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http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/07/24/iraq-s-long-lost-mythical-temple-has-been-found-and-is-in-danger-of-disappearing-again.html
Iraq's Long-Lost Mythical Temple [Urartian Musasir] Has Been Found¦and
Is In Danger of Disappearing Again
By Nina Strochlic
07.24.14
For years, scientists have been searching for an ancient temple
dedicated to a winged warrior. Now, one archeologist thinks he may
have found it. Only problem: It's in the middle of a war zone.
In an ancient stone carving, warriors brandishing shields and swords
swarm over the columned facade of a grand temple. On one side, a
palace stands with three women perched on top; on the other, above
private homes, a ruler on a throne dictates to royal scribes. In the
foreground, the peaks of northern Iraq soar.
For centuries, scholars and archaeologists have speculated about the
whereabouts of this near-mythical temple and the powerful city where
it resided. While they know its history, the storied city's exact
location has long been lost to time, until a recent report by a local
archaeologist claimed to have hit upon the temple's remains. Using
clues pulled from surviving records and descriptions, Dlshad Marf
Zamua believes that, after seven years of research, he's found the
last traces of Musasir in what is now a village called Mdjeser in
Iraqi Kurdistan.
More than 2,500 years ago, the holy structure was the shining glory of
the ancient capital city of Musarir, also known as Ardini, in
modern-day Iraqi Kurdistan. For hundreds of years, around the first
millennium BC, the house of worship and its home city were renowned as
holy sites. Scholars believe that the temple was built in the late
ninth century BC to honor the god Haldi'a winged warrior standing on a
lion'and the goddess Bagbartu in the Iron Age kingdom of Urartu, which
considered Haldi its national deity.
This ancient metropolis separated Urartu, a cross-section of Armenia,
Iraq, eastern Turkey, and northwestern Iran, from the powerful empire
of Assyria. The capital city had long been written about, first by an
Assyrian king who said it was `the holy city founded in bedrock,' then
by a later king who referred to the city's ruler as a `mountain
dweller,' and its own seal called it `the city of the raven.'
The adorned temple of Haldi was described as having multiple gates,
where large numbers of animals were sacrificed. There was supposedly a
courtyard, and scholars believe regional kings were crowned on its
grounds, where they would later erect bronze statues in their own
honor.
The region was a constant battleground for political powers in the
Middle East, and in 714 B.C., the armies of Sargon II of Assyria
captured and plundered the holy Musasir. Within the temple, they found
a cache of treasure hoarded for centuries. The crusading king's loot
totaled an estimated one ton of gold and 10 tons of silver.
This was the eighth campaign for Sargo II, and one of the last major
conquests led by a series of kings who would unite the Middle East
under the rule of Assyria. Sargo II used claims of treachery by local
rulers to justify the invasion, but it became clear that the vast
wealth of the city was the real goal. He pledged the newfound riches
to fund construction of `Sargon's Fortress' the next year, with plans
of making it the new center of Assyria, one of the great ancient
empires. It was on the walls of Sargon II's massive new palace that
workers engraved scenes of the sacking of Masasir.
In the carving, the temple is depicted with a classical pediment front
and a colonnade of columns supporting the structure. If accurate,
historians believe it could be the first known temple to use both
those styles.
For the last 40 years, since they were unearthed during a military
upheaval, local villagers in Mdjeser have been using these column
bases in their homes and buildings, incorporating them into stairs,
seats, or courtyard additions.`But there's no telling whether the
remnants of a mythic temple built to honor a winged man on a lion's
back will survive its resurrection."
Marf Zamua, who teaches at Salahaddin University in Erbil, the capital
of Iraqi Kurdistan, and is working on his PhD in Assyriology in the
Netherlands, began collecting these recently exposed pieces. The 17
column fragments he's found so far have led him to believe he's
discovered the long-lost temple. Along with these major finds are a
collection of relics, seven stone statues, pottery, and a bronze
depiction of a wild goat found in the area.
