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.

119 pictures related to this museum

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