1826-1911
He was an archaeologist who was born in Mosul. He accompanied the renowned ardhaeologist Henry Layard in the excavations at Nineveh during the period 18451847. Then he accompanied him to London where he studied at the University of Oxford. After graduation they retumed to Iraq together and during the years 18491851 they participated in excavating and uncovering 71 rooms and halls in Tel Owennings well as the winged bulls and Ashurbanipal’s library that included 25000 tablets in addition to the well-known epic of Gilgamesh. After Layard left Irsa in 181, Altassam kept on excavating on his own, and he discovered Ashurasurpal’s “White Obelisk”. He also discovered a statue of the goddess Ishtar in the form of a maked woman as well as two bronze gates of Shalmaneser in 1879. He metode mamy books in English, including Assyria and the Land of Nimrod’, “The Scriptural Lands”, and “The Garden of Eden).