It hasn't been an easy task. Four decades of turmoil have devastated
archaeological sites, but the chaos has also resurfaced previously
buried treasures. Beginning in 2005, Marf Zamua began to document Late
Bronze Age and Iron Age sites that were revealed during a period of
unrest. He went from village to village looking for what had been
uncovered. `Most of the objects [were] re-used for their daily life,
such as using column bases as stairs and seats,' he remembers, `and
statues as column stones in their houses.'
He also made a connection between architectural similarities between
the modern village and the ancient city'idiosyncrasies in building
styles that are uncommon elsewhere in the region, like the lack of
outer compound walls and stacked houses. These findings were presented
in June at the International Congress on the Archaeology of the
Ancient Near East in Basel, Switzerland.
Uncovering these treasures in Iraq has posed a special set of
challenges for excavators. The area saw the suspension of digs after
the 1981 Gulf War, Marf Zamua says, when the Iranian and Iraqi armies
sowed the earth with thousands of landmines. Later, Kurdish fighters
clashed with Iran and Turkey, and Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein
destroyed thousands of Kurdish villages, including Mdjeser.
As it goes, history is bound to repeat itself. Just as Sargon II
plundered Urartu to fund his war chest, antiquities across Syria and
Iraq have been bombed flat and looted by rebels and government forces
alike. In Iraq, invading militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and al
Sham have torn through Mosul's museum and are destroying ancient
treasures at an alarming rate.
Marf Zamua denounces the pillaging, but says the rebels have been
targeting Islamic architecture and relics more than pre-Islamic sites.
Luckily, the Kurdish army has been successfully protecting the border
since the surge, and Marf Zamua says he's unconcerned about the
interference with his work'he and the local antiquities department are
moving ahead with plans to launch fuller excavations into locations
where the objects were found
But there's no telling whether the remnants of a mythic temple built
to honor a winged man on a lion's back will survive its resurrection.
`They destroy anything they do not like,' Marf Zamua says of the
modern-day invaders.
Iraq's Long-Lost Mythical Temple [Urartian Musasir] Has Been Found¦and
Is In Danger of Disappearing Again
By Nina Strochlic
07.24.14
For years, scientists have been searching for an ancient temple
dedicated to a winged warrior. Now, one archeologist thinks he may
have found it. Only problem: It's in the middle of a war zone.
In an ancient stone carving, warriors brandishing shields and swords
swarm over the columned facade of a grand temple. On one side, a
palace stands with three women perched on top; on the other, above
private homes, a ruler on a throne dictates to royal scribes. In the
foreground, the peaks of northern Iraq soar.
For centuries, scholars and archaeologists have speculated about the
whereabouts of this near-mythical temple and the powerful city where
it resided. While they know its history, the storied city's exact
location has long been lost to time, until a recent report by a local
archaeologist claimed to have hit upon the temple's remains. Using
clues pulled from surviving records and descriptions, Dlshad Marf
Zamua believes that, after seven years of research, he's found the
last traces of Musasir in what is now a village called Mdjeser in
Iraqi Kurdistan.
More than 2,500 years ago, the holy structure was the shining glory of
the ancient capital city of Musarir, also known as Ardini, in
modern-day Iraqi Kurdistan. For hundreds of years, around the first
millennium BC, the house of worship and its home city were renowned as
holy sites. Scholars believe that the temple was built in the late
ninth century BC to honor the god Haldi'a winged warrior standing on a
lion'and the goddess Bagbartu in the Iron Age kingdom of Urartu, which
considered Haldi its national deity.
This ancient metropolis separated Urartu, a cross-section of Armenia,
Iraq, eastern Turkey, and northwestern Iran, from the powerful empire
of Assyria. The capital city had long been written about, first by an
Assyrian king who said it was `the holy city founded in bedrock,' then
by a later king who referred to the city's ruler as a `mountain
dweller,' and its own seal called it `the city of the raven.'
