Who was Austen Layard?

Austen Henry Layard (March 5, 1817 – July 5, 1894) was a British amateur archaeologist, cuneiformist, art historian, collector, author, and diplomat. He is best known as the excavator of Nimrud, the ancient Assyrian city located on the River Tigris, south of Mosul in what is now Iraq.

What did Austen Henry Layard discover?

He is credited with discovering the Library of Ashurbanipal during this period. His record of this expedition, Discoveries in the Ruins of Nineveh and Babylon, which was illustrated by another folio volume, called A Second Series of the Monuments of Nineveh, was published in 1853.

Who discovered Nineveh?

Frederick Charles Cooper, watercolour showing excavations at Nineveh. 1850. Excavations began in 1842 when the French consul, Paul Émile Botta, commissioned by the Louvre museum, began digging at the site of Khorsabad, where he discovered a city built by the Assyrian king Sargon II.

What was the name of the ruins where Layard first started digging?

Ancient Assyrian city of Nimrud. On the first day of the dig, Layard found the outlines of a royal palace. A week later he was unearthing the huge slabs of alabaster that had lined its walls, panels that depicted the power of the Assyrian king and the grovelling submission of his enemies.

When were the ruins of Nineveh discovered?

Conclusion. The ruins of Nineveh lay buried until they were uncovered and excavated by Austin Henry Layard in 1846 and 1847 CE.

Was Nineveh a real place?

Nineveh, the oldest and most-populous city of the ancient Assyrian empire, situated on the east bank of the Tigris River and encircled by the modern city of Mosul, Iraq. The partially reconstructed Nergal Gate in Nineveh, Iraq.

How bad was Nineveh in the Bible?

According to the Bible, it was God’s doing, His judgment on Assyria’s pride (Isaiah 10:5–19). In fulfillment of prophecy, God made “an utter end of the place”. It became a “desolation”. The prophet Zephaniah also predicts its destruction along with the fall of the empire of which it was the capital.