Istanbul, Arkeoloji Müzesi

Q636978

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 portrait 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.

125 pictures related to this museum

Hattusa, Letter of king Hattusilis III to king Kadashman-Enlil II of Babylonia	Sidon, Royal Tombs, Chamber 1, Egyptian-style sarcophagus	Troy IX, Figurine of Cybele	Pergamene copy of the Alcamenes herm
Abydus, Anastasius' passage law	Sidon, Royal Tombs, Chamber 4, Lycian sarcophagus	Kanesh, Account of a caravan	Samos, Heracles as archer
Cyzicus, Column drum	Mada'in Saleh, Head of a man	Hippodrome, Kathisma, capital	Nicaea, Statue of Cybele (Roman copy of a Hellenistic original)
Troy VIII, Metope	Perinthus, Tombstone of Paulus of III Italica	Aphrodisias, Valentinian II	Sidon, Royal Tombs, Chamber 6, Sarcophagus of the satrap
Pella, Tombstone of a Macedonian warrior	Dascylium, Relief of a Magian venerating the fire	Pergamon, Portrait of Augustus	Nicaea, Funerary relief of Menas
Sidon, Royal Tombs, Chamber 4, Lycian sarcophagus, Sphinxes	Adana, Portrait of Hadrian	Jerusalem, Temple Inscription	Priene, Aphrodite
Constantinople, Forum of Theodosius, Orpheus	Dascylium, Short funerary stele	Yemen, Arab warrior	Constantinople, Sea Wall, Royal Gate, Marble decoration
The Gezer Calendar	Smyrna, Relief with a tribute to Euripides	Chalcedon, Tombstone of Severius Acceptus of VIII Augusta	Sidon, Funerary stele of Dioscurides
Hippodrome, Porphyrius Monument of the Greens	Snake head from the Greek victory monument in Delphi, later brought to Constantinople	Sidon, Royal Tombs, Chamber 3, Alexander sarcophagus (11) (Perdiccas?)	Perinthus, Portrait of a man
Assos, Temple of Athena, Façade	Troy VIIb, Pottery	Aššur, Parthian stele of a worshipper	Alexandria near Issus, Roman tombstone
Samos, Head of a kouros	Miletus, Statue of Apollo	Sidon, Royal Tombs, Chamber 2, Sarcophagus of Tabnit	Bor, Relief of king Warpalas
Bolu, Hidirsihlar tumulus, Galatian torques	Dascylium, Short funerary stele: chariot: dinner scene	Constantinople, Forum of Theodosius, Arcadius	Aššur, Syllabilary with old and new cuneiform signs
Dascylium, Short funerary stele: chariot	Seleucia in Pieria, Sarcophagus with the Dioscuri	Nicomedia, Portrait of Diocletian	Pergamon, Portrait of Agrippina Maior
Nineveh, Stele of Sennacherib	Hellenistic funeral stele	Amida, Relief of Naram-Sin	Palmyra, Jupiter Heliopolitanus
Pergamon, Portrait of Alexander the Great	Saba'a, Relief of Adad-Nirari III	Kallipolis, Relief of Cybele	Mada'in Saleh, Sundial
Bor, Relief of king Warpalas, inscription	Alexander the Great	Dascylium, Frieze of women on horseback	Aššur, Altar of Tikulti-Ninurta I
Ephesus, Archaic temple of Artemis, Ivory lion	Troy VIII, Head of Zeus	Perinthus, Relief of Micallus	Constantinople, Forum of Theodosius, Relief with soldiers
Kanesh, Letter (in an envelope) concerning silver debt	Cyzicus, Charioteer	Tenedos, Head of Hermes (archaizing)	Troy VIII, Treaty between Troy and six other towns
Didyma, Head of Zeus	Pergamon, Relief of a hero	Aelia Eudocia II	Sidon, Royal Tombs, Chamber 3, Alexander sarcophagus (09) Hephaestion
Constantinople, Golden Gate, statue of a tetrarch	Palmyra, Tombstone of a man	Perinthus, Portrait of Commodus	Sarcophagus from the Persian age
Constantinople, Tombstone of Menios	Dascylium, Long funerary stele	Coin of the Bosphorus	Sidon, Royal Tombs, Chamber 3, Alexander sarcophagus (18) (Abdalonymus)
Abydus, Roman tombstone	Aššur, Old Palace, Head of a lamassu	Yemenite relief of a woman and a man, seated on dromedaries, meeting at a well	Hippodrome, Porphyrius Monument of the Blues
Roman statue of the Egyptian god Bes from Amathus	Samos, Head of a kouros	Ivriz, Relief of king Warpalas and the god Tarhunza	Sidon, Funerary stele of Salmamodes
Assos, Temple of Athena, Façade	Smyrna, Sappho (Roman copy of a Hellenistic portrait)	Sidon, Royal Tombs, Chamber 3, Sidon, Alexander Sarcophagus	Alexandria near Issus, Roman tombstone
Dascylium, Long funerary stele, detail: chariot	Sidon, Royal Tombs, Chamber 2, Mixed Egyptian-Greek-style sarcophagus	Sidon, Bustan esh-Sheikh, Egyptianizing head	Alexander the Great
Dascylium, Relief of two Magians sacrificing a sheep and a bull	Nimrud, Northwest Palace of Aššurnasirpal II, Genie	Jerusalem, Siloam Inscription	Hattusa, Kadesh Treaty
Ephesus, Archaic temple of Artemis, Ivory figurine of the goddess	Lysippus' Alexander	Sidon, Royal Tombs, Chamber 3, Alexander sarcophagus (02) Alexander	Hattusa, Deeds of Šuppililiuma
Sidon, Royal Tombs, Chamber 1, Sarcophagus of the mourning women	Baalbek, Temple of Jupiter, Lion	Halicarnassus, Mausoleum, Lion	Byblos, Statue of Poseidon
Ephesus, Archaic temple of Artemis, Gold falcon	Sidon, Royal Tombs, Chamber 7, Greek-style sarcophagus	Dascylium, Long funerary stele, Inscription	Nicomedia, Sea god
Hattusa, Hittite laws about personal damage	Aššur, Door plaques of Šalmaneser III	Nicomedia, Sarcophagus	Assos, Temple of Athena, Façade
Aššur, Statue of Šalmaneser III	Constantinople, Forum of Theodosius, Tombstone of an aquilifer of II Adiutrix	Constantinople, Forum of Theodosius, Tombstone of Aurelius Suro of I Adiutrix	Cyzicus, Kouros
Troy VI, "Minaean" pottery