CHAPTER VI—SCULPTURE

A chapter on Sculpture naturally divides itself into two parts, the one

dealing with those works which are wrought in the round, and the other

with those fashioned in relief, or by incision, upon a flat surface. It

was in the latter department that both the Babylonians and Assyrians

excelled, and their chefs-d’œuvres belong to the bas-relief order. It is

accordingly not unfitting that a consideration of their bas-reliefs

should precede a treatment of their works in the round.

BAS-RELIEFS

The bas-relief was the favourite, and undoubtedly the most successful

expression of the artistic genius of both Babylonians and Assyrians from

the earliest to the latest times. Their first efforts in this direction

were crude indeed, but this is a fault incidental to the beginnings of

any art. One of the most ancient bas-reliefs yielded by Babylonian

excavations is reproduced in Fig. 25, A. We have here a representation

of a man apparently engaged in some act of worship, or in the

performance of some unknown ceremony. His large, almond-shaped eyes are

portrayed full face, his aquiline nose stands forth in an altogether

aggressive fashion, his long hair hangs down his back, while a fillet

surrounds his head, from which two long feathers emanate; these feathers

sometimes adorn the heads of Asiatic princes represented on early

Egyptian monuments. His otherwise nude bust is to some extent relieved

by the presence of a somewhat lengthy beard, and his clothing consists

in the characteristically Sumerian square shawl arranged skirt-wise.

[Illustration: FIG. 25.

A, Musée du Louvre. (Cf. Cat., p. 77, No. 1; _Déc. en Chald._, Pl. 1

(bis).)

B, C, Musée du Louvre. (Cf. Cat., pp. 87, 89, No. 5; _Déc. en Chald._,

Pl. 1 (bis, tert).)

D. (From Hilprecht, _Explorations_, p. 475.)

E, F. (From _Old Bab. Inscr._, II, Pl. XVI.)]

With his left hand he grasps one of the three sacred poles before which

he stands: the poles are surmounted by a knob, more or less identical in

shape with the early Babylonian mace-heads. The inscription, written in

very archaic line characters, which still preserve in part, traces of

their pictorial origin, contains a list of offerings and also a mention

of the god Nin-girsu and of his temple E-ninnû. This most ancient

sculpture was found by De Sarzec on the site of the earliest buildings

at Tellô. It is made of white limestone and is about seven inches in

height.

Two of the fragments of another very archaic bas-relief found in the

same neighbourhood are seen in Figs. 25, B, C. In all the faces

portrayed in these two fragments we observe the same prominent nose, and

the same large, lozenge-shaped eyes already alluded to, but in other

respects they differ from the type illustrated in Fig. 25, A. The most

striking and probably the most consequential individual in the present

group occupies the left end of Fig. 25, B. His importance is evidenced

by the excessive length of his long hair, and by the hooked sceptre

which he carries on his shoulder, probably in token of his royal

attributes. In his left hand he holds what appears to be a fillet, which

he is presenting to the trusty warrior who stands before him, lance in

hand. On the other fragment (Fig. 25, C) we have two other types

represented, one characterized by the luxuriancy of his hair and the

profusion of his beard, the other being distinguished by the complete

absence of hair from both the head and face. In both cases they are clad

after the same fashion, their one and only garment consisting in a short

skirt, the lower portion of which is represented in a most archaic

fashion by a series of tongue-shaped strips, and the upper portions of

which are inscribed in archaic line characters, while their hands are

clasped across their breast in an attitude of submissive if not

subservient obedience. The why and the wherefore of the absence of hair

from the head and face of one of these figures is of course unknown, but

M. Heuzey suggests with some plausibility that the figure is thus

represented in virtue of his sacerdotal character. Both of these

fragments once formed part of a round socket which probably served to

support a votive stave or weapon; they are made of hard limestone, and

were found amid the débris of a building belonging to the time before

Ur-Ninâ.

In Fig. 25, F, we have a reproduction of an early limestone votive

tablet from Nippur,[90] in the upper register of which a naked and

clean-shaven worshipper is offering a libation to a seated and bearded

god, the whole being represented in duplicate. Below, a goat and a sheep

are followed by two men, one of whom bears a vessel on his head and the

other holds a stick in his right hand, while both are clad in the

ordinary Sumerian skirt. Another interesting votive-tablet (cf. Fig. 25,

E) from Nippur shows us a similar scene—a naked worshipper standing

before a seated god is offering a libation, the god being reversed on

the left, but the unique interest attaching to this fragment is in the

ploughing-scene represented below; we see a man ploughing with a horned

animal, probably a gazelle or an antelope, which appears to indicate

that this archaic fragment dates from a period when neither the ox nor

the ass were used as beasts of labour, while a third[91] bas-relief (cf.

Fig. 25, D), also religious in character and emanating from the same

site shows a seated goddess accompanied by a bird, while a burning

altar, and a lighted candlestick stand before her. She holds a pointed

cup in her right hand and behind her we see a long-bearded priest

leading a clean-shaven worshipper who carries a goat in his right arm,

into the presence of the goddess.

[Illustration: FIG. 26.—Musée du Louvre. (Cat. pp. 81, 96; _Déc. en

Chald._, Pl. 1 tert, 2 bis.)]

The extraordinary popularity of what may be termed the bas-relief mode

of sculpture among the Sumerians is strikingly illustrated by its

employment in the decoration of mace-heads and other objects; in Fig.

26, B we have a large mace-head made of hard white limestone, seven and

a half inches in height, and having a diameter of little over six

inches. The scheme of decoration takes the form of a procession of

lions, six in number, all following in the same direction, and each

burying his teeth in the back of the lion going before. The bodies of

the lions are portrayed side-wise, but the colossal-eyed heads are seen

full face. These lions are, despite their crudeness, already

surprisingly true to life; the top of the mace-head (A) is not left

unadorned, but has been made good use of by the sculptor who has carved

the heraldic lion-headed eagle of Lagash upon its smooth surface. It

bears an inscription of Mesilim, king of Kish, who is known from another

inscription to have flourished and ruled over the country some time

before the foundation of the first dynasty of Lagash by Ur-Ninâ, in the

neighbourhood of whose building this mace-head was actually found, though

at a slightly lower level.

We now come to the time of Ur-Ninâ, the most interesting of whose

monuments, at least from the pictorial point of view, is the sculpture

reproduced in Fig. 26. This relief, which is divided into two registers,

introduces us to Ur-Ninâ, his family and his courtiers. The king himself

is of colossal size, indicative doubtless of his colossal power; in the

upper register he is portrayed standing, his left hand on his nude bust

as in the lower register, while with his right hand he is balancing a

basket, which, as M. Heuzey has pointed out, probably contains the clay

and foundation brick for the temple of Nin-girsu, rather than offerings

for the god. This view is further supported by the inscription written

alongside the figure of the basket carrier, the first line of which

contains a mention of the temple of Nin-girsu. Ur-Ninâ is thus

represented as the servant of his god, and the honour attaching to the

menial task in which he is engaged may be judged by the fact that he

alone is apparently accounted worthy, his sons and followers merely

standing by, their hands clasped in a reverential attitude. Below, the

king is seen in a more comfortable and homely pose, though here too he

would seem to be attending to his religious duties; he is raising his

cup either to drink to the honour of the gods, or else to offer a

libation, but in either case the task must have been less arduous and

possibly more pleasant than that which occupies him in the upper

register. With one exception all the heads and faces are devoid of

hair, and all are clad in the Sumerian short woollen skirt, though the

king’s skirt is more flounced than those of his courtiers, as becomes

royalty. The type of vesture met with here, as well as on the Vulture

Stele and on so many of the early Sumerian sculptures, was called

“Kaunakes.” The figure immediately in front of the standing king in the

upper register is distinguished from the others not only by being

taller, and wearing a skirt resembling the king’s garment, but also by

having long hair. Opinion differs as to whether we are to see in this

figure the daughter of the king, or whether, on the contrary, we have

here a portrait of the king’s eldest son, as both Heuzey and Radau

think, and in support of their view, the improbability of assigning such

a leading part to a woman at this period has been aptly urged; the dress

differs from that of Ur-Ninâ in being suspended over the left shoulder,

and in this respect recalls Eannatum’s mantle on the Vulture Stele (cf.

Pl. XII). The round or square hole in the centre of many of these early

plaques was without doubt destined to serve as a socket for some votive

stave or weapon, and the plaques pierced with such holes must

accordingly have been laid in a horizontal and not in a vertical

position. Ur-Ninâ was succeeded by Akurgal, who in turn gave place to

Eannatum, whose famous Stele of Victory we now come to consider.

_PLATE XII_ [Illustration: _Musée du Louvre: Déc. en Chald., Pl. 3, ii._

PORTION OF THE VULTURE-STELE OF EANNATUM, PATESI OF LAGASH]

This monument was unfortunately not found intact and complete, but six

fragments, some small, others comparatively large, but all full of

interest, were unearthed at Tellô by M. de Sarzec. The scenes depicted

and the events portrayed on the surviving fragments of this renowned

stele, are instructive both from a religious as well as from a

historical point of view. In Pl. XII we have a reproduction of perhaps

the most interesting of these fragments. The scene here is divided into

two registers, in both of which the troops of Eannatum are seen engaged

on active service. The king leads the vanguard in person and on foot;

above his head the title “Conqueror for the god Nin-girsu” is inscribed.

His apparel consists in the “kaunakes” skirt, to which allusion has

already been made, while over it is a mantle suspended over the left

shoulder and passing under the right arm. His head is protected by a

helmet, pointed at the top like those of his warriors, but differing

from theirs in being furnished with ear-pieces; his long hair for the

most part hangs down his back, some of it however is gathered up and

bound by a fillet at the back of his head. In his right hand he holds

what purports to be a species of boomerang.

His troops are drawn up in a wedge-shaped formation, and if this

representation is intentional, it is a surprising testimony to the skill

in military tactics to which the Sumerians had attained at this

extremely early date, but it may on the other hand be merely due to

ignorance of perspective on the part of the artist. Their offensive

weapons consist of lances some six or eight feet in length, while for

defence they hold large rectangular shields which cover the whole of

their bodies from neck to ankle. Were there any doubt as to the fortunes

of this army of Eannatum, it would be immediately dispelled by a glance

at the feet of the troops engaged, who are ruthlessly trampling on the

prostrate bodies of their vanquished foes.

Below we have another battle-scene: the king again leads his troops to

action, but here he is mounted in his chariot, his dress is identical

with that worn by him in the upper half of this relief, and in his right

hand he grasps a boomerang similar to the one with which he is armed

above, but in his left hand he poises a long stave, the end of which is

unfortunately not visible owing to the poor preservation of this part of

the sculpture, but without doubt the point of this formidable weapon was

once in immediate contact with the shaven head of a conquered enemy,

while before him there is a quiver packed with arrows.

His followers in this instance are armed with a long lance and a

battle-axe, but are protected by no shields, though their heads are

covered with the same conical-shaped helmets, and they are clad in the

familiar “kaunakes” skirts. Perhaps we are to see in these troops a

detachment of the king’s personal bodyguard. What strikes one at once

about this sculpture is the extraordinary disparity between the

crudeness of the art on the one hand, and the elaborate equipment and

arrangement of Eannatum’s army on the other, from which it is clear that

the energy of the Sumerians at this time was spent in the battle-field

rather than in the pursuit of the peaceful arts.

[Illustration: FIG. 27.—Musée du Louvre.

A, B. (Cf. Cat., pp. 105, 107.)

