Nineveh and Babylon by A.H. Layard Review

This beautiful book was a bit of an ambivalent read for me, and I ended up rating it three out of five stars. Nineveh and Babylon is an account of Layard's expedition to said archeological sites in the late 1840s. The book follows his second visit to the ruins of ancient Babylon and Nineveh, and Layard not only describes the process and the results of his second excavations, but also what he experiences while traveling from Turkey to the site of Babylon. Thus, the book is about far more than archeology, it also encompasses geology, politics, history and sometimes even philosophy. 

I know you are supposed to begin by saying what you like about a book, but I would like to get the negative out of the way first. As you can see in the pictures, the book is very long. It is pretty much exactly 600 pages and full of information on all the topics mentioned above. At first, I didn't mind that at all, but after the first half, it became a bit too much for me. The latter half seemed to be more about the current politics of the desert tribes, and while that was very interesting sometimes, it became boring and too dense after a while. It didn't feel like a book about ancient cultures, but more like a treatise on 'modern' political issues. I'm not saying that is a bad thing, it was quite instructive after all, but it simply wasn't what I was expecting and took from my enjoyment of the book. 

One other thing that made me enjoy the book less then I had hoped is probably more my fault than the book's, but I want to mention it so anyone interested in reading it is prepared. I am far from an expert on ancient Assyrian culture, this is the first non-fiction I read on the topic. I'm only just getting into ancient history in general, so I'm not exactly well-versed in the timelines. This was a bit of a problem, sometimes, because when talking about ancient kings, Layard hardly mentioned specific years. I think he was rather writing for a scholarly audience in these cases, so terms like "the x-th dynasty" didn't tell me much. Of course, that is nothing I couldn't have looked up, and it's only a small issue. 

Overall, the book was very easy to understand, most things were explained extremely well and in a quite beautiful writing style. Layard writes in a very passionate manner about his work, especially about the countries and peoples he visits, so the book is generally lovely to read. I did not learn a lot about history, but that might have been due to the fact that I'm not very proficient in this field and only read the book out of a more leisurely interest. 

It was still absolutely fascinating in some parts. We get extremely detailed descriptions and analyses of certain archeological finds, such as vases, amulets, wall-reliefs or sculptures. I highly enjoyed reading about these things. They appear boring at first, but Layard really conveys their importance for our understanding of these ancient cultures. It's sometimes baffling how much one broken dish or amulet can tell us about people long gone. The author also mentions other sources and thus gives a broad picture of what was known or suspected about ancient Assyria back in the late 19th century. There are also many drawings and photographs of the things he talks about in the book, which made me appreciate their importance and beauty even more. It was fascinating to see how beautifully many of the everyday utensils were crafted, or how much work went into decorating the palaces. The wall-reliefs were my favourite parts to read about, as they told much about the place's history. I was deeply impressed just by reading about them, and Layard's enthusiastic writing added much to that!

Another part I absolutely loved were the travel anecdotes. The author takes the reader with him on most of his journeys and talks about the different peoples and cultures he meets. He does that in a very open and mostly non-judgmental manner. It is clear that he has made many great friends on his journeys and that he admires the different cultures. Instead of a prejudiced view of the tribal peoples, the reader gets an open, mostly admiring and insightful description of their ways. Most of these anecdotes tell of the hospitality and friendliness of the people Layard meets on his ways, such as even poor people giving everything they have willingly to comply with the rites of hospitality. It was heartwarming to read of these experiences of Eastern hospitality, and it helped draw me into the narrative and make me care about what I read. 

This, in addition to some stunningly executed descriptions of beautiful scenery, made for a very absorbing and relaxing read most of the time. The book did not just offer some interesting insights into culture and history, it is also a very well written narrative with lovely stories. 

So I would generally recommend anyone interested in the subject of ancient Assyria and archeology to read this book. It is a book that can be read in one go, as it is far from dry, but I would still recommend taking your time with it. That way, the sometimes dense passages won't become too much and you might avoid becoming slightly bored, or overwhelmed, by the amount of information conveyed. I think I read this book in a bit over two weeks, which was probably a mistake as the second half became very boring and I sometimes completely lost interest in what I was reading.
If you are looking for an interesting non-fiction with heart-warming stories, beautiful descriptions and images, passionate writing and impressive information, you should definitely take the time and give this one a go! 🌟🌟🌟

Have you read this book, or do you have any recommendations that would be similar to it?
Thank you so much for reading and have a great weekend! 💕