Discoveries among the Ruins of Nineveh and Babylon Part 4

[Ill.u.s.tration: Head-dress of Captives employed by a.s.syrians in moving Bull (Kouyunjik).]

The huge stone having been landed, and carved by the a.s.syrian sculptor into the form of a colossal human-headed bull, is to be moved from the bank of the river to the site it is meant to occupy permanently in the palace-temple. This process is represented on the walls of the great hall. From these bas-reliefs, as well as from discoveries to be hereafter mentioned, it is therefore evident that the a.s.syrians sculptured their gigantic figures before, and not after, the slabs had been raised in the edifice, although all the details and the finishing touches were not put in, as it will be seen, until they had been finally placed.[37] I am still, however, of opinion, that the smaller bas-reliefs were entirely executed after the slabs had been attached to the walls.

In the first bas-relief I shall describe, the colossal bull rests horizontally on a sledge similar in form to the boat containing the rough block from the quarry, but either in the carving the stone has been greatly reduced in size, or the sledge is much larger than the boat, as it considerably exceeds the sculpture in length. The bull faces the spectator, and the human head rests on the fore-part of the sledge, which is curved upwards and strengthened by a thick beam, apparently running completely through from side to side. The upper part, or deck, is otherwise nearly horizontal; the under, or keel, being slightly curved throughout. Props, probably of wood, are placed under different parts of the sculpture to secure an equal pressure. The sledge was dragged by cables, and impelled by levers. The cables are four in number; two fastened to strong projecting pins in front, and two to similar pins behind. They are pulled by small ropes pa.s.sing over the shoulders of the men, as in the bas-reliefs already described.

On the bull itself are four persons, probably the superintending officers.

The first is kneeling, and appears to be clapping his hands, probably beating time, to regulate the motions of the workmen, who unless they applied their strength at one and the same moment would be unable to move so large a weight. Behind him stands a second officer with outstretched arm, evidently giving the word of command. The next holds to his mouth, either a speaking-trumpet, or an instrument of music. If the former, it proves that the a.s.syrians were acquainted with a means of conveying sound, presumed to be of modern invention. In form it undoubtedly resembles the modern speaking-trumpet, and in no bas-relief hitherto discovered does a similar object occur as an instrument of music. The fourth officer, also standing, carries a mace, and is probably stationed behind to give directions to those who work the levers. The sledge bearing the sculpture is followed by men with coils of ropes and various implements, and drawing carts laden with cables and beams.

A subject similar to that just described is represented in another series of bas-reliefs, with even fuller details. The bull is placed in the same manner on the sledge, which is also moved by cables and levers. It is accompanied by workmen with saws, hatchets, pick-axes, shovels, ropes, and props, and by carts carrying cables and beams. Upon it are three officers directing the operations, one holding the trumpet in his hands, and in front walk four other overseers. Above the sledge and the workmen are rows of trees, and a river on which are circular boats resembling in shape the "kufas," now used on the lower part of the Tigris, and probably, like them, built of reeds and ozier twigs, covered with square pieces of hide.

They are heavily laden with beams and implements required for moving the bulls.

On a fallen slab, forming part of the same general series, is the king standing in a richly decorated chariot, the pole of which, curved upwards at the end, and ornamented with the head of a horse, is raised by eunuchs. From the peculiar form of this chariot and the absence of a yoke, it would seem to have been intended purposely for such occasions as that represented in the bas-relief, and to have been a kind of moveable throne drawn by men and not by horses. Behind the monarch, who holds a kind of flower, or ornament in the shape of the fruit of the pine, in one hand, stand two eunuchs, one raising a parasol to shade him from the sun, the other cooling him with a fan. He appears to have been superintending the transport of one of the colossal sculptures, and his chariot is preceded and followed by his body-guard armed with maces.