C. (Cf. Cat., p. 123; _Déc. en Chald._, Plate 5, bis.)]

Another fragment of this remarkable sculpture is reproduced in Fig.

27, A. We have here a veritable heap of corpses piled on top of

each other. They are entirely naked, and their heads are shaven in

apparent contradistinction to the troops of Eannatum. The bodies are

extended and are arranged so that the head of each lies in contiguity

with the feet of his next door neighbour; two figures clad in short

archaically-fringed skirts are ascending this heap by means of a rope;

the free hand of each is engaged in balancing a basket on the head

which may contain offerings for the fallen, but more probably earth

wherewith to bury their corpses. It is a matter of dispute as to

whether these superimposed corpses represent the fallen warriors of

Eannatum’s army, or the smitten foes of Lagash; but the fact that the

bodies are naked, and the further fact that in none of the Babylonian

or Assyrian battle-scenes is there a single example of a warrior

of the victor’s army being represented as killed, and lastly the

improbability of the artist having accentuated the losses of Eannatum

in such a conspicuous manner, and especially upon a stele of victory,

all militate against the former and for the latter view. In that case

we have a striking testimony to the clemency exhibited by the Sumerians

of the earliest times, the enemy being apparently allowed sometimes the

privilege of burying their dead.

In Figure 27 B we have another fragment of this unique specimen of

Sumerian art. The representative of Lagash is here portrayed on a

colossal scale; his head has a profusion of hair, and from his face

hangs a long streaked beard similar to that worn by Gilgamesh on the

cylinder-seals. Possibly, as Heuzey suggests, this figure is a

representation of that hero of Babylonian folk-lore, but it is probably

a picture of the god Nin-girsu himself. In any case, it can hardly be

Eannatum, as the latter is on this same stele portrayed clean shaven.

This colossal figure grasps in his left hand the heraldic arms of

Lagash, while in his right hand he holds a round-headed mace similar to

that seen in other early bas-reliefs. Before him lie a number of

prisoners confined in a net or a cage (cf. Hab. I. 15); one of these

unhappy victims has thrust his head through the meshes of his prison

with a view to evading the next blow, but this laudable attempt does not

seem to have met with the success which it deserved, for the head of the

mace is seen in immediate contact with that of the individual in

question. All the figures here portrayed, whether belonging to

Eannatum’s army, or to that of the enemy, exhibit the same type of face,

the most distinguishing characteristics of which are the large

almond-shaped eyes and the aquiline nose. The stele is known as the

“Vulture Stele” and derives its name from another fragment on which are

portrayed a number of vultures making off with the heads, and sharply

severed limbs of the slain. Eannatum, whose victories are here

depicted, was succeeded by Enannatum, and after him Entemena, the

nephew of Eannatum ascended the throne. Unfortunately the artistic

relics of his time are few in number, but those that have survived are

peculiarly interesting. In a subsequent chapter (cf. Fig. 45) we shall

devote some space to an examination of the silver vase of this ancient

ruler, but here (cf. Fig 27, C) we have a specimen of the sculpture of

his reign.

This little sculptured block, which is made of a mixture of clay and

bitumen, and in appearance resembles black stone, was found in the

neighbourhood of a building composed of bricks bearing the name of

Entemena. In the upper register we see the heraldic device of the city

of Lagash—a lion-headed eagle grasping two lions facing in opposite

directions, doubtless indicative of the power exercised by Lagash over

the peoples of Sumer and Akkad. We have already seen it on the Vulture

Stele, and it occurs also on the yet earlier monuments of Ur-Ninâ, but a

comparison of the royal arms as here represented with the device on the

Vulture Stele (cf. Fig. 27, B) shows a marked advancement from the

artistic point of view. The eagle is still sufficiently stereotyped, and

the extraordinary amount of detail with which the artist has treated his

subject has had the undesirable effect of making it even more formal

than it would otherwise be, but the lions are much more animated and

vigorous in conception than in the earlier sculptures. Instead of

walking along in an impassive, lifeless manner, they literally writhe

under the grip of their victorious foe, whose wings they seek to gnaw

with their teeth. Below, we have a representation of a crouching calf or

heifer, one of whose front legs is raised as though about to leap up. As

Heuzey says, the pose of this animal is wonderfully natural, and must

have been studied from nature; it at once recalls the procession of

animals engraved on the silver vase of Entemena (cf. Fig. 45). No doubt

the animal here portrayed is a sacrificial victim. To the right of the

central hole found so frequently in these early sculptures, stands the

worshipper, of gigantic size, holding a staff in his left hand. He is

clean shaven, and is nude down to the waist, from which hangs the usual

kaunakes skirt. The lower part of this little block is decorated with

the scroll design so frequently encountered on cylinder-seals. The size

of its reproduction here however is entirely out of proportion to the

rest of the sculpture, and it may therefore in this case represent a

skein of wool as another form of offering. The mention of the priest

Dudu, whose name also occurs on the silver vase of Entemena, removes any

uncertainty there might be as to the period to which we should assign

this little block, though a judgment based on an examination of the

style of art here exhibited would have independently placed it in the

same category as the silver vase of Entemena. The line-characters in

which the inscription is written are more developed than those found on

the monuments of Ur-Ninâ and Eannatum, many of them already betraying

the wedge-shaped formation characteristic of the writing called

“cuneiform.”

_PLATE XIII_

[Illustration: _Photo. Mansell_

_Musée du Louvre_

STELE OF VICTORY OF NARÂM-SIN]

Sufficient perhaps has been said to give a general idea of the artistic

merits or demerits of the old Sumerian bas-reliefs of the first dynasty

of Lagash. The next Babylonian school of art which specifically compels

both attention and admiration is that to which the era of the kings of

Akkad or Agade gave birth. From some points of view Mesopotamian art

reached her climax at this period; neither before nor after was the

same success in the reproduction of human figures attained, and the

sculptures belonging to this period are in some ways unique in the

history of oriental art. The most famous of these monuments of

Babylonian genius is reproduced in Pl. XIII. This stele, which was found

at Susa in the course of M. G. de Morgan’s epoch-making excavations on

that site, was fashioned to commemorate some notable victory achieved by

Narâm-Sin of Agade. The king is seen in the act of ascending a high

mountain; behind him march his trusty warriors armed with spears or

lances, and apparently carrying standards. The king himself is armed

with a bow and arrow, and also a battle-axe, while his head is protected

by a horned helmet; before him crouches one of the enemy, into whose

neck an arrow has sunk deep, while another grasps the broken end of a

spear. The figure of the king is full of vitality and animation, and

offers a very striking contrast to the lifeless conventionalism

characteristic of the older Babylonian and the later Assyrian

representations of human beings. The whole scene is alive with action,

and the effect is not marred by any undue disproportion between the

figure of the king and those of his followers. Above the king’s head are

the remains of an inscription by Narâm-Sin, but upon the cone intended

to represent the mountain which the king is scaling, is an inscription

occupying seven lines and bearing the name of Shutruk-Nakhkhunte, king

of Elam, which seems to indicate that the stele had been captured by the

Elamites and carried off to Susa as a trophy. An interesting basalt

bas-relief of this same king was discovered near Diarbekr (cf. Fig. 28

“A”). Narâm-Sin is standing on the right of the inscription, clad in a

kind of plaid and wearing a conical hat. His beard is long and pointed,

while bracelets encircle his wrists, and he carries a short staff in

each hand.

[Illustration: FIG. 28.—A. (Hilprecht, _Old Bab. Inscr_., II, p. 63, No.

120.) B, C, D, E, F, Musée du Louvre. (Cf. Cat., pp. 131, 133, 139, 151,

147; _Déc. en Chald_., Plates 5, 22, 23, 24.)]

The remains (cf. Fig. 28 “B,” “C”) of another very interesting stele

belonging to about the same epoch or a little earlier, and military in

character, were discovered by De Sarzec at Tellô. In the top register of

fragment “B” three warriors are seen proceeding in file, two of whom are

archers and carry quivers which are decorated with large leaves, while a

leg is all that remains of the third. In the second register an archer

is seen in the act of drawing his bow; his attitude is fixed and steady,

and his bow is bent to the utmost, while his quiver hangs over his

shoulder; before him a smitten foe lies prostrate on his back, and in

contradistinction to his vanquisher who is clad in a long tunic, is

entirely naked, while his right hand is raised in supplication. We next

come to another warrior clad in a short fringed skirt and wearing a

conical helmet: with his left hand he is seizing the beard of an enemy,

who is also naked like his prostrate brother in the same register, and

his right hand is raised, about to bring down his knotted club upon the

face of his defeated prisoner. Below, is the figure of another warrior

armed with a long pike. In “C” we have another fragment of this

interesting sculpture, in the top register of which two warriors are

seen marching in file; the one behind is carrying a battle-axe at the

trail. In the register below, a warrior clad in a short skirt and

wearing a helmet is engaged with a prostrate enemy; one of his feet is

firmly planted in the unfortunate man’s stomach, and with his right hand

he is further punishing him with the aid of his knotted club. Behind

these two figures we have another like scene represented; here the

all-powerful warrior is armed with a long lance, which he is carrying at

the port; with his right arm he is marching along a prisoner much

shorter than himself, whose arms are bound behind his back; the prisoner

is naked, like most of the defeated enemies of Sumer and Akkad as

portrayed by the sculptor. All that remains of the third register is the

head and the upper part of the bow of an archer.

Apart from the spirit which animates these little figures, the chief

point of interest in connection with them lies in the general scheme of

artistic representation here adopted. No longer is the conquering army

portrayed _en masse_ as on the Vulture Stele of Eannatum, but the idea

conveyed and the event commemorated are precisely the same in either

case. The all-prevailing idea is that of victory, only the picture of a

phalanx of armed troops trampling the nude bodies of their foes beneath

their feet, has given place to a series of selected incidents of

individual combat, represented after the Homeric fashion. This sculpture

clearly belongs to the same school as Narâm-Sin’s stele of Victory,

which, however, it probably somewhat antedates, as the cuneiform signs

found on the second fragment are of a more archaic character than those

used on the monuments of Shar-Gâni-sharri and Narâm-Sin. The little that

remains of the inscription is of considerable interest as it contains a

mention of the city of Agade, the centre of the Semitic Empire

established by the two last-named kings.

We must now pass from the epoch of the Semitic kings of Agade or Akkad,

to the later period of Sumerian civilization, the age in which Ur-Engur

and Dungi, kings of Ur, and Ur-Bau and Gudea, rulers of Lagash, lived

and reigned. We are unable to assign a definite date to any of these

rulers, but they probably flourished somewhere about the middle of the

third millennium B.C. One of the most interesting bas-reliefs belonging

to this time is reproduced in Fig. 28, “D.” We have here a

representation of a god seated on a throne. He wears a long square

beard, and his head is surmounted by the horned cap emblematic of

divinity; his mantle covers nearly the whole of his body, the right arm

alone being excepted. The head, which in its contour and general

appearance recalls the heads of the Assyrian winged human-headed lions

and bulls of some fifteen or sixteen centuries later (cf. Plate XXV), is

like them, depicted full face, the seated body being sculptured in

profile; in his left hand the god holds a sceptre, the end of which is

fashioned like a leaf. In Fig. 28, “E,” we have a reproduction of what

is probably the largest fragment of an early Babylonian bas-relief in

existence. It was excavated at Tellô and measures about four feet in

length. The upper part of the relief is occupied with a procession of

four figures apparently engaged in the service of the gods, while below,

a seated figure is seen playing an elaborate instrument of eleven

strings, the lower part of the frame of which is decorated with a horned

head and the figure of a bull. This relief would appear to have formed

part of a stone socket.

