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by Empire of Narnia » Sat Mar 07, 2015 11:03 pm
by Digital Planets » Sat Mar 07, 2015 11:05 pm
The Archregimancy wrote:United Marxist Nations wrote:Arch, would I be able to order that book on Amazon? From the title, it sounds really interesting.
When it comes out, probably.
But my (German) co-editor and I are still putting the final touches on the manuscript; I wouldn't expect it to appear imminently, and the publication year is just an estimate. It's not in any formal publication catalogues yet.
by United Marxist Nations » Sat Mar 07, 2015 11:16 pm
The Archregimancy wrote:United Marxist Nations wrote:Arch, would I be able to order that book on Amazon? From the title, it sounds really interesting.
When it comes out, probably.
But my (German) co-editor and I are still putting the final touches on the manuscript; I wouldn't expect it to appear imminently, and the publication year is just an estimate. It's not in any formal publication catalogues yet.
In the meantime, you can fill the gap with Lynn Meskell's excellent edited 1998 volume Archaeology Under Fire; Nationalism, Politics and Heritage in the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East. There have inevitably been political changes since its publication, but the historical background discussions are still wholly relevant.
The Kievan People wrote: United Marxist Nations: A prayer for every soul, a plan for every economy and a waifu for every man. Solid.
St. John Chrysostom wrote:A comprehended God is no God.
by Shrillland » Sun Mar 08, 2015 9:28 am
BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq's government is investigating reports that the ancient archaeological site of Khorsabad in northern Iraq is the latest to be attacked by the Islamic State militant group.
Adel Shirshab, the country's tourism and antiquities minister, told The Associated Press there are concerns the militants will remove artifacts and damage the site, located 15 kilometers (9 miles) northeast of Mosul. Saeed Mamuzini, a Kurdish official from Mosul, told the AP that the militants had already begun demolishing the Khorsabad site on Sunday, citing multiple witnesses.
On Friday, the group razed 3,000-year old Nimrod and on Saturday, they bulldozed 2,000-year old Hatra — both UNESCO world heritage sites. The move was described by UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon as a "war crime."
Khorsabad was constructed as a new capital of Assyria by King Sargon II shortly after he came to power in 721 B.C. and abandoned after his death in 705 B.C. It features a 24-meter thick wall with a stone foundation and seven gates.
Since it was a single-era capital, few objects linked to Sargon II himself were found. However, the site is renowned for shedding light on Assyrian art and architecture.
The Islamic State group currently controls about a third of Iraq and Syria. The Sunni extremist group has been campaigning to purge ancient relics they say promote idolatry that violates their fundamentalist interpretation of Islamic law. A video released last week shows them smashing artifacts in the Mosul museum and in January, the group burned hundreds of books from the Mosul library and Mosul University, including many rare manuscripts.
At a press conference earlier Sunday, Shirshab said they have called for an extraordinary session of the U.N. Security Council to address the crisis in Iraq.
"The world should bear the responsibility and put an end to the atrocities of the militants, otherwise I think the terrorist groups will continue with their violent acts," he said.
by Rio Cana » Sun Mar 08, 2015 10:46 am
The Transcaucasian Democratic Republic wrote:Salus Maior wrote:
There's Assyrian nationalists? O_o
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assyrian_nationalism
By mid-1918, the British army had convinced the Ottomans to let them have access to about 30,000 Assyrians from various parts of Persia. The British decided to relocate all 30,000 from Persia to Baquba, northern Iraq, in the hope that this would prevent further massacres. Many others had already left for northern Iraq after the Russian withdrawal and collapse of Armenian lines. The transferring took just 25 days, but at least 7,000 of them had died during the trip.[31] Some died of exposure, hunger or disease, other civilians fell prey to attacks from armed bands of Kurds and Arabs. At Baquba, Assyrians were forced to defend themselves from further Arab and Kurdish raids, which they were able to do successfully
by Busen » Sun Mar 08, 2015 11:11 am
The connection between the Christian groups associated with the ancient Nestorian Church of the East (including the Chaldean Catholics) and ancient Assyria is an entirely modern late 19th-century / early 20th-century one. It has no basis in continuity of culture, and no verifiable basis on continuity of ethnicity; significantly, it's also a specifically Christian ideology, which rather ignores the problem of why local Christian groups should be the only ones to be able to claim continuity with Assyria.
by Sun Wukong » Sun Mar 08, 2015 11:23 am
Busen wrote:The connection between the Christian groups associated with the ancient Nestorian Church of the East (including the Chaldean Catholics) and ancient Assyria is an entirely modern late 19th-century / early 20th-century one. It has no basis in continuity of culture, and no verifiable basis on continuity of ethnicity; significantly, it's also a specifically Christian ideology, which rather ignores the problem of why local Christian groups should be the only ones to be able to claim continuity with Assyria.