The next series of bas-reliefs represents the building of the artificial platforms on which the palaces were erected, and the a.s.syrians moving to their summit the colossal bulls. The king is again seen in his chariot drawn by eunuchs, whilst an attendant raises the royal parasol above his head. He overlooks the operations from that part of the mound to which the sledge is being dragged, and before him stands his body-guard, a long line of alternate spearmen and archers, resting their arms and shields upon the ground. At the bottom of the slab is represented a river, on the banks of which are seen men raising water by a simple machine, still generally used for irrigation in the East, as well as in Southern Europe, and called in Egypt a _shadoof_. It consists of a long pole, balanced on a shaft of masonry, and turning on a pivot; to one end is attached a stone, and to the other a bucket, which, after being lowered into the water and filled, is easily raised by the help of the opposite weight. Its contents are then emptied into a conduit communicating with the various watercourses running through the fields. In the neighbourhood of Mosul this mode of irrigation is now rarely used, the larger skins raised by oxen affording a better supply, and giving, it is considered, less trouble to the cultivator.[38]

It would appear that the men employed in building the artificial mound were captives and malefactors, for many of them are in chains, some singly, others bound together by an iron rod attached to rings in their girdles. The fetters, like those of modern criminals, confine the legs, and are supported by a bar fastened to the waist, or consist of simple shackles round the ankles. They wear a short tunic, and a conical cap, somewhat resembling the Phrygian bonnet, with the curved crest turned backwards, a costume very similar to that of the tribute bearers on the Nimroud obelisk. Each band of workmen is followed and urged on by task-masters armed with staves.

The mound, or artificial platform, having been thus built, not always, as it has been seen, with regular layers of sun-dried bricks, but frequently in parts with mere heaped-up earth and rubbish, the next step was to drag to its summit the colossal figures prepared for the palace. As some of the largest of these sculptures were full twenty feet square, and must have weighed between forty and fifty tons, this was no easy task with such means as the a.s.syrians possessed. The only aid to mere manual strength was derived from the rollers and levers.

Behind the monarch, on an adjoining slab, are carts bearing the cables, wedges, and implements required in moving the sculpture. A long beam or lever is slung by ropes from the shoulders of three men, and one of the great wedges is carried in the same way. In the upper compartment of this slab is a stream issuing from the foot of hills wooded with vines, fig-trees, and pomegranates. Beneath stands a town or village, the houses of which have domes and high conical roofs, probably built of mud, as in parts of northern Syria. The domes have the appearance of dish-covers with a handle, the upper part being topped by a small circular projection, perhaps intended as an aperture to admit light and air.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Village with the conical Roofs, near Aleppo.]

This interesting series is completed by a bas-relief, showing, it would seem, the final placing of the colossal bull. The figure no longer lies horizontally on the sledge, but is raised by men with ropes and forked wooden props. It is kept in its erect position by beams, held together by cross bars and wedges,[39] and is further supported by blocks of stone, or wood, piled up under the body. Cables, ropes, rollers, and levers are also employed on this occasion to move the gigantic sculpture. The captives are distinguished by the peculiar turbans before described.[40]

We have thus represented, with remarkable fidelity and spirit[41], the several processes employed to place these colossi where they still stand, from the transport down the river of the rough block to the final removal of the sculptured figure to the palace. From these bas-reliefs we find that the a.s.syrians were well acquainted with the lever and the roller, and that they ingeniously made use of the former by carrying with them wedges, of different dimensions, and probably of wood, to vary the height of the fulcrum. When moving the winged bulls and lions now in the British Museum from the ruins to the banks of the Tigris, I used almost the same means.

The a.s.syrians, like the Egyptians, had made considerable progress in rope twisting, an art now only known in its rudest state in the same part of the East. The cables appear to be of great length and thickness, and ropes of various dimensions are represented in the sculptures.

On comparing representations of similar works among the Egyptians, it will be found that they succeeded in removing ma.s.ses of stone far exceeding in weight any sculpture which has yet been discovered in a.s.syria. Yet it is a singular fact, that whilst the quarries of Egypt bear witness of themselves to the stupendous nature of the works of the ancient inhabitants of the country, and still show on their sides engraved records of those who made them, no traces whatever, notwithstanding the most careful research, have yet been found to indicate from whence the builders of the a.s.syrian palaces obtained their large slabs of alabaster. That they were in the immediate neighbourhood of Nineveh there is scarcely any reason to doubt, as strata of this material, easily accessible, abound, not only in the hills but in the plains. This very abundance may have rendered any particular quarry unnecessary, and blocks were probably taken as required from convenient spots, which have since been covered by the soil.

