Austen Henry Layard - Archaeology of Ancient Assyria

On November 8, 1845 Austen Henry Layard (1817-1894) began excavating at the mound of ancient Calah (Tel Nimrud). He unearthed the palaces of Ashurnasirpal, Shalmaneser II, Tiglath-Pileser II), Adadnirari, and Esarhaddon. He discovered the famous Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser. In fact when he transported his discoveries of the palaces of Ancient Assyria, the shipment of the statuary was immense. In 1849 at Koujunjik he discovered king Sennacherib�s palace.

This gave tremendous importance to the study of Biblical Archaeology since there were so many discoveries that validated the Biblical testimony, including an almost innumerable amount of clay tablets. The slabs depicting the horrifying siege of Lachish gave light to the military might and tactics of the Assyrian warriors that the Lord "raised up" to plunder the proud and rebellious Northern Kingdom of Israel. Layard also uncovered a massive library that is still being analyzed to the current day.

It is interesting that when Layard learned that king Ashurbanipal was an avid collector of ancient tradition, including an immense assortment of Babylonian documents, the door was opened for the studies of the Assyrian and Babylonian records side by side.

Layard retired from his own excavations in April, 1851 just one year before Edward Robinson finished his work in 1852. Austen Henry Layard became famous by his ancient Assyrian exhibits at the British Museum in London.

He published two important books: Nineveh and Its Remains (1849); and Discoveries in the Ruins of Nineveh and Babylon (1853).

Also See Discoveries At Nineveh by Austen Henry Layard

Also See 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica - Sir Austen Henry Layard

"Heaven and earth will pass away but My Word will abide forever."