Some Arabs may be connected to the old Assyrian Empire, but it is their faulth why they rejected it in favour of Muhamed and Islam. They dont want to be associated with the Assyria so that will make the Christians the only legal successors.
by The Archregimancy » Sun Mar 08, 2015 10:15 pm
Busen wrote:The connection between the Christian groups associated with the ancient Nestorian Church of the East (including the Chaldean Catholics) and ancient Assyria is an entirely modern late 19th-century / early 20th-century one. It has no basis in continuity of culture, and no verifiable basis on continuity of ethnicity; significantly, it's also a specifically Christian ideology, which rather ignores the problem of why local Christian groups should be the only ones to be able to claim continuity with Assyria.
Some Arabs may be connected to the old Assyrian Empire, but it is their faulth why they rejected it in favour of Muhamed and Islam. They dont want to be associated with the Assyria so that will make the Christians the only legal successors.
Sun Wukong wrote:Legal successors??
Oh right! As precedented by the landmark case Kazakhstan v. Scythia.
by Untaroicht » Mon Mar 16, 2015 2:44 pm
Rio Cana wrote:The Transcaucasian Democratic Republic wrote:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assyrian_nationalism
I though the Assyrians were an ancient people that no longer were around. Seems I was wrong. Found out they had the same problems the Armenians had when it came to being exterminated. However, they tended to hit back against the Ottoman Empire.
Seems after WW I, most ended up in Iraq, Northern Iraq, because of UK. involvement in trying to find them a safe place. Seems they should have picked somewhere else.By mid-1918, the British army had convinced the Ottomans to let them have access to about 30,000 Assyrians from various parts of Persia. The British decided to relocate all 30,000 from Persia to Baquba, northern Iraq, in the hope that this would prevent further massacres. Many others had already left for northern Iraq after the Russian withdrawal and collapse of Armenian lines. The transferring took just 25 days, but at least 7,000 of them had died during the trip.[31] Some died of exposure, hunger or disease, other civilians fell prey to attacks from armed bands of Kurds and Arabs. At Baquba, Assyrians were forced to defend themselves from further Arab and Kurdish raids, which they were able to do successfully
Read this on the Ottomans Empires extermination of the Assyrians - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assyrian_genocide
Concerning ISIS , it seems ISIS has taken a page from the Ottoman Empire extermination agenda when it comes to wiping out groups of people they do not like. If Turkey is truly sorry about what happened during the Ottoman Empire times, then why are they not more vigorously involved in stopping this group which is exterminating people left and right.
by New Neros » Mon Mar 16, 2015 3:23 pm
Untaroicht wrote:Rio Cana wrote:
I though the Assyrians were an ancient people that no longer were around. Seems I was wrong. Found out they had the same problems the Armenians had when it came to being exterminated. However, they tended to hit back against the Ottoman Empire.
Seems after WW I, most ended up in Iraq, Northern Iraq, because of UK. involvement in trying to find them a safe place. Seems they should have picked somewhere else.
Read this on the Ottomans Empires extermination of the Assyrians - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assyrian_genocide
Concerning ISIS , it seems ISIS has taken a page from the Ottoman Empire extermination agenda when it comes to wiping out groups of people they do not like. If Turkey is truly sorry about what happened during the Ottoman Empire times, then why are they not more vigorously involved in stopping this group which is exterminating people left and right.
Turkey couldn't give less of a flying fuck about any of their minorities, let alone the assyrians in particular. I'd even go as far as to call turkey the most xenophobic and religiously prejudiced country in the entire region (and that is saying something)
Keep in mind that the modern turkish nation is still (in many ways) actively trying to exterminate the last non-islamic and non-turkish people from it's borders- why else wouldn't they have re-opened the halki seminary, for example? It's a systematic effort to completely exterminate anyone who isn't ethnically turkish and religiously muslim. Hell, their equivalent of George Washington was the guy responsible for the Armenian Genocide!
