DISCOVERIES AT KOUYUNJIK.--PROCESSION OF FIGURES BEARING FRUIT AND
GAME.--LOCUSTS.--LED HORSES.--AN ASSYRIAN CAMPAIGN.--DAGON, OR THE
FISH-GOD.--THE CHAMBERS OF RECORDS.--INSCRIBED CLAY TABLETS.--RETURN
TO NIMROUD.--EFFECTS OF THE FLOOD.--DISCOVERIES.--SMALL TEMPLE UNDER
HIGH MOUND.--THE EVIL SPIRIT.--FISH-GOD.--FINE BAS-RELIEF OF THE
KING.--EXTRACTS FROM THE INSCRIPTION.--GREAT INSCRIBED
MONOLITH.--EXTRACTS FROM THE INSCRIPTION.--CEDAR BEAMS.--SMALL
OBJECTS.--SECOND TEMPLE.--MARBLE FIGURE AND OTHER OBJECTS.
During my absence in the Desert, the excavations at Kouyunjik had been
actively carried on under the superintendence of Toma Shishman. On my
arrival he described many interesting discoveries, and I hastened to the
ruins, crossing in a rude ferry-boat the river, now swollen, by the spring
rains, to more than double its usual size.[138]
The earth had been completely removed from the sides of the long gallery,
on the walls of which had been portrayed the transport of the large stone
and of the winged bulls. An outlet was discovered near its western end,
opening into a narrow descending passage; an entrance, it would appear,
into the palace from the river side. Its length was ninety-six feet, its
breadth not more than thirteen. The walls were panelled with sculptured
slabs about six feet high. Those to the right, in descending, represented
a procession of servants carrying fruit, flowers, game, and supplies for a
banquet, preceded by mace-bearers. The first servant following the guard
bore an object which I should not hesitate to identify with the pineapple,
unless there were every reason to believe that the Assyrians were
unacquainted with that fruit. The leaves sprouting from the top proved
that it was not the cone of a pine tree or fir. After all, the sacred
symbol held by the winged figures in the Assyrian sculptures, may be the
same fruit, and not, as I have conjectured, that of a coniferous tree.
The attendants who followed carried clusters of ripe dates and flat
baskets of osier-work, filled with pomegranates, apples, and bunches of
grapes. They raised in one hand small green boughs to drive away the
flies. Then came men bearing hares, partridges, and dried locusts fastened
on rods. The locust has ever been an article of food in the East, and is
still sold in the markets of many towns in Arabia.[139] Being introduced
in this bas-relief amongst the choice delicacies of a banquet, it was
probably highly prized by the Assyrians.
The locust-bearers were followed by a man with strings of pomegranates;
then came, two by two, attendants carrying on their shoulders low tables,
such as are still used in the East at feasts, loaded with baskets of cakes
and fruits of various kinds. The procession was finished by a long line of
servants bearing vases of flowers.
These figures were dressed in a short tunic, confined at the waist by a
shawl or girdle. They wore no headgear, their hair falling in curls on
their shoulders.
On the opposite walls of the passage were fourteen horses without
trappings, each horse having a simple halter twisted round its lower jaw,
by which it was led by a groom. The animals and men were designed with
considerable truth and spirit.
It is probable that the sculptures forming the upper end of the passage,
but now entirely destroyed, represented the king receiving this double
procession. The passage may have led to the banqueting-hall, or to a
chamber, where royal feasts were sometimes held, and was therefore adorned
with appropriate subjects. At its western end the gallery turned abruptly
to the north, its walls being there built of solid stone-masonry. I lost
all further traces of it, as the workmen were unable, at that time, to
carry on the tunnel beneath an accumulated mass of earth and rubbish about
forty feet thick.