There can be no doubt, as will hereafter be shown, that the king represented as superintending the building of the mounds and the placing of the colossal bulls is Sennacherib himself, and that the sculptures celebrate the building at Nineveh of the great palace and its adjacent temples described in the inscriptions as the work of this monarch.

Unfortunately only fragments of the epigraphs have been preserved. From them it would appear that the transport of more than one object was represented on the walls. Besides bulls and sphynxes in stone are mentioned figures in some kind of wood, perhaps of olive, like "the two cherubims of olive tree, each ten cubits high," in the temple of Solomon.[42] Over the king superintending the removal of one of these colossi is the following short inscription thus translated by Dr.

Hincks:--

"Sennacherib, king of a.s.syria, the great figures of bulls, which in the land of Belad, were made for his royal palace at Nineveh, he transported _thither_." (?)

The land of Belad, mentioned in these inscriptions, appears to have been a district in the immediate vicinity of Nineveh, and probably on the Tigris, as these great ma.s.ses of stone would have been quarried near the river for the greater convenience of moving them to the palace. The district of Belad may indeed have been that in which the city itself stood.

Over the representation of the building of the mound there were two epigraphs, both precisely similar, but both unfortunately much mutilated.

As far as they can be restored, they have thus been interpreted by Dr.

Hincks:--

"Sennacherib, king of a.s.syria. Hewn stones, _which_, as the G.o.ds[43]

willed, were found in the land of Belad, for the _walls_ (?) (or foundations, the word reads '_shibri_') of my palace, _I caused the inhabitants of foreign countries_ (?) and the people of the forests (Kershani), the great bulls for the gates of my palace to _drag_ (?) (or bring)."

If this inscription be rightly rendered, we have direct evidence that captives from foreign countries were employed in the great public works undertaken by the a.s.syrian kings, as we were led to infer, from the variety of costume represented in the bas-reliefs, and from the fetters on the legs of some of the workmen. The Jews themselves, after their captivity, may have been thus condemned to labor, as their forefathers had been in Egypt, in erecting the monuments of their conquerors; and we may, perhaps, recognise them amongst the builders portrayed in the sculptures.

From the long gallery, we have unfortunately only three fragments of inscriptions without the sculptured representations of the events recorded. The most perfect is interesting on more than one account.

According to Dr. Hincks it is to be translated:--

"Sennacherib, king of a.s.syria ... (some object, the nature not ascertained) of wood, which from the Tigris I caused to be brought up (_through_ ?) the Kharri, or Khasri, on sledges (or boats), I caused to be carried (or to mount)."

The name of the river in this inscription very nearly resembles that of the small stream which sweeps round the foot of the great mound of Kouyunjik.

In the fragment of another epigraph, we have mention of some objects also of wood "brought from Mount Lebanon, and taken up (to the top of the mound) from the Tigris." These may have been beams of cedar, which, it will be hereafter seen, were extensively used in the a.s.syrian palaces. It is highly interesting thus to find the inhabitants of Nineveh fetching their rare and precious woods from the same spots that king Solomon had brought the choicest woodwork of the temple of the Lord and of his own palaces.

On a third fragment similar objects are described as coming from or up the same Kharri or Khasri. I have mentioned that the long gallery containing the bas-relief representing the moving of the great stone, led out of a chamber, whose walls had been completely uncovered. The sculptures upon them were partly preserved, and recorded the conquest of a city standing on a broad river, in the midst of mountains and forests.

The last bas-relief of the series represented the king seated within a fortified camp, on a throne of elaborate workmanship, and having beneath his feet a footstool of equally elegant form. He was receiving the captives, who wore long robes falling to their ankles. Unfortunately, no inscription remained by which we might identify the conquered nation.

