Istanbul Diary - Day 4: Encounters with Voldemort and the Death Eaters

This has to be Voldemort...

And here are his death eaters!!

These menacing specimens, we saw at the Istanbul Archeological Museum, which is in the Topkapi palace complex, though outside the Felicity Gate.

I dont suppose they were meant to be menacing, but mutilating the face has that effect.  This museum, which is a collection of all kinds of ancient stuff - from Hammurabi's code tablets to Cuneiform writing of the Nubians to large animal friezes from Babylon - which in itself is an indication of the extent of the Ottomonian influence in those days.

The whole museum seems to have been the brainchild of Oscar Hamdy, who appears to have been a collector and cataloguer, far ahead of his times.

The only problem, for me atleast, was that room upon room of one section of the museum was filled with these statues - some faceless, many headless and the rest only heads.  I kept thinking, so many heads and bodies, why cant somebody match them?!  I think it requires somebody with a more well-developed sense of art (than me!) to appreciate these mutilated statues.   I was filled with a sense of sadness and dissatisfaction, seeing these once-lovely works in this state. This huge statue of Hercules was one that was more or less in good shape.  

The Sidon Necropolis

On the other hand, in a beautiful and complete form, were the finds from the Sidon Necropolis. Morbidly fascinating, to think that these kingdoms put their best artistic efforts into making these receptacles for the dead, and it probably was buried or entombed, away from human eyes.

There's a quaint article from the New York TImes of 1898, which talks about the finds of the Sidon Necropolis.

The Lebanese  coastal town of Sidon has had a chequered history, and I think was part of the kingdoms of Assyria, Egypt, Greece and even Rome.  Alexander also passed through in the 4th century BC.

The sarcophagus of Alexander

See, the picture above - that's Alexander in battle!

And that unfortunately, is the only reason its called the Sarcophagus of Alexander.  Its believed to be the sarcophagus of a Sidonese king called Abdalonymous, who decided that he wanted Alexander on his coffin.

Abdalonymus, a royal gardener made king by Alexander.  No wonder he wanted his mentor on the tomb!Alexander in battle against the Persians

The write-ups say that the soldiers and Alexander all would have carried swords or lances made from gold, which have been looted.  The whole frieze was probably painted, and you can still see the remnants of the red.There was this other sarcophagus, called The Sarcophagus of Mourning Women, which was also beautifully done I thought.

And so ended our stay in Sultanahmet. We then crossed the Ataturk bridge, over the Golden Horn, and moved to the Taksim area, which is the business district of istanbul, now, though in days long past it was the area where the Genoese lived.