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THE SEVEN GREAT MONARCHIES
OF THE
ANCIENT EASTERN WORLD;
OR,
THE HISTORY, GEOGRAPHY, AND ANTIQUITIES OF CHALDAEA, ASSYRIA
BABYLON, MEDIA, PERSIA, PARTHIA, AND SASSANIAN,
OR NEW PERSIAN EMPIRE.
BY
GEORGE RAWLINSON, M.A.,
CAMDEN PROFESSOR OF ANCIENT HISTORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
IN THREE VOLUMES.
VOLUME I.
With Maps and Illustrations
THE SECOND MONARCHY.
ASSYRIA.
[Illustration: Map1]
CHAPTER I.
DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY.
"Greek phrase[--]"--HEROD. i. 192.
The site of the second--or great Assyrian-monarchy was the upper
portion of the Mesopotamian valley. The cities which successively formed
its capitals lay, all of them, upon the middle Tigris; and the heart of
the country was a district on either side that river, enclosed within
the thirty-fifth and thirty-seventh parallels. By degrees these limits
were enlarged; and the term Assyria came to be used, in a loose and
vague way, of a vast and ill-defined tract extending on all sides from
this central region. Herodotus considered the whole of Babylonia to be a
mere district of Assyria. Pliny reckoned to it all Mesopotamia. Strabo
gave it, besides these regions, a great portion of Mount Zagros (the
modern Kurdistan), and all Syria as far as Cilicia, Judaea, and
Phoenicia.
If, leaving the conventional, which is thus vague and unsatisfactory, we
seek to find certain natural limits which we may regard as the proper
boundaries of the country, in two directions we seem to perceive an
almost unmistakable line of demarcation. On the east the high
mountain-chain of Zagros. penetrable only in one or two places, forms a
barrier of the most marked character, and is beyond a doubt the natural
limit for which we are looking. On the south a less striking, but not
less clearly defined, line--formed by the abutment of the upper and
slightly elevated plain on the alluvium of the lower valley--separates
Assyria from Babylonia, which is best regarded as a distinct country. In
the two remaining directions, there is more doubt as to the most proper
limit. Northwards,we may either view Mount Masius as the natural
boundary, or the course of the Tigris from Diarbekr to Til, or even
perhaps the Armenian mountain-chain north of this portion of the
Tigris, from whence that river receives its early tributaries. Westward,
we might confine Assyria to the country watered by the affluents of the
Tigris, or extend it so as to in elude the Khabour and its tributaries,
or finally venture to carry it across the whole of Mesopotamia, and make
it be bounded by the Euphrates. On the whole it is thought that in both
the doubted cases the wider limits are historically the truer ones.
Assyrian remains cover the entire country between the Tigris and the
Khabour, and are frequent on both banks of the latter stream, giving
unmistakable indications of a long occupation of that region by the
great Mesopotamian people. The inscriptions show that even a wider tract
was in process of time absorbed by the conquerors; and if we are to draw
a line between the country actually taken into Assyria, and that which
was merely conquered and held in subjection, we can select no better
boundary than the Euphrates westward, and northward the snowy
mountain-chain known to the ancients as Mons Niphates.
If Assyria be allowed the extent which is here assigned to her, she will
be a country, not only very much larger than Chaldaea or Babylonia, but
positively of considerable dimensions. Reaching on the north to the
thirty-eighth and on the south to the thirty-fourth parallel, she had
a length diagonally from Diarbekr to the alluvium of 350 miles, and a
breadth between the Euphrates and Mount Zagros varying from about 300 to
170 miles. Her area was probably not less than 75,000 square miles,
which is more than double that of Portugal, and not much below that of
Great Britain. She would thus from her mere size be calculated to play
an important (part) in history; and the more so, as during the period of
her greatness scarcely any nation with which she came in contact
possessed nearly so extensive a territory.
Within the limits here assigned to Assyria, the face of the country is
tolerably varied. Possessing, on the whole, perhaps, a predominant
character of flatness, the territory still includes some important
ranges of hills, while on the two sides it abuts upon lofty
mountain-chains. Towards the north and east it is provided by nature
with an ample supply of water, rills everywhere flowing from the
Armenian and Kurdish ranges, which soon collect into rapid and abundant
rivers. The central, southern, and western regions are, however, less
bountifully supplied; for though the Euphrates washes the whole western
and south-western frontier, it spreads fertility only along its banks;
and though Mount Masius sends down upon the Mesopotamian plain a
considerable number of streams, they form in the space of 200 miles
between Balls and Mosul but two rivers, leaving thus large tracts to
languish for want of the precious fluid. The vicinity of the Arabian and
Syrian deserts is likewise felt in these regions, which, left to
themselves, tend to acquire the desert character, and have occasionally
been regarded as actual parts of Arabia.
The chief natural division of the country is that made by the Tigris,
which, having a course nearly from north to south, between Til and
Samarah, separates Assyria into a western and an eastern district. Of
these two, the eastern or that upon the left bank of the Tigris,
although considerably the smaller, has always been the more important
region. Comparatively narrow at first, it broadens as the course of the
river is descended, till it attains about the thirty-fifth parallel a
width of 130 or 140 miles. It consists chiefly of a series of rich and
productive plains, lying along the courses of the various tributaries
which flow from Mount Zagros into the Tigris, and often of a
semi-alluvial character. These plains are not, however, continuous.
Detached ranges of hills, with a general direction parallel to the
Zagros chain, intersect the flat rich country, separating the plains
from one another, and supplying small streams and brooks in addition to
the various rivers, which, rising within or beyond the great mountain
barriers, traverse the plains on their way to the Tigris. The hills
themselves--known now as the Jebel Maklub, the Ain-es-sufra, the
Karachok, etc.--are for the most part bare and sterile. In form they
are hogbacked, and viewed from a distance have a smooth and even outline
but on a nearer approach they are found to be rocky and rugged. Their
limestone sides are furrowed by innumerable ravines, and have a dry and
parched appearance, being even in spring generally naked and without
vegetation. The sterility is most marked on the western flank, which
faces the hot rays of the afternoon sun; the eastern slope is
occasionally robed with a scanty covering of dwarf oak or stunted
brushwood. In the fat soil of the plains the rivers commonly run deep
and concealed from view, unless in the spring and the early summer, when
through the rains and the melting of the snows in the mountains they are
greatly swollen, and run bank full, or even overflow the level country.
The most important of these rivers are the following:--the Kurnib or
Eastern Khabour, which joins the Tigris in lat. 37 deg. 12'; the Greater Zab
(Zab Ala), which washes the ruins of Nimrud, and enters the main stream
almost exactly in lat. 30 deg.; the Lesser Zab (Zab Asfal), which effects
its junction about lat. 35 deg. 15'; the Adhem, which is received a little
below Samarah, about lat. 34 deg.; and the Diyaleh, which now joins below
Baghdad, but from which branches have sometimes entered the Tigris a
very little below the mouth of the Adhem. Of these streams the most
northern, the Khabour, runs chiefly in an untraversed country--the
district between Julamerik and the Tigris. It rises a little west of
Julamerik in one of the highest mountain districts of Kurdistan, and
runs with a general south-westerly course to its junction with another
large branch, which reaches it from the district immediately west of
Amadiyeh; it then flows due west, or a little north of west, to Zakko,
and, bending to the north after passing that place, flows once more in a
south-westerly direction until it reaches the Tigris. The direct
distance from its source to its embouchure is about 80 miles; but that
distance is more than doubled by its windings. It is a stream of
considerable size, broad and rapid; at many seasons not fordable at all,
and always forded with difficulty.
The Greater Zab is the most important of all the tributaries of the
Tigris. It rises near Konia, in the district of Karasu, about lat. 32 deg.
20', long. 44 deg. 30', a little west of the watershed which divides the
basins of Lakes Van and Urymiyeh. Its general course for the first 150
miles is S.S.W., after which for 25 or 30 miles it runs almost due south
through the country of the Tiyari. Near Amadiyeh it makes a sudden turn,
and flows S.E. or S.S.E. to its junction with the Rowandiz branch
whence, finally, it resumes its old direction, and runs south-west past
the Nimrud ruins into the Tigris. Its entire course, exclusive of small
windings, is above 350 miles, and of these nearly 100 are across the
plain country, which it enters soon after receiving the Rowandiz stream.
Like the Khabour, it is fordable at certain places and during the summer
season; but even then the water reaches above the bellies of horses. It
is 20 yards wide a little above its junction with the main steam. On
account of its strength and rapidity the Arabs sometimes call it the
"Mad River."
The Lesser Zab has its principal source near Legwin, about twenty miles
south of Lake Urumiyeh, in lat. 36 deg. 40', long. 46 deg. 25'. The source is to
the east of the great Zagros chain; and it might have been supposed that
the waters would necessarily flow northward or eastward, towards Lake
Urumiyeh, or towards the Caspian. But the Legwin river, called even at
its source the Zei or Zab, flows from the first westward, as if
determined to pierce the mountain barrier. Failing, however, to find an
opening where it meets the range, the Little Zab turns south and even
south-east along its base, till about 25 or 30 miles from its source it
suddenly resumes its original direction, enters the mountains in lat.
36 deg. 20', and forces its way through the numerous parallel ranges,
flowing generally to the S.S.W., till it debouches upon the plain near
Arbela, after which it runs S.W. and S.W. by S. to the Tigris. Its
course among the mountains is from 80 to 90 miles, exclusive of small
windings; and it runs more than 100 miles through the plain. Its
ordinary width, just above its confluence with the Tigris, is 25 feet.
The Diyaleh, which lies mostly within the limits that have been here
assigned to Assyria, is formed by the confluence of two principal
streams, known respectively as the Holwan, and the Shirwan, river. Of
these, the Shirwan seems to be the main branch. This stream rises from
the most eastern and highest of the Zagros ranges, in lat. 34 deg. 45',
long. 47 deg. 40' nearly. It flows at first west, and then north-west,
parallel to the chain, but on entering the plain of Shahrizur, where
tributaries join it from the north-east and the north-west, the
Shirwan changes its course and begins to run south of west, a direction,
which, it pursues till it enters the low country, about lat. 35 deg. 5',
near Semiram. Thence to the Tigris it has a course which in direct
distance is 150 miles, and 200 if we include only main windings. The
whole course cannot be less than 380 miles, which is about the length of
the Great Zab river. The width attained before the confluence with the
Tigris is 60 yards, or three times the width of the Greater, and seven
times that of the Lesser Zab.
On the opposite side of the Tigris, the traveller comes upon a region
far less favored by nature than that of which we have been lately
speaking. Western Assyria has but a scanty supply of water; and unless
the labor of man is skilfully applied to compensate this natural
deficiency, the greater part of the region tends to be, for ten months
out of the twelve, a desert. The general character of the country is
level, but not alluvial. A line of mountains, rocky and precipitous, but
of no great elevation, stretches across the northern part of the region,
running nearly due east and west, and extending from the Euphrates at
Rum-kaleh to Til and Chelek upon the Tigris. Below this, a vast
slightly undulating plain extends from the northern mountains to the
Babylonian alluvium, only interrupted about midway by a range of low
limestone hills called the Sinjar, which leaving the Tigris near Mosul
runs nearly from east to west across central Mesopotamia, and strikes
the Euphrates half-way between Rakkeh and Kerkesiyeh, nearly in long.
40 deg..
The northern mountain region, called by Strabo "Mons Masius," and by the
Arabs the Karajah Dagh towards the west, and towards the east the Jebel
Tur, is on the whole a tolerably fertile country. It contains a good
deal of rocky land; but has abundant springs, and in many parts is well
wooded. Towards the west it is rather hilly than mountainous; but
towards the east it rises considerably, and the cone above Mardin is
both lofty and striking. The waters flowing from the range consist, on
the north, of a small number of brooks, which after a short course fall
into the Tigris; on the south, of more numerous and more copious
streams, which gradually unite, and eventually form two rather important
rivers. These rivers are the Belik, known anciently as the Bileeha, and
the Western Khabour, called Habor in Scripture, and by the classical
writers Aborrhas or Chaboras. [PLATE XXII., Fig. 1.]
[Illustration: PLATE 22]
The Belik rises among the hills east of Orfa, about long. 39 deg., lat. 37 deg.
10'. Its course is at first somewhat east of south; but it soon sweeps
round, and, passing by the city of Harran--the Haran of Scripture and
the classical Carrh--proceeds nearly due south to its junction, a few
miles below Rakkah, with the Euphrates. It is a small stream throughout
its whole course, which may be reckoned at 100 or 120 miles.
The Khabour is a much more considerable river. It collects the waters
which flow southward from at least two-thirds of the Mons Masius, and
has, besides, an important source, which the Arabs regard as the true
"head of the spring," derived apparently from a spur of the Sinjar
range. This stream, which rises about lat. 36 deg. 40', long. 40 deg., flows a
little south of east to its junction near Koukab with the Jerujer or
river Nisi-his, which comes down from Mons Masius with a course not
much west of south. Both of these branches are formed by the union of a
number of streams. Neither of them is fordable for some distance above
their junction; and below it, they constitute a river of such magnitude
as to be navigable for a considerable distance by steamers. The course
of the Khabour below Koukab is tortuous; but its general direction is
S.S.W. The entire length of the stream is certainly not less than 200
miles.
The country between the "Mons Masius" and the Sinjar range is an
undulating plain, from 60 to 70 miles in width, almost as devoid of
geographical features as the alluvium of Babylonia. From a height the
whole appears to be a dead level: but the traveller finds, on
descending, that the surface, like that of the American prairies and the
Roman Campagna, really rises and falls in a manner which offers a
decided contrast to the alluvial flats nearer the sea. Great portions of
the tract are very deficient in water. Only small streams descend from
the Sinjar range, and these are soon absorbed by the thirsty soil; so
that except in the immediate vicinity of the hills north and south, and
along the courses of the Khabour, the Belik, and their affluents, there
is little natural fertility, and cultivation is difficult. The soil too
is often gypsiferous, and its salt and nitrous exudations destroy
vegetation; while at the same time the streams and springs are from the
same cause for the most part brackish and unpalatable. Volcanic action
probably did not cease in the region very much, if at all, before the
historical period. Fragments of basalt in many places strew the plain;
and near the confluence of the two chief branches of the Khabour, not
only are old craters of volcanoes distinctly visible, but a cone still
rises from the centre of one, precisely like the cones in the craters of
Etna and Vesuvius, composed entirely of loose lava, scorim, and ashes,
and rising to the height of 300 feet. The name of this remarkable hill,
which is Koukab, is even thought to imply that the volcano may have been
active within the time to which the traditions of the country extend.
[PLATE XXII., Fig. 2.]
Sheets of water are so rare in this region that the small lake of
Khatouniyeh seems to deserve especial description. This lake is situated
near the point where the Sinjar changes its character, and from a high
rocky range subsides into low broken hills. It is of oblong shape, with
its greater axis pointing nearly due east and west, in length about four
miles, and in its greatest breadth somewhat less than three. [PLATE
XXIII., Fig. 1] The banks are low and parts marshy, more especially on
the side towards the Khabour, which is not more than ten miles distant.
In the middle of the lake is a hilly peninsula, joined to the mainland
by a narrow causeway, and beyond it a small island covered with trees.
The lake abounds with fish and waterfowl; and its water, though
brackish, is regarded as remarkably wholesome both for man and beast.
[Illustration: PLATE 23]
The Sinjar range, which divides Western Assyria into two plains, a
northern and a southern, is a solitary limestone ridge, rising up
abruptly from the flat country, which it commands to a vast distance on
both sides. The limestone of which it is composed is white, soft, and
fossiliferous; it detaches itself in enormous flakes from the
mountain-sides, which are sometimes broken into a succession of
gigantic steps, while occasionally they present the columnar appearance
of basalt. The flanks of the Sinjar are seamed with innumerable ravines,
and from these small brooks issue, which are soon dispersed by
irrigation, or absorbed in the thirsty plains. The sides of the mountain
are capable of being cultivated by means of terraces, and produce fair
crops of corn and excellent fruit; the top is often wooded with fruit
trees or forest-trees. Geographically, the Sinjar may be regarded as
the continuation of that range of hills which shuts in the Tigris on the
west, from Tekrit nearly to Mosul, and then leaving the river strikes
across the plain in a direction almost from east to west as far as the
town of Sinjar. Here the mountains change their course and bend to the
south-west, till having passed the little lake described above, they
somewhat suddenly subside, sinking from a high ridge into low undulating
hills, which pass to the south of the lake, and then disappear in the
plain altogether. According to some, the Sinjar here terminates; but
perhaps it is best to regard it as rising again in the Abd-el-aziz
hills, which, intervening between the Khabour and the Euphrates, run in
the same south-west direction from Arban to Zelabi. If this be accepted
as the true course of the Sinjar, we must view it as throwing out two
important spurs. One of these is near its eastern extremity, and runs to
the south-east, dividing the plain of Zerga from the great central
level. Like the main chain, it is of limestone; and, though low, has
several remarkable peaks which serve as landmarks from a vast distance.
The Arabs call it Kebritiyeh, or "the Sulphur range," from a sulphurous
spring which rises at its foot. The other spur is thrown out near the
western extremity, and runs towards the north-west, parallel to the
course of the upper Khabour, which rises from its flank at Ras-el-Ain.
The name of Abd-el-aziz is applied to this spur, as well as to the
continuation of the Sinjar between Arban and Halebi. It is broken into
innumerable valleys and ravines, abounding with wild animals, and is
scantily wooded with dwarf oak. Streams of water abound in it.
South of the Sinjar range, the country resumes the same level appearance
which characterizes it between the Sinjar and the Mons Masius. A low
limestone ridge skirts the Tigris valley from Mosul to Tekrit, and near
the Euphrates the country is sometimes slightly hilly; but generally the
eye travels over a vast slightly undulating level, unbroken by
eminences, and supporting but a scanty vegetation. The description of
Xenophon a little exaggerates the flatness, but is otherwise faithful
enough:--"In these parts the country was a plain throughout, as smooth
as the sea, and full of wormwood; if any other shrub or reed grew there,
it had a sweet aromatic smell; but there was not a tree in the whole
region." Water is still more scarce than in the plains north of the
Sinjar. The brooks descending from that range are so weak that they
generally lose themselves in the plain before they have run many miles.
In one case only do they seem sufficiently strong to form a river. The
Tharthar, which flows by the ruins of El Hadhr, is at that place a
considerable stream, not indeed very wide but so deep that horses have
to swim across it. Its course above El Hadhr has not been traced; but
the most probable conjecture seems to be that it is a continuation of
the Sinjar river, which rises about the middle of the range, in long.
41 deg. 50', and flows south-east through the desert. The Tharthar appears
at one time to have reached the Tigris near Tekrit, but it now ends in a
marsh or lake to the south-west of that city.
The political geography of Assyria need not occupy much of our
attention. There is no native evidence that in the time of the great
monarchy the country was formally divided into districts, to which any
particular names were attached, or which were regarded as politically
separate from one another; nor do such divisions appear in the classical
writers until the time of the later geographers, Strabo, Dionysius, and
Ptolemy. If it were not that mention is made in the Old Testament of
certain districts within the region which has been here termed Assyria,
we should have no proof that in the early times any divisions at all had
been recognized. The names, however, of Padan-Aram, Aram-Naharaim,
Gozan, Halah, and (perhaps) Huzzab, designate in Scripture particular
portions of the Assyrian territory; and as these portions appear to
correspond in some degree with the divisions of the classical
geographers, we are led to suspect that these writers may in many, if
not in most cases, have followed ancient and native traditions or
authorities. The principal divisions of the classical geographers will
therefore be noticed briefly, so far at least as they are intelligible.
According to Strabo, the district within which Nineveh stood was called
Aturia, which seems to be the word Assyria slightly corrupted, as we
know that it habitually was by the Persians. The neighboring plain
country he divides into four regions--Dolomene, Calachene, Chazene,
and Adiabene. Of Dolomene, which Strabo mentions but in one place, and
which is wholly omitted by other authors, no account can be given.
Calachene, which is perhaps the Calacine of Ptolemy, must be the tract
about Calah (Nimrud), or the country immediately north of the Upper Zab
river. Chazene, like Dolomene, is a term which cannot be explained.
Adiabene, on the contrary, is a well-known geographical expression. It
is the country of the Zab or Diab rivers, and either includes the whole
of Eastern Assyria between the mountains and the Tigris, or more
strictly is applied to the region between the Upper and Lower Zab, which
consists of two large plains separated from each other by the Karachok
hills. In this way Arbelitis, the plain between the Karachok and Zagros,
would fall within Adiabene, but it is sometimes made a distinct region,
in which case Adiabene must be restricted to the flat between the two
Zabs, the Tigris, and the harachok. Chalonitis and Apolloniatis, which
Strabo seems to place between these northern plains and Susiana, must be
regarded as dividing between them the country south of the Lesser Zab,
Apolloniatis (so called from its Greek capital, Apollonia) lying along
the Tigris, and Chalonitis along the mountains from the pass of Derbend
to Gilan. Chalonitis seems to have taken its name from a capital city
called Chala, which lay on the great route connecting Babylon with the
southern Ecbatana, and in later times was known as Holwan. Below
Apolloniatis, and (like that district) skirting the Tigris, was
Sittacene, (so named from its capital, Sittace which is commonly
reckoned to Assyria, but seems more properly regarded as Susianian
territory.) Such are the chief divisions of Assyria east of the Tigris.
West of the Tigris, the name Mesopotamia is commonly used, like the
Aram-Naharaim of the Hebrews, for the whole country between the two
great rivers. Here are again several districts, of which little is
known, as Acabene, Tigene, and Ancobaritis. Towards the north, along the
flanks of Mons Masius from Nisibis to the Euphrates, Strabo seems to
place the Mygdonians, and to regard the country as Mygdonia. Below
Mygdonia, towards the west, he puts Anthemusia, which he extends as far
as the Khabour river. The region south of the Khabour and the Sinjar he
seems to regard as inhabited entirely by Arabs. Ptolemy has, in lieu of
the Mygdonia of Strabo, a district which he calls Gauzanitis; and this
name is on good grounds identified with the Gozan of Scripture, the true
original probably of the "Mygdonia" of the Greeks. Gozan appears to
represent the whole of the upper country from which the longer affluents
of the Khabour spring; while Halah, which is coupled with it in
Scripture, and which Ptolemy calls Chalcitis, and makes border on
Gauzanitis, may designate the tract upon the main stream, as it comes
down from Ras-el-Ain. The region about the upper sources of the Belik
has no special designation in Strabo, but in Scripture it seems to be
called Padan-Aram, a name which has been explained as "the flat Syria,"
or "the country stretching out from the foot of the hills." In the later
Roman times it was known as Osrhoene; but this name was scarcely in use
before the time of the Antonines.
The true heart of Assyria was the country close along the Tigris, from
lat. 35 deg. to 36 deg. 30'. Within these limits were the four great cities,
marked by the mounds at Khorsabad, Mosul, Nimrud, and Kileh-Sherghat,
besides a multitude of places of inferior consequence. It has been
generally supposed that the left bank of the river was more properly
Assyria than the right; and the idea is so far correct, as that the left
bank was in truth of primary value and importance, whence it naturally
happened that three out of the four capitals were built on that side of
the stream. Still the very fact that one early capital was on the right
bank is enough to show that both shores of the stream were alike
occupied by the race from the first; and this conclusion is abundantly
confirmed by other indications throughout the region. Assyrian ruins,
the remains of considerable towns, strew the whole country between the
Tigris and Khabour, both north and south of the Sin jar range. On the
banks of the Lower Khabour are the remains of a royal palace, besides
many other traces of the tract through which it runs having been
permanently occupied by the Assyrian people. Mounds, probably Assyrian,
are known to exist along the course of the Khabour's great western
affluent; and even near Seruj, in the country between Harlan and the
Euphrates some evidence has been found not only of conquest but of
occupation. Remains are perhaps more frequent on the opposite side of
the Tigris; at any rate they are more striking and more important.
Bavian, Khorsabad, Shereef-Khan, Neb-bi-Yunus, Koyunjik, and Nimrud,
which have furnished by far the most valuable and interesting of the
Assyrian monuments, all lie east of the Tigris; while on the west two
places only have yielded relics worthy to be compared with these, Arban
and Kileh-Sherghat.
It is curious that in Assyria, as in early Chaldaea, there is a special
pre-eminence of four cities. An indication of this might seem to be
contained in Genesis, where Asshur is said to have "builded Nineveh," and
the city Rehoboth, and Calah, and Resen; but on the whole it is more
probable that we have here a mistranslation (which is corrected for us
in the margin), and that three cities only are ascribed by Moses to the
great patriarch. In the flourishing period of the empire, however, we
actually find four capitals, of which the native names seem to have been
Ninua, Calah, Asshur, and Bit-Sargina, or Dur-Sargina (the city of
Sargon)--all places of first-rate consequence. Besides these principal
cities, which were the sole seats of government, Assyria contained a
vast number of large towns, few of which it is possible to name, but so
numerous that they cover the whole face of the country with their ruins.
Amomig; them were Tarbisa, Arbil, Arapkha, and Khazeh, in the tract
between the Tigris and Mount Zagros; Haran, Tel-Apni, Razappa (Rezeph),
and Amida, towards the north-west frontier; Nazibina (Nisibis), on the
eastern branch of the Khabour; Sirki (Circesium), at the confluence of
the Khabour with the Euphrates; Anat, on the Euphrates, some way below
this junction; Tabiti, Magarisi, Sidikan, Katni, Beth-Khalupi,etc., in
the district south of the Sinjar, between the lower course of the
Khabour and the Tigris. Here, again, as in the case of Chaldaea, it is
impossible at present to locate with accuracy all the cities. We must
once more confine ourselves to the most important, mind seek to
determine, either absolutely or with a certain vagueness, their several
positions.
It admits of no reasonable doubt that the ruins opposite Mosul are those
of Nineveh. The name of Nineveh is read on the bricks; and a uniform
tradition, reaching from the Arab conquest to comparatively recent
times, attaches to the mounds themselves the same title. They are the
most extensive ruins in Assyria; and their geographical position suits
perfectly all the notices of the geographers and historians with respect
to the great Assyrian capital. As a subsequent chapter will be devoted
to a description of this famous city, it is enough in this place to
observe that it was situated on the left or east bank of the Tigris, in
lat. 36 deg. 21', at the point where a considerable brook, the Khosr-su,
falls into the main stream. On its west flank flowed the broad and rapid
Tigris, the "arrow-stream," as we may translate the word; while north,
east, and south, expanded the vast undulating plain which intervenes
between the river and the Zagros mountain-range. Mid-way in this
plain, at the distance of from 15 to 18 miles from the city, stood
boldly up the Jabel Maklub and Ain Sufra hills, calcareous ridges rising
nearly 2000 feet above the level of the Tigris, and forming by far the
most prominent objects in the natural landscape. Inside the Ain Sufra,
and parallel to it, ran the small stream of the Gomel, or Ghazir, like a
ditch skirting a wall, an additional defence in that quarter. On the
south-east and south, distant about fifteen miles, was the strong and
impetuous current of the Upper Zab, completing the natural defences of
the position which was excellently chosen to be the site of a great
capital.
[Illustration: PLATE 24]
South of Nineveh, at the distance of about twenty miles by the direct
route and thirty by the course of the Tigris, stood the second city of
the empire, Calah, the site of which is marked by the extensive ruins at
Nimrud. [PLATE XXIV., Fig. 1.] Broadly, this place may be said to have
been built at the confluence of the Tigris with the Upper Zab; but in
strictness it was on the Tigris only, the Zab flowing five or six miles
further to the south, and entering the Tigris at least nine miles below
the Nimrud ruins. These ruins at present occupy an area somewhat short
of a thousand English acres, which is little more than one-half of the
area of the ruins of Nineveh; but it is thought that the place was in
ancient times considerably larger, and that the united action of the
Tigris and some winter streams has swept away no small portion of the
ruins. They form at present an irregular quadrangle, the sides of which
face the four cardinal points. On the north and east the rampart may
still be distinctly traced. It was flanked with towers along its whole
course, and pierced at uncertain intervals by gates, but was nowhere of
very great strength or dimensions. On the south side it must have been
especially weak, for there it has disappeared altogether. Here, however,
it seems probable that the Tigris and the Shor Derreh stream, to which
the present obliteration of the wall may be ascribed, formed in ancient
times a sufficient protection. Towards the west, it seems to be certain
that the Tigris (which is now a mile off) anciently flowed close to the
city. On this side, directly facing the river, and extending along it a
distance of 600 yards, or more than a third of a mile, was the royal
quarter, or portion of the city occupied by the palaces of the kings. It
consisted of a raised platform, forty feet above the level of the plain,
composed in some parts of rubbish, in others of regular layers of
sun-dried bricks, and cased on every side with solid stone masonry,
containing an area of sixty English acres, and in shape almost a regular
rectangle, 560 yards long, and from 350 to 450 broad. The platform was
protected at its edges by a parapet, and is thought to have been
ascended in various places by wide staircases, or inclined ways, leading
up from the plain. The greater part of its area is occupied by the
remains of palaces constructed by various native kings, of which a more
particular account will be given in the chapter on the architecture and
other arts of the Assyrians. It contains also the ruins of two small
temples, and abuts at its north-western angle on the most singular
structure which has as yet been discovered among the remains of the
Assyrian cities. This is the famous tower or pyramid which looms so
conspicuously over the Assyrian plams, and which has always attracted
the special notice of the traveller. [PLATE XXIV., Fig. 2.] An exact
description of this remarkable edifice will be given hereafter.
It appears from the inscriptions on its bricks to have been commenced by
one of the early kings, and completed by another. Its internal structure
has led to the supposition that it was designed to be a place of burial
for one or other of these monarchs. Another conjecture is, that it was a
watch-tower; but this seems very unlikely, since no trace of any mode
by which it could be ascended has been discovered.
Forty miles below Calah, on the opposite bank of the Tigris, was a third
great city, the native name of which appears to have been Asshur. This
place is represented by the ruins at Kileh-Sherghat, which are scarcely
inferior in extent to those at Nimrud or Calah. It will not be necessary
to describe minutely this site, as in general character it closely
resembles the other ruins of Assyria. Long lines of low mounds mark the
position of the old walls, and show that the shape of the city was
quadrangular. The chief object is a large square mound or platform, two
miles and a half in circumference, and in places a hundred feet above
the level of the plain, composed in part of sun-dried bricks, in part
of natural eminences, and exhibiting occasionally remains of a casing of
hewn stone, which may once have encircled the whole structure. About
midway on the north side of the platform, and close upon its edge, is a
high cone or pyramid. The rest of the platform is covered with the
remains of walls and with heaps of rubbish, but does not show much trace
of important buildings. This city has been supposed to represent the
Biblical Resen; but the description of that place as lying "_between_
Nineveh and Calah" seems to render the identification worse than
uncertain.
The ruins at Kileh-Sherghat are the last of any extent towards the
south, possessing a decidedly Assyrian character. To complete our
survey, therefore of the chief Assyrian towns, we must return
northwards, and, passing Nineveh, direct our attention to the
magnificent ruins on the small stream of the Khosrsu, which have made
the Arab village of Khorsabad one of the best known names in Oriental
topography. About nine miles from the north-east angle of the wall of
Nineveh, in a direction a very little east of north, stands the ruin
known as Khorsabad, from a small village which formerly occupied its
summit--the scene of the labors of M. Botta, who was the first to
disentomb from among the mounds of Mesopotamia the relics of an Assyrian
palace. The enclosure at Khorsabad is nearly square in shape, each side
being about 2000 yards long. No part of it is very lofty, but the walls
are on every side well marked. Their angles point towards the cardinal
points, or nearly so; and the walls themselves consequently face the
north-east, the north-west, the south-west, and the south-east.
Towards the middle of the north-west wall, and projecting considerably
beyond it, was a raised platform of the usual character; and here stood
the great palace, which is thought to have been open to the plain, and
on that side quite undefended.
Four miles only from Khorsabad, in a direction a little west of north,
are the ruins of a smaller Assyrian city, whose native name appears to
have been Tarbisa, situated not far from the modern village of
Sherif-khan. Here was a palace, built by Esarhaddon for one of his
sons, as well as several temples and other edifices. In the opposite
direction at the distance of about twenty miles, is Keremles, an
Assyrian ruin, whose name cannot yet be rendered phonetically. West of
this site, and about half-way between the ruins of Nineveh and Nimrud
or Calah, is Selamiyah, a village of some size, the walls of which are
thought to be of Assyrian construction. We may conjecture that this
place was the Resen, or Dase, of Holy Scripture, which is said to have
been a large city, interposed between Nineveh and Calah. In the same
latitude, but considerably further to the east, was the famous city of
Arabil or Arbil, known to the Greeks as Arbela, and to this day
retaining its ancient appellation. These were the principal towns, whose
positions can be fixed, belonging to Assyria Proper, or the tract in the
immediate vicinity of Nineveh.
Besides these places, the inscriptions mention a large number of cities
which we cannot definitely connect with any particular site. Such are
Zaban and Zadu, beyond the Lower Zab, probably somewhere in the vicinity
of Kerkuk; Kurban, Tidu (?), Napulu, Kapa, in Adiabene; Arapkha and
Khaparkhu, the former of which names recalls the Arrapachitis of
Ptolemy, in the district about Arbela; Hurakha, Sallat (?), Dur-Tila,
Dariga, Lupdu, and many others, concerning whose situations it is not
even possible to make any reasonable conjecture. The whole country
between the Tigris and the mountains was evidently studded thickly with
towns, as it is at the present day with ruins; but until a minute and
searching examination of the entire region has taken place, it is idle
to attempt an assignment to particular localities of these comparatively
obscure names.
In Western Assyria, or the tract on the right bank of the Tigris, while
there is reason to believe that population was as dense, and that cities
were as numerous, as on the opposite side of the river, even fewer sites
can be determinately fixed, owing to the early decay of population in
those parts, which seem to have fallen into their present desert
condition shortly after the destruction of the Assyrian empire by the
conquering Medes. Besides Asshur, which is fixed to the ruins at
Kileh-Sherghat, we can only locate with certainty some half-dozen
places. These are Nazibina, which is the modern Nisibin, the Nisibis of
the Greeks; Amidi, which is Amida or Diarbekr; Haran, which retains its
name unchanged; Sirki, which is the Greek Circesium, now Kerkesiyeh;
Anat, now Anah, on an island in the Euphrates; and Sidikan, now Arban,
on the Lower Khabour. The other known towns of this region, whose exact
position is more or less uncertain, are the following:--Tavnusir, which
is perhaps Dunisir, near Mardin; Guzana, or Gozan, in the vicinity of
Nisibin; Razappa, or Rezeph, probably not far from Harran; Tel Apni,
about Orfah or Ras-el-Ain; Tabiti and Magarisi, on the Jerujer, or
river of Nisibin; Katni and Beth-Khalupi, on the Lower Khabour; Tsupri
and Nakarabani, on the Euphrates, between its junction with the Khabour
and Allah; and Khuzirina, in the mountains near the source of the
Tigris. Besides these, the inscriptions contain a mention of some scores
of towns wholly obscure, concerning which we cannot even determine
whether they lay west or east of the Tigris.
Such are the chief geographical features of Assyria. It remains to
notice briefly the countries by which it was bordered. To the east lay
the mountain region of Zagros, inhabited principally, during the earlier
times of the Empire, by the Zimri, and afterwards occupied by the Medes,
and known as a portion of Media. This region is one of great strength,
and at the same time of much productiveness and fertility. Composed of a
large number of parallel ridges. Zagros contains, besides rocky and
snow-clad summits, a multitude of fertile valleys, watered by the great
affluents of the Tigris or their tributaries, and capable of producing
rich crops with very little cultivation. The sides of the hills are in
most parts clothed with forests of walnut, oak, ash, plane, and
sycamore, while mulberries, olives, and other fruit-trees abound; in
many places the pasturage is excellent; and thus, notwithstanding its
mountainous character, the tract will bear a large population. Its
defensive strength is immense, equalling that of Switzerland before
military roads were constructed across the High Alps. The few passes by
which it can be traversed seem, according to the graphic phraseology of
the ancients, to be carried up ladders; they surmount six or seven
successive ridges, often reaching the elevation of 10,000 feet, and are
only open during seven months of the year. Nature appears to have
intended Zagros as a seven fold wall for the protection of the fertile
Mesopotamian lowland from the marauding tribes inhabiting the bare
plateau of Iran.
North of Assyria lays a country very similar to the Zagros region.
Armenia, like Kurdistan, consists, for the most part of a number of
parallel mountain ranges, with deep valleys between them, watered by
great rivers or their affluents. Its highest peaks, like those of
Zagros, ascend considerably above the snow-line. It has the same
abundance of wood, especially in the more northern parts; and though its
valleys are scarcely so fertile, or its products so abundant and varied,
it is still a country where a numerous population may find subsistence.
The most striking contrast which it offers to the Zagros region is in
the direction of its mountain ranges. The Zagros ridges run from
north-west to south-east, like the principal mountains of Italy,
Greece, Arabia, Hindustan, and Cochin China; those of Armenia have a
course from a little north of east to a little south of west, like the
Spanish Sierras, the Swiss and Tyrolese Alps, the Southern Carpathians,
the Greater Balkan, the Cilician Taurus, the Cyprian Olympus, and the
Thian Chan. Thus the axes of the two chains are nearly at right angles
to one another, the triangular basin of Van occurring at the point of
contact, and softening the abruptness of the transition. Again, whereas
the Zagros mountains present their gradual slope to the Mesopotamian
lowland, and rise in higher and higher ridges as they recede from the
mountains of Armenia ascend at once to their full heignt from the level
of the Tigris, and the ridges then gradually decline towards the Euxine.
It follows from this last contrast, that, while Zagros invites the
inhabitants of the Mesopotamian plain to penetrate its recesses, which
are at first readily accessible, and only grow wild and savage towards
the interior, the Armenian mountains repel by presenting their greatest
difficulties and most barren aspect at once, seeming, with their rocky
sides and snow-clad summits, to form an almost insurmountable obstacle
to an invading host. Assyrian history bears traces of this difference;
for while the mountain region to the east is gradually subdued and
occupied by the people of the plain, that on the north continues to the
last in a state of hostility and semi-independence.
West of Assyria (according to the extent which has here been given to
it), the border countries were, towards the south, Arabia, and towards
the north, Syria. A desert region, similar to that which bounds Chaldaea
in this direction, extends along the Euphrates as far north as the 36th
parallel, approaching commonly within a very short distance of the
river. This has been at all times the country of the wandering Arabs. It
is traversed in places by rocky ridges of a low elevation, and
intercepted by occasional _wadys_, but otherwise it is a continuous
gravelly or sandy plain, incapable of sustaining a settled population.
Between the desert and the river intervenes commonly a narrow strip of
fertile territory, which in Assyrian times was held by the Tsukhi or
Shuhites, and the Aramaeans or Syrians. North of the 36th parallel, the
general elevation of the country west of the Euphrates rises. There is
an alternation of bare undulating hills and dry plains, producing
wormwood and other aromatic plants. Permanent rivers are found, which
either terminate in salt lakes or run into the Euphrates. In places the
land is tolerably fertile, and produces good crops of grain, besides
mulberries, pears, figs, pomegranates, olives, vines, and
pistachio-nuts. Here dwelt, in the time of the Assyrian Empire, the
Khatti, or Hittites, whose chief city, Carchemish, appears to have
occupied the site of Hierapolis, now Bambuk. In a military point of
view, the tract is very much less strong than either Armenia or
Kurdistan, and presents but slight difficulties to invading armies.
The tract south of Assyria was Chaldaea, of which a description has been
given in an earlier portion of this volume. Naturally it was at once the
weakest of the border countries, and the one possessing the greatest
attractions to a conqueror. Nature had indeed left it wholly without
defence; and though art was probably soon called in to remedy this
defect, yet it could not but continue the most open to attack of the
various regions by which Assyria was surrounded. Syria was defended by
the Euphrates--at all times a strong barrier; Arabia, not only by this
great stream, but by her arid sands and burning climate; Armenia and
Kurdistan had the protection of their lofty mountain ranges. Chaldaea
was naturally without either land or water barrier; and the mounds and
dykes whereby she strove to supply her wants were at the best poor
substitutes for Nature's bulwarks. Here again geographical features will
be found to have had an important bearing on the course of history, the
close connection of the two countries, in almost every age, resulting
from their physical conformation.
CHAPTER II.
CLIMATE AND PRODUCTIONS.
"Assyria, celebritate et magnitudine, et multiformi feracitate
ditissima."--AMM. MARC. xxiii
In describing the climate and productions of Assyria, it will be
necessary to divide it into regions, since the country is so large, and
the physical geography so varied, that a single description would
necessarily be both incomplete and untrue. Eastern Assyria has a climate
of its own, the result of its position at the foot of Zagros. In Western
Assyria we may distinguish three climates, that of the upper or
mountainous country extending from Bir to Til and Jezireh, that of the
middle region on either side of the Sinjar range, and that of the lower
region immediately bordering on Babylonia. The climatic differences
depend in part on latitude; but probably in a greater degree on
differences of elevation, distance or vicinity of mountains, and the
like.
Eastern Assyria, from its vicinity to the high and snow-clad range of
Zagros, has a climate at once cooler and moister than Assyria west of
the Tigris. The summer heats are tempered by breezes from the adjacent
mountains, and, though trying to the constitution of an European, are
far less oppressive than the torrid blasts which prevail on the other
side of the river. A good deal of rain falls in the winter, and even in
the spring; while, after the rains are past, there is frequently an
abundant dew, which supports vegetation and helps to give coolness to
the air. The winters are moderately severe.
In the most southern part of Assyria, from lat. 34 deg. to 35 deg. 30', the
climate scarcely differs from that of Babylonia, which has been already
described. The same burning summers, and the same chilly but not really
cold winters, prevail in both districts; and the time and character of
the rainy season is alike in each. The summers are perhaps a little less
hot, and the winters a little colder than in the more southern and
alluvial region; but the difference is inconsiderable, and has never
been accurately measured.
In the central part of Western Assyria, on either side of the Sinjar
range, the climate is decidedly cooler than in the region adjoining
Babylonia. In summer, though the heat is great, especially from noon to
sunset, yet the nights are rarely oppressive, and the mornings
enjoyable. The spring-time in this region is absolutely delicious; the
autumn is pleasant; and the winter, though cold and accompanied by a
good deal of rain and snow, is rarely prolonged and never intensely
rigorous. Storms of thunder and lightning are frequent, especially in
spring, and they are often of extraordinary violence: hail-stones fall
of the size of pigeon's eggs; the lightning is incessant; and the wind
rages with fury. The force of the tempest is, however, soon exhausted;
in a few hours' time it has passed away, and the sky is once more
cloudless: a delightful calm and freshness pervade the air, producing
mingled sensations of pleasure and repose.
The mountain tract, which terminates Western Assyria to the north, has a
climate very much more rigorous than the central region. The elevation
of this district is considerable, and the near vicinity of the great
mountain country of Armenia, with its eternal snows and winters during
half the year, tends greatly to lower the temperature, which in the
winter descends to eight or ten degrees below zero. Much snow then
falls, which usually lies for some weeks; the spring is wet and stormy,
but the summer and the autumn are fine; and in the western portion of
the region about Harran and Orfah, the summer heat is great. The climate
is here an "extreme" one, to use on expression of Humboldt's--the range
of the thermometer being even greater than it is in Chaldaea, reaching
nearly (or perhaps occasionally exceeding) 120 degrees.
Such is the present climate of Assyria, west and east of the Tigris.
There is no reason to believe that it was very different in ancient
times. If irrigation was then more common and cultivation more widely
extended, the temperature would no doubt have been somewhat lower and
the air more moist. But neither on physical nor on historical grounds
Can it be argued that the difference thus produced was; more than
slight. The chief causes of the remarkable heat of Mesopotamnia--so
much exceeding that of many countries under the same parallels of
latitude--are its near vicinity to the Arabian and Syrian deserts, and
its want of trees, those great refrigerators. While the first of these
causes would be wholly untouched by cultivation, the second would be
affected in but a small degree. The only tree which is known to have
been anciently cultivated in Mesopotamia is the date-palm; and as this
ceases to bear fruit about lat. 35 deg., its greater cultivation could have
prevailed only in a very small portion of the country, and so would have
affected the general climate but little. Historically, too, we find,
among the earliest notices which have any climatic bearing, indications
that the temperature and the consequent condition of the country were
anciently very nearly what they now are. Xenophon speaks of the
barrenness of the tract between the Khabour and Babylonia, and the
entire absence of forage, in as strong terms as could be used at the
present day. Arrian, following his excellent authorities, notes that
Alexander, after crossing the Euphrates, kept close to the hills,
"because the heat there was not so scorching as it was lower down," and
because he could then procure green food for his horses. The animals too
which Xenophon found in the country are either such as now inhabit it,
or where not such, they are the denizens of hotter rather than colder
climates and countries.
The fertility of Assyria is a favorite theme with the ancient writers.
Owing to the indefiniteness of their geographical terminology, it is
however uncertain, in many cases, whether the praise which they bestow
upon Assyria is really intended for the country here called by that
name, or whether it does not rather apply to the alluvial tract, already
described, which is more properly termed Chaldaea or Babylonia.
Naturally Babylonia is very much more fertile than the greater part of
Assyria, which being elevated above the courses of the rivers, and
possessing a saline and gypsiferous soil, tends, in the absence of a
sufficient water supply, to become a bare and arid desert. Trees are
scanty in both regions except along the river courses; but in Assyria,
even grass fails after the first burst of spring; and the plains, which
for a few weeks have been carpeted with the tenderest verdure and
thickly strewn with the brightest and loveliest flowers, become, as the
summer advances, yellow, parched, and almost herbless. Few things are
more remarkable than the striking difference between the appearance of
the same tract in Assyria at different seasons of the year. What at one
time is a garden, glowing with brilliant hues and heavy with luxuriant
pasture, on which the most numerous flocks can scarcely make any
sensible impression, at another is an absolute waste, frightful and
oppressive from its sterilityr.
If we seek the cause of this curious contrast, we shall find it in the
productive qualities of the soil, wherever there is sufficient moisture
to allow of their displaying themselves, combined with the fact, already
noticed, that the actual supply of water is deficient. Speaking
generally, we may say with truth, as was said by Herodotus more than two
thousand years ago--that "but little rain falls in Assyria," and, if
water is to be supplied in adequate quantity to the thirsty soil, it
must be derived from the rivers. In most parts of Assyria there are
occasional rains during the winter, and, in ordinary years, frequent
showers in early spring. The dependence of the present inhabitants both
for pasture and for grain is on these. There is scarcely any irrigation;
and though the soil is so productive that wherever the land is
cultivated, good crops are commonly obtained by means of the spring
rains, while elsewhere nature at once spontaneously robes herself in
verdure of the richest kind, yet no sooner does summer arrive than
barrenness is spread over the scene; the crops ripen and are gathered
in; "the grass withereth, the flower fadeth;" the delicate herbage of
the plains shrinks back and disappears; all around turns to a uniform
dull straw-color; nothing continues to live but what is coarse, dry,
and sapless; and so the land, which was lately an Eden, becomes a
desert.
Far different would be the aspect of the region were a due use made of
that abundant water supply--actually most lavish in the summer time,
owing to the melting of the snows which nature has provided in the two
great Mesopotamian rivers and their tributaries. So rapid is the fall of
the two main streams in their upper course, that by channels derived
from them, with the help perhaps of dams thrown across them at certain
intervals, the water might be led to almost any part of the intervening
country, and a supply kept up during the whole year. Or, even without
works of this magnitude, by hydraulic machines of a very simple
construction, the life-giving fluid might be raised from the great
streams and their affluents in sufficient quantity to maintain a broad
belt on either side of the river-courses in perpetual verdure.
