Mês: junho 2017

MALLEY, S. Layard enterprise: Victorian archaeology and informal imperialism in Mesopotamia. International Journal of Middle East Studies, Cambridge, 40 (4), p. 623-646, 2008.

In this essay I argue that the myth of archaeological stewardship needs to be historicized and problematized at its very birthplace. For the British, this begins with the myth of “Layard of Nineveh.” Shawn Malley is professor of English at Bishop’s University, Canada.

Artigo interessante, mostrando aspectos imperialistas na arqueologia da Mesopotâmia.

Deste autor e sobre este tema, confira o livro:

MALLEY, S. From Archaeology to Spectacle in Victorian Britain: The Case of Assyria, 1845-1854. Abingdon: Routledge, 2016, 220 p. – ISBN 9781138254541.

In this detailed and rigorously researched study, Shawn Malley examines Austen Henry Layard’s excavation of Assyria, and its subsequent impact upon literary, cultural, religious and scientific spheres. Concurrently, he grapples with the imperialistic repercussions of the removal of antiquities to British institutions (focusing exclusively on the British Museum), and the implications for Layard as a middle-class individual thrust into aristocratic circles on the back of his twin archaeological and political endeavours. From Archaeology to Spectacle in Victorian Britain is rich with original archival research, conducted at the British Library, British Museum and Foreign Office, and it is Malley’s unearthing and analysis of such material that makes this monograph so significant within a growing corpus of critical studies dealing with literature and archaeology in this period, complementing such respected works as Frederick Bohrer’s Orientalism and Visual Culture: Imagining Mesopotamia in Nineteenth-Century Europe (2003) and David Gange’s Dialogues with the Dead: Egyptology in British Culture and Religion, 1822-1922 (2013). Investigating the intersections between biblical archaeology and British imperialism, Malley draws upon postprocessual archaeological theory, bringing together the methodologies of diverse critical fields. Across five chapters, and enhanced by copious illustrations, From Archaeology to Spectacle in Victorian Britain addresses the potent cultural ripples radiating out from Layard’s archaeological and diplomatic mission (Eleanor Dobson)

LIVERANI, M. Immaginare Babele: Due secoli di studi sulla città orientale antica. Bari: Laterza, 2013, 530 p. – ISBN 9788858106518.
 

In questo libro Mario Liverani racconta come, nell’arco di due secoli, le città dell’antico Oriente sono tornate a vivere per noi, dapprima solo immaginate, sulla scorta delle notizie bibliche e della letteratura classica; poi intraviste da viaggiatori alla ricerca della Torre di Babele in un paesaggio cosparso di macerie informi; infine scavate, descritte, misurate, classificate, interpretate a seconda delle tendenze culturali degli studiosi. Dopo due secoli di scavi, di studi e di mutevoli approcci è possibile finalmente costruire un quadro d’insieme non solo dell’attività di ricerca ma anche dei suoi risultati, che restituiscono le città dell’antico Oriente – grazie all’apporto di varie discipline – nel loro splendore architettonico e artistico e nella loro vita socio-economica. Mario Liverani è uno archeologo e storico italiano. Professore emerito di Storia del Vicino Oriente antico presso l’Università La Sapienza di Roma, Italia.

LIVERANI, M. Imagining Babylon: The Modern Story of an Ancient City. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2016, 488 p. – ISBN 9781614516026.

Ever since the archaeological rediscovery of the Ancient Near East, generations of scholars have attempted to reconstruct the “real Babylon,” known to us before from the evocative biblical account of the Tower of Babel. After two centuries of excavations and scholarship, Mario Liverani provides an insightful overview of modern, Western approaches, theories, and accounts of the ancient Near Eastern city. Mario Liverani is Professor Emeritus at the University La Sapienza, Rome, Italy.

Leia Mais:
Histórias do Antigo Oriente Médio: uma bibliografia