Arthur catches sight of his reflection in the French windows. Sorrow clings to his features. It feels wrong to find the artifacts of Nineveh displayed for the amusement of the wealthy and the powerful. The people of Mesopotamia, the descendants of the scribes who composed the tablets and the artisans who chiseled the statues, will never have a chance to see these pieces. Up until this moment, it had not troubled him that antiquities were to be brought to Europe to be lodged in major museums and institutions. To the contrary: he believed he was rescuing them from obscurity. But seeing them in a
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