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

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