ISIS destroys ancient statues, shrines & artifacts

[Robert]

It is not so much war itself that threatens the cultural heritage, it is public ignorance and religious fervour, whatever the religion (just about any "-ism", including the firm belief in capitalism). War only provides an oppertunity as these unscrupules elements gain control. Frankly, much of the general public couldn't care less. Even in "civilised" countries, cultural heritage is being torn down for a shopping mall, archeological sites are destructed for a highway, a windpark built on the brink of a historical setting. So all those billions of taxpayers money will NOT be put to use documenting old junk, it is a pipedream to imagine it will.

[John1]

this is getting really, really bad;

http://conflictantiquities.wordpress.com...confirmed/

[Gaius Colletti]

This is untrue! Evan, get your facts straight. They also destroy holy Muslim sites not connected to their particular brand of the faith. The disrespect for all pre-Islamic sites is rife throughout all of Northern Africa, ISIS just takes it a long step further. It is religious insanity, just like the storming and defacing (literaly) of the Katholic churches by the protestants.1522 in Wittenberg, in 1523 Zürich, in 1530 Kopenhagen, in 1534 Münster, in 1535 Genève, in 1537 Augsburg, in 1559 Schotland and in 1566 France and the Nederlands. So there is nothing new here at all.

Robert, you know that isn't the same. Protestants may have defaced Catholic Church property back when the Catholic Church was a threat to them, it represented something they opposed. That was ALSO back when people were wearing suits of armor and accusing each other of witchcraft. This is the 21st Century, a statue of Sargon II doesn't represent oppression it is pre-Islam or "heathen" so they destroy it. Radical groups just a few years ago spoke of wanting to destroy the pyramids. The Protestants of the 16th century have nothing on these religious extremists

[Alanus]

I am dreaming of a project which digitally captures by scanners and the like all ancient artifacts and buildings, storing it in a database in order to reconstruct them in case of destruction.

Nice thought, BUT a reproduction is not the REAL THING. ad:

There is no end to it. A few years ago, we saw the Taliban destroy ancient images of the Buddha. If there actually is a "next life," the guilty might be found in the lower flames of a Hieronymus Bosch painting.

[Robert]

But it is the same, Matt. Just because we call ourselves civilised doesn't mean we are. The Protestants destroyed the images, as they felt having images was not the true faith, just as the Islamists destroy shrines and holy buildings of other Muslims. We call that period in 16th century "de Beeldenstorm" the storming of the statues. A lot is iconografie was destroyed, saints had their faces hacked off. It was not aimed at Catholic property as such, but at the iconografie.

I always find it hard to believe why people think we live in a world where all human beings have gone through the same history and development and so should have reached a common level of civilisation. This is not true, each people has it's own timeframe. We do not believe in witches anymore, but many still do in other countries. A large portion of the world is even still illiterate ....... In the minds of many, our 16th century is not very far away at all, in fact, it is just around the corner.

[Flavivs Aetivs]

The Iconoclasts did it too in the Roman Empire in the 8th century and so on. It was Roman iconoclasm that probably spurred the Islamic belief of not portraying faces and whatnot.

[Eleatic Guest]

This minaret in Mosul is the next target according to this article.

The churches have already been torched down: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2...destro.php

[John1]

I have worked in the Middle East and Mediterranean area for a number of years. Throughout my career I have witnessed a passive but deliberate neglect of archaeology and potential heritage assets. Developers in archaeologically rich areas have to regard "finds" as a significant commercial risk, slowing progress, compromising development density and ultimately undermining their profitability. I have yet to be involved in a project that wilfully destroyed heritage but I know it happens. In the rush to modernity and a healthy balance sheet heritage is an almost inevitable casualty and whilst the horrors of these demolitions and the scourge of treasure hunting make news, the insidious and passive neglect or removal of heritage is possibly a larger problem.

I try to "do my bit" making features from what heritage we find, underlining the unique and authentic character that can be brought to sites. However the cultural attitudes, the rush to modernity and the massive population explosion (many countries populations tripling in the last 50 years) make these often trite concerns. This situation can be exacerbated by the inflexible approach of heritage professionals who are unable or unwilling to negotiate between the future and the past, bolstered by excessive and anachronistic powers. So whilst I utterly deplore the horrors that are the core of this post I believe a new attitude has to be fostered on both sides of the development divide where heritage is a vital asset to be preserved and enhance rather than frustrate worthy development. A failure to do so will result in the quiet loss of more heritage than that which ISIS demolition charges will bring.

[john m roberts]

Reverence for works of art, whether ancient or recent, is actually a rather modern phenomenon. A wall fresco was simply a decoration. When its style was out of fashion it was scaped off or painted over and replaced by another. Old architectural monuments were treated as stone quarries and bronze statues were scrap metal used for casting bells and cannons. A Renaissance collector treasured his Greek and Roman sculptures because they were Classical, not because they were great works of art. If an artist came to paint his portrait, he'd have to enter through the servant's entrance. Da Vinci had to sell himself as a military engineer, not as an artist. Not until the 19th century did art become recognized as a unique and irreplaceable part of our cultural heritage. Artists themselves had to wait a while longer to achieve respectability, and that really began with the big-money art market and celebrity culture of the 20th century. After all, if your work sold for millions, you had to be respectable.

These Islamic fanatics are still far away from reaching the 18th century, so this is what we have to expect.

[Ordovices]

This generation may see the end of the Great Pyramids.

[Gaius Julius Caesar]

Nothing to do with Greece. However, they are being inundated by illegal immigrants, and also being marginalised by their European cousins.