Nineveh and Its Remains, vol. 1

by Austen Henry Layard

Publisher:

John Murray

, 1850

Overview

In 1845, British world traveler and archaeologist Austen Henry Layard presided over the excavations of Kuyunjik and Nimrud, the ancient Assyrian cities located south of Nineveh on the Tigris river in modern Iraq. There he unearthed the lost palace of Sennacherib (containing 71 rooms and colossal bas-reliefs) and discovered the palace and library of Ashurbanipal, which housed over 20,000 cuneiform clay tablets. Nineveh and Its Remains contains an account of the incredible discoveries of the archeological dig, as well as the trials and tribulations that Layard went through to uncover and preserve these important biblical sites.

Volume one of Nineveh and Its Remains contains Layard’s concise history of Assyria’s ruins and the archeological work that was done before his arrival. It then dives headfirst into Layard’s explorations of the ancient Assyrian cities he began to unearth, and the dangers he and his workers faced as they began to uncover some of the most biblically important treasures to date.

With the Logos edition of Nineveh and Its Remains, you get unprecedented access to the most important scholarly material on the history and culture of the ancient Near East. The powerful search tools in your digital library integrate this volume with all your other digital resources, making Bible study engaging and extensive. Double-clicking any word in any language automatically opens your preferred lexicons and resources, giving you instant access to definitions, etymology, and usage examples. These advanced tools make this volume an important addition to your research library.

Key Features

• Illustrations, pictures, and maps
• Scriptural landmarks
• Bibliographical references and indexes

Praise for the Print Edition

Layard’s Nineveh is the most valuable work hitherto published in reference to Assyria; and especially its metropolis, Nineveh. The volumes will be carefully studied by scholars, by a numerous class interested in the original Bible narrative, and by all who are desirous of catching the scattered glimpses we can now attain of the state and position in which the patriarchs of the human race dwelt. These are two extraordinary volumes.

—Arthur J. Tait, theologian

This is a very extraordinary book, written by a very extraordinary man; and in truth we know not which the more to admire, the work or its author.

—Church of England Review

None have equaled this in its surprising and unexpected and most gratifying revelations; like a brilliant and unlooked-for comet, it has suddenly burst into view, arousing and astonishing, commanding our attention and claiming our admiration. Never was any man’s triumph over difficulties more complete, never were discoveries made of greater interest and importance, and never were honor and recompense from his countrymen more richly merited; his untiring industry and perfect disinterestedness, his patience and determination, entitle him to high praise, to the highest we can award, and to something beyond that praise which is given by the lips or the pen.

—Bentley’s Miscellany

None can peruse it without admiring the bold and enterprising spirit which he has displayed, as well as the indomitable perseverance, intelligence, and tact with which he has pursued his object. It is rarely that a traveler has such a field to explore—ground so momentous to the student of the history of remote ages. The great and essential value of Mr. Layard’s narrative is its straightforward simplicity—the writer’s earnest consciousness that the importance of his work was such as to require no adventitious adornment.

—Athenaeum

The most extraordinary work of the present age, whether with reference to the wonderful discoveries it describes, its remarkable verification of our early biblical history, or of the talent, courage, and perseverance of its author.

—Times

There is a remarkable and delightful combination, in the book before us, of valuable discovery and interesting personal narrative, such as we remember in no similar book or discovery.

—Examiner

As a book of travels, the work of our author holds a place among the very best. The story is told in a simple, unambitious, but in a most intensely interesting manner, carrying the reader along with him, causing him to see what the writer saw, and as the writer saw it, making the reader sympathize with the writer in all his troubles and perplexities, or rejoice with him in some unexpected deliverance from impending danger.

—Church Review and Ecclesiastical Register

Product Details

• Title: Nineveh and Its Remains, vol. 1
• Author: Austen Henry Layard
• Publisher: John Murray
• Publication Date: 1850
• Pages: 398

About Austen Henry Layard

Austen Henry Layard (1817–1894) was born in Paris, but he traveled often in his youth. He was educated in Italy, England, Switzerland, and France. After spending six years working for his uncle’s law firm, he left to travel and explore the Middle East. After his first successful excavations at Kuyunjik and Nimrud, Layard continued his archeological explorations at the ruins of Babylon and the mounds of southern Mesopotamia. (Many of the specimens that he found make up a large part of the British Museum’s collection of Assyrian antiquities.) Layard then returned to England, where he took up a life of politics, serving as under-secretary for foreign affairs and ambassador at Constantinople. Layard retired in Italy, where he continued to write about Italian art and penned the popular account of his earliest travels, Early Adventures in Persia, Susiana, and Babylonia.