Nimrud.

This is coolbert:

"The canal cascades from above into the gardens. Fragrance pervades the walkways. Streams of water [numerous] as the stars of heaven flow in the pleasure garden."

NOT anymore and perhaps never again!!

Nimrud that ancient city have suffered the consequences of occupation by the combatants of ISIL the aftermath now seen as most tragic.

"3,000 YEARS AGO, IT RULED THE MIDEAST, NOW BLOWN TO PIECES" 

Thanks to Lori Hinnant and the AP article:

"NIMRUD, Iraq (AP) -- The chilly December wind whipped rain across the strewn wreckage of a city that, nearly 3,000 years ago, ruled almost the entire Middle East."

"The city of Nimrud in northern Iraq is in pieces, victim of the Islamic State group's fervor to erase history. The remains of its palaces and temples, once lined in brilliant reliefs of gods and kings, have been blown up. The statues of winged bulls that once guarded the site are hacked to bits. Its towering ziggurat, or step pyramid, has been bulldozed."

Here with an image juxtaposing what used to be [as seen by the smart phone] and what is now, the slightly blurred rubble in the background. Winged bulls hammered to "bits". In keeping with the Salafist concept of jahiliyyah, artifacts such as the winged bull from a period of ignorance before the revelations as presented to Mohammad.. All depictions of humanity [even a human head on the body of a bull] forbidden, haram. Indeed, all depictions of living creatures of what ever nature forbidden, haram. Click on image to see a larger view.

Those artifacts of antiquity the Islamic State cannot sell on the international black market are merely demolished? Afraid this so. On a wanton and extensive basis, of which few parallels can be found?

coolbert.