fravahr.org

Source: Baltimore Sun, United States

Ancient Iraqi city sits in ruins
Hatra: Parts of its structures remain, but the war keeps most potential visitors away.

Associated Press
Originally published August 21, 2005

HATRA, Iraq - Over 2,000 years ago, this thriving Mesopotamian oasis city welcomed caravans of camels carrying travelers between East and West, twice held back Roman invaders, and was famous for its tolerance of different religions.

Now Hatra sits in ruins in a vast desert. Parts of its giant temples, columns and arches are still standing under the incessant sun, but its city center is probably visited by more rabbits than people. Around it stands a nation still struggling to heal ancient grievances between feuding religious and ethnic groups, hoping to revisit high points in its history when the roots of civilization once sprouted.

The United Nations has declared it a world heritage site, but few people these days risk journeying to the ruins, 200 miles north of Baghdad.

Most visitors are guests of the U.S. military, and a handful of Iraqi guards protect the site. Most of the wire fence surrounding it has collapsed, but a girl in a bright dress is on hand to dutifully raise a gate for a visiting convoy of Humvees.

Inside the circular city stand several largely intact temples to ancient gods, including a stone shrine over two stories high, dedicated to Shamash, the sun god. Although many relics and statues were rushed away to museums in Baghdad and Mosul during the 2003 invasion, a statue of a robed woman, possibly a king's wife, stares down at visitors.

Inscriptions in Aramaic, the language once spoken by Christ, are visible on some buildings.

After the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, looters shot and damaged decorated features on Hatra's walls, said McGuire Gibson, an archaeology professor at the University of Chicago, in an e-mail.

"The site is wonderful to walk around in, especially late in the evening and early in the morning," he said. "It is amazing that such a large city could exist where it does, dependent on cisterns and ground water."

Gibson was on a U.N. team that investigated stolen or damaged Iraqi antiquities after the war.

"Probably the worst damage was caused by the exploding of munitions by U.S. forces," he said.

Gibson said the military eventually diminished the blasts, which were threatening to destabilize buildings in Hatra, but continued detonating explosives in the area.

Despite the turmoil, glimpses of the city's mixed East-West architecture of Roman, Hellenistic and Parthian styles testifies to the diverse tradesmen and travelers who once passed through.

"The significance of Hatra as a bridge between East and West is plain for all to see," Roberta Ricciardi Venco, a professor at Turin University in Italy who has conducted surveys and excavations in the city, said in an e-mail.

The city's two defensive walls remain visible, including the outer one of clay that is over 3 miles long. More than 150 closely spaced towers helped Hatra withstand Roman attack in the second century A.D., according to a guide provided by the U.S. military, but the city eventually fell to the Sassanid empire of what is now Iran.

Hatra's novelty is its largely unexcavated condition. Dozens of unfinished digs lie outside the inner wall of the city, showing sand-covered shapes that leave visitors wondering about what lies beneath.

The site is also recognized by film buffs as the opening scene of the movie The Exorcist, in which an aging priest finds a relic that signals he will soon face an evil that turns out to be a demonically possessed girl.

ANother article about Hatra seen here: http://www.hindu.com/mag/2005/07/24/sto ... 140400.htm (The Hindu)

Lost history

JANARDHAN ROYE

Known as the cradle of civilisation, war-torn Iraq is steadily losing its priceless ancient artefacts to looters.



TWO years after the invasion of Iraq, the plunder of mankind's oldest records and links to antiquity continues unabated. Also under threat are the world's 100 most endangered cultural sites.

Iraq is a country of firsts: the earliest villages, cities, writing, poetry, epic literature, temples, codified religion, armies, warfare, world economy, and empire. It was the home of ancient civilisations: Mesopotamia, Sumer, Babylon and Persia. And yet this unique land protected by two great rivers, Euphrates and Tigris, has not been able to stop periodic attempts to destroy it and its culture.

Cultural heritage

The attacks over many thousands of years have destroyed many monuments, sites, antiquities, and cultural institutions. What remains are some historical sites such as the Hatra of the Parthian Empire, artefacts, museums, monuments and about 1,00,000 archaeological digs including the spectacular one at Khorsabad where "the Human-headed Winged Bull" and King Sargon II sculptures were excavated in 1933-34.

Excavations in the 1950s resulted in the discovery of at least 12 temples and restoration has been under way to preserve these priceless structures. Most structures were built in limestone gypsum and are an eclectic mix of Assyrian, Hellenistic, Parthian and Roman styles. Current remains date back to between the First Century BC and the Second Century AD.

UNESCO has made a fervent appeal to safeguard this cultural heritage. The difficult task of making an elaborate inventory of architectural and urban heritage is still on.

This appeal assumes significance in the light of the happenings in the area, especially the recent spate of wars in the region.

Prof. McGuire Gibson from the University of Chicago points out that the 1991 Gulf War had taken out "big chunks" from the massive 4,000-year-old temple pyramid Ziggurat at Ur, in southern Iraq.

Besides destruction, a war-ravaged country is an easy target for foragers and looters putting timeless and priceless artefacts from the nation's vaults and museums under threat.



The present orgy of looting began immediately after the March 2003 invasion by the coalition forces. As flashes and explosions lit the Baghdad sky, looters escaped with wealth lifted from banks, palaces and old mansions, ancient temples and tombs, museums and universities.

The raids continue with some of the country's — and mankind's — most precious treasures heading to Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, before reaching the thriving multi-billion dollar art markets of Europe and the U.S.

Reaching global markets

In spite of the best efforts of the UNESCO and law enforcement agencies, precious items from Iraq steadily move to avaricious buyers around the world. This year, the World Monuments Fund's list of the world's 100 most-endangered sites named Iraq, the first time an entire country has been listed as at risk.

As violence continues unabated, no one in Iraq is willing to talk about the plunder — either of the items of daily use nor of the elaborate planning and networking to move priceless objects from museums, libraries to lucrative global markets.

No one knows exactly how many objects were stolen from the time of the Gulf War. At that time, it was estimated that more than 4,000 items were missing from Iraq's museums. The losses in the present conflict, beginning March 2003, are incalculable.

One group of looters apprehended about a year ago, accounted for about 15, 000 arte facts, says Dr. Donny George Youkhanna, Director General of the Iraq Museum, Baghdad. Dr. George was an eyewitness to the looting, the recovery on antiquities and the Museum's restoration initiatives.

Recovery

In the face of these assaults on their culture and heritage, a group of Iraqi youth called the Protectors of Antiquities, searched the country's interiors and recovered about 2,000 objects, including 400 clay tablets — many from the Baghdad Museum.

Remarkably, in June 2003, some boys found and returned "the Warka Vase". Experts say this 4,300-year-old alabaster piece "is one of the most important objects in the Iraq Museum because it is one of the first illustrations of the ritual and religious practices that were the basis of Mesopotamian society". (Diana McDonald)

In recent times American soldiers and the Iraqi police have joined Protectors of Antiquities in curbing the looting and smuggling. Yet, one can't help wondering how many more, irreplaceable, priceless assets will be lost to posterity before stability and peace return to Iraq.