Anciently, we know that recourse was had to both of these systems. In
the tract between the Tigris and the Upper Zab, which is the only part
of Assyria that has been minutely examined, are distinct remains of at
least one Assyrian canal, wherein much ingenuity and hydraulic skill is
exhibited, the work being carried through the more elevated ground by
tunnelling, and the canal led for eight miles contrary to the natural
course of every stream in the district. Sluices and dams, cut sometimes
in the solid rock, regulated the supply of the fluid at different
seasons, and enabled the natives to make the most economical application
of the great fertilizer. The use of the hand-swipe was also certainly
known, since it is mentioned by Herodotus, and even represented upon the
sculptures. [PLATE XXV., Fig. 1.] Very probably other more elaborate
machines were likewise employed, unless the general prevalency of canals
superseded their necessity. It is certain that over wide districts, now
dependent for productive power wholly on the spring rains, and
consequently quite incapable of sustaining a settled population, there
must have been maintained in Assyrian times some effective
water-system, whereby regions that at present with difficulty furnish a
few months' subsistence to the wandering Arab tribes, were enabled to
supply to scores of populous cities sufficient food for their
consumption.
[Illustration: PLATE 25]
We have not much account of the products of Assyria Proper in early
times. Its dates were of small repute, being greatly inferior to those
of Babylon. It grew a few olives in places, and some spicy shrubs, which
cannot be identified with any certainty. Its cereal crops were good, and
may perhaps be regarded as included in the commendations bestowed by
Herodotus and Strabo on the grain of the Mesopotamian region. The
country was particularly deficient in trees, large tracts growing
nothing but wormwood and similar low shrubs, while others were
absolutely without either tree or bush. The only products of Assyria
which acquired such note as to be called by its name were its silk and
its citron trees. The silk, according to Pliny, was the produce of a
large kind of silkworm not found elsewhere. The citron trees obtained a
very great celebrity. Not only were they admired for their perpetual
fruitage, and their delicious odor; but it was believed that the fruit
which they bore was an unfailing remedy against poisons. Numerous
attempts were made to naturalize the tree in other countries; but up to
the time when Pliny wrote, every such attempt had failed, and the citron
was still confined to Assyria, Persia and Media.
It is not to be imagined that the vegetable products of Assyria were
confined within the narrow compass which the ancient notices might seem
to indicate. Those notices are casual, and it is evident that they are
incomplete: nor will a just notion be obtained of the real character of
the region, unless we take into account such of the present products as
may be reasonably supposed to be indigenous. Now setting aside a few
plants of special importance to man, the cultivation of which may have
been introduced, such as tobacco, rice, Indian corn, and cotton, we may
fairly say that Assyria has no exotics, and that the trees, shrubs, and
vegetables now found within her limits are the same in all probability
as grew there anciently. In order to complete our survey, we may
therefore proceed to inquire what are the chief vegetable products of
the region at the present time.
In the south the date-palm grows well as far as Anah on the Euphrates
and Tekrit on the Tigris. Above that latitude it languishes, and ceases
to give fruit altogether about the junction of the Khabour with the one
stream and the Lesser Zab with the other. The unproductive tree,
however, which the Assyrians used for building purposes, will grow and
attain a considerable size to the very edge of the mountains. Of other
timber trees the principal are the sycamore and the Oriental plane,
which are common in the north the oak, which abounds about Mardin (where
it yields gall-nuts and the rare product manna), and which is also
found in the Sinjar and Abd-el-Aziz ranges; the silver poplar, which
often fringes the banks of the streams; the sumac, which is found on the
Upper Euphrates; and the walnut, which grows in the Jebel Tur, and is
not uncommon between the foot of Zagros and the outlying ranges of
hills. Of fruit-trees the most important are the orange, lemon,
pomegranate, apricot, olive, vine, fig, mulberry, and pistachio-nut.
The pistachio-nut grows wild in the northern mountains, especially
between Orfah and Diarbekr. The fig is cultivated with much care in the
Sinjar. The vine is also grown in that region, but bears better on the
skirts of the hills above Orfah and Mardin. Pomegranates flourish in
various parts of the country. Oranges and lemons belong to its more
southern parts, where it verges on Babylonia. The olive clothes the
flanks of Zagros in places. Besides these rarer fruits, Assyria has
chestnuts, pears, apples, plums, cherries, wild and cultivated, qinces,
apricots, melons and filberts.
The commonest shrubs are a kind of wormwood--the _apsinthium_ of
Xenophon--which grows over much of the plain extending south of the
Khabour--and the tamarisk. Green myrtles, and oleanders with their rosy
blossoms, clothe the banks of some of the smaller streams between the
Tigris and Mount Zagros; and a shrub of frequent occurrence is the
liquorice plant. Of edible vegetables there is great abundance. Truffles
and capers grow wild; while peas, beans, onions, spinach, cucumbers, and
lentils are cultivated successfully. The carob (_Ceratonia Siliqua_)
must also be mentioned as among the rarer products of this region.
It was noticed above that manna is gathered in Assyria from the dwarf
oak. It is abundant in Zagros, and is found also in the woods about
Mardin, and again between Orfah and Diarbekr. According to Mr. Rich, it
is not confined to the dwarf oak, or even to trees and shrubs, but is
deposited also on sand, rocks, and stone. It is most plentiful in wet
seasons, and especially after fogs; in dry seasons it fails almost
totally. The natives collect it in spring and autumn. The best and
purest is that taken from the ground; but by far the greater quantity is
obtained from the trees, by placing cloths under them and shaking the
branches. The natives use it as food both in its natural state and
manufactured into a kind of paste. It soon corrupts; and in order to fit
it for exportation, or even for the storeroom of the native housewife,
it has to undergo the process of boiling. When thus prepared, it is a
gentle purgative; but, in its natural state and when fresh, it may be
eaten in large quantities without any unpleasant consequences.
Assyria is far better supplied with minerals than Babylonia. Stone of a
good quality, either limestone, sandstone, or conglomerate, is always at
hand; while a tolerable clay is also to be found in most plices. If a
more durable material is required, basaltic rock may be obtained from
the Mons Masius--a substance almost as hard as granite. On the left
bank of the Tigris a soft gray alabaster abounds which is easily cut
into slabs, and forms an excellent material for the sculptor. The
neighboring mountains of Kurdistan contain marbles of many different
qualities; and these could be procured without much difficulty by means
of the rivers. From the same quarter it was easy to obtain the most
useful metals. Iron, copper, and lead are found in great abundance in
the Tiyari Mountains within a short distance of Nineveh, where they crop
out upon the surface, so that they cannot fail to be noticed. Lead and
copper are also obtainable from the neighborhood of Diarbekr. The
Kurdish Mountains may have supplied other metals. They still produce
silver and antimony; and it is possible that they may anciently have
furnished gold and tin. As their mineral riches have never been explored
by scientific persons, it is very probable that they may contain many
other metals besides those which they are at present known to yield.
Among the mineral products of Assyria, bitumen, naphtha, petroleum,
sulphur, alum, and salt have also to be reckoned. The bitumen pits of
Kerkuk, in the country between the Lesser Zab and the Adhem, are
scarcely less celebrated than those of Hit; and there are some abundant
springs of the same character close to Nimrud, in the bed of the Shor
Derrell torrent. The Assyrian palaces furnish sufficient evidence that
the springs were productive in old times; for the employment of bitumen
as a cement, though not so frequent as in Babylonia, is yet occasionally
found in them. With the bitumen are always procured both naphtha and
petroleum; while at Kerkuk there is an abundance of sulphur also. Salt
is obtained from springs in the Kerkuk country; and is also formed in
certain small lakes lying between the Sinjar and Babylonia. Alum is
plentiful in the hills about Kifri.
The most remarkable wild animals of Assyria are the following: the lion,
the leopard, the lynx, the wild-cat, the hyaena, the wild ass, the
bear, the deer, the gazelle, the ibex, the wild sheep, the wild boar,
the jackal, the wolf, the fox, the beaver, the jerboa, the porcupine,
the badger, and the hare. The Assyrian lion is of the maneless kind, and
in general habits resembles the lion of Babylonia. The animal is
comparatively rare in the eastern districts, being seldom found on the
banks of the Tigris above Baghdad, and never above Kileh-Sherghat. On
the Euphrates it has been seen as high as Bir; and it is frequent on the
banks of the Khabour, and in the Sinjar. It has occasionally that
remarkable peculiarity--so commonly represented on the sculptures--a
short horny claw at the extremity of the tail in the middle of the
ordinary tuft of hair. The ibex or wild goat--also a favorite subject
with the Assyrian sculptors--is frequent in Kurdistan, and moreover
abounds on the highest ridges of the Abd-el-Aziz and the Sinjar, where
it is approached with difficulty by the hunter. The gazelle, wild boar,
wolf, jackal, fox, badger, porcupine, and hare are common in the plains,
and confined to no particular locality. The jerboa is abundant near the
Khabour. Beau's and deer are found on the skirts of the Kurdish hills.
The leopard, hyaena, lynx, and beaver are comparatively rare. The last
named animal, very uncommon in Southern Asia, was at one time found in
large numbers on the Khabour; but in consequence of the value set upon
its musk bag, it has been hunted almost to extermination, and is now
very seldom seen. The Khabour beavers are said to be a different species
from the American. Their tail is not large and broad, but sharp and
pointed; nor do they build houses, or construct dams across the stream,
but live in the banks, making themselves large chambers above the
ordinary level of the floods, which are entered by holes beneath the
water-line.
The rarest of all the animals which are still found in Assyria is the
wild ass (_Equus hemionous_). Till the present generation of travellers,
it was believed to have disappeared altogether from the region, and to
have "retired into the steppes of Mongolia and the deserts of Persia.
But a better acquaintance with the country between the rivers has shown
that wild asses, though uncommon, still inhabit the tract where, they
were seen by Xenophon." [PLATE XXVI., Fig. 1.] They are delicately made,
in color varying from a grayish-white in winter to a bright bay,
approaching to pink, in the summer-time; they are said to be remarkably
swift. It is impossible to take them when full grown; but the Arabs
often capture the foals, and bring them up with milk in their tents.
They then become very playful and docile; but it is found difficult to
keep them alive; and they have never, apparently, been domesticated. The
Arabs usually kill them and eat their flesh.
[Illustration: PLATE 26]
It is probable that all these animals, and some others, inhabited
Assyria during the time of the Empire. Lions of two kinds, with and
without manes, abound in the sculptures, the former, which do not now
exist in Assyria, being the more common. [PLATE XXV., Fig. 2.] They are
represented with a skill and a truth which shows the Assyrian sculptor
to have been familiar not only with their forms and proportions, but
with their natural mode of life, their haunts, and habits. The leopard
is far less often depicted, but appears sometimes in the ornamentation
of utensils, and is frequently mentioned in the inscriptions. The wild
ass is a favorite subject with the sculptors of the late Empire, and is
represented with great spirit, though not with complete accuracy. [PLATE
XXVI., Fig. 1.] The ears are too short, the head is too fine, the legs
are not fine enough, and the form altogether approaches too nearly to
the type of the horse. The deer, the gazelle, and the ibex all occur
frequently; and though the forms are to some extent conventional, they
are not wanting in spirit. [PLATE XXVII.] Deer are apparently of two
kinds. That which is most commonly found appears to represent the gray
deer, which is the only species existing at present within the confines
of Assyria. The other sort is more delicate in shape, and spotted,
seeming to represent the fallow deer, which is not now known in Syria or
the adjacent countries. It sometimes appears wild, lying among the
reeds; sometimes tame, in the arms of a priest or of a winged figure.
There is no representation in the sculptures of the wild boar; but a
wild sow and pigs are given in one bas-relief, sufficiently indicating
the Assyrian acquaintance with this animal. Hares are often depicted,
and with much truth; generally they are carried in the hands of men, but
sometimes they are being devoured by vultures or eagles. [PLATE XXVIII
Figs. 1, 2.] No representations have been found of bears, wild cats,
hyaenas, wolves, jackals, wild sheep, foxes, beavers, jerbdas,
porcupines, or badgers.
[Illustration: PLATE 27]
There is reason to believe that two other animals, which have now
altogether disappeared from the country, inhabited at least some parts
of Assyria during its flourishing period. One of these is the wild
bull-often represented on the bas-reliefs as a beast of chase, and
perhaps mentioned as such in the inscriptions. This animal, which is
sometimes depicted as en-gaged in a contest with the lion, must have
been of vast strength and boldness. It is often hunted by the king, and
appears to have been considered nearly as noble an object of pursuit as
the lion. We may presume, from the practice in the adjoining country,
Palestine, 96 that the flesh was eaten as food.
[Illustration: PLATE 28]
The other animal, once indigenous, but which has now disappeared, was
called by the Assyrians the _mithin,_ and is thought to have been the
tiger. Tigers are not now found nearer to Assyria than the country south
of the Caspian, Ghilan, and Mazanderan; but as there is no conceivable
reason why they should not inhabit Mesopotamia, and as the _mithin_ is
constantly joined with the lion, as if it were a beast of the same kind,
and of nearly equal strength and courage, we may fairly conjecture that
the tiger is the animal intended. If this seem too bold a theory, we
must regard the _mithin_ as the larger leopard, an animal of
considerable strength and ferocity, which, as well as the hunting
leopard, is still found in the country. [PLATE XXVI., Fig. 2.]
The birds at present frequenting Assyria are chiefly the following: the
bustard (which is of two kinds--the great and the middle-sized), the
egret, the crane, the stork, the pelican, the flamingo, the red
partridge, the black partridge or francolin, the parrot, the Seleucian
thrush (_Turdus Seleucus_), the vulture, the falcon or hunting hawk, the
owl, the wild swan, the bramin goose, the ordinary wild goose, the wild
duck, the teal, the tern, the sand-grouse, the turtle dove, the
nightingale, the jay, the plover, and the snipe. There is also a large
kite or eagle, called "agab," or "the butcher," by the Arabs, which is
greatly dreaded by fowlers, as it will attack and kill the falcon no
less than other birds.
We have little information as to which of these birds frequented the
country in ancient times. The Assyrian artists are not happy in their
delineation of the feathered tribe; and though several forms of birds
are represented upon the sculptures of Sargon and elsewhere, there are
but three which any writer has ventured to identify--the vulture, the
ostrich, and the partridge. The vulture is commonly represented flying
in the air, in attendance upon the march and the battle--sometimes
devouring, as he flies, the entrails of one of Assyria's enemies.
Occasionally he appears upon the battle-field, perched upon the bodies
of the slain, and pecking at their eyes or their vitals. [PLATE XXVIII.,
Fig. 4.] The ostrich, which we know from Xenophon to have been a former
inhabitant of the country on the left bank of the Euphrates, but which
has now retreated into the wilds of Arabia, occurs frequently upon
cylinders, dresses, and utensils; sometimes stalking along apparently
unconcerned; sometimes hastening at full speed, as if pursued by the
hunter, and, agreeably to the description of Xenophon, using its wing
for a sail. [PLATE XXIX., Figs. 1, 2.] The partridge is still more
common than either of these. He is evidently sought as food. We find him
carried in the hand of sportsmen returning from the chase, or see him
flying above their heads as they beat the coverts, or finally observe
him pierced by a successful shot, and in the act of falling a prey to
his pursuers. [PLATE XXIX., Fig. 3.]
[Illustration: PLATE 29]
The other birds represented upon the sculptures, though occasionally
possessing some marked peculiarities of form or habit, have not yet been
identified with any known species. [PLATE XXIX., Fig. 2.] They are
commonly represented as haunting the fir-woods, and often as perched
upon the trees. One appears, in a sculpture of Sargon's. in the act of
climbing the stein of a tree, like the nut-hatch or the woodpecker.
Another has a tail like a pheasant, but in other respects cannot be said
to resemble that bird. The artist does not appear to aim at truth in
these delineations, and it probably would be a waste of ingenuity to
conjecture which species of bird he intended.
We have no direct evidence that bustards inhabited Mesopotamia in
Assyrian times; but as they have certainly been abundant in that region
front the time of Xenophon to our own, there can be little doubt that
they existed in some parts of Assyria during the Empire. Considering
their size, their peculiar appearance, and the delicacy of their flesh,
it is remarkable that the Assyrian remains furnish no trace of them.
Perhaps, as they are extremely shy, they may have been comparatively
rare in the country when the population was numerous, and when the
greater portion of the tract between the rivers was brought under
cultivation.
The fish most plentiful in Assyria are the same as in Babylonia, namely,
barbel and carp. They abound not only in the Tigris and Euphrates, but
also in the lake of Khutaniyeh, and often grow to a great size. Trout
are found in the streams which run down from Zagros; and there may be
many other sorts which have not yet been observed. The sculptures
represent all the waters, whether river, pond, or marsh, as full of
fish; but the forms are for the most part too conventional to admit of
identification. [PLATE XXIX., Fig. 3.]
The domestic animals now found in Assyria are camels, horses, asses,
mules, sheep, goats, oxen, cows, and dogs. The camels are of three
colors--white, yellow, and dark brown or black. They are probably all
of the same species, though commonly distinguished into camels proper,
and _delouls_ or dromedaries, the latter differing from the others as
the English race-horse from the cart-horse. The Bactrian or
two-humped camel, though known to the ancient Assyrians, is not now
found in the country. [PLATE XXX., Fig. 1.] The horses are numerous, and
of the best Arab blood. Small in stature, but of exquisite symmetry and
wonderful powers of endurance, they are highly prized throughout the
East, and constitute the chief wealth of the wandering tribes who occupy
the greater portion of Mesopotamia. The sheep and goats are also of good
breeds, and produce wool of an excellent quality. [PLATE XXX., Fig. 2.]
The cows and oxen cannot be commended. The dogs kept are chiefly
greyhounds, which are used to course the hare and the gazelle.
[Illustration: PLATE 30]
It is probable that in ancient times the animals domesticated by the
Assyrians were not very different from these. The camel appears upon the
monuments both as a beast of burden and also as ridden in war, but only
by the enemies of the Assyrians. [PLATE XXX., Fig. 3.] The horse is used
both for draught and for riding, but seems never degraded to ignoble
purposes. His breed is good, though he is not so finely or delicately
made as the modern Arab. The head is small and well shaped, the nostrils
large and high, the neck arched, but somewhat thick, the body compact,
the loins strong, the legs moderately slender and sinewy. [PLATE XXX.,
Fig. 4.] [PLATE XXXI., Fig. 1.] The ass is not found; but the mule
appears, sometimes ridden by women, sometimes used as a beast of burden,
sometimes employed in drawing a cart. [PLATE XXXI., Fig. 2] [PLATE
XXXII., Figs. 1, 2.] Cows, oxen, sheep, and goats are frequent; but they
are foreign rather tham Assyrian, since they occur only among the spoil
taken from conquered countries. The dog is frequent on the later
sculptures; and has been found modelled in clay, and also represented in
relief on a clay tablet. [PLATE XXXII., Fig. 3.] [PLATE XXXIII., Fig.
1.] Their character is that of a large mastiff or hound, and there is
abundant evidence that they were employed in hunting.
[Illustration: PLATE 31]
[Illustration: PLATE 32]
If the Assyrians domesticated any bird, it would seem to have been the
duck. Models of the duck are common, and seem generally to have been
used for weights. [PLATE XXXIII., Fig. 2.] The bird is ordinarily
represented with its head turned upon its back, the attitude of the
domestic duck when asleep. The Assyrians seem to have had artificial
ponds or stews, which are always represented as full of fish, but the
forms are conventional, as has been already observed. Considering the
size to which the carp and barbel actually grow at the present day, the
ancient representations are smaller than might have been expected.
[Illustration: PLATE 33]
CHAPTER III.
THE PEOPLE.
"The Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon, fair of branches, and with a
shadowing shroud, and of high stature; and his top was among the thick
boughs. . . . Nor was any tree in the garden of God like unto him in his
beauty."--EZEK. xxxi. 3 and 8.
The ethnic character of the ancient Assyrians, like that of the
Chaldaeans, was in former times a matter of controversy. When nothing
was known of the original language of the people beyond the names of
certain kings, princes, and generals, believed to have belonged to the
race, it was difficult to arrive at any determinate conclusion on the
subject. The ingenuity of etymologists displayed itself in suggesting
derivations for the words in question, which were sometimes absurd,
sometimes plausible, but never more than very doubtful conjectures. No
sound historical critic could be content to base a positive view on any
such unstable foundation, and nothing remained but to decide the
controversy on other than linguistic considerations.
Various grounds existed on which it was felt that a conclusion could be
drawn. The Scriptural genealogies connected Asshur with Aran, Pier, and
Joktan, the allowed progenitors of the Armaeians or Syrians, the
Israelites or Hebrews, and the northern or Joktanian Arabs. The
languages, physical type, and moral characteristics of these races were
well known: they all belonged evidently to a single family the family
known to ethnologists as the Semitic. Again, the manners and customs,
especially the religious customs, of the Assyrians connected then
plainly with the Syrians and Phoenicians, with whose practices they were
closely allied. Further it was observed that the modern Chaldaeans of
Kurdistan, who regard themselves as descendants of the ancient
inhabitants of the neighboring Assyria, still speak a Semitic dialect.
These three distinct and convergent lines of testimony were sufficient
to justify historians in the conclusion, which they commonly drew, that
the ancient Assyrians belonged to the Semitic family, and were more or
less closely connected with the Syrians, the (later) Babylonians, the
Phoenicians, the Israelites, and the Arabs of the northern portion of
the peninsula.
Recent linguistic discoveries have entirely confirmed the conclusion
thus, arrived at. We now possess in the engraved slabs, the clay
tablets, the cylinders, and the bricks, exhumed from the ruins of the
great Assyrian cities, copious documentary evidence of the character of
the Assyrian language, and (so far as language is a proof) of the ethnic
character of the race. It appears to be doubted by none who have
examined the evidence, that the language of these records is Semitic.
However imperfect the acquaintance which our best Oriental
archaeologists have as yet obtained with this ancient and difficult form
of speech, its connection with the Syriac, the later Babylonian, the
Hebrew, and the Arabic does not seem to admit of a doubt.
Another curious confirmation of the ordinary belief is to be found in
the physical characteristics of the people, as revealed to us by the
sculptures. Few persons in any way familiar with these works of art can
have failed to remark the striking resemblance to the Jewish physiognomy
which is presented by the sculptured effigies of the Assyrians. The
forehead straight but not high, the full brow, the eye large and
almond-shaped, the aquiline nose, a little coarse at the end, and unduly
depressed, the strong, firm mouth, with lips somewhat over thick, the
well-formed chin--best seen in the representation of eunuchs--the
abundant hair and ample beard, both colored as black--all these recall
the chief peculiarities of the Jew more especially as he appears in
southern countries. [PLATE XXXIII., Fig. 3.] They are less like the
traits of the Arab, though to them also they bear a considerable
resemblance. Chateaubriand's description of the Bedouin--"_la tete
ovale, le front haut et argue, le nez aquilia, les yeux grandes et coupe
en amandes, le regard humide et singulierement doux_" would serve in
many respects equally well for a description of the physiognomy of the
Assyrians, as they appear upon the monuments. The traits, in fact, are
for the most part common to the Semitic race generally, and not
distinctive of any particular subdivision of it. They are seen now alike
in the Arab, the Jew, and the Chalaedeans of Kurdistan, while anciently
they not only characterized the Assyrians, but probably belonged also to
the Phoenicians, the Syrians, and other minor Semetic races. It is
evident, even from the mannered and conventional sculptures of Egypt,
that the physiognomy was regarded as characteristic of the western
Asiatic races. Three captives on the monuments of Amenophis III.,
represented as belonging to the Patana (people of Bashan?), the Asuru
(Assyrians), and the Karukamishi (people of Carchemish), present to us
the sane style of face, only slightly modified by Egyptian ideas.
[PLATE. XXXIV., Fig. 1.]
[Illustration: PLATE 34]
White in face the Assyrians appear thus to have borne a most close
resemblance to the Jews, in shape and make they are perhaps more nearly
represented by their descendants, the Chaldaeans of Kurdistan. While the
Oriental Jew has a spare form and a weak muscular development, the
Assyrian, like the modern Chaldaean, is robust, broad-shouldered, and
large-limbed. Nowhere have we a race represented to us monumentally of a
stronger or more muscular type than the ancient Assyrian. The great
brawny limbs are too large for beauty; but they indicate a physical
power which we may well believe to have belonged to this nation--the
Romans of Asia--the resolute and sturdy people which succeeded in
imposing its yoke upon all its neighbors. [PLATE XXXIV., Fig, 2.]
If from physical we proceed to mental characteristics, we seem again to
have in the Jewish character the best and closest analogy to the
Assyrian. In the first place, there is observable in each a strong and
marked prominency of the religious principle. Inscriptions of Assyrian
kings begin and end, almost without exception, with praises,
invocations, and prayers to the principal objects of their adoration.
All the monarch's successes, all his conquests and victories, and even
his good fortune in the chase, are ascribed continually to the
protection and favor of guardian deities. Wherever he goes, he takes
care to "set up the emblems of Asshur," or of "the great gods;" and
forces the vanquished to do them homage. The choicest of the spoil is
dedicated as a thank-offering in the temples. The temples themselves are
adorned, repaired, beautified, enlarged, increased in manner, by almost,
every monarch. The kings worship them in person, and offer sacrifices.
They embellish their palaces, not only with representations of their own
victories and hunting expeditions, but also with religious figures--the
emblems of some of the principal deities, and with scenes in which are
portrayed acts of adoration. Their signets, and indeed those of the
Assyrians generally, have a religious character. In every way religion
seems to hold a marked and prominent place in the thoughts of the
people, who fight more for the honor of their gods than even of their
king, and aim at extending their belief as much as their dominion.
Again, combined with this prominency of the religious principle, is a
sensuousness--such as we observe in Judaism continually struggling
against a higher and purer element--but which in this less favored
branch of the Semitic family reigns uncontrolled, and gives to its
religion a gross, material, and even voluptuous character. The ideal and
the spiritual find little favor with this practical people, which, not
content with symbols, must have gods of wood and stone whereto to pray,
and which in its complicated mythological system, its priestly
hierarchy, its gorgeous ceremonial, and finally in its lascivious
ceremonies, is a counterpart to that Egypt, from which the Jew was
privileged to make his escape.
The Assyrians are characterized in Scripture as "a fierce people." Their
victories seem to have been owing to their combining individual bravery
and hardihood with a skill and proficiency in the arts of war not
possessed by their more uncivilized neighbors. This bravery and
hardihood were kept up, partly (like that of the Romans) by their
perpetual wars, partly by the training afforded to their manly qualities
by the pursuit and destruction of wild animals. The lion--the king of
beasts--abounded in their country, together with many other dangerous
and ferocious animals. Unlike the ordinary Asiatic, who trembles before
the great beasts of prey and avoids a collision by flight if possible,
the ancient Assyrian sought out the strongest and fiercest of the
animals, provoked them to the encounter, and engaged with them in
hand-to-hand combats. The spirit of Nimrod, the "mighty hunter before
the Lord," not only animated his own people, but spread on from them to
their northern neighbors; and, as far as we can judge by the monuments,
prevailed even more in Assyria than in Chaldaea itself. The favorite
objects of chase with the Assyrians seem to have been the lion and the
wild bull, both beasts of vast strength and courage, which could not be
attacked without great danger to the bold assailant.
No doubt the courage of the Assyrians was tinged with ferocity. The
nation was "a mighty and strong one, which, as a tempest of hail and a
destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, cast down to
the earth with the hand." Its capital might well deserve to be called "a
bloody city," or "a city of bloods." Few conquering races have been
tender-hearted, or much inclined to spare; and undoubtedly carnage,
ruin, and desolation followed upon the track of an Assyrian army, and
raised feelings of fear and hatred among their adversaries. But we have
no reason to believe that the nation was especially bloodthirsty or
unfeeling. The mutilation of the slain--not by way of insult, but in
proof of their slayer's prowess was indeed practised among them; but
otherwise there is little indication of any barbarous, much less of any
really cruel, usages. The Assyrian listens to the enemy who asks for
quarter; he prefers making prisoners to slaying; he is very terrible in
the battle and the assault, but afterwards he forgives, and spares. Of
course in some cases he makes exceptions. When a town has rebelled and
been subdued, he impales some of the most guilty [PLATE XXXV., Fig. 1];
and in two or three instances prisoners are represented as led before
the king by a rope fastened to a ring which passes through the under
lip, while now and then one appears in the act of being flayed with it
knife [PLATE XXXV., Fig. 2.] But, generally, captives are either
released, or else transferred, without unnecessary suffering, from their
own country to some other portion of the empire. There seems even to be
something of real tenderness in the treatment of captured women, who are
never manacled, and are often allowed to ride on mules, or in carts.
[PLATE XXXVI., Fig. 1.]
[Illustration: PLATE 35]
[Illustration: PLATE 36]
The worst feature in the character of the Assyrians was their treachery.
"Woe to thee that spoilest, though thou wast not spoiled, and dealest
treacherously, though they dealt not treacherously with thee!" is the
denunciation of the evangelical prophet. And in the same spirit the
author of "The Burthen of Nineveh" declares that city to be "full of
lies and robbery"--or, more correctly, full of lying and violence.
Falsehood and treachery are commonly regarded as the vices of the weak,
who are driven to defend themselves against superior strength by the
weapon of cunning; but they are perhaps quite as often employed by the
strong as furnishing short cuts to success, and even where the moral
standard is low, as being in themselves creditable. It certainly was not
necessity which made the Assyrians covenant-breakers; it seems to have
been in part the wantonness of power--because they "despised the cities
and regarded no man;" perhaps it was in part also their imperfect moral
perception, which may have failed to draw the proper distinction between
craft and cleverness.
Another unpleasant feature in the Assyrian character--but one at which
we can feel no surprise--was their pride. This is the quality which
draws forth the sternest denunciations of Scripture, and is expressly
declared to have called down the Divine judgments upon the race. Isaiah,
Ezekiel, and Zephaniah alike dwell upon it. It pervades the
inscriptions. Without being so rampant or offensive as the pride of some
Orientals--as, for instance, the Chinese, it is of a marked and decided
color: the Assyrian feels himself infinitely superior to all the nations
with whom he is brought into contact; he alone enjoys the favor of the
gods; he alone is either truly wise or truly valiant; the armies of his
enemies are driven like chaff before him; he sweeps them away, like
heaps of stubble; either they fear to fight, or they are at once
defeated; he carries his victorious arms just as far as it pleases him,
and never under any circumstances admits that he has suffered a reverse.
The only merit that he allows to foreigners is some skill in the
mechanical and mimetic arts, and his acknowledgment of this is tacit
rather than express, being chiefly known from the recorded fact that he
employs foreign artists to ornament his edifices.
According to the notions which the Greeks derived from Ctesias, and
passed on to the Romans, and through them to the moderns generally, the
greatest defect in the Assyrian character--the besetting sin of their
leading men--was luxuriousness of living and sensuality. From Ninyas to
Sardanapalus--from the commencement to the close of the Empire--a line
of voluptuaries, according to Ctesias and his followers, held possession
of the throne; and the principle was established from the first, that
happiness consisted in freedom from all cares or troubles, and unchecked
indulgence in every species of sensual pleasure. This account,
intrinsically suspicious, is now directly contradicted by the authentic
records which we possess of the warlike character and manly pursuits of
so many of the kings. It probably, however, contains a germ of truth. In
a flourishing kingdom like Assyria, luxury must have gradually advanced;
and when the empire fell under the combined attack of its two most
powerful neighbors, no doubt it had lost much of its pristine vigor. The
monuments lend some support to the view that luxury was among the causes
which produced the fall of Assyria; although it may be questioned
whether, even to the last, the predominant spirit was not warlike and
manly, or even fierce and violent. Among the many denunciations of
Assyria in Scripture, there is only one which can even be thought to
point to luxury as a cause of her downfall; and that is a passage of
very doubtful interpretation. In general it is her violence, her
treachery, and her pride that are denounced. When Nineveh repented in
the time of Jonah, it was by each man "turning from his evil way and
from the violence which was in their hands." When Nahum announces the
final destruction, it is on "the bloody city, full of lies and robbery."
In the emblematic language of prophecy, the _lion_ is taken as the
fittest among animals to symbolize Assyria, even at this late period of
her history. She is still "the lion that did tear in pieces enough for
his whelps, and strangled for his lioness, and filled his holes with
prey, and his dens with ravin." The favorite national emblem, if it may
be so called, is accepted as the true type of the people; and blood,
ravin, and robbery are their characteristics in the mind of the Hebrew
prophet.
In mental power the Assyrians certainly deserve to be considered as
among the foremost of the Asiatic races. They had not perhaps so much
originality as the Chaldaeans, from whom they appear to have derived the
greater part of their civilization; but in many respects it is clear
that they surpassed their instructors, and introduced improvements which
gave a greatly increased value and almost a new character to arts
previously discovered. The genius of the people will best be seen from
the accounts hereafter to be given of their language, their arts, and
their system of government. If it must be allowed that these have all a
certain smack of rudeness and primitive simplicity, still they are
advances upon aught that had previously existed--not only in
Mesopotamia--but in the world. Fully to appreciate the Assyrians, we
should compare them with the much-lauded Egyptians, who in all important
points are very decidedly their inferiors. The spirit and progressive
character of their art offers the strongest contrast to the stiff,
lifeless, and unchanging conventionalism of the dwellers on the Nile.
Their language and alphabet are confessedly in advance of the Egyptian.
Their religion is more earnest and less degraded. In courage and
military genius their superiority is very striking; for the Egyptians
are essentially an unwarlike people. The one point of advantage to which
Egypt may fairly lay claim is the grandeur and durability of her
architecture. The Assyrian palaces, magnificent, as they undoubtedly
were, must yield the palm to the vast structures of Egyptian Thebes. No
nation, not even Rome, has equalled Egypt in the size and solemn
grandeur of its buildings. But, except in this one respect, the great
African kingdom must be regarded as inferior to her Asiatic rival--which
was indeed "a cedar in Lebanon, exalted above all the trees of the
field--fair in greatness and in the length of his branches--so that all
the trees that were in the garden of God envied him, and not one was
like unto him in his beauty."
CHAPTER IV.
THE CAPITAL.
"Fuit et Ninus, imposita Tigri, ad solis occasum spectans, quondam
clarissima."--PLIN. H. N. vi. 13.
The site of the great capital of Assyria had generally been regarded as
fixed with sufficient certainty to the tract immediately opposite Mosul,
alike by local tradition and by the statements of ancient writers, when
the discovery by modern travellers of architectural remains of great
magnificence at some considerable distance from this position, threw a
doubt upon the generally received belief, and made the true situation of
the ancient Nineveh once more a matter of controversy. When the noble
sculptures and vast palaces of Nimrud were first uncovered, it was
natural to suppose that they marked the real site; for it seemed
unlikely that any mere provincial city should have been adorned by a
long series of monarchs with buildings at once on so grand a scale and
so richly ornamented. A passage of Strabo, and another of Ptolemy, were
thought to lend confirmation to this theory, which placed the Assyrian
capital nearly at the junction of the Upper Zab with the Tigris; and for
awhile the old opinion was displaced, and the name of Nineveh was
attached very generally in this country to the ruins at Nimrud.
Shortly afterwards a rival claimant started up in the regions further to
the north. Excavations carried on at the village of Khorsabad showed
that a magnificent palace and a considerable town had existed in
Assyrian times at that site. In spite of the obvious objection that the
Khorsabad ruins lay at the distance of fifteen miles from the Tigris,
which according to every writer of weight anciently washed the walls of
Nineveh, it was assumed by the excavator that the discovery of the
capital had been reserved for himself, and the splendid work
representing the Khorsabad bas-reliefs and inscriptions, which was
published in France under the title of "Monument de Ninive," caused the
reception of M. Botta's theory in many parts of the Continent.
After awhile an attempt was made to reconcile the rival claims by a
theory, the grandeur of which gained it acceptance, despite its
improbability. It was suggested that the various ruins, which had
hitherto disputed the name, were in fact all included within the circuit
of the ancient Nineveh; which was described as a rectangle, or oblong
square, eighteen miles long and twelve broad. The remains of Khorsabad,
Koyunjik, Nimrud, and Keremles marked the four corners of this vast
quadrangle, which contained an area of 216 square miles--about ten times
that of London! In confirmation of this view was urged, first, the
description in Diodorus, derived probably from Ctesias, which
corresponded (it was said) both with the proportions and with the actual
distances; and next, the statements contained in the book of Jonah,
which (it was argued) implied a city of some such dimensions. The
parallel of Babylon, according to the description given by Herodotus,
might fairly have been cited as a further argument; since it might have
seemed reasonable to suppose that there was no great difference of size
between the chief cities of the two kindred empires.
Attractive, however, as this theory is from its grandeur, and harmonious
as it must be allowed to be with the reports of the Greeks, we have
nevertheless to reject it on two grounds, the one historical and the
other topographical. The ruins of Khorsabad, Keremles, Nimrud, and
Koyunjik bear on their bricks distinct local titles; and these titles
are found attaching to distinct cities in the historical inscriptions.
Nimrud, as already observed, is Calah; and Khorsabad is Dur-Sargina, or
"the city of Sargon." Keremles has also its own appellation Dur-* * *,
"the city of the God [--]." Now the Assyrian writers do not consider
these places to be parts of Nineveh, but speak of them as distinct and
separate cities. Calah for a long time is the capital, while Nineveh is
mentioned as a provincial town. Dur-Sargina is built by Sargon, not at
Nineveh, but "near to Nineveh." Scripture, it must be remembered,
similarly distinguishes Calah as a place separate from Nineveh, and so
far from it that there was room for "a great city" between them. And the
geographers, while they give the name of Aturia or Assyria Proper to the
country about the one town, call the region which surrounds the other by
a distinct name, Calachene. Again, when the country is closely examined,
it is found, not only that there are no signs of any continuous town
over the space included within the four sites of Nimrud, Keremles.
Khorsabad, and Koyunjik, nor any remains of walls or ditches connecting
them, but that the four sites themselves are as carefully fortified on
what, by the theory we are examining, would be the inside of the city as
in other directions. It perhaps need scarcely be added, unless to meet
the argument drawn from Diodorus, that the four sites in question are
not so placed as to form the "oblong square" of his description, but
mark the angles of a rhombus very munch slanted from the perpendicular.
The argument derived from the book of Jonah deserves more attention than
that which rests upon the authority of Diodorus and Ctesias. Unlike
Ctesias, Jonah saw Nineveh while it still stood; and though the writer
of the prophetical book may not have been Jonah himself, he probably
lived not very many years later. Thus his evidence is that of a
contemporary, though (it may be) not that of an eye-witness; and, even
apart from the inspiration which guided his pen, he is entitled to be
heard with the utmost respect. Now the statements of this writer, which
have a bearing on the size of Nineveh, are two. He tells us, in one
place, that it was "an exceeding great city, of three days' journey;" in
another, that "in it were more than 120,000 persons who could not
discern between their right hand and their left." These passages are
clearly intended to describe a city of a size unusual at the time; but
both of them are to such an extent vague and indistinct, that it is
impossible to draw front either separately, or even from the two
combined, an exact definite notion. "A city of three days' journey" may
be one which it requires three days to traverse from end to end, or one
which is three days' journey in circumference, or, lastly, one which
cannot be thoroughly visited and explored by a prophet commissioned to
warn the inhabitants of a coming danger in less than three days' time.
Persons not able to distinguish their right hand from their left may (if
taken literally) mean children, and 120,000 such persons may therefore
indicate a total population of 600,000; or, the phrase may perhaps with
greater probability be understood of moral ignorance, and the intention
would in that case be to designate by it all the inhabitants. If Nineveh
was in Jonah's time a city containing a population of 120,000, it would
sufficiently deserve the title of "an exceeding great city;" and the
prophet might well be occupied for three days in traversing its squares
and streets. We shall find hereafter that the ruins opposite Mosul have
an extent more than equal to the accommodation of this number of
persons.
The weight of the argument from the supposed parallel ease of Babylon
must depend on the degree of confidence which can be reposed in the
statement made by Herodotus, and on the opinion which is ultimately
formed with regard to the real size of that capital. It would be
improper to anticipate here the conclusions which may be arrived at
hereafter concerning the real dimensions of "Babylon the Great;" but it
may be observed that grave doubts are entertained in many quarters as to
the ancient statements on the subject, and that the ruins do not cover
much more than one twenty-fifth of the space which Herodotus assigns to
the city.
We may, therefore, without much hesitation, set aside the theory which
would ascribe to the ancient Nineveh dimensions nine or ten times
greater than those of London, and proceed to a description of the group
of ruins believed by the best judges to mark the true site.
The ruins opposite Mosul consist of two principal Mounds, known
respectively as Nebbi-Yunus and Koyunjik. [PLATE XXXVI., Fig. 2.] The
Koyunjik mound, which lies to the north-west of the other, at the
distance of 900 yards, or a little more than half a mile, is very much
the more considerable of the two. Its shape is an irregular oval,
elongated to a point towards the north-east, in the line of its greater
axis. The surface is nearly flat; the sides slope at a steep angle, and
are furrowed with numerous ravines, worn in the soft material by the
rains of some thirty centuries. The greatest height of the mound above
the plum is towards the south-eastern extremity, where it overhangs the
small stream of the Khosr; the elevation in this part being about
ninety-five feet. The area covered by the mound is estimated at a
hundred acres, and the entire mass is said to contain 14,500,000 tons of
earth. The labor of a man would scarcely excavate and place in position
more than 120 tons of earth in a year; it would require, therefore, the
united exertions of 10,000 men for twelve years, or 20,000 men for six
years, to complete the structure. On this artificial eminence were
raised in ancient times the palaces and temples of the Assyrian
monarchs, which are now imbedded in the debris of their own ruins.
[Illustration: PLATE 37]
The mound of Nebbi-Ymus is at its base nearly triangular: [PLATE
XXXVII., Fig. 1.] It covers an area of about forty acres. It is loftier,
and its sides are more precipitous, than Koyunjik, especially on the
west, where it abutted upon the wall of the city. The surface is mostly
flat, but is divided about the middle by a deep ravine, running nearly
from north to south, and separating the mound into an eastern and a
western portion. The so-called tomb of Jonah is conspicuous on the north
edge of the western portion of the mound, and about it are grouped the
cottages of the Kurds and Turcomans to whom the site of the ancient
Nineveh belongs. The eastern portion of the mound forms a burial-ground,
to which the bodies of Mahometans are brought from considerable
distances. The mass of earth is calculated at six and a half millions of
tons; so that its erection would have given full employment to 10,000
men for the space of five years and a half.
These two vast mounds--the platforms on which palaces and temples were
raised--are both in the same line, and abutted, both of them, on the
western wall of the city. Their position in that wall is thought to have
been determined, not by chance, but by design; since they break the
western face of the city into three nearly equal portions. The entire
length of this side of Nineveh was 13,600 feet, or somewhat more than
two and a half miles. Anciently it seems to have immediately overhung
the Tigris, which has now moved off to the west, leaving a plain nearly
a mile in width between its eastern edge and the old rampart of the
city. This rampart followed, apparently, the natural course of the
river-bank; and hence, while on the whole it is tolerably straight, in
the most southern of the three portions it exhibits a gentle curve,
where the river evidently made a sweep, altering its course from
south-east nearly to south.
The western wall at its northern extremity approaches the present course
of the Tigris, and is here joined, exactly at right angles, by the
northern, or rather the north-western, rampart, which runs in a
perfectly straight line to the north-eastern angle of the city, and is
said to measure exactly 7000 feet. This wall is again divided, like the
western, but with even more preciseness, into three equal portions.
Commencing at the north-eastern angle, one-third of it is carried along
comparatively high ground, after which for the remaining two-thirds of
its course it falls by a gentle decline towards the Tigris. Exactly
midway in this slope the rampart is broken by a road, adjoining which is
a remarkable mound, covering one of the chief gates of the city.
At its other extremity the western wall forms a very obtuse angle with
the southern, which impends over a deep ravine formed by it winter
torrent, and runs in a straight line for about 1000 yards, when it meets
the eastern wall, with which it forms a slightly acute angle.
It remains to describe the eastern wall, which is the longest and the
least regular of the four. Tins barrier skirts the edge of a ridge of
conglomerate rock, which here rises somewhat above the level of the
plain, and presents a slightly convex sweep to the north east. At first
it runs nearly parallel to the western, and at right angles to the
northern wall; but, after pursuing this course for about three quarters
of a mile, it is forced by the natural convexity of the ridge to retire
a little, and curving gently inwards it takes a direction much more
southerly than at first, thus drawing continually nearer to the western
wall, whose course is almost exactly south-east. The entire length of
this wall is 16,000 feet, or above three miles. It is divided into two
portions, whereof the southern is somewhat the longer, by the stream of
the Khosr-Su; which coming from the north west, finds its way through
the ruins of the city, and then runs on across the low plain to the
Tigris.
The enceinte of Nineveh forms thus an irregular trapezium, or a
"triangle with its apex abruptly cut off to the south." The breadth,
even in the broadest part--that towards the north--is very
disproportionate to the length, standing to it as four to nine, or as 1
to 2.25. The town is thus of an oblong shape, and so far Diodorus truly
described it; though his dimensions greatly exceed the truth. The
circuit of the walls is somewhat less than eight miles, instead of being
more than fifty and the area which they include is 1100 English acres,
instead of being 112,000!
It is reckoned that in a populous Oriental town we may compute the
inhabitants at nearly, if not quite, a hundred per acre. This allows a
considerable space for streets, open squares, and gardens, since it
assigns but one individual to every space of fifty square yards.
According to such a mode of reckoning, the population of ancient
Nineveh, within the enceinte here described, may be estimated at 175,000
souls. No city of Western Asia is at the present day so populous.
In the above description of the ramparts surrounding Nineveh, no account
has been given of their width or height. According to Diodorus, the wall
wherewith Ninus surrounded his capital was 100 feet high, and so broad
that three chariots might drive side by side along the top. Xenophon,
who passed close to the ruins on his retreat with the Ten Thousand,
calls the height 150 feet, and the width 50 feet. The actual greatest
height at present seems to be 46 feet; but the _debris_ at the foot of the
walls are so great, and the crumbled character of the walls themselves
is so evident, that the chief modern explorer inclines to regard the
computation of Diodorus as probably no exaggeration of the truth. The
width of the walls, in their crumbled condition, is from 100 to 200
feet.
The mode in which the walls were constructed seems to have been the
following. Up to a certain height--fifty feet, according to
Xenophon--they were composed of neatly-hewn blocks of a fossiliferous
limestone, smoothed and polished on the outside. Above this, the
material used was sun-dried brick. The stone masonry was certainly
ornamented along its top by a continuous series of battlements or
gradines in the same material [PLATE XXXVII., Fig. 2] and it is not
unlikely that a similar ornamentation crowned the upper brick structure.
The wall was pierced at irregular intervals by gates, above which rose
lofty towers; while towers, probably of lesser elevation, occurred also
in the portions of the wall intervening between one gate and another. A
gate in the north-western rampart has been cleared by means of
excavation, the form and construction of which will best appear from the
annexed ground-plan. [PLATE XXXVII., Fig. 3.] It seems to have consisted
of three gateways, whereof the inner and outer were ornamented with
colossal human-headed hulls and other figures, while the central one was
merely panelled with slabs of alabaster. Between the gateways were two
large chambers, 70 feet long by 23 feet wide, which were thus capable of
containing a considerable body of soldiers. The chambers and gateways
are supposed to have been arched over, like the castles' gates on the
bas-reliefs. The gates themselves have wholly disappeared: but the
debris which filled both the chambers and the passages contained so much
charcoal that it is thought they must have been made, not of bronze,
like the gates of Babylon, but of wood. The ground within the gate-way
was paved with large slabs of limestone, still bearing the marks of
chariot wheels.
