US damaged historic Iraqi site of Babylon

[Gaius Paulinus Maximus]

U.S. troops and contractors inflicted considerable damage on the historic Iraqi site of Babylon, driving heavy machinery over sacred paths, bulldozing hilltops and digging trenches through one of the world' most important archaeological sites, experts for UNESCO said Thursday. The U.N. cultural agency vowed to make Babylon a World Heritage site and prevent similar vandalism in future wars.

 

Once home to the famed Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the Seven Wonders of antiquity, the 4,000-year-old city lies 56 miles (90 kilometers) south of Baghdad. Soon after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, the site became military "Camp Alpha."

 

American troops and contractors, notably from KBR

[Nephele]

That absolutely sucks, but Iraq's archaeological sites have sadly been taking a beating for a long time.

 

Zainab Salbi, eyewitness survivor of Saddam Hussein's reign, author of Between Two Worlds, and founder of Women for Women International, tells in her book of one incident where Saddam Hussein had ordered that an archaeological site be taken apart, brick by brick. And then Saddam had it rebuilt with new bricks -- with his own name stamped into each brick. Insane.

 

It's been a couple of years since I read Zainab Salbi's book, but if I can find it in my public library tomorrow, I'll see if I can dig out that excerpt.

 

-- Nephele

[Virgil61]

I'm dubious.

 

I lived right next to the site for several months in 03/04 and it was off limits to U.S. personnel except through the guidance of the local Iraqi archeologists.

 

I'm greatly puzzled as to why the UN didn't talk about Saddam's drastic and dramatic re-digging of the site fifteen years ago in which he ordered--ordered--archeologists and architects to rebuild a facsimile of Babylon using debris from the digs.

 

Here's a pic:

 

 

The picture above was probably taken from the far left corner of this mansion (arrow no. 1 in the pic) below built by Saddam. I'm very familiar with this place as I lived in that far left corner (arrow no. 2) and shaved on no. 1 overlooking Babylon every morning for months.

 

The massive hill it sits on is an artificial one so his building could oversee Babylon. Talk about the destruction of a site.

 

 

The pic below is the area looking down. The no. 1 arrow is pointed towards the no. 1 corner above--same location. No. 3 is the excavation site still remaining and off limits to troops. No. 4 is the facsimile of Babylon re-built by Saddam.

 

 

Again, it's highly doubtful anyone did anything even slightly approaching the damage done during the Saddam years to that site. The artificial hill and the re-building of the palace probably created more upheaval in five years than in the 35 centuries years that passed combined.

[Northern Neil]

So, I understand Saddam's artificial hill and palace was built directly on top of existing remains?

[Nephele]

Ah, I thought I'd posted about Zainab Salbi's book before on this site, and so I had, in the What's the last book you read? thread back in 2007.

 

I'll repost Salbi's quote from her book, describing what Saddam Hussein did to the Babylon archaeological site:

 

He [saddam Hussein] spent three years rebuilding King Nebuchadnezzar's Hanging Gardens of Babylon, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. He was really excited about this latest of his construction projects and couldn't wait to show it to us... I had been to many historical sites, from Athens to Rio. I understood something of the importance of preserving history. I knew that the beauty of a historic site is in its age, in the accidental grace with which stones cling precariously to ruins, in the texture and even the smell of the ancient bricks. But this city was entirely new. In his determination to one-up Nebuchadnezzar, [saddam Hussein] had destroyed the ancient ruins. As Mama and I walked through and realized what he had done, we didn't know whether to laugh or cry. On top of the ancient bricks, which had a historic inscription on them saying "Built in the Time of Nebuchadnezzar," he had cemented thousands upon thousands of bright new yellow bricks inscribed "Built in the Time of Saddam Hussein."

 

Virgil61, your pictures further illustrate Salbi's words above.

 

Again, it's highly doubtful anyone did anything even slightly approaching the damage done during the Saddam years to that site.

 

Absolutely agreed. The U.N. cultural agency is well and truly late in its blusterings "to make Babylon a World Heritage site and prevent similar vandalism in future wars." Where were they when Saddam was having free rein with destroying not only the Babylon site, but other archaelogical sites throughout Iraq?

 

-- Nephele

[Maladict]

Where were they when Saddam was having free rein with destroying not only the Babylon site, but other archaelogical sites throughout Iraq?

 

-- Nephele

 

Objecting as much as they could, no doubt. UNESCO has no authority to do anything against it. They cannot assign heritage sites as they please, unless the national government asks them to. And even then there is no binding legislation involved: If the Iraqi government later on decides looting is the way forward, all UNESCO can do is de-list the site, nothing more.

[Virgil61]

So, I understand Saddam's artificial hill and palace was built directly on top of existing remains?

 

It's adjacent to the palace, meaning a few hundred feet as the photo shows, so anything buried in that area is now covered up with several tons of new earth.

[sylla]

The main problem here is moral relativity, even if unintended; the fallacy that the moral quality of past actions might set up our own standards.

 

The great effort developed here to show some evidence on the mental health of Mr. Hussein cannot modify one inch any potential ethical implication of the ongoing destruction of the archaeological heritage in Babylon.

 

Otherwise, that line of argumentation may carry us to a never-ending slippery slope, especially within a historical website.; just think that there

[Virgil61]

The main problem here is moral relativity, even if unintended; the fallacy that the moral quality of past actions might set up our own standards.

 

The great effort developed here to show some evidence on the mental health of Mr. Hussein cannot modify one inch any potential ethical implication of the ongoing destruction of the archaeological heritage in Babylon.

 

Otherwise, that line of argumentation may carry us to a never-ending slippery slope, especially within a historical website.; just think that there

[sylla]

I don't think a 'new standard' has been suggested or that any damage done by the U.S. is justified.

Indeed; that's my whole point, we agree.