As might be expected, the material used for most of the Babylonian as

well as the later Assyrian bas-reliefs was a species of limestone and

alabaster, as this kind of stone lends itself readily to the impress of

the chisel, but the harder stones were also sometimes utilized for the

purpose.[92] Thus in Fig. 28, F, we have a sketch of what remains of a

black steatite relief belonging to this period. The fragmentary

inscription gives us the name of the goddess Ningal, who is here

portrayed in a singularly attractive manner, and with an extraordinary

amount of detail. An elaborate robe covers the whole of her body, and a

necklace adorns her throat; her hair hangs over her shoulders, while the

crown of her head is encircled by a fillet. The general technique of

this little sculpture is surprising in its fidelity to nature; the

attitude of the goddess, her body half turned and her left arm resting

negligently on the back of her chair is life-like, and the face itself

is not without a beauty of its own. The difficulty involved in the

portrayal of a human eye in profile, so painfully manifest on the

Vulture Stele and other earlier Sumerian monuments, where the eye is

portrayed full-face, the rest of the head being done in profile, has

here been surmounted, and we have before us a perfectly naturally

conceived and executed face and head.

Some few centuries after the time of Gudea the city of Babylon became

the centre of the chief power in Southern Mesopotamia. Unfortunately the

excavations have not yielded us a rich harvest for the study of the

artistic development of sculpture during this period, but the material

at hand would tend to show that there was far less development in the

interval between the later dynasty of Lagash, the age in which Gudea

lived, and the establishment of the first Semitic dynasty of the city of

Babylon, than there was in the period separating the first dynasty of

Lagash from the epoch of Sargon and Narâm-Sin, the Semitic kings of

Agade.

_PLATE XIV_

[Illustration: _Photo. Mansell_ _Musée du Louvre_

STELE ENGRAVED WITH KHAMMURABI’S CODE OF LAWS]

[Illustration: _Photo. Mansell_ _British Museum_

THE SUN-GOD TABLET]

In Pl. XIV we have a reproduction of the sculptured stele of black

basalt upon which is inscribed the world-renowned legal code of

Khammurabi, the most illustrious king of this first dynasty of Babylon.

The king is seen standing in reverential attitude before the Sun-god

Shamash, from whom he is receiving the laws inscribed below. The king

wears a long robe reaching down to his ankles, but leaving his right

arm, which is raised in adoration, untrammelled by the folds of his

mantle. The seated deity likewise has a long beard, but his high horned

cap differentiates him at once from his adoring servant, while from his

shoulders tongues of fire are seen shooting forth, doubtless

representing the rays of the sun. In his right hand he holds the ring

and staff emblematic of dominion and power. He is similarly represented

in Nabû-aplu-iddina’s tablet (cf. Pl. XIV) and also on two

contemporaneous stelæ in the Louvre, in one of which he is in a standing

position. Beneath his feet are the mountains portrayed in miniature. The

laws enacted on this stele, which is now one of the treasures of the

Louvre, number about two hundred and eighty, and deal with all kinds of

subjects. It was set up in E-sagila, the temple of the chief god Marduk

in Babylon, so that every aggrieved party at law could go and consult

it. Like so many of the monuments of Babylonian antiquity, this stele

was captured by the Elamites and removed to Susa, where it remained

until the French excavations on that site brought it once more to

light.

As we have already seen[93] the dynasty to which Khammurabi belonged was

brought to an end some time later by an invasion of the Hittites, a

powerful mountainous people whose home lay in Cappadocia. A century or

so afterwards, i.e. about 1800 B.C., another mountainous nation known as

the Kassites swept down from their strongholds in the Elamite territory

on the east of the Tigris into the defenceless Babylonian plain, where

they established and maintained their supremacy for a long time to come.

Unfortunately the artistic relics of the Kassite period are few, and for

the most part unimportant. Meanwhile, however, the Assyrians in the

north had asserted their independence, and ultimately (i.e. about 1275

B.C.) succeeded in reducing Babylonia and establishing their sway over

the whole of Mesopotamia. In spite of this fact, we have practically no

specimen of the sculptor’s art during the long interval separating the

fall of the First Dynasty of Babylon and the ninth century B.C., and it

is not till the time of Ashur-naṣir-pal, king of Assyria, and

Nabû-aplu-iddina, king of Babylon, that we are able again to study in

detail the work of the sculptor in the Tigro-Euphratian valley. To the

former king we are indebted for a large series of bas-reliefs taken from

the walls of his palace at Nimrûd (Calah), while to the latter we owe

one of the most interesting and instructive Babylonian bas-reliefs in

existence (cf. Pl. XIV).

One of the earliest specimens of Assyrian bas-relief as yet discovered

is that which was found by Taylor at a village called Korkhar, situated

some fifty miles north of Diarbekr. The relief in question was

sculptured on the natural rock, which had been smoothed for the purpose

by order of Tiglath-Pileser I (_circ._ 1100 B.C.).[94] The king is

represented in a standing posture, his right arm is extended and he is

pointing with his forefinger, while in his left hand he holds a mace;

the king’s figure and general appearance are already quite stereotyped,

and show no more originality or vigour than the representations of the

later Assyrian kings. This same monarch has further left us the upper

part of an obelisk erected to commemorate his feats in the chase, on

one side of which there is a small relief in which Tiglath-Pileser is

seen receiving the submission of various vassal-chiefs, while above

their heads are the emblems of certain deities, the most interesting of

which is the winged human-headed disc of Ashur, the patron god of

Assyria. But these reliefs, interesting as they are, afford us little

material upon which to form an estimate of the sculptural ability of the

Assyrians at this period; the chief inference which they permit us to

draw is that Assyrian art seems to have neither advanced nor declined

appreciably, during the interval of two hundred or more years which

lapsed between the time of Tiglath-Pileser and Ashur-naṣir-pal. The

latter king succeeded his father Tukulti-Ninib II as king of Assyria

(885 B.C.). Tukulti-Ninib had largely restored the fallen fortunes of

the northern country, thus paving the way for the successes of future

reigns, but Ashur-naṣir-pal extended the power of Assyria in every

direction, as well as consolidating her rule over the districts reduced

by his father. It is accordingly by no means unnatural that he should

have desired to commemorate and perpetuate the record of his triumphs in

pictorial fashion upon the walls of his palace at Nimrûd, and it is with

his reign that the history of Assyrian bas-reliefs really commences, so

far as our present material goes.

Assyria was in some ways the natural home of the bas-relief, for she

contained a plentiful supply of alabaster and limestone, the softness of

which facilitated the work of the artist and reduced his difficulties to

a minimum: Babylonia on the other hand yielded practically no stone, and

all that was used had to be quarried at a distance and transported at

great cost and labour, and that fact makes the early efforts of the

Babylonians in this direction all the more praise-worthy, and the

proficiency to which those efforts gave birth, as seen for example in

Narâm-Sin’s stele of Victory, the more astonishing. But this

notwithstanding, the bas-relief was more highly developed in the

northern country, where it played an all-important part in the artistic

life of the people. The general object of these bas-reliefs was to

commemorate the king’s victories over his enemies and his conquests in

the chase, rather than to produce a purely æsthetic effect. In other

words they are pictorial records rather than artistic products, and that

fact is further borne witness to by the cuneiform texts with which they

are generally inscribed. At the same time however, they afford material

for the study of Assyrian sculpture. The art of sculpture in Assyria

suffered all the drawbacks which befall every art once it becomes

professionalized; it lacks spontaneity which is the very connotation of

art, it is made to order, and therefore it inevitably knows no freedom

but is the dull slave of conventionalism. But in spite of all this, the

bas-reliefs of Ashur-naṣir-pal and his successors, hampered as they are

by those universal enemies of human art, professionalism and

conventionalism, still enshrine, or imprison if you will, the artistic

genius of the people, and on this account, if for no other, are

deserving of careful attention.

The reliefs which covered the walls of the palace of Ashur-naṣir-pal at

Nimrûd (Calah) consist either of single figures of gigantic size, or

else in a series of small scenes divided into two friezes by cuneiform

inscriptions. In Pl. XV we see Ashur-naṣir-pal followed by a winged

mythological being; both are engaged in the performance of a religious

ceremony, the king with the bow and the arrow which he holds in his

hands, the attendant with the cone which he holds up in his right hand.

The semi-divine character of the winged creature is evidenced by his

head-gear which consists of the horned cap, but the faces of both

figures are more or less identical, a lamentable characteristic of all

Assyrian portrayals of human or semi-humanly conceived beings. The

chief peculiarities of this type of face are the large eyes, the curved

nose, and the profusion of hair on both head and face. Both figures are

clad in a long robe and deeply fringed mantle which extend to the feet.

The footwear consists of sandals fastened by thongs passing over the

instep and round the big toe. The muscular arms of both are adorned with

bracelets, the pattern of the decoration on which is a replica of the

ubiquitous rosette so characteristic of Assyrian art. The king’s

head-gear consists of a helmet from which two tails hang, and in its

appearance generally, is not unlike a bishop’s mitre. Both king and

divine attendant carry what appear to be two daggers tucked into their

waistbands. The muscularity noticeable in the arms is yet more

aggressive in the left leg of the mythological being, which, unlike that

of the king, is left exposed. This grotesquely realized conception of

strength is but the decadent descendant of the naturally expressed

vigour so noticeable in the statues of Gudea. And here may be mentioned

one characteristic peculiarity of Assyrian sculpture; it will be

observed that a long cuneiform inscription is chiselled right across the

relief, pursuing the even or uneven tenor of its way quite recklessly

through wings, garments, bodies and hands, and there is no obstacle

which it fails to overcome, not even excepting the deep fringe on the

mantles.

_PLATE XV_

[Illustration: _Photo. Mansell_ _British Museum_

BAS-RELIEF OF ASHUR-NAṢIR-PAL]

The subjects of the smaller reliefs of Ashur-naṣir-pal are many and

various, though they all revolve round one of two themes, the

battle-field or the chase. In one, Ashur-naṣir-pal has alighted from his

chariot and is receiving the submission of the enemy; in another we see

a number of fugitives swimming to a fortress on inflated skins. Here we

see tributary chiefs bringing offerings to lay them at the feet of their

imperious lord, while further on we see the bowmen of Ashur-naṣir-pal

mounted in their chariots and discharging arrows against the enemy. In

one relief the king himself is seen erect in his chariot with his bow

fully drawn; elsewhere Ashur-naṣir-pal is represented in the act of

crossing a river; the king has not however dismounted from his chariot,

but is being rowed over, chariot and all.

One of the most luminous of these small bas-reliefs is reproduced in Pl.

XVI(2). Ashur-naṣir-pal and his army are storming a beleaguered city;

the walls of the city are crenelated after the regular Mesopotamian

fashion. Immediately before the walls the movable tower resting on six

small wheels and containing the battering ram is stationed, the efficacy

of which may be judged from the bricks falling from the battered walls.

Mounted on the top of the tower is an archer with bow bent, whose person

is protected by another warrior bearing a shield. The king is portrayed

behind the movable tower in the act of drawing his bow; his head-gear

differs from that of the warriors, who wear a conical helmet. In Pl.

XVI(3), we see the warriors of Ashur-naṣir-pal returning victorious from

the battle-field. On the right of the picture are two three-horse

chariots, both of which carry standard-bearers; above them we see a

vulture making off with his prey, which in this instance consists in a

human head, and in front are the infantry who appear to be gloating over

the gory heads of their smitten adversaries, while to add to the

ghastliness of the scene two musicians are playing on stringed

instruments.

