Sunday, October 23, 2022

Whose treasure is it?

Richard Spencer (TIMES OF LONDON) reports:

The giant friezes of the biblical King Sennacherib carved into the sides of a canal in northern Iraq have taken 50 years to reveal. But it has been a disruptive 50 years of invasion, civil war and insurgencies.

In 2014 the fighters of Islamic State came within 15 miles of excavations on the canal. These restarted in 2019 only to pause again for the pandemic.

Now the canal, part of the greatest man-made water management system of the ancient world, has been uncovered.  At is heart are reliefs cut into the mountainside showing Sennacherib, the greatest monarch of the Assyrian empire, paying tribute to the seven chief god's of his universe. 


Here's a Tweet.



Hyder Abbasi and Khalid Razak (NBC NEWS) explain:

Ancient rock carvings that are believed to be more than 2,700 years old have been unearthed by a team of archaeologists in Iraq's northern city of Mosul.

The marble slabs were found during restoration work on the Mashki Gate, an ancient monument that was partially destroyed by Islamic State militants when they captured the city in 2016.

The relief carvings show scenes of war from the rule of Assyrian kings, in the ancient city of Nineveh, the Iraqi State Board of Antiquities and Heritage said in a statement Wednesday.

The gray stone carvings date to the rule of King Sennacherib, in power from 705 to 681 B.C., the statement added.

Sennacherib was responsible for expanding Nineveh as the Assyrians’ imperial capital and largest city — siting on a major crossroads between the Mediterranean and the Iranian plateau — including the construction of a palace.

The discovery was made last week by an Iraqi team, alongside American experts from the University of Pennsylvania who are helping to lead the reconstruction effort.

The “discovery consisted of eight marble slabs carved with a relief representing scenes of Assyrian soldiers, in addition to palm trees, grapes, pomegranates and figs belonging to the palace of King Sennacherib,” Ali Shalgham, the director general of Iraq’s Investigations and Excavations Department, told NBC News on Thursday.


And Tiffany Wertheimer (BBC NEWS) notes:

It is believed the relics once adorned his palace, and were then moved to the Mashki Gate, Fadel Mohammed Khodr, head of the Iraqi archaeological team, told AFP.

The Mashki Gate was one of the largest in Nineveh, and was an icon of the city's size and power. The gate was reconstructed in the 1970s, but was destroyed with a bulldozer by IS militants in 2016.


But who will note the reality?  That if it were found sooner, it would have been taken out of Iraq and put in some European museum?  Like the following that illegally remains in a London museum?



In other news, Karwan Faidhi Dri (RUDAW) notes:

Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) has claimed multiple times that the Turkish forces have conducted chemical attacks against its fighters in the Kurdistan Region’s mountainous areas since April. Turkish authorities denied this on Friday, saying their army follows international laws.

The Turkish army has carried out several military operations against the PKK, an armed group struggling for the increased rights of Kurds in Turkey, in the Kurdistan Region in recent years, with the latest one being launched in April. Ankara sees the PKK as a terrorist organization. The Kurdish group has recently published several videos which purportedly show Turkish soldiers targeting its fighters with chemical substances. 

On Tuesday, the PKK-affiliated Firat News Agency (ANF) published footage which it claimed showed Turkish soldiers putting chemical substances into a cave in Duhok province’s Warkhal area through a tube. The news outlet added that a couple of PKK fighters, who were in the cave, have been affected by the substances - suffering from memory loss and breakdown of nerves.  

The PKK said a day earlier that Turkey had used banned bombs and chemical substances for at least 2,476 times since April. On Tuesday, the PKK also published the identities of 17 of its fighters whom it claimed had been killed in the alleged chemical attacks by Turkey.  


ANF adds:


Reactions continue to pour in over the latest images and information exposing the employment of chemical weapons by the Turkish state in the guerrilla-held Medya Defense Zones in southern Kurdistan (northern Iraq).

Iraqi Parliamentary Security and Defence Commission member Hadi Amirli said they were aware of the reports on the use of chemical and banned weapons by the Turkish state in its ongoing military campaign in northern Iraq.  

“We are following the Turkish state’s attacks on civilian settlements in Iraq closely. We have been informed that Turkey has been using chemical and banned weapons, which is against neighborhood principles and international law,” he said.


Meanwhile, remember BROS is available in North America on streaming.










 









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