The Mosul Museum in Assyria

After America invaded Iraq in 2003 US forces built a military base there, destroying stonework and undertaking earth-moving projects that hurled archaeological objects wherever they happened to fall. Saddam Hussein glorified himself there in stone having his name carved in processional bricks as a legitimate son of Nebuchadnezzar II, Babylon's greatest king. The Mosul Museum had already been looted in 2003, but the destruction of artifacts there in 2014 shocked all of us who saw footage of it. This museum is at the heart of Assyria, Babylon's brother civilization in Mesopotamia.