Ashur-naṣir-pal was however quite as proud of his victories in the chase

as he was of his conquests in the battle-field, as is attested by the

numerous hunting scenes which he caused to be carved in relief on his

palace walls. In Pl. XVI(4) we see Ashur-naṣir-pal, erect in his

chariot, in the act of dispatching a lion by the aid of his bow and

arrow. The lion is treated with considerable boldness, and the skill of

the artist in the portrayal of animal life—or death, as here—when

compared with the stereotyped lifelessness of the king, is sufficiently

striking. But Assyrian art does not reach its climax here, as we shall

see when we come to consider the lions on Ashur-bani-pal’s bas-reliefs;

the latter show a certain delicacy in the handling, and an intuition

into all those infinite subtleties and varying nuances which are the

hall-mark of life, animal or human as the case may be, and which

apparently are not felt or at all events not successfully realized in

the earlier works. The portrayal of the lion here is strong and

life-like, but the spectator can never get away from the consciousness

of the fact that it is a pictorial representation; he can never abandon

the thought of the sculptor and the excellence of his art, or lose

himself, be it only for a moment, in the reality itself. But in the

reliefs of Ashur-bani-pal, one can for a brief space forget the artist

and his work, and see the lion itself; one can catch a faint note of his

dying gasp as he lies there motionless, his body transfixed with arrows,

and it is in the effacement of the artist and the material which he uses

that art attains the zenith of her power.

_PLATE XVI_

[Illustration: _Photos. Mansell_ _British Museum_

BAS-RELIEFS OF ASHUR-NAṢIR-PAL

1. LIBATION OVER A DEAD BULL

2. SIEGE OF A CITY

3. RETURN FROM BATTLE

4. LION HUNT]

But Ashur-naṣir-pal’s love for sport did not deter him from his

religious obligations, on the contrary he appears to have attributed his

triumphs in the chase to his god, for on his return he offers a libation

over the body of the lion or bull which providence has delivered into

his hand (cf. Pl. XVI(1)). The cup he holds in his hand resembles the

top of a champagne glass, while his left hand is leaning on a bow in the

usual characteristic manner. Before him is an officer, evidently of high

rank, for his dress is an exact replica of the king’s, but his head is

bare and his hands are clasped in a deferential manner. By the side of

this high official is an attendant or eunuch with a fly-flap, while

behind him is another attendant, and last of all are two musicians

playing stringed instruments. On the other side of the picture,

immediately behind the king is an attendant with a ceremonial umbrella,

followed by two servants with bows on their shoulders.

Although Ashur-naṣir-pal’s contemporary Nabû-aplu-iddina king of Babylon

has left us but few memorials of his reign, we are nevertheless indebted

to him for one unique specimen of Mesopotamian sculpture (cf. Pl. XIV).

Reference has already been made to this tablet on account of the light

which it throws on certain architectural problems, it now remains for us

to consider it as a work of art and an historical monument. The text

records the restoration of the temple of Shamash by two kings called

Simmash-shipak and Eulmash-shakin-shûm, both of whose reigns took place

some time in the eleventh century B.C. It then proceeds to describe the

condition into which the temple, its ornaments and accessories

subsequently fell; the shrine of the god had been denuded of its

treasures which had been misappropriated in one way or another; the

sculptures which adorned the walls and the image of the deity himself

had suffered violence at the hands of the godless. All this

Nabû-aplu-iddina set about to rectify; he restored the glory which the

fane had enjoyed in early days, in particular he enriched the

time-honoured statue of the god with gold and lapis lazuli, he

re-established the temple worship in all its former pomp and splendour,

and took vengeance upon the enemies of Shamash and the king who had

perpetrated this sacrilegious outrage. The king himself celebrated the

occasion of the temple’s re-dedication by a munificent supply of

offerings, and issued detailed regulations as to the ceremonial

vestments of the priests, and the days upon which in each case they were

to be worn in future. In the scene above, Shamash is portrayed enthroned

in his shrine at Sippar, holding a disc and rod in his right hand; the

sides of the throne are sculptured with mythological beings, whose rôle

seems to be to support the throne, while above and in front of the god’s

head are three astrological emblems. The roof and supporting pillar of

the shrine itself have been discussed elsewhere (cf. p. 164): two divine

beings are stationed on the top of the shrine; they hold in their hands

two taut ropes which are attached to a large disc, emblematic of the

sun, placed on an altar immediately in front of the shrine, and by means

of which the disc is kept in position. Approaching the altar and

advancing towards the shrine are seen three worshippers, the first of

whom is the high-priest of Shamash, who is introducing the king into the

presence of the divine symbol in a manner so frequently seen on

Babylonian cylinder-seals, while last of all comes a goddess. One of the

interesting points about this little sculptured tablet is that though it

was made by a ninth century king of Babylon the style of art to which it

conforms would indicate that it is not an original work of

Nabû-aplu-iddina, but a copy of a much older archetype. The head-dress

of the god for example is characterized by four tiers of horns, and is

practically identical with that found even as early as the time of

Gudea, the later Assyrian divine head-dress on the other hand generally

having but two or three horns on either side: Shamash here too holds the

disc and rod in his hand in precisely the same manner as he is

represented doing on the famous stele of Khammurabi (cf. Pl. XIV); his

long beard is likewise depicted in much the same way as it is there. In

short, there seems little doubt that the original of this ninth century

product must be sought for somewhere about the commencement of the

second millennium B.C. Another particularly interesting feature about

the discovery of this sculpture was the simultaneous discovery of two

clay coverings for it. One of these was found to be broken, and was

probably made by Nabû-aplu-iddina himself, but the other bears an

inscription of Nabopolassar, king of Babylon from 625-604 B.C. During

the two centuries which had elapsed between the time of Nabû-aplu-iddina

and the reign of Nabopolassar, the oft-restored temple had again fallen

into disrepair, and it fell to the lot of the last-named king to once

more restore the time-honoured fane; he too, like his predecessor two

hundred years before, made “offerings rich and rare” to the immortal

Shamash. The object of these clay coverings was of course to preserve

the sculpture from damage (cf. Fig. 5).

_PLATE XVII_

[Illustration: _Photo. Mansell_ _British Museum_

SIEGE OF A CITY BY BATTERING-RAM AND ARCHERS

(_Reign of Tiglath-Pileser III_)]

To return to Assyria, Ashur-naṣir-pal was succeeded by his son

Shalmaneser II: we unfortunately possess but few bas-reliefs belonging

to the time of this king, the best-known being those sculptured on the

Black Obelisk; these reliefs have been illustrated and dealt with in

detail in so many works, owing chiefly to the historic importance of the

inscription on this monument, that it seems hardly necessary nor

desirable to discuss them here. Shalmaneser’s immediate successors have

left us few memorials of themselves, artistic or otherwise, and after

their reigns a general decadence seems to have set in, from which

Assyria did not recover till the reign of Tiglath-Pileser III, or Pul as

he is called in 2 Kings xv. 19 and elsewhere. This king restored the

fortunes of the empire, and extended his power on every side, and

happily for our subject he has immortalized his exploits in

picture-fashion on hard stone, as well as in writing on clay cylinders

and tablets, though unfortunately the bas-reliefs of this king which

have survived are few in number. One of the best preserved is that in

which Tiglath-Pileser III is seen conducting a siege (cf. Pl. XVII). The

details of this sculpture vividly recall the words Isaiah is reported to

have used in his endeavour to rally the failing courage of Hezekiah,

king of Judah, who was inclined to surrender himself and his city to

Sennacherib—“Thus saith the Lord concerning the King of Assyria, he

shall not come into this city, nor shoot an arrow there, nor come before

it with shields nor cast a bank against it.” All the means of attack

here mentioned are represented in our bas-relief. The warriors have

their bows bent, and doubtless have already dispatched many an arrow

with deadly effect: their persons are protected by large wicker shields

which cover the whole of their bodies. The “bank” in this case has

clearly been “cast against” the besieged city, and the purpose that the

“bank” was destined to serve is at once manifest. It consisted in an

artificial mound up which the movable tower containing the battering-ram

was advanced. On the top of the wall of the besieged city, a man is

seen with hands outstretched suing for mercy. The defeat of the enemy

and the reduction of their city is signalized in a highly realistic

fashion; beneath the “bank” some of the vanquished are seen prostrate

and naked, while above, on a level with the top of the wall a number of

captives, also naked, are impaled on stakes. The inscription refers to

the various articles of tribute brought by conquered peoples, but is not

possessed of any especial interest.

[Illustration: FIG. 29.—Bas-relief from Khorsabad. (After Botta.)]

Tiglath-Pileser III was succeeded by Shalmaneser IV, the most noteworthy

event of whose reign was the siege of Samaria; the city held out two

years, and fell in 722 B.C., after Shalmaneser had been dethroned by

Sargon the usurper. Sargon reigned some eighteen years and achieved many

victories, the most momentous of which was that gained over the united

Egyptians and Philistines at Raphia, near the Egyptian frontier. His

sculptural bequests are many, and they comprise the gigantic winged

human-headed bulls and lions which are in some ways the most impressive

and the most characteristic specimens of oriental art. These winged

monsters are neither bas-reliefs, nor are they perfect round sculptures,

but a mixture of the two, and will accordingly receive consideration in

the second half of this chapter.

But the palace erected by Sargon at Khorsabad, which was excavated by

Botta more than half a century ago has yielded a rich harvest of

bas-reliefs pure and simple, one of which is reproduced in Fig. 29. The

scene is a familiar one in Assyrian sculpture; a fortress is being

attacked, of course successfully, by Assyrian soldiers. The fortress

appears to have been built on the top of a height, doubtless with a view

to rendering it the more impregnable. It consists of three rows of

towers, superimposed one on the top of the other, the largest row being

at the base and the smallest at the top, the general contour not being

unlike that of a ziggurat with its receding stages. One wing of the

fortress is protected by two towers, with which it is connected by

means of a wall, while the other wing apparently extends right down the

slope of the height. Access to the fortress is gained by arched

doorways, one of the many incidental proofs of the frequency with which

the arch was used in Assyrian architecture. A number of small

rectangular houses lie at the foot of the hill, the doorways of which

are arched like those of the flanking towers, while in both cases the

doors or gates themselves are double-leaved. The windows, or

embrasures, which are very numerous, are all square, and the battlements

are crenelated as usual. Three pairs of colossal horns crown the

fortress, which Botta is inclined to think may be actual horns, the

disproportion of their size being of course no argument against that

view, for disproportion is a characteristic of early oriental art. In

such case they could be only emblematic, and presumably indicative of

strength, but it seems infinitely more probable that the horns represent

the sculptor’s attempt to portray flames of fire, which are thus seen

leaping up from the fired fortress. Some of the besieged are suing for

mercy with outstretched hands, while others are evidently determined to

fight to the last: they are armed with long spears and rectangular

shields, while their backs are covered with the skins of animals. The

enemy are literally at the gate, and it is impossible to tell when they

will effect an entrance. Three of them are attempting to undermine the

wall by means of long-handled prongs, two more are at work with their

short swords, while to the left are two Assyrian spearmen of superhuman

size, whose symbolic presence at once removes even the faintest shadow

of doubt there might be as to the issue of the conflict. The attack is a

strenuous one, as a mere walkover would bring no glory to the Assyrian

arms, but at the same time, in spite of the severity of the battle

raging round the fortress, the irresistible might of the Assyrian

colossus is grimly suggested by the two giant warriors. The artistic

treatment of the two heroes deserves some notice; the aggressive

muscularity so characteristic of Assyrian representations of kings and

warriors is not indeed altogether wanting in the legs, but the arms are

wholly free from this all but universal defect, while the pose of both

arms and legs is exceptionally natural and singularly true to life. They

are armed with spears of the same type as those used by the beleaguered

army, but their shields are round in contradistinction to the oblong

shields of the enemy, and they are girded with short swords. Their

clothing and helmets are of a frequently recurring type, while both of

them wear armlets and one of them wears a plain bracelet on his left

wrist.

