Nimrud Bulldozed

[PROMETHEUS ts]

Baghdad (AFP) - The Islamic State group has begun bulldozing the ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud in Iraq, the government said, in the jihadists' latest attack on the country's historical heritage.

http://news.yahoo.com/bulldozed-anci...203312292.html

Its imperative for all world to intervene , those guys are burning our own world heritage wtf , the most ancient archeological sites in the world!

Hows that Archeological sites are less important that petroil wells?


Wtf os ONU waiting???

[Princeps]

Ghastly.

[Stavroforos]

I don't think attacking historic sites is really a good enough reason to send in troops, but man, these guys suck.

[Caligula's_Horse]

I wonder what they hope to gain by bulldozing historical sites... Is the site pre-dating Islam that much of an affront to them, or are they doing it in the vain hope it might demoralize the Assyrians they're interested in slaughtering?

I can understand looting valuables like golden statues, but this seems like pure vandalism. And not even the type of wanton spur of the moment vandalism engaged by overenthusiastic militants the world over, this is premeditated vandalism that requires wasting time and resources on bringing in bulldozers and power tools. First class idiocy; I suppose I shouldn't expect much more from religious fanatics.

[barry12]

You should see what they did to the giant Buddhas in Afghanistan... Thank God that we haven't discovered the site of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon because they'd certainly that up!

[Stavroforos]

I wonder what they hope to gain by bulldozing historical sites... Is the site pre-dating Islam that much of an affront to them, or are they doing it in the vain hope it might demoralize the Assyrians they're interested in slaughtering?

I can understand looting valuables like golden statues, but this seems like pure vandalism. And not even the type of wanton spur of the moment vandalism engaged by overenthusiastic militants the world over, this is premeditated vandalism that requires wasting time and resources on bringing in bulldozers and power tools. First class idiocy; I suppose I shouldn't expect much more from religious fanatics.

I think that it's a case of extreme Islamic iconoclasm, though.

[PROMETHEUS ts]

If the prophet didn't order to raze the historical heritages at the time , why they do it now then?

[Stavroforos]

If the prophet didn't order to raze the historical heritages at the time , why they do it now then?

There wasn't much historical heritage in 7th Century Arabia, and the most important pre-Islamic religious site, the Kaaba, was made the center of the Islamic religion. The Muslims who followed after Muhammed who conquered the region around them were also quite iconoclastic, destroying statues, painting over images of people, etc. They probably didn't see the need to destroy ancient sites since they could just re-purpose them.

[PROMETHEUS ts]

Those statues and buildings were very visible at the time too , the Bamyan Buddahs , the Hynx, the several statues all around ...

[Stavroforos]

It seems to me that it was more a case of the Muslims of the time not being bothered to tear down things that could be considered iconographic if they were outside mosques, and then simply getting used to them. What ISIS is doing seems to be a mix of extreme iconoclasm and trying to get attention and provoke others. Don't forget that these are Persian sites, so they could be doing it do piss of the Iranians.

[mishkin]

They are irrational ******, fanatics, do not seek for an explanation for their actions.
Anyone have an explanation (beyond the political conveniences of some countries) for which shoud not be declared a total war against them?

[Stavroforos]

They are irrational ******, fanatics, do not seek for an explanation for their actions.
Anyone have an explanation (beyond the political conveniences of some countries) for which shoud not be declared a total war against them?

They don't seem to be irrational, just their rationality is based on different grounds.

Yeah...how about...they don't pose a threat (yet) to any state that would be intervening.

[caratacus]

If the prophet didn't order to raze the historical heritages at the time , why they do it now then?

Because the people actually living there probably didn't give them a second thought and those that did took pride in their heritage. But when you give foreign born Islamists a good western education and understanding of ancient history, they see fit to travel to Syria and Iraq to destroy them. Complete retards!!!

[Mary The Quene]

This is just the gulfstates ing up the world even more

[PROMETHEUS ts]

And they are even happy !



http://www.rte.ie/news/2015/0306/684984-nimrud/

Some shouldbe thankfull that British had been there and brought some of those statues to the British museum...

Where they are safe

A local tribal source said: "Islamic State members came to the Nimrud archaeological city and looted the valuables in it and then they proceeded to level the site to the ground."

"There used to be statues and walls as well as a castle that Islamic State has destroyed completely."

Many of its most famous surviving monuments were removed years ago by archaeologists, including colossal Winged Bulls which are now in London's British Museum and hundreds of precious stones and pieces of gold which were moved to Baghdad.

[Winston Smith]

Barbarians, utter barbarians.

[neoptolemos]

There is no word to describe these actions.
I am utterly disgusted and sad at the same time.

[Big War Bird]

Nope nothing to do with Islam. No sir. That there is a jobs program. Obviously they are making room for a factory to produce parts for the the iphone 7. ISIS is also re-branding itself to iSIS.

[Roma_Victrix]

Don't forget that these are Persian sites, so they could be doing it do piss of the Iranians.

Persian sites? They are ancient Assyrian artefacts and artwork, not Persian. Aside from the obvious over-the-top iconoclastic reason that you cited in relation to what Muhammad did at the 7th-century kabaa (and destruction of pagan idols there), this is clearly a message sent to the present-day Assyrian Christian people in Iraq who are fleeing ISIS because they are being slaughtered to a man by them. It's a message that their ancient culture and community are no longer accepted in lands held by ISIS and that they will be uprooted completely to be replaced by Sunni Arab culture and communities governed by the strictest interpretation of Sharia (I don't even think historical Islamic states did anything like this, as you mentioned, to churches they converted to mosques or even pagan monuments like the Egyptian pyramids). It's just a shame that in their stupid fight and grudge with the ethnic Assyrian people they feel the need to go out of their way and destroy some of the oldest artefacts of artwork in the world, that will be lost to posterity forever.

Like others have said, thank God for the British Museum. I'm starting to rethink my opinion that all treasure-hunting of the 19th and early 20th centuries were bad, immoral, and all the ancient treasures and artwork not bought fairly but simply taken should be returned to the countries of origin (barring Greece, because I don't think the Golden Dawn, should they ever take over in a coup, would destroy any Greek art or monuments simply because that would be unpatriotic and bad PR for them domestically, plus they have no iconoclastic tendencies or ideology). If we had done that with Iraq before the rise of ISIS, then all of the major Assyrian artefacts would have been destroyed. It's a good thing you can still find some of them in the newly-opened National Museum of Iraq in Baghdad (shuttered basically since the looting during the 2003 invasion), where at least sanity and respect for the past prevails these days.

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.as...2#.VPmieGSsUrM

[Abdülmecid I]

Yeah, I don't think Nimrud has anything to do with the Persian civilization. AFAIK, there are no monuments from the Achaemenid, Arsacid or Sassanid Empires. Perhaps, Stavrovoros was thinking about Nimruz.

Anyone have an explanation (beyond the political conveniences of some countries) for which shoud not be declared a total war against them?

Well, personally I'd prefer if the international community decided to wipe them off the face of the earth, when they massacred the Assyrians themselves and not when they bulldozed their monuments, but still, total war is something I can't accept so easily, even if we're talking about the destruction of the world heritage sites.

And they are even happy !

Well, if that didn't make them happy, they wouldn't do it, I guess.