I have been reading this book since last spring. It has sat, staring at me, on the dresser next to my side of the bed since last spring. It has been taunting me, but I finally won.
It's not that it wasn't a fascinating read. The foreword, about Layard's life and work, was much enlightening about a name that I came across in my studies (I studied Near Eastern archaeology - not sure if I mentioned that), but never learned enough about to appreciate as a person. The stories Layard told in his own voice, about his excavation campaigns at Nineveh and his travels in Mesopotamia were touching and telling of an age and way of life long gone in that area.
I think the reason I struggled with it was twofold. I started it in the throes of drafting my thesis - a bad time to start a book. Also, once I reached the book itself (not the foreword), I was disappointed. Again, not by what was there, but what wasn't. For a book that was titled "Nineveh and its Remains", there was very little of the site, or the dig. I did learn that excavation was seemingly single-handedly directed towards recovering sculpture. Not even text - just sculpture. Monumental sculpture. Although he appears to have the best of intentions in his excavations, I have to cringe when he discusses things crumbling to dust upon excavation, and tunneling to find artifacts.
No, much of the book was Layard's travels and relations with the local tribes that he worked with. He travels by horse to various areas, meets various sheiks, and witnesses religious and spiritual events. He does much of this with a classic European superiority and detachment, though his seems milder than most of the same era. I feel it was more of a sociological reflection than an archaeological one.
On a different note, every once in awhile you learn something after years of study that makes you giggle. In this book, there were two. Both have to do with Layard's name. The first is that his last name is not pronounced like 'lay-yard'. It's pronounced like 'laird'. Every prof I ever had, every time I ever read his name, I thought it was the former. The second interesting bit is that his name changed - after college he chose to be Austen Henry Layard, instead of Henry Austen Layard. Or it was the other way around - I can't remember. But I love the whimsy of just choosing to reverse your name.
Title: Nineveh and Its Remains
Author: Sir Austen Henry Layard; or, Sir Henry Austen Layard
Published: 1969 (originally 1849)
Pages: 295
Total books blogged: 7
Total pages: 2,682
The cover was just a plain library-bound cover, so here's the title page!
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