ZIPANG Hormuzd Rassam Candlelight Vigil for the Iraq Museum held in London

Date: Friday, April 13 2007

Organizer: Enheduanna Society in collaboration with the Iraqi Association, the British School of Archaeology in Iraq, and the Camden Ceilidh Storytelling Club.

Program: On the fourth anniversary of the looting of the Iraq Museum in Baghdad sixty people gathered in London to celebrate the life and work of Mosul-born archaeologist Hormuzd Rassam. Among them were several of his relatives who live in the UK. More than 150 years ago Hormuzd Rassam discovered the palace of King Ashurbanipal in the ruins of the city of Nineveh. Many of the sculptures and nearly all the inscribed clay tablets in the palace library are now housed in the British Museum. The history of this discovery was outlined by Dr. Mariana Giovino, an Assyriologist, in a slide-illustrated lecture. She showed how cuneiform texts on clay tablets are transcribed and translated. Fran Hazelton, a modern day Mesopotamian storyteller, told one of the stories found written on clay tablets in Ashurbanipal's library. Tara Jaff, a Kurdish musician, sang a Sumerian song of praise for the goddess Inana, harmonising with a chant sung by the audience.