Several sources have found out that Turkey is financially supporting ISIS due to their plans of killing Kurds as well- an ethnic group turkey hates.
Reploid Productions wrote:I have had to read a lot of erotic RP telegrams in the past four months and it does all start to run together into one giant mass of penises, vaginas, breasts, tentacles, dildos, bodily fluids and so on.
by Iidoomaan » Tue Mar 24, 2015 8:10 am
(CNN)ISIS is continuing to bulldoze its way through the cultural heritage of Iraq and Syria, with the ancient Assyrian capital of Khorsabad apparently the extremist group's latest archaeological victim.
Iraq's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities said Monday it had received reports that Khorsabad had been destroyed.
"We have warned before and we warn again that those gangs and their sick Takfiri ideology will continue to destroy and steal artifacts as long as there is no strong deterrent," the ministry said in a statement. (A Takfiri is a Muslim who accuses another Muslim of apostasy.)
Here's a roundup of some of the mayhem and destruction ISIS has wrought upon antiquity:
Khorsabad
Where: Khorsabad is about 19 kilometers (12 miles) northeast of Mosul in northeastern Iraq.
What: Assyrian King Sargon II built a palace at Khorsabad between 717 and 706 B.C., according to the Oriental Institute at Chicago University, which helped excavate the site during the last century.
Khorsabad, one of three cities that served as a capital during the empire's reign, was abandoned after Sargon's death in 705 B.C., the institute said.
Why it's significant: The Oriental Institute says "Khorsabad is unusual among the Assyrian palaces because of its stylistic innovations, the preservation of paint on its reliefs, and the extensive ancient written documentation concerning the organization of the building project. "
19 priceless monuments lost in conflict
19 precious monuments destroyed by war 19 photos
EXPAND GALLERY
Carved stone reliefs from the site are held in Baghdad, Chicago, Paris and Britain, it said.
Nimrud
Last week, the Iraqi Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities said ISIS had bulldozed the site of another ancient Assyrian capital, Nimrud.
"ISIS continues to defy the will of the world and the feelings of humanity," the ministry said in a statement. "They violated the ancient city of Nimrud and bulldozed its ancient ruins."
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said he was "disturbed" by the reports.
"These depraved acts are an assault on the heritage of the Iraqi and Syrian people by an organization with a bankrupt and toxic ideology," Kerry said in a statement.
"The Iraqi government recently nominated Nimrud to be placed on UNESCO's list of world heritage sites. In contrast, ISIL's twisted goal is clear: to eviscerate a culture and rewrite history in its own brutal image."
Where: Nimrud lies about 30 kilometers (19 miles) south of Mosul in northern Iraq.
What: Nimrud, first known as Khalka, was a city in the Assyrian kingdom, which flourished between 900 and 612 B.C.
Why it's significant: UNESCO says Nimrud's "frescoes and works are celebrated around the world and revered in literature and sacred texts."
Mark Altaweel, professor of archeology at University College London, told CNN's Nic Robertson last week that Nimrud was a large site, the full potential of which had not been uncovered.
As the first Assyrian capital, it accumulated huge amounts of wealth, Altaweel said, and many of the objects found there were very rare and made from highly precious materials.
"I would describe Nimrud as one of the really unique archaeological sites in the entire ancient Near East," he said. "Nimrud is the capital of the first empire in this long series of empires that have profound significance in the way this region develops and ultimately how it affects our own society."
Mosul Museum
ISIS militants destroy antiquities with sledgehammer
ISIS militants destroy antiquities with sledgehammer 02:01
PLAY VIDEO
The razing of Nimrud came a week after a video showed ISIS militants using sledgehammers to obliterate stone sculptures and other centuries-old artifacts in the Mosul Museum.
Where: Mosul is Iraq's second-biggest city, 400 kilometers (249 miles) north of Baghdad.
What: Mosul Museum held 173 original pieces of antiquity and was being readied for reopening when ISIS invaded Mosul in June, Qais Hussain Rashid, the antiquities ministry's director general of Iraqi museums, told Iraqiya TV.