As the workmen could no longer, without some danger, excavate in this part
of the ruins, they had returned to the chamber already described as
containing a series of bas-reliefs representing the capture and sack of a
large city in the mountains, and as opening into the broad gallery on
whose walls were depictured the various processes employed by the
Assyrians in moving their colossal figures. From this chamber branched to
the south a narrow passage, whose sculptured panels had been purposely
destroyed. It led into a great hall, which the workmen did not then
explore. They continued for a few feet along its western side, and then
turning through a doorway, discovered a chamber, from which again, always
following the line of wall, they entered a spacious apartment, completely
surrounded with bas-reliefs, representing one continuous subject. The
Assyrian army was seen fording a broad river amidst wooded mountains. The
king in his chariot was followed by a long retinue of warriors on foot and
on horses richly caparisoned, by led horses with even gayer trappings, and
by men bearing on their shoulders his second chariot, which had a yoke
ornamented with bosses and carvings. After crossing the river they
attacked the enemy's strongholds, which they captured one by one, putting
to death or carrying into captivity their inhabitants. The captives wore a
kind of turban wrapped in several folds round the head, and a short tunic
confined at the waist by a broad belt. From the nature of the country it
may be conjectured that the sculptures represented a campaign in some part
of Armenia, and I am inclined to identify the river with the Euphrates,
near whose head-waters, as we learn from the bull inscriptions,
Sennacherib waged one of his most important wars.
The slabs at the western end of this chamber were actually _curved
backwards_, showing the enormous pressure that must have taken place from
the falling in of the upper part of the building, by which not only the
alabaster was bent, but driven into the wall of sundried bricks.
On the north side of the chamber were two doorways leading into separate
apartments. Each entrance was formed by two colossal bas-reliefs of Dagon,
or the fish-god. Unfortunately the upper part of all these figures had
been destroyed, but as the lower remained from above the waist we can have
no difficulty in restoring the whole, especially as the same image is
seen entire on a fine Assyrian cylinder of agate in my possession. It
combined the human shape with that of the fish. The head of the fish
formed a mitre above that of the man, whilst its scaly back and fanlike
tail fell as a cloak behind, leaving the human limbs and feet exposed. The
figure wore a fringed tunic, and bore the two sacred emblems, the basket
and the cone.
We can scarcely hesitate to identify this mythic form with the Oannes, or
sacred man-fish, who, according to the traditions preserved by Berossus,
issued from the Erythraean Sea, instructed the Chaldaeans, in all wisdom, in
the sciences, and in the fine arts, and was afterwards worshipped as a god
in the temples of Babylonia. Its body, says the historian, was that of a
fish, _but under the head of a fish was that of a man_, and to its tail
were joined women's feet. Five such monsters rose from the Persian Gulf at
fabulous intervals of time.[140]
The Dagon of the Philistines and of the inhabitants of the Phoenician
coast was worshipped, according to the united opinion of the Hebrew
commentators on the Bible, under the same form.[141] When the ark of the
Lord was brought into the great temple of the idol at Ashdod, and the
statue fell a second time, "the head of Dagon and both the palms of his
hands were cut off upon the threshold; only the _fishy part_ of Dagon was
left to him."[142] His worship appears to have extended over Syria, as
well as Mesopotamia and Chaldaea. He had many temples, as we learn from
the Bible, in the country of the Philistines, and it was probably under
the ruins of one of them that Samson buried the people of Gaza who had
"gathered them together for to offer a great sacrifice unto Dagon their
god, and to rejoice."[143] We also find a Beth-Dagon, or the house of
Dagon, amongst the uttermost cities of the children of Judah[144], and
another city of the same name in the inheritance of the children of
Asher.[145]
The first doorway, guarded by the fish-gods, led into two small chambers
opening into each other, and once panelled with bas-reliefs, the greater
part of which had been destroyed. I shall call these chambers "the
chambers of records," for, like "the house of the rolls," or records,
which Darius ordered to be searched for the decree of Cyrus, concerning
the building of the temple of Jerusalem[146], they appear to have
contained the decrees of the Assyrian kings, as well as the archives of
the empire.
I have mentioned elsewhere[147] that the historical records and public
documents of the Assyrians were kept on tablets and cylinders of baked
clay. Many specimens have been brought to this country. The importance of
such relics will be readily understood. They present, in a small compass,
an abridgment, or recapitulation, of the inscriptions on the great
monuments and palace walls, giving in a chronological series the events of
each monarch's reign. The writing is so minute, and the letters are so
close one to another, that it requires considerable experience to separate
and transcribe them.