The adorned temple of Haldi was described as having multiple gates,
where large numbers of animals were sacrificed. There was supposedly a
courtyard, and scholars believe regional kings were crowned on its
grounds, where they would later erect bronze statues in their own
honor.
The region was a constant battleground for political powers in the
Middle East, and in 714 B.C., the armies of Sargon II of Assyria
captured and plundered the holy Musasir. Within the temple, they found
a cache of treasure hoarded for centuries. The crusading king's loot
totaled an estimated one ton of gold and 10 tons of silver.
This was the eighth campaign for Sargo II, and one of the last major
conquests led by a series of kings who would unite the Middle East
under the rule of Assyria. Sargo II used claims of treachery by local
rulers to justify the invasion, but it became clear that the vast
wealth of the city was the real goal. He pledged the newfound riches
to fund construction of `Sargon's Fortress' the next year, with plans
of making it the new center of Assyria, one of the great ancient
empires. It was on the walls of Sargon II's massive new palace that
workers engraved scenes of the sacking of Masasir.
In the carving, the temple is depicted with a classical pediment front
and a colonnade of columns supporting the structure. If accurate,
historians believe it could be the first known temple to use both
those styles.
For the last 40 years, since they were unearthed during a military
upheaval, local villagers in Mdjeser have been using these column
bases in their homes and buildings, incorporating them into stairs,
seats, or courtyard additions.`But there's no telling whether the
remnants of a mythic temple built to honor a winged man on a lion's
back will survive its resurrection."
Marf Zamua, who teaches at Salahaddin University in Erbil, the capital
of Iraqi Kurdistan, and is working on his PhD in Assyriology in the
Netherlands, began collecting these recently exposed pieces. The 17
column fragments he's found so far have led him to believe he's
discovered the long-lost temple. Along with these major finds are a
collection of relics, seven stone statues, pottery, and a bronze
depiction of a wild goat found in the area.
It hasn't been an easy task. Four decades of turmoil have devastated
archaeological sites, but the chaos has also resurfaced previously
buried treasures. Beginning in 2005, Marf Zamua began to document Late
Bronze Age and Iron Age sites that were revealed during a period of
unrest. He went from village to village looking for what had been
uncovered. `Most of the objects [were] re-used for their daily life,
such as using column bases as stairs and seats,' he remembers, `and
statues as column stones in their houses.'
He also made a connection between architectural similarities between
the modern village and the ancient city'idiosyncrasies in building
styles that are uncommon elsewhere in the region, like the lack of
outer compound walls and stacked houses. These findings were presented
in June at the International Congress on the Archaeology of the
Ancient Near East in Basel, Switzerland.
Uncovering these treasures in Iraq has posed a special set of
challenges for excavators. The area saw the suspension of digs after
the 1981 Gulf War, Marf Zamua says, when the Iranian and Iraqi armies
sowed the earth with thousands of landmines. Later, Kurdish fighters
clashed with Iran and Turkey, and Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein
destroyed thousands of Kurdish villages, including Mdjeser.
As it goes, history is bound to repeat itself. Just as Sargon II
plundered Urartu to fund his war chest, antiquities across Syria and
Iraq have been bombed flat and looted by rebels and government forces
alike. In Iraq, invading militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and al
Sham have torn through Mosul's museum and are destroying ancient
treasures at an alarming rate.
Marf Zamua denounces the pillaging, but says the rebels have been
targeting Islamic architecture and relics more than pre-Islamic sites.
Luckily, the Kurdish army has been successfully protecting the border
since the surge, and Marf Zamua says he's unconcerned about the
interference with his work'he and the local antiquities department are
moving ahead with plans to launch fuller excavations into locations
where the objects were found
But there's no telling whether the remnants of a mythic temple built
to honor a winged man on a lion's back will survive its resurrection.
`They destroy anything they do not like,' Marf Zamua says of the
modern-day invaders.