Why it's significant: Mosul Museum is Iraq's second-largest museum. Irina Bokova, director-general of UNESCO, said the museum contained large statues from the UNESCO World Heritage site of Hatra, as well as artifacts from the archaeological sites of the governorate of Ninevah. The video showed that these had been destroyed or defaced.
"It's tragic to see this destruction," William Webber, from the UK-based Art Loss Register, told CNN. "Each time you see this, you think it can't happen again, but it does. Now other Greco-Roman treasures are at risk around Mosul in Iraq, as well as other artifacts in Palmyra and Raqqa in Syria."
Most of the sculptures being destroyed were from the Assyrian period, Webber said.
Mosul Library
On February 27, the U.N. Security Council condemned ISIS' destruction of artifacts in the Mosul Museum as well as the "burning of thousands of books and rare manuscripts from the Mosul Library."
Where: Mosul Library is in the northern Iraqi city controlled by ISIS.
What: The library's collection reportedly included 18th-century manuscripts and Ottoman-era books.
Why it's significant: UNESCO said the burning could be "one of the most devastating acts of destruction of library collections in human history."
Bokova referred to media reports suggesting thousands of books had been burned over several weeks.
"This destruction marks a new phase in the cultural cleansing perpetrated in regions controlled by armed extremists in Iraq," she said in a statement. "It adds to the systematic destruction of heritage and the persecution of minorities that seeks to wipe out the cultural diversity that is the soul of the Iraqi people."
Jonah's tomb
In July 2014, a video was released apparently showing the destruction of Jonah's tomb.
Where: The tomb was inside a Sunni mosque called the Mosque of the Prophet Yunus, which is Arabic for Jonah, in Mosul.
What: The holy site is said to be the burial place of the prophet Jonah, who was swallowed by a whale or great fish in the Islamic and Judeo-Christian traditions. Biblical scholars are divided on whether the tomb in Mosul actually belonged to Jonah. In the Jewish tradition, he returns to his hometown of Gath-Hepher after his mission to Nineveh. And some modern scholars say the Jonah story is more myth than history.
Why it's significant: The story of Jonah is told often in the Christian tradition and has special resonance for that faith, scholars Joel S. Baden and Candida Moss wrote in a piece on CNN's Belief Blog.
They refer to the destruction of Jonah's tomb as "an attack on both those Christians living in Iraq today and on the rich, if little-known, Christian heritage of the region."
Hatra
In 2014, ISIS took over the site of the ancient ruined city of Hatra -- or al-Hadr in Arabic -- using it to store weapons and ammunition, train fighters and execute prisoners.
On March 8, a spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said reports that Hatra had been razed outraged him.
"The destruction of Hatra marks a turning point in the appalling strategy of cultural cleansing underway in Iraq," said UNESCO's Bokova and Abdulaziz Othman Altwaijri, director general of the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, in a joint statement. "
Where: Hatra is 110 kilometers (68 miles) southwest of Mosul.
What: Established by the successors of Alexander the Great and dating back to 300 B.C., Hatra became the capital of what some believe to be an early Arab kingdom ruled by the Parthian Empire that also included the fabled city of Petra in Jordan.
Why it's significant: UNESCO says the city withstood attacks by the Roman Empire before falling in the 3rd century to the Persian Sassanid Empire. Hatra is an "excellent example" of a circular fortified city, it says.
"The perfect condition of the double wall in an untouched environment sets it aside as an outstanding example of a series which covers the Parthian, Sassanid and early Islamic civilization. It provides, moreover, exceptional testimony to an entire facet of Assyro-Babylonian civilization subjected to the influence of Greeks, Parthians, Romans and Arabs," its description of the site continues.
Why is ISIS destroying archaeological sites?
ISIS is part of a puritanical strain of Islam that considers all religious shrines -- Islamic, Christian, Jewish, etc. -- idolatrous.
In a commentary for CNN, Cornell University archaeologist and classicist Sturt W. Manning wrote that such destruction spoke of "the human folly and senseless violence that drives ISIS."
"The terror group is destroying the evidence of the great history of Iraq; it has to, as this history attests to a rich alternative to its barbaric nihilism.