The chambers I am describing appear to have been a depository in the
palace of Nineveh for such documents. To the height of a foot or more from
the floor they were entirely filled with them; some entire, but the
greater part broken into many fragments, probably by the falling in of the
upper part of the building. They were of different sizes; the largest
tablets were flat, and measured about 9 inches by 6-1/2 inches; the
smaller were slightly convex, and some were not more than an inch long,
with but one or two lines of writing. The cuneiform characters on most of
them were singularly sharp and well defined, but so minute in some
instances as to be almost illegible without a magnifying glass. These
documents appear to be of various kinds. Many are historical records of
wars, and distant expeditions undertaken by the Assyrians; some seem to be
royal decrees, and are stamped with the name of a king, the son of
Essarhaddon; others again, divided into parallel columns by horizontal
lines, contain lists of the gods, and probably a register of offerings
made in their temples. On one Dr. Hincks has detected a table of the value
of certain cuneiform letters, expressed by different alphabetical signs,
according to various modes of using them; a most important discovery: on
another, apparently a list of the sacred days in each month; and on a
third, what seems to be a calendar. As we find from the Bavian
inscriptions, that the Assyrians kept a very accurate computation of time,
we may reasonably expect to obtain valuable chronological tables and some
information as to their methods of dividing the year, and even the day.
Many are sealed with seals, and may prove to be legal contracts or
conveyances of land. Others bear rolled impressions of those engraved
cylinders so frequently found in Babylonia and Assyria, by some believed
to be amulets. The characters appear to have been formed by a very
delicate instrument before the clay was hardened by fire, and the process
of accurately making letters so minute and complicated must have required
considerable ingenuity and experience. On some tablets are found
Phoenician, or cursive Assyrian characters and other signs.
The adjoining chambers contained similar relics, but in far smaller
numbers. Many cases were filled with these tablets before I left Assyria,
and a vast number of them have been found, I understand, since my
departure. A large collection of them is already deposited in the British
Museum. We cannot overrate their value. They furnish us with the materials
for the complete decipherment of the cuneiform character, for restoring
the language and history of Assyria, and for inquiring into the customs,
sciences, and, we may perhaps even add, literature, of its people. The
documents that have thus been discovered at Nineveh probably exceed all
that have yet been afforded by the monuments of Egypt. But years must
elapse before the innumerable fragments can be put together, and the
inscriptions transcribed for the use of those who in England and elsewhere
may engage in the study of the cuneiform character. It is to be hoped that
the Trustees of the British Museum will undertake the publication of
documents of such importance to the history of the ancient world.
The second entrance formed by the fish-gods opened into a small chamber,
whose sides had been lined with bas-reliefs; but there were no remains of
inscriptions.
A few days after our return to Mosul, I floated down the river on a raft
to Nimroud. The flood which had spread over the plain during my absence in
the Desert, had destroyed a part of the village. The centre of the plain
of Nimroud was now a large lake, and the cultivated fields were overspread
with slime. The Shemutti gathered round me as I arrived, and told me of
crops destroyed, and of houses swept away.
The workmen had not been idle during my absence, and discoveries of
considerable interest and importance had been made in the high mound on
the level of the artificial platform. The first trenches had been opened
in the side of the ravine between the ruins of the tower and those of the
north-west palace. A pavement of large square bricks, bearing the usual
superscription of the early Nimroud king, was soon uncovered. It led to a
wall of sundried bricks, coated with plaster, which proved to be part of a
small temple.
I have already mentioned[148] that a superstructure of bricks rested upon
the stone basement-wall of the tower, at the north-west corner of the
mound. It was against the eastern and southern faces of this upper
building that the newly discovered temple abutted. Four of its chambers
were explored, chiefly by means of tunnels carried through the enormous
mass of earth and rubbish in which the ruins were buried. The great
entrances were to the east. The principal portal was formed by two
colossal human-headed lions, sixteen feet and a half high and fifteen feet
long. They were flanked by three small winged figures, one above the
other, and divided by an ornamental cornice, and between them was an
inscribed pavement slab of alabaster. In front of each was a square stone,
apparently the pedestal of an altar, and the walls on both sides were
adorned with enamelled bricks.
[Illustration: ENTRANCE TO A SMALL TEMPLE, (NIMROUD.)]
