third eye and eye

The Big Corona

NGC 7822 in Cepheus

The Orion Bullets

The Antennae Galaxies in Collision

Sharpless 249 and the Jellyfish Nebula

The Nimrud Dogs: The Security System of Ancient Mesopotamia

The Nimrud Dogs, five clay canine figurines found at the ancient Mesopotamian city of Nimrud, were only a few of the many startling finds in the region in the 20th century. During the 19th century, expeditions were sent to the Near East to corroborate biblical narratives through physical evidence – but wound up doing precisely the opposite – and later expeditions in the 20th century did the same. The Nimrud Dogs were discovered by archaeologist Max Mallowan in the 1951-1952 season and are among the most interesting and often overlooked artifacts held in museums today. The figurines date to the 8th-7th century BCE, during the time of the Neo-Assyrian Empire and, like other artifacts from that time, were preserved by the empire’s fall.

The Neo-Assyrian Empire fell in 612 BCE to the invading forces of Babylonians, Persians, Medes, and Scythians. The empire had been expanding in every direction since the reign of Adad Nirari II (circa 912-891 BCE) and grew more powerful under great kings such as Tiglath Pileser III (745-727 BCE), Shalmaneser V (727-722 BCE), Sargon II (722-705 BCE), Sennacherib (705-681 BCE), and Esarhaddon (681-669 BCE) until, by the time of Ashurbanipal (668-627 BCE), it had grown too large to manage effectively.

Ashurbanipal was the last of the Neo-Assyrian kings who had the personal power and skill to manage an empire, and after he died, the vassal states recognized their chance to free themselves. The many regions which had been held so tightly under Assyrian control seized on the weakness of the fracturing empire and, banding together, marched to destroy it. All of the great Assyrian cities, many of which had endured for millennia, were sacked and their treasures carried off, destroyed, or discarded at the various sites. The Assyrians had held the region under such a tight grip that, once it was loosened, the former subject states knew no restraint in venting their frustrations and seeking revenge for past injustices. Great cities such as Nineveh, Kalhu, and Ashur were sacked, with Nineveh so thoroughly destroyed that future generations could not even tell where it had been.

Excavations & Discovery

At Kalhu, site of one of the former capitals of the empire, the sands of Mesopotamia gradually covered the ruins, and the city probably would have been forgotten were it not for the prominent mention of Mesopotamian cities such as Babylon and Nineveh in the Bible. In the 19th century, European explorers, seeking historical evidence for biblical narratives, descended upon Mesopotamia and recovered these lost cities. Among these was Austen Henry Layard (1817-1894), who was the first to systematically excavate Kalhu, afterwards known as Nimrud.

Layard and the others were sponsored by European organizations and museums who hoped their efforts would uncover physical evidence proving the historical accuracy of the Bible, specifically the books of the Old Testament. These expeditions, however, had a completely different effect than what was intended. Prior to the mid-19th century, the Bible was considered the oldest book in the world and its narratives thought to be original works; the archaeologists discovered that, contrary to this belief, Mesopotamia had created narratives of the Great Flood and the Fall of Man centuries before any of the biblical books were written.

These discoveries increased European interest in the region, and more archaeologists and scholars were sent. When Layard began his work at Kalhu, he did not even know which city he was excavating. He believed he had discovered Nineveh and, in fact, published his bestselling book on the excavation, Nineveh and its Remains, in 1849, still confident of his conclusions. His book was so popular and the artifacts he uncovered so intriguing that further expeditions to the region were quickly funded. Further work in the region established that the ruins Layard had uncovered were not those of Nineveh but of Kalhu, which the scholars of the time associated with the biblical Nimrud, the name the site has been known by ever since.

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