"Worse, these acts of destruction supposedly in the name of religion are dishonest and hypocritical: the same ISIS also is busy looting archaeological sites to support its thriving illegal trade in antiquities, causing further incalculable harm," Manning said.
UNESCO's Bokova said in an opinion column for CNN that Iraq's heritage belonged to all its people and its destruction should be considered a war crime.
"The bulldozing of the archaeological site of Nimrud marked a new step in the cultural cleansing underway in Iraq. These acts are a deliberate attack against civilians, minorities, heritage sites and traditions. In the minds of terrorists, murder and destruction of culture are inherently linked," Bokova wrote.
In an interview Monday with CNN's Christiane Amanpour, Bokova said it was difficult to assess the extent of the damage done by ISIS without UNESCO experts being on the ground at the sites.
While some of the artifacts damaged in the Mosul Museum were replicas, Bokova said, in Hatra "unfortunately the damage was authentic."
by Imperial New Vegas » Tue Mar 24, 2015 8:13 am
The flag of the pre-war American Commonwealth with various chems and drugs replacing the stars, representing a love of the old world and a love of drugs.
by Alcase » Tue Mar 24, 2015 8:13 am
by Quintium » Tue Mar 24, 2015 8:29 am
Narrated Ibn Abbas: When Allah's Apostle arrived in Mecca, he refused to enter the Ka'ba while there were idols in it. So he ordered that they be taken out. The pictures of the (Prophets) Ibrahim and Ishmael, holding arrows of divination in their hands, were carried out. The Prophet said, "May Allah ruin them (i.e. the nonbelievers) for they knew very well that they (i.e. Ibrahim and Ishmael) never drew lots by these (divination arrows). Then the Prophet entered the Ka'ba and said. "Allahu Akbar" in all its directions and came out and not offer any prayer therein.
Abu Talha reported Allah's Apostle (may peace be upon him) having said: Angels do not enter a house in which there is a dog or a picture.
A'isha reported: Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) came back from the journey and I had screened my door with a curtain having portraits of winged horses upon it. He commanded me and I pulled it away.
A'isha reported that Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) entered (my apartment) and I had hung (on the door of my apartment) a thin curtain having pictures on it. The colour of his face underwent a change. He then took hold of that curtain and tore it and then said: The most grievous torment for the people on the Day of Resurrection would be for those who try to imitate Allah in the act of creation.
A'isha reported that she bought a carpet which had pictures on it. When Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) saw that, he stayed at the door and did not get in. I perceived or I was made to perceive upon his face signs of disgust. She said: Allah's Messenger, I offer repentance to Allah and His Messenger. (but tell me) what is the sin that I have committed. Thereupon Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) said: What is this carpet? She said: I bought it for you so that you might sit on it and take rest. Thereupon Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) said: The owners of these pictures would be tormented and they would be asked to bring to life what they tried to create. He then said: Angels do not enter the house in which there is a picture.
by Quintium » Tue Mar 24, 2015 9:02 am
Esternial wrote:ISIL really hates a lot of things, I'm amazed they can keep track of it all.
by L Ron Cupboard » Tue Mar 24, 2015 9:21 am
Quintium wrote:They're following in the footsteps of their prophet and his successors.
by United Marxist Nations » Tue Mar 24, 2015 9:58 am
The Kievan People wrote: United Marxist Nations: A prayer for every soul, a plan for every economy and a waifu for every man. Solid.
St. John Chrysostom wrote:A comprehended God is no God.
by Farnhamia » Tue Mar 24, 2015 10:01 am
Iidoomaan wrote:(CNN)ISIS is continuing to bulldoze its way through the cultural heritage of Iraq and Syria, with the ancient Assyrian capital of Khorsabad apparently the extremist group's latest archaeological victim.
Iraq's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities said Monday it had received reports that Khorsabad had been destroyed.
"We have warned before and we warn again that those gangs and their sick Takfiri ideology will continue to destroy and steal artifacts as long as there is no strong deterrent," the ministry said in a statement. (A Takfiri is a Muslim who accuses another Muslim of apostasy.)
Here's a roundup of some of the mayhem and destruction ISIS has wrought upon antiquity:
Khorsabad
Where: Khorsabad is about 19 kilometers (12 miles) northeast of Mosul in northeastern Iraq.
