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

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