The castellated rampart which thus surrounded and guarded Nineveh did
not constitute by any means its sole defence. Outside the stone basement
wall lay on every side a water barrier, consisting on the west and south
of natural river courses; on the north and east, of artificial channels
into which water was conducted from the Khosr-su. The northern and
eastern walls were skirted along their whole length by a broad and deep
moat, into which the Khosr-su was made to flow by occupying its natural
bed with a strong dam carried across it in the line of the eastern wall,
and at the point where the stream now enters the enclosure. On meeting
this obstruction, of which there are still some remains, the waters
divided, and while part flowed to the south-east, and reached the Tigris
by the ravine immediately to the south of the city, which is a natural
water-course, part turned at an acute angle to the north-west, and,
washing the remainder of the eastern and the whole of the northern wall,
gained the Tigris at the north-west angle of the city, where a second
dam kept it at a sufficient height. Moreover, on the eastern face, which
appears to have been regarded as the weakest, a series of outworks were
erected for the further defence of the city. North of the Khosr, between
the city wall and that river, which there runs parallel to the wall and
forms a sort of second or outermost moat, there are traces of a detached
fort of considerable size, which must have strengthened the defences in
that quarter. South and south-east of the Khosr, the works are still
more elaborate. In the first place, from a point where the Khosr leaves
the hills and debouches upon comparatively low ground, a deep ditch, 200
feet broad, was carried through compact silicious conglomerate for
upwards of two miles, till it joined the ravine which formed the natural
protection of the city upon the south. On either side of this ditch,
which could be readily supplied with water from the Khosr at its
northern extremity, was built a broad and lofty wall; the eastern one,
which forms the outermost of the defences, rises even now a hundred feet
above the bottom of the ditch on which it adjoins. Further, between this
outer barrier and the city moat wall interposed a species of demilune,
guarded by a double wall and a broad ditch and connected (as is
thought) by a covered way with Neneveh itself. Thus the city was
protected on this, its most vulnerable side, towards the centre by five
walls and three broad and deep moats; towards the north, by a wall, a
moat, the Khosr, and a strong outpost; towards the south by two moats
and three lines of rampart. The breadth of the whole fortification on
this side is 2200 feet, or not far from half a mile. [PLATE XXXVIII.]
[Illustration: PLATE 38]
Such was the site, and such were the defences, of the capital of
Assyria. Of its internal arrangements but little can be said at present,
since no general examination of the space within the ramparts has been
as yet made, and no ancient account of the interior has come down to us.
We can only see that the side of the city which was most fashionable was
the western, which immediately overhung the Tigris; since here were the
palaces of the kings, and here seem also to have been the dwellings of
the richer citizens; at least, it is on this side in the space
intervening between Koyunjik and the northern rampart, that the only
very evident remains of edifices--besides the great Mounds of Koyunjik
and Nebbi-Yunus--are found. The river was no doubt the main attraction;
but perhaps the western side was also considered the most secure, as
lying furthest frown the quarter whence alone the inhabitants expected
to be attacked, namely, the east. It is impossible at present to give
any account of the character of the houses or the the direction of the
streets. Perhaps the time may not be far distant when more systematic
and continuous efforts will be made by the enterprise of Europe to
obtain full knowledge of all the remains which still lie buried at this
interesting site. No such discoveries are indeed to be expected as those
which have recently startled the world but patient explorers would still
be sure of an ample reward, were they to glean, after Layard in the
field from which he swept so magnificent a harvest.
CHAPTER V.
LANGUAGE AND WRITING.
Greek phrase [--]--HEROD. iv. 137.
There has never been much difference of opinion among the learned with
regard to the language spoken by the Assyrians. As the Biblical
genealogy connected Asshur with Eber and Aram, while the Greeks plainly
regarded the Syrians, Assyrians, and Babylonians as a single race, it
was always supposed that the people thus associated must have possessed
a tongue allied, more or less closely, to the Hebrew, the Syriac, and
the Chaldee. These tongues were known to be dialectic varieties of a
single form of speech the Semitic; and it was consequently the general
belief, before any Assyrian inscriptions had been disinterred, that the
Assyrian language was of this type, either a sister tongue to the three
above mentioned, or else identical with some one of them. The only
difficulty in the way of this theory was the supposed Medo-Persic or
Arian character of a certain number of Assyrian royal names; but this
difficulty was thought to be sufficiently met by a suggestion that the
ruling tribe might have been of Median descent, and have maintained its
own national appellatives, while the mass of the population belonged to
a different race. Recent discoveries have shown that this last
suggestion was needless, as the difficulty which it was intended to meet
does not exist. The Assyrian names which either _history_ or the
monuments have handed down to us are Semitic, and not Arian. It is only
among the fabulous accounts of the Assyrian Empire put forth by Ctesias
that Arian names, such as Xerxes, Arius, Armamithres, Mithraus, etc.,
are to be found.
Together with the true names of the Assyrian kings, the mounds of
Mesopotamia have yielded up a mass of documents in the Assyrian
language, from which it is possible that we may one day acquire as full
a knowledge of its structure and vocabulary as we possess at present of
Greek or Latin. These documents have confirmed the previous belief that
the tongue is Semitic. They consist, in the first place, of long
inscriptions upon the slabs of stone with which the walls of palaces
were panelled, sometimes occupying the stone to the exclusion of any
sculpture, sometimes carried across the dress of figures, always
carefully cut, and generally in good preservation. Next in importance to
these memorials are the hollow cylinders, or, more strictly speaking,
hexagonal or octagonal prisms, made in extremely fine and thin terra
cotta, which the Assyrian kings used to deposit at the corners of
temples, inscribed with an account of their chief acts and with
numerous religious invocations. [PLATE XXXIX., Fig. 1.] These cylinders
vary from a foot and a half to three feet in height, and are covered
closely with a small writing, which it often requires a good magnifying
glass to decipher. A cylinder of Tiglath-Pileser I. (about B.C. 1180)
contains thirty lines in a space of six inches, or five lines to an
inch, which is nearly as close as the type of the present volume. This
degree of closeness is exceeded on a cylinder of Asshur-bani-pal's
(about B.C. 660), where the lines are six to the inch, or as near
together as the type of the _Edinburgh Review_. If the complexity of the
Assyrian characters be taken into account, and if it be remembered that
the whole inscription was in every ease impressed by the hand, this
minuteness must be allowed to be very surprising. It is not favorable to
legibility; and the patience of cuneiform scholars has been severely
tried by a mode of writing which sacrifices everything to the desire of
crowding the greatest possible quantity of words into the smallest
possible space. In one respect, however, facility of reading is
consulted, for the inscriptions on the cylinders are not carried on in
continuous lines round all the sides, but are written in columns, each
column occupying a side. The lines are thus tolerably short; and the
whole of a sentence is brought before the eye at once.
[Illustration: PLATE 39]
Besides slabs and cylinders, the written memorials of Assyria comprise
inscribed bulls and lions, stone obelisks, clay tablets, bricks, and
engraved seals. Tin seals generally resemble those of the Chaldaeans,
which have been already described: but are somewhat more elaborate, and
more varied in their character. [PLATE XXXIX., Fig. 2.] They do not very
often exhibit any writing; but occasionally they are inscribed with the
name of their owner, while in a few instances they show an inscription
of some length. The clay tablets are both numerous and curious. They are
of various sizes, ranging from nine inches long by six and a half wide,
to an inch and a half long by an inch wide, or even less. [PLATE XL.,
Fig. 2.] Sometimes they are entirely covered with writing; while
sometimes they exhibit on a portion of their surface the impressions of
seals, mythological emblems, and the like. Some thousands of them have
been recovered; and they are found to be of the most varied character.
Many are historical, still more mythological; some are linguistic, some
geographic, some again astronomical. It is anticipated that, when they
are deciphered, we shall obtain a complete eneyclopaedia of Assyrian
science, and shall be able by this means to trace a large portion of the
knowledge of the Greeks to an Oriental source. Here is a mine still very
little worked, from which patient and cautious investigators may one day
extract the most valuable literary treasures. The stone obelisks are but
few, and are mostly in a fragmentary condition. One alone is
perfect--the obelisk in black basalt, discovered by Mr. Layard at
Nimrud, which has now for many years been in the British Museum. [PLATE
XL., Fig. 1.] This monument is sculptured on each of its four sides, in
part with writing and in part with bas-reliefs. It is about seven feet
high, and two feet broad at the base, tapering gently towards the
summit, which is crowned with three low steps, or gradines. The
inscription, which occupies the upper and lower portion of each side,
and is also carried along the spaces between the bas-reliefs, consists
of 210 clearly cut lines, and is one of the most important documents
that has come down to us. It gives an account of various victories
gained by the monarch who set it up, and of the tribute brought him by
several princes. The inscribed lions and bulls are numerous. They
commonly guard the portals of palaces, and are raised in a bold relief
on alabaster slabs. The writing does not often trench upon the
sculpture, but covers all those portions of the slabs which are not
occupied by the animal. It is usually a full account of some particular
campaign, which was thus specially commemorated, giving in detail what
is far more briefly expressed in the obelisk and slab inscriptions.
[Illustration: PLATE 40]
This review of the various kinds of documents which have been discovered
in the ancient cities of Assyria, seems to show that two materials were
principally in use among the people for literary purposes, namely, stone
and moist clay. The monarchs used the former most commonly, though
sometimes they condescended for some special object to the coarser and
more fragile material. Private persons in their business transactions,
literary and scientific men in their compositions, employed the latter,
on which it was possible to write rapidly with a triangular instrument,
and which was no doubt far cheaper than the slabs of fine stone, which
were preferred for the royal inscriptions. The clay documents, when
wanted for instruction or as evidence, were carefully baked; and thus it
is that they have come down to us, despite their fragility, often in as
legible a condition, with the letters as clear and sharp, as any legend
on marble, stone, or metal that we possess belonging to Greek or even to
Roman times. The best clay, skilfully baked, is a material quite as
enduring as either stone or metal, resisting many influences better than
either of those materials.
It may still be asked, did not the Assyrians use other materials also?
Did they not write with ink of some kind on paper, or leather, or
parchment? It is certain that the Egyptians had invented a kind of thick
paper many centuries before the Assyrian power arose; and it is further
certain that the later Assyrian kings had a good deal of intercourse
with Egypt. Under such circumstances, can we suppose that they did not
import paper from that country? Again, the Persians, we are told, used
parchment for their public records. Are not the Assyrians a much more
ingenious people, likely to have done the same, at any rate to some
extent? There is no direct evidence by which these questions can be
determinately answered. No document on any of the materials suggested
has been found. No ancient author states that the Assyrians or the
Babylonians used them. Had it not been for one piece of indirect
evidence, it would have seemed nearly certain that they were not
employed by the Mesopotamian races. In some of the royal palaces,
however, small humps of fine clay have been found, bearing the
impressions of seals, and exhibiting traces of the string by which they
were attached to documents, while the documents themselves, being of a
different material, have perished. It seems probable that in these
instances some substance like paper or parchment was used; and thus we
are led to the conclusion that, while clay was the most common, and
stone an ordinary writing material among the Assyrians, some third
substance, probably Egyptian paper, was also known, and was used
occasionally, though somewhat rarely, for public documents.
[Illustration: Partial PAGE 171]
The number of characters is very great. Sir H. Rawlinson, in the year
1851, published a list of 216, or, including variants, 366 characters,
as occurring in the inscriptions known to him. M. Oppei t, in 1858, gave
318 forms as those "most in use." Of course it is at once evident that
this alphabet cannot represent elementary sounds. The Assyrian
characters do, in fact, correspond, not to letters, according to our
notion of letters, but to syllables. These syllables are either mere
vowel sounds, such as we represent by our vowels and diphthongs, or such
sounds accompanied by one or two consonants.
The vowels are not very numerous. The Assyrians recognize three only as
fundamental--_a, i_, and _u_. Besides these they have the diphthongs
_ai_, nearly equivalent to _e_, and _au_, nearly equivalent to _o_. The
vowels _i_ and _u_ have also the powers, respectively, of _y_ and _v_.
[Illustration: Partial PAGE 172]
From these sounds, combined with the simple vowels, comes the Assyrian
syllabarium, to which, and not to the consonants themselves, the
characters were assigned. In the first place, each consonant being
capable of two combinations with each simple vowel, could give birth
naturally to six simple syllables, each of which would be in the
Assyrian system represented by a character. Six characters, for
instance, entirely different from one another, represented _pa, pi, pu,
ap, ip, up_; six others, _ka, ki, ke, ak, ik, uk_; six others again,
_ta, ti, tu, at, it, ut_.
If this rule were carried out in every case, the sixteen consonant
sounds would, it is evident, produce ninety-six characters. The actual
number, however, formed in this way, is only seventy-five. Since these
are seven of the consonants which only combine with the vowels in one
way. Thus we have _ba, bi, bu_, but not _ab, ib, ub; ga, qi, gu_, but
not _ay, iq,ug_; and so on. The sounds regarded as capable of only one
combination are the _mediae, b, q, d_; the aspirates _kh, tj_; and the
sibilants _ts and z_.
Such is the first and simplest syllabarium: but the Assyrian system does
not stop here. It proceeds to combine with each simple vowel sound two
consonants, one preceding the vowel and the other following it. If this
plan were followed out to the utmost possible extent, the result would
be an addition to the syllabarium of seven hundred and sixty-eight
sounds, each having its proper character, which would raise the number
of characters to between eight and nine hundred! Fortunately for the
student, phonetic laws and other causes have intervened to check this
extreme luxuriance; and the combinations of this kind which are known to
exist, instead of amounting to the full limit of seven hundred and
sixty-eight, are under one hundred and fifty. The known Assyrian
alphabet is, however, in this way raised from eighty, or, including
variants, one hundred, to between two hundred and forty and two hundred
and fifty characters.
[Illustration: Partial PAGE 173]
Finally, there are a certain number of characters which have been called
"ideographs," or "monograms." Most of the gods, and various cities and
countries, are represented by a group of wedges, which is thought not to
have a real phonetic force, but to be a conventional sign for an idea,
much as the Arabic numerals, 1, 2, 3. etc., are non-phonetic signs
representing the ideas, one, two, three, etc. The known characters of
this description are between twenty and thirty.
The known Assyrian characters are thus brought up nearly to three
hundred! There still remain a considerable number which are either
wholly unknown, or of which the meaning is known, while the phonetic
value cannot at present be determined. M. Oppert's Catalogue contains
fourteen of the former and fifty-nine of the latter class.
It has already been observed that the monumental evidence accords with
the traditional belief in regard to the character of the Assyrian
language, which is unmistakably Semitic. Not only does the vocabulary
present constant analogies to other Semitic dialects, but the phonetic
laws and the grammatical forms are equally of this type. At the same
time the language has peculiarities of its own, which separate it from
its kindred tongues, and constitute it a distinct form of Semitic
speech, not a mere variety of any known form. It is neither Hebrew, nor
Arabic, nor Phoenician, nor Chaldee, nor Syriac, but a sister tongue to
these, having some analogies with all of them, and others, more or
fewer, with each. On the whole, its closest relationship seems to be
with the Hebrew, and its greatest divergence from the Aramaic or Syriac,
with which it was yet, locally, in immediate connection.
To attempt anything like a full illustration of these statements in the
present place would be manifestly unfitting. It would be to quit the
province of the historian and archeologist, in order to enter upon that
of the comparative philologer or the grammarian. At the same time a
certain amount of illustration seems necessary, in order to show that
the statements above made are not mere theories, but have a substantial
basis.
The Semitic character of the vocabulary will probably be felt to be
sufficiently established by the following lists:
[Illustration: Partial PAGE 174]
[Illustration: PAGE 175]
[Illustration: PAGE 176]
[Illustration: PAGE 177]
[Illustration: Partial PAGE 178]
CHAPTER VI.
ARCHITECTURE AND OTHER ARTS.
"Architecti multarum artium solertes."--Mos. CHOR. (De Assyriis) i. 15.
The luxury and magnificence of the Assyrians, and the advanced condition
of the arts among them which such words imply, were matters familiar to
the Greeks and Romans, who, however, had little ocular evidence of the
fact, but accepted it upon the strength of a very clear and uniform
tradition. More fortunate than the nations of classical antiquity, whose
comparative proximity to the time proved no advantage to them, we
possess in the exhumed remains of this interesting people a mass of
evidence upon the point, which, although in many respects sadly
incomplete, still enables us to form a judgment for ourselves upon the
subject, and to believe--on better grounds than they possessed--the
artistic genius and multiform ingenuity of the Assyrians. As architects,
as designers, as sculptors, as metallurgists, as engravers, as
upholsterers, as workers in ivory, as glass-blowers, as embroiderers of
dresses, it is evident that they equalled, if they did not exceed, all
other Oriental nations. It is the object of the present chapter to give
some account of their skill in these various respects. Something is now
known of them all; and though in every case there are points still
involved in obscurity, and recourse must therefore be had upon occasion
to conjecture, enough appears certainly made out to justify such an
attempt as the present, and to supply a solid groundwork of fact
valuable in itself, even if it be insufficient to sustain in addition
any large amount of hypothetical superstructure.
The architecture of the Assyrians will naturally engage our attention at
the outset. It is from an examination of their edifices that we have
derived almost all the knowledge which we possess of their progress in
every art; and it is further as architects that they always enjoyed a
special repute among their neighbors. Hebrew and Armenian united with
Greek tradition in representing the Assyrians as notable builders at a
very early time. When Asshur "went forth out of the land of Shinar," it
was to build cities, one of which is expressly called "a great city."
When the Armenians had to give an account of the palaces and other vast
structures in their country, they ascribed their erection to the
Assyrians. Similarly. when the Greeks sought to trace the civilization
of Asia to its source, they carried it back to Ninus and Semiramis, whom
they made the founders, respectively, of Nineveh and Babylon, the two
chief cities of the early world.
Among the architectural works of the Assyrians, the first place is
challenged by their palaces. Less religious, or more servile, than the
Egyptians and the Greeks, they make their temples insignificant in
comparison with the dwellings of their kings, to which indeed the temple
is most commonly a sort of appendage. In the palace their art
culminates--there every effort is made, every ornament lavished. If the
architecture of the Assyrian palaces be fully considered, very little
need be said on the subject of their other buildings.
The Assyrian palace stood uniformly on an artificial platform. Commonly
this platform was composed of sun-dried-bricks in regular layers; but
occasionally the material used was merely earth or rubbish, excepting
towards the exposed parts--the sides and the surface which were always
either of brick or of stone. In most cases the sides were protected by
massive stone masonry, carried perpendicularly from the natural ground
to a height somewhat exceeding that of the plat-form, and either made
plain at the top or else crowned with stone battlements cut into
gradines. The pavement consisted in part of stone slabs, part of
kiln-dried bricks of a large size, often as much as two feet square. The
stone slabs were sometimes inscribed, sometimes ornamented with an
elegant pattern. (See [PLATE XLI., Fig. 2.]) Occasionally the terrace
was divided into portions at different elevations, which were connected
by staircases or inclined planes. The terrace communicated in the same
way with the level ground at its base, being (as is probable) sometimes
ascended in a single place, sometimes in several. These ascents were
always on the side where the palace adjoined upon the neighboring town,
and were thus protected from hostile attack by the town walls. [PLATE
XLI., Fig. 1] Where the palace abutted upon the walls or projected
beyond them--and the palace was always placed at the edge of a town, for
the double advantage, probably, of a clear view and of fresh air--the
platform rose perpendicularly or nearly so; and generally a water
protection, a river, a moat, or a broad lake, lay at its base, thus
rendering attack, except on the city side, almost impossible.
[Illustration: PLATE 41]
The platform appears to have been, in general shape, a rectangle, or
where it had different elevations, to have been composed of a
rectangles. The mound of Khorsabad, which is of this latter character,
resembles a gigantic T. [PLATE XLII., Fig. 1.]
[Illustration: PLATE 42]
It must not be supposed, however, that the rectangle was always exact.
Sometimes its outline was broken by angular projections and
indentations, as in the plan [PLATE XLII., Fig. 21.] where the shaded
parts represent actual discoveries. Sometimes it grew to be irregular,
by the addition of fresh portions, as new kings arose who determined on
fresh erections. This is the ease at Nimrud, where the platform broadens
towards its lower or southern end, and still more at Koyunjik and Nebbi
Yunus, where the rectangular idea has been so overlaid as to have almost
wholly disappeared. Palaces were commonly placed near one edge of the
mound--more especially near the river edge probably for the better
enjoyment of the prospect, and of the cool air over the water.
The palace itself was composed of three main elements, courts, grand
halls, and small private apartments. A palace has usually from two to
four courts, which are either square or oblong, and vary in size
according to the general scale of the building. In the north-west palace
at Nimrud, the most ancient of the edifices yet explored, one court only
has been found, the dimensions of which are 120 feet by 90. At
Khorsabad, the palace of Sargon has four courts. [PLATE XLII., Fig. 2.]
Three of them are nearly square, the largest of these measuring 180 feet
each Way, and the smallest about 120 feet; the fourth is oblong, and
must have been at least 250 feet long and 150 feet wide. The palace of
Sennacherib at Koyunjik, a much larger edifice than the palace of
Sargon, has also three courts, which are respectively 93 feet by 84, 124
feet by 90, and 154 feet by 125. Esarhaddon's palace at Nimrud has a
court 220 feet long and 100 wide. These courts were all paved either
with baked bricks of large size, or with stone slabs, which were
frequently patterned. Sometimes the courts were surrounded with
buildings; sometimes they abutted upon the edge of the platform: in this
latter case they were protected by a stone parapet, which (at least in
places) was six feet high.
The grand halls of the Assyrian palaces constitute their most remarkable
feature. Each palace has commonly several. They are apartments narrow
for their length, measuring from three to five times their own width,
and thus having always somewhat the appearance of galleries. The scale
upon which they are built is, commonly, magnificent. In the palace of
Asshur-izir-pal at Nimrud, the earliest of the discovered edifices, the
great hall was 160 feet long by nearly 40 broad. In Sargon's palace at
Khorsabad the size of no single room was so great; but the number of
halls was remarkable, there being no fewer than five of nearly equal
dimensions. The largest was 116 feet long, and 33 wide; the smallest 87
feet long, and 25 wide. The palace of Sennacherib at Koyuhjik contained
the most spacious apartment yet exhumed. It was immediately inside the
great portal, and extended in length 180 feet, with a uniform width of
forty feet. In one instance only, so far as appears, was an attempt made
to exceed this width. In the palace of Esarhaddon, the son of
Sennacherib, a hall was designed intended to surpass all former ones.
[PLATE XLIII., Fig. 2.] Its length was to be 165 feet, and its width 62;
consequently it would have been nearly one-third larger than the great
hall of Sennacherib, its area exceeding 10,000 square feet. But the
builder who had designed this grand structure appears to have been
unable to overcome the difficulty of carrying a roof over so vast an
expanse. He was therefore obliged to divide his hall by a wall down the
middle; which, though he broke it in an unusual way into portions, and
kept it at some distance from both ends of the apartment, still had the
actual effect of subdividing his grand room into four apartments of only
moderate size. The halls were paved with sun-burnt brick. They were
ornamented throughout by the elaborate sculptures, now so familiar to
us, carried generally in a single, but sometimes in a double line, round
the four walls of the apartment. The sculptured slabs rested on the
ground, and clothed the walls to the height of 10 or 12 feet. Above, for
a space which we cannot positively fix, but which was certainly not less
than four or five feet, the crude brick wall was continued, faced here
with burnt brick enamelled on the side towards the apartment, pleasingly
and sometimes even brilliantly colored. 10 The whole height of the walls
was probably from 15 to 20 feet.
[Illustration: PLATE 43]
By the side of the halls, or at their ends, and opening into them, or
sometimes collected together into groups, with no hall near, are the
smaller chambers of which mention has been already made. These chambers
are in every case rectangular: in their proportions they vary from
squares to narrow oblongs. 90 feet by 17, 85 by 16, 80 by 15, and the
like. When they are square, the side is never more than about 25 feet.
They are often as richly decorated as the halls, but sometimes are
merely faced with plain slabs or plastered; while occasionally they have
no facing at all, but exhibit throughout the crude brick. This, however,
is unusual.
The number of chambers in a palace is very large. In Sennacherib's
palace at Koyunjik, where great part of the building remains still
unexplored, the excavated chambers amount to sixty-eight--all, be it
remembered, upon the ground floor. The space covered by them and by
their walls exceeds 40,000 square yards. As Mr. Fergusson observes, "the
imperial palace of Sennacherib is, of all the buildings of antiquity,
surpassed in magnitude only by the great palace-temple of Karnak; and
when we consider the vastness of the mound on which it was raised, and
the richness of the ornaments with which it was adorned, it is by no
means clear that it was not as great, or at least as expensive, a work
as the great palace-temple at Thebes." Elsewhere the excavated
apartments are less numerous; but in no case is it probable that a
palace contained on its ground floor fewer than forty or fifty chambers.
The most striking peculiarity which the ground-plans of the palaces
disclose is the uniform adoption throughout of straight and parallel
lines. No plan exhibits a curve of any kind, or any angle but a right
angle. Courts, chambers, and halls are, in most cases, exact rectangles;
and even where any variety occurs, it is only by the introduction of
squared recesses or projections, which are moreover shallow and
infrequent. When a palace has its own special platform, the lines of the
building are further exactly parallel with those of the mound on which
it is placed; and the parallelism extends to any other detached
buildings that there may be anywhere upon the platform. When a mound is
occupied by more palaces than one, sometimes this law still obtains, as
at Nimrud, where it seems to embrace at any rate the greater number of
the palaces; sometimes, as at Koyunjik, the rule ceases to be observed,
and the ground-plan of each palace seems formed separately and
independently, with no reference to any neighboring edifice.
Apart from this feature, the buildings do not affect much regularity. In
courts and facades, to a certain extent, there is correspondence; but in
the internal arrangements, regularity is decidedly the exception. The
two sides of an edifice never correspond; room never answers to room;
doorways are rarely in the middle of walls; where a rooms has several
doorways, they are seldom opposite to one another, or in situations at
all corresponding.
There is a great awkwardness in the communications. Very few corridors
or passages exist in any of the buildings. Groups of rooms, often
amounting to ten or twelve, open into one another; and we find
comparatively few rooms to which there is any access except through some
other room. Again, whole sets of apartments are sometimes found, between
which and the rest of the palace all communication is cut off by thick
walls. Another peculiarity in the internal arrangements is the number of
doorways in the larger apartments, and their apparently needless
multiplication. We constantly find two or even three doorways leading
from a court into a hall, or from one hall into a second. It is
difficult to see what could be gained by such an arrangement.
The disposition of the various parts of a palace will probably be better
apprehended from an exact account of a single building than from any
further general statements. For this purpose it is necessary to select a
specimen from among the various edifices that have been disentombed by
the labors of recent excavators. The specimen should be, if possible,
complete; it should have been accurately surveyed, and the survey should
have been scientifically recorded; it should further stand single and
separate, that there may be no danger of confusion between its remains
and those of adjacent edifices. These requirements, though nowhere
exactly met, are very nearly met by the building at Khorsabad, which
stands on a mound of its own, unmixed with other edifices, has been most
carefully examined, and most excellently represented and described, and
which, though not completely excavated, has been excavated with a nearer
approach to completeness than any other edifice in Assyria. The
Khorsabad building--which is believed to be a palace built by Sargon,
the son of Sennacherib--will therefore be selected for minute
description in this place, as the palace most favorably circumstanced,
and the one of which we have, on the whole, the most complete and exact
knowledge. [PLATE XLIV.]
[Illustration: PLATE 44]
The situation of the town, whereof the palace of Sargon formed a part,
has been already described in a former part of this volume. The shape,
it has been noted, was square, the angles facing the four cardinal
points. Almost exactly in the centre of the north-west wall occurs the
palace platform, a huge mass of crude brick, from 20 to 30 feet high,
shaped like a T, the upper limb lying within the city walls, and the
lower limb (which is at a higher elevation) projecting beyond the line
of the walls to a distance of at least 500 feet. At present there is a
considerable space between the ends of the wall and the palace mound;
but anciently it is provable that they either abutted on the mound, or
were separated from it merely by gateways. The mound, or at any rate the
part of it which projected beyond the walls, was faced with hewn stone,
carried perpendicularly from the plain to the top of the platform, and
even beyond, so as to form a parapet protecting the edge of the
platform. On the more elevated portion of the mound--that which
projected beyond the walls stood the palace, consisting of three groups
of buildings, the principal group lying towards the mound's northern
angle. On the lower portion of the platform were several detached
buildings, the most remarkable being a huge gateway or propylaeum,
through which the entrance lay to the palace from the city. Beyond and
below this, on the level of the city, the first or outer portals were
placed, giving entrance to a court in front of the lower terrace.
A visitor approaching the palace had in the first place to pass through
these portals. They were ornamented with colossal human-headed bulls on
either side, and probably spanned by an arch above, the archivolte being
covered with enamelled bricks disposed in a pattern. Received within the
portals, the visitor found himself in front of a long wall of solid
stone masonry, the revetement of the lower terrace, which rose from the
outer court to a height of at least twenty feet. Either an inclined-way
or a flight of steps--probably the latter--must have led up from the
outer court to this terrace. Here the visitor found another portal or
propylaeum of a magnificent character. [PLATE XLIII., Fig. 1.] Midway in
the south-east side of the lower terrace, and about fifty feet from its
edge, stood this grand structure, gateway ninety-feet in width, and at
least twenty-five in depth, having on each side three winged bulls of
gigantic size, two of them fifteen feet high, and the third nineteen
feet. Between the two small bulls, which styled back to back, presenting
their sides to the spectator, was a colossal figure, strangling a
lion--the Assyria Hercules, according to most writers. The larger bulls
stood at right angles to these figures, withdrawn within the portal, and
facing the spectator. The space between the bulls, which is nearly
twenty feet, was (it is probable) arched over. Perhaps the archway led
into a chamber beyond which was a second archway and an inner portal, as
marked in Mr. Fergusson's plan: but this is at present uncertain.
Besides the great portal, the only buildings as yet discovered on this
lower platform, are a suite of not very extensive apartments. They are
remarkable for their ornamentation. The walls are neither lined with
slabs, nor yet (as is sometimes the case) painted, but the plaster of
which they are composed is formed into sets of half pillars or reeding,
separated from one another by pilasters with square sunk panels. The
former kind of ornamentation is found also in Lower Chaldaea, and has
been already represented; the latter is peculiar to this building. It is
suggested that these apartments formed the quarters of the soldiers who
kept watch over the royal residence.
About 300 feet from the outer edge of the lower terrace, the upper
terrace seems to have commenced. It was raised probably about ten feet
above the lower one. The mode of access has not been discovered, but is
presumed to have been by a flight of steps, not directly opposite the
propylaeum, but somewhat to the right, whereby entrance was given to the
great court, into which opened the main gateways of the palace itself.
The court was probably 250 feet long by 160 or 170 feet wide. The
visitor, on mounting the steps, perhaps passed through another
propylaeum (_b_ in the plan); after which, if his business was with the
monarch, he crossed the full length of the court, leaving a magnificent
triple entrance, which is thought to have led to the king's _hareem_, on
his left and making his way to the public gate of the palace, which
fronted him when he mounted the steps. The _hareem_ portal, which he
passed, resembled in the main the great propylaeum of the lower
platform; but, being triple, it was still more magnificent exhibiting
two other entrances on either side of the main one, guarded each by a
single pair of winged bulls of the smaller size. Along the _hareem_
wall, from the gateway to the angle of the court, was a row of
sculptured bas-reliefs, ten feet in height, representing the monarch
with his attendant guards and officers. [PLATE XLIII., Fig. 3.] The
facade occupying the end of the court was of inferior grandeur. [PLATE
XLV., Fig.1. ] Sculptures similar to those along the _hareem_ wall
adorned it; but its centre showed only a single gateway, guarded by one
pair of the larger bulls, fronting the spectator, and standing each in a
sort of recess, the character of which will be best understood by the
ground-plan in the illustration. Just inside the bulls was the great
door of the palace, a single door made of wood-apparently of
mulberry,--opening inwards, and fastened on the inside by a bolt at
bottom, and also by an enormous lock. This door gave entrance into a
passage, 70 feet long and about 10 feet wide, paved with large slabs of
stone, and adorned on either side with inscriptions, and with a double
row of sculptures, representing the arrival of tribute and gifts for the
monarch. All the figures here faced one way, towards the inner palace
court into which the passage led. M. Botta believes that the passage was
uncovered; while Mx. Fergusson imagines that it was vaulted throughout.
It must in any case have been lighted from above; for it would have been
impossible to read the inscriptions, or even to see the sculptures,
merely by the light admitted at the two ends.
[Illustration: PLATE 45]
From the passage in question--one of the few in the edifice--no doorway
opened out either on the right hand or on the left. The visitor
necessarily proceeded along its whole extent, as he saw the figures
proceeding in sculptures, and, passing through a second portal, found
himself in the great inner court of the palace, a square of about 100 or
160 feet, enclosed on two sides--the south-east and the south-west-by
buildings, on the other two sides reaching to the edge of the terrace,
which here gave upon, the open country. The buildings on the
south-eastside, looking towards the north-west, and and joining the
gateway by which the had entered, were of comparatively minor
importance. They consisted of a few chambers suitable for officers of
the court, and were approached from the court by two doorways, one on
either side of the passage through which he had come. To his left,
looking towards the north-east, were the great state apartments, the
principal part of the palace, forming a facade, of which some idea may
perhaps be formed from the representation. [PLATE XLVI.] The upper part
of this representation is indeed purely conjectural; and when we come to
consider the mode in which the Assyrian palaces were roofed and lighted,
we shall perhaps find reason to regard it as not very near the truth;
but the lower part, up to the top of the sculptures, the court itself,
and the various accessories, are correctly given, and furnish the only
_perspective_ view of this part of the palace which has been as yet
published.
[Illustration: PLATE 46]
The great state apartments consisted of a suite of ten rooms. Five of
these were halls of large dimensions; one was a long and somewhat narrow
chamber, and the remaining four were square or slightly oblong
apartments of minor consequence. All of them were lined throughout with
sculpture. The most important seem to have been three halls _en-suite_
(VIII., V., and II. in the plan), which are, both in their external and
internal decorations, by far the most splendid of the whole palace. The
first lay just within the north-east facade, and ran parallel to it. It
was entered by three doorways, the central one ornamented externally.
with two colossal bulls of the largest size, one on either side within
the entrance, and with two pairs of smaller bulls, back to back, on the
projecting pylons; the side ones guarded by winged genii, human or
hawk-headed. The length of the chamber was 116 feet 6 inches, and its
breadth 33 feet. Its sculptures represented the monarch receiving
prisoners, and either personally or by deputy punishing them: [PLATE
XLV., Fig. 3.] We may call it, for distinction's sake, "the Hall of
Punishment."
The second hall (V. in the plan) ran parallel with the first, but did
not extend along its whole length. It measured from end to end about 86
feet, and from side to side 21 feet 6 inches. Two doorways led into it
from the first chamber, and two others led from it into two large
apartments. One communicated with a lateral hall (marked VI. in the
plan), the other with the third hall of the suite which is here the
special object of our attention. This third hall (II. in the plan) was
of the same length as the first, but was less wide by about three feet.
It opened by three doorways upon a square, court, which has been called
"the Temple Court," from a building on one side of it which will be
described presently.
The sculptures of the second and third halls represented in a double
row, separated by an inscribed space about two feet in width, chiefly
the wars of the monarch, his battles, sieges, reception of captives and
of spoil, etc. The monarch himself appeared at least four times standing
in his chariot, thrice in calm procession, and once shooting his arrows
against his enemies. [PLATE XLV., Fig. 2.] Besides these, the upper
sculptures on one side exhibited sacred ceremonies.
Placed at right angles to this primary suite of three halls were two
others, one (IV. in the plan) of dimensions little, if at all, inferior
to those of the largest (No. VIII), the other (VI. in the plan) nearly
of the same length, but as narrow as the narrowest of the three (No.
V.). Of these two lateral halls the former communicated directly with
No. VIII., and also by a narrow passage room (III. in the plan with No.
II.) The other had direct communication both with No. II and No. V., but
none with No. VIII. With this hall (No. VI. ) three smaller chambers
were connected (Nos. IX., XI., and XI.); with the other lateral hall,
two only (Nos. III. and VII. ). One chamber attached to this block of
buildings (I. in the plan) opened only on the Temple Court. It has been
suggested that it contained a staircase; but of this there is no
evidence.
The Temple Court--a square of 150 feet--was occupied by buildings on
three sides, and open on one only--that to the north-west. The state
apartments closed it in on the north-east, the temple on the south-west:
on the south-east it was bounded by the range of buildings called
"Priests' Rooms" in the plan, chambers of less pretension than almost
any that have been excavated. The principal facade here was that of the
state apartments, on the north-east. On this, as on the opposite side of
the palace, were three portals; but the two fronts were not of equal
magnificence. On the side of the Temple Court a single pair of bulls,
facing the spectator, guarded the middle portals; the side portals
exhibited only figures of genii, while the spaces between the portals
were occupied, not with bulls, but merely with a series of human
figures, resembling those in the first or outer court, of which a
representation has been already given. Two peculiarities marked the
south-east facade. In the first place, it lay in a perfectly straight
line, unbroken by any projection, which is very unusual in Assyrian
architecture. In the second place, as if to compensate for this monotony
in its facial line, it was pierced by no fewer than five doorways, all
of considerable width, and two of them garnished with bulls, of namely,
the second and the fourth. The bulls of the second gateway were of the
larger, those of the fourth were of the smaller size; they stood in the
usual manner, a little withdrawn within the gateways and looking towards
the spectator.
Of the curious building which closed in the court on the third or
south-west side, which is believed to have been a temple, the remains
are unfortunately very slight. It stood so near the edge of the terrace
that the greater part of it has fallen into the plain. Less than half of
the ground-plan is left, and only a few feet of the elevation. The
building may originally have been a square, or it may have been an
oblong, as represented in the plan. It was approached from the court by
a a flight of stone stops, probably six in number, of which four remain
in place. This flight of steps was placed directly opposite to the
central door of the south-west palace facade. From the level of the
court, to that of the top of the steps, a height of about six feet, a
solid platform of crude brick was raised as a basis for the temple; and
this was faced, probably throughout its whole extent, with a solid wall
of hard black basalt, ornamented with a cornice in gray limestone, of
which the accompanying figures are representations. [PLATE. XLV., Fig.
4.] above this the external work has disappeared. Internally, two
chambers may be traced, floored with a mixture of stones and chalk; and
round one of these are some fragments of bas-reliefs, representing
sacred subjects, cut on the same black basalt as that by which the
platform is cased, and sufficient to show that the same style of
ornamentation prevailed here as in the palace.
The principal doorway on the north-west side of the Temple Court
communicated by a passage, with another and similar doorway (_d_ on the
plan), which opened into a fourth court, the smallest and least
ornamented of those on the upper platform.
The mass of building whereof this court occupied the centre, is believed
to have constituted the _hareem_ or private apartments of the monarch.
It adjoined the state apartments at its northern angle, but had no
direct communication with them. To enter it from them the visitor had
either to cross the Temple Court and proceed by the passage above
indicated, or else to go round by the great entrance (X in the plan )
and obtain admission by the grand portals on the south-west side of the
outer court. These latter portals, it is to be observed, are so placed
as to command no view into the _Hareem_ Court, though it is opposite to
them. The passages by which they gave entrance into that court must have
formed some such angles as those marked by the dotted lines in the plan,
the result being that visitors, while passing through the outer court,
would be unable to catch any sight of what was going on in the _Hareem_
Court. even if the great doors happened to be open. Those admitted so
far into the palace as the Temple Court were more favored or less
feared. The doorway (_d_) on the south-east side of the _Hareem_ Court
is exactly opposite the chief doorway on the north-west side of the
Temple Court, and there can be no reasonable doubt that a straight
passage connected the two.
It is uncertain whether the _Hareem_ Court was surrounded by buildings
on every side, or open towards the south-west. M. Botta believed that it
was open; and the analogy of the other courts would seem to make this
probable. It is to be regretted, however, that this portion of the great
Khorsabad ruin still remains so incompletely examined. Consisting of the
private apartments, it is naturally less rich in sculptures than other
parts; and hence it has been comparatively neglected. The labor would,
nevertheless, be well employed which should be devoted to this part of
the ruin, as it would give us (what we do not now possess) the complete
ground-plan of an Assyrian palace. It is earnestly to be hoped that
future excavators will direct their efforts to this easily attainable
and interesting object.
The ground-pins of the palaces, and some sixteen feet of their
elevations, are all that fire and time have left us of these remarkable
monuments. The total destruction of the upper portion of every palatial
building in Assyria, combined with the want of any representation of the
royal residences upon the bas-reliefs, reduces us to mere conjecture
with respect to their height, to the mode in which they were roofed and
lighted, and even to the question whether they had or had not an upper
story. On these subjects various views have been put forward by persons
entitled to consideration; and to these it is proposed now to direct the
reader's attention.
In the first place, then, had they an upper story? Mr. Layard and Mr.
Fergusson decide this question in the affirmative. Mr. Layard even goes
so far as to say that the fact is one which "can no longer be doubted."
He rests this conclusion on two grounds first, on a belief that "upper
chambers" are mentioned in the Inscriptions, and, secondly, on the
discovery by himself, in Sennacherib's palace at Koyunjik, of what
seemed to be an inclined way, by which he supposes that the ascent was
made to an upper story. The former of these two arguments must be set
aside as wholly uncertain. The interpretation of the architectural
inscriptions of the Assyrians is a matter of far too much doubt at
present to serve as a groundwork upon which theories can properly be
raised as to the plan of their buildings. With regard to the inclined
passage, it is to be observed that it did not appear to what it led. It
may have conducted to a gallery looking into one of the great halls, or
to an external balcony overhanging an outer court; or it may have been
the ascent to the top of a tower, whence a look-out was kept up and down
the river. Is it not more likely that this ascent should have been made
for some exceptional purpose, than that it should be the only specimen
left of the ordinary mode by which one half of a palace was rendered
accessible? It is to be remembered that no remains of a staircase,
whether of stone or of wood have been found in any of the palaces, and
that there is no other instance in any of them even of an inclined
passage. Those who think the palaces had second stories, believe these
stories to have been reached by staircases of wood, placed in various
parts of the buildings, which were totally destroyed by the
conflagrations in which the palaces perished. But it is at least
remarkable that no signs have been found in any existing walls of rests
for the ends of beams, or of anything implying staircases. Hence M.
Botta, the most careful and the most scientific of recent excavators,
came to a very positive conclusion that the Khorsabad buildings had had
no second story, a conclusion which it would not, perhaps, be very bold
to extend to Assyrian edifices generally.
It has been urged by Mr. Fergusson that there must have been an upper
story, because otherwise all the advantage of the commanding position of
the palaces, perched on their lofty platforms, would have been lost. The
platform at Khorsabad was protected, in the only places where its edge
has been laid bare, by a stone wall or parapet _six feet in height_.
Such a parapet continued along the whole of the platform would
effectually have shut out all prospect of the open country, both from
the platform itself and also from the gateways of the palace, which are
on the same level. Nor could there well be any view at all from the
ground chambers, which had no windows, at any rate within fifteen feet
of the floor. To enjoy a view of anything but the dead wall skirting the
mound, it was necessary (Mr. Fergusson thinks) to mount to a second
story, which he ingeniously places, not over the ground rooms, but on
the top of the outer and party walls, whose structure is so massive that
their area falls (he observes) but little short of the area of the
ground-rooms themselves.
This reasoning is sufficiently answered, in the first place, by
observing that we know not whether the Assyrians appreciated the
advantage of a view, or raised their palace platforms for any such
object. They may have constructed them for security only, or for greater
dignity and greater seclusion. They may have looked chiefly for comfort
and have reared them in order to receive the benefit of every breeze,
and at the same time to be above the elevation to which gnats and
mosquitoes commonly rise. Or there may be a fallacy in concluding, from
the very slight data furnished by the excavations of M. Botta, that a
palace platform was, in any case, skirted along its whole length, by a
six-foot parapet. Nothing is more probable than that in places the
Khorsabad parapet may have been very much lower than this; and elsewhere
it is not even ascertained that any parapet at all edged the platform.
On the whole we seem to have no right to conclude, merely on account of
the small portions of parapet wall uncovered by M. Botta, that an upper
story was a necessity to the palaces. If the Assyrians valued a view,
they may easily have made their parapets low in places: if they cared so
little for it as to shut it out from all their halls and terraces, they
may not improbably have dispensed with the advantage altogether.
The two questions of the roofing and lighting of the Assyrian palaces
are so closely connected together that they will most conveniently be
treated in combination. The first conjecture published on the subject of
roofing was that of M. Flandin. who suggested that the chambers
generally--the great halls at any rate--had been ceiled with a brick
vault. He thought that the complete filling up of the apartments to the
height of fifteen or twenty feet was thus best explained; and he
believed that there were traces of the fallen vaulting in the _debris_
with which the apartments were filled. His conjecture was combated, soon
after he put it forth, by M. Botta, who gave it as his opinion--first,
that the walls of the chambers, notwithstanding their great thickness,
would have been unable, considering their material, to sustain the
weight, and (still more to bear) the lateral thrust, of a vaulted roof;
and, secondly, that such a roof, if it had existed at all, must have
been made of baked brick or stone-crude brick being too weak for the
purpose--and when it fell must have left ample traces of itself within
the apartments, whereas, in none of them, though he searched, could he
find any such traces. On this latter point M. Botta and M. Flandin--both
eye witnesses--were at variance. M. Flandin believed that he had seen
such traces, not only in numerous broken fragments of burnt brick strewn
through all the chambers, but in occasional masses of brick-work
contained in some of them actual portions, as he thought, of the
original vaulting. M. Botta, however, observed--first, that the quantity
of baked brick within the chambers was quite insufficient for a vaulted
roof; and, secondly, that the position of the masses of brickwork
noticed by M. Flandin was always towards the sides, never towards the
centres of the apartments; a clear proof that they had fallen from the
upper part of the walls above the sculptures, and not from a ceiling
covering the whole room. He further observed that the quantity of
charred wood and charcoal within the chambers, and the calcined
appearance of all the slabs, were phenomena incompatible with any other
theory than that of the destruction of the palace by the conflagration
of a roof mainly of wood.
To these arguments of M. Botta may be added another from the
improbability of the Assyrians being sufficiently advanced in
architectural science to be able to construct an arch of the width
necessary to cover some of the chambers. The principle of the arch was,
indeed, as will be hereafter shown, well known to the Assyrians, but
hitherto we possess no proof that they were capable of applying it on a
large scale. The widest arch which has been found in any of the
buildings is that of the Khorsabad town-gate uncovered by M. Place,
which spans a space of (at most) fourteen or fifteen feet. But the great
halls of the Assyrian palaces have a width of twenty-five, thirty, and
even forty feet. It is at any rate uncertain whether the constructive
skill of their architects could have grappled successfully with the
difficulty of throwing a vault over so wide an interval as even the
least of these.
M. Botta, after objecting, certainly with great force, to the theory of
M. Flandin, proceeded to suggest a theory of his own. After carefully
reviewing all the circumstances, he gave it as his opinion that the
Khorsabad building had been roofed throughout with a flat, earth-covered
roofing of wood. He observed that some of the buildings on the
bas-reliefs had flat roofs, that flat roofs are still the fashion of the
country, and that the debris within the chambers were exactly such as a
roof of that kind would be likely, if destroyed by fire, to have
produced. He further noticed that on the floors of the chambers, in
various parts of the palace, there had been discovered stone rollers
closely resembling those still in use at Mosul and Baghdad, for keeping
close-pressed and hard the earthen surface of such roofs; which rollers
had, in all probability, been applied to the same use by the Assyrians,
and, being kept on the roofs, had fallen through during the
conflagration.