What: Assyrian King Sargon II built a palace at Khorsabad between 717 and 706 B.C., according to the Oriental Institute at Chicago University, which helped excavate the site during the last century.
Khorsabad, one of three cities that served as a capital during the empire's reign, was abandoned after Sargon's death in 705 B.C., the institute said.
Why it's significant: The Oriental Institute says "Khorsabad is unusual among the Assyrian palaces because of its stylistic innovations, the preservation of paint on its reliefs, and the extensive ancient written documentation concerning the organization of the building project. "
19 priceless monuments lost in conflict
19 precious monuments destroyed by war 19 photos
EXPAND GALLERY
Carved stone reliefs from the site are held in Baghdad, Chicago, Paris and Britain, it said.
Nimrud
Last week, the Iraqi Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities said ISIS had bulldozed the site of another ancient Assyrian capital, Nimrud.
"ISIS continues to defy the will of the world and the feelings of humanity," the ministry said in a statement. "They violated the ancient city of Nimrud and bulldozed its ancient ruins."
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said he was "disturbed" by the reports.
"These depraved acts are an assault on the heritage of the Iraqi and Syrian people by an organization with a bankrupt and toxic ideology," Kerry said in a statement.
"The Iraqi government recently nominated Nimrud to be placed on UNESCO's list of world heritage sites. In contrast, ISIL's twisted goal is clear: to eviscerate a culture and rewrite history in its own brutal image."
Where: Nimrud lies about 30 kilometers (19 miles) south of Mosul in northern Iraq.
What: Nimrud, first known as Khalka, was a city in the Assyrian kingdom, which flourished between 900 and 612 B.C.
Why it's significant: UNESCO says Nimrud's "frescoes and works are celebrated around the world and revered in literature and sacred texts."
Mark Altaweel, professor of archeology at University College London, told CNN's Nic Robertson last week that Nimrud was a large site, the full potential of which had not been uncovered.
As the first Assyrian capital, it accumulated huge amounts of wealth, Altaweel said, and many of the objects found there were very rare and made from highly precious materials.
"I would describe Nimrud as one of the really unique archaeological sites in the entire ancient Near East," he said. "Nimrud is the capital of the first empire in this long series of empires that have profound significance in the way this region develops and ultimately how it affects our own society."
Mosul Museum
ISIS militants destroy antiquities with sledgehammer
ISIS militants destroy antiquities with sledgehammer 02:01
PLAY VIDEO
The razing of Nimrud came a week after a video showed ISIS militants using sledgehammers to obliterate stone sculptures and other centuries-old artifacts in the Mosul Museum.
Where: Mosul is Iraq's second-biggest city, 400 kilometers (249 miles) north of Baghdad.
What: Mosul Museum held 173 original pieces of antiquity and was being readied for reopening when ISIS invaded Mosul in June, Qais Hussain Rashid, the antiquities ministry's director general of Iraqi museums, told Iraqiya TV.
Why it's significant: Mosul Museum is Iraq's second-largest museum. Irina Bokova, director-general of UNESCO, said the museum contained large statues from the UNESCO World Heritage site of Hatra, as well as artifacts from the archaeological sites of the governorate of Ninevah. The video showed that these had been destroyed or defaced.
"It's tragic to see this destruction," William Webber, from the UK-based Art Loss Register, told CNN. "Each time you see this, you think it can't happen again, but it does. Now other Greco-Roman treasures are at risk around Mosul in Iraq, as well as other artifacts in Palmyra and Raqqa in Syria."
Most of the sculptures being destroyed were from the Assyrian period, Webber said.
Mosul Library
On February 27, the U.N. Security Council condemned ISIS' destruction of artifacts in the Mosul Museum as well as the "burning of thousands of books and rare manuscripts from the Mosul Library."
Where: Mosul Library is in the northern Iraqi city controlled by ISIS.
What: The library's collection reportedly included 18th-century manuscripts and Ottoman-era books.
Why it's significant: UNESCO said the burning could be "one of the most devastating acts of destruction of library collections in human history."
Bokova referred to media reports suggesting thousands of books had been burned over several weeks.
"This destruction marks a new phase in the cultural cleansing perpetrated in regions controlled by armed extremists in Iraq," she said in a statement. "It adds to the systematic destruction of heritage and the persecution of minorities that seeks to wipe out the cultural diversity that is the soul of the Iraqi people."