Sargon was succeeded in 705 B.C. by his famous son Sennacherib, the

principal event of whose reign was probably the destruction of Babylon

in 689 B.C. But the name of Sennacherib is famous rather on account of

his close relations with the kingdom of Judah, and the unsuccessful

siege of Jerusalem during the reign of Hezekiah, than for the conquests

which he made, considerable as they were. The excavation of his palace

at Nineveh has led to the discovery of a large number of bas-reliefs,

many of which had been fractured as well as damaged by fire when the

city was sacked by the combined forces of the Medes and the Babylonians

about 609 B.C. For the most part they illustrate the campaigns

undertaken by Sennacherib. What is noticeable at once in the bas-reliefs

of this king is their complexity, as contrasted with the simplicity of

those of Ashur-naṣir-pal. We have already observed that entire scenes

are sometimes portrayed upon the bas-reliefs of the last-named monarch,

though more often the relief is monopolized by two or three large and

striking figures, one of which generally represents the king, but by

Sennacherib’s time what had hitherto been the exception now becomes the

rule, and the bas-reliefs of this king are practically all scenic in

their effect and most elaborate in their composition. This exaggerated

complexity is due not so much to the variety of subjects treated in each

relief, as to the ignorance of perspective on the part of the artist,

for the treatment of even a limited number of subjects or objects within

the scope of a single picture demands that these objects be seen and

represented in perspective, and if that demand is not met, confusion

worse confounded is the inevitable result of the artist’s abortive

attempt. This confusion is seen to perfection, if the “_oxymoron_” may

be allowed, in the reliefs which adorned the palace walls of

Sennacherib king of Assyria. A portion of one of the most instructive of

these sculptured slabs is reproduced in Fig. 30.

[Illustration: FIG. 30.—Bas-relief of Sennacherib. (After Layard.)]

The scene is one of great interest, not merely for the student of

Assyrian art, but for the light which it throws upon the mechanical

resources of which the Assyrians of that day availed themselves,

resources which the very existence of the gigantic human-headed bulls

and lions presupposes, but which are here illustrated in a specific

manner by Sennacherib’s sculptors. The safe transport of a gigantic mass

of solid stone was no easy matter even for the excavator of the

nineteenth century,[95] how much greater the difficulties to be

surmounted by a people whose mechanical knowledge was some two and a

half millennia younger! In the artistic treatment of this sculpture

there are of course obvious defects. There is the usual ignorance of

perspective on the part of the sculptor, though this is less pronounced

than elsewhere; the trees in the foreground and background are arranged

in lines in a somewhat conventional manner, though the intentional or

accidental diminution of size in the trees in the background as compared

with those in the front of the sculpture, makes the general setting of

the scene appear much more true in its arrangement than would otherwise

be the case. Unfortunately it has not been possible to include the back

row of trees without sacrificing the more important parts of the

sculpture, hence their omission here.

All interest is centred round the bull, Assyrians and war-captives alike

having but one work and that is the transport of this awe-inspiring

monster. In the right-hand corner we see two carts, each being drawn by

two prisoners and containing ropes and timber. The carts have two

wheels, each wheel containing eight spokes in contradistinction to the

four spokes of the early Babylonian wheels. The bull has been carefully

laid on its side upon a sledge which is shaped like a boat in the front.

Both ends of the sledge are pierced with round holes for the reception

of the ropes. The latter, tightly secured to the sledge and bull, are

about to be pulled by a number of prisoners who succeed under the gentle

stimulus of the taskmaster’s lash in gradually moving the colossal

monster. Before starting, however, it was seemingly necessary to give

the sledge some assistance by means of a huge lever, one end of which is

placed under the stern while to the other end three ropes are attached,

by means of which a number of workmen are doing their utmost to move the

lever on its fulcrum. To gain a greater leverage one of the workmen is

engaged in inserting a wedge between the upper surface of the fulcrum

and the under side of the lever, while the movement of the sledge is

further facilitated by means of rollers which workmen are seen busily

putting in position. Upon the top of the recumbent bull kneels the

foreman engineer giving the signal for each successive and united effort

to the men on the towing-ropes. The presence of three soldiers was

apparently necessary to enforce the admonitions of the foreman—an early

example of the invocation of the military to support civil authority.

Below in the foreground, a number of captives are seen carrying rollers

to be set down as the bull advances. They are accompanied by taskmasters

who appear to have been wholly devoid of any sense of mercy.

[Illustration: FIG. 31.—Sennacherib at Lachish. (After Layard.)]

But the best known, because from certain points of view the most

interesting, bas-relief from Sennacherib’s palace at Kouyunjik is that

in which Sennacherib is seen receiving the submission of the conquered

inhabitants of Lachish (Tell el-Ḥesy) (cf. Fig. 31). The king is seated

on a throne of great magnificence, and his feet repose on a high

footstool. The side of the throne is divided into three registers, each

of which is occupied by a row of men with arms upstretched to support

the bar above: the bars themselves are decorated with various

geometrical devices, while the throne stands upon four large cone-shaped

feet. The king’s robes are as elaborate as his throne, both mantle and

tunic being richly embroidered and fringed with tassels, while his

head-gear consists in a kind of mitre, apparently the usual state

head-gear of Assyrian monarchs. Behind him are two attendants, probably

eunuchs, each holding a fly-flap in his right hand and a bandlet in his

left; their dress consists in a long robe reaching down to the ankle

and tied round the waist with a girdle, while a variegated sash passing

from the left shoulder across the chest relieves the monotony of the

comparatively inornate costume. Their hair is long, and the ends are

curled as in the other figures here represented, but they are beardless

and hatless. Behind these two attendants is the royal pavilion, the

roof-canvas of which is apparently raised either for ventilation or to

keep off the sun. The king with a bow in his left hand and an arrow in

his right, is listening to his chief officers who are reporting the

incidents of the siege of Lachish. The personage who leads the

procession carries no arms, but has his head bared and is clad more

sumptuously than the attendant officers, as befitteth the king’s vizier;

the warriors are armed with maces, short swords, bows and arrows, or

spears as the case may be. At a respectful distance from the royal

throne three representatives of the conquered inhabitants of the city

are making their obeisance before the king, one of them literally

grovelling on all fours. The prisoners have a thick, though not a long,

crop of hair, while their beards are also thick and short, in

contradistinction to those of the Assyrians. Their dress consists of a

perfectly plain, short-sleeved tunic reaching from neck to ankle, while

their feet are unshod. The dress of the Assyrian warriors will be

considered in a subsequent chapter (Chap. XIII). The scene of this

somewhat dramatic spectacle is outside the captured city, under the

grateful shade of vines and fig-trees, while mountains covered with

trees form a fitting background to the picture. The purport of the

four-lined cuneiform inscription in front of the king is that

Sennacherib, king of hosts, king of Assyria, sat upon his throne of

state, and the spoil of the city of Lachish passed before him. But

magnificent as is the throne upon which Sennacherib is here seated, it

must have been far surpassed in splendour by his royal throne at

Nineveh; the latter was apparently made of rock crystal, some of the

fragments of which are still preserved.

Sennacherib was succeeded after some intestine feuds by his son

Esarhaddon; Esarhaddon carried on the traditions of his predecessors in

warring against Phœnicia, and reducing Babylonia, but the distinguishing

feature of his reign was the occupation of Lower Egypt by the Assyrians

in 672 B.C. Unfortunately we have very few sculptural monuments of this

king, though it must not be assumed from this that he was a whit less

proud of his feats than his father, but his reign has practically no

interest for the student of art and affords us little material for the

pursuit of our present subject. This remark, however, is very far from

applying to Ashur-bani-pal, his all-glorious son, whose triumphs in the

field of art were as great in their way as those achieved in the

battle-field. Ashur-bani-pal came to the throne in 668 B.C. and ruled

some forty-two years, during which he raised the power of Assyria to a

point never reached before and never reached again. The more noteworthy

events of Ashur-bani-pal’s reign as well as the consequential effects of

his taste for literature have been treated of elsewhere; suffice it to

say here that this outburst of military, intellectual and artistic

activity was but the supreme effort of an empire whose strength was

exhausted and whose vitality was impaired, and even before the death of

Ashur-bani-pal the meteoric splendour of her glory had begun to pale. It

was as it were the final sickness of an aged man who had weathered many

storms and whose recuperative power had hitherto risen to every

occasion, at last however the final crisis comes and all is over. But

that golden era of Assyrian art, so brief and short-lived, has

nevertheless been immortalized by the artists of that day in those stone

slabs which now form one of the most precious possessions of the British

Museum.

Ashur-bani-pal’s exploits in the hunting field have been already

referred to, and it is these that he chose to record pictorially upon

his palace-walls rather than his victories on the field of battle, and

it is to this choice that we owe those masterpieces of animal

representation, which otherwise might never have been crystallized into

concrete and permanent results.

A large number of these bas-reliefs are concerned with lion-hunting;

from Pl. XVIII it would appear that lions sometimes suffered themselves

to become domesticated; we here see a lion and lioness, the one

standing, the other lying carelessly stretched at its ease upon the

ground, in a kind of garden, the cultivated character of which is

manifest from the presence of a vine. The lion stands before the

crouching lioness with head and fore-paws outstretched, in a manner

well-illustrative of that dignity and majesty which is always and has

always been associated with the king of animals. Unfortunately most of

the head and the entire hind-quarters of the lion are missing, but

sufficient remains of the animal for us to imagine the rest without much

risk of our imagination leading us astray.

_PLATE XVIII_

[Illustration: _Photo. Mansell British Museum_

ASHUR-BANI-PAL’S HUNTING SCENES: LION AND LIONESS IN A PARK OR GARDEN]

_PLATE XIX_

[Illustration: _Photos. Mansell British Museum_

ASHUR-BANI-PAL’S HUNTING SCENES]

But the animals which were the victims of the royal sport must clearly

have been wild; sometimes they admitted of being hunted in their natural

state, but in Ashur-bani-pal’s time it was evidently necessary to

capture them beforehand and keep them in cages till required for the

hunt. In Pl. XIX we see one such captive specimen emerging from his

temporary prison at the instance of the attendant who has pulled up the

wicker gate of the cage. The lion’s satisfaction at his release is shown

by the alacrity with which he sallies forth, little conscious of the

doom in front of him. Though the end seems always to have been the

same, the method by which the end was accomplished varied from time to

time. Thus on one occasion the king is seen thrusting his long-shafted

spear into the lion’s back, himself securely mounted in his chariot; at

another time he is on foot, and is almost playfully stabbing the lion in

the neck with his dagger, but the more usual way—no doubt, because the

safest—of dispatching big game, and lions in particular, seems to have

been by means of the bow and arrow which could be brought into play at a

respectful distance. In Pl. XIX we see a number of lions thus

transfixed; their various positions, some of which are sublimely

natural, while others appear rather imaginative, all speak eloquently

and in moving terms of that common tragedy to which all the animal

world, whether human or bestial must some day become victims,—the

tragedy of death. One lion is seen transfixed by four arrows, two of

which are deeply lodged in the lion’s neck, a third in the centre of the

head, and the last in the middle of the back. The lion is prostrate, his

four legs dragging helplessly behind and underneath his massive body,

while his face bespeaks the death-agony in which he lies convulsed.

