WORLD HERITAGE

LOST TREASURES FROM IRAQ

Alabaster Uruk vase, with reliefs of plants, animals, humans, and temple scene. (c. 3000 B.C.)

Shell plaque From Ur, Southern Iraq (c. 2,600-2,400 B.C.) Entwined in the branches of a flowering tree, two goats appear to be nibbling on its leaves. This decorative plaque, which was carved from shell and highlighted with bitumen, was also excavated from the Royal Tombs of UR.

Headdress and necklace of gold, lapis lazuli and cornelian from the Royal Cemetery of Ur, Southern Iraq. (c. 2,600 B.C.)

Gold and ivory plaque depicting a lioness killing a black man in a meadow of lotus and papyrus, (8th century B.C.)

Silver lyre from Ur, Southern Iraq (c. 2,600-2,400 B.C.). Entirely covered in sheet silver attached by small silver nails. The plaques down the front of the sounding box are made of shell. The silver cow's head decorating the front has inlaid eyes of shell and lapis lazuli. Eleven silver tubes acted as the tuning pegs. Most Sumerian lyres had eleven strings, and it is assumed that each string produced a different sound.

Cylinder seals were invented around 3,500 B.C. in Southern Mesopotamia (now Iraq) and were used as an administrative tool to seal documents and other items - such as legal documents or records - by rolling the seals with their carving on them across a malleable surface and creating a raised impression. Running from one-half inch in size to a couple of inches, the cylindrical seal "embodies the essence of Mesopotamia." Cylinder seals give us an unbroken chain of information from the 4th millennium down to the 1st millennium, and this information covers aesthetics, art, imagery, mythology, history, and administration. Cylinder seals led to the invention of cuneiform writing on clay.

Cuneiform clay tablet with a message signed, "Your loving wife who has had a child." (2,900 – 2,700 B.C.). "The origin of writing", began with the cuneiform clay tablets of Mesopotamia about 3,200 B.C. Written in various languages, the tablets contained letters, dictionaries, hymns, political tracts, sales slips, astronomy, and student notebooks of schoolboys learning to read and write in Sumeria. Humorous stories have been found such as a debate between a plow and a hoe arguing the moral of valuing humility over pride.

Gold cup from Ur, Southern Iraq. (c. 2,600-2,400 B.C.)

Neck of a jar painted with a female face, eyes and nose projecting out of the surface. (early 5th millennium B.C.).

Scarlet ware jar (c. 2,900 B.C.)

Female clay figure, from UR, Southern Iraq, Ubaid culture. (c. 4,500 B.C.). Baked clay figures of humans from 6,000 - 4,000 B.C. have been found widely throughout Mesopotamia. Many depict women, often suckling a child. The child's head is elongated and has slanted eyes, shaped like a coffee bean. These stylized heads have given the figures their name of "lizard" figurine.

Gold helmet from the Royal Cemetery at UR. (c. 2,400 B.C.)

Gold dagger with lapis handle and sheath, from the Royal Cemetery at Ur (c. 2,400 B.C.)

The Standard of Ur from Ur, Southern Iraq, (c. 2,600-2,400 B.C.)The object has two main panels called "War and Peace." The "War" section shows one of the earliest representations of a Sumerian army: soldiers on chariots trampling enemies; infantry with cloaks carry spears; enemy soldiers are killed with axes, and prisoners are paraded and presented to the king who holds a spear. The "Peace" panel depicts various scenes of life: animals, fish and other goods are brought in procession to a banquet; seated figures, wearing woolen fleeces or fringed skirts, drink to the accompaniment of a musician playing a lyre.

   Iraq, known as Mesopotamia in ancient times, was the cradle of human civilization. History began in ancient Iraq and its legacy to mankind is vast: the first written words, the first written laws, the first mathematical calculations, the first schools, and the invention of the wheel, to name but a few. There, man learned to selectively breed crops and animals for the benefit of mankind. Such technique is referred to today as genetic engineering, and its application changed the course of human history.
   From the heartland of ancient Iraq, mankind first conceived of freedom and justice. This we know, for beautifully engraved on basalt stela are the words of a once just king, "To cause justice to prevail in the land, that the strong may not oppress the weak." That king was Hammurabi, 8th century BC ruler of Babylon. Carved upon a polished black stone monument, Hammurabi's illustrious Code of Laws stands eight feet high and it now resides at the Louvre Museum in Paris. It is of interest that the renowned stone was found, not in Babylon but in the mountains of Persia (present day Iran), where some later conqueror carried it in triumph as booty. History repeats itself: AD 1258 - Mongols sacked Baghdad, burning and destroying books - knowledge - in their wake; AD 2003 - US "shock and awe" bombs pounded Baghdad, and in its aftermath, Iraq's - and mankind's - civilization lay in ruins.
   Archeological excavations over the last 100 years in Iraq have yielded priceless artifacts, the study of which has allowed historians to piece together a continuous and coherent history of the human race from 9,000 B.C. Thousands of these artifacts, about 170,000 pieces, were housed in the National Museum of Baghdad. The University of Chicago Oriental Institute states, "Spanning a time from before 9,000 B.C. well into to the Islamic period, they [the collection] included some of the earliest tools man ever made, painted polychrome ceramics from the 6th millennium B.C., Assyrian reliefs and bull figures from Assyrian capitals of Nimrud, Nineveh, and Khorsabad, to Islamic pottery and coins - an unrivaled treasure not only for Iraq, but for all of mankind."
   These treasures were stolen or smashed to bits and pieces by thieves during the invasion. Reports on the damage and the number of lost or stolen objects vary between 50,000 to 200,000. Most shocking were reports that this monstrous act was orchestrated by wealthy art collectors, the vultures of human heritage. It was a black day in the annals of mankind.
   Indeed, the loss of these treasures is heartbreaking. We mourn the ruin and devastation of our heritage.

Rachel Hajar, MD

"To view the lost treasures, visit the University of Chicago Oriental Institute website at: http://www.oi.uchicago.edu/OI/IRAQ/iraq.html"