Friday, November 25, 2011

Ancient Mesopotamia Essay

Mesopotamia Essay

The world is in turmoil over the war, but there has been one country affected drastically; and that is the center of it all: Iraq. Iraq's people have been affected directly by the war with bombings and troops marching all over, but they have also suffered indirectly. The destruction of the Iraqi cultural heritage has been a major issue.

Scholars claim that conflict will "result in devastating and irrecoverable losses to human civilization and to participate in or allow such destruction may inflame resentment and anger throughout the world" (EducationGuardian.co.uk).

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Ancient Mesopotamia is indeed ancient, reaching back more that 500 years, and scholars agree that this heritage is as important to the people as their economic survival. They also agree on several recommendations they wish to forward to the United Nations. They ask that the United Nations not to target such things as archaeological sites, museums, libraries and other institutions where the ancient heritage is housed.

In the 1920's, a famous British archaeologist by the name of Leonard Woolley discovered Sumerian royal tombs in Ur, Mesopotamia that dated back over 4500 years. It was obvious that these tombs housed royalty because they were surrounded with extravagant gold and jewelry. They also found numerous other items such as weapons and musical instruments, gaming pieces and sculptures. All of these luxury items are on display to form a unique exhibition. This exhibition prides one of the earliest and richest collections.

As the downward spiral of ancient cultural heritage is a devastation of the war, so is looting. The public went up in a fury, and rampages were on the agenda. They tore down buildings, set places on fire and took what did not belong to them. An institution that suffered the consequences of the terror was the Iraq National Museum: It was tore apart. In the aftermath, the museum was filled with broken artifacts, and if they were not broken, they were missing.

What is said to be the museum's most famous artifacts, were the tablets with Hammurabi's Code one of mankind's earliest codes of law. Another important treasure was the Ram in the Thicket - statue representing deity from 2600BCE.

The thoughts of many is that their ancient history is gone forever; thousands of years obliterated in an angry rage. Does it seem worth it now? A museum employee states, "It is all the fault of the Americans. This is Iraqi civilization. And it is all gone now."

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