "Here, the Boule buried Agathe, the daughter of Papos"	Tombstone of a Macedonian warrior	Aššur, Old Palace, Head of a lamassu	Smyrna, relief with a tribute to Euripides
Sidon, Royal Tombs, Chamber 3, Alexander sarcophagus (11) (Perdiccas?)	Jupiter Heliopolitanus from Palmyra.	Adad-Nirari III	Dascylium, funerary stele
Bor, Relief of king Warpalas	Forum of Theodosius, relief with soldiers	Temple of Athena, façade	Aššur, Altar of Tikulti-Ninurta I
Lion