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

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