It will be remembered that excavations had been resumed in a lofty mound in the north-west line of walls forming the enclosure round Kouyunjik. It was apparently the remains of a gate leading into this quarter of the city, and part of a building, with fragments of two colossal winged figures, had already been discovered in it. By the end of November, the whole had been explored, and the results were of considerable interest. As the mound rises nearly fifty feet over the plain, we were obliged to tunnel along the walls of the building within it, through a compact ma.s.s of rubbish, consisting almost entirely of loose bricks. Following the rows of low limestone slabs, from the south side of the mound, and pa.s.sing through two halls or chambers, we came at length to the opposite entrance.

This gateway, facing the open country, was formed by a pair of majestic human-headed bulls, fourteen feet in length, still entire, though cracked and injured by fire. They were similar in form to those of Khorsabad and Kouyunjik, wearing the lofty head-dress, richly ornamented with rosettes, and edged with a fringe of feathers peculiar to that period. Their faces were in full, and the relief was high and bold. More knowledge of art was shown in the outline of the limbs and in the delineation of the muscles, than in any sculpture I have seen of this period. The naked leg and foot were designed with a spirit and truthfulness worthy of a Greek artist. It is, however, remarkable that the four figures were unfinished, none of the details having been put in, and parts being but roughly outlined.

The sculptures to the left, on entering from the open country, were in a far more unfinished state than those on the opposite side. The hair and beard were but roughly marked out, square bosses being left for carving the elaborate curls. The horned cap of the human-headed bull was, as yet, unornamented, and the wings merely outlined. The limbs and features were hard and angular, still requiring to be rounded off, and to have expression given to them by the finishing touch of the artist. The other two figures were more perfect. No inscription had yet been carved on either sculpture.

The entrance formed by these colossal bulls was fourteen feet and a quarter wide. It was paved with large slabs of limestone, still bearing the marks of chariot wheels. The sculptures were buried in a ma.s.s of brick and earth, mingled with charcoal and charred wood; for "the gates of the land had been set wide open unto the enemy, and the fire had devoured the bars."[44] They were lighted from above by a deep shaft sunk from the top of the mound. It would be difficult to describe the effect produced, or the reflections suggested by these solemn and majestic figures, dimly visible amidst the gloom, when, after winding through the dark, underground pa.s.sages, you suddenly came into their presence. Between them Sennacherib and his hosts had gone forth in all their might and glory to the conquest of distant lands, and had returned rich with spoil and captives, amongst whom may have been the handmaidens and wealth of Israel.

Through them, too, the a.s.syrian monarch had entered his capital in shame, after his last and fatal defeat. Then the lofty walls, now but long lines of low, wave-like mounds, had stretched far to the right and to the left--a bas.e.m.e.nt of stone supporting a curtain of solid brick masonry, crowned with battlements and studded with frowning towers.

Behind the colossal figures, and between the outer and inner face of the gateway, were two chambers, nearly 70 feet in length, by 23 in breadth. Of that part of the entrance which was within the walls, only the fragments of winged figures, discovered during my previous researches, now remained.

The whole entrance thus consisted of two distinct chambers and three gateways, two formed by human-headed bulls, and a third between them simply panelled with low limestone slabs like the chambers. Its original height, including the tower, must have been full one hundred feet. Most of the baked bricks found amongst the rubbish bore the name of Sennacherib, the builder of the palace of Kouyunjik. A similar gateway, but without any remains of sculptured figures, and panelled with plain alabaster slabs, was subsequently discovered in the inner line of walls forming the eastern side of the quadrangle, where the road to Baashiekhah and Baazani leaves the ruins.

At Nimroud discoveries of very considerable importance were made in the high conical mound at the north-west corner. Desirous of fully exploring that remarkable ruin, I had employed nearly all the workmen in opening a tunnel into its western base. After penetrating for no less than eighty-four feet through a compact ma.s.s of rubbish, composed of loose gravel, earth, burnt bricks, and fragments of stone, the excavators came to a wall of solid stone masonry. I have already observed that the edifice covered by this high mound was originally built upon the natural rock, a bank of hard conglomerate rising about fifteen feet above the plain, and washed in days of yore by the waters of the Tigris. Our tunnel was carried for thirty-four feet on a level with this rock, which appears to have been covered by a kind of flooring of sun-dried bricks, probably once forming a platform in front of the building. It was buried to the distance of thirty feet from the wall, by baked bricks, broken and entire, and by fragments of stone, remains of the superstructure once resting upon the bas.e.m.e.nt of still existing stone masonry. This ma.s.s of rubbish was about thirty feet high, and in it were found bones apparently human, and a yellow earthen jar, rudely colored with simple black designs. The rest of this part of the mound consisted of earth, through which ran two thin lines of extraneous deposit, one _of pebbles_, the other of fragments of brick and pottery. I am totally at a loss to account for their formation.