Above, on the left, another animal has been incapacitated, if not

mortally wounded, by two arrow wounds, one in the neck and the other in

the back, while a little lower down to the right, a lioness smitten

through the lungs has rolled over helplessly on her back. At the bottom

of this unique scene we have another lion transfixed by some five

arrows, most of which are lodged in or about the animal’s head; like the

lioness he has sunk over on his back, his limbs being contorted almost

beyond recognition. To the left we have the full hind-quarters of a lion

who is springing up in a frenzy of rage excited by an arrow-wound in the

back. Last of all in the bottom left-hand corner another lion is seen in

the act of expiring as the result of his wounds. But whatever end befell

the unfortunate lion, he seems to have been attended with ceremonial

rites at the last, his body was conveyed home by three or four male

servants, and stretched upon the ground, after which the king himself

pours a libation over the silent, motionless animal, whose grandeur in

death is only surpassed by his energy in life (cf. Pl. XX).

The large majority of the visitors to the Assyrian Saloon in the British

Museum, where these masterpieces of animal reproduction are arranged,

have never witnessed a lion hunt in real life, but none can go away

without having an ineffaceable impression left on his mind of the

grimness of such a scene, of which the reality is here so graphically

portrayed. Lion-hunting was doubtless the favourite sport of the

Assyrian kings, but other game also engaged the royal patronage, notably

deer, wild asses and bulls. Ashur-naṣir-pal has left us a sculpture in

which he is represented hunting wild bulls from his chariot, and in Pl.

XX we have a bas-relief from Ashur-bani-pal’s palace on which a wild-ass

hunt is seen in full progress. In the upper part of the scene a wild-ass

lies helpless on his back, pierced by three arrows, while a fourth arrow

is on the wing, though swiftly nearing its appointed goal. To the right

we see another ass rushing away in hot haste before the double onslaught

of dogs and arrows. To the left two dogs resembling mastiffs are busily

engaged in checking the headlong course of a wild ass whose flight has

already been retarded by the arrow which has pierced his fore-quarters.

Below, a hound of the type already alluded to is in mad pursuit of a

young foal. The foal is preceded by a full-grown ass who is turning its

head solicitously, possibly in anxiety for its own safety, possibly for

that of the young foal behind. The manner in which this latter action

has been portrayed by the artist is surprising in its fidelity to nature

and its artistic merits. To enable the reader to form a fair and correct

estimate of the genius of the Assyrians in the art of animal

representation it would be necessary to give reproductions of the whole

series of Ashur-bani-pal’s hunting scenes, but it is hoped that

sufficient has here been shown to demonstrate their extraordinary

ability in this direction.

_PLATE XX_

[Illustration: ASHUR-BANI-PAL’S HUNTING SCENES: HUNTING WILD

ASSES WITH DOGS]

[Illustration: _Photos. Mansell British Museum_

ASHUR-BANI-PAL POURING OUT A LIBATION OVER DEAD LIONS]

Not only however are we indebted to Ashur-bani-pal for the animal

masterpieces of Assyrian art, but also for one of the few scenes which

give us a glimpse into the private and non-official life of the king

(cf. Pl. XXI). The king is reclining on a magnificently carved couch,

while his queen sits bolt upright on a chair immediately opposite; the

chair is as elaborate in its way as the couch, as is also the stool upon

which her feet repose. In spite of the tropical appearance of the garden

in which the feast is spread, the king is covered with a rug, while the

queen is clad in richly-woven robes which look anything but cool. A

table is set by the side of the couch and in front of the queen’s chair,

upon which are laid the royal dainties. Both their majesties are about

to quaff the ambrosial nectar with which their low but capacious cups

are without doubt filled, but the scene of their banquet is in itself an

appetizer: the thick palm trees, the rich clusters of grapes, and the

hovering birds all adding a stimulus to the royal digestive faculties.

Behind the king stand two attendants with fly-flappers, and another

richly carved table upon which the royal weapons are laid. The queen is

similarly protected by fly-flappers, behind the bearers of which are

other servants laden with oriental luxuries, while in the distance the

musicians are playing their voluptuous eastern melodies. The

instruments are stringed, as are most of the musical instruments

portrayed on Babylonian and Assyrian bas-reliefs, though tambourines,

double-pipes, cymbals, drums and trumpets were also apparently

known.[96] In spite however of all these intoxicating influences, there

remained one other item in the programme—an item which doubtless had the

most stimulating effect of all upon the appetite of the great king, i.e.

the head of Te-umman of Elam, which hangs from a tree in the king’s

immediate line of vision, and no doubt was a most gratifying spectacle

to his majesty.

With Ashur-bani-pal Assyrian art as well as her literature reached its

climax; with him the limits of the empire were extended further than

ever before; but after his reign no slow decadence, but a swift collapse

set in which was alike tragic in its significance and momentous in its

consequences. It is however not altogether unfitting, either in the case

of empires, or in that of individuals, that when the climax is reached,

and the highest possibilities are realized, life should not be prolonged

for retrogressive purposes, and Assyria was in a large degree saved from

this misfortune. The memory of her greatness and of her wide influence

was in no way marred by a long period of decline, her time was up and

her end came, but the reason was to be found rather in those indomitable

circumstances of fate and external environment than in a radical and

internal demoralization. We have no reliefs of the Neo-Babylonian period

worth recording, with the exception of the coloured clay reliefs which

we shall consider in the chapter on painting.

_PLATE XXI_

[Illustration: ASHUR-BANI-PAL, RECLINING AT MEAT]

[Illustration: _Photos. Mansell_ _British Museum_

MUSICIANS AND ATTENDANTS]

SCULPTURE IN THE ROUND

[Illustration: FIG. 32. (_A. J. S. L._, XXI, pp. 59, ff.)]

For the study of early Sumerian sculpture in the round, we unfortunately

have not much material at hand. As has been already stated, both the

Babylonians and Assyrians excelled in bas-relief work rather than in

full rounded sculpture, and what they excelled in, that they practised

most; in spite of this fact however, both peoples were alive to the

superiority of sculpture in the round, but the difficulties involved in

producing work of this kind prevented such work being undertaken save

for exceptional purposes, hence they never attained a very high degree

of excellence in this department of art. Of the earlier Sumerian period

we have hardly any complete statues, and the paucity of such makes those

that have survived the more valuable. One of the most interesting of

these is that of Esar king of Adab (Bismâya), which was discovered

during the course of the American excavations on that site,[97] and is

now preserved in the Imperial Ottoman Museum, Constantinople (cf. Fig.

32). It is made of marble and weighs two hundred pounds. In height it

measures just under thirty-five inches, the circumference of the skirt

being close upon thirty-two inches. The latter is heavily plaited and is

a replica of the garment in which the Sumerians portrayed on the

earliest monuments are always clad. The type of face in like manner

attests its great antiquity; the bald head, the aquiline nose forming a

straight line with the forehead, the triangular eye-sockets which were

at one time inlaid with ivory, all being characteristic features of the

most ancient Sumerian attempts at human portraiture. The king bears an

inscription upon his right shoulder written in a very archaic and

semi-pictorial script, from which we learn the name of the king, and

also of the city over which he ruled. It was discovered at a great

depth below the surface of the mound, among the ruins of a temple

constructed of the small plano-convex bricks characteristic of the

pre-Ur-Ninâ buildings. A particularly interesting feature about this

unique monument is that the arms are free from the body, whereas in

nearly all Mesopotamian statues they are joined up to the sides. The

hands are clasped in front as is the case in so many Sumerian statues

and reliefs of all periods, while the feet are embedded in the pedestal

to enable them to support the short, thick-set and heavy body, which was

apparently a peculiarity of the Sumerian physique.

Unfortunately we have hardly any complete figures of early Sumerian

women, the little stone statuette in Fig. 33 gives us however some idea

of the appearance and dress of women in early Babylonia. Her features

conform to the usual Sumerian type, while her long hair is tied with a

fillet which surrounds her head and gathers up her flowing tresses at

the back.

[Illustration: FIG. 33. (_Déc. en Chald._, Pl. I, _ter._ No. 3.)]

But the three archaic stone heads (cf. Pl. XXII) which were unearthed at

Tellô enable us to form a somewhat more complete estimate of the

artistic ability of the sculptors of that age in regard to the portrayal

of the human face and head. The head on the right closely resembles the

central one, both of which exhibit a more advanced style of art than

that exhibited in the head on the left, which is, however, the most

interesting of the three. It was discovered on the other side of the

Shatt-el-Hai, the canal which connects the Tigris with the Euphrates;

unlike the others, the aquiline nose is perfectly preserved, the eyes

are as usual large and shaped like almonds, and were doubtless at one

time inlaid with shell and coloured, while the lips betray a suppressed

smile; the type of face is exactly the same as that seen on the Vulture

Stele, though the details are of course more precise, as might be

expected from a work in the round.

_PLATE XXIIa_

[Illustration: _Photo. Mansell British Museum_

LIMESTONE FIGURE OF AN EARLY SUMERIAN]

_PLATE XXIIb_

[Illustration: _Musée du Louvre: Déc. en Chald., Pl. 6,

1-3_

ARCHAIC LIMESTONE HEADS]

[Illustration: FIG. 34.—A. (Louvre, Cat., p. 217; _Déc. en Chald._, Pl.

6, Fig. 3.) B. (_Comptes Rendus_, 1907, p. 398; _Délég. en Perse Mém._,

X, Pl. 1.) C. (Louvre, Cat., p. 227; _Déc. en Chald._, Pl. 8 (bis), 4.)]

In Fig. 34, A, we have an alabaster head of an early Sumerian woman; the

face belongs to the same type as that to which the male heads in Pl.

XXII conform. The ears, so prominent in the case of the clean-shaven

male heads, are here entirely concealed by the tresses of hair which

hang in thick horizontally streaked lines about her forehead, head and

neck. The hair is kept in its place by means of a fillet fastened at the

back. The large eye-holes must have at one time been inlaid, probably

with lapis lazuli in the case of a woman as here. The eyebrows are

sculptures in relief, and not incised as is the case in other early

Sumerian sculptures.

Other early specimens of Babylonian sculpture are to be found in the

various statues of Manishtusu discovered during the course of the

excavations carried on by the French Mission to Susa, one of which is

reproduced in Fig. 34, B. Manishtusu was a Semitic king of Kish and

probably reigned about 2700 B.C.; the statue here shown is consequently

one of the earliest examples of Semitic sculpture in the round as yet

known, and according to De Morgan[98] is the most ancient work of art as

yet discovered on the old Persian sites. Even at this early date we see

traces of that Semitic conventionalism so prevalent in the later

Assyrian era. The square face, the large eyes, the coiffure and the long

symmetrically arranged beard here seen, all being prominent features in

Assyrian representations of kings and potentates. The pupils of the eyes

were black and were fixed in their sockets by means of bitumen, as was

frequently the case in these early sculptures. The statue is made of

alabaster, and the inscription on the back is written in archaic line

characters.

This age was followed by a period during which the sculptor’s art

gradually made itself master of the means at its disposal. This

transition period is well illustrated by an alabaster statuette of a

seated woman reproduced in Fig. 34, C. The advance which the

configuration of her face shows on the archaic head in Fig. 34, A, is at

once obvious: the stereotyped eyes have become less exaggerated and more

natural, the lips are more womanly, the nose less obtrusive. Her long

hair hangs naturally and loosely down her back, while a thick fillet

encircles her head. Her long robe covers the whole of her body from neck

to ankle, and she holds in her hands a round-shaped vase which probably

contains a libation for the gods. This little statuette is just over

seven inches high.

