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

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