I ordered tunnels to be carried along the bas.e.m.e.nt wall in both directions, hoping to reach some doorway or entrance, but it was found to consist of solid masonry, extending nearly the whole length of the mound.

Its height was exactly twenty feet, which, singularly enough, coincides with that a.s.signed by Xenophon to the stone bas.e.m.e.nt of the wall of the city (Larissa).[45] The stones in this structure were carefully fitted together, though not united with mortar, unless the earth which filled the crevices was the remains of mud, used, as it still is in the country, as a cement. They were bevelled with a slanting bevel, and in the face of the wall were eight recesses or false windows, four on each side of a square projecting block between gradines.

The bas.e.m.e.nt, of which this wall proved to be only one face, was not excavated on the northern and eastern side until a later period, but I will describe all the discoveries connected with this singular building at once. The northern side was of the same height as, and resembled in its masonry, the western. It had a semicircular hollow projection in the centre, sixteen feet in diameter, on the east side of which were two recesses, and on the west four, so that the two ends of the wall were not uniform. That part of the bas.e.m.e.nt against which the great artificial mound or platform ab.u.t.ted, and which was consequently concealed by it, that is, the eastern and southern sides, was of simple stone masonry without recesses or ornament. The upper part of the edifice, resting on the stone substructure, consisted of compact masonry of burnt bricks, which were mostly inscribed with the name of the founder of the centre palace (the obelisk king), the inscription being in many instances turned outwards.

It was thus evident that the high conical mound forming the north-west corner of the ruins of Nimroud, was the remains of a square tower, and not of a pyramid, as had previously been conjectured. The lower part, built of solid stone masonry, had withstood the wreck of ages, but the upper walls of burnt brick, and the inner ma.s.s of sun-dried brick which they encased, falling outwards, and having been subsequently covered with earth and vegetation, the ruin had taken the pyramidal form that loose materials falling in this manner would naturally a.s.sume.

It is very probable that this ruin represents the tomb of Sardanapalus, which, according to the Greek geographers, stood at the entrance of the city of Nineveh. It will hereafter be seen that it is not impossible the builder of the north-west palace of Nimroud was a king of that name, although it is doubtful whether he can be identified with the historical Sardanapalus. Subsequent discoveries proved that he must himself have raised the stone substructure, although his son, whose name is found upon the bricks, completed the building. It was, of course, natural to conjecture that some traces of the chamber in which the royal remains were deposited, were to be found in the ruin, and I determined to examine it as fully as I was able. Having first ascertained the exact centre of the western stone bas.e.m.e.nt, I there forced a pa.s.sage through it. This was a work of some difficulty, as the wall was 8 ft. 9 in. thick, and strongly built of large rough stones. Having, however, accomplished this step, I carried a tunnel completely through the mound, at its very base, and on a level with the natural rock, until we reached the opposite bas.e.m.e.nt wall, at a distance of 150 feet. Nothing having been discovered by this cutting, I directed a second to be made at right angles to it, crossing it exactly in the centre, and reaching from the northern to the southern bas.e.m.e.nt; but without any discovery.

