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

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