The first difficulty which presented itself here was one of those
regarded as most fatal to the vaulting theory, namely, the width of the
chambers. Where flat timber roofs prevail in the East, their span seems
never to exceed twenty-five feet. The ordinary chambers in the Assyrian
palaces might, undoubtedly, therefore, have been roofed in this way, by
a series of horizontal beans laid across them from side to side, with
the ends resting upon the tops of the side walls. But the great halls
seemed too wide to have borne such a roofing without supports.
Accordingly, M. Botts suggested that in the greater apartments a single
or a double row of pillars ran down the middle, reaching to the roof and
sustaining it. His theory was afterwards warmly embraced by Mr.
Fergusson, who endeavored to point out the exact position of the pillars
in the three great halls of Sargon at Khorsabad. It seems, however, a
strong and almost a fatal objection to this theory, that no bases of
pillars have been found within the apartments, nor any marks on the
brick floors of such bases or of the pressure of the pillars. M. Botta
states that he made a careful search for bases, or for marks of pillars,
on the pavement of the north-east hall (No. VIII.) at Khorsabad, but
that he _entirely failed to discover any_. This negative evidence is the
more noticeable as stone pillar-bases have been found in wide doorways,
where they would have been less necessary than in the chambers, as
pillars in doorways could have had but little weight to sustain.
M. Botta and Mr. Fergusson, who both suppose that in an Assyrian palace
the entire edifice was roofed in, and only the courts left open to the
sky, suggest two very different modes by which the buildings may have
been lighted. M. Botta brings light in from the roof by means of wooden
_louvres_, such as are still employed for the purpose in Armenia and
parts of India, whereof he gives the representation which is reproduced.
[PLATE XLVII., Fig. 7.] Mr. Fergusson introduces light from the sides,
by supposing that the roof did not rest directly on the walls, but on
rows of wooden pillars placed along the edge of the walls both
internally towards the apartments and externally towards the outer air.
The only ground for this supposition, which is of a very startling
character, seems to be the occurrence in a single bas-relief,
representing a city in Armenia, of what is regarded as a similar
arrangement. But it must be noted that the lower portion of the
building, represented opposite, bears no resemblance at all to the same
part of an Assyrian palace, since in it perpendicular lines prevail,
whereas, in the Assyrian palaces, the lower hues were almost wholly
horizontal; and that it is not even Certain that the upper portion,
where the pillars occur, is an arrangement for admitting light, since it
may be merely an ornamentation.
The difficulties attaching to every theory of roofing and lighting which
places the whole of an Assyrian palace under covert, has led some to
suggest that the system actually adopted in the larger apartments was
that _hypoethral_ one which is generally believed to have prevailed in
the Greek temples, and which was undoubtedly followed in the ordinary
Roman house. Mr. Layard was the first to post forward the view that the
larger halls, at any rate, were uncovered, a projecting ledge,
sufficiently wide to afford shelter and shade, being carried round the
four sides of the apartment while the centre remained open to the sky.
The objections taken to this view are--first, that far too much heat and
light would thereby have been admitted into the palace; secondly, that
in the rainy season far too much rain would have come in for comfort;
and, thirdly, that the pavement of the halls, being mere sun-dried
brick, would, under such circumstances, have been turned into mud. If
these objections are not removed, they would be, at any rate, greatly
lessened by supposing the roofing to have extended to two-thirds or
three-fourths of the apartment, and the opening to have been
comparatively narrow. We may also suppose that on very bright and on
very rainy days carpets or other awnings were stretched across the
opening, which furnished a tolerable defence against the weather.
On the whole, our choice seems to lie--so far as the great halls are
concerned--between this theory of the mode in which they were roofed and
lighted, and a supposition from which archaeologists have hitherto
shrunk, namely, that they were actually spanned from side to side by
beams. If we remember that the Assyrians did not content themselves with
the woods produced in their own country, but habitually cut timber in
the forests of distant regions, as, for instance, of Amanus, Hermon, and
Lebanon, which they conveyed to Nineveh, we shall perhaps not think it
impassible that they may have been able to accomplish the feat of
roofing in this simple fashion even chambers of thirteen or fourteen
yards in width. Mr. Layard observes that rooms of almost equal width
with the Assyrian halls are to this day covered in with beams laid
horizontally from side to side in many parts of Mesopotamia, although
the only timber used is that furnished by the indigenous palms and
poplars. May not more have been accomplished in this way by the Assyrain
architects, who had at their disposal the lofty firs and cedars of the
above mentioned regions?
If the halls were roofed in this way, they may have been lighted by
_louvres_; or the upper portion of the walls, which is now destroyed,
may have been pierced by windows, which are of frequent occurrence, and
seem generally to be some-what high placed, in the representations of
buildings upon the sculptures. [PLATE XLVII Fig. 3.]
[Illustration: PLATE 47]
It might have been expected that the difficulties with respect to
Assyrian roofing and lighting which have necessitated this long
discussion, would have received illustration, or even solution, from the
forms of buildings which occur so frequently on the bas-reliefs. But
this is not found to be the actual result. The forms are rarely
Assyrian, since they occur commonly in the sculptures which represent
the foreign campaigns of the kings; and they have the appearance of
being to a great extent conventional, being nearly the same, whatever
country is the object of attack. In the few cases where there is ground
for regarding the building as native and not foreign, it is never
palatial, but belongs either to sacred or to domestic architecture. Thus
the monumental representations of Assyrian buildings which have come
down to us, throw little or no light on the construction of their
palaces. As, however, they have an interest of their own, and will serve
to illustrate in some degree the domestic and sacred architecture of the
people, some of the most remarkable of them will be here introduced.
[Illustration: PLATE 48]
The representation No. I. is from a slab at Khorsabad. [PLATE XLVII.,
Fig. 4.] It is placed on the summit of a hill, and is regarded by M.
Botta as an altar. No. II. is from the same slab. [PLATE XLIX., Fig. 1.]
It stands at the foot of the hill crowned by No. I. It has been called a
"fishing pavilion;" but it is most probably a small temple, since it
bears a good deal of resemblance to other representations which are
undoubted temples, as (particularly) to No. V. No. III., which is from
Lord Aberdeen's black stone, is certainly a temple, since it is
accompanied by a priest, a sacred tree, and an ox for sacrifice. [PLATE
XLIX., Fig. 2.] The representation No. IV. is also thought to be a
temple. [PLATE XLIX., Fig. 3.] It is of earlier date than any of the
others, being taken from a slab belonging to the North-west Palace at
Nimrud, and is remarkable in many ways. First, the want of symmetry is
curious, and unusual. Irregular as are the palaces of the Assyrian
kings, there is for the most part no want of regularity in their sacred
buildings. The two specimens here adduced (No. II. and No. III.) are
proof of this; and such remains of actual temples as exist are in
accordance with the sculptures in this particular. The right-hand aisle
in No. IV., having nothing correspondent to it on the other side, is
thus an anomaly in Assyrian architecture. The patterning of the pillars
with chevrons is also remarkable; and their capitals are altogether
unique. No. V. is a temple of a more elaborate character. [PLATE XLIX.,
Fig. 4.] It is from the sculptures of Asshur-banipal, the son of
Esar-haddon, and possesses several features of great interest. The body
of the temple is a columnar structure, exhibiting at either corner a
broad pilaster surmounted by a capital composed of two sets of volutes
placed one over the other. Between the two pilasters are two pillars
resting upon very extraordinary rounded bases, and crowned by capitals
not unlike the Corinthian. We might have supposed the bases mere
figments of the sculptor, but for an independent evidence of the actual
employment by the Assyrians of rounded pillar-bases. Mr. Layard
discovered at Koyunjik a set of "circular pedestals," whereof he gives
the representation which is figured. [PLATE LI., Fig. 1.] They appeared
to form part of a double line of similar objects, extending from the
edge of the platform to an entrance of the palace, and probably (as Mr.
Layard suggests) supported the wooden pillars of a covered way by which
the palace was approached on this side. Above the pillars the temple
(No. V.) exhibits a heavy cornice or entablature projecting
considerably, and finished at the top with a row of gradines. (Compare
No. II.) At one side of this main building is a small chapel or oratory,
also finished with gradines, against the wall of which is a
representation of a king, standing in a species of frame arched at the
top. A road leads straight up to this royal tablet, and in this road
within a little distance of the king stands an altar. The temple
occupies the top of a mound, which is covered with trees of two
different kinds, and watered by rivulets. On the right is a "hanging
garden," artificially elevated to the level of the temple by means of
masonry supported on an arcade, the arch here used being not the round
arch but a pointed one. No. VI. [PLATE L.] is unfortunately very
imperfect, the entire upper portion having been lost. Even, however, in
its present mutilated state it represents by far the most magnificent
building that has yet been found upon the bas-reliefs. The facade, as it
now stands, exhibits four broad pilasters and four pillars, alternating
in pairs, excepting that, as in the smaller temples, pilasters occupy
both corners. In two cases, the base of the pilaster is carved into the
figure of a winged bull, closely resembling the bulls which commonly
guarded the outer gates of palaces. In the other two the base is
plain--a piece of negligence, probably, on the part of the artist. The
four pillars all exhibit a rounded base, nearly though not quite similar
to that of the pillars in No. V.; and this rounded base in every case
rests upon the back of a walking lion. We might perhaps have imagined
that this was a mere fanciful or mythological device of the artist's, on
a par with the representations at Bavian, where figures, supposed to be
Assyrian deities, stand upon the backs of animals resembling dogs. But
one of M. Place's architectural discoveries seems to make it possible,
or even probable, that a real feature in Assyrian building is here
represented M. Place found the arch of the town gateway which he exhumed
at Khorsabad to spring from the backs of the two bulls which guarded it
on either side. Thus the lions at the base of the pillars may be real
architectural forms, as well as the winged bulls which support the
pilasters. The lion was undoubtedly a sacred animal, emblematic of
divine power, and especially assigned to Nergal, the Assyrian Mars, the
god at once of war and of hunting. His introduction on the exteriors of
buildings was common in Asia Minor but no other example occurs of his
being made to support a pillar, excepting in the so-called Byzantine
architecture of Northern Italy.
[Illustration: PLATE 49]
[Illustration: PLATE 50]
[Illustration: PLATE 51]
[Illustration: PLATE 52]
No. VII. _a_ [PLATE LII., Fig. 1] introduces us to another kind of
Assyrian temple, or perhaps it should rather be said to another feature
of Assyrian temples--common to them with Babylonian--the tower or
ziggurat. This appears to have been always built in stages, which
probably varied in number--never, how-ever, so far as appears, exceeding
seven. The sculptured example before us, which is from a bas-relief
found at Koyunjik, distinctly exhibits four stages, of which the
topmost, owing to the destruction of the upper portion of the tablet, is
imperfect. It is not unlikely that in this instance there was above the
fourth a fifth stage, consisting of a shrine like that which at Babylon
crowned the great temple of Belus. The complete elevation would then
have been nearly as in No. VII. _b_. [PLATE XLI., Fig. 3.]
The following features are worth of remark in this temple. The basement
story is panelled with indented rectangular recesses, as was the ease at
Nimrud [PLATE LIII.] and at the Birs the remainder are plain, as are
most of the stages in the Birs temple. Up to the second of these squared
recesses on either side there runs what seems to be a road or path,
which sweeps away down the hill whereon the temple stands in a bold
curve, each path closely matching the other. The whole building is
perfectly symmetrical, except that the panelling is not quite uniform in
width nor arranged quite regularly. On the second stage, exactly in the
middle, there is evidently a doorway, and on either side of it a shallow
buttress or pilaster. In the centre of the third story, exactly over the
doorway of the second, is a squared niche. In front of the temple, but
not exactly opposite its centre, may be seen the _prophylaea,_
consisting of a squared doorway placed under a battlemented wall,
between two towers also battlemented. It is curious that the paths do
not lead to the propylaea, but seen to curve round the hill.
[Illustration: PLATE 53]
Remains of _ziggurats_ similar to this have been discovered at
Khorsabad, at Nimrud, and at Kileh-Sherghat. The conical mound at
Khorsabad explored by M. Place was found to contain a tower in seven
stages; that of Nimrud, which is so striking an object from the plain,
and which was carefully examined by Mr. Layard, presented no positive
proof of more than a single stage; but from its conical shape, and from
the general analogy of such towers, it is believed to have had several
stages. [PLATE LII., Fig. 2.] Mr. Layard makes their number five, and
crowns the fifth with a circular tower terminating in a heavy cornice;
but for this last there is no authority at all, and the actual number of
the stages is wholly uncertain. The base of this ziggurat was a square,
167 feet 6 inches each way, composed of a solid mass of sun-dried brick,
faced at bottom to the height of twenty feet with a wall of hewn stones,
more than eight feet and a half in thickness. The outer stones were
bevelled at the edges, and on the two most conspicuous sides the wall
was ornamented with a series of shallow recesses arranged without very
much attention to regularity. The other two sides, one of which abutted
on and was concealed by the palace mound, while the other faced towards
the city, were perfectly plain. At the top of the stone masonry was a
row of gradines, such as are often represented in the sculptures as
crowning an edifice. Above the stone masonry the tower was continued at
nearly the same width, the casing of stone being simply replaced by one
of burnt brick of inferior thickness. It is supposed that the upper
stages were constructed in the same way. As the actual present height of
the ruin is 140 feet, and the upper stages have so entirely crumbled
away, it can scarcely be supposed that the original height fell much
short of 200 feet.
The most curious of the discoveries made during the examination of this
building, was the existence in its interior of a species of chamber or
gallery, the true object of which still re-mains wholly unexplained.
This gallery was 100 feet long, 12 feet high, and no more than 6 feet
broad. It was arched or vaulted at top, both the side walls and the
vaulting being of sun-dried brick. [PLATE LIV., Fig. 2.] Its position
was exactly half-way between the tower's northern and southern faces,
and with these it ran parallel, its height in the tower being such that
its floor was exactly on a level with the top of the stone masonry,
which again was level with the terrace or platform whereupon the Nimrud
palaces stood. There was no trace of any way by which the gallery was
intended to be entered; its walls showed no signs of inscription,
sculpture, or other ornament; and absolutely nothing was found in it.
Mr. Layard, prepossessed with an opinion derived from several confused
notices in the classical writers, believed the tower to be a sepulchral
monument, and the gallery to be the tomb in which was originally
deposited "the embalmed body of the king." To account for the complete
disappearance, not only of the body, but of all the ornaments and
vessels found commonly in the Mesopotamian tombs, he suggested that the
gallery had been rifled in times long anterior to his visit; and he
thought that he found traces, both internally and externally, of the
tunnel by which it had been entered. But certainly, if this long and
narrow vault was intended to receive a body, it is most extraordinarily
shaped for the purpose. What other sepulchral chamber is there anywhere
of so enormous a, length? Without pretending to say what the real object
of the gallery was, we may feel tolerably sure that it was not a tomb.
The building which contained it was a temple tower, and it is not likely
that the religious feelings of the Assyrians would have allowed the
application of a religious edifice to so utilitarian a purpose.
[Illustration: PLATE 54]
Besides the ziggerat or tower, which may commonly have been surmounted
by a chapel or shrine, an Assyrian temple had always a number of
basement chambers, in one of which was the principal shrine of the god.
[PLATE LIV.,Fig. 1.] This was a square or slightly oblong recess at the
end of an oblong apartment, raised somewhat above its level; it was
paved (sometimes, if not always) with a single slab, the weight of which
must occasionally have been as much as thirty tons. One or two small
closets opened out from the shrine, in which it is likely that the
priests kept the sacerdotal garments and the sacrificial utensils.
Sometimes the cell of the temple or chamber into which the shrine opened
was reached through another apartment, corresponding to the Greek
_pronaos_. In such a case, care seems to have been taken so to arrange
the outer and inner doorways of the vestibule that persons passing by
the outer doorway should not be able to catch a sight of the shrine.
Where there was no vestibule, the entrance into the cell or body of the
temple seems to have been placed at the side, instead of at the end,
probably with the same object. Besides these main parts of a temple, a
certain number of chambers are always found, which appear to have been
priests' apartments.
The ornamentation of temples, to judge by the few specimens which
remain, was very similar to that of palaces. The great gateways were
guarded by colossal bulls or lions see [PLATE LV.], accompanied by the
usual sacred figures, and sometimes covered with inscriptions. The
entrances and some portions of the chambers were ornamented with the
customary sculptured slabs, representing here none but religious
subjects. No great proportion of the interior, however, was covered in
this way, the walls being in general only plastered and then painted
with figures or patterns. Externally, enamelled bricks were used as a
decoration wherever sculptured slabs did not hide the crude brick.
[Illustration: PLATE 55]
Much the sane doubts and difficulties beset the subjects of the roofing
and lighting of the temples as those which have been discussed already
in connection with the palaces. Though the span of the temple-chambers
is less than that of the great palace halls, still it is considerable,
sometimes exceeding thirty feet. No effort seems made to keep the
temple-chambers narrow, for their width is sometimes as much as
two-thirds of their length. Perhaps, therefore, they were hypaethral,
like the temples of the Greeks. All that seems to be certain is that
what roofing they had was of wood, which at Nimrud was cedar, brought
probably from the mountains of Syria.
Of the domestic architecture of the Assyrians we possess absolutely no
specimen. Excavation has been hitherto confined to the most elevated
portions of the mounds which mark the sites of cities, where it was
likely that remains of the greatest interest would be found. Palaces,
temples, and the great gates which gave entrance to towns, have in this
way seen the light; but the humbler buildings, the ordinary dwellings of
the people, remain buried beneath the soil, unexplored and even unsought
for. In this entire default of any actual specimen of an ordinary
Assyrian house, we naturally turn to the sculptured representations
which are so abundant and represent so many different sorts of scenes.
Even here, however, we obtain but little light. The bulk of the slabs
exhibit the wars of the kings in foreign countries, and thus place
before us foreign rather than Assyrian architecture. The processional
slabs, which are another large class, contain rarely any building at
all, and, where they furnish one, exhibit to us a temple rather than a
house. The hunting scenes, representing wilds far from the dwellings of
man, afford us, as might be expected, no help. Assyrian buildings, other
than temples, are thus most rarely placed before us. In one case,
indeed, we have an Assyrian city, which a foreign enemy is passing; but
the only edifices represented are the walls and towers of the exterior,
and the temple [No. VI., PLATE L.] whose columns rest upon lions. In one
other we seem to have an unfortified Assyrian village; and from this
single specimen we are forced to form our ideas of the ordinary
character of Assyrian houses.
It is observable here, its the first place, that the houses have no
windows, and are, therefore, probably lighted from the roof; next, that
the roofs are very curious, since, although flat in some instances, they
consist more often either of hemispherical domes, such as are still so
common in the East, or of steep and high cones, such as are but seldom
seen anywhere. Mr. Layard finds a parallel for these last in certain
villages of Northern Syria, where all the houses have conical roofs,
built of mud, which present a very singular appearance. [PLATE LVI.,
Fig. 2.] Both the domes and the cones of the Assyrian example have
evidently an opening at the top, which may have admitted as much light
into the houses as was thought necessary. The doors are of two kinds,
square at the top, and arched; they are placed commonly towards the
sides of the houses. The houses themselves seem to stand separate,
though in close juxtaposition.
[Illustration: PLATE 56]
The only other buildings of the Assyrians which appear to require some
notice are the fortified enceintes of their towns. The simplest of these
consisted of a single battlemented wall, carried in lines nearly or
quite straight along the four sides of the place, pierced with gates,
and guarded at the angles, at the gates, and at intervals along the
curtain with projecting towers, raised not very much higher than the
walls, and (apparently) square in shape. [PLATE LVII., Fig 1.] In the
sculptures we sometimes find the battlemented wall repeated twice or
thrice in lines placed one above the other, the intention being to
represent the defence of a city by two or three walls, such as we have
seen existed on one side of Nineveh.
[Illustration: PLATE 57]
The walls were often, if not always, guarded by moats. Internally they
were, in every case, constructed of crude brick; while externally it was
common to face them with hewn stone, either from top to bottom, or at
any rate to a certain height. At Khorsabad the stone revetement of one
portion at least of the wall was complete; at Nimrud (Calah) and at
Nineveh itself, it was partial, being carried at the former of those
places only to the height of twenty feet. The masonry at Khorsabad was
of three kinds. That of the palace mound, which formed a portion of the
outer defence, was composed entirely of blocks of stone, square-hewn and
of great size, the length of the blocks varying from two to three yards,
while the width was one yard, and the height from five to six feet.
[PLATE LVII., Fig.2.] The masonry was laid somewhat curiously. The
blocks (A A) were placed alternately long-wise and end-wise against the
crude brick (B), so as not merely to lie against it, but to penetrate it
with their ends in many places. [PLATE LVII, Fig. 2.] Care was also
taken to make the angles especially strong, as will be seen by the
accompanying section.
The rest of the defences at Khorsabad were of an inferior character. The
wall of the town had a width of about forty-five feet, and its basement,
to the height of three feet, was constructed of stone; but the blocks
were neither so large, nor were they hewn with the same care, as those
of the palace platform. [PLATE LVII., Fig. 3.] The angles, indeed, were
of squared stone; but even there the blocks measured no more than three
feet in length and a foot in height: the rest of the masonry consisted
of small polygonal stones, merely smoothed on their outer face, and
roughly fitting together in a manner recalling the Cyclopian walls of
Greece and Italy. They were not united by any cement. Above the stone
basement was a massive structure of crude brick, without any facing
either of burnt brick or of stone.
The third kind of masonry at Khorsabad was found outside the main wall,
and may have formed either part of the lining of the moat or a portion
of a tower, which may have projected in advance of the wall at this
point. [PLATE LVIII., Fig. 1.] It was entirely of stone. The lowest
course was formed of small and very irregular polygonal blocks roughly
fitted together; above this came two courses of carefully squared stones
more than a foot long, but less than six inches in width, which were
placed end-wise, one over the other, care being taken that the joints of
the upper tier should never coincide exactly with those of the lower.
Above these was a third course of hewn stones, somewhat smaller than the
others, which were laid in the ordinary manner. Here the construction,
as discovered, terminated; but it was evident, from the _debris_ of hewn
stones at the foot of the wall, that originally the courses had been
continued to a much greater height.
[Illustration: PLATE 58]
In this description of the buildings raised by the Assyrians it has been
noticed more than once that they were not ignorant of the use of the
arch. The old notion that the round arch was a discovery of the Roman,
and the pointed of the Gothic architecture, has gradually faded away
with our ever-increasing knowledge of the actual state of the ancient
world; and antiquarians were not, perhaps, very much surprised to learn,
by the discoveries of Mr. Layard, that the Assyrians knew and used both
kinds of arch in their constructions. Some interest, however, will
probably be felt to attach to the two questions, how they formed their
arches, and to what uses they applied them.
All the Assyrian arches hitherto discovered are of brick. The round
arches are both of the crude and of the kiln-dried material, and are
formed, in each case, of brick made expressly for vaulting, slightly
convex at top and slightly concave at bottom, with one broader and one
narrower end. The arches are of the simplest kind, being exactly
semicircular, and rising from plain perpendicular jambs. The greatest
width which any such arch has been hitherto found to span is about
fifteen feet.
The only pointed arch actually discovered is of burnt brick. The bricks
are of the ordinary shape, and not intended for vaulting. They are laid
side by side up to a certain point, being bent into a slight arch by the
interposition between them of thin wedges of mortar. The two sides of
the arch having been in this way carried up to a point where the lower
extremities of the two innermost bricks nearly touched, while a
considerable space remained between their upper extremities instead of a
key-stone, or a key-brick fitting the aperture, ordinary bricks were
placed in it longitudinally, and so the space was filled in.
[Illustration: PLATE 59]
Another mode of constructing a pointed arch seems to be intended in a
bas-relief, whereof a representation has been already given. The masonry
of the arcade in No. V. [PLATE XLIX., Fig. 4] runs (it will be seen) in
horizontal lines up to the very edge of the arch, thus suggesting a
construction common in many of the early Greek arches, where the stones
are so cut away that an arched opening is formed, though the real
constructive principle of the arch has no place in such specimens.
With regard to the uses whereto the Assyrians applied the arch, it would
certainly seem, from the evidence which we possess, that they neither
employed it as a great decorative feature, nor yet as a main principle
of construction. So far as appears, their chief use of it was for
doorways and gateways. Not only are the town gates of Khorsabad found to
have been arched over, but in the representations of edifices, whether
native or foreign, upon the bas-reliefs, the arch for doors is commoner
than the square top. It is most probable that the great palace gateways
were thus covered in, while it is certain that some of the interior
doorways in palaces had rounded tops. Besides this use of the arch for
doors and gates, the Assyrians are known to have employed it for drains,
aqueducts, and narrow chambers or galleries. [PLATE LVIII. Fig. 2.];
[PLATE LIX., Fig. 1.]
It has been suggested that the Assyrians applied the two kinds of arches
to different purposes, "thereby showing more science and discrimination
than we do in our architectural works;" that "they used the pointed arch
for underground work, where they feared great superincumbent pressure
on the apex, and the round arch above ground, where that was not to be
dreaded." [PLATE LIX., Fig. 2.] But this ingenious theory is scarcely
borne out by the facts. The round arch is employed underground in two
instances at Nimrud, besides occurring in the basement story of the
great tower, where the superincumbent weight must have been enormous.
And the pointed arch is used above ground for the aqueduct and hanging
garden in the bas-relief (see [PLATE XLIX., Fig. 4]), where the
pressure, though considerable, would not have been very extraordinary.
It would seem, therefore, to be doubtful whether the Assyrians were
really guided by any constructive principle in their preference of one
form of the arch over the other.
In describing generally the construction of the palaces and other chief
buildings of the Assyrians, it has been necessary occasionally to refer
to their ornamentation; but the subject is far from exhausted, and will
now claim, for a short space, our special attention. Beyond a doubt the
chief adornment, both of palaces and temples, consisted of the colossal
bulls and lions guarding the great gateways, together with the
sculptured slabs wherewith the walls, both internal and external, were
ordinarily covered to the height of twelve or sometimes even of fifteen
feet. These slabs and carved figures will necessarily be considered in
connection with Assyrian sculpture, of which they form the most
important part. It will, therefore, only be noted at present that the
extent of wall covered with the slabs was, in the Khorsabad palace, at
least 4000 feet, or nearly four-fifths of a mile, while in each of the
Koyunjik palaces the sculptures extended to considerably more than that
distance.
[Illustration: PLATE 60]
The ornamentation of the walls above the slabs, both internally and
externally, was by means of bricks painted on the exposed side and
covered with an enamel. The colors are for the most part somewhat pale,
but occasionally they possess some brilliancy. [PLATE LX., Fig 1.]
Predominant among the tints are a pale blue, an olive green, and a dull
yellow. White is also largely used; brown and black are not infrequent;
red is comparatively rare. The subjects represented are either such
scenes as occur upon the sculptured slabs, or else mere
patterns--scrolls, honeysuckles, chevrons, gradines, guilloches, etc. In
the scenes some attempt seems to be made at representing objects in
their natural colors. The size of the figures is small; and it is
difficult to imagine that any great effect could have been produced on
the beholder by such minute drawings placed at such a height from the
ground. Probably the most effective ornamentation of this kind was by
means of patterns, which are often graceful and striking. [PLATE LX.,
2.]
It has been observed that, so far as the evidence at present goes, the
use of the column in Assyrian architecture would seem to have been very
rare indeed. In palaces we have no grounds for thinking that they were
employed at all excepting in certain of the interior doorways, which,
being of unusual breadth, seem to have been divided into three distinct
portals by means of two pillars placed towards the sides of the opening.
The bases of these pillars were of stone, and have been found _in situ_;
their shafts and capitals had disappeared, and can only be supplied by
conjecture. In the temples, as we have seen, the use of the column was
more frequent. Its dimensions greatly varied. Ordinarily it was too
short and thick for beauty, while occasionally it had the opposite
defect, being too tall and slender. Its base was sometimes quite plain,
sometimes diversified by a few mouldings, sometimes curiously and rather
clumsily rounded (as in No. II., [PLATE LXI., Fig. 1]). The shaft was
occasionally patterned. The capital, in one instance (No. I., [PLATE
LXI., Fig. 3]), approaches to the Corinthian; in another (No. II.) it
reminds us of the Ionic; but the volutes are double, and the upper ones
are surmounted by an awkward-looking abacus. A third (No. III., [PLATE.
LXI., Fig. 2]) is very peculiar, and to some extent explains the origin
of the second. It consists of two pairs of ibex horns, placed one over
the other. With this maybe compared another (No. IV.). the most
remarkable of all, where we have first a single pair of ibex horns, and
then, at the summit, a complete figure of an ibex very graphically
portrayed.
[Illustration: PLATE 61]
The beauty of Assyrian patterning has been already noticed. Patterned
work is found not only on the enamelled bricks, but on stone pavement
slabs, and around arched doorways leading from one chamber to another,
where the patterns are carved with great care and delicacy upon the
alabaster. The accompanying specimen of a doorway, which is taken from
an unpublished drawing by Mr. Boutcher, is very rich and elegant, though
it exhibits none but the very commonest of the Assyrian patterns. [PLATE
LXII., Fig. 1.] A carving of a more elaborate type, and one presenting
even greater delicacy of workmanship, has been given in an earlier
portion of this chapter as an example of a patterned pavement slab.
Slabs of this kind have been found in many of the palaces, and well
deserve the attention of modern designers.
[Illustration: PLATE 62]
When the architecture of the Assyrians is compared with that of other
nations possessing about the same degree of civilization, the impression
that it leaves is perhaps somewhat disappointing. Vast labor and skill,
exquisite finish, the most extraordinary elaboration, were bestowed on
edifices so essentially fragile and perishable that no care could have
preserved them for manly centuries. Sun-dried brick, a material but
little superior to the natural clay of which it was composed,
constituted everywhere the actual fabric, which was then covered thinly
and just screened from view by a facing, seldom more than a few inches
in depth, of a more enduring and handsomer substance. The tendency of
the platform mounds, as soon as formed, must have been to settle down,
to bulge at the sides and become uneven at the top, to burst their stone
or brick facings and precipitated them into the ditch below, at the same
time disarranging and breaking up the brick pavements which covered
their surface. The weight of the buildings raised upon the monads must
have tended to hasten these catastrophes, while the unsteadiness of
their foundations and the character of their composition must have soon
had the effect of throwing the buildings themselves into disorder, of
loosening the slabs from the walls, causing the enamelled bricks to
start from their places, the colossal bulls and lions to lean over, and
the roofs to become shattered and fall in. The fact that the earlier
palaces were to a great extent dismantled by the later kings is perhaps
to be attributed, not so much to a barbarous resolve that they would
destroy the memorials of a former and a hostile dynasty, as to the
circumstance that the more ancient buildings had fallen into decay and
ceased to be habitable. The rapid succession of palaces, the fact that,
at any rate from Sargon downwards, each monarch raises a residence, or
residences, for himself, is yet more indicative of the rapid
deterioration and dilapidation (so to speak) of the great edifices.
Probably a palace began to show unmistakable symptoms of decay and to
become an unpleasant residence at the end of some twenty-five or thirty
years from the date of its completion; effective repairs were, by the
very nature of the case, almost impossible; and it was at once easier
and more to the credit of the monarch that he should raise a fresh
platform and build himself a fresh dwelling than that he should devote
his efforts to keeping in a comfortable condition the crumbling
habitation of his predecessor.
It is surprising that, under these circumstances, a new style of
architecture did not arise. The Assyrians were not, like the
Babylonians, compelled by the nature of the country in which they lived
to use brick as their chief building material. M. Botta expresses his
astonishment at the preference of brick to stone exhibited by the
builders of Khorsabad, when the neighborhood abounds in rocky hills
capable of furnishing an inexhaustible supply of the better material.
The limestone range of the Jebel Maklub is but a few miles distant, and
many out-lying rocky elevations might have been worked with still
greater facility. Even at Nineveh itself, and at Calah or Nimrud, though
the hills were further removed, stone was, in reality, plentiful. The
cliffs a little above Koyunjik are composed of a "hard sandstone," and a
part of the moat of the town is carried through "compact silicious
conglomerate." The town is, in fact, situated on "a spur of rock" thrown
off from the Jebel Dlakiub, which, terminates at the edge of the ravine
whereby Nineveh was protected on the south. Calah, too, was built on a
number of "rocky undulations," and its western wall skirts the edge of
"conglomerate" cliffs, which have been scarped by the hand of man. A
very tolerable stone was thus procurable on the actual sites of these
ancient cities; and if a better material had been wanted, it might have
been obtained in any quantity, and of whatever quality was desired, from
the Zagros range and its outlying rocky barriers. Transport could
scarcely have caused much difficulty, as the blocks might have been
brought from the quarries where they were hewn to the sites selected for
the cities by water-carriage--a mode of transport well known to the
Assyrians, as is made evident to us by the bas-reliefs. (See [PLATE
LXII. Fig. 2.])
If the best possible building material was thus plentiful in Assyria,
and its conveyance thus easy to manage, to what are we to ascribe the
decided preference shown for so inferior a substance as brick? No
considerable difficulty can have been experienced in quarrying the stone
of the country, which is seldom very hard, and which was, in fact, cut
by the Assyrians, whenever they had any sufficient motive for removing
or making use of it. One answer only can be reasonably given to the
question. The Assyrians had learnt a certain style of architecture in
the alluvial Babylonia, and having brought it with them into A country
far less fitted for it, maintained it from habit, not withstanding its
unsuitableness. In some few respects, indeed, they made a slight change.
The abundance of stone in the country induced them to substitute it in
several places where in Babylonia it was necessary to use burnt brick,
as in the facings of platforms and of temples, in dams across streams,
in pavements sometimes, and universally in the ornamentation of the
lover portions of palace and temple walls. But otherwise they remained
faithful to their architectural traditions, and raised in the
comparatively hilly Assyria the exact type of building which nature and
necessity had led them to invent and use in the flat and stoneless
alluvium where they had had their primitive abode. As platforms were
required both for security and for comfort in the lower region, they
retained them, instead of choosing natural elevations in the upper one.
As clay was the only possible material in the one place, clay was still
employed, notwithstanding the abundance of stone, in the other. Being
devoid of any great inventive genius, the Assyrians found it easier to
maintain and slightly modify a system with which they had been familiar
in their original country than to devise a new one more adapted to the
land of their adoption.
Next to the architecture of the Assyrians, their mimetic art seems to
deserve attention. Though the representations in the works of Layard and
Botta, combined with the presence of so many specimens in the great
national museums of London and Paris, have produced a general
familiarity with the subject, still, as a connected view of it in its
several stages and branches is up to the present time a desideratum in
our literature, it may not be superfluous here to attempt a brief
account of the different classes into which their productions in this
kind of art fall, and the different eras and styles under which they
naturally range themselves.
Assyrian mimetic art consists of statues, bas-reliefs, metal-castings,
carvings in ivory, statuettes in clay, enamellings on brick, and
intaglios on stones and gems.
[Illustration: PLATE 63]
Assyrian statues are comparatively rare, and, when they occur, are among
the least satisfactory of this people's productions. They are coarse,
clumsy, purely formal in their design, and generally characterized by an
undue flatness, or want of breadth in the side view, as if they were
only intended to be seen directly in front. Sometimes, however, this
defect is not apparent. A sitting statue in black basalt, of the size of
life, representing an early king, which Mr. Layard discovered at
Kileh-Sherghat [PLATE LXIII, Fig. 1], and which is now in the British
Museum, may be instanced as quite free from this disproportion. It is
very observable, however, in another of the royal statues recently
recovered [PLATE LXIII, Fig. 2], as it is also in the monolith bulls
and lions universally. Otherwise, the proportions of the figures are
commonly correct. They bear a resemblance to the archaic Greek,
especially to that form of it which we find in the sculptures from
Branchidae. They have just the same rudeness, heaviness, and stiff
formality. It is difficult to judge of their execution, as they have
mostly suffered great injury from the hand of man, or from the weather;
but the royal statue here represented, which is in better preservation
than any other Assyrian work "in the round" that has come down to us,
exhibits a rather high finish. It is smaller than life, being about
three and a half feet high: the features are majestic, and well marked;
the hair and beard are elaborately curled; the arms and hands are well
shaped, and finished with care. The dress is fringed elaborately, and
descends to the ground, concealing all the lower part of the figure. The
only statues recovered besides these are two of the god Nebo, brought
from Nimrud, a mutilated one of Ishtar, or Astarte, found at Koyunjik
[PLATE LXIII., Fig. 3], and a tolerably perfect one of Sargon, which was
discovered at Idalium, in the island of Cyprus.
The clay statuettes of the Assyrians possess even less artistic merit
than their statues. They are chiefly images of gods or genii, and have
most commonly something grotesque in their appearance. Among the most
usual are figures which represent either Mylitta (Bettis), or Ishtar.
They are made in a fine terra cotta, which has turned of a pale red in
baking, and are colored with a cretaceous coating, so as greatly to
resemble Greek pottery. Another type is that of an old man, bearded, and
with hands clasped, which we may perhaps identify with Nebo, the
Assyrian Mercury, since his statues in the British Museum have a
somewhat similar character. Other forms are the fish-god Nin, or Nin-ip
[PLATE LXIV., Fig. 1]; and the deities, not yet identified, which were
found by M. Botta under the pavement-bricks at Khorsahad. [PLATE LXIV.,
Fig. 2.] These specimens have the formal character of the statues, and
are even more rudely shaped. Other examples, which carry the grotesque
to an excess, appear to have been designed with greater spirit and
freedom. Animal and human forms are sometimes intermixed in them; and
while it cannot be denied that they are rude and coarse, it must be
allowed, on the other hand, that they possess plenty of vigor. M. Botta
has engraved several specimens, including two which have the hind legs
and tail of a bull, with a human neck and arms, the head bearing the
usual horned cap.
[Illustration: PLATE 64]
Small figures of animals in terra cotta have also been found. They
consist chiefly of dogs and ducks. A representation of each has been
given in the chapter on the productions of Assyria. The dogs discovered
are made of a coarse clay, and seem to have been originally painted.
They are not wanting in spirit; but it detracts from their merit that
the limbs are merely in relief, the whole space below the belly of the
animal being filled up with a mass of clay for the sake of greater
strength. The ducks are of a fine yellow material, and represent the
bird asleep, with its head lying along its back.
Of all the Assyrian works of art which have come down to us, by far the
most important are the bas-reliefs. It is here especially, if not
solely, that we can trace progress in style; and it is here alone that
we see the real artistic genius of the people. What sculpture in its
full form, or in the slightly modified form of very high relief, was to
the Greeks, what painting has been to modern European nations since the
time of Cimabue, that low relief was to the Assyrians--the practical
mode in which artistic power found vent among them. They used it for
almost every purpose to which mimetic art is applicable; to express
their religious feelings and ideas, to glorify their kings, to hand down
to posterity the nation's history and its deeds of prowess, to depict
home scenes and domestic occupations, to represent landscape and
architecture, to imitate animal and vegetable forms, even to illustrate
the mechanical methods which they employed in the construction of those
vast architectural works of which the reliefs were the principal
ornamentation. It is not too much to say that we know the Assyrians, not
merely artistically, but historically and ethnologically, _chiefly_
through their bas reliefs, which seem to represent to us almost the
entire life of the people.
The reliefs may be divided under five principal heads:--1, War scenes,
including battles, sieges, devastations of an enemy's country, naval
expeditions, and triumphant returns from foreign war, with the trophies
and fruits of victory; 2. Religious scenes, either mythical or real; 3.
Processions generally of tribute-bearers, bringing the produce of their
several countries to the Great King; 4. hunting and sporting scenes,
including the chase of savage animals, and of animals sought for food,
the spreading of nets, the shooting of birds, and the like; and 5.
Scenes of ordinary life, as those representing the transport and
erection of colossal bulls, landscapes, temples, interiors, gardens,
etc.
The earliest art is that of the most ancient palaces at Nimrud. It
belongs to the latter part of the tenth century before our era; the time
of Asa in Judaea, of Omri and Ahab in Samaria, and of the Sheshonks in
Egypt. It is characterized by much spirit and variety in the design, by
strength and firmness, combined with a good deal of heaviness, in the
execution, by an entire contempt for perspective, and by the rigid
preservation in almost every case, both human and animal, of the exact
profile both of figure and face. Of the illustrations already given in
the present volume a considerable number belong to this period. The
heads [PLATE XXXIII.], and the figures [PLATE XXXV.], represent the
ordinary appearance of the men, while animal forms of the time will be
found in the lion [PLATE XXV.], the ibex [PLATE XXV.], the gazelle
[PLATE XXVII.], the horse [PLATE XXXI.], and the horse and wild bull
[PLATE XXVIII.] It will be seen upon reference that the animal are very
much superior to the human forms, a characteristic which is not,
however, peculiar to the style of this period, but belongs to all
Assyrian art, from its earliest to its latest stage. A favorable
specimen of the style will be found in the lion-hunt which Mr. Layard
has engraved in his "Monuments," and of which he himself observes, that
it is "one of the finest specimens hitherto discovered of Assyrian
sculpture." in [PLATE LXIV., Fig. 3.] The composition is at once simple
and effective. The king forms the principal object, nearly in the centre
of the picture, and by the superior height of his conical head-dress,
and the position of the two arrows which he holds in the hand that draws
the bow-string, dominates over the entire composition. As he turns round
to shoot down at the lion which assails him from behind, his body is
naturally and gracefully bent, while his charioteer, being engaged in
urging his horses forward, leans naturally in the opposite direction,
thus contrasting with the main figure and balancing it. The lion
immediately behind the chariot is outlined with great spirit and
freedom; his head is masterly; the fillings up of the body, however,
have too much conventionality. As he rises to attack the monarch, he
conducts the eye up to the main figure, while at the same time by this
attitude his principal lines form a pleasing contrast to the predominant
perpendicular and horizontal lines of the general composition. The dead
lion in front of the chariot balances the living one behind it, and,
with its crouching attitude, and drooping head and tail, contrasts
admirably with the upreared form of its fellow. Two attendants, armed
with sword and shield, following behind the living lion, serve to
balance the horses drawing the chariot, without rendering the
composition too symmetrical. The horses themselves are the weakest part
of the picture; the forelegs are stiff and too slight, and the heads
possess little spirit.
It is seldom that designs of this early period can boast nearly so much
merit. The religious and processional pieces are stiff in the extreme;
the battle scenes are overcrowded and confused; the hunting' scenes are
superior to these, but in general they too fall far below the level of
the above-described composition.
[Illustration: PLATE 65]
The best drawing of this period is found in the figures forming the
patterns or embroidery of dresses. The gazelle, the ibex, the horse, and
the horseman hunting the wild bull of which representations have been
given, are from ornamental work of this kind. They are favorable
specimens perhaps; but, still, they are representative of a considerable
class. Some examples even exceed these in the freedom of their outline,
and the vigorous action which they depict, as, for instance, the man
seizing a wild bull by the horn and foreleg, which is figured. [PLATE
LXV., Fig. 1.] In general, however, there is a tendency in these early
drawings to the grotesque. Lions and bulls appear in absurd attitudes;
hawk-headed figures in petticoats threaten human-headed lions with a
mace or a strap, sometimes holding them by a paw, sometimes grasping
then round the middle of the tail [PLATE LXV. Fig. 2]; priests hold up
ibexes at arm's length by one of their hindlegs, so that their heads
trail upon the ground; griffins claw after antelopes, or antelopes toy
with winged lions; even in the hunting scenes, which are less simply
ludicrous, there seems to be an occasional striving after strange and
laughable attitudes, as when a stricken bull tumbles upon his head, with
his tail tossed straight in the air [PLATE LXV., Fig. 31], or when a
lion receives his death-wound with arms outspread, and mouth wildly
agape. [PLATE LXVI., Fig. 2.]
[Illustration: PLATE 66]
The second period of Assyrian mimetic art extends from the latter part
of the eighth to nearly the middle of the seventh century before our
era; or, more exactly, from about B.C. 721 to B.C. 667. It belongs to
the reigns of the three consecutive kings--Sargon, Sennacherib, and
Esar-haddon, who were contemporary with Hezekiah and Manasseh in Judaea,
and with the Sabacos (Shebeks) and Tirhakah (Tehiak) in Egypt. The
sources which chiefly illustrate this period are the magnificent series
of engravings published by MM. Flandin and Botta, together with the
originals of a certain portion of them in the Louvre; the engravings in
Mr. Layard's first folio work, from plate 68 to 83; those in his second
folio work from plate 7 to 44, and from plate 50 to 56; the originals of
many of these in the British Museum; several monuments procured for the
British Museum by Mr. Loftus; and a series of unpublished drawings by
Mr. Boutcher in the same great national collection.
The most obvious characteristic of this period, when we compare it with
the preceding one, is the advance which the artists have made in their
vegetable forms, and the pre-Raphaelite accuracy which they affect in
all the accessories of their representations. In the bas-reliefs of the
first period we have for the most part no backgrounds. Figures alone
occupy the slabs, or figures and buildings. In some few instances water
is represented in a very rude fashion; and once or twice only do we meet
with trees, which, when they occur, are of the poorest and strangest
character. (See [PLATE LXVI., Fig. 1.]) In the second period, on the
contrary, backgrounds are the rule, and slabs without them form the
exception. The vegetable forms are abundant and varied, though still
somewhat too conventional. Date-palms, firs, and vines are delineated
with skill and spirit; other varieties are more difficult to recognize.
[PLATE LXVI., Fig. 3.] The character of the countries through which
armies march is almost always given--their streams, lakes, and rivers,
their hills and mountains, their trees, and in the case of marshy
districts, their tall reeds. At the same time, animals in the wild state
are freely introduced without their having any bearing on the general
subject of the picture. The water teems with fish, and, where the sea is
represented, with crabs, turtle, star-fish, sea-serpents, and other
monsters. The woods are alive with birds; wild swine and stags people
the marshes. Nature is evidently more and more studied; and the artist
takes a delight in adorning the scenes of violence, which he is forced
to depict, with quiet touches of a gentle character--rustics fishing or
irrigating their grounds, fish disporting themselves, birds flying from
tree to tree, or watching the callow young which look up to them from
the nest for protection.
In regard to human forms, no great advance marks this period. A larger
variety in their attitudes is indeed to be traced, and a greater energy
and life appears in most of the figures; but there is still much the
same heaviness of outline, the same over-muscularity, and the same
general clumsiness and want of grace. Animal forms show a much more
considerable improvement. Horses are excellently portrayed, the
attitudes being varied, and the heads especially delineated with great
spirit. Mules and camels are well expressed, but have scarcely the vigor
of the horses. Horned cattle, as oxen, both with and without humps,
goats, and sheep are very skilfully treated, being represented with much
character, in natural yet varied attitudes, and often admirably grouped.
[Illustration: PLATE 67]
[Illustration: PLATE 68]
The composition during this period is more complicated and more
ambitious than during the preceding one; but it may be questioned
whether it is so effective. No single scene of the time can compare for
grandeur with the lion-hunt above described. The battles and siege are
spirited, but want unity; the hunting scenes are comparatively tame; the
representations of the transport of colossal bulls possess more interest
than artistic merit. On the other hand, the manipulation is decidedly
superior; the relief is higher, the outline is more flowing, the finish
of the features more delicate. What is lost in grandeur of composition
is, on the whole, more than made up by variety, naturalness, improved
handling, and higher finish.