The next cutting was made in the centre of the mound, on a line with the top of the stone bas.e.m.e.nt wall, which was also the level of the platform of the north-west palace. The workmen soon came to a narrow gallery, about 100 feet long, 12 feet high, and 6 feet broad, which was blocked up at the two ends without any entrance being left into it. It was vaulted with sun-dried bricks, a further proof of the use of the arch at a very early period, and the vault had in one or two places fallen in. No remains whatever were found in it, neither fragments of sculpture or inscription, nor any smaller relic. There were, however, undoubted traces of its having once been broken into on the western side, by digging into the face of the mound after the edifice was in ruins, and consequently, therefore, long after the fall of the a.s.syrian empire. The remains which it may have contained, probably the embalmed body of the king, with vessels of precious metals and other objects of value buried with it, had been carried off by those who had opened the tomb at some remote period, in search of treasure. They must have had some clue to the precise position of the chamber, or how could they have dug into the mound exactly at the right spot? Had this depositary of the dead escaped earlier violation, who can tell with what valuable and important relics of a.s.syrian art or a.s.syrian history it might have furnished us? I explored, with feelings of great disappointment, the empty chamber, and then opened other tunnels, without further results, in the upper parts of the mound.

It was evident that the long gallery or chamber I have described was the place of deposit for the body of the king, if this were really his tomb.

The tunnels and cuttings in other parts of the mound only exposed a compact and solid ma.s.s of sun-dried brick masonry. I much doubt, for many reasons, whether any sepulchre exists in the rock beneath the foundations of the tower, though, of course, it is not impossible that such may be the case.[46]

From the present state of the ruin it is difficult to conjecture the exact original form and height of this edifice. There can be no doubt that it was a vast square tower, and it is not improbable that it may have terminated in a series of three or more gradines, like the obelisk of black marble from the centre palace now in the British Museum. Like the palaces, too, it was probably painted on the outside with various mythic figures and devices, and its summit may have been crowned by an altar, on which the a.s.syrian king offered up his great sacrifices, or on which was fed the ever-burning sacred fire. But I will defer any further remarks upon this subject until I treat of the architecture of the a.s.syrians.

As the ruin is 140 feet high, the building could scarcely have been much less than 200, whilst the immense ma.s.s of rubbish surrounding and covering the base shows that it might have been considerably more.

During the two months in which the greater part of the discoveries described in this chapter were made, I was occupied almost entirely with the excavations, my time being spent between Nimroud and Kouyunjik.

Wishing to visit Baasheikhah, Khorsabad, and other ruins at the foot of the range of low hills of the Gebel Makloub, I left Nimroud on the 26th of November with Hormuzd and the Bairakdar. Four hours' ride brought us to some small artificial mounds near the village of Lak, about three miles to the east of the high road to Mosul. Here we found a party of workmen excavating under one of the Christian superintendents. Nothing had been discovered except fragments of pottery and a few bricks bearing the name of the Kouyunjik king. As the ruins, from their size, did not promise other results, I sent the men back to Mosul. We reached Khorsabad after riding for nearly eight hours over a rich plain, capable of very high cultivation, though wanting in water, and still well stocked with villages, between which we startled large flocks of gazelles and bustards.

I had sent one of my overseers there some days before to uncover the platform to the west of the princ.i.p.al edifice, a part of the building I was desirous of examining. Whilst clearing away the rubbish, he had discovered two bas-reliefs sculptured in black stone. They represented a hunting scene, and were executed with much truth and spirit. They belonged to a small building, believed to be a temple, entirely constructed of black marble, and attached to the palace. It stood upon a platform 165 feet in length and 100 in width, raised about six feet above the level of the flooring of the chambers, and ascended from the main building by a flight of broad steps. This platform, or stylobate, is remarkable for a cornice in grey limestone carried round the four sides,--one of the few remains of exterior decoration in a.s.syrian architecture, with which we are acquainted. It is carefully built of separate stones, placed _side by side_, each forming part of the section of the cornice. Mr. Fergusson observes,[47] with reference to it, "at first sight it seems almost purely Egyptian; but there are peculiarities in which it differs from any found in that country, especially in the curve being continued beyond the vertical tangent, and the consequent projection of the torus giving a second shadow. Whether the effect of this would be pleasant or not in a cornice placed so high that we must look up to it, is not quite clear; but below the level of the eye, or slightly above it, the result must have been more pleasing than any form found in Egypt, and where sculpture is not added might be used with effect anywhere."

Many fragments of bas-reliefs in the same black marble, chiefly parts of winged figures, had been uncovered; but this building has been more completely destroyed than any other part of the palace of Khorsabad, and there is scarcely enough rubbish even to cover the few remains of sculpture which are scattered over the platform.