Chapter 52 house of sorrow

I have always focused on the relic site rather than the museum during my travels, but I also like to go to the museum before or after the search to find an index or make a summary.In Iraq, which has been under the cloud of war, how is the preservation of the monuments?I don't know anything about it, so I thought it would be better to go to the National Museum to find out about it first. The museum is clearly marked on the map. When I went to have a look, I saw two soldiers with guns guarding the door, and the weeds were scattered inside the door.Our editor-in-chief, Ms. Xin Lili, approached the museum and replied that it has never been opened for nine years. All the exhibits have been boxed and transferred for anti-bombing. Now, in order to welcome the new century and prepare for reopening, a hall has been sorted out.Whether we can be the first visitors must wait for a person in charge to arrive before deciding.

So, we sat on the stone steps by the side of the road and waited patiently. There is a statue in front of the courtyard, which seems to be a historical figure, but the wild grass is too deep for me to walk through. I can only guess that he may be Hammurape, or Nebuchadnezzar. I don’t think so. It should be the third person.Thinking of this, I stood up and slowly wandered around the gate of the museum, taking advantage of the leisure time to collect fragments of impressions in my mind about the Lianghe civilization. Let's sort out the concept of time first.The cuneiform script, which is now known to the international academic community, proves that there were remarkable ancient civilizations in the lower reaches of the Mesopotamia as early as 4,500 BC.However, people are still accustomed to pushing back the time by another 2,500 years, starting with the three dynasties after 2,000 BC, namely the Babylonian Kingdom, the Assyrian Empire, and the Post-Babylonian Kingdom.These three kingdoms represent the glorious period of the Mesopotamian civilization, which lasted a total of 1,500 years, roughly parallel to the history of ancient Egypt.

When the brilliance of the thousand and five hundred years finally dimmed, Greece, China, and India just entered a period of explosion of early civilizations, and Confucius, Laozi, Sakyamuni, and Aeschylus almost simultaneously radiated their brilliance.That is to say, the starting point of our previous discussions about various ancient civilizations was precisely the end point of the prominent Mesopotamian civilization.In fact, we don’t have the energy to pay attention to such a long period of time, so we might as well take a section of it and reduce the Mesopotamian civilization to Babylonian civilization.

Once the scope is narrowed down, my heart will be more at ease, and it will be possible for me to capture the most superficial impression of Babylonian civilization in the past.There are roughly three aspects: a precocious law code, a terrifying brutality, and some strange buildings. Let's talk about the dictionary first.Everyone knows I'm talking about the Code of Hammurabi.I guess that the first person to choose the statue in the museum yard is Hammurabi, precisely because he formulated this complete code of more than 200 articles more than 4,000 years ago.The code is engraved on an oblate stone pillar and is now in the Louvre Museum in Paris, France.But there are so many collections in the Louvre, and I didn't go around the hall where the Codex was exhibited twice.I have read some academic works on legal history, and I vaguely know that the code stipulates in the conclusion that the mission of the law is to ensure social stability, political clarity, the strong do not bully the weak, and everyone gets their place, try cases in the name of justice, and enable victims to obtain justice and justice. calm.It is both admirable and astonishing to touch so early on the most fundamental reason why human beings need law.Reminiscent of the land that first entered the legal civilization, and it is still unable to stop the blatant misconduct after four thousand years, I wonder if the hot-tempered Hammurabi will cry nine springs.

Let's talk brutality.Babylonian civilization has always been wrapped in cruelty ten times its own, and many historical materials are unbearable to read.I have a material that records the self-report of an Assyrian king. It is the least bloody, but it is still creepy to read: After marching for more than a month, I destroyed all of Elam. I sprinkled salt and thorn seeds in the soil there, and then took away all the men, women, children, and livestock. Then, in a blink of an eye, there were no more people and laughter, only wild animals and weeds. A few of those who were taken away were enslaved, and most were killed, but I think the most horrific act was to sprinkle salt and thorn seeds on the land.This is to prevent the reappearance of civilization, and the king described it so calmly and so complacently.

Let's talk about architecture.The Kingdom of Babylon was already very impressive, but there was a lack of detailed descriptions. In the Nebuchadnezzar era of the post-Babylonian Kingdom, the architecture of Babylonian city must be world-class.The Greek historian Herodotus saw its magnificence when he inspected Babylon more than a hundred years later, and wrote it in his works. The most famous building seems to be the Hanging Garden, which uses columns to build a multi-layered garden structure. Coupled with an exquisite irrigation and pumping system, it has long been known as a world-class landscape.But I'm not very interested in this kind of architecture, and I think it's not art if it's too skillful.

Of course, the Babylonian civilization also contributed early achievements in astronomy, mathematics, and medicine to mankind, which cannot be detailed one by one.What is certain is that the code is old, the pool of blood is dry, and the garden is crumbling.After more than two thousand years, the Persians came, the Macedonians came, the Arabs came, the Mongols came, and the Turks came. Everyone wanted to recreate their own history here, so they didn’t take the Babylonian civilization seriously. thing.There are only some accidental relics for archaeologists of later generations to look for with a magnifying glass.

Thinking of this, the person in charge of the museum came and allowed us to visit.We entered the newly furnished Islamic hall, which was too late for the Mesopotamian civilization, and the exhibits were sparse and crude, so I left after walking around.Along the way, I saw meetings in many rooms along the corridor, but there was no definite sign of the opening of the museum at the dawn of the new century.Rows of rooms with mosaic walls are empty. I was sad and thought to myself, what exactly does this museum have?It is clearly a room full of vacancies, a room of sadness, and a room of forgetfulness.

November 11, 1999, Baghdad, overnight at Rasheed Hotel