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From Archaeology to Spectacle in Victorian Britain - The Case of Assyria, 1845-1854 (Hardcover, New Ed)
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From Archaeology to Spectacle in Victorian Britain - The Case of Assyria, 1845-1854 (Hardcover, New Ed)
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In his examination of the excavation of ancient Assyria by Austen
Henry Layard, Shawn Malley reveals how, by whom, and for what
reasons the stones of Assyria were deployed during a brief but
remarkably intense period of archaeological activity in the
mid-nineteenth century. His book encompasses the archaeological
practices and representations that originated in Layard's
excavations, radiated outward by way of the British Museum and
Layard's best-selling Nineveh and Its Remains (1849), and were then
dispersed into the public domain of popular amusements. That the
stones of Assyria resonated in debates far beyond the interests of
religious and scientific groups is apparent in the prevalence of
poetry, exhibitions, plays, and dioramas inspired by the
excavation. Of particular note, correspondence involving
high-ranking diplomatic personnel and museum officials demonstrates
that the 'treasures' brought home to fill the British Museum served
not only as signs of symbolic conquest, but also as covert means
for extending Britain's political and economic influence in the
Near East. Malley takes up issues of class and influence to show
how the middle-class Layard's celebrity status both advanced and
threatened aristocratic values. Tellingly, the excavations prompted
disturbing questions about the perils of imperial rule that framed
discussions of the social and political conditions which brought
England to the brink of revolution in 1848 and resurfaced with a
vengeance during the Crimean crisis. In the provocative conclusion
of this meticulously documented and suggestive book, Malley points
toward the striking parallels between the history of Britain's
imperial investment in Mesopotamia and the contemporary
geopolitical uses and abuses of Assyrian antiquity in post-invasion
Iraq.
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