Rediscovering the Past | The birth of archaeology | Exploring the “East”

Individuals, who roamed the Arab and Ottoman world in search of knowledge and both natural and man-made objects, lay the foundations for national interactions.

A race for influence and trade brought Europeans to the Middle East in unprecedented numbers. Consulates appeared, merchants connected to local networks and intrepid tourists explored the lands of the Bible. They fed a voracious appetite for knowledge about people, places, plants and animals.

The early explorers were knowledgeable in many areas, and had wide interests. In addition to their political or military skills, they were linguists, historians, ethnographers, geographers, surveyors and artists. British Consul Claudius Rich knew several local languages; he did valuable geographical and ethnographic work and collected many important manuscripts, coins and other antiquities.

Britain and France played out their rivalry in new arenas. Such national rivalries were tempered by strong professional and personal relationships between individuals. Information was shared, and scholarship advanced.

Working NumberNameHolding MuseumDateMaterialsCurator Justification
UK 001Portrait of Claudius RichThe British Museum1825Claudius James Rich ushered in a new era in Middle Eastern archaeology. He was appointed to the new position of Resident of the East India Company in Baghdad, promoting British trade, and countering French manoeuvres for influence. During his posting, he explored archaeological sites and published the first accurate map of Babylon. His finds constitute the core of the British Museum’s collections.

UK 002A historical fakeThe British Museumc.1810Already in the earliest days of exploration, fake objects were being produced and sold in the Middle East. This type was made by pressing genuine tablets into new clay, thus making a limitless supply of plausible-looking (but backwards-written) tablets.

UK 005Bellino CylinderThe British Museum7th century BC; acquisition date: 1825Rich’s assistant was a talented German by the name of Karl Bellino. He accompanied Rich on his visits to the sites and greatly impressed him by his scholarship. One of the important objects discovered by Rich and Bellino was a clay cylinder with an inscription of Sennacherib, King of Assyria.

Working NumberNameHolding MuseumDateMaterialsCurator Justification
UK 006Bellino copyThe British Museumc. 1810–1820Bellino made one particularly important contribution to scholarship before his early death. He invented a clear and accurate style of making hand drawings of inscriptions. Photography did not yet exist, and the small group of international experts hungered for new texts as they tried to decipher the ancient scripts.
TR2 003Pedestal of the Obelisk in the Ancient Byzatine Hippodrome Ömer M. Koç Collection18541854 photo by English engraver and photographer James Robertson of the Byzantine Hippodrome in Istanbul. Robertson began his career as an engraver at the Royal Mint in London. In 1841, he moved to Istanbul to help with the modernisation of the Imperial Mint. During his 40 years there, he served no fewer than four sultans. He was also a painter, and became a leading photographer in the 1850s.

Working NumberNameHolding MuseumDateMaterialsCurator Justification
TR2 002Saliha Sultan FountainÖmer M. Koç Collection1857A frequently employed device in Robertson’s Istanbul photographs is the inclusion of one or more people in the foreground. This both creates a more natural scene and gives an idea of scale. Robertson’s photographs are concentrated mainly in and around the districts known today as Sultanahmet, Beyoğlu, Galata and Tophane. This photo captures Saliha Sultan Fountain in Galata.
TR2 004The monuments in the Hippodrome surrounded by protective fencesÖmer M. Koç Collection1857Robertson’s Istanbul photographs are concerned primarily with historical monuments. They reveal the city’s magnificent Byzantine and Ottoman structures from different aspects, and with close-ups, taken using a quite aesthetic approach. In this photo, the monuments in the Hippodrome are surrounded by protective fences.