The highest perfection of Assyrian art is in the third period, which
extends from B.C. 667 to about B.C. 640. It synchronizes with the reign
of Asshur-bani-pal, the son of Essarhaddon, who appears to have been
contemporary with Gyges in Lydia, and with Psammetichus in Egypt. The
characteristics of the time are a less conventional type in the
vegetable forms, a wonderful freedom spirit, and variety in the forms of
animals, extreme minuteness and finish in the human figures, and a
delicacy in the handling considerably beyond that of even the second or
middle period. The sources illustrative of this stage of the art consist
of the plates in Mr. Layard's "Second Series of Monuments," from plate
45 to 49, the originals of these in the British Museum, the noble series
of slabs obtained by Mr. Loftus from the northern palace of Koyunjik,
and of the drawings made from them, and from other slabs, which were in
a more damaged condition by Mr. Boutcher, who accompanied Mr. Loftus in
the capacity of artist.
Vegetable forms are, on the whole, somewhat rare. The artists have
relinquished the design of representing scenes with perfect
truthfulness, and have recurred as a general rule to the plain
backgrounds of the first period. This is particularly the case in the
hunting scenes, which are seldom accompanied by any landscape
whatsoever. In processional and military scenes landscape is introduced,
but sparingly; the forms, for the most part, resembling those of the
second period. Now and then, however, in such scenes the landscape has
been made the object of special attention, becoming the prominent part,
while the human figures are accessories. It is here that an advance in
art is particularly discernible. In one set of slabs a garden seems to
be represented. Vines are trained upon trees, which may be either firs
or cypresses, winding elegantly around their stems, and on either side
letting fall their pendent branches laden with fruit. [PLATE LXVIII..
Fig. 2.] Leaves. branches, and tendrils are delineated with equal truth
and finish, a most pleasing and graceful effect being thereby produced.
Irregularly among the trees occur groups of lilies, some in bud, some in
full blow, all natural, graceful, and spirited. [PLATE LXIX., Fig. 1.]
[Illustration: PLATE 69]
[Illustration: PLATE 70]
It is difficult to do justice to the animal delineation of this period.
without reproducing before the eye of the reader the entire series of
reliefs and drawings which belong to it. It is the infinite variety in
the attitudes, even more than the truth and naturalness of any
particular specimens, that impresses us as we contemplate the series.
Lions, wild asses, dogs, deer, wild goats, horses, are represented in
profusion: and we scarcely find a single form which is repeated. Some
specimens have been already given, as the hunted stag and hind [PLATE
XXVII.] and the startled wild ass [PLATE XXVI.] Others will occur among
the illustrations of the next chapter. For the present it may suffice to
draw attention to the spirit of the two falling asses in the
illustration [PLATE LXIX., Fig. 3], and of the crouching lion in the
illustration [PLATE LXIX., Fig. 2]; to the lifelike force of both ass and
hounds in the representation [PLATE LXX., Fig. 1], and here particularly
to the bold drawing of one of the dogs' heads in full, instead of in
profile--a novelty now first occurring in the bas-reliefs. As instances
of still bolder attempts at unusual attitudes, and at the same time of a
certain amount of foreshortening, two further illustrations are
appended. The sorely wounded lion in the first [PLATE LXX., Fig. 2]
turns his head piteously towards the cruel shaft, while he totters to
his fall, his limbs failing him, and his eyes beginning to close. The
more slightly stricken king of beasts in the second [PLATE LXXI.], urged
to fury by the smart of his wound, rushes at the chariot whence the
shaft was sped, and in his mad agony springs upon a wheel, clutches it
with his two fore-paws, and frantically grinds it between his teeth.
Assyrian art, so far as is yet known, has no finer specimen of animal
drawing than this head, which may challenge comparison with anything of
the kind that either classic or modern art has produced.
[Illustration: PLATE 71]
[Illustration: PLATE 72]
As a specimen at once of animal vigor and of the delicacy and finish of
the workmanship in the human forms of the time, a bas-relief of the king
receiving the spring of a lion, and shooting an arrow into his mouth,
while a second lion advances at a rapid pace a little behind the first,
may be adduced. (See [PLATE LXXII.]) The boldness of the composition,
which represents the first lion actually in mid-air, is remarkable; the
drawing of the brute's fore-paws, expanded to seize his intended prey,
is lifelike and very spirited, while the head is massive and full of
vigor. There is something noble in the calmness of the monarch
contrasted with the comparative eagerness of the attendant, who
stretches forward with shield and spear to protect has master from
destruction, if the arrow fails. The head of the king is, unfortunately,
injured; but the remainder of the figure is perfect and here, in the
elaborate ornamentation of the whole dress, we have an example of the
careful finish of the time--a finish, which is so light and delicate
that it does not interfere with the general effect, being scarcely
visible at a few yards' distance.
[Illustration: PLATE 73]
The faults which still remain in this best period of Assyrian art are
heaviness and stiffness of outline in the human forms; a want of
expression in the faces, and of variety and animation in the attitudes;
and an almost complete disregard of perspective. If the worst of these
faults are anywhere overcome, it would seem to be in the land lion-hunt,
from which the noble head represented below is taken; and in the
river-hunt of the same, beast, found on a slab too much injured to be
re-moved, of which a representation is given. [PLATE LXXIII.] From what
appears to have remained of the four figures towards the prow of the
boat, we may conclude that there was a good deal of animation here. The
drawing must certainly have been less stiff than usual; and if there is
not much variety in the attitudes of the three spearmen in front, at any
rate those attitudes contrast well, both with the stillness of the
unengaged attendants in the rear, and with the animated but very
different attitude of the king.
Before the subject of Assyrian sculpture is dismissed, it is necessary
to touch the question whether the Assyrians applied color to statuary,
and, if so, in what way and to what extent. Did they, like the
Egyptians, cover the whole surface of the stone with a layer of stucco,
and then paint the sculptured parts with strong colors--red, blue,
yellow, white, and black? Or did they, like the Greeks, apply paint to
certain portions of their sculptures only, as the hair, eyes, beard and
draperies? Or finally, did they simply leave the stone in its natural
condition, like the Italians and the modern sculptors generally?
The present appearance of the sculptures is most in accordance with the
last of these three theories, or at any rate with that theory very
slightly modified by the second. The slabs now offer only the faintest
and most occasional traces of color. The evidence, however, of the
original explorers is distinct, that _at the time of discovery_ these
traces were very much more abundant. Mr. Layard observed color at Nimrud
on the hair, beard, and eyes of the figures, on the sandals and the
bows, on the tongues of the eagle-headed mythological emblems, on a
garland round the head of a winged priest(?), and on the representation
of fire in the bas-relief of a siege. At Khorsabad, MM. Botta and
Flandin found paint on the fringes of draperies, on fillets, on the
mitre of the king, on the flowers carried by the winged figures, on bows
and spearshafts, on the harness of the horses, on the chariots, on the
sandals, on the birds, and sometimes on the trees. The torches used to
fire cities, and the flames of the cities themselves, were invariably
colored red. M. Flandin also believed that he could detect, in some
instances, a faint trace of yellow ochre on the flesh and on the
background of bas-reliefs, whence he concluded that this tint was spread
over every part not otherwise colored.
It is evident, therefore, that the theory of an absence of color, or of
a very rare use of it, must be set aside. Indeed, as it is certain that
the upper portions of the palace walls, both inside and outside, were
patterned with colored bricks, covering the whole space above the slabs,
it must be allowed to be extremely improbable that at a particular line
color would suddenly and totally cease. The laws of decorative harmony
forbid such abrupt transitions; and to these laws all nations with any
taste instinctively and unwittingly conform. The Assyrian reliefs were
therefore, we may be sure, to some extent colored. The real question is,
to what extent in the Egyptian or in the classical style?
In Mr. Layard's first series of "Monuments," a preference was expressed
for what may be called the Egyptian theory. In the Frontispiece of that
work, and in the second Plate, containing the restoration of a palace
interior, the entire bas-reliefs were represented as strongly colored. A
jet-black was assigned to the hair and beards of men and of all
human-headed figures, to the manes and tails of horses, to vultures,
eagle heads, and the like: a coarse red-brown to winged lions, to human
flesh, to horses' bodies, and to various ornaments, a deep yellow to
common lions, to chariot wheels, quivers, fringes, belts, sandals, and
other portions of human apparel; white to robes, helmets, shields.
tunic's, towns, trees, etc.; and a dull blue to some of the feathers of
winged lions and genii, and to large portions of the ground from which
the sculptures stood out. This conception of Assyrian coloring, framed
confessedly on the assumption of a close analogy between the
ornamentation of Assyria and that of Egypt, was at once accepted by the
unlearned, and naturally enough was adopted by most of those who sought
to popularize the new knowledge among their countrymen. Hence the
strange travesties of Assyrian art which have been seen in so-called
"Assyrian Courts," where all the delicacy of the real sculpture has
disappeared, and the spectator has been revolted by grim figures of
bulls and lions, from which a thick layer of coarse paint has taken away
all dignity, and by reliefs which, from the same cause, have lost all
spirit and refinement.
It is sufficient objection to the theory here treated of, that it has no
solid basis of fact to rest upon. Color has only been _found_ on
portions of the bas-reliefs, as on the hair and beards of men, on
head-ornaments, to a small extent on draperies, on the harness of
horses, on sandals, weapons, birds, flowers, and the like. Neither the
flesh of men, nor the bodies of animals, nor the draperies generally,
nor the backgrounds (except perhaps at Khorsabad), present the slightest
appearance of having been touched by paint. It is inconceivable that, if
these portions of the sculptures were universally or even ordinarily
colored, the color should have so entirely disappeared in every
instance. It is moreover inconceivable that the sculptor, if he knew his
work was about to be concealed beneath a coating of paint, should have
cared to give it the delicate elaboration which is found at any rate in
the later examples. All leads to the conclusion that in Assyrian as in
classical sculpture, color was sparingly applied, being confined to such
parts as the hair, eyes, and beards of men, to the fringes of dresses,
to horse trappings, and other accessory parts of the representations. In
this way the lower part of the wall was made to harmonize sufficiently
with the upper portion, which was wholly colored, but chiefly with pale
hues. At the same time a greater distinctness was given to the scenes
represented upon the sculptured slabs, the color being judiciously
applied to disentangle human from animal figures, dress from flesh, or
human figures from one another.
The colors actually found upon the bas-reliefs are four only--red, blue,
black, and white. The red is a good bright tint, far exceeding in
brilliancy that of Egypt. On the sculptures of Khorsabad it approaches
to vermilion, while on those of Nimrud it inclines to a crimson or a
lake tint. It is found alternating with the natural stone on the royal
parasol and mitre; with blue on the crests of helmets, the trappings of
horses, on flowers, sandals, and on fillets; and besides, it occurs,
unaccompanied by any other color, on the stems and branches of trees, on
the claws of birds, the shafts of spears and arrows, bows, belts,
fillets, quivers, maces, reins, sandals, flowers, and the fringe of
dresses. It is uncertain whence the coloring matter was derived; perhaps
the substance used was the suboxide of copper, with which the Assyrians
are known to have colored their red glass.
The blue of the Assyrian monuments is an oxide of copper, sometimes
containing also a trace of lead. Besides occurring in combination with
red in the cases already mentioned, it was employed to color the foliage
of trees, the plumage of birds, the heads of arrows, and sometimes
quivers, and sandals.
White occurs very rarely indeed upon the sculptures. At Khorsabad it was
not found of all; at Nimrud it was confined to the inner part of the eye
on either side of the pupil, and in this position it occurred only on
the colossal lions and bulls, and a very few other figures. On bricks
and pottery it was frequent, and their (sp.) it is found to have been
derived from tin; but it is uncertain whether the white of the
sculptures was not derived from a commoner material.
Black is applied in the sculptures chiefly to the hair, beards, and
eyebrows of men. It was also used to color the eyeballs not only of men,
but also of the colossal lions and bulls. Sometimes, when the eyeball
was thus marked, a line of black was further carried round the inner
edge of both the upper and the lower eyelid. In one place black bars
have been introduced to ornament an antelope's horns. On the older
sculptures black was also the common color for sandals, which however
were then edged with red. The composition of the black is uncertain.
Browns upon the enamelled bricks are found to have been derived from,
iron; but Mr. Layard believes the black upon the sculptures to have
been, like the Egyptian, a bone black mixed with a little gum.
The ornamental metallurgy of the Assyrians deserves attention next to
their sculpture. It is of three kinds, consisting, in the first place,
of entire figures, or parts of figures, cast in a solid shape; secondly,
of castings in a low relief; and thirdly, of embossed work wrought
mainly with the hammer, but finished by a sparing use of the graving
tool.
[Illustration: PLATE 74]
The solid castings are comparatively rare, and represented none but
animal forms. Lions, which seem to have been used as weights, occur most
frequently, [PLATE LXXIV., Fig. 1.] None are of any great size; nor have
we any evidence that the Assyrians could cast large masses of metal.
They seem to have used castings, not (as the Greeks and the moderns) for
the greater works of art, but only for the smaller. The forms of the few
casts which have come down to us are good, and are free from the
narrowness which characterizes the representations in stone.
Castings in a low relief formed the ornamentation of thrones [PLATE
LXXIV., Figs. 2, 3], stools, and sometimes probably of chariots. They
consisted of animal and human figures, winged deities, griffins, and the
like. The castings were chiefly in open-work, and were attached to the
furniture which they ornamented by means of small nails. They have no
peculiar merit, being merely repetitions of the forms with which we are
familiar from their occurrence on embroidered dresses and on the
cylinders.
[Illustration: PLATE 75]
The embossed work of the Assyrians is the most curious and the most
artistic portion of their metallurgy. Sometimes it consisted of mere
heads and feet of animals, hammered into shape upon a model composed of
clay mixed with bitumen. [PLATE LXXV., Figs. 1, 2.] Sometimes it
extended to entire figures, as (probably) in the case of the lions
clasping each other, so common at the ends of sword-sheaths (see [PLATE
LXXV., Fig. 3]), the human figures which ornament the sides of chairs or
stools, and the like. [PLATE. LXXV., Fig. 3.] Occasionally it was of a
less solid but at the same time of a more elaborate character. In a
palace inhabited by Sargon at Nimrud, and in close juxtaposition with a
monument certainly of his time, were discovered by Mr. Layard a number
of dishes, plates, and bowls, embossed with great taste and skill, which
are among the most elegant specimens of Assyrian art discovered during
the recent researches. Upon these were represented sometimes hunting
scenes, sometimes combats between griffins and lions, or between men and
lions, sometimes landscapes with trees and figures of animals, sometimes
mere rows of animals following one another. One or two representations
from these bowls have been already given. They usually contain a star or
scarab in the centre, beyond which is a series of bands or borders,
patterned most commonly with figures. [PLATE LXXVI., Fig 1.] It is
impossible to give an adequate idea of the delicacy and spirit of the
drawings, or of the variety and elegance of the other patterns, in a
work of moderate dimensions like the present. Mr. Layard, in his Second
Series of "Monuments," has done justice to the subject by pictorial
representation, while in his "Nineveh and Babylon" he has described the
more important of the vessels separately. The curious student will do
well to consult these two works, after which he may examine with
advantage the originals in the British Museum.
[Illustration: PLATE 76]
One of the most remarkable features observable in this whole series of
monuments, is its semi-Egyptian character. The occurrence of the scarab
has been just noticed. It appears on the bowls frequently, as do
sphinxes of an Egyptian type; while sometimes heads and head-dresses
purely Egyptian are found, as in [PLATE LXXVI., Fig. 2], which are
well-known forms, and have nothing Assyrian about them and in one or two
instances we meet with hieroglyphics, the _onk_ (or symbol of life),
[Illustration: _onk_ on page 223]
the ibis, etc. These facts may seem at first sight to raise a great
question namely, whether, afterall, the art of the Assyrians was really
of home growth, or was not rather imported from the Egyptians, either
directly or by way of Phoenicia. Such a view has been sometimes taken;
but the most cursory study of the Assyrian remains _in chronological
order_, is sufficient to disprove the theory, since it will at once show
that the earliest specimens of Assyrian art are the most un-Egyptian in
character. No doubt there are certain analogies even here, as the
preference for the profile, the stiffness and formality, the ignorance
or disregard of perspective, and the like; but the analogies are exactly
such as would be tolerably sure to occur in the early efforts of any two
races not very dissimilar to one another, while the little resemblances
which alone prove connection, are entirely wanting. These do not appear
until we come to monuments which belong to the time of Sargon, when
direct connection between Egypt and Assyria seems to have begun, and
Egyptian captives are known to have been transported into Mesopotamia in
large numbers. It has been suggested that the entire series of Nimrud
vessels is Phoenician, and that they were either carried off as spoil
from Tyre and other Phoenician towns, or else were the workmanship of
Phoenician captives removed into Assyria from their own country. The
Sidonians and their kindred were, it is remarked, the most renowned
workers in metal of the ancient world, and their intermediate position
between Egypt and Assyria may, it is suggested, have been the cause of
the existence among them of a mixed art, half Assyrian, half Egyptian.
The theory is plausible; but upon the whole it seems mere consonant with
all the facts to regard the series in question as in reality Assyrian,
modified from the ordinary style by an influence derived from Egypt.
Either Egyptian artificers--captives probably--may have wrought the
bowls after Assyrian models, and have accidentally varied the common
forms, more or less, in the direction which was natural to them from old
habits; or Assyrian artificers, acquainted with the art of Egypt, and
anxious to improve their own from it, may have consciously adopted
certain details from the rival country. The workmanship, subjects, and
mode of treatment, are all, it is granted, "more Assyrian than
Egyptian," the Assyrian character being decidedly more marked than in
the case of the ivories which will be presently considered; yet even in
that case the legitimate conclusions seems to be that the specimens are
to be regarded as native Assyrian, but as produced abnormally, under a
strong foreign influence.
The usual material of the Assyrian ornamental metallurgy is bronze,
composed of one part of tin to ten of copper which are exactly the
proportions considered to be best by the Greeks and Romans, and still in
ordinary use at the present day. In some instances, where more than
common strength was required, as in the legs of tripods and tables, the
bronze was ingeniously cast over an inner structure of iron. This
practice was unknown to modern metallurgists until the discovery of the
Assyrian specimens, from which it has been successfully imitated.
We may presume that, besides bronze, the Assyrians used, to a certain
extent, silver and gold as materials for ornamental metal-work. The
earrings, bracelets, and armlets worn by the kings and the great
officers of state were probably of the more valuable metal, while the
similar ornaments worn by those of minor may have been of silver. [PLATE
LXXVI., Fig. 3.] One solitary specimen only of either class has been
found; but Mr. Layard discovered several moulds, with tasteful designs
for earrings, both at Nimrud and at Koyunjik; and the sculptures show
that both in these and the other personal ornaments a good deal of
artistic excellence was exhibited. The earrings are frequent in the form
of a cross, and are sometimes delicately chased. The armlets and
bracelets generally terminate in the heads of rams or bulls, which seem
to have been rendered with spirit and taste.
[Illustration: PLATE 77]
[Illustration: PLATE 78]
By one or two instances it appears that the Assyrians knew how to inlay
one metal with another. [PLATE LXXVI, Fig. 5.] The specimens discovered
are scarcely of an artistic character, being merely winged scarabaei,
outlined in gold on a bronze ground [PLATE LXXVI., Fig. 4.] The work,
however, is delicate, and the form very much more true to nature than
that which prevailed in Egypt.
The ivories of the Assyrians are inferior both to their metal castings
and to their bas-reliefs. They consist almost entirely of a single
series, discovered by Mr. Layard in a chamber of the North-West Palace
at Nimrud, in the near vicinity of slabs on which was engraved the name
of Sargon. The most remarkable point connected with them is the
thoroughly Egyptian character of the greater number which at first sight
have almost the appearance of being importations from the valley of the
Nile. Egyptian profiles, head-dresses, fashions of dressing the hair,
ornaments, attitudes, meet us at every turn; while sometimes we find the
representations of Egyptian gods, and in two cases hieroglyphics within
cartouches. (See [PLATE LXXVIII.]) A few specimens only are of a
distinctly Assyrian type, as a fragment of a panel, figured by Mr.
Layard [PLATE LXXVII., Fig. 1], and one or two others, in which the
guilloche border appears. These carvings are usually mere low reliefs,
occupying small panels or tablets, which were mortised or glued to the
woodwork of furniture. They were sometimes inlaid in parts with blue
grass, or with blue and green pastes let into the ivory, and at the same
time decorated with gilding. Now and then the relief is tolerably high,
and presents fragments of forms which seem to have had some artistic
merit. The best of these is the fore part of a lion walking among reeds
(p. 373), which presents analogies with the early art of Asia Minor.
[PLATE LXXVII., Fig. 3.] One or two stags' heads have likewise been
found, designed and wrought with much spirit and delicacy. [PLATE
LXXVII., Fig. 3.] It is remarked that several of the specimens show not
only a considerable acquaintance with art, but also an intimate
knowledge of the method of working in ivory. One head of a lion was "of
singular beauty," but unfortunately it fell to pieces at the very moment
of discovery.
It is possible that some of the objects here described may be actual
specimens of Egyptian art, sent to Sargon as tribute or presents, or
else carried off as plunder in his Egyptian expedition. The appearance,
however, which even the most Egyptian of them present, on a close
examination, is rather that of Assyrian works imitated from Egyptian
models than of genuine Egyptian productions. For instance, in the tablet
figured on the page opposite, where we see hieroglyphics within a
cartouche, the _onk_ or symbol of life, the solar disk, the double
ostrich-plume, the long hair-dress called _namms_, and the _tam_ or
_kukupha_ sceptre, all unmistakable Egyptian features--we observe a
style of drapery which is quite unknown in Egypt, while in several
respects it is Assyrian, or at least Mesopotamian. It is scanty, like
that of all Assyrian robed figures; striped, like the draperies of the
Chaldaeans and Babylonians: fringed with a broad fringe elaborately
colored, as Assyrian fringes are known to have been, and it has large
hanging sleeves also fringed, a fashion which appears once or twice upon
the Nimrud sculptures. [PLATE LXXVII, Fig. 4.] But if this specimen,
notwithstanding its numerous and striking Egyptian features, is rightly
regarded as Mesopotamian, it would seem to follow that the rest of the
series must still more decidedly be assigned to native genius.
[Illustration: PLATE 79]
The enamelled bricks of the Assyrians are among the most interesting
remains of their art. It is from these bricks alone that we are able to
judge at all fully of their knowledge and ideas with respect to color;
and it is from them also chiefly that an analysis has been made of the
coloring materials employed by the Assyrian artists. The bricks may be
divided into two classes--those which are merely patterned, and those
which contain designs representing men and animals. The patterned bricks
have nothing about them which is very remarkable. They present the usual
guilloches, rosettes, bands, scrolls, etc., such as are found in the
painted chambers and in the ornaments on dresses, varied with
geometrical figures, as circles, hexagons, octagons, and the like; and
sometimes with a sort of arcade-work, which is curious, if not very
beautiful. [PLATE LXXIX., Fig. 1.] The colors chiefly used in the
patterns are pale green, pale yellow, dark brown, and white. Now and
then an intense blue and a bright red occur, generally together; but
these positive hues are rare, and the taste of the Assyrians seems to
have led them to prefer, for their patterned walls, pale and dull hues.
The same preference appears, even more strikingly, in the bricks on
which designs are represented. There the tints almost exclusively used
are pale yellow, pale greenish blue, olive green, white, and a brownish
black. It is suggested that the colors have faded, but of this there is
no evidence. The Assyrians, when they used the primitive hues, seem,
except in the case of red, to have employed subdued tints of them, and
red they appear to have introduced very sparingly. Olive-green they
affected for grounds, and they occasionally used other half-tints. A
pale orange and a delicate lilac or pale purple were found at Khorsabad,
while brown (as already observed) is far more common on the bricks than
black. Thus the general tone of their coloring is quiet, not to say
sombre. There is no striving after brilliant effects. The Assyrian
artist seeks to please by the elegance of his forms and the harmony of
his hues, not to startle by a display of bright and strongly-contrasted
colors. The tints used in a single composition vary from three to five,
which latter number they seem never to exceed. The following are the
combinations of five hues which occur: brown, green, blue, dark yellow,
and pale yellow; orange, lilac, white, yellow, and olive-green.
Combinations of four hues are much more common: e.q., red, white,
yellow, and black; deep yellow, brown lilac, white, and pale yellow;
lilac, yellow, white, and green; yellow, blue, white, and brown, and
yellow, blue, white, and olive-green. Sometimes the tints are as few as
three, the ground in these cases being generally of a hue used also in
the figures. Thus we have yellow, blue, and white on a blue ground and
again the same colors on a yellow ground. We have also the simple
combinations of white and yellow on a blue ground, and of white and
yellow on an olive-green ground.
In every ease there is at harmony in the coloring. We find no harsh
contrasts. Either the tones are all subdued, or if any are intense and
positive, then all (or almost all) are so. Intense red occurs in two
fragments of patterned bricks found by Mr. Layard. It is balanced by
intense blue, and accompanied in each case by a full brown and a clear
white, while in one case it is further accompanied by a pale green,
which has a very good effect. A similar red appears on a design figured
by M. Botta. Its accompaniments are white, black, and full yellow. Where
lilac occurs, it is balanced by its complementary color, yellow, or by
yellow and orange, and further accompanied by white. It is noticeable
also that bright hues are not placed one against the other, but are
separated by narrow bands of white, or brown and white. This use of
white gives a great delicacy and refinement to the coloring, which is
saved by it, even where the hues are the strongest, from being coarse or
vulgar.
The drawing of the designs resembles that of the sculptures except that
the figures are generally slimmer and less muscular. The chief
peculiarity is the strength of the outline, which is almost always
colored differently from the object drawn, either white, black, yellow,
or brown. Generally it is of a uniform thickness (as in No. I., [PLATE
LXXIX., Fig. 2]), sometimes, though rarely, it has that variety which
characterizes good drawing (as in No. II., [PLATE LXXIX Fig. 2]).
Occasionally there is a curious combination of the two styles, as in the
specimen [PLATE LXXX., Fig. 1]--the most interesting yet
discovered--where the dresses of the two main figures are coarsely
outlined in yellow, while the remainder of the design is very lightly
sketched in a brownish black.
[Illustration: PLATE 80]
The size of the designs varies considerably. Ordinarily the figures are
small, each brick containing several; but sometimes a scale has been
adopted of such a size that portions of the same figure must have been
on different bricks. A foot and leg brought by Mr. Layard from Nimrud
must have belonged to a man a foot high; while part of a human face
discovered in the same locality is said to indicate the form to which
it belonged, a height of three feet. Such a size as this is, however,
very unusual.
It is scarcely necessary to state that the designs on the bricks are
entirely destitute of _chiaroscuro_. The browns and blacks, like the
blues, yellows, and reds, are simply used to express local color. They
are employed for hair, eyes, eye-brows, and sometimes for bows and
sandals. The other colors are applied as follows: yellow is used for
flesh, for shafts of weapons, for horse trappings, sometimes for horses,
for chariots, cups, earrings bracelets, fringes, for wing-feathers,
occasionally for helmets, and almost always for the hoofs of horses;
blue is used for shields, for horses, for some parts of horse-trappings,
armor, and dresses, for fish, and for feathers; white is employed for
the inner part of the eye, for the linen shirts worn by men, for the
marking on fish and feathers, for horses, for buildings, for patterns on
dresses, for rams' heads, and for portions of the tiara of the king.
Olive-green seems to occur only as a ground; red only in some parts of
the royal tiara, orange and lilac only in the wings of winged monsters.
It is doubtful how far we may trust the colors on the bricks as
accurately or approximately resembling the real local hues. In some
cases the intention evidently is to be true to nature, as in the eyes
and hair of men, in the representations of flesh, fish, shields, bows,
buildings, etc. The yellow of horses may represent cream-color, and the
blue may stand for gray, as distinct from white, which seems to have
been correctly rendered. The scarlet and white of the king's tiara is
likely to be true. When, however, we find eyeballs and eyebrows white,
while the inner part of the eye is yellow, the blade of swords yellow,
and horses' hoofs blue we seem to have proof that, sometimes at any
rate, local color was intentionally neglected, the artist limiting
himself to certain hues, and being therefore obliged to render some
objects untruly. Thus we must not conclude front the colors of dresses
and horse trappings on the bricks which are three only, yellow, blue and
white--that the Assyrians used no other hues than those, even for the
robes of their kings. It is far more probable that they employed a
variety of tints in their apparel, but did not attempt to render that
variety on the ordinary painted bricks.
The pigments used by the Assyrians seem to have derived their tints
entirely from minerals. The opaque white is found to be oxide of tin;
the yellow is the antimoniate of lead, or Naples yellow, with a slight
admixture of tin; the blue is oxide of copper, without any cobalt; the
green is also from copper; the brown is from iron; and the red is a
suboxide of copper. The bricks were slightly baked before being painted;
they were then taken from the kiln, painted and enamelled on one side
only, the flux and glazes used being composed of silicate of soda aided
by oxide of lead; thus prepared, they were again submitted to the action
of fire, care being taken to place the painted side upwards, and having
been thoroughly baked were then ready for use.
The Assyrian intaglios on stones and gems are commonly of a rude
description; but occasionally they exhibit a good deal of delicacy, and
sometimes even of grace. They are cut upon serpentine, jasper,
chalcedony, cornelian, agate, sienite, quartz, loadstone, amazon-stone,
and lapis-lazuli. The usual form of the stone is cylindrical; the sides,
however, being either slightly convex or slightly concave, most
frequently the latter. [PLATE LXXIX., Fig. 3.] The cylinder is always
perforated in the direction of its axis. Besides this ordinary form, a
few gems shaped like the Greek--that is, either round or oval--have been
found: and numerous impressions from such gems on sealing-clay show that
they must have been a tolerably common. The subjects which occur are
mostly the same as those on the sculptures--warriors pursuing their
foes, hunters in full chase, the king slaying a lion, winged bulls
before the sacred tree, acts of worship and other religious or
mythological scenes. [PLATE LXXXI. Fig. 1.] There appears to have been a
gradual improvement in the workmanship from the earliest period to the
time of Sennacherib, when the art culminates. A cylinder found in the
ruins of Sennacherib's palace at Koyunjik, which is believed with reason
to have been his signet, is scarcely surpassed in delicacy of execution
by any intaglio of the Greeks. [PLATE LXXXI., Fig. 1.] The design has a
good deal of the usual stiffness, though even here something may be said
for the ibex or wild-goat which stands upon the lotus flower to the
left: but the special excellence of the gem is in the fineness and
minuteness of its execution. The intaglio is not very deep but all the
details are beautifully sharp and distinct, while they are on so small a
scale that it requires a magnifying glass to distinguish them. The
material of the cylinder is translucent green felspar, or amazon-stone,
one of the hardest substances known to the lapidary.
[Illustration: PLATE 81]
The fictile art of the Assyrians in its higher branches, as employed for
directly artistic purposes, has been already considered; but a few pages
may be now devoted to the humbler divisions of the subject, where the
useful preponderates over the ornamental. The pottery of Assyria bears a
general resemblance in shape, form, and use to that of Egypt; but still
it has certain specific differences. According to Mr. Birch, it is,
generally speaking, "finer in its paste, brighter in its color, employed
in thinner masses, and for purposes not known in Egypt." Abundant and
excellent clay is furnished by the valley of the Tigris, more especially
by those parts of it which are subject to the annual inundation. The
chief employment of this material by the Assyrians was for bricks, which
were either simply dried in the sun, or exposed to the action of fire in
a kiln. In this latter case they seem to have been uniformly
slack-baked; they are light for their size, and are of a pale-red color.
The clay of which the bricks were composed was mixed with stubble or
vegetable fibre, for the purpose of holding it together--a practice
common to the Assyrians with the Egyptians and the Babylonians. This
fibre still appears in the sun-dried bricks, but has been destroyed by
the heat of the kiln in the case of the baked bricks, leaving behind it,
however, in the clay traces of the stalks or stems. The size and shape
of the bricks vary. They are most commonly square, or nearly so; but
occasionally the shape more resembles that of the ancient Egyptian and
modern English brick, the width being about half the length, and the
thickness half or two-thirds of the width. The greatest size to which
the square bricks attain is a length and width of about two feet. From
this maximum they descend by manifold gradations to a minimum of one
foot. The oblong bricks are smaller; they seldom much exceed a foot in
length, and in width vary from six to seven and a half inches. Whatever
the shape and size of the bricks, their thickness is nearly uniform, the
thinnest being as much as three inches in thickness, and the thickest
not more than four inches or four and a half. Each brick was made in a
wooden frame or mould. Most of the baked bricks were inscribed, not
however like the Chaldaean, the Egyptian, and the Babylonian, with an
inscription in a small square or oval depression near the centre of one
of the broad faces, but with one which either covered the whole of one
such face, or else ran along the edge. It is uncertain whether the
inscription was stamped upon the bricks by a single impression, or
whether it was inscribed by the potter with a triangular style. Mr.
Birch thinks the former was the means used, "as the trouble of writing
upon each brick would have been endless." Mr. Layard, however, is of a
different opinion.
In speaking of the Assyrian writing, some mention has been made of the
terra cotta cylinders and tablets, which in Assyria replaced the
parchment and papyrus of other nations, being the most ordinary writing
material in use through the country. The purity and fineness of the
material thus employed is very remarkable, as well as its strength, of
which advantage was taken to make the cylinders hollow, and thus at once
to render them cheaper and more portable. The terra cotta of the
cylinders and tablets is sometimes unglazed; sometimes the natural
surface has been covered with a "vitreous silicious glaze or white
coating." The color varies, being sometimes a bright polished brown,
sometimes a pale yellow, sometimes pink, and sometimes a very dark tint,
nearly black. The most usual color however for cylinders is pale yellow,
and for tablets light red, or pink. There is no doubt that in both these
cases the characters were impressed separately by the hand, a small
metal style of rod being used for the purpose.
[Illustration: PLATE 82]
Terra cotta vessels, glazed and unglazed, were in common use among the
Assyrians, for drinking and other domestic purposes. They comprised
vases, lamps, jugs, amphorae, saucers, jars, etc. [PLATE LXXX., Fig. 2.]
The material of the vessels is fine, though generally rather yellow in
tone. The shapes present no great novelty, being for the most part such
as are found both in the old Chaldaean tombs, and in ordinary Roman
sepulchres. Among the most elegant are the funeral urns discovered by M.
Botta at Khorsabad, which are with a small opening at top, a short and
very scanty pedestal, and two raised rings, one rather delicately
chased, by way of ornament. [PLATE LXXXI., Fig. 2.] Another graceful
form is that of the large jars uncovered at Nimrud [PLATE LXXXII., Fig.
1], of which Mr. Layard gives a representation. Still more tasteful are
some of the examples which occur upon the bas-reliefs, and seemingly
represent earthen vases. Among these may be particularized a lustral
ewer resting in a stand supported by bulls' feet, which appears in front
of a temple at Khorsabad [PLATE LXXXI., Fig. 3], and a wine vase (see
[PLATE LXXXI., Fig. 4]) of ample dimensions, which is found in a banquet
scene at the same place. Some of the lamps are also graceful enough, and
seem to be the prototypes out of which were developed the more elaborate
productions of the Greeks. [PLATE LXXXII., Fig. 2.] Others are more
simple, being without ornament of any kind, and nearly resembling a
modern tea-pot (see No., IV. [PLATE LXXXII., Fig. 2.]) The glazed
pottery is, for the most part, tastefully colored. An amphora, with
twisted arms, found at Nimrud (see [PLATE LXXXIII., Fig. 1]) is of two
colors, a warm yellow, and a cold bluish green. The green predominates
in the upper, the yellow in the under portion; but there is a certain
amount of blending or mottling in the mid-region, which has a very
pleasant effect. A similarly mottled character is presented by two other
amphorae from the same place, where the general hue is a yellow which
varies in intensity, and the mottling is with a violet blue. In some
cases the colors are not blended, but sharply defined by lines, as in a
curious spouted cup figured by Mr. Layard, and in several fragmentary
specimens. Painted patterns are not uncommon upon the glazed pottery,
though upon the unglazed they are scarcely ever found. The most usual
colors are blue, yellow, and white; brown, purple, and lilac have been
met with occasionally. These colors are thought to be derived chiefly
from metallic oxides, over which was laid as a glazing a vitreous
silicated substance. On the whole, porcelain of this fine kind is rare
in the Assyrian remains, and must be regarded as a material that was
precious and used by few.
[Illustration: PLATE 83]
Assyrian glass is among the most beautiful of the objects which have
been exhumed. M. Botta compared it to certain fabrics of Venice and
Bohemia, into which a number sit different colors are artificially
introduced. But a careful analysis has shown that the lovely prismatic
hues which delight us in the Assyrian specimens, varying under different
lights with all the delicacy and brilliancy of the opal, are due, not to
art, but to the wonder-working hand of time, which, as it destroys the
fabric, compassionately invests it with additional grace and beauty.
Assyrian glass was either transparent or stained with a single uniform
color. It was composed, in the usual way, by a mixture of sand or silex
with alkalis, and, like the Egyptian, appears to have been first rudely
fashioned into shape by the blowpipe. It was then more carefully shaped,
and, where necessary, hollowed out by a turning machine, the Marks of
which are sometimes still visible. The principal specimens which have
been discovered are small bottles and bowls, the former not more than
three or four inches high, the latter from four to five inches in
diameter, [PLATE LXXXIII., Fig. 4.] The vessels are occasionally
inscribed with the name of a king, as is the case in the famous vase of
Sargon, found by Mr. Layard at Nimrud, which is here figured. [PLATE
LXXXIII., Fig. 2.] This is the earliest known specimen of _transparent
glass_, which is not found in Egypt until the time of the Psammetichi.
The Assyrians used also opaque glass, which they colored, sometimes red,
with the suboxide of copper, sometimes white, sometimes of other hues.
They seem not to have been able to form masses of glass of any
considerable size; and thus the employment of the material must have
been limited to a few ornamental, rather than useful, purposes. A
curious specimen is that of a pipe or tube, honey-combed externally,
which Mr. Layard exhumed at Koyunjik, and of which the cut [PLATE
LXXXIII., Fig. 1] is a rough representation.
An object found at Nimrud, in close connection with several glass
vessels, is of a character sufficiently similar to render its
introduction in this place not inappropriate. This is a lens composed of
rock crystal, about an inch and a half in diameter, and nearly an inch
thick, having one plain and one convex surface, and somewhat rudely
shaped and polished which, however gives a tolerably distinct focus at
the distance of 4 1/2 inches from the plane side, and which may have
been used either as a magnifying glass or to concentrate the rays of the
sun. The form is slightly oval, the longest diameter being one and
six-tenths inch, the shortest one and four-tenths inch. The thickness is
not uniform, but greater on one side than on the other. The plane
surface is ill-polished and scratched, the convex one, not polished on a
concave spherical disk, but fashioned on a lapidary's wheel, or by some
method equally rude. As a burn, glass the lens has no great power; but
it magnifies fairly, and may have been of great use to those who
inscribed, or to those who sought to decipher, the royal memoirs. It is
the only object of the kind that has been found among the remains of
antiquity, though it cannot he doubled that lenses were known and were
used as burning glasses by the Greeks.
Some examples have been already given illustrating the tasteful
ornamentation of Assyrian furniture. It consisted, so far as we know, of
tables, chairs, couches, high stools, foot-stools, and stands with
shelves to hold the articles needed for domestic purposes. As the
objects themselves have in all cases ceased to exist, leaving behind
them only a few fragments, it is necessary to have recourse to the
bas-reliefs for such notices as may be thence derived of their
construction and character. In these representations the most ordinary
form of table is one in which the principal of our camp-stools seems to
be adopted, the legs crossing each other as in the illustrations [PLATE
LXXXIV.]. only two legs are represented, but we must undoubtedly regard
these two as concealing two others of the same kind at the opposite end
of the table. The legs ordinarily terminate in the feet of animals,
sometimes of bulls, but more commonly of horses. Sometimes between the
two legs we see a species of central pillar, which, however, is not
traceable below the point where the legs cross one another. The pillar
itself is either twisted or plain (see No. III., [PLATE LXXXIV.]).
Another form of table, less often met with, but simpler, closely
resembles the common table of the moderns. It has merely the necessary
flat top, with perpendicular legs at the corners. The skill of the
cabinet-makers enabled them to dispense in most instances with
cross-bars (see No. I.), which are, however, sometimes seen (see No.
II., No. III., and No. IV.), uniting the legs of this kind of tables.
The corners are often ornamented with lions' or rams' heads, and the
feet are frequently in imitation of some animal form (see No. III. and
No. IV.). Occasionally we find a representation of a three-legged table,
as the specimen [PLATE LXXXIV., Fig. 4], which is from a relief at
Koyunjik. The height of tables appears to have been greater than with
ourselves; the lowest reach easily to a man's middle; the highest are
level with the upper part of the chest.
[Illustration: PLATE 84]
Assyrian thrones and chairs were very elaborate. The throne of
Sennacherib exhibited on its sides and arms three rows of carved
figures, one above another (PLATE LXXXIV.,Fig. 3), supporting the bars
with their hands. The bars, the arms, and the back were patterned. The
legs ended in a pine-shaped ornament very common in Assyrian furniture.
Over the back was thrown an embroidered cloth hinged at the end, which
hung down nearly to the floor. A throne of Sargon's was adorned on its
sides with three human figures, apparently representations of the king,
below which was the war-horse of the monarch, caparisoned as for battle.
[PLATE LXXXV., Fig. 1.] Another throne of the same monarch's had two
large and four small figures of men at the side, while the back was
supported on either side by a human figure of superior dimensions. The
use of chairs with high backs, like these, was apparently confined to
the monarchs. Persons of less exalted rank were content to sit on seats
which were either stools, or chairs with a low back level with the arms.
[Illustration: PLATE 85]
Seats of this kind, whether thrones or chairs, were no doubt constructed
mainly of wood. The ornamental work may, however, have been of bronze,
either cast into the necessary shape, or wrought into it by the hammer.
The animal heads at the ends of arms seem to have fallen under the
latter description [PLATE LXXXV., Fig. 2.] In some cases, ivory was
among the materials used: it has been found in the legs of a throne at
Koyunjik, and may not improbably have entered into the ornamentation of
the best furniture very much more generally.
The couches which we find represented upon the sculptures are of a
simple character. The body is flat, not curved; the legs are commonly
plain, and fastened to each other by a cross-bar, sometimes terminating
in the favorite pine-shaped ornament. One end only is raised, and this
usually curves inward nearly in a semicircle. [PLATE LXXXV., Fig. 3.]
The couches are decidedly lower than the Egyptian; and do not, like
them, require a stool or steps in order to ascend them.
Stools, however, are used with the chairs or thrones of which mention
was made above--lofty seats, where such a support for the sitter's feet
was imperatively required. [PLATE LXXXV.. Fig. 4.] They are sometimes
plain at the sides, and merely cut _en chevron_ at the base; sometimes
highly ornamented, terminating in lions' feet supported on cones, in the
same (or in volutes), supported on balls, and otherwise adorned with
volutes, lion castings, and the like. The most elaborate specimen is the
stool (No. III.) which supports the feet of Asshur-bani-pal's queen on a
relief brought from the North Palace at Koyunjik, and now in the
National Collection. Here the upper corners exhibit the favorite
gradines, guarding and keeping in place an embroidered cushion; the legs
are ornamented with rosettes and with horizontal mouldings, they are
connected together by two bars, the lower one adorned with a number of
double volutes, and the upper one with two lions standing back to back;
the stool stands on balls, surmounted first by a double moulding, and
then by volutes.
Stands with shelves often terminate, like other articles of furniture,
in animals' feet, most commonly lions', as in the accompanying
specimens. [PLATE LXXXV., Fig. 5.]
Of the embroidered robes and draperies of the Assyrians, as of their
furniture, we can judge only by the representations made of them upon
the bas-reliefs. The delicate texture of such fabrics has prevented them
from descending to our day even in the most tattered condition; and the
ancient testimonies on the subject are for the most part too remote from
the times of the Assyrians to be of much value. Ezekiel's notice is the
only one which comes within such a period of Assyria's fall as to make
it an important testimony, and even from this we cannot gather much that
goes beyond the evidence of the sculptures. The sculptures show us that
robes and draperies of all kinds were almost always more or less
patterned; and this patterning, which is generally of an extremely
elaborate kind, it is reasonable to conclude was the work of the needle.
Sometimes the ornamentation is confined to certain portions of garments,
as to the ends of sleeves and the bottoms of robes or tunics; at others
it is extended over the whole dress. This is more particularly the case
with the garments of the kings, which are of a magnificence difficult to
describe, or to represent within a narrow compass. [PLATE LXXXVI, Fig.
1.] One or two specimens, however, may be given almost at random,
indicating different styles of ornamentation usual in the royal apparel.
Other examples will be seen in the many illustrations throughout this
volume where the king is represented. It is remarkable that the earliest
representations exhibit the most elaborate types of all, after which a
reaction seems to set in simplicity is affected, which, however, is
gradually trenched upon, until at last a magnificence is reached little
short of that which prevailed in the age of the first monuments. The
draperies of Asshur-izir-pal in the north-west palace at Nimrud, are at
once more minutely labored and more tasteful than those of any later
time. Besides elegant but unmeaning patterns, they exhibit human and
animal forms, sacred trees, sphinxes, griffins, winged horses, and
occasionally bull-hunts and lion-hunts. The upper part of this king's
dress is in one instance almost covered with figures, which range
themselves round a circular breast ornament, whereof the cut opposite is
a representation. Elsewhere his apparel is less superb, and indeed it
presents almost every degree of richness, from the wonderful embroidery
of the robe just mentioned to absolute plainness. In the celebrated
picture of the lion-hunt. [PLATE LXXXVI., Fig. 2.] With Sargon, the next
king who has left many monuments, the case is remarkably different.
Sargon is represented always in the same dress--a long fringed robe,
embroidered simply with rosettes, which are spread somewhat scantily
over its whole surface. Sennacherib's apparel is nearly of the same
kind, or, if anything, richer, though sometimes the rosettes are omitted
His grandson, Asshur-bani-pal, also affects the rosette ornament, but
reverts alike to the taste and the elaboration of the early kings. He
wears a breast ornament containing human figures, around which are
ranged a number of minute and elaborate patterns. [PLATE LXXXVII.]
[Illustration: PLATE 86]
[Illustration: PLATE 87]
To this account of the arts, mimetic and other, in which the Assyrians
appear to have excelled, it might be expected that there should be added
a sketch of their scientific knowledge. On this subject, however, so
little is at present known, while so much may possibly become known
within a short time, that it seems best to omit it, or to touch it only
in the lightest and most cursory manner. When the numerous tablets now
in the British Museum shall have been deciphered, studied, and
translated, it will probably be found that they contain a tolerably full
indication of what Assyrian science really was, and it will then be seen
how far it was real and valuable, in what respects mistaken and
illusory. At present this mine is almost unworked, nothing more having
been ascertained than that the subjects whereof the tables treat are
various, and their apparent value very different. Comparative philology
seems to have been largely studied, and the works upon it exhibit great
care and diligence. Chronology is evidently much valued, and very exact
records are kept whereby the lapse of time can even now be accurately
measured. Geography and history have each an important place in Assyrian
learning; while astronomy and mythology occupy at least as great a share
of attention. The astronomical observations recorded are thought to be
frequently inaccurate, as might be expected when there were no
instruments, or none of any great value. Mythology is a very favorite
subject, and appears to be treated most fully; but hitherto cuneiform
scholars have scarcely penetrated below the surface of the mythological
tablets, baffled by the obscurity of the subject and the difficulty of
the dialect (in) which they are written.
[Illustration: PLATE 88]
On one point alone, belonging to the domain of science, do the Assyrian
representations of their life enable us to comprehend, at least to some
extent, their attainments. The degree of knowledge which this people
possessed on the subject of practical mechanics is illustrated with
tolerable fulness in the bas-reliefs, more especially in the important
series discovered at Koyunjik, where the transport of the colossal bulls
from the quarry to the palace gateways is represented in the most
elaborate detail. [PLATE LXXXVIII.] The very fact that they were able to
transport masses of stone, many tons in weight, over a considerable
space of ground, and to place then on the summit of artificial platforms
from thirty to eighty (or ninety) feet high, would alone indicate
considerable mechanical knowledge. The further fact, now made clear from
the bas-reliefs, that they wrought all the elaborate carving of the
colossi before they proceeded to raise them or put them in place, is an
additional argument of their skill, since it shows that they had no fear
of any accident happening in the transport. It appears from the
representations that they placed their colossus in a standing posture,
not on a truck or wagon of any kind, but on a huge wooden sledge, shaped
nearly like a boat, casing it with an openwork of spars or beams, which
crossed each other at right angles, and were made perfectly tight by
means of wedges. To avert the great danger of the mass toppling over
sideways, ropes were attached to the top of the casing, at the point
where the beams crossed one another, and were held taut by two parties
of laborers, one on either side of the statue. Besides these, wooden
forks or props were applied on either side to the second set of
horizontal cross-beams, held also by men whose business it would be to
resist the least inclination of the huge stone to lean to one side more
than to the other. The front of the sledge on which the colossus stood
was curved gently upwards, to facilitate its sliding along the ground,
and to enable it to rise with readiness upon the rollers, which were
continually placed before it by laborers just in front, while others
following behind gathered them up when the bulky mass had passed over
there. The motive power was applied in front by four gangs of men who
held on to four large cables, at which they pulled by means of small
ropes or straps fastened to them, and passed under one shoulder and over
the other--an arrangement which enabled them to pull by weight as much
as by muscular strength, as the annexed figure will plainly show. [PLATE
LXXXIX., Fig. 1.] The cables appear to have been of great strength, and
are fastened carefully to four strong projecting pins--two near the
front, two at the back part of the sledge, by a knot so tied that it
would be sure not to slip. [PLATE LXXXIX., Fig. 4.] Finally, as in spite
of the rollers, whose use in diminishing friction, and so facilitating
progress, was evidently well understood, and in spite of the amount of
force applied in front, it would have been difficult to give the first
impetus to so great a mass, a lever was skilfully applied behind to
raise the hind part of the sledge slightly, and so propel it forward,
while to secure a sound and firm fulcrum, wedges of wood were inserted
between the lever and the ground. The greater power of a lever at a
distance from the fulcrum being known, ropes were attached to its upper
end, which could not otherwise have been reached, and the lever was
worked by means of them.
We have thus unimpeachable evidence as to the mode whereby the
conveyance of huge blocks of stone along level ground was effected. But
it may be further asked, how were the blocks raised up to the elevation
at which we find them placed? Upon this point there is no direct
evidence; but the probability is that they were drawn up inclined ways,
sloping gently from the natural ground to the top of the platforms. The
Assyrians were familiar with inclined ways, which they used almost
always in their attacks on walled places, and which in many cases they
constructed either of brick or stone. The Egyptians certainly employed
them for the elevation of large blocks; and probably in the earlier
times most nations who affected massive architecture had recourse to the
same simple but uneconomical plan. The crane and pulley were applied to
this purpose later. In the Assyrian sculptures we find no application of
either to building, and no instance at all of the two in combination.
Still each appears on the bas-reliefs separately--the crane employed for
drawing water from the rivers, and spreading it over the lands, the
pulley for lowering and raising the bucket in wells. [PLATE LXXXIX.,
Fig. 3.]
[Illustration: PLATE 89]
We must conclude from these facts that the Assyrians had made
considerable advances in mechanical knowledge, and were, in fact,
acquainted, more or less, with most of the contrivances whereby heavy
weights have commonly been moved and raised among the civilized nations
of Europe. We have also evidence of their skill in the mechanical
processes of shaping pottery and glass, of casting and embossing metals,
and of cutting intaglios upon hard stones. Thus it was not merely in the
ruder and coarser, but likewise in the more delicate processes, that
they excelled. The secrets of metallurgy, of dyeing, enamelling,
inlaying, glass-blowing, as well as most of the ordinary manufacturing
processes, were known to them. In all the common arts and appliances of
life, they must be pronounced at least on a par with the Egyptians,
while in taste they greatly exceeded, not that nation only, but all the
Orientals. Their "high art" is no doubt much inferior to that of Greece;
but it has real merit, and is most remarkable considering the time when
it was produced. It has grandeur, dignity, boldness, strength, and
sometimes even freedom and delicacy; it is honest and painstaking,
unsparing of labor, and always anxious for truth. Above all, it is not
lifeless and stationary, like the art of the Egyptians and the Chinese,
but progressive and aiming at improvement. To judge by the advance over
previous works which we observe in the sculptures of the son of
Esarhaddon, it would seem that if Assyria had not been assailed by
barbaric enemies about his time, she might have anticipated by above a
century the finished excellence of the Greeks.
CHAPTER VII.
MANNERS AND CUSTOMS.
"Whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent, their horses' hoofs
shall be counted like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind."--ISA.
v. 28.
In reviewing, so far as our materials permit, the manners and customs of
the Assyrians, it will be convenient to consider separately their
warlike and their peaceful usages. The sculptures furnish very full
illustration of the former, while on the latter they throw light far
more sparingly.
The Assyrians fought in chariots, on horseback, and on foot. Like most
ancient nations, as the Egyptians, the Greeks in the heroic times, the
Canaanites, the Syrians, the Jews and Israelites, the Persians, the
Gauls, the Britons, and many others, the Assyrians preferred the chariot
as most honorable, and probably as most safe. The king invariably went
out to war in a chariot, and always fought from it, excepting at the
siege of a town, when he occasionally dismounted and shot his arrows on
foot. The chief state-officers and other personages of high rank
followed the same practice. Inferior persons served either as cavalry or
as foot-soldiers.
The Assyrian war-chariot is thought to have been made of wood. Like the
Greek and the Egyptian, it appears to have been mounted from behind
where it was completely open, or closed only by means of a shield, which
(as it seems) could be hung across the aperture. It was completely
panelled at the sides, and often highly ornamented, as will be seen from
the various illustrations given in this chapter. The wheels were two in
number, and were placed far back, at or very near the extreme end of the
body, so that the weight pressed considerably upon the pole, as was the
case also in Egypt. They had remarkably broad felloes, thin and delicate
spokes, and small or moderate sized axels. [PLATE LXXXIX. Fig. 2], and
[PLATE XC., Figs. 1, 2.] The number of the spokes was either six or
eight. The felloes appear to have been formed of three distinct circles
of wood, the middle one being the thinnest, and the outer one far the
thickest of the three. Sometimes these circles were fastened together
externally by bands of mental, hatchet-shaped. In one or two instances
we find the outermost circle divided by cross-bars, as if it had been
composed of four different pieces. Occasionally there is a fourth
circle, which seems to represent a metal tire outside the felloe,
whereby it was guarded from injury. This tire is either plain or
ornamented.
[Illustration: PLATE 90]
The wheels were attached to an axletree, about which they revolved, in
the usual manner. The body was placed directly upon the axletree and
upon the pole, without the intervention of any springs. The pole started
from the middle of the axle-tree, and, passing below the floor of the
body in a horizontal direction, thence commonly curved upwards till it
had risen to about half the height of the body, when it was again
horizontal for awhile, once more curving upwards at the end. It usually
terminated in an ornament, which was sometimes the head of an animal--a
bull, a horse, or a duck--sometimes a more elaborate and complicated
work of art. [PLATE XC., Fig. 3.] Now and then the pole continued level
with the bottom of the body till it had reached its full projection, and
then rose suddenly to the height of the top of the chariot. It was often
strengthened by one or more thin bars, probably of metal; which united
it to the upper part of the chariot-front.
Chariots were drawn either by two or three, never by four, horses. They
seem to have had but a single pole. Where three horses were used, one
must therefore have been attached merely by a rope or thong, like the
side horses of the Greeks, and, can scarcely have been of much service
for drawing the vehicle. He seems rightly regarded as a supernumerary,
intended to take the place of one of the others, should either be
disabled by a wound or accident. It is not easy to determine from the
sculptures how the two draught horses were attached to the pole. Where
chariots are represented without horses, we find indeed that they have
always a cross-bar or yoke; but where horses are represented in the act
of drawing a chariot, the cross-bar commonly disappears altogether. It
would seem that the Assyrian artists, despairing of their ability to
represent the yoke properly when it was presented to the eye end-wise,
preferred, for the most part, suppressing it wholly to rendering it in
an unsatisfactory manner. Probably a yoke did really in every case pass
over the shoulders of the two draught horses, and was fastened by straps
to the collar which is always seen round their necks.
These yokes, or cross-bars, were of various kinds. Sometimes they appear
to have consisted of a mere slight circular bar, probably of metal,
which passed through the pole; sometimes of a thicker spar, through
which the pole itself passed. In this latter case the extremities were
occasionally adorned with heads of animals. [PLATE XCI., Fig. 1.] The
most common kind of yoke exhibits a double curve, so as to resemble a
species of bow unstrung. [PLATE XCI., Fig. 2.] Now and then a specimen
is found very curiously complicated, being formed of a bar curved
strongly at either end, and exhibiting along its course four other
distinct curvatures having opposite to there apertures resembling eyes,
with an upper and a lower eyelid. [PLATE XCI., Fig. 3.] It has been
suggested that this yoke belonged to a four-horse chariot, and that to
each of the four eyes (_a a a a_) there was a steed attached; but, as no
representation of a four-horse chariot has been found, this suggestion
must be regarded as inadmissible. The probability seems to be that this
yoke, like the others, was for two horses, on whose necks it rested at
the points marked _b b_, the apertures (_c c c c_) lying thus on either
side of the animals' necks, and furnishing the means whereby the he was
fastened to the collar. It is just possible that we have in the
sculptures of the later period a representation of the extremities
(_d d_) of this kind of yoke, since in them a curious curve appears
sometimes on the necks of chariot-horses, just above the upper end of
the collar.
[Illustration: PLATE 91]
Assyrian chariots are exceedingly short: but, apparently, they must have
been of a considerable width. They contain two persons at the least; and
this number is often increased to three, and sometimes even to four.
[PLATE XCI. Fig. 4.] The warrior who fights from a chariot is
necessarily attended by his charioteer; and where he is a king, or a
personage of high importance, he is accompanied by a second attendant,
who in battle-scenes always bears a shield, with which he guards the
person of his master. Sometimes, though rarely, four persons are seen in
a chariot--the king or chief, the charioteer, and two guards, who
protect the monarch on either side with circular shields or targes. The
charioteer is always stationed by the side of the warrior, not as
frequently with the Greeks, behind him. The guards stand behind, and,
owing to the shortness of the chariot, must have experienced some
difficulty in keeping their places. They are evidently forced to lean
back-wards from want of room, and would probably have often fallen out,
had they not grasped with one hand a rope or strap firmly fixed to the
front of the vehicle.
There are two principal types of chariots in the Assyrian sculptures,
which may be distinguished as the earlier and the later. The earlier are
comparatively low and short. The wheels are six-spoked, and of small
diameter. The body is plain, or only ornamented by a border, and is
rounded in front, like the Egyptian and the classical chariots. [PLATE
XCII., Fig 1.] Two quivers are suspended diagonally at the side of the
body, while a rest for a spear, commonly fashioned into the shape of a
human head, occupies the upper corner at the back. From the front of the
body to the further end of the pole, which is generally patterned and
terminates in the head and neck of a ball or a duck, extends an
ornamented structure, thought to have been of linen or silk stitched
upon a framework of wood, which is very conspicuous in the
representation. A shield commonly hangs behind these chariots, perhaps
closing the entrance; and a standard is sometimes fixed in them towards
the front, connected with the end of the pole by a rope or bar.
[Illustration: PLATE 92]
The later chariots are loftier and altogether larger than the earlier.
The wheel is eight spoked, and reaches as high as the shoulders of the
horses, which implies a diameter of about five feet. [PLATE XCII., Fig.
2. ] The body rises a foot or rather more, above this; and the riders
thus from their elevated position command the whole battle-field. The
body is not rounded, but made square in front: it has no quivers
attached to it externally, but has, instead, a projection at one or both
of the corners which seems to have served as an arrow-case. This
projection is commonly patterned, as is in many cases the entire body of
the chariot, though sometimes the ornamentation is confined to an
elegant but somewhat scanty border. The poles are plain, not patterned,
sometimes, however, terminating in the head of a horse; there is no
ornamental framework connecting them with the chariot, but in its stead
we see a thin bar, attached to which, either above or below, there is in
most instances a loop, whereto we may suppose that the reins were
occasionally fastened. No shield is suspended behind these chariots; but
we sometimes observe an embroidered drapery hanging over the back, in a
way which would seem to imply that they were closed behind, at any rate
by a cross-bar.
The trappings of the chariot-horses belonging to the two periods are not
very different. They consist principally of a headstall, a collar, a
breast-ornament, and a sort of huge tassel pendent at the horse's side.
The headstall was formed commonly of three straps: one was attached to
the bit at either end, and passed behind the ears over the neck;
another, which was joined to this above, encircled the smallest part of
the neck; while a third, crossing the first at right angles, was carried
round the forehead and the cheek bones. At the point where the first and
second joined, or a little in front of this, rose frequently a waving
plume, or a crest composed of three huge tassels, one above another;
while at the intersection of the second and third was placed a rosette
or other suitable ornament. The first strap was divided where it
approached the bit into two or three smaller straps, which were attached
to the bit in different places. A fourth strap sometimes passed across
the nose from the point where the first strap subdivided. All the straps
were frequently patterned; the bit was sometimes shaped into an animal
form and streamers occasional floated from the nodding plume or crest
which crowned the heads of the war-steeds.
The collar is ordinarily represented as a mere broad band passing round
the neck, not of the withers (as with ourselves). but considerably
higher up, almost midway between the withers and the cheek-bone.
Sometimes it is of uniform width while often it narrows greatly as it
approaches the back of the neck. It is generally patterned, and appears
to have been a mere flat leathern band. It is impossible to say in what
exact way the pole was attached to it, though in the later sculptures we
have elaborate representations of the fastening. The earlier sculptures
seem to append to the collar one or more patterned straps, which,
passing round the horse's belly immediately behind the fore legs, served
to keep it in place, while at the same time they were probably regarded
as ornamental; but under the later kings these belly Lands were either
reduced to a single strap, or else dispensed with altogether.
The breast-ornament consists commonly of a fringe, more or less
complicated. The simplest form, which is that of the most ancient times,
exhibits a patterned strap with a single row of long tassels pendent
from it, as in the annexed representation. At a later date we find a
double and even a triple row of tassels.
The pendent side-ornament is a very conspicuous portion of the
trappings. It is attached to the collar either by a long straight strap
or by a circular band which falls on either side of the neck. The upper
extremity is often shaped into the form of an animal's head, below which
comes most commonly a circle or disk, ornamented with a rosette, a
Maltese cross, a winged bull, or other sacred emblem, while below the
circle hang huge tassels in a single row or smaller ones arranged in
several rows. In the sculptures of Sargon at Khorsabad, the tassels of
both the breast and side ornaments were colored, the tints being in most
cases alternately red and blue.
Occasionally the chariot-horses were covered from the ears almost to the
tail with rich cloths, magnificently embroidered over their whole
surface.' [PLATE XCIII., Fig. 2.] These cloths encircled the neck, which
they closely fitted, and, falling on either side of the body, were then
kept in place by means of a broad strap round the rump and a girth under
the belly.
[Illustration: PLATE 93]
A simpler style of clothing chariot-horses is found towards the close of
the later period, where we observe, below the collar, a sort of triple
breastplate, and over the rest of the body a plain cloth, square cut,
with flaps descending at the arms and quarters, which is secured in its
place by three narrow straps fastened on externally. The earlier kind of
clothing has the appearance of being for ornament but this looks as if
it was meant solely for protection.
Besides the trappings already noticed, the Assyrian chariot-horses had
frequently strings of beads suspended round their necks, between the
ears and the collar; they had also, not unfrequently, tassels or bells
attached to different parts of the headstall [PLATE XCIII., Fig. 3], and
finally they had, in the later period most commonly, a curious ornament
upon the forehead, which covered almost the whole space between the ears
and the eyes, and was composed of a number of minute bosses, colored,
like the tassels of the breast ornament, alternately red and blue.
Each horse appears to have been driven by two reins--one attached to
either end of the bit in the ordinary manner, and each passed through a
ring or loop in the harness, whereby the rein was kept down and a
stronger purchase secured to the driver. The shape of the bit within the
mouth, if we may judge by the single instance of an actual bit which
remains to us, bore a near resemblance to the modern snaffle. [PLATE
XCIV., Fig. 1.] Externally the bit was large, and in most cases
clumsy--a sort of cross-bar extending across the whole side of the
horse's face, commonly resembling a double axe-head, or a hammer.
Occasionally the shape was varied, the hatchet or hammer being replaced
by forms similar to those annexed, or by the figure of a horse at full
gallop. The rein seems, in the early times, to have been attached about
midway in the cross-bar, while afterwards it became usual to attach it
near the lower end. This latter arrangement was probably found to
increase the power of the driver.
[Illustration: PLATE 94]
The use of the bearing-rein, which prevailed in Egypt, was unknown to
the Assyrians, or disapproved by them. The driving-reins were separate,
not stitched or buckled together, and were held in the two hands
separately. The right hand grasped the reins, whatever their number,
which were attached at the horses' right cheeks, while the left hand
performed the same office with the remaining reins. The charioteer urged
his horses onward with a powerful whip, having a short handle, and a
thick plaited or twisted lash, attached like the lash of a modern
horsewhip, sometimes with, sometimes without, a loop, and often
subdivided at the end into two or three tails. [PLATE XCIV., Fig. 4.]
Chariot-horses were trained to three paces, a walk, a trot, and a
gallop. In battle-pieces they are commonly represented at full speed, in
marches trotting, in processions walking in a stately manner. Their
manes were frequently hogged, though more commonly they lay on the neck,
falling (apparently) upon either side indifferently. Occasionally a
portion only was hogged, while the greater part remained in its natural
condition. The tail was uncut, and generally almost swept the ground,
but was confined by a string or ribbon tied tightly around it about
midway. Sometimes, more especially in the later sculptures, the lower
half of the tail is plaited and tied up into a loop or bunch [PLATE
XCIV., Fig. 5], according to the fashion which prevails in the present
day through most parts of Turkey and Persia.
The warrior who fought from a chariot was sometimes merely dressed in a
tunic, confined at the waist by a belt; sometimes, however, he wore a
coat of mail, very like the Egyptian, consisting of a sort of shirt
covered with small plates or scales of metal. This shirt reached at
least as low as the knees, beneath which the chariot itself was
sufficient protection. It had short sleeves, which covered the shoulder
and upper part of the arm, but left the elbow and fore-arm quite
undefended. The chief weapon of the warrior was the bow, which is always
seen in his hands, usually with the arrow upon the string; he wears,
besides, a short sword, suspended at his left side by a strap, and he
has commonly a spear within his reach; but we never see him using
either of these weapons. He either discharges his arrows against the foe
from the standing-board of his chariot, or, commanding the charioteer to
halt, descends, and, advancing a few steps before his horses' heads,
takes a surer and more deadly aim from _terra firma_. In this case his
attendant defends him from missiles by extending in front of him a
shield, which he holds in his left hand, while at the same time he makes
ready to repel any close assailant by means of a spear or sword grasped
firmly in his right. The warrior's face and arms are always bare;
sometimes the entire head is undefended, though more commonly it has the
protection of a helmet. This, however, is without a visor, and does not
often so much as cover the ears. In some few instances only is it
furnished with flaps or lappets, which, where they exist, seem to be
made of metal scales, and, falling over the shoulders, entirely conceal
the ears, the back of the head, the neck, and even the chin.
The position occupied by chariots in the military system of Assyria is
indicated in several passages of Scripture, and distinctly noticed by
many of the classical writers. When Isaiah began to warn his countrymen
of the 'miseries in store for them at the hands of the new enemy which
first attacked Judea in his day, he described them as a people "whose
arrows were sharp, and all their bows bent, whose horses' hoofs should
be counted like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind." When in after
days he was commissioned to raise their drooping courage by assuring
them that they would escape Sennacherib, who had angered God by his
pride, he noticed, as one special provocation of Jehovah, that monarch's
confidence in the multitude of his chariots. Nahum again, having to
denounce the approaching downfall of the haughty nation, declares that
God is "against her, and will burn her chariots in the smoke." In the
fabulous account which Ctesias gave of the origin of Assyrian greatness,
the war-chariots of Ninus were represented as amounting to nearly eleven
thousand, while those of his wife and successor, Semiramis, were
estimated at the extravagant number of a hundred thousand. Ctesias
further stated that the Assyrian chariots, even at this early period,
were armed with scythes, a statement contradicted by Xenophon, who
ascribes this invention to the Persians, and one which receives no
confirmation from the monuments. Amid all this exaggeration and
inventiveness, one may still trace a knowledge of the fact that
war-chariots were highly esteemed by the Assyrians from a very ancient
date, while from other notices we may gather that they continued to be
reckoned an important arm of the military service to the very end of the
empire.
Next to the war-chariots of the Assyrians we must place their cavalry,
which seems to have been of scarcely less importance in their wars.
Ctesias, who amid all his exaggerations shows glimpses of some real
knowledge of the ancient condition of the Assyrian people, makes the
number of the horsemen in their armies always greatly exceed that of the
chariots. The writer of the book of Judith gives Holofernes 12,000
horse-archers, and Ezekiel seems to speak of all the "desirable young
men" as "horsemen riding upon horses." The sculptures show on the whole
a considerable excess of cavalry over chariots, though the preponderance
is not uniformly exhibited throughout the different periods.
During the time of the Upper dynasty, cavalry appears to have been but
little used. Tiglath-Pileser I. in the whole of his long Inscription has
not a single mention of them, though he speaks of his chariots
continually. In the sculptures of Asshur-izir-pal, the father of the
Black-Obelisk king, while chariots abound, horsemen occur only in rare
instances. Afterwards, under Sargon and Sennacherib, we notice a great
change in this respect. The chariot comes to be almost confined to the
king, while horsemen are frequent in the battle scenes.
In the first period the horses' trappings consisted of a head-stall, a
collar, and one or more strings of beads. The head-stall was somewhat
heavy, closely resembling that of the chariot-horses of the time,
representations of which have been already given. It had the same heavy
axe-shaped bit, the same arrangement of straps, and nearly the same
ornamentation. The only marked difference was the omission of the crest
or plume, with its occasional accompaniment of streamers. The collar was
very peculiar. It consisted of a broad flap, probably of leather, shaped
almost like a half-moon, which was placed on the neck about half way
between the ears and the withers, and thence depended over the breast,
where it was broadened out and ornamented by large drooping tassels.
Occasionally the collar was plain, but more often it was elaborately
patterned. Sometimes pomegranates hung from it, alternating with the
tassels.
The cavalry soldiers of this period ride without any saddle. Their legs
and feet are bare, and their seat is very remarkable. Instead of
allowing their legs to hang naturally down the horses' sides, they draw
them up till their knees are on a level with their chargers' backs, the
object (apparently) being to obtain a firm seat by pressing the base of
the horse's neck between the two knees. The naked legs seem to indicate
that it was found necessary to obtain the fullest and freest play of the
muscles to escape the inconveniences of a fall.
The chief weapon of the cavalry at this time is the bow. Sword and
shield indeed are worn, but in no instance do we see them used. Cavalry
soldiers are either archers or mere attendants who are without weapons
of offence. One of these latter accompanies each horse-archer in battle,
for the purpose of holding and guiding his steed while he discharges his
arrows. The attendant wears a skull cap and a plain tunic, the archer
has an embroidered tunic, a belt to which his sword is attached, and one
of the ordinary pointed helmets.
In the second period the cavalry consists in part of archers, in part of
spearmen. Unarmed attendants are no longer found, both spearmen and
archers appearing to be able to manage their own horses. Saddles have
now come into common use: they consist of a simple cloth, or flap of
leather, which is either cut square, or shaped somewhat like the
saddle-cloths of our own cavalry. A single girth beneath the belly is
their ordinary fastening; but sometimes they are further secured by
means of a strap or band passed round the breast, and a few instances
occur of a second strap passed round the quarters. The breast-strap is
generally of a highly ornamented character. The headstall of this period
is not unlike the earlier one, from which it differs chiefly in having a
crest, and also a forehead ornament composed of a number of small
bosses. It has likewise commonly a strap across the nose, but none under
the cheek-bones. It is often richly ornamented, particularly with
rosettes, bells, and tassels.
The old pendent collar is replaced by one encircling the neck about
halfway up, or is sometimes dispensed with altogether. Where it occurs,
it is generally of uniform width, and is ornamented with rosettes or
tassels. No conjecture has been formed of any use which either form of
collar could serve; and the probability is that they were intended
solely for ornament.
[Illustration: PLATE 95]
A great change is observable in the sculptures of the second period with
respect to the dress of the riders. [PLATE XCV., Fig. 1.] The cavalry
soldier is now completely clothed, with the exception of his two arms,
which are bare from a little below the shoulder. He wears most commonly
a tunic which fits him closely about the body, but below the waist
expands into a loose kilt or petticoat, very much longer behind than in
front, which is sometimes patterned, and always terminates in a fringe.
Round his waist he has a broad belt; and another, of inferior width,
from which a sword hangs, passes over his left shoulder. His legs are
encased in a close-fitting pantaloon or trouser, over which he wears a
laced boot or greave, which generally reaches nearly to the knee, though
sometimes it only covers about half the calf. [PLATE XCV., Fig. 2.] This
costume, which is first found in the time of Sargon, and continues to
the reign of Asshur-bani-pal, Esarhaddon's son, may probably be regarded
as the regular cavalry uniform under the monarchs of the Lower Empire.
In Sennacherib's reign there is found in conjunction with it another
costume, which is unknown to the earlier sculptures. This consists of a
dress closely fitting the whole body, composed apparently of a coat of
mail, leather or felt breeches, and a high greave or jack boot. [PLATE
XCVI., Fig. 1.] The wearers of this costume are spearmen or archers
indifferently. The former carry a long weapon, which has generally a
rather small head, and is grasped low down the shaft. The bow of the
latter is either round-arched or angular, and seems to be not more than
four feet in length; the arrows measure less than three feet, and are
slung in a quiver at the archer's back. Both spearmen and archers
commonly carry swords, which are hung on the left side, in a diagonal,
and sometimes nearly in a horizontal position. In some few cases the
spearman is also an archer, and carries his bow on his right arm,
apparently as a reserve in case he should break or lose his spear.
[Illustration: PLATE 96]
The seat of the horseman is far more graceful in the second than in the
first period his limbs appear to move freely, and his mastery over his
horse is such that he needs no attendant. The spearman holds the bridle
in his left hand; the archer boldly lays it upon the neck of his steed,
who is trained either to continue his charge, or to stand firm while a
steady aim is taken. [PLATE XCV., Fig. 3.]
In the sculptures of the son and successor of Esarhaddon, the horses of
the cavalry carry not unfrequently, in addition to the ordinary saddle
or pad, a large cloth nearly similar to that worn sometimes by
chariot-horses, of which a representation has been already given. It is
cut square with two drooping lappets, and covers the greater part of the
body. Occasionally it is united to a sort of breastplate which protects
the neck, descending about halfway clown the chest. The material may be
supposed to have been thick felt or leather, either of which would have
been a considerable protection against weapons.
While the cavalry and the chariots were regarded as the most important
portions of the military force, and were the favorite services with the
rich and powerful, there is still abundant reason to believe that
Assyrian armies, like most others, consisted mainly of foot. Ctesias
gives Minis 1,700,000 footmen to 210,000 horsemen, and 10,600 chariots.
Xenophon contrasts the multitude of the Assyrian infantry with the
comparatively scanty numbers of the other two services: Herodotus makes
the Assyrians serve in the army of Xerxes on foot only. The author of
the book of Judith assigns to Holofernes an infantry force ten times as
numerous as his cavalry.--The Assyrian monuments entirely bear out the
general truth involved in all these assertions, showing us, as they do,
at least ten Assyrian warriors on foot for each one mounted on
horseback, and at least a hundred for each one who rides in a chariot.
However terrible to the foes of the Assyrians may have been the shock of
their chariots and the impetuosity of their horsemen, it was probably to
the solidity of the infantry, to their valor, equipment, and discipline,
that the empire was mainly indebted for its long series of victories.
In the time of the earliest sculptures, all the Assyrian foot-soldiers
seem to have worn nearly the same costume. This consisted of a short
tunic, not quite reaching to the knees, confined round the waist by a
broad belt, fringed, and generally opening in front, together with a
pointed helmet, probably of metal. The arms, legs, neck, and even the
feet, were ordinarily bare, although these last had sometimes the
protection of a very simple sandal. [PLATE XCVI., Fig. 2.] Swordsmen
used a small straight sword or dagger which they wore at their left side
in an ornamented sheath, and a shield which was either convex and
probably of metal, or oblong-square and composed of wickerwork. [PLATE
XCVI., Fig. 2.] Spearmen had shields of a similar shape and
construction, and carried in their right hands a short pike or javelin,
certainly not exceeding five feet in length. [PLATE XCVI., Fig. 4.]
Sometimes, but not always, they carried, besides the pike, a short
sword. Archers had rounded bows about four feet in length, and arrows a
little more than three feet long. Their quivers, which were often highly
ornamented, hung at their backs, either over the right or over the left
shoulder. [PLATE XCVI., Fig. 4.] They had swords suspended at their left
sides by a cross-belt, and often carried maces, probably of bronze or
iron, which bore a rosette or other ornament at one end, and a ring or
strap at the other. The tunics of archers were sometimes elaborately
embroidered; and on the whole they seem to have been regarded as the
flower of the foot-soldiery. Generally they are represented in pairs,
the two being in most cases armed and equipped alike; but, occasionally,
one of the pair acts as guard while the other takes his aim. In this
case both kneel on one knee, and the guard, advancing his long wicker
shield, protects both himself and his comrade from missiles, while he
has at the same time his sword drawn to repel all hand-to-hand
assailants. [PLATE XCVII., Fig. 1.]
[Illustration: PLATE 97]
In the early part of the second period, which synchronizes with the
reign of Sargon, the difference in the costumes of the foot-soldiers
becomes much more marked. The Assyrian infantry now consists of two
great classes, archers and spear-men. The archers are either light-armed
or heavy-armed, and of the latter there are two clearly distinct
varieties. The light-armed have no helmet, but wear on their heads a
mere fillet or band, which is either plain or patterned. [PLATE XCVI.,
Fig. 3.] Except for a cross-belt which supports the quiver, they are
wholly naked to the middle. Their only garment is a tunic of the
scantiest dimensions, beginning at the waist, round which it is fastened
by a broad belt or girdle, and descending little more than half-way down
the thigh. In its make it sometimes closely resembles the tunic of the
first period, but more often it has the peculiar pendent ornament which
has been compared to the scotch phillibeg, and which will be here given
that name. It is often patterned with squares and gradines. The
light-armed archer has usually bare feet; occasionally, however, he
wears the slight sandal of this period, which is little more than a cap
for the heel held in place by two or three strings passed across the
instep. There is nothing remarkable in his arms, which resemble those of
the preceding period: but it may be observed that, while shooting, he
frequently holds two arrows in his right hand besides that which is upon
the string. He shoots either kneeling or standing, generally the latter.
His ordinary position is in the van of battle, though sometimes a
portion of the heavy-armed troops precede him. He has no shield, and is
not protected by an attendant, thus running more risk than any of the
rest of the army.
The more simply equipped of the heavy archers are clothed in a coat of
mail, which reaches from their neck to their middle, and partially
covers the arms. Below this they wear a fringed tunic reaching to the
knees, and confined at the waist by a broad belt of the ordinary
character. Their feet have in most instances the protection of a sandal,
and they wear on their heads the common or pointed helmet. They usually
discharge their arrows kneeling on the left knee, with the right foot
advanced before them. Daring this operation they are protected by an
attendant, who is sometimes dressed like themselves, sometimes merely
clad a tunic, without a coat of mail. Like them, he wears a pointed
helmet; and while in one hand he carries a spear, with the other he
holds forward a shield, which is either of a round form--apparently, of
metal embossed with figures--or oblong-square in shape, and evidently
made of wickerwork. Archers of this class are the least common, and
scarcely ever occur unless in combination with some of the class which
has the heaviest equipment.
The principal characteristic of the third or most heavily armed class of
archers is the long robe, richly fringed, which descends nearly to their
feet, thus completely protecting all the lower part of their person.
[PLATE XCVII., Fig. 2.] Above this they wear a coat of mail exactly
resembling that of archers of the intermediate class, which is sometimes
crossed by a belt ornamented with crossbars. Their head is covered by
the usual pointed helmet, and their feet are always, or nearly always,
protected by sandals. They are occasionally represented without either
sword or quiver, but more usually they have a short sword at their left
side, which appears to have been passed through their coat of mail,
between the armor plates, and in a few instances they have also quivers
at their backs. Where these are lacking, they generally either carry two
extra arrows in their right hand, or have the same number borne for them
by an attendant. They are never seen unattended: sometimes they have
one, sometimes two attendants, who accompany them, and guard them from
attack. One of these almost always bears the long wicker shield, called
by the Greeks [yeppov] which he rests firmly upon the ground in front of
himself and comrade. The other, where there is a second, stands a little
in the rear, and guards the archer's head with a round shield or targe.
Both attendants are dressed in a short tunic, a phillibeg, a belt, and a
pointed helmet. Generally they wear also a coat of mail and sandals,
like those of the archer. They carry swords at their left sides, and the
principal attendant, except when he bears the archer's arrows, guards
him from attack by holding in advance a short spear. The archers of this
class never kneel, but always discharge their arrows standing. They seem
to be regarded as the most important of the foot-soldiers, their
services being more particularly valuable in the siege of fortified
places.
The spearmen of this period are scarcely better armed than the second or
intermediate class of archers. Except in very rare instances they have
no coat of mail, and their tunic, which is either plain or covered with
small squares, barely reaches to the knee. The most noticeable point
about them is their helmet, which is never the common pointed or conical
one, but is always surmounted by a crest of one kind or another. [PLATE
XCVII.. Fig. 3.] Another very frequent peculiarity is the arrangement of
their cross-belts, which meet on the back and breast, and are ornamented
at the points of junction with a circular disk, probably of metal. The
shield of the spearman is also circular, and is formed generally, if not
always--of wickerwork, with (occasionally) a central boss of wood or
metal. [PLATE XCVII., Fig. 4.] In most cases their legs are wholly bare;
but sometimes they have sandals, while in one or two instances they wear
a low boot or greave laced in front, and resembling that of the cavalry.
[PLATE XCVII.. Fig. 4.] The spear with which they are armed varies in
length, from about four to six feet. [PLATE XCVIII.. Fig. 1.] It is
grasped near the lower extremity, at which a weight was sometimes
attached, in order the better to preserve the balance. Besides this
weapon they have the ordinary short sword. The spear-men play an
important part in the Assyrian wars, particularly at sieges, where they
always form the strength of the storming party.
[Illustration: PLATE 98]
Some important changes seen to have been made under Sennacherib in the
equipment and organization of the infantry force. These consisted
chiefly in the establishment of a greater number of distinct corps
differently armed, and in an improved equipment of the more important of
them. Sennacherib appears to have been the first to institute a corps of
slingers, who at any rate make their earliest appearance in his
sculptures. They were kind of soldier well-known to the Egyptians and
Sennacherib's acquaintance with the Egyptian warfare may have led to
their introduction among the troops of Assyria. The slinger in most
countries where his services were employed was lightly clad, and
reckoned almost as a supernumerary. It is remarkable that in Assyria he
is, at first, completely armed according to Assyrian ideas of
completeness, having a helmet, a coat of mail to the waist, a tunic to
the knees, a close-fitting trouser, and a short boot or greave. The
weapon which distinguishes him appears to have consisted of two pieces
of rope or string, attached to a short leathern strap which received the
stone. [PLATE XCVIII., Fig. 4.] Previous to making his throw, the
slinger seems to have whirled the weapon round his head two or three
times, in order to obtain on increased impetus--a practice which was
also known to the Egyptians and the Romans. With regard to ammunition,
it does not clearly appear how the Assyrian slinger was supplied. He has
no bag like the Hebrew slinger, no _sinus_ like the Roman. Frequently we
see him simply provided with a single extra stone, which he carries in
his left hand. Sometimes, besides this reserve, he has a small heap of
stones at his feet; but whether he has collected them from the field, or
has brought them with him and deposited them where they lie, is not
apparent.
Sennacherib's archers fall into four classes, two of which may be called
heavy-armed and two light-armed. None of them exactly resemble the
archers of Sargon. The most heavily equipped wears a tunic, a coat of
mail reaching to the waist, a pointed helmet, a close-fitting trouser,
and a short boot or greave. [PLATE XCVIII., Fig. 1.] He is accompanied
by an attendant (or sometimes by two attendants) similarly attired, and
fights behind a large wicker shield or _gerrhon_. A modification of this
costume is worn by the second class, the archers of which have bare
legs, a tunic which seems to open at the side, and a phillibeg. They
fight without the protection of a shield, generally in pairs, who shoot
together. [PLATE XCVIII., Fig. 3.]
The better equipped of the light-armed archers of this period have a
costume which is very striking. Their head-dress consists of a broad
fillet, elaborately patterned, from which there often depends on either
side of the head a large lappet, also richly ornamented, generally of an
oblong-square shape, and terminating in a fringe. [PLATE XCVIII., Fig.
2.] Below this they wear a closely fitting tunic, as short as that worn
by the light-armed archers of Sargon, sometimes patterned, like that,
with squares and gradines, sometimes absolutely plain. The upper part of
this tunic is crossed by two belts of very unusual breadth, which pass
respectively over the right and the left shoulder. There is also a third
broad belt round the waist; and both this and the transverse belts are
adorned with elegant patterns. The phillibeg depends from the girdle,
and is seen in its full extent, hanging either in front or on the right
side. The arms are naked from the shoulder, and the legs from
considerably above the knee, the feet alone being protected by a scanty
sandal. The ordinary short sword is worn at the side, and a quiver is
carried at the back; the latter is sometimes kept in place by means of a
horizontal strap which passes over it and round the body. [PLATE XCIX.,
Fig. 2.]
[Illustration: PLATE 99]
The archers of the lightest equipment wear nothing but a fillet, with or
without lappets, upon the head, and a striped tunic, longer behind than
in front, which extends from the neck to the knees, and is confined at
the waist by a girdle. [PLATE XCIX., Fig. 1.] Their arms, legs, and feet
are bare, they have seldom any sword, and their quiver seems to be
suspended only by a single horizontal strap, like that represented in
[PLATE XCIX., Fig. 2.] They do not appear very often upon the monuments:
when seen, they are interspersed among archers and soldiers of other
classes.
Sennacherib's foot spearmen are of two classes only. The better armed
have pointed helmets, with lappets protecting the ears, a coat of mail
descending to the waist and also covering all the upper part of the
arms, a tunic opening at the side, a phillibeg, close-fitting trousers,
and greaves of the ordinary character. [PLATE XCIX., Fig. 3.] They carry
a large convex shield, apparently of metal, which covers them almost
from head to foot, and a spear somewhat less than their own height.
Commonly they have a short sword at their right side. Their shield is
often ornamented with rows of bosses towards the centre and around the
edge. It is ordinarily carried in front; but when the warrior is merely
upon the march, he often bears it slung at his back, as in the
accompanying representation. There is reason to suspect that the
spearmen of this description constituted the royal bodyguard. They are
comparatively few in number, and are usually seen in close proximity to
the monarch, or in positions which imply trust, as in the care of
prisoners and of the spoil. They never make the attacks in sieges, and
are rarely observed to be engaged in battle. Where several of them are
seen together, it is almost always in attendance upon the king whom they
constantly precede upon his journeys.
The inferior spearmen of Sennacherib are armed nearly like those of
Sargon. They have crested helmets, plain tunics confined at the waist by
a broad girdle, cross-belts ornamented with circular disks where they
meet in the centre of the breast, and, most commonly, round wicker
shields. The chief points wherein they differ from Sargon's spearmen is
the following: they usually (though not universally) wear trousers and
greaves; they have sleeves to their tunics, winch descend nearly to the
elbow; and they carry sometimes, instead of the round shield, a long
convex one arched at the top. [PLATE XCIX., fig. 4.] Where they have not
this defence, but the far commoner targe, it is always of larger
dimensions than the targe of Sargon, and is generally surrounded by a
rim. [PLATE XCIX., Fig. 4.] Sometimes it appears to be of metal: but
more often it is of wickerwork, either of the plain construction common
in Sargon's time, or of one considerably more elaborate.
Among the foot soldiers of Sennacherib we seem to find a corps of
pioneers. They wear the same dress as the better equipped of the
spearmen, but carry in their hands, instead of a spear, a doubled-headed
axe or hatchet, wherewith they clear the ground for the passage and
movements of the army. They work in pairs, one pulling at the tree by
its branches while the other attacks the stem with his weapon.
After Sennacherib's time we find but few alterations in the equipment of
the foot soldiers. Esarhaddon has left us no sculptures, and in those of
his son and successor, Asshur-bani pal, the costumes of Sennacherib are
for the most part reproduced almost exactly. The chief difference is
that there are not at this time quite so many varieties of equipment,
both archers and spearmen being alike divided into two classes only,
light armed and heavy-armed. The light-armed archers correspond to
Sennacherib's bowmen of the third class. They have the fillet, the plain
tunic, the cross-belts, the broad girdle, and the phillibeg. They differ
only in having no lappets over the ears and no sandals. The heavy-armed
archers resemble the first class of Sennacherib exactly, except that
they are not seen shooting from behind the _gerrhon_.
In the case of the spearmen, the only novelty consists in the shields.
The spearmen of the heavier equipment, though sometimes they carry the
old convex oval shield, more often have one which is made straight at
the bottom, and rounded only at top. [PLATE C., Fig. 1. ] The spearmen
of the lighter equipment have likewise commonly a shield of this shape,
but it is of wicker work instead of metal, like that borne occasionally
by the light-armed spearmen of Sennacherib.
[Illustration: PLATE 100]
Besides spearmen and archers, we see among the foot soldiers of
Asshur-bani-pal, slingers, mace-bearers, and men armed with battle axes.
For the slingers Sennacherib's heavy equipment has been discarded; and
they wear nothing but a plain tunic, with a girdle and cross-belts.
[PLATE C., Fig. 2.] The mace-bearers and men with axes have the exact
dress of Asshur-bani-pal's heavy-armed spearmen, and may possibly be
spearmen who have broken or lost their weapons. It makes, however,
against this view, that they have no shields, which spearmen always
carry. Perhaps, therefore, we must conclude that towards the close of
the empire, besides spearmen, slingers, and archers, there were distinct
corps of mace-bearers and axe-bearers.
The arms used by the Assyrians have been mentioned, and to a certain
extent described, in the foregoing remarks upon the various classes of
their soldiers. Some further details may, however, be now added on their
character and on the variety observable in them.
The common Assyrian pointed helmet has been sufficiently described
already, and has received abundant illustration both in the present and
in former chapters. It was at first regarded as Scythic in character;
but Mr. Layard long ago observed that the resemblance which it bears to
the Scythian cap is too slight to prove any connection. That cap
appears, whether we follow the foreign, or the native representations of
it, to have been of felt, whereas the Assyrian pointed helmet was made
of metal: it was much taller than the Assyrian head-dress, and it was
less upright. [PLATE C, Fig. 3.]
The pointed helmet admitted of but few varieties. In its simplest form
it was a plain conical casque, with one or two rings round the base, and
generally with a half-disk in front directly over the forehead. [PLATE
C. Fig. 4.] Sometimes, however, there was appended to it a falling
curtain covered with metal scales, whereby the chin, neck, ears, and
back of the head were protected. More often it had, in lieu of this
effectual but cumbrous guard, a mere lappet or cheek-piece, consisting
of a plate of metal, attached to the rim, which descended over the ears
in the form of a half-oval or semicircle. If we may judge by the remains
actually found, the chief material of the helmet was iron; copper was
used only for the rings and the half-disk in front, which were inlaid
into the harder metal.
As if to compensate themselves for the uniformity to which they
submitted in this instance, the Assyrians indulged in a variety of
crested helmets. [PLATE. C., Fig. 5.] We cannot positively say that they
invented the crest; but they certainly dealt with it in the free spirit
which is usually seen where a custom is of home growth and not a foreign
importation. They used either a plain metal crest, or one surmounted by
tuffs of hair; and they either simply curved the crest forwards over the
front of the helmet, or extended it and carried it back-wards also. In
this latter case they generally made the curve a complete semicircle,
while occasionally they were content with a small segment, less even
than a quarter of a circle. They also varied considerably the shape of
the lappet over the ear, and the depth of the helmet behind and before
the lappet.
[Illustration: PLATE 101]
Assyrian coats of mail were of three sizes, and of two different
constructions. In the earlier times they were worn long, descending
either to the feet or to the knees; and at this period they seem to have
been composed simply of successive rows of similar iron scales sewn on
to a shirt of linen or felt. [PLATE CI., Fig. 1.] Under the later
monarchs the coat of mail reached no lower than the waist, and it was
composed of alternate bands of dissimilar arrangement and perhaps of
different material. Mr. Layard suggests that at this time the scales,
which were larger than before, were "fastened to bands of iron or
copper." But it is perhaps more probable that scales of the old
character alternated in rows with scales of a new shape and smaller
dimensions. [PLATE CI., Fig. 2.] The old scales were oblong, squared at
one end and rounded at the other, very much resembling the Egyptian.
They were from two to three inches, or more, in length, and were placed
side by side, so that their greater length corresponded with the height
of the wearer. The new scales seem to have been not more than an inch
long; they appear to have been pointed at one end, and to have been laid
horizontally, each a little overlapping its fellow. It was probably
found that this construction, while possessing quite as much strength as
the other, was more favorable to facility of movement.
Remains of armor belonging to the second period have been discovered in
the Assyrian ruins. The scales are frequently embossed over their whole
surface with groups of figures and fanciful ornaments. The small scales
of the first period have no such elaborate ornamentation, being simply
embossed in the centre with a single straight line, which is of copper
inlaid into the iron.
The Assyrian coat of mail, like the Egyptian, had commonly a short
sleeve, extending about half way down to the elbow. [PLATE CI.. Fig. 1.]
This was either composed of scales set similarly to those of the rest of
the cuirass, or of two, three, or more rows placed at right angles to
the others. The greater part of the arm was left without any protection.
A remarkable variety existed in the form and construction of the
Assyrian shields. The most imposing kind is that which has been termed
the _gerrhon_, from its apparent resemblance to the Persian shield
mentioned under that name by Herodotus. [PLATE CI.. Fig. 1.] This was a
structure in wickerwork, which equalled or exceeded the warrior in
height, and which was broad enough to give shelter to two or even three
men. In shape it was either an oblong square, or such a square with a
projection at top, which stood out at right angles to the body of the
shield; or, lastly, and most usually, it curved inwards from a certain
height, gradually narrowing at the same time, and finally ending in a
point. Of course a shield of this vast size, even although formed of a
light material, was too heavy to be very readily carried upon the arm.
The plan adopted was to rest it upon the ground, on which it was
generally held steady by a warrior armed with sword or spear, while his
comrade, whose weapon was the bow, discharged his arrows from behind its
shelter. Its proper place was in sieges, where the roof-like structure
at the top was especially useful in warding off the stones and other
missiles which the besieged threw down upon their assailants. We
sometimes see it employed by single soldiers, who lean the point against
the wall of the place, and, ensconcing themselves beneath the penthouse
thus improvised, proceed to carry on the most critical operations of the
siege in almost complete security.
Modifications of this shield, reducing it to a smaller and more portable
size, were common in the earlier times, when among the shields most
usually borne we find one of wicker-work oblong-square in shape, and
either perfectly fiat, or else curving slightly inwards both at top and
at bottom. This shield was commonly about half the height of a man, or a
little more; it was often used as a protection for two, but must have
been scanty for that purpose.
Round shields were commoner in Assyria than any others. They were used
by most of those who fought in chariots, by the early monarchs' personal
attendants, by the cross-belted spear-men, and by many of the spearmen
who guarded archers. In the most ancient times they seem to have been
universally made of solid metal, and consequently they were small,
perhaps not often exceeding two feet, or two feet and a half, in
diameter. They were managed by means of a very simple handle, placed in
the middle of the shield at the back, and fastened to it by studs or
nails, which was not passed over the arm but grasped by the hand. The
rim was bent inwards, so as to form a deep groove all round the edge.
The material of which these shields were composed was in some cases
certainly bronze; in others it may have been iron: in a few silver, or
even gold. Some metal shields were perfectly plain; others exhibited a
number of concentric rings, others again were inlaid or embossed with
tasteful and elaborate patterns.
[Illustration: PLATE 102]
Among the later Assyrians the round metal shield seems to have been
almost entirely disused, its place being supplied by a wicker buckler of
the same shape, with a rim round the edge made of solid wood or of
metal, and sometimes with a boss in the centre. [PLATE CII., Fig. 1.]
The weight of the metal shield must have been considerable; and this
both limited their size and made it difficult to move them with
rapidity. With the change of material we perceive a decided increase of
magnitude, the diameter of the wicker buckler being often fully half the
warrior's height, or not much short of three feet.
Convex shields, generally of an oblong form, were also in common use
during the later period, and one kind is found in the very earliest
sculptures. This is of small dimensions and of a clumsy make. Its curve
is slight, and it is generally ornamented with a perpendicular row of
spikes or teeth, in the centre of which we often see the head of a lion.
[PLATE CII., Fig. 2.]
The convex shields of later date were very much larger than these.
[PLATE CIII., Fig. 3.] They were sometimes square at bottom and rounded
at top, in which case they were either made of wickerwork, or
(apparently) of metal. These latter had generally a boss in the centre,
and both this and the edge of the shield were often ornamented with a
row of rosettes or rings. Shields of this shape were from four to five
feet in height, and protected the warrior from the head to the knee. On
a march they were often worn upon the back, like the convex shield of
the Egyptians, which they greatly resembled.
[Illustration: PLATE 103]
The more ordinary convex shield was of an oval form, like the convex
shield of the Greeks, but larger, and with a more prominent centre.
[PLATE CIII., Fig. 1.] In its greater diameter it must often have
exceeded five feet, though no doubt sometimes it was smaller. It was
generally ornamented with narrow bands round the edge and round the boss
at the centre, the space between the bands being frequently patterned
with ring; or otherwise. Like the other form of convex shield, it could
be slung at the back, and was so carried on marches, on crossing rivers,
and other similar occasions.
The offensive arms certainly used by the Assyrians were the bow, the
spear, the sword, the mace, the sling, the axe or hatchet, and the
dagger. They may also have occasionally made use of the javelin, which
is sometimes seen among the arrows of a quiver. But the actual
employment of this weapon in war has not yet been found upon the
bas-reliefs. If faithfully represented, it must have been very
short,--scarcely, if at all, exceeding three feet. [PLATE CIII., Fig.
2.]
Assyrian bows were of two kinds, curved and angular. Compared with the
Egyptian, and with the bows used by the archers of the middle ages, they
were short, the greatest length of the strung bow being about four feet.
They seem to have been made of a single piece of wood, which in the
angular bow was nearly of the same thickness throughout, but in the
curved one tapered gradually towards the two extremities. At either end
was a small knob or button, in the later times often carved into the
representation of a duck's head. [PLATE CIII, Fig. 3.] Close above this
was a notch or groove, whereby the string was held in place. The mode of
stringing was one still frequently practised in the East. The bowman
stooped, and placing his right knee against the middle of the bow on its
inner side, pressed it downwards, at the same time drawing the two ends
of the bow upwards with his two hands. [PLATE CIII, Fig. 4.] A comrade
stood by, and, when the ends were brought sufficiently near, slipped the
string over the knob into the groove, where it necessarily remained. The
bend of the bow, thus strung, was slight. When full drawn, however, it
took the shape of a half-moon, which shows that it must have possessed
great elasticity. [PLATE CIV., Fig. 4.] The bow was known to be full
drawn when the head of the arrow touched the archer's left hand.
[Illustration: PLATE 104]
The Assyrian angular bow was of smaller size than the curved one. It was
not often carried unless as a reserve by those who also possessed the
larger and better weapon. [PLATE CIV., Fig. 5.]
Bows were but seldom unstrung. When not in use, they were carried
strung, the archer either holding them by the middle with his left hand,
or putting his arm through them, and letting them rest upon his
shoulders, or finally carrying them at his back in a bow case. [PLATE
CIV., Fig. I. ] The bow-case was a portion of the quiver, as frequently
with the Greeks, and held only the lower half of the bow, the upper
portion projecting from it.
Quivers were carried by foot and horse archers at their backs, in a
diagonal position, so that the arrows could readily be drawn from them
over the right shoulder. They were commonly slung in this position by a
strap of their own, attached to two rings, one near the top and the
other near the bottom of the quiver, which the archer slipped over his
left arm and his head. Sometimes, however, this strap seems to have been
wanting, and the quiver was either thrust through one of the
cross-belts, or attached by a strap which passed horizontally round the
body a little above the girdle. [PLATE CIV.,Fig. 2.] The archers who
rode in chariots carried their quivers at the chariot's side, in the
manner which has been already described and illustrated.
The ornamentation of quivers was generally elaborate. [PLATE CIV., Fig.
3.] Rosettes and bands constituted their most usual adornment; but
sometimes these gave place to designs of a more artistic character, as
wild bulls, griffins, and other mythic figures. Several examples of a
rich type have been already given in the representations of chariots,
but none exhibit this peculiarity. One further specimen of a chariot
quiver is therefore appended, which is among the most tasteful hitherto
discovered. [PLATE CIV., Fig. 3. ]
The quivers of the foot and horse archers were less richly adorned than
those of the bowmen who rode in chariots, but still they were in almost
every case more or less patterned. The rosette and the band here too
constituted the chief resource of the artist, who, however, often
introduced with good effect other well-known ornaments, as the
guilloche, the boss and cross, the zigzag, etc.
Sometimes the quiver had an ornamented rod attached to it, which
projected beyond the arrows and terminated in a pomegranate blossom or
other similar carving. [PLATE CV. Fig. 1]. To this rod was attached the
rings which received the quiver strap, a triple tassel hanging from them
at the point of attachment. The strap was probably of leather, and
appears to have been twisted or plaited.
[Illustration: PLATE 105]
It is uncertain whether the material of the quivers was wood or metal.
As, however, no remains of quivers have been discovered in any of the
ruins, while helmets, shields, diggers, spear-heads, and arrow-heads
have been found in tolerable abundance, we may perhaps assume that they
were of the more fragile substance, which would account for their
destruction. In this case their ornamentation may have been either by
carving or painting, the bosses and rosettes being perhaps in some cases
of metal, mother-of-pearl, or ivory. Ornaments of this kind were
discovered by hundreds at Nimrud in a chamber which contained arms of
many descriptions. Quivers have in some cases a curious rounded head,
which seems to have been a lid or cap used for covering the arrows. They
have also, occasionally, instead of this, a kind of bag at their top,
which falls backwards, and is ornamented with tassels. [PLATE CV., Fig.
2.] Both these constructions, however, are exceptional, a very large
majority of the quivers being open, and having the feathered ends of the
arrows projecting from them.
There is nothing remarkable in the Assyrian arrows except their perfect
finish and completeness in all that constitutes the excellence of such a
weapon. The shaft was thin and straight, and was probably of reed, or of
some light and tough wood. The head was of metal, either of bronze or
iron, and was generally diamond-shaped, like a miniature spear-head.
[PLATE CV., Fig. 4. ] It was flattish, and for greater strength had
commonly a strongly raised line down the centre. The lower end was
hollowed, and the shaft was inserted into it. The notching and
feathering of the shaft were carefully attended to. It is doubtful
whether three feathers were used, as by ourselves and by the Egyptians,
or two only as by many nations. The fact that we never see more than
two feathers upon the monuments cannot be considered decisive, since the
Assyrian artists, from their small knowledge of perspective, would have
been unable to represent all three feathers. So far as we can judge from
the representations, it would seem that the feathers were glued to the
wood exactly as they are with ourselves. The notch was somewhat large,
projecting beyond the line of the shaft--a construction rendered
necessary by the thickness of the bowstring., which was seldom less than
of the arrow it-self. [PLATE CV., Fig. 5.]
The mode of drawing the bow was peculiar. It was drawn neither to the
ear, nor to the breast, but to the shoulder. In the older sculptures the
hand that draws it is represented in a curiously cramped and unnatural
position, which can scarcely be supposed to be true to nature. But in
the later bas-reliefs greater accuracy seems to have been attained, and
there we probably see the exact mode in which the shooting was actually
managed. The arrow was taken below the feathers by the thumb and
forefinger of the right hand, the forefinger bent down upon it in the
way represented in the accompanying illustration, and the notch being
then placed upon the string, the arrow was drawn backwards by the thumb
and forefinger only, the remaining three fingers taking no part in the
operation. [PLATE CVI., Fig. 1.] The bow was grasped by the left hand
between the fingers and the muscle of the thumb, the thumb itself being
raised, and the arrow made to pass between it and the bow, by which it
was kept in place and prevented from slipping. The arrow was then drawn
till the cold metal head touched the forefinger of the left hand, upon
which the right hand quitted its hold, and the shaft sped on its way. To
save the left arm from being bruised or cut by the bowstring, a guard,
often simply yet effectively ornamented, was placed upon it, at one end
passing round the thumb and at the other round the arm a little above
the elbow. [PLATE CVI., Fig. 2.]
[Illustration: PLATE 106]
The Assyrians had two kinds of spears, one a comparatively short weapon,
varying from five to six feet in length, with which they armed a
portion of their foot soldiers, the other a weapon nine or ten feet
long, which was carried by most of their cavalry. The shaft seems in
both cases to have been of wood, and the head was certainly of metal,
either bronze or iron. [PLATE CVI., Fig. 3.] It was most usually
diamond-shaped, but sometimes the side angles were rounded off, and the
contour became that of an elongated pear. [PLATE CVI., Fig. 4.] In other
instances, the jambs of the spear-head were exceedingly short, and the
point long and tapering. The upper end of the shaft was sometimes
weighted, and it was often carved into some ornamental form, as a
fir-cone or a pomegranate blossom, while in the earlier times it was
further occasionally adorned with streamers. [PLATE CVI., Fig. 4.] The
spear of the Assyrians seems never to have been thrown, like that of the
Greeks, but was only used to thrust with, as a pike.
The common sword of the Assyrians was a short straight weapon, like the
sword of the Egyptians, or the _acinaces_ of the Persians. It was worn
at the left side, generally slung by a belt of its own which was passed
over the right shoulder, but sometimes thrust through the girdle or
(apparently) through the armor. It had a short rounded handle, more or
less ornamented [PLATE CVII.. Fig. 1], but without any cross-bar or
guard, and a short blade which tapered gradually from the handle to the
point. The swordsman commonly thrust with his weapon, but he could cut
with it likewise, for it was with this arm that the Assyrian warrior was
wont to decapitate his fallen enemy. The sheath of the sword was almost
always tastefully designed, and sometimes possessed artistic excellence
of a high order. [PLATE CVII., Fig. 3.] The favorite terminal ornament
consisted of two lions clasping one another, with their heads averted
and their mouths agape. Above this, patterns in excellent taste usually
adorned the scabbard, which moreover exhibited occasionally groups of
figures, sacred trees, and other mythological objects.
[Illustration: PLATE 107]
Instead of the short sword, the earlier warriors had a weapon of a
considerable length. This was invariably slung at the side by a
cross-belt passing over the shoulder. In its ornamentation it closely
resembled the later short sword, but its hilt was longer and more
tasteful.
One or two instances occur where the sword of an Assyrian warrior is
represented as curved slightly. The sheath in these cases is plain, and
terminates in a button. [PLATE CVII, Fig. 5.]
The Assyrian mace was a short thin weapon, and must either have been
made of a very tough wood, or--and this is more probable of metal.
[PLATE CVIII., Fig. 7.] It had an ornamented head, which was sometimes
very beautifully modelled and generally a strap or string at the lower
end, by which it could be grasped with greater firmness. Foot archers
frequently carried it in battle, especially those who were in close
attendance upon the king's person. It seems, however, not to have been
often used as a warlike weapon until the time of the latest sculptures,
when we see it wielded, generally with both hands, by a certain number
of the combatants. In peace it was very commonly borne by the royal
attendants, and it seems also to have been among the weapons used by the
monarch himself, for whom it is constantly carried by one of those who
wait most closely upon his person. [PLATE., CVIII., Fig. I.]
[Illustration: PLATE 108]
The battle-axe was a weapon but rarely employed by the Assyrians. It is
only in the very latest sculptures and in a very few instances that we
find axes represented as used by the warriors for any other purpose
besides the felling of trees. Where they are seen in use against the
enemy, the handle is short, the head somewhat large, and the weapon
wielded with one hand. Battle-axes had heads of two kinds. [PLATE
CVIII., Fig. 1.] Some were made with two blades, like the _bipennis_ of
the Romans. and the _labra_ of the Lydians and Carians; others more
nearly resembled the weapons used by our own knights in the middle ages,
having a single blade, and a mere ornamental point on the other side of
the haft.
The dagger was worn by the Assyrian kings at almost all times in their
girdles, and was further often assigned to the mythic winged beings,
hawk headed or human-headed, which occur so frequently in the
sculptures; but it seems to have been very seldom carried by subjects.
It had commonly a straight handle, slightly concave, and very richly
chased, exhibiting the usual Assyrian patterns, rosettes, chevrons,
guilloches, pine-cones, and the like. [PLATE CVII., Fig. 6.] Sometimes,
however, it was still more artistically shaped, being cast into the form
of a horse's head and neck. In this case there was occasionally a chain
attached at one end to the horse's chin, and at the other to the bottom
of his neck, which, passing outside the hand, would give it a firmer
hold on the weapon. The sheaths of daggers seem generally to have been
plain, or nearly so, but occasionally they terminated in the head of an
animal, from whose mouth depended a tassel. [PLATE CVIII., Fig. 2.]
Though the Assyrian troops were not marshalled by the aid of standards,
like the Roman and the Egyptian, yet still a kind of standard is
occasionally to be recognized in the bas-reliefs. This consists of a
pole of no great height, fixed upright at the front of a chariot,
between the charioteer and the warrior, and carrying at the top a
circular frame, within which are artistic representations of gods or
sacred animals. Two bulls, back to back, either trotting or running at
speed, are a favorite device. Above there sometimes stands a figure in a
horned cap, shooting his arrows against the enemy. Occasionally only one
bull is represented, and the archer shoots standing upon the bull's
back. Below the circular framework are minor ornaments, as lions' and
bulls' heads, or streamers adorned with tassels. [PLATE CVIII., Fig. 2.]
We do not obtain much information from the monuments with respect to the
military organization or the the tactics of the Assyrians. It is clear,
however, that they had advanced beyond the first period in military
matters, when men fight in a confused mass of mingled horse, foot, and
chariots, heavy-armed and light-armed spear-men, archers, and stingers,
each standing and moving as mere chance may determine. It is even
certain that they had advanced beyond the second period, when the
phalanx order of battle is adopted, the confused mass being replaced by
a single serried body presenting its best armed troops to the enemy, and
keeping in the rear, to add their weight to the charge, the weaker and
more imperfectly protected. It was not really left for Cyaxares the Mede
to be the first to organize an Asiatic army--to divide the troops into
companies and form distinct bodies of the spearmen, the archers, and the
cavalry. The Assyrian troops were organized in this way, at least from
the time of Sennacherib, on whose sculptures we find, in the first
place, bodies of cavalry on the march unaccompanied by infantry;
secondly, engagements where cavalry only are acting against the enemy;
thirdly, long lines of spearmen on foot marching in double file, and
sometimes divided into companies; and, fourthly, archers drawn up
together, but similarly divided into companies, each distinguished by
its own uniform. We also meet with a corps of pioneers, wearing a
uniform and armed only with a hatchet, and with bodies of slingers, who
are all armed and clothed alike. If, in the battles and the sieges of
this time, the troops seem to be to a great extent confused together, we
may account for it partly by the inability of the Assyrian artists to
represent bodies of troops in perspective, partly by their not aiming at
an actual, but rather at a typical representation of events, and partly
also by their fondness for representing, not the preparation for battle
or its first shock, but the rout and flight of the enemy and their own
hasty pursuit of them.
The wars of the Assyrians, like those of ancient Rome, consisted of
annual inroads into the territories of their neighbors, repeated year
after year, till the enemy was exhausted, sued for peace, and admitted
the suzerainty of the more powerful nation. The king in person usually
led forth his army, in spring or early summer, when the mountain passes
were opened, and, crossing his own borders, invaded some one or other of
the adjacent countries. The monarch himself invariably rode forth in his
chariot, arrayed in his regal robes, and with the tiara upon his head:
he was accompanied by numerous attendants, and generally preceded and
followed by the spearmen of the Royal Guard, and a detachment of
horse-archers. Conspicuous among the attendants were the charioteer who
managed the reins, and the parasol-bearer, commonly a eunuch, who,
standing in the chariot behind the monarch, held the emblem of
sovereignty over his head. A bow-bearer, a quiver-bearer, and a
mace-bearer were usually also in attendance, walking before or behind
the chariot of the king, who, however, did not often depend for arms
wholly upon them, but carried a bow in his left hand, and one or more
arrows in his right, while he had a further store of the latter either
in or outside his chariot. Two or three led horses were always at hand,
to furnish a means of escape in any difficulty. The army, marshalled in
its several corps, in part preceded the royal _cortege_, in part
followed at a little distance behind it.
On entering the enemy's country, if a wooded tract presented itself, the
corps of pioneers was thrown out in advance, and cleared away the
obstructions. When a river was reached too deep to be forded, the horses
were detached from the royal and other chariots by grooms and
attendants; the chariots themselves were embarked upon boats and rowed
across the stream; while the horses, attached by ropes to a post near
the stern of the boat, swam after it. The horses of the cavalry were
similarly drawn across by their riders. The troops, both cavalry and
infantry, and the attendants, a very numerous body, swam the stream,
generally upon inflated skins, which they placed under them, holding the
neck in their left hand, and sometimes increasing the inflation as they
went by applying the orifice at the top of the neck to their mouths.
[PLATE CVIII., Fig. 3.] We have no direct evidence as to the mode in
which the baggage of an army, which must have been very considerable,
was conveyed, either along the general line of route, or when it was
necessary to cross a river. We may conjecture that in the latter case it
was probably placed upon rafts supported on inflated skins, such as
those which conveyed stones from distant quarries to be used in the
Assyrian buildings. In the former, we may perhaps assume that the
conveyance was chiefly by beasts of burden, camels and asses, as the
author of the book of Judith imagined. Carts may have been used to some
extent; since they were certainly employed to convey back to Assyria the
spoil of the conquered nations.
[Illustration: PLATE 109]
It does not appear whether the army generally was provided with tents or
not. Possibly the bulk of the soldiers may have bivouacked in the open
field, unless when they were able to obtain shelter in towns or villages
taken from the enemy. Tents, however, were certainly provided for the
monarch and his suite. [PLATE CIX., Fig. 1.] Like the tents of the
Romans, these appear to have been commonly pitched within a fortified
enclosure, which was of an oval shape. They were disposed in rows, and
were all nearly similar in construction and form, the royal tent being
perhaps distinguished from the others by a certain amount of
ornamentation and by a slight superiority of size. The material used for
the covering was probably felt. All the tents were made open to the sky
in the centre, but closed in at either extremity with a curious
semicircular top. [PLATE CIX., Fig. 1.] The two tops were unequal of
size. Internally, either both of them, or at any rate the larger ones,
were supported by a central pole, which threw out branches in different
directions resembling the branches of a tree or the spokes of a parasol.
Sometimes the walls of the tent had likewise the support of poles, which
were kept in place by ropes passed obliquely from the top of each to the
ground in front of them, and then firmly secured by pegs. Each tent had
a door, square-headed, which was placed at the side, near the end which
had the smaller covering. The furniture of tents consisted of tables,
couches, footstools, and domestic utensils of various kinds. [PLATE
CIX., Fig. 1.] Within the fortified enclosure, but outside the tents,
were the chariot and horses of the monarch, an altar where sacrifice
could be made, and a number of animals suitable for food, as oxen,
sheep, and goats.
It appears that occasionally the advance of the troops was along a road.
Ordinarily, however, they found no such convenience, but had to press
forward through woods and over mountains as they best could. Whatever
the obstructions, the chariot of the monarch was in some way or other
conveyed across them, though it is difficult to suppose that he could
have always remained, as he is represented, seated in it. Probably he
occasionally dismounted, and made use of one of the led horses by which
he was always accompanied, while sometimes he even condescended to
proceed on foot. [PLATE CIX., Fig. 2.] Tile use of palanquins or litters
seem not to have been known to the Assyrians, though it was undoubtedly
very ancient in Asia; but the king was sometimes carried on men's
shoulders, seated on his throne in the way that we see the enthroned
gods borne in many of the sculptures.
The first object in entering a country was to fight, if possible, a
pitched battle with the inhabitants. The Assyrians were always confident
of victory in such an encounter, being better armed, better disciplined,
and perhaps of stronger frames than any of their neighbors. There is no
evidence to show how their armies were drawn up, or how the troops were
handled in an engagement; but it would seem that in most cases, after a
longer or a shorter resistance, the enemy broke and fled, sometimes
throwing away his arms, at other tunes fighting as he retired, always
vigorously pursued by horse and foot, and sometimes driven headlong into
a river. Quarter was not very often given in a battle. The barbarous
practice of rewarding those who carried back to camp the heads of foemen
prevailed; and this led to the massacre in many cases even of the
wounded, the disarmed, and the unresisting, though occasionally quarter
was given, more especially to generals and other leading personages whom
it was of importance to take alive. Even while the engagement continued,
it would seem that soldiers might quit the ranks, decapitate a fallen
foe, and carry off his head to the rear, without incurring any reproof;
and it is certain that, so soon as the engagement was over, the whole
army turned to beheading the fallen, using for this purpose the short
sword which almost every warrior carried at his left side. A few unable
to obtain heads, were forced to be content with gathering the spoils of
the slain and of the fled, especially their arms, such as quivers, hews,
helmets, and the like; while their more fortunate comrades, proceeding
to an appointed spot in the rear, exhibited the tokens of their valor,
or of their good luck, to the royal scribes, who took an exact account
of the amount, of the spoil, and of the number of the enemy killed.
When the enemy could no longer resist in the open field, he usually fled
to his strongholds. Almost all the nations with whom the Assyrians waged
their wars possessed fortified cities, or castles, which seem to have
been places constructed with a good deal of skill, and possessed of no
inconsiderable strength. According to the representations of the
sculptures, they were all nearly similar in character, the defences
consisting of high battlemented walls, pierced with loopholes or windows
towards their upper part, and flanked at intervals along their whole
course by towers. [PLATE CIX., Fig. 3.] Often they possessed two or more
_enceintes_, which in the bas-reliefs are represented one above the
other; and in these cases the outermost circuit was sometimes a mere
plain continuous wall, as in the illustration. They were entered by
large gateways, most commonly arched, and closed by two huge gates or
doors, which completely filled up the aperture. Occasionally, however,
the gateways were square-headed, as in the illustration, where there
occurs, moreover, a very curious ornamentation of the battlements.
[PLATE CX., Fig. 1.]
[Illustration: PLATE 110]
These fortified places the Assyrians attacked in three principal ways.
Sometimes they endeavored to take them by escalade, advancing for this
purpose a number of long ladders against different parts of the walls,
thus distracting the enemy's attention and seeking to find a weak point.
Up the ladders proceeded companies of spearmen and archers in
combination, the spearmen invariably taking the lead, since their large
shields afforded them a protection which archers advancing in file up a
ladder could not have. Meanwhile from below a constant discharge was
kept up by bowmen and slingers, the former of whom were generally
protected by the _gerrhon_ or high wicker shield, held in front of them
by a comrade. The besieged endeavored to dislodge and break the ladders,
which are often represented in fragments; or, failing in this attempt,
sought by hurling down large stones, and by discharges from their bows
and slings, to precipitate and destroy their assailants. If finally they
were unable by these means to keep the Assyrians from reaching the
topmost rounds of the ladders, they had recourse to their spears, and
man to man, spear to spear, and shield to shield, they still struggled
to defend themselves. The Assyrians always represent the sieges which
they conduct as terminating successfully: but we may be tolerably sure
that in many instances the invader was beaten back, and forced to
relinquish his prey, or to try fresh methods of obtaining it.
If the escalade failed, or if it was thought unadvisable to attempt it,
the plan most commonly adopted was to try the effect of the
battering-ram. [PLATE CX., Fig. 3.] The Assyrian armies were abundantly
supplied with these engines, of which we see as many as seven engaged in
a single siege. They were variously designed and arranged. Some had a
head shaped like the point of a spear; others, one more resembling the
end of a blunderbuss. All of them were covered with a frame-work, which
was of ozier, wood, felt, or skins, for the better protection of those
who worked the implement; but some appear to have been stationary,
having their framework resting on the ground itself, while others were
moveable, being provided with wheels, which in the early times were six,
but in the later times four only. Again, sometimes, combined with the
ram and its framework was a moveable tower containing soldiers, who at
once fought the enemy on a level, and protected the engine from their
attacks. Fire was the weapon usually turned against the ram, torches,
burning tow, or other inflammable substances being cast from the walls
upon its framework, which, wherever it was of ozier or of wood, could be
easily set alight and consumed. To prevent this result, the workers of
the ram were sometimes provided with a supply of water, which they could
direct through leathern or metal pipes against the combustibles. At
other times they sought to protect themselves by suspending from a pole
in front of their engine a curtain of cloth, leather, or some other
non-inflammable substance.
Another mode of meeting the attacks of the battering-ram was by catching
the point with a chain suspended by its two ends from the walls, and
then, when the ram was worked, diverting the stroke by drawing the head
upwards. To oppose this device, the besiegers provided some of their
number with strong metal hooks, and stationed them below the ram, where
they watched for the descent of the chain. As soon as ever it caught the
head of the ram, they inserted their hooks into its links, and then
hanging upon it with their whole weight, prevented its interference with
the stroke.
Battering-rams were frequently used against the walls from the natural
ground at their foot. Sometimes, however, the besiegers raised vast
mounds against the ramparts, and advanced their engines up these, thus
bringing theirs on a level with the upper and weaker portions of the
defences. Of this nature probably were the mounds spoken of in Scripture
as employed by the Babylonians and Egyptians, as well as the Assyrians,
in their sieges of cities. The intention was not so much to pile up the
mounds till they were on a level with the top of the walls as to work
the battering-ram with greater advantage from them. A similar use was
made of mounds by the Peloponnesian Greeks, who nearly succeeded in
taking Plataea in this way. The mounds were not always composed entirely
of earth; the upper portion was often made of several layers of stone or
brick, arranged in regular order, so as to form a sort of paved road, up
which the rams might be dragged with no great difficulty. Trees, too,
were sometimes cut down and built into the mound.
Besides battering-rams, the Assyrians appear to have been acquainted
with an engine resembling the catapult, or rather the _balista_ of the
Romans. [PLATE CXI., Fig. 1.] This engine, which was of great height,
and threw stones of a large size, was protected, like the ram, by a
framework, apparently of wood, covered with canvas, felt, or hides. The
stones thrown from the engine were of irregular shape, and it was able
to discharge several at the same time. The besiegers worked it from a
mound or inclined plane, which enabled them to send their missiles to
the top of the ramparts. It had to be' brought very close to the walls
in order to be effective--a position which gave the besieged an
opportunity of assailing it by fire. Perhaps it was this liability which
caused the infrequent use of the engine in question, which is rare upon
the earlier, and absent from the later, sculptures.
The third mode of attack employed by the Assyrians in their sieges of
fortified places was the mine. While the engines were in full play, and
the troops drawn up around the place assailed the defenders of the walls
with their slings and bows, warriors, singly, or in twos and threes,
advanced stealthily to the foot of the ramparts, and either with their
swords and the points of their spears, or with implements better suited
for the purpose, such as crowbars and pickaxes, attacked the foundations
of the walls, endeavoring to remove the stones one by one, and so to
force an entrance. While thus employed, the assailant commonly either
held his shield above him as a protection or was guarded by the shield
of a comrade; or, finally, if he carried the curved _gerrhon_, leant it
against the wall, and then placed himself under its shelter. [PLATE CX.,
Fig. 2.] Sometimes, however, he dispensed with the protection of a
shield altogether, and, trusting his helmet and coat of mail, which
covered him at all vital points, pursued his labor without paying any
attention to the weapons aimed at him by the enemy.
Occasionally the efforts of the besiegers were directed against the
gates, which they endeavored to break open with axes, or to set on fire
by an application of the torch. From this latter circumstance we may
gather that the gates were ordinarily of wood, not, like those of
Babylon and Veii, of brass. In the hot climate of Southern Asia wood
becomes so dry by exposure to the sun that the most solid doors may
readily be ignited and consumed.
[Illustration: PLATE 111]
When at last the city or castle was by some of these means reduced, and
the garrison consented to surrender itself, the work of demolition,
already begun, was completed. Generally the place was set on fire;
sometimes workmen provided with pickaxes and other tools mounted upon
the ramparts and towers, hurled down the battlements, broke breaches in
the walls, or even levelled the whole building. [PLATE CXII., Fig. 1.]
Vengeance was further taken by the destruction of the valuable trees in
the vicinity, more especially the highly prized date-palms, which were
cut with hatchets half through their stems at the distance of about two
feet from the ground, and then pulled or pushed down. [PLATE CXI., Fig.
2.] Other trees were either treated similarly, or denuded of their
branches. Occasionally the destruction was of a less wanton and vengeful
character. Timber-trees were cut down for transport to Assyria, where
they were used in the construction of the royal-palaces; and fruit-trees
were occasionally taken up by the roots, removed carefully, and planted
in the gardens and orchards of the conquerors. Meanwhile there was a
general plundering of the captured place. The temples were entered, and
the images of the gods, together, with the sacred vessels, which were
often of gold and silver, were seized and carried off in triumph.
[PLATE CXI., Fig. 4.] This was not mere cupidity. It was regarded as of
the utmost importance to show that the gods of the Assyrians were
superior to those of other countries, who were powerless to protect
either their votaries or even themselves from the irresistible might of
the servants of Asshur. The ordinary practice was to convey the images
of the foreign gods from the temples of the captured places to Assyria,
and there to offer then at the shrines of the principal Assyrian
deities. Hence the special force of the proud question, "Where _are_ the
gods of Hanath and of Arpad? _Where are_ the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena,
and Ivah? Where are they but carried captive to Assyria, prisoners and
slaves in the temples of those deities whose power they ventured to
resist?"
The houses of the city were also commonly plundered, and everything of
value in them was carried off. Long files of men, each bearing some
article of furniture out of the gate of a captured town, are frequent
upon the bas-reliefs, where we likewise often observe in the train of a
returning army carts laden with household stuff of every kind,
alternating with long strings of captives. All the spoil seems to have
been first brought by the individual plunderers to one place, where it
was carefully sorted and counted in the presence and under the
superintendence of royal scribes, who took an exact inventory of the
whole before it was carried away by its captors. [PLATE CXI., Fig. 3.]
Scales were used to determine the weight of articles made of the
precious metals, which might otherwise have been subjected to clipping.
We may conclude from these practices that a certain proportion of the
value of all private spoil was either due to the royal treasury, or
required to be paid to the gods in acknowledgment of their aid and
protection. Besides the private spoil, there was a portion which was
from the first set apart exclusively for the monarch. This consisted
especially of the public treasure of the captured city, the gold and
silver, whether in bullion, plate, or ornaments, from the palace of its
prince, and the idols, and probably the other valuables from the
temples.
The inhabitants of a captured place were usually treated with more or
less of severity. Those regarded as most responsible for the resistance
or the rebellion were seized; generally their hands were manacled either
before them or behind their backs, while sometimes fetters were attached
to their feet, and even rings passed through their lips, and in this
abject guise they were brought into the presence of the Assyrian king.
Seated on his throne in his fortified camp without the place, and
surrounded by his attendants, he received them one by one, and instantly
pronounced their doom. On some he proudly placed his foot, some he
pardoned, a few he ordered for execution, many he sentenced to be torn
from their homes and carried into slavery.
Various modes of execution seem to have been employed in the case of
condemned captives. One of them was empalement. This has always been,
and still remains, a common mode of punishment in the East; but the
manner of empaling which the Assyrians adopted was peculiar. They
pointed a stake at one end, and, having fixed the other end firmly into
the ground, placed their criminal with the pit of his stomach upon the
point, and made it enter his body just below the breastbone. This method
of empaling must have destroyed life tolerably soon, and have thus been
a far less cruel punishment than the crucifixion of the Romans. We do
not observe it very often in the Assyrian sculptures, nor do we ever see
it applied to more than a few individuals. It was probably reserved for
those who were considered the worst criminals. Another very common mode
of executing captives was by beating in their skulls with a mace. In
this case the victim commonly knelt; his two hands were placed before
him upon a block or cushion: behind him stood two executioners, one of
whom held him by a cord round the neck, while the other, seizing his
back hair in one hand, struck him a furious blow upon the head with a
mace which he held in the other. [PLATE CXI., Fig. 5.] It must have been
rarely, if ever, that a second blow was needed.
Decapitation was less frequently practised. The expression, indeed. "I
cut off their heads," is common in the Inscriptions but in most
instances it evidently refers to the practice, already noticed, of
collecting the heads of those who had fallen in battle. Still there are
instances, both in the Inscriptions and in the sculptures, of what
appears to have been a formal execution of captives by beheading. In
these cases the criminal, it would seem, stood upright, or bending a
little forwards, and the executioner, taking him by a lock of hair with
his left hand, struck his head from his shoulders with a short sword,
which he held in his right. [PLATE CXII., Fig. 5.]
It is uncertain whether a punishment even more barbarous than these was
not occasionally resorted to. In two or three bas-reliefs executioners
are represented in the act of flaying prisoners with a knife. The bodies
are extended upon the ground or against a wall, to which they are
fastened by means of four pegs attached by strings or thongs to the two
wrists and the two ankles. The executioner leans over the victim, and
with his knife detaches the skin from the flesh. One would trust that
this operation was not performed until life was extinct. We know that it
was the practice of the Persians, and even of the barbarous Scythians,
to flay the corpses, and not the living forms, of criminals and of
enemies; we may hope, therefore, that the Assyrians removed the skin
from the dead, to use it as a trophy or as a warning, and did not
inflict so cruel a torture on the living.
Sometimes the punishment awarded to a prisoner was mutilation instead of
death. Cutting off the ears close to the head, blinding the eyes with
burning-irons, cutting off the nose, and plucking out the tongue by the
roots, have been in all ages favorite Oriental punishments. We have
distinct evidence that some at least of these cruelties were practised
by the Assyrians. Asshur-izir-pal tells us in his great Inscription that
he often cut off the noses and the ears of prisoners; while a slab of
Asshur-bani-pal, the son of Esarhaddon, shows a captive in the hands of
the torturers, one of whom holds his head firm and fast, while another
thrusts his hand into his mouth for the purpose of tearing out the
tongue.
The captives carried away by the conquerors consisted of men, women, and
children. The men were formed into bands, under the conduct of officers,
who urged theme forward on their way by blows, with small regard to
their sufferings. Commonly they were conveyed to the capital, where they
were employed by the monarchs in the lower or higher departments of
labor, according to their capacities. The skilled workmen were in
request to assist in the ornamentation of shrines and palaces, while the
great mass of the unskilled were made use of to quarry and drag stone,
to raise mounds, make bricks, and the like. Sometimes, instead of being
thus employed in task-work in or near the capital, the captives were
simply settled in new regions, where it was thought that they would
maintain the Assyrian power against native malcontents. Thus Esarhaddon
planted Babylonians, Susanchites, Dehavites, Elamites, and others in
Samaria, while Sargon settled his Samaritan captives in Gauzanitis and
in "the cities of the Medes."
[Illustration: PLATE 112]
The women and children carried off by the conquerors were treated with
more tenderness than the men. [PLATE CXII., Fig. 2.] Sometimes on foot,
but often mounted on mules, or seated in carts drawn by bullocks or
asses, they followed in the train of their new masters, not always
perhaps unwilling to exchange the monotony of domestic life at home for
the excitement of a new and unknown condition in a fresh country. We
seldom see them exhibiting any signs of grief. The women and children
are together, and the mothers lavish on their little ones the usual
caresses and kind offices, taking them in their laps, giving then the
breast, carrying them upon their shoulders, or else leading them by the
hand. At intervals they were allowed to stop and rest; and it was not
even the practice to deprive them of such portion of their household
stuff as they might have contrived to secure before quitting their
homes. This they commonly bore in a bag or sack, which was either held
in the hand or thrown over one shoulder, When they reached Assyria, it
would seem that they were commonly assigned as wives to the soldiers of
the Assyrian army.
Together with their captives, the Assyrians carried off vast quantities
of the domesticated animals, such as oxen, sheep, goats, horses, asses,
camels, and mules. The numbers mentioned in the Inscriptions are
sometimes almost incredible. Sennacherib, for instance, says that in one
foray he bore off from the tribes on the Euphrates "7200 horses and
mares, 5230 camels, 11,000 mules, 120,000 oxen, and 800,000 sheep"!
Other kings omit particulars, but speak of the captured animals which
they led away as being "too numerous to be counted," or "countless as
the stars of heaven." The Assyrian sculptors are limited by the nature
of their art to comparatively small numbers, but they show us horses,
camels, and mules in the train of a returning army, together with groups
of the other animals, indicative of the vast flocks and herds
continually mentioned in the Inscriptions.
Occasionally the monarchs were not content with bringing home
domesticated animals only, but took the trouble to transport from
distant regions into Assyria wild beasts of various kinds.
Tiglath-Pileser I. informs us in general terms that, besides carrying
off the droves of the horses, cattle, and asses that he obtained from
the subjugated countries, he "took away and drove off the herds of the
wild goats and the ibexes, the wild sheep and the wild cattle;" and
another monarch mentions that in one expedition he carried off from the
middle Euphrates a drove of forty wild cattle, and also a flock of
twenty ostriches. The object seems to have been to stock Assyria with a
variety and an abundance of animals of chase.
The foes of the Assyrians would sometimes, when hard pressed, desert the
dry land, and betake themselves to the marshes, or cross the sea to
islands where they trusted that they might be secure from attack. Not
unfrequently they obtained their object by such a retreat, for the
Assyrians were not a maritime people. Sometimes, however, they were
pursued. The Assyrians would penetrate into the marshes by means of reed
boats, probably not very different from the _terradas_ at present in use
among the Arabs of the Mesopotamian marsh districts. Such boats are
represented upon the bas-reliefs as capable of holding from three to
five armed men. On these the Assyrian foot-soldiers would embark, taking
with them a single boatman to each boat, who propelled the vessel much
as a Venetian gondolier propels his gondola, i.e., with a single long
oar or paddle, which he pushed from him standing at the stern. They
would then in these boats attack the vessels of the enemy, which are
always represented as smaller than theirs, run them down or board them,
kill their crews or force them into the water, or perhaps allow them to
surrender. Meanwhile, the Assyrian cavalry was stationed round the marsh
among the tall reeds which thickly clothed its edge, ready to seize or
slay such of the fugitives as might escape from the foot.
When the refuge sought was an island, if it lay near the shore, the
Assyrians would sometimes employ the natives of the adjacent coast to
transport beams of wood and other materials by means of their boats, in
order to form a sort of bridge or mole reaching from the mainland to the
isle whereto their foes had fled. Such a design was entertained, or at
least professed, by Xerxes after the destruction of his fleet in the
battle of Salamis, and it was successfully executed by Alexander the
Great, who took in this way the new or island of Tyre. From a series of
reliefs discovered at Khorsabad wo may conclude that more than two
hundred years before the earlier of these two occasions, the Assyrians
had conceived the idea, and even succeeded in carrying out the plan, of
reducing islands near the coast by moles.
Under the Chaldaeans, whose "cry was in their ships," the Assyrians seem
very rarely to have adventured themselves upon the deep. If their
enemies fled to islands which could not be reached by moles, or to lands
across the sea, in almost every instance they escaped. Such escapes are
represented upon the sculptures, where we see the Assyrians taking a
maritime town at one end, while at the other the natives are embarking
their women and children, and putting to sea, without any pursuit being
made after them. In none of the bas-reliefs do we observe any sea-going
vessels with Assyrians on board and history tells us of but two or three
expeditions by sea in which they took part. One of these was an
expedition by Sennacharib against the coast of the Persian Gulf, to
which his Chaldaean enemies had fled. On this occasion he brought
shipwrights from Phoenicia to Assyria, and made them build him ships
there, which were then launched upon the Tigris, and conveyed down to
the sea. With a fleet thus constructed, and probably manned, by
Phoenicians, Sennacherib crossed to the opposite coast, defeated the
refugees, and embarking his prisoners on board, returned in triumph to
the mainland. Another expedition was that of Shalmaneser IV. against the
island Tyre. Assyrians are said to have been personally engaged in it;
but here again we are told that they embarked in ships furnished to then
by the Phoenicians, and maimed chiefly by Phoenician sailors.
When a country was regarded as subjugated, the Assyrian monarch commonly
marked the establishment of his sovereignty by erecting a memorial in
some conspicuous or important situation within the territory conquered,
as an enduring sign of his having taken possession. These memorials were
either engraved on the natural rock or on solid blocks of stone cut into
the form of a broad low stele. They contained a figure of the king,
usually enclosed in an arched frame; and an inscription, of greater or
less length, setting forth his name, his titles, and some of his
exploits. More than thirty such memorials are mentioned in the extant
Inscriptions, and the researches of recent times have recovered some ten
or twelve of them. They uniformly represent the king in his sacerdotal
robes, with the sacred collar round his neck, and the emblems of the
gods above his head, raising the right hand in the act of adoration, as
if he were giving thanks to Asshur and his guardian deities on account
of his successes.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
It is now time to pass from the military customs of the Assyrians to a
consideration of their habits and usages in time of peace, so far as
they are made known to us either by historical records or by the
pictorial evidence of the has reliefs. And here it may be convenient to
treat separately of the public life of the king and court, and of the
private life of the people.
In Assyria, as in most Oriental countries, the keystone of the social
arch, the central point of the system, round which all else revolved,
and on which all else depended, was the monarch. "_L'etat, c'est moi_"
might have been said with more truth by an Assyrian prince than even by
the "_Grand Monarque_," whose dictum it is reported to have been. Alike
in the historical notices, and in the sculptures, we have the person of
the king presented to us with consistent prominence, and it is
consequently with him that we most naturally commence the present
portion of our inquiry.
The ordinary dress of the monarch in time of peace was a long flowing
robe, reaching to the ankles, elaborately patterned and fringed, over
which was worn, first, a broad belt, and then a species of open mantle,
or chasuble, very curiously contrived. [PLATE CXII., Fig. 3.] This
consisted mainly of two large flaps, both of which were commonly
rounded, though sometimes one of them was square at bottom. These fell
over the robe in front and behind, leaving the sides open, and so
exposing the under dress to view. The two flaps must have been sewn
together at the places marked with the dotted lines _a b_ and _c d_, the
space from _a_ to _c_ being left open, and the mantle passed by that
means over the head. At _d g_ there was commonly a short sleeve _(h)_,
which covered the upper part of the left arm, but the right arm was left
free, the mantle falling of either side of it. Sometimes, besides the
flaps, the mantle seems to have had two pointed wings attached to the
shoulders (_a f b_ and _c e h_ in the illustration), which were made to
fall over in front. Occasionally there was worn above the chasuble a
broad diagonal belt ornamented with a deep fringe and sometimes there
depended at the back of the dress a species of large hood.
The special royal head-dress was a tall mitre or tiara, which at first
took the shape of the head, but rose above it to a certain height in a
gracefully curved line, when it was covered in with a top, flat, like
that of a hat, but having a projection towards the centre, which rose up
into a sort of apex, or peak, not however pointed, but either rounded or
squared off. The tiara was generally ornamented with a succession of
bands, between which were commonly patterns more or less elaborate.
Ordinarily the lowest band, instead of running parallel with the others,
rose with a gentle curve towards the front, allowing room for a large
rosette over the forehead, and for other similar ornaments. If we may
trust the representations on the enamelled bricks, supported as they are
to some extent by the tinted reliefs, we may say that the tiara was of
three colors, red, yellow, and white. The red and white alternated in
broad bands; the ornaments upon them were yellow, being probably either
embroidered on the material of the head-dress in threads of gold, or
composed of thin gold plates which may have been sown on. The general
material of the tiara is likely to have been cloth or felt; it can
scarcely have been metal, if the deep crimson tint of the bricks and the
reliefs is true. [PLATE CXII., Fig. 4.]
In the early sculptures the tiara is more depressed than in the later,
and it is also less richly ornamented. It has seldom more than two
bands, viz., a narrow one at top, and at bottom a broader curved one,
rising towards the front. To this last are attached two long strings or
lappets, which fall behind the monarch's back to a level with his elbow.
[PLATE CXIII., Fig. 1.]
[Illustration: PLATE 113]
Another head-dress which the monarch sometimes wore was a sort of band
or fillet. This was either elevated in front and ornamented with a
single rosette, like the lowest band of the tiara, or else of uniform
width and patterned along its whole course. In either case there
depended from it, on each side of the back hair, a long ribbon or
streamer, fringed at the end and sometimes ornamented with a delicate
pattern. [PLATE CXIII., Fig 2.]
The monarch's feet were protected by sandals or shoes. In the early
sculptures sandals only appear in use, shoes being unknown (as it would
seem) until the time of Sennacherib. The sandals worn were of two kinds.
The simplest sort had a very thin sole and a small cap for the heel,
made apparently of a number of strips of leather sewn together. It was
held in place by a loop over the great-toe, attached to the fore part of
the sole, and by a string which was laced backwards and forwards across
the instep, and then tied in a bow. [PLATE CXIII., Fig. 4.]
The other kind of sandal had a very different sort of sole; it was of
considerable thickness, especially at the heel, from which it gradually
tapered to the toe. Attached to this was an upper leather which
protected the heel and the whole of the side of the foot, but left the
toes and the instep exposed. A loop fastened to the sole received the
great-toe, and at the point where the loop was inserted two straps were
also made fast, which were then carried on either side the great-toe to
the top of the foot, where they crossed each other, and, passing twice
through rings attached to the edge of the upper leather, were finally
fastened, probably by a buckle, at the top of the instep. [PLATE CXIII.,
Fig. 6.]
The shoe worn by the later kings was of a coarse and clumsy make, very
much rounded at the toe, patterned with rosettes, crescents, and the
like, and (apparently) laced in front. In this respect it differed from
the shoe of the queen, which will be represented presently, and also
from the shoes worn by the tribute-bearers. [PLATE CXIII, Fig. 5.]
The accessory portions of the royal costume were chiefly belts,
necklaces, armlets, bracelets, and earrings. Besides the belt round the
waist, in which two or three highly ornamented daggers were frequently
thrust, and the broad fringed cross-belt, of which mention was made
above, the Assyrian monarch wore a narrow cross-belt passing across his
right shoulder, from which his sword hung at his left side. This belt
was sometimes patterned with rosettes. It was worn over the front flap
of the chasuble, but under the back flap, and was crossed at right
angles by the broad fringed belt, which was passed over the right arm
and head so as to fall across the left shoulder.
The royal necklaces were of two kinds. Some consisted merely of one or
more strings of long lozenge-shaped beads slightly chased, and connected
by small links, ribbed perpendicularly. [PLATE CXIII., Fig. 7.] The
other kind was a band or collar, perhaps of gold, on which were hung a
number of sacred emblems: as the crescent or emblem of the Moon-God,
Sin; the four-rayed disk, the emblem of the Sun-God, Shamas; the
six-rayed or eight-rayed disk, the emblem of Gula, the Sun-Goddess; the
horned cap, perhaps the emblem of the king's guardian genius; and the
double or triple bolt, which was the emblem of Vul, the god of the
atmosphere. This sacred collar was a part of the king's civil and not
merely of his sacerdotal dress; as appears from the fact that it was
sometimes worn when the king was merely receiving prisoners. [PLATE
CXIII., Fig. 8.]
The monarch wore a variety of armlets. The most common was a plain bar
of a single twist, the ends of which slightly overlapped each other. A
more elegant kind was similar to this, except that the bar terminated in
animal heads carefully wrought, among which the heads of rams, horses,
and ducks were the most common. A third sort has the appearance of being
composed of a number of long strings or wires, confined at intervals of
less than an inch by cross bands at right angles to the wires. This sort
was carried round the arm twice, and even then its ends overlapped
considerably. It is probable that all the armlets were of metal, and
that the appearance of the last was given to it by the workman in
imitation of an earlier and ruder armlet of worsted or leather. [PLATE
CXIV., Fig. 1. ]
[Illustration: PLATE 114]
The bracelets of the king, like his armlets, were sometimes mere bars of
metal, quite plain and without ornament. More often, however, they were
ribbed and adorned with a large rosette at the centre. Sometimes,
instead of one simple rosette, we see three double rosettes, between
which project small points, shaped like the head of a spear.
Occasionally these double rosettes appear to be set on the surface of a
broad bar, which is chased so as to represent brickwork. In no case can
we see how the bracelets were fastened; perhaps they were elastic, and
were slipped over the hand. [PLATE CXIV., Fig. 3.]
Specimens of royal earrings have been already given in an earlier
chapter of this volume. The most ordinary form in the more ancient times
was a long drop, which was sometimes delicately chased Another common
kind was an incomplete Maltese cross, one arm of the four being left out
because it would have interfered with the ear. [PLATE CXIV., Fig. 2.] In
later times there was a good deal of variety in the details; but the
drop and the cross were always favorite features.
When the monarch went out to the hunt or to the battle, he laid aside
such ornaments as encumbered him, reserving however his earrings,
bracelets, and armlets, and then, stripping off his upper dress or
chasuble, appeared in the under robe which has been already described.
This robe was confined at the waist by a broad cincture or girdle,
outside of which was worn a narrowish belt wherein daggers were often
thrust. In early times this cincture seems to have been fastened by a
ribbon with long streaming ends, which are very conspicuous in the
Nimrud sculptures. At the same period the monarch often wore, when he
hunted or went out to battle, a garment which might have been called an
apron, if it had not been worn behind instead of in front. This was
generally patterned and fringed very richly, besides being ornamented
with one or more long pendent tassels. [PLATE CXIV., Fig. 4.]
The sacerdotal dress of the king, or that which he commonly wore when
engaged in the rites of his religion, differed considerably from his
ordinary costume. His inner garment, indeed, seems to have been the
usual long gown with a fringe descending to the ankles; but this was
almost entirely concealed under an ample outer robe, which was closely
wrapped round the form and kept in place by a girdle. A deep fringe,
arranged in two rows, one above the other, and carried round the robe in
curved sweeps at an angle with the horizontal line, is the most striking
feature of this dress, which is also remarkable for the manner in which
it confines and conceals the left arm, while the right is left free and
exposed to view. A representation of a king thus apparelled will be
found in an earlier part of this work, taken from a statue now in the
British Museum. It is peculiar in having the head uncovered, and in the
form of the implement borne in the right hand. It is also incomplete as
a representation, from the fact that all the front of the breast is
occupied by an inscription. Other examples show that the tiara was
commonly worn as a part of the sacerdotal costume; that the sacred
collar adorned the breast, necklaces the neck, and bracelets the two
arms; while in the belt, which was generally to some extent knotted,
were borne two or three daggers. The mace seems to have been a necessary
appendage to the costume, and was always grasped just below its head by
the left hand.
We have but one representation of an Assyrian queen. Despite the
well-known stories of Semiramis and her manifold exploits, it would seem
that the Assyrians secluded their females with as rigid and watchful a
jealousy as modern Turks or Persians. The care taken with respect to the
direction of the passages in the royal hareem has been noticed already.
It is quite in accordance with the spirit thus indicated, and with the
general tenor of Oriental habits, that neither in inscriptions nor in
sculptured representations do the Assyrians allow their women to make
more than a most rare and occasional appearance. Fortunately for us,
their jealousy was sometimes relaxed to a certain extent; and in one
scene, recovered from the _debris_ of an Assyrian palace we are enabled
to contemplate at once the domestic life of the monarch and the attire
and even the features of his consort.
It appears that in the private apartments, while the king, like the
Romans and the modern Orientals, reclined upon a couch leaning his
weight partly upon his left elbow, and having his right arm free and
disposable, her majesty the queen sat in a chair of state by the couch's
side, near its foot, and facing her lord. [PLATE CXV., Fig. 1.] Two
eunuchs provided with large fans were in attendance upon the monarch,
and the same number waited upon the queen, standing behind her chair.
Her majesty, whose hair was arranged nearly like that of her royal
consort, wore upon her head a band or fillet having something of the
appearance of a crown of towers, such as encircles the brow of Cybele on
Greek coins and statues. Her dress was a long-sleeved gown reaching from
the neck to the feet, flounced and trimmed at the bottom in an elaborate
way, and elsewhere patterned with rosettes, over which she wore a
fringed tunic or frock descending half-way between the knees and the
feet. [PLATE CXV., Fig. 3.] In addition to these two garments, she wore
upon her back and shoulders a light cloak or cape, patterned (like the
rest of her dress) with rosettes and edged with a deep fringe. Her feet
were encased in shoes of a clumsy make, also patterned. Her ornaments,
besides the crown upon her head, were earrings, a necklace, and
bracelets. Her hair was cushioned, and adorned with a drapery which hung
over the back. Her feet rested on a handsome footstool, also cushioned.
On the slab from which this description is taken the royal pair seem to
be refreshing themselves with wine. Each supports on the thumb and
fingers of the right hand a saucer or shallow drinking-cup, probably of
some precious metal, which they raise to their lips simultaneously, as
if they were pledging one another. The scene of the entertainment is the
palace garden; for trees grow on either side of the main figures, while
over their heads, a vine hangs its festoons and its rich clusters. By
the side of the royal couch, and in front of the queen, is a table
covered with a table-cloth, on which are a small box or casket, a
species of shallow bowl which may have held incense or perfume of some
kind, and a third article frequently seen in close proximity to the
king, but of whose use it is impossible to form a conjecture. At the
couch's head stands another curious article, a sort of tall vase
surmounted by a sugarloaf, which probably represents an altar. The king
bears in his left hand the lotus or sacred flower, while the queen holds
in hers what looks like a modern fan. All the lower part of the
monarch's person is concealed beneath a coverlet, which is plain, except
that it has tassels at the corners and an embroidered border.
The officers in close attendance upon the monarch varied according to
his employment. In war he was accompanied by his charioteer, his
shield-bearer or shield-bearers, his groom, his quiver-bearer, his
mace-bearer, and sometimes by his parasol-bearer. In peace the
parasol-bearer is always represented as in attendance, except in hunting
expeditions, or where he is replaced by a fan-bearer. The parasol, which
exactly resembled that still in use throughout the East, was reserved
exclusively for the monarch. [PLATE CXVI., Fig. 1.] It had a tall and
thick pole, which the bearer grasped with both his hands, and in the
early times a somewhat small circular top. Under the later kings the
size of the head was considerably enlarged; and, at the same time, a
curtain or flap was attached, which, falling from the edge of the
parasol, more effectually protected the monarch from the sun's rays. The
head of the parasol was fringed with tassels, and the upper extremity of
the pole commonly terminated in a flower or other ornament. In the later
time both the head and the curtain which depended from it were richly
patterned. If we may trust the remains of color upon the Khorsabad
sculptures, the tints preferred were red and white, which alternated in
bands upon the parasol as upon the royal tiara.
There was nothing very remarkable in the dress or quality of the royal
attendants. Except the groom, the charioteer, and the shield-bearers,
they were in the early times almost invariably eunuchs; but the later
kings seem to have preferred eunuchs for the offices of parasol-bearer
and fan-bearer only. The dress of the eunuchs is most commonly a long
fringed gown, reaching from the neck to the feet, with very short
sleeves, and a broad belt or girdle confining the gown at the waist.
Sometimes they have a cross-belt also; and occasionally both this and
the girdle round the waist are richly fringed. The eunuchs commonly wear
earrings, and sometimes armlets and bracelets; in a few instances they
have their necks adorned with necklaces, and their long dresses
elaborately patterned. Their heads are either bare, or at most encircled
with a fillet.
[Illustration: PLATE 115]
A peculiar physiognomy is assigned to this class of persons--the
forehead low, the nose small and rounded, the lips full, the chin large
and double, the cheeks bloated. [PLATE CXV., Fig. 2.] They are generally
represented as shorter and stouter than the other Assyrians. Though
placed in confidential situations about the person of the monarch, they
seem not to have held very high or important offices. The royal Vizier
is never a eunuch, and eunuchs are rarely seen among the soldiers; they
are scribes, cooks, musicians, perhaps priests; as they are
grooms-in-waiting, huntsmen, parasol-bearers, and fan-bearers; but it
cannot be said with truth that they had the same power in Assyria which
they have commonly possessed in the more degraded of the Oriental
monarchies. It is perhaps a sound interpretation of the name Rabsaris in
Scripture to understand it as titular, not appellative, and to translate
it "the Chief Eunuch" or "the Master of the Eunuchs;" and if so, we have
an instance of the employment by one Assyrian king of a person of this
class on an embassy to a petty sovereign: but the sculptures are far
from bearing out the notion that eunuchs held the same high position in
the Assyrian court as they have since held generally in the East, where
they have not only continually filled the highest offices of state, but
have even attained to sovereign power. On the contrary, their special
charge seems rather to have been the menial offices about the person of
the monarch, which imply confidence in the fidelity of those to whom
they are entrusted, but not submission to their influence in the conduct
of state affairs. And it is worthy of notice that, instead of becoming
more influential as time went on, they appear to have become less so; in
the later sculptures the royal attendants are far less generally eunuchs
than in the earlier ones; and the difference is most marked in the more
important offices.
[Illustration: PLATE 116]
It is not quite certain that the Chief Eunuch is represented upon the
sculptures. Perhaps we may recognize him in an attendant, who commonly
bears a fan, but whose special badge of office is a long fringed scarf
or band, which hangs down below his middle both before him and behind
him, being passed over the left shoulder. [PLATE CXVI., Fig. 2.] This
officer appears, in one bas-relief, alone in front of the king; in
another, he stands on the right hand of the Vizier, level with him,
facing the king as he drinks; in a third, he receives prisoners after a
battle; while in another part of the same sculpture he is in the king's
camp preparing the table for his master's supper. There is always a good
deal of ornamentation about his dress, which otherwise nearly resembles
that of the inferior royal attendants, consisting of a long fringed gown
or robe, a girdle fringed or plain, a cross-belt generally fringed, and
the scarf already described. His head and feet are generally bare,
though sometimes the latter are protected by sandals. He is found only
upon the sculptures of the early period.
Among the officers who have free access to the royal person, there is
one who stands out with such marked prominence from the rest that he has
been properly recognized as the Grand Vizier or prime minister at once
the chief counsellor of the monarch, and the man whose special business
it was to signify and execute his will. The dress of the Grand Vizier is
more rich than that of any other person except the monarch; and there
are certain portions of his apparel which he and the king have alone the
privilege of wearing. These are, principally, the tasselled apron and
the fringed band depending from the fillet, the former of which is found
in the early period only, while the latter belongs to no particular
time, but throughout the whole series of sculptures is the distinctive
mark of royal or quasi-royal authority. To these two may be added the
long ribbon or scarf, with double streamers at the ends, which depended
from, and perhaps fastened, the belt--a royal ornament worn also by the
Vizier in at least one representation. [PLATE CXVI., Fig. 3.]
The chief garment of the Vizier is always a long fringed robe, reaching
from the neck to the feet. This is generally trimmed with embroidery at
the top, round the sleeves, and round the bottom. It is either seen to
be confined by a broad belt round the waist, or else is covered from the
waist to the knees by two falls of a heavy and deep fringe. In this
latter case, a broad cross-belt is worn over the left shoulder, and the
upper fall of fringe hangs from the cross-belt. A fillet is worn upon
the head, which is often highly ornamented. The feet are sometimes bare,
but more often are protected by sandals, or (as in the accompanying
representation) by embroidered shoes. Earrings adorn the ears;
bracelets, sometimes accompanied by armlets, the arms. A sword is
generally worn at the left side.
The Vizier is ordinarily represented in one of two attitudes. Either he
stands with his two hands joined in front of him, the right hand in the
left, and the fingers not clasped, but left loose--the ordinary attitude
of passive and respectful attention, in which officers who carry nothing
await the orders of the king,--or he has the right arm raised, the elbow
bent, and the right hand brought to a level with his month, while the
left hand rests upon the hilt of the sword worn at his left side. [PLATE
CXVII., Fig. 1.] In this latter case it may be presumed that we have the
attitude of conversation, as in the former we have that of attentive
listening. When the Vizier assumes this energetic posture he is commonly
either introducing prisoners or bringing in spoil to the king. When he
is quiescent, he stands before the throne to receive the king's orders,
or witnesses the ceremony with which it was usual to conclude a
successful hunting expedition.
The pre-eminent rank and dignity of this officer is shown, not only by
his participation in the insignia of royal authority, but also and very
clearly by the fact that, when he is present, no one ever intervenes
between him and the king. He has the undisputed right of precedence, so
that he is evidently the first subject of the crown, and he alone, is
seen addressing the monarch. He does not always accompany the king on
his military expeditions but when he attends them, he still maintains
his position, having a dignity greater than that of any general, and so
taking the entire direction of the prisoners and of the spoil.
The royal fan-bearers were two in number. They were invariably eunuchs.
Their ordinary position was behind the monarch, on whom they attended
alike in the retirement of private life and in religious and civil
ceremonies. On some occasions, however, one of the two was privileged to
leave his station behind the king's chair or throne, and, advancing in
front, to perform certain functions before the face of his master. He
handed his master the sacred cup, and waited to receive it back, at the
same time diligently discharging the ordinary duties of his office by
keeping up a current of air and chasing away those plagues of the
East--the flies. The fan-bearer thus privileged wears always the long
tasselled scarf, which seems to have been a badge of office, and may not
improbably mark him for the chief Eunuch. In the absence of the Vizier,
or sometimes in subordination to him, he introduced the tribute-bearers
to the king, reading out their names and titles from a scroll or tablet
which he held in his left hand. [PLATE CXVII., Fig. 2.]
[Illustration: PLATE 117]
[Illustration: PLATE 118]
The fan carried by these attendants seems in most instances to have been
made of feathers. It had a shortish handle, which was generally mere or
less ornamented, and frequently terminated in the head of a ram or other
animal. [PLATE CXVIII., Fig. 1.] The feathers were sometimes of great
length, and bent gracefully by their own weight, as they were pointed
slantingly towards the monarch. Occasionally a comparatively short fan
was used, and the feathers were replaced by a sort of brush, which may
have been made of horse-hair, or possibly of some vegetable fibre.
The other attendants on the monarch require no special notice. With
regard to their number, however, it may be observed that, although the
sculptures generally do not represent them as very numerous, there is
reason to believe that they amounted to several hundreds. The enormous
size of the palaces can scarcely be otherwise accounted for: and in one
sculpture of an exceptional character, where the artist seems to have
aimed at representing his subject in full, we can count above seventy
attendants present with the monarch at one time. Of these less than
one-half are eunuch; and these wear the long robe with the fringed belt
and cross-belt. The other attendants wear in many cases the same
costume; sometimes, however, they are dressed in a tunic and greaves,
like the soldiers.
There can be no doubt that the court ceremonial of the Assyrians was
stately and imposing. The monarch seems indeed not to have affected that
privacy and seclusion which forms a predominant feature of the
ceremonial observed in most Oriental monarchies. He showed himself very
freely to his subjects on many occasions. He superintended in person the
accomplishment of his great works. In war and in the chase he rode in an
open chariot, never using a litter, though litters were not unknown to
the Assyrians. In his expeditions he would often descend from his
chariot, and march or fight on foot like the meanest of his subjects.
But though thus familiarizing the multitude with his features and
appearance, he was far from allowing familiarity of address. Both in
peace and war he was attended by various officers of state, and no one
had speech of him except through them. It would even seem as if two
persons only were entitled to open a conversation with him--the Vizier
and the Chief Eunuch. When he received them, he generally placed himself
upon his throne, sitting, while they stood to address him. It is
strongly indicative of the haughty pride of these sovereigns that they
carried with them in their distant expeditions the cumbrous thrones
whereon they were wont to sit when they dispensed justice or received
homage. On these thrones they sat, in or near their fortified camps,
when the battle or the siege was ended, and thus sitting they received
in state the spoil and the prisoners. Behind them on such occasions were
the two fan-bearers, while near at hand were guards, scribes, grooms,
and other attendants. In their palace halls undoubtedly the ceremonial
used was stricter, grander, and more imposing. The sculptures, however,
furnish no direct evidence on this point, for there is nothing to mark
the scene of the great processional pieces.
In the pseudo-history of Ctesias, the Assyrian kings were represented as
voluptuaries of the extremest kind, who passed their whole lives within
the palace, in the company of their concubines and their eunuchs,
indulging themselves in perpetual ease, pleasure, and luxury. We have
already seen how the warlike character of so many monarchs gives the lie
to these statements, so far as they tax the Assyrian kings with sloth
and idleness. It remains to examine the charge of over-addiction to
sensual delights, especially to those of the lowest and grossest
description. Now it is at least remarkable that, so far as we have any
real evidence, the Assyrian kings appear as monogamists. In the
inscription on the god Nebo, the artist dedicates his statue to his
"lord Vol-lush (?) and his _lady_, Sammuramit." In the solitary
sculptured representation of the private life of the king, he is seen in
the company of one female only. Even in the very narrative of Ctesias,
Ninus has but one wife, Semiramis; and Sardanapalus, notwithstanding his
many concubines, has but five children, three sons and two daughters. It
is not intended to press these arguments to an extreme, or to assume, on
the strength of them, that the Assyrian monarchs were really faithful to
one woman. They may have had--nay, it is probable that they had--a
certain number of concubines; but there is really not the least ground
for believing that they carried concubinage to an excess, or
over-stepped in this respect the practice of the best Eastern
sovereigns. At any rate they were not the voluptuaries which Ctesias
represented them. A considerable portion of their lives was passed in
the toils and dangers of war; and their peaceful hours, instead of being
devoted to sloth and luxury in the retirement of the palace, were
chiefly employed, as we shall presently see, in active and manly
exercises in the field, which involved much exertion and no small
personal peril.
The favorite occupation of the king in peace was the chase of the lion.
In the early times he usually started on a hunting expedition in his
chariot, dressed as when he went out to war, and attended by his
charioteer, some swordsmen, and a groom holding a led horse. He carried
a bow and arrows, a sword, one or two daggers, and a spear, which last
stood in a rest made for it at the back of the chariot. Two quivers,
each containing an axe and an abundant supply of arrows, hung from the
chariot transversely across its right side, while a shield armed with
teeth was suspended behind. When a lion was found, the king pursued it
in his chariot, letting fly his arrows as he went, and especially
seeking to pierce the animal about the heart and head. Sometimes he
transfixed the beast with three or four shafts before it succumbed.
Occasionally the lion attacked him in his chariot, and was met with
spear and shield, or with a fresh arrow, according to the exigencies of
the moment, or the monarch's preference for one or the other weapon. On
rare occasions the monarch descended to the ground, and fought on foot.
He would then engage the lion in close combat with no other weapon but a
short sword, which he strove to plunge, and often plunged, into his
heart. [PLATE CXVIII., Fig. 2.]
In the later time, though the chariot was still employed to some extent
in the lion-hunts, it appears to have been far more usual for the king
to enjoy the sport on foot. He carried a straight sword, which seems to
have been a formidable weapon; it was strong, very broad, and two feet
or a little more in length. Two attendants waited closely upon the
monarch, one of whom carried a bow and arrows, while the other was
commonly provided with one or two spears. From these attendants the king
took the bow or spear at pleasure, usually commencing the attack with
his arrows, and finally despatching the spent animal with sword or
spear, as he deemed best. Sometimes, but not very often, the spearman in
attendance carried also a shield, and held both spear and shield in
advance of his master to protect him from the animal's spring. Generally
the monarch faced the danger with no such protection, and received the
brute on his sword, or thrust him through with his pike. [PLATE CXVIII.,
Fig. 3;] [PLATE CXIX., Fig. 1.] Perhaps the sculptures exaggerate the
danger which he affronted at such moments; but we can hardly suppose
that there was not a good deal of peril incurred in these hand-to-hand
contests.
[Illustration: PLATE 119]
Two modes of hunting the king of beasts were followed at this time.
Either he was sought in his native haunts, which were then, as now, the
reedy coverts by the side of the canals and great streams; or he was
procured beforehand, conveyed to the hunting-ground, and there turned
out before the hunters. In the former case the monarch took the field
accompanied by his huntsmen and beaters on horse and foot, these last
often holding dogs in leash, which, apparently, were used only to
discover and arouse the game, but were not slipped at it when started.
No doubt the hunt was sometimes entirely on the land, the monarch
accompanying his beaters along one or other of the two banks of a canal
or stream. But a different plan is known to have been adopted on some
occasions. Disposing his beaters to the right and left upon both banks,
the monarch with a small band of attendants would take ship, and, while
his huntsmen sought to start the game on either side, he would have
himself rowed along so as just to keep pace with them, and would find
his sport in attacking such lions as took the water. The monarch's place
on these occasions was the middle of the boat. Before him and behind him
were guards armed with spears, who were thus ready to protect their
master, whether the beast attacked him in front or rear. The monarch
used a round bow, like that commonly carried in war, and aimed either at
the heart or at the head. The spearmen presented their weapons at the
same time, while the sides of the boat were also sufficiently high above
the water to afford a considerable protection against the animal's
spring. An attendant immediately behind the monarch held additional
arrows ready for him; and after piercing the noble brute with three or
four of these weapons, the monarch had commonly the satisfaction of
seeing him sink down and expire. The carcass was then taken from the
water, the fore and hind legs were lashed together with string, and the
beast was suspended from the hinder part of the boat, where he hung over
the water just out of the sweep of the oars.
At other times, when it was felt that the natural chase of the animal
might afford little or no sport, the Assyrians (as above stated) called
art to their assistance, and, having obtained a supply of lions from a
distance, brought them in traps or cages to the hunting-ground, and
there turned them out before the monarch. The walls of the cage was made
of thick spars of wood, with interstices between them, through which the
lion could both see and be seen: probably the top was entirely covered
with boards, and upon these was raised a sort of low hut or sentry-box,
just large enough to contain a man, who, when the proper moment arrived,
peeped forth from his concealment and cautiously raised the front of the
trap, which was a kind of drop-door working in a groove. [PLATE CXIX.,
Fig. 2.] The trap being thus opened, the lion stole out, looking
somewhat ashamed of his confinement, but doubtless anxious to vent his
spleen on the first convenient object. The king, prepared for his
attack, saluted him, as he left his cage, with an arrow, and, as he
advanced, with others, which sometimes stretched him dead upon the
plain, sometimes merely disabled him, while now and then they only
goaded him to fury. In this case he would spring at the royal chariot,
clutch some part of it, and in his agony grind it between his teeth, or
endeavor to reach the inmates of the car from behind. If the king had
descended from the car to the plain, the infuriated beast might make his
spring at the royal person, in which case it must have required a stout
heart to stand unmoved, and aim a fresh arrow at a vital part while the
creature was in mid-air, especially if (as we sometimes see represented)
a second lion was following close upon the first, and would have to be
received within a few seconds. It would seem that the lions on some
occasions were not to be goaded into making an attack, but simply
endeavored to escape by flight. To prevent this, troops were drawn up in
a double line of spearmen and archers round the space within which the
lions were let loose, the large shields of the front or spearmen line
forming a sort of wall, and the spears a _chevaux de frise_, through
which it was almost impossible for the beasts to break. In front of the
soldiers, attendants held hounds in leashes, which either by their
baying and struggling frightened the animals back, or perhaps assisted
to despatch them. [PLATE CXIX., Fig. 3.] The king meanwhile plied his
bow, and covered the plain with carcasses, often striking a single beast
with five or six shafts.
The number of lions destroyed at these royal _battues_ is very
surprising. In one representation no fewer than eighteen are seen upon
the field, of which eleven are dead and five seriously wounded. The
introduction of trapped beasts would seem to imply that the game, which
under the earlier monarchs had been exceedingly abundant,--failed
comparatively under the later ones, who therefore imported it from a
distance. It is evident, however, that this scarcity was not allowed to
curtail the royal amusement. To gratify the monarch, hunters sought
remote and savage districts, where the beast was still plentiful, and,
trapping their prey, conveyed it many hundreds of miles to yield a
momentary pleasure to the royal sportsman.
It is instructive to contrast with the boldness shown in the lion-hunts
of this remote period the feelings and conduct of the present
inhabitants of the region. The Arabs, by whom it is in the main
possessed, are a warlike race, accustomed from infancy to arms and
inured to combat. "Their hand is against every man, and every man's hand
is against them." Yet they tremble if a lion is but known to be near,
and can only with the utmost difficulty be persuaded by an European to
take any part in the chase of so dangerous an animal.
The lioness, no less than the lion, appears as a beast of chase upon the
sculptures. It seems that in modern times she is quite as much feared as
her consort. Indeed, when she has laid up cubs, she is even thought to
be actually the more dangerous of the two. [PLATE CXX., Fig. 1.]
[Illustration: PLATE 120]
Next to the chase of the lion and lioness, the early Assyrian monarchs
delighted in that of the wild bull. It is not quite certain what exact
species of animal is sought to be expressed by the representations upon
the sculptures; but on the whole it is perhaps most probable that the
Aurochs or European bison (_Bos urus_ of naturalists) is the beast
intended. At any rate it was an animal of such strength and courage
that, according to the Assyrian belief, it ventured to contend with the
lion. [PLATE CXX., Fig. 2.] The Assyrian monarchs chased the wild bull
in their chariots without dogs, but with the assistance of horsemen, who
turned the animals when they fled, and brought them within the monarch's
reach. [PLATE CXX., Fig. 3.] The king then aimed his arrows at them,
and the attendant horsemen, who were provided with bows, seem to have
been permitted to do the same. The bull seldom fell until he had
received a number of wounds; and we sometimes see as many as five arrows
still fixed in the body of one that has succumbed. It would seem that
the bull, when pushed, would, like the lion, make a rush at the king's
chariot, in which case the monarch seized him by one of the horns and
gave him the _coup de grace_ with his sword.
The special zest with which this animal was pursued may have arisen in
part from its scarcity. The Aurochs is wild and shy; it dislikes the
neighborhood of man, and has retired before him till it is now found
only in the forests of Lithuania, Carpathia, and the Caucasus. It seems
nearly certain that, in the time of the later kings, the species of wild
cattle previously limited, whatever it was, had disappeared from Assyria
altogether; at least this is the only probable account that can be given
of its non-occurrence in the later sculptures, more especially in those
of Asshur-bani-pal, the son of Esarhaddon, which seem intended to
represent the chase under every aspect known at the time. We might
therefore presume it to have been, even in the early period, already a
somewhat rare animal. And so we find in the Inscriptions that the
animal, or animals, which appear to represent wild cattle, were only met
with in outlying districts of the empire--on the borders of Syria and in
the country about Harrah; and then in such small numbers as to imply
that even there they were not very abundant.
When the chase of the nobler animals--the lion and the wild bull--had
been conducted to a successful issue, the hunters returned in a grand
procession to the capital, carrying with then as trophies of their
prowess the bodies of the slain. These were borne aloft on the shoulders
of men, three or four being required to carry each beast. Having been
brought to an appointed spot, they were arranged side by side upon the
ground, the heads of all pointing the same way; and the monarch,
attended by several of his principal officers, as the Vizier, the Chief
Eunuch, the fan-bearers, the bow and mace bearers, and also by a number
of musicians, came to the place, and solemnly poured a libation over the
prostrate forms, first how-ever (as it would seem) raising the cup to
his own lips. It is probable that this ceremony had to some extent a
religious character. The Assyrian monarchs commonly ascribe the success
of their hunting expeditions to the gods Nin (or Ninip) and Nergal; and
we may well understand that a triumphant return would be accompanied by
a thank-offering to the great protectors under whose auspices success
had been achieved. [PLATE CXX., Fig. 4.]
Besides the wild bull and the lion, the Assyrians are known to have
hunted the following animals: the onager or wild ass, the stag, the ibex
or wild goat, the gazelle, and the hare.
The chase of the wild ass was conducted in various ways. The animal was
most commonly pursued with dogs. The large and powerful hounds of the
Assyrians, of which a certain use was made even in the chase of the
lion, have been already noticed; but it may be desirable in this place
to give a fuller account of them. They were of a type approaching to
that of our mastiff, being smooth haired, strong limbed, with a somewhat
heavy head and neck, small pointed but drooping ears, and a long tail,
which was bushy and a little inclined to curl. They seem to have been
very broad across the chest, and altogether better developed as to their
fore than as to their hind parts, though even their hind legs were
tolerably strong and sinewy. They must have been exceedingly bold, if
they really faced the hunted lion; and their pace must have been
considerable, if they were found of service in chasing the wild ass.
[Illustration: PLATE 121]
The hunters are represented as finding the wild asses in herds, among
which are seen a certain number of foals. The King and his chief
attendants pursue the game on horseback, armed with bows and arrows, and
discharging their arrows as they go. Hounds also--not now held in leash,
but free--join in the hunt, pressing on the game, and generally singling
out some one individual from the herd, either a young colt or sometimes
a full-grown animal. [PLATE CXXI., Fig. 1.] The horsemen occasionally
brought down the asses with their shafts. [PLATE CXXI.. Fig. 2.] When
their archery failed of success, the chase depended on the hounds, which
are represented as running even the full-grown animal to a stand, and
then worrying him till the hunters came up to give the last blow.
Considering the speed of the full-grown wild ass, which is now regarded
as almost impossible to take, we may perhaps conclude that the animals
thus run down by the hounds were such as the hunters had previously
wounded; for it can scarcely be supposed that such heavily-made dogs as
the Assyrian could really have caught an unwounded and full-grown wild
ass. [PLATE CXXI., Fig. 3.]
Instead of shooting the wild ass, or hunting him to the death with
hounds, an endeavor was sometimes made to take him alive. [PLATE CXXI.,
Fig. 4] A species of noose seems to have been made by means of two ropes
interlaced, which were passed--how, we cannot say--round the neck of the
animal, and held him in such a way that all his struggles to release
himself were vain. This mode of capture recalls the use of the lasso by
the South Americans and the employment of nooses by various nations, not
merely in hunting, but in warfare. It is doubtful, however, if the
Assyrian practice approached at all closely to any of these. The noose,
if it may be so called, was of a very peculiar kind. It was not formed
by means of a slip-knot at the end of a single cord, but resulted from
the interlacing of two ropes one with the other. There is great
difficulty in understanding how the ropes were got into their position.
Certainly no single throw could have placed then, round the neck of the
animal in the manner represented, nor could the capture have been
effected, according to all appearance, by a single hunter. Two persons,
at least, must have been required to combine their efforts--one before
and one behind the creature which it was designed to capture.
[Illustration: PLATE 122]
Deer, which have always abounded in Assyria were either hunted with
dogs, or driven by beaters into nets, or sometimes shot with arrows by
sportsmen. The illustration (PLATE CXXII., Fig. 1) represents a dog in
chase of a hind, and shows that the hounds which the Assyrians used for
this purpose were of the same breed as those employed in the hunt of the
lion and of the wild ass. In [PLATE CXXII., Fig. 2.] we have a stricken
stag, which may, perhaps, have been also hard pressed by hounds, in the
act of leaping from rocky ground into water. It is interesting to find
this habit of the stag, with which the modern English sportsman is so
familiar, not merely existing in Assyria, but noticed by Assyrian
sculptors, at the distance of more than twenty-five centuries from our
own time.
When deer were to be taken by nets, the sportsman began by setting in an
upright position, with the help of numerous poles and pegs, a long, low
net, like the [dikrvov] of the Greeks. [PLATE CXXII., Fig. 1.] This was
carried round in a curved line of considerable length, so as to enclose
an ample space on every side excepting one, which was left open for the
deer to enter. The meshes of the net were large and not very regular.
They were carefully secured by knots at all the angles. The net was
bordered both at top and at bottom by a rope of much greater strength
and thickness than that which formed the network; and this was fastened
to the ground at the two extremities by pegs of superior size. [PLATE
CXXIII., Fig. 2.] The general height of the net was about that of a man,
but the two ends were sloped gently to the ground. Beaters, probably
accompanied by dogs, roused the game in the coverts, which was then
driven by shouts and barkings towards the place where the net was set.
If it once entered within the two extremities of the net (_a b_, [PLATE
CXXIII., Fig. 1]), its destruction was certain; for the beaters,
following on its traces, occupied the space by which it had entered, and
the net itself was not sufficiently visible for the deer to rise at it
and clear it by a leap.
[Illustration: PLATE 123]
In the chase of the ibex or wild goat, horsemen were employed to
discover the animals, which are generally found in herds, and to drive
them towards the sportsman, who waited in ambush until the game appeared
within bowshot. [PLATE CXXIII., Fig. 3.] An arrow was then let fly at
the nearest or the choicest animal, which often fell at the first
discharge. [PLATE CXXIII., Fig. 4.] The sport was tame compared with
many other kinds, and was probably not much affected by the higher
orders.
The chase of the gazelle is not shown on the sculptures. In modern times
they are taken by the grayhound and the falcon, separately or in
conjunction, the two being often trained to hunt together. They are
somewhat difficult to run down with dogs only, except immediately after
they have drunk water in hot weather. That the Assyrians sometimes
captured them, appears by a hunting scene which Mr. Layard discovered at
Khorsabad, where an attendant is represented carrying a gazelle on his
shoulders, and holding a hare in his right hand. [PLATE CXXIV., Fig. 1.]
As gazelles are very abundant both in the Sinjar country and in the
district between the Tigris and the Zagros range, we may suppose that
the Assyrians sometimes came upon them unawares, and transfixed them
with their arrows before they could make their escape. They may also
have taken them in nets, as they were accustomed to take deer; but we
have no evidence that they did so.
[Illustration: PLATE 124]
The hare is seen very commonly in the hands of those who attend upon the
huntsmen. It is always represented as very small in proportion to the
size of the men, whence we may perhaps conclude that the full-grown
animal was less esteemed than the leveret. As the huntsmen in these
representations have neither nets nor dogs, but seem to obtain their
game solely by the bow, we must presume that they were expert enough to
strike the hare as it ran.
There is no difficulty in making such a supposition as this, since the
Assyrians have left us an evidence of their skill as marksmen which
implies even greater dexterity. The game which they principally sought
in the districts where they occasionally killed the hare and the gazelle
seems to have been the partridge; and this game they had to bring down
when upon the wing. We see the sportsmen in the sculptures aiming their
arrows at the birds as they mount into the air [PLATE CXXIV., Fig. 21,]
and in one instance we observe one of the birds in the act of falling to
the ground, transfixed by a well aimed shaft. Such skill is not uncommon
among savage hunting tribes, whose existence depends on the dexterity
with which they employ their weapons; but it is rarely that a people
which has passed out of this stage, and hunts for sport rather than
subsistence, retains its old expertness.
Hunting the hare with dogs was probably not very common, as it is only
in a single instance that the Assyrian remains exhibit a trace of it. On
one of the bronze dishes discovered by Mr. Layard at Nimrud may be seen
a series of alternate dogs and hares, which shows that coursing was not
unknown to the Assyrians. [PLATE CXXIV., Fig. 3.] The dog is of a kind
not seen elsewhere in the remains of Assyrian art. The head bears a
resemblance to that of the wolf; but the form generally is that of a
coarse grayhound, the legs and neck long, the body slim, and the tail
curved at the end; offering thus a strong contrast to the ordinary
Assyrian hound, which has been already represented more than once.
Nets may sometimes have been employed for the capture of small game,
such as hares and rabbits, since we occasionally see beaters or other
attendants carrying upon poles, which they hold over their shoulders,
nets of dimensions far too small for them to have been used in the
deer-hunts, with balls of string and pegs wherewith to extend them.
[PLATE CXXIV., Fig. 4.] The nets in this case are squared at the ends,
and seem to have been about eight or nine feet long, and less than a
foot in height. They have large meshes, and, like the deer nets, are
bordered both at top and bottom with a strong cord, to which the
net-work is attached. Like the classical [evodia], they were probably
placed across the runs of the animals, which, being baffled by then and
turned from their accustomed tracks, would grow bewildered, and fall an
easy prey to the hunters. Or, possibly, several of them may have been
joined together, and a considerable space may then have been enclosed,
within which the game may have been driven by the beaters. The ease of
these three weak and tinnier animals, the gazelle, the hare, and the
partridge, was not regarded as worthy of the monarch. When the king is
represented as present, he takes no part in it, but merely drives in his
chariot through the woods where the sportsmen are amusing themselves.
Persons, however, of a good position, as appears from their dress and
the number of their attendants, indulged in the sport, more especially
eunuchs, who were probably those of the royal household. It is not
unlikely that the special object was to supply the royal table with
game.
[Illustration: PLATE 125]
The Assyrians do not seem to have had much skill as fishermen. They
were unacquainted with the rod, and fished by means of a simple line
thrown into the water, one end of which was held in the hand. [PLATE
CXXV., Figs. 1, 2.] No float was used, and the bait must consequently
have sunk to the bottom, unless prevented from so doing by the force of
the stream. This method of fishing was likewise known and practised in
Egypt, where, however, it was far more common to angle with a rod.
Though Assyrian fish-hooks have not been found, there can be no doubt
that that invention was one with which they were acquainted, as were
both the Egyptians and the early Chaldaeans.
Fishing was carried on both in rivers and in stews or ponds. The angler
sometimes stood or squatted upon the bank; at other times, not content
with commanding the mere edge of the water, he plunged in, and is seen
mid-stream, astride upon an inflated skin, quietly pursuing his
avocation. [PLATE CXXVI., Fig. 1.] Occasionally he improved his position
by amounting upon a raft, and, seated at the stern, with his back to the
rower, threw out his line and drew the fish from the water. Now and then
the fisherman was provided with a plaited basket, made of rushes or
flags, which was fastened round his neck with a string, and hung at his
back, ready to receive the produce of his exertions.
[Illustration: PLATE 126]
It does not appear that angling was practised by the Assyrians the way
that the monuments show it to have been practised in Egypt, as an
amusement of the rich. The fishermen are always poorly clothed, and seem
to have belonged to the class which worked for its living. It is
remarkable that do not anywhere in the sculptures see nets used for
fishing; but perhaps we ought not to conclude from this that they were
never so employed in Assyria. The Assyrian sculptors represented only
occasionally the scenes of common everyday life; and we are seldom
justified in drawing a negative conclusion as to the peaceful habits of
the people on any point from the mere fact that the bas-reliefs contain
no positive evidence on the subject.
A few other animals were probably, but not certainly, chased by the
Assyrians, as especially the ostrich and the bear. The gigantic bird,
which remained in Mesopotamia as late as the time of Xenophon, was well
known to the Assyrian artists, who could scarcely have represented it
with so much success, unless its habits had been described by hunters.
The bear is much less frequent upon the remains than the ostrich; but
its occurrence and the truthfulness of its delineation where it occurs,
indicate a familiarity which may no doubt be due to other causes, but is
probably traceable to the intimate knowledge acquired by those who
hunted it. [PLATE CXXVI., Fig. 2.]
Of the other amusements and occupations of the Assyrians our knowledge
is comparatively scanty; but some pages may be here devoted to their
music, their navigation, their commerce, and their agriculture. On the
first and second of these a good deal of light is thrown by the
monuments, while some interesting facts with respect to the third and
fourth may be gathered both from this source and also from ancient
writers.
That the Babylonians, the neighbors of the Assyrians, and, in a certain
sense, the inheritors of their empire, had a passion for music, and
delighted in a great variety of musical instruments, has long been known
and admitted. The repeated mention by Daniel, in his third chapter, of
the cornet, flute, harp sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of
music--or, at any rate, of a number of instruments for which those terms
were once thought the best English equivalents--has familiarized us with
the fact that in Babylonia, as early as the sixth century B.C., musical
instruments of many different kinds were in use. It is also apparent
from the book of Psalms, that a variety of instruments were employed by
the Jews. And we know that in Egypt as many as thirteen or fourteen
different kinds were common. In Assyria, if there was not so much
variety as this, there were at any rate eight or nine quite different
sorts, some stringed, some wind, some merely instruments of percussion.
In the early sculptures, indeed, only two or three musical instruments
are represented. One is a kind of harp, held between the left arm and
the side, and played with one hand by means of a quill or _plectrum_.
[PLATE CXXVI., Fig. 3.] Another is a lyre, played by the hand; while a
third is apparently cymbal. But in the later times we see besides these
instruments--a harp of a different make played with both hands, two or
three kinds of lyre, the double pipe, the guitar or cithern, the
tambourine, a nameless instrument, and more than one kind of drum.
The harp of the early ages was a triangular instrument, consisting of a
horizontal board which seems to have been about three feet in length, an
upright bar inserted into one end of the board, commonly surmounted by
an imitation of the human hand, and a number of strings which crossed
diagonally from the board to the bar, and, passing through the latter,
hung down some way, terminating in tassels of no great size. The strings
were eight, nine, or ten in number, and (apparently) were made fast to
the board, but could be tightened or relaxed by means of a row of pegs
inserted into the upright bar, round which the strings were probably
wound. No difference is apparent in the thickness of the strings; and it
would seem therefore that variety of tone was produced solely by
difference of length. It is thought that this instrument must have been
suspended round the player's neck. It was carried at the left side, and
was played (as already observed) with a quill or electrum held in the
right hand, while the left hand seems to have been employed in pressing
the strings so as to modify the tone, or stop the vibrations, of the
notes. The performers on this kind of harp, and indeed all other
Assyrian musicians, are universally represented as standing while they
play.
The harp of later times was constructed, held, and played differently.
It was still triangular, or nearly so; but the frame now consisted of a
rounded and evidently hollow, sounding-board, to which the strings were
attached with the help of pegs, and a plain bar whereto they were made
fast below, and from which their ends depended like a fringe. The number
of strings was greater than in the earlier harp, being sometimes as many
as seventeen. The instrument was carried in such a way that the strings
were perpendicular and the bar horizontal, while the sounding-board
projected forwards at an angle above the player's head. It was played by
the naked hand, without a plectrum; and both hands seem to have found
their employment in pulling the strings. [PLATE CXXVII., Fig. 1.]
[Illustration: PLATE 127]
Three varieties of the lyre are seen in the Assyrian sculptures. One of
them is triangular, or nearly so, and has only four strings, which,
being carried from one side of the triangle to the other, parallel to
the base, are necessarily of very unequal length. Its frame is
apparently of wood, very simple, and entirely devoid of ornament. This
sort of lyre has been found only in the latest sculptures. [PLATE
CXXVI., Fig. 4.]
Another variety nearly resembles in its general shape the lyre of the
Egyptians. It has a large square bottom or sounding-board, which is
held, like the Egyptian, under the left elbow, two straight arms only
slightly diverging, and a plain cross-bar at top. The number of strings
visible in the least imperfect representation is eight; but judging by
the width of the instrument, we may fairly assume that the full
complement was nine or ten. The strings run from the cross-bar to the
sounding-board, and must have been of a uniform length. This lyre was
played by both hands, and for greater security was attached by a band
passing round the player's neck. [PLATE CXXVII., Fig. 2.]
The third sort of lyre was larger than either of the others, and
considerably more elaborate. It had probably a sounding-board at bottom,
like the lyre just described, though this, being carried under the left
elbow, is concealed in the representations. Hence there branched out two
curved arms, more or less ornamented, which were of very unequal length;
and these were joined together by a cross-bar, also curved, and
projecting considerably beyond the end of the longer of the two arms.
Owing to the inequality of the arms, the cross-bar sloped at an angle to
the base, and the strings, which passed from the one to the other,
consequently differed in length. The number of the strings in this lyre
seems to have been either five or seven. [PLATE CXXVIII., Figs. 2, 3.]
[Illustration: PLATE 128]
The Assyrian guitar is remarkable for the small size of the hollow body
or sounding-board, and the great proportionate length of the neck or
handle. There is nothing to show what was the number of the strings, nor
whether they were stretched by pegs and elevated by means of a bridge.
Both hands seen to be employed in playing the instrument, which is held
across the chest in a sloping direction, and was probably kept in place
by a ribbon or strap passed round the neck. [PLATE CXXVIII., Fig. 1.]
It is curious that in the Assyrian remains, while the double pipe is
common, we find no instance at all either of the flute or of the single
pipe. All three were employed in Egypt, and occur on the monuments of
that country frequently; and though among the Greeks and Romans the
double pipe was more common than the single one, yet the single pipe was
well known, and its employment was not unusual. The Greeks regarded the
pipe as altogether Asiatic, and ascribed its invention to Marsyas the
Phrygian, or to Olympus, his disciple. We may conclude from this that
they at any rate learnt the invention from Asia; and in their decided
preference of the double over the single pipe we may not improbably have
a trace of the influence which Assyria exercised over Asiatic, and thus
even over Greek, music. [PLATE CXXVIII., Fig. 1.]
The Assyrian double pipe was short, probably not exceeding ten or twelve
inches in length. It is uncertain whether it was really a single
instrument consisting of two tubes united by a common mouthpiece, or
whether it was not composed of two quite separate pipes, as was the case
with the double pipes of the Greeks and Romans.
The two pipes constituting a pair seem in Assyria to have been always of
the same length, not, like the Roman "right" and "left pipes," of
unequal length, and so of different pitches. They were held and played,
like the classical one, with either hand of the performer. There can be
little doubt that they were in reality quite straight, though sometimes
they have been awkwardly represented as crooked by the artist.
The tambourine of the Assyrian was round, like that in common use at the
present day; not square, like the ordinary Egyptian. It seems to have
consisted simply of a skin stretched on a circular frame, and to have
been destitute altogether of the metal rings or balls which produce the
jingling sound of the modern instrument. It was held at bottom by the
left hand in a perpendicular position, and was struck at the side with
the fingers of the right. [PLATE CXXIX., Fig. 1.]
[Illustration: PLATE 129] |