About thirty feet to the right, or north, of the lion gateway was a
second entrance, at each side of which were two singular figures. One was
that of a monster, whose head, of fanciful and hideous form, had long
pointed ears and extended jaws, armed with huge teeth. Its body was
covered with feathers, its fore-feet were those of a lion, its hind legs
ended in the talons of an eagle, and it had spreading wings and the tail
of a bird. Behind this strange image was a winged man, whose dress
consisted of an upper garment with a skirt of skin or fur, an under robe
fringed with tassels, and the sacred horned hat. A long sword was
suspended from his shoulders by an embossed belt; sandals, armlets, and
bracelets, completed his attire. He grasped in each hand an object in the
form of a double trident, resembling the thunderbolt of the Greek Jove,
which he was in the attitude of hurling against the monster, who turned
furiously towards him.
[Illustration: Fish-God, at Entrance to small Temple (Nimroud.)]
This group appears to represent the bad spirit driven out by a good deity;
a fit subject for the entrance to a temple, dedicated to the god of war.
The singular combination of forms by which the Assyrian sculptor
portrayed the evil principle, so prominent an element in the Chaldaean,
and afterwards in the Magian, religions system, cannot fail to strike the
reader.
On the slabs at right angles to these sculptures, forming the outer part
of the entrance, were two colossal human figures, without wings, wearing
garlands on their heads, and bearing branches ending in three flowers.
Within the temple, at right angles to the entrance, were sculptured
fish-gods, somewhat different in form from those in the palace of
Kouyunjik. The fish's head formed part of the three-horned cap usually
worn by the winged figures. The tail only reached to the waist of the man,
who was dressed in the tunic and long furred robe, commonly seen in the
bas-reliefs of Nimroud.
To the right of this entrance, and apparently outside the walls of the
temple, was discovered one of the finest specimens of Assyrian sculpture
brought to this country. It represents the early Nimroud king in high
relief, carved on a solid block of limestone, cut into the shape of an
arched frame, in the form of the rock tablets of Bavian and the
Nahr-el-Kelb. The monarch wears his sacrificial robes, and carries the
sacred mace in his left hand. Round his neck are hung the four sacred
signs, the crescent, the star or sun, the trident, and the cross. His
waist is encircled by the knotted cord, and in his girdle are three
daggers. Above his head are the mythic symbols of Assyrian worship, the
winged globe, the crescent, the star, the bident, and the horned cap. The
entire slab, 8 ft. 8 in. high, by 4 ft. 6 in. broad, and 1 ft. 3 in.
thick, is covered, behind and before, except where the sculpture
intervenes, with an inscription, in small and admirably formed
arrow-headed characters.
Unfortunately, the heat of the fire which had consumed the building, had
also broken this monument into two pieces. From the carelessness shown in
its transport to England, this fine specimen of Assyrian sculpture
sustained still further injury, and the lower part is now almost
destroyed.
The inscription must have contained when entire several hundred lines, and
is divided on the back of the slabs into two columns. It commences with an
invocation to the god Ashur, the supreme lord, the king of the circle of
the twelve great gods. Then follow the names of these deities. The
first-named is _Anu_ (?), the last Ishtar, probably Astarte, or the moon,
and not Venus, as some have believed.[149]
After this invocation occurs the name of the founder of the north-west
palace, read by Dr. Hincks, Assaracbal, and by Colonel Rawlinson,
Sardanapalus, with a long exordium, apparently of a religious nature,
which has not yet been satisfactorily deciphered. Then follows a full
account of his various campaigns and wars.
The lion entrance led into a chamber 46 ft. by 19 ft. Nearly opposite to
the entrance was a doorway panelled with slabs sculptured with winged
figures carrying maces. The inner door led into a chamber 47 ft. by 31
ft., ending in a recess paved with one enormous alabaster slab, no less
than 21 ft. by 16 ft. 7 in., and 1 ft. 1 in. thick. This monolith had been
broken into several pieces probably by the falling in of the roof of the
building, and had in several places been reduced to lime by the burning
beams of the ceiling. The whole of its surface, as well as the side facing
the chamber, was occupied by one inscription, 325 lines in length, divided
into two parallel horizontal columns, and carved with the greatest
sharpness and care. On subsequently raising the detached pieces, I found
that the back of the slab, resting on a