Jonah's tomb
In July 2014, a video was released apparently showing the destruction of Jonah's tomb.
Where: The tomb was inside a Sunni mosque called the Mosque of the Prophet Yunus, which is Arabic for Jonah, in Mosul.
What: The holy site is said to be the burial place of the prophet Jonah, who was swallowed by a whale or great fish in the Islamic and Judeo-Christian traditions. Biblical scholars are divided on whether the tomb in Mosul actually belonged to Jonah. In the Jewish tradition, he returns to his hometown of Gath-Hepher after his mission to Nineveh. And some modern scholars say the Jonah story is more myth than history.
Why it's significant: The story of Jonah is told often in the Christian tradition and has special resonance for that faith, scholars Joel S. Baden and Candida Moss wrote in a piece on CNN's Belief Blog.
They refer to the destruction of Jonah's tomb as "an attack on both those Christians living in Iraq today and on the rich, if little-known, Christian heritage of the region."
Hatra
In 2014, ISIS took over the site of the ancient ruined city of Hatra -- or al-Hadr in Arabic -- using it to store weapons and ammunition, train fighters and execute prisoners.
On March 8, a spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said reports that Hatra had been razed outraged him.
"The destruction of Hatra marks a turning point in the appalling strategy of cultural cleansing underway in Iraq," said UNESCO's Bokova and Abdulaziz Othman Altwaijri, director general of the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, in a joint statement. "
Where: Hatra is 110 kilometers (68 miles) southwest of Mosul.
What: Established by the successors of Alexander the Great and dating back to 300 B.C., Hatra became the capital of what some believe to be an early Arab kingdom ruled by the Parthian Empire that also included the fabled city of Petra in Jordan.
Why it's significant: UNESCO says the city withstood attacks by the Roman Empire before falling in the 3rd century to the Persian Sassanid Empire. Hatra is an "excellent example" of a circular fortified city, it says.
"The perfect condition of the double wall in an untouched environment sets it aside as an outstanding example of a series which covers the Parthian, Sassanid and early Islamic civilization. It provides, moreover, exceptional testimony to an entire facet of Assyro-Babylonian civilization subjected to the influence of Greeks, Parthians, Romans and Arabs," its description of the site continues.
Why is ISIS destroying archaeological sites?
ISIS is part of a puritanical strain of Islam that considers all religious shrines -- Islamic, Christian, Jewish, etc. -- idolatrous.
In a commentary for CNN, Cornell University archaeologist and classicist Sturt W. Manning wrote that such destruction spoke of "the human folly and senseless violence that drives ISIS."
"The terror group is destroying the evidence of the great history of Iraq; it has to, as this history attests to a rich alternative to its barbaric nihilism.
"Worse, these acts of destruction supposedly in the name of religion are dishonest and hypocritical: the same ISIS also is busy looting archaeological sites to support its thriving illegal trade in antiquities, causing further incalculable harm," Manning said.
UNESCO's Bokova said in an opinion column for CNN that Iraq's heritage belonged to all its people and its destruction should be considered a war crime.
"The bulldozing of the archaeological site of Nimrud marked a new step in the cultural cleansing underway in Iraq. These acts are a deliberate attack against civilians, minorities, heritage sites and traditions. In the minds of terrorists, murder and destruction of culture are inherently linked," Bokova wrote.
In an interview Monday with CNN's Christiane Amanpour, Bokova said it was difficult to assess the extent of the damage done by ISIS without UNESCO experts being on the ground at the sites.
While some of the artifacts damaged in the Mosul Museum were replicas, Bokova said, in Hatra "unfortunately the damage was authentic."
http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/09/world/ira ... index.html
thoughts?
by Benuty » Tue Mar 24, 2015 10:05 am
Scepez wrote:To me it seems like a PR stunt. Sure a destructive one, but a stunt nonetheless.
by Napkiraly » Tue Mar 24, 2015 10:06 am
by Scomagia » Tue Mar 24, 2015 10:14 am
Busen wrote:Khorsad is not an islamis site.
I understand the logic behind this thread. Liberal tring to say how ISIS destroys Islamic sites as a proof they are not real muslims.
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