But it was not till the middle of the third millennium B.C. i.e. the

age of Gudea, patesi of Lagash, that sculpture in the round assumed a

prominent part in the artistic life of the people, and it was not till

then that the sculptor seems to have regularly aspired to reproducing

human figures at quasi-life size, fashioning them at the same time out

of the hardest volcanic rocks. In Pl. XXIII, A, B we have reproductions

of two of the decapitated statues found by De Sarzec at Tellô. Eight of

these statues, some of which are in a standing posture, while others are

seated, bear inscriptions of Gudea, patesi of Lagash; one of the

remaining two being inscribed with the name of his predecessor, Ur-Bau.

The majority of these statues are under life-size, but the dimensions of

one of them at least considerably exceed those of an ordinary man. The

statue here represented (Pl. XXIII, A) is the most artistically

conceived of the series; it possesses both grace and force, and shows

very little trace of the conventionalism so noticeable in later Assyrian

sculptures, the feet being the only inanimate and truly conventional

part of the production. The arms are strong and sinewy, but the muscles

are perfectly naturally executed, and contrast very favourably with the

exaggerated muscles of the royal statues of Assyria. The hands are

folded in token of submission to the goddess Nin-harsag, to whom this

statue was seemingly dedicated. Among the epithets applied to this

goddess here, are “Lady of the Mountains,” “protectress of the town and

mother of its inhabitants,” and lastly, “mother of the gods.” This

statue is made of green diorite and is just over four feet high.

In Pl. XXIII, B we have another statue of Gudea, this time seated. The

chief peculiarity about this and its companion statue, both of which are

in the Louvre, lies in the flat tablet which each of them carries on

their knees. On one of these tablets a regular plan of Gudea’s

buildings has been engraved, showing various doors, crenelated towers,

and so forth, together with the carpenter’s rule and stylus, which are

similarly engraved on the knee-tablet of the statue reproduced here. The

most striking feature in the sculpture itself is the boldness with which

the nude limbs are carved, and the nervous vitality with which they

abound. This is especially noticeable in the treatment of the right arm

and shoulder, which the arrangement of the mantle leaves exposed. The

cartouche on the shoulder contains the name and titles of Gudea. The

lengthy inscription below records that this statue has been dedicated to

the goddess Gatumdug, who is styled “the mother of Shirpurla” (=

Lagash), it then treats of the various rites and ceremonies with which

the building of the temple of this goddess was accompanied. This statue,

like the standing one in Pl. XXIII A, is made of diorite. Several of the

heads belonging to these statues have been brought to light, one of

which is seen in Pl. XXIII, C. The head which is decked with a

variegated turban is again remarkable for its strength and the boldness

with which it is executed; the eyes are large and wide open, a

noticeable characteristic in all Mesopotamian art, whether early or

late; the eyebrows are heavy, and the chin firm, while the jaws are

thick-set and make the general contour of the face square. The absence

of due proportion in all these early Babylonian sculptures is at once

manifest: they one and all have a more or less squat appearance, the

breadth being always too great proportionally for the height, while the

head is too large for the body and the latter is too thin from back to

front. But when all the failings incidental to the products of an

inexperienced art are duly taken into consideration, there is a certain

fidelity to nature, and consequently a degree of life observable in the

crudest of these early Babylonian sculptures which at once raises them

to a higher level than the Assyrian statues to which they unconsciously

gave birth. The accentuation of the strong lines and curves of the

earlier sculptures in the later products of Assyrian times, has merely

led to exaggeration, and the effect is inevitably stereotyped and

unnatural.

_PLATE XXIII_

[Illustration: _Musée du Louvre_

A, B. DIORITE STATUES OF GUDEA, PATESI OF LAGASH

C. DIORITE HEAD OF GUDEA

D. UPPER PART OF A DIORITE STATUETTE OF A WOMAN (GUDEA PERIOD)]

In Pl. XXIII, D, however, we have the upper part of a diorite figure of

a woman belonging to about the same period as Gudea, which has to a

great extent lost the heavy and massive appearance so noticeable in the

statues of the patesi, and possesses both grace and beauty. The dress

will be considered in a subsequent chapter, and it will be sufficient to

here call attention to the singularly natural manner in which the folds

of the garment are represented. During the interval between the epoch

associated with the name of Gudea and that rendered illustrious by

Ashur-naṣir-pal and the Assyrian kings, the practice of sculpturing in

the round appears to have fallen largely into desuetude, if we may judge

from the extreme paucity of the material that has come down to us, and

it is not till the time of the Assyrian Empire that we are able again to

make a detailed study of the sculptor’s art in Mesopotamia.

One of the earliest examples of Assyrian sculpture in the round is

reproduced in Pl. XXIV, B. It is a torso of a female figure, who bears

upon her back an inscription of Ashur-bêl-kala, king of Assyria, whose

reign may be assigned to the first half of the eleventh century B.C. It

was discovered at Kouyunjik, and is now in the British Museum. The size

is somewhat below that of life; but in spite of the fact that the

proportions are bad, the body between the legs and arms being too short,

this sculpture, when compared with the generality of Assyrian attempts

to reproduce human beings, is at once striking for the natural manner

in which the artist’s conception of feminine beauty is realized, and as

such is entirely unique in the realm of Assyrian sculpture.

The remains of another very early Assyrian sculpture[99] in the round

were discovered in the course of the German excavations at Ashur.

Unfortunately the head, hands and feet of this statue are missing, but

the small part of the head which is preserved, though having an

abundance of hair shows no trace of the elaborate curls of later days,

the beard being represented by a series of twelve or more corrugated

strands, thereby recalling the Babylonian statues of the Khammurabi

period. The clothing consists of a close-fitting garment made of a

simple fine-textured material, and is decorated with a fringe.

Of Assyrian royal statues that of Ashur-naṣir-pal (cf. Pl. XXIV, C) is

the best preserved and the most successful. It is made of hard

limestone, and measures three feet four inches in height; it was found

in a broken condition along with the limestone pedestal upon which it

once stood, and it now stands upon the same original pedestal in the

Nimrûd Gallery of the British Museum. The total height of the statue

with the pedestal is five feet eleven and a half inches. Fortunately

none of the fragments of the figure were missing, and consequently it

was possible to restore the statue so perfectly as to render it one of

the finest Assyrian statues in existence. The king stands there, the

very incarnation of impassive dignity and imperturbable majesty, and it

is strange how impressive the motionless can at times be. It would

perhaps be hardly true to employ such words as “life” or “animation” in

attempting to describe this sculpture, but it possesses something even

higher than external vigour and vitality, it has a force, an

indescribable “reserve of strength,” which the absence of anything like

aggressive activity only serves to enhance. The king is clad in long and

elaborately made robes which reach down to his toes. The beard and hair,

both of which are rich and profuse, are curled with much care and

precision. The king holds in his right hand a sickle-shaped object,

which is presumably meant to be a sceptre, while in his left he holds a

mace with a tassel at the lower end. His left arm is concealed by the

fold of his outer mantle, but the right is bare with the exception of a

wrist-bracelet. The type of face bears all the acknowledged Assyrian

characteristics; large, wide-open eyes, a curved nose, and the wealth of

hair to which we have just referred. The proportions are fairly

accurate, though the depth or thickness of the body from back to front

is as usual, not sufficiently great. The king has an inscription carved

upon his breast, the text of which, after having given the name and

genealogy of Ashur-naṣir-pal, goes on to recount the triumphant

achievements of the king in the extension of his dominion over the whole

country between the river Tigris and Lebanon, and concludes by stating

that he has made all the countries from the rising of the sun to the

setting of the sun to submit to his feet.

_PLATE XXIV_

[Illustration: STATUE OF NEBO

TORSO OF A WOMAN

STATUE OF ASHUR-NAṢIR-PAL

(_From Dieulafoy, “L’Art Antique de la Perse,” Vol. 3. Pl. 12_)]

[Illustration: FIG. 35.—Shalmaneser II. (British Museum.)]

Ashur-naṣir-pal’s son and successor, Shalmaneser II, has bequeathed to

us one of the comparatively few examples of an Assyrian seated figure

sculptured in the round (cf. Fig. 35). The decapitated figure, which is

a representation of Shalmaneser II himself, is made of black basalt, and

it was discovered at Ḳalat Sherḳat (Ashur). The inscription on the

throne, which is partially effaced, gives the name and titles of the

king, enumerates his various conquests in Babylonia, and also contains

an allusion to the statue itself. It is interesting to compare this

figure with the seated and likewise decapitated figures of Gudea a

millennium or so earlier (cf. Pl. XXIII, B). Both are made of a hard

volcanic stone, and the garment in which each of these Eastern rulers is

clad reaches down to the ankles, though the end of Shalmaneser’s skirt

is however decorated with a fringe, while Gudea’s is quite plain. Both

figures are seated on a simple kind of throne such as is very frequently

encountered on cylinder-seals, but there are certain striking points of

difference between the two statues. The Sumerian Gudea has no beard,

while the Semitic king of Assyria has a long square beard, and Gudea’s

arms are moreover clasped in a reverential attitude across his breast,

while Shalmaneser’s arms are apparently resting easily upon his lap. The

feet which in each case rest upon a plinth, are well portrayed in both

figures, though what advantage there is is clearly on the side of the

earlier Babylonian sculpture.

Another good example of Mesopotamian sculpture in the round at about

this time is afforded by the two statues of the god Nebo which were

excavated by Rassam in the ruined temple of Adar at Nimrûd, one of which

is reproduced in Plate XXIV, A. They were made by a certain governor of

the city of Calah (Nimrûd), and were dedicated to the god in the hope of

thereby ensuring length of days to Adad-nirari III, king of Assyria from

812-783 B.C., the queen Sammuramat, and incidentally to himself also.

The mention of Sammuramat is interesting as she is supposed to be the

original of the Semiramis of later Greek and Roman writers. The god is

apparelled in a simple robe confined at the waist, the arms being left

uncovered and free. He wears both a moustache and a beard, the latter

being curled and waved, as is also the long hair of his head. The horned

cap of the gods furnishes his natural head-gear, and his wrists are

encircled with the rosette-patterned bracelets in which both kings and

gods seem to have delighted, while his hands are clasped upon his

breast. The inscription chiselled all round the lower part of his robe,

is chiefly concerned with a rehearsal of all the wonderful attributes

and gracious deeds of Nebo, and ends with an exhortation to all future

generations to put their trust in Nebo, and not in any other god.

But neither the Babylonian nor the Assyrian sculptors confined their

attention to human beings, any more than did the bas-relief artists.

They also attempted the reproduction of animals, mythical or real as the

case may be, with varying degrees of success. The animal that seems to

have more or less monopolized their artistic capacity in this direction

was the lion. We have already seen the important part played by the lion

in the heraldic arms of Lagash, in the coloured decoration of walls, and

in the bas-reliefs which adorned the interiors of Assyrian palaces, as

well as in the decoration of various objects such as mace-heads and

stone bowls, and we are accordingly not surprised to find examples of

the lion realized in hard stone and worked in the round. The early

specimens are for the most part small, and as a rule only the heads are

preserved. The dates of most of these heads are uncertain as there is

generally no inscription, but fortunately there are some exceptions.

Like the majority of the earlier specimens of Sumerian art, they nearly

all come from Tellô and were excavated by M. De Sarzec. One of the best

preserved is reproduced in Fig. 36, A. Only one side of the lion’s head

has survived, but it is sufficient to demonstrate the success with which

the Sumerian sculptor treated his subject. The arrogance and impassive

majesty of the lion are here realized more impressively than is the case

with the lions of many a European artist; this notwithstanding, the

spirit of conventionalism has already crept in as a thief, though it has

as yet only made its presence felt in the hem of the garment so to

speak. The head itself is entirely unmarred by any deteriorating

influence, but the treatment of the mane is in a measure the victim of

the force of habit, which, in spite of the common saying that it is

“second nature,” is as a matter of fact as unnatural as it can be in its

effect upon art. It is formed somewhat after the pattern of the

“_kaunakes_” material used in the manufacture of early Sumerian

garments.

[Illustration: FIG. 36.—A (_Déc. en Chald._, Plate 24, I); B, C (after

Heuzey).]

The remains of another stone lion bearing an inscription of Gudea, from

which we gather that the lion in question formed part of the decoration

of the door through which access was gained to the sanctuary of the

goddess Gatumdug were recovered from the same site. This lion[100] shows

still further the subtle influence of conventionalism in the manner in

which the hair on the lower part of the belly is portrayed, a series of

triangles, such as is often seen in the figures of lions on the

cylinder-seals, representing a fringe of long hair. Many of the

lion-heads discovered at Tellô were provided with holes for the

insertion of a peg, and probably served for lower supports of the back

of thrones. One of these lion-heads is of especial interest as it bears

the name of Ur-Ninâ, the founder of the first dynasty of Lagash,[101]

while a second mentions _Magan_, the uncertain district whence the

Babylonians procured their stone. Another early animal sculpture of some

considerable interest was discovered by Captain Cros at Tellô in 1904

(cf. Fig. 36, B). It represents a recumbent dog—apparently of the

mastiff breed, and identical in species with those figured on

Ashur-bani-pal’s bas-reliefs: the length of the dog is only about four

inches, its height just under three and a half inches, and it is two

inches thick, but the interest attaching to it lies in the fact that it

bears an inscription of one Sumu-ilu, a king of Ur who probably

reigned towards the close of the third millennium B.C., but of whom

little else is known, and whose name had not even been heard of before

the discovery of this little black stone dog. The material used for this

sculpture is steatite, and the dog’s back is pierced with a hole which

served as a stand for a cylindrical steatite vase.

The hole and the vase are apparently of later date than the dog

itself.[102]

Another very interesting example of early Babylonian sculpture in the

round is that of a small human-headed bull[103] (cf. Fig. 36, C) now

preserved in the Louvre. It is, as it were, the archetype or prototype

of those winged human-headed bulls and lions placed at the entrances of

palaces to guard against maleficent demons. The pose of the bull is one

that is entirely natural, and recalls the semi-recumbent calves on

Entemena’s silver vase (cf. Figure 45), but the body of the animal lacks

the intense realism of the earlier animal representations. He wears a

long vertically streaked beard, which is flanked on either side by

plaits of hair, and his head is surmounted by a cap with four pairs of

horns.

In the centre of his back there is a hole which doubtless once served as

a socket for some votive object or figure as seems so frequently to have

been the case; but the particular interest of this little sculpture lies

in the shell inlay work on the back. The figure itself is made of black

steatite, the inlay work consisting of yellow shell, and we have as a

result a somewhat grotesquely marked bull. Sometimes animals were carved

in wood, a good example of which is the little wooden lion in the

Louvre, but the remains of Babylonian or Assyrian wood-carving are far

too scanty to enable us to undertake a study of their work in this

direction.

_PLATE XXV_

[Illustration: _Photos, Mansell_

_British Museum_

WINGED MAN-HEADED LION

WINGED MAN-HEADED BULL]

In later times sculpture in the round, which had never been popular with

the artists of Mesopotamia owing to the obvious difficulty of procuring

the necessary material in the first instance, and in the second to the

nature of the work itself and the obstacles which had to be surmounted

in the realization of that work, went almost entirely out of fashion.

There remain, however, a few examples of sculptured animals to be

considered, among the first and foremost of which are those colossal

human-headed winged-bulls and lions which guarded the entrances of the

palaces of Ashur-naṣir-pal and Sargon (cf. Pl. XXV). They are, it is

true, neither bas-reliefs nor round sculptures, but a combination of the

two, whereby the artist has endeavoured to create a perfectly natural

and complete effect from every point of vision, and his efforts have met

with the success which they deserved. The means he has employed to

produce this satisfactory result is the provision of each of these

extraordinary monsters with a fifth leg, though all these winged

monsters were not so provided, the principal exceptions being the

four-legged bulls in Sennacherib’s palace at Kouyunjik. The difficulty

with which the artist found himself encountered, and which was obviated

by the above-mentioned device, lay in the inability of four legs of

natural proportions to support a stone body of the gigantic size

demanded by the architectural requirements for which these creatures

were destined to be used. In short, a pure round sculpture of a lion or

bull of the portentous size desired was a literal impossibility, and

relief accordingly had to come into play, it being merely a question of

how far the relief should be low or high, and the higher it was the more

it of course approximated to the round, and realized what was presumably

the artist’s real intention. The creation of a satisfactory front view

of these animals involved no difficulty, for the visibility of the two

front legs was all that was necessary, and the drawback of the space

between the legs being occupied with the solid mass of stone which

supported the animal and out of which it was sculptured in high relief,

was comparatively slight and negligible. But the satisfactory portrayal

of the animal from the side aspect was fraught with much greater

difficulty. Normally the two near legs of a quadruped viewed from the

side, by no means exclude the two legs on the off-side from one’s

vision. The artist was clearly conscious of the difficulty which here

confronted him and he has devised an ingenious means, indeed the only

means under the circumstances for surmounting this inherent difficulty.

He has provided the lion or the bull, as the case may be, with a fifth

leg with the satisfactory result that viewed from either standpoint the

animal’s action or inaction is conceived in a perfectly natural fashion.

From the front the winged monster is seen in a stationary attitude, his

two fore legs firmly planted together on the ground, while from the

side, on the other hand, the animal is walking along in an entirely

normal and life-like manner. These winged monsters were placed on either

side of the portals of the king’s palace and they helped to support the

palace walls. But the object which they were supposed to serve, and the

duties which they were expected to perform, were not of the purely

architectural or even of the decorative order, their vocation, though

embracing all these minor functions, involved the fulfilment of yet

higher obligations, for they were destined to ward off the attacks of

malicious spirits from the nether world. Esarhaddon, king of Assyria

from 681-668 B.C. specifically states for what purpose these “shedi” or

“lamassi”—the Assyrian names for these semi-mythical monsters—were

created and made, for example, in one passage—to quote the translation

given by Perrot and Chipiez (p. 266)—Esarhaddon says that “the _shedi_

and _lamassi_ are propitious, are the guardians of my royal promenade

and the rejoicers of my heart, may they ever watch over the palace and

never quit its walls,” and again in another passage he says, “I caused

doors to be made in cypress, which has a good smell, and I had them

adorned with gold and silver and fixed in the doorways. Right and left

of these doorways I caused _shedi_ and _lamassi_ of stone to be set up,

they are placed thereto repulse the wicked.” The front parts of these

monsters always projected beyond the general line of the wall, the human

head and the chest at all events being outside the arch which these

animals supported.

_PLATE XXVI_

[Illustration: _Photo. Mansell_ British Museum

STONE LION OF ASHUR-NAṢIR-PAL]

Sometimes the winged human-headed monster is flanked by a mythical

creature with wings, holding a basket in his left hand, and a cone in

his right (cf. Pl. XXV), at other times he stands in isolated glory

alone. The head is of the familiar type to which one-half of the

Assyrian representations of men so rigidly conform, the type

characterized by a beard, the other type being beardless: all the

royalty and nobility seem to have worn beards, and, according to the

Assyrian sculptors, to have had precisely the same features, the

numerous beardless figures portrayed on the bas-reliefs representing the

humbler classes, and no doubt in some instances eunuchs. The head of

this winged colossus is surmounted by a lofty head-dress richly

decorated with rosettes, and furnished with two pairs of horns, the

ever-present mark of sacro-sanctity. The hair and beard are profuse in

their luxuriance, and elaborate in their dressing, while the tail is

treated with the like punctilious care. Two enormous wings cover the

back, extending their overshadowing protection some way beyond it. The

relief in which the body and specifically the legs are raised is very

high, and they stand out almost in the round. Many of these gigantic

stone animals have been found at Nimrûd, Khorsabad, the capital of

Sargon, and Nineveh.

But although the Assyrians show a marked predilection for mythical

monsters in their large sculptural achievements in the round or

semi-round, they showed themselves capable of conceiving and admirably

realizing animals of the normal order; one of the best examples of an

Assyrian carved animal is the colossal lion of Ashur-naṣir-pal (cf. Pl.

XXVI), which is now in the British Museum and once formed part of an

entrance to a building. This lion is about eight feet high and thirteen

feet long, and bears an inscription like many of the winged human-headed

bulls and lions. The lion also has five legs like so many of the latter.

The head is carved with great boldness and vigour, although it is a

little conventional. The jaws are extended, the upper lip and nostrils

being drawn up, and even an unimaginative person may well fancy he can

hear a deep roar proceeding from that fierce, wide-opened mouth. His

neck is covered with a thick mane and ruffles of stiff hair. To obtain

the best view of the sculpture, the view, that is to say, in which the

spectator will accord the full measure, or even an over-measure, of

justice to the skill of the artist, one must make one’s point of

observation on the side. The front aspect is disappointing, as the lion

is too thin for its length and height, and is consequently deficient not

only in artistic merit, but also in the dignified majesty of which he

has ever been the symbolic incarnation. But in spite of these obvious

drawbacks, the work as a whole compels admiration and inevitably arrests

the attention, for it possesses the “one thing needful”—life. A

comparison between the lion’s head, and that of any of the winged

human-headed monsters, at once demonstrates the point to which allusion

has so frequently been made, the genius which the Assyrians at all times

and all periods show in the delineation of animals, and the contrasting

laboriousness with which all their representations of human faces are

invariably marked. But there is at least one general remark which may

fairly be made of Assyrian sculpture, a remark applicable both to human

as well as animal sculptures, and that is that whether the subject be

natural or mythical, human or bestial, the artist’s product is never

without force and never lacks impressiveness, a quality which in our own

day is generally made conspicuous by its absence. Other interesting

animal-sculptures have been found in Lower Mesopotamia, the most famous

of which is the immense black basalt lion on the Ḳasr mound at Babylon

(cf. Pl. XXVII).

_PLATE XXVII_

[Illustration: THE KASR LION

(_From Dieulafoy, “L’Art Antique de la Perse,” Vol. 3. Pl. 13_)]

It consists of a lion towering over a nude human being lying on the

ground, the whole piece being made of basalt. The remains of another

stone lion of large proportions were discovered in the course of the

recent German excavations at Babylon; thirty fragments of the dolerite

of which it was composed have been recovered including a portion of one

of the claws, which measures over three inches in length, and proves

that the lion must have been of abnormal size, while its general form

and appearance would seem to indicate a great age.

It is indeed well for us that the æsthetic genius of the Babylonians and

Assyrians should have found expression in durable stone rather than in

some other more perishable material; the difficulties involved in

sculpture are admittedly sufficiently great, and we owe a debt of

gratitude to the perseverance and determination of those ancient

peoples, which led them to conquer and mould for the ultimatization of

their ideas, a material which a less determined and a less persevering

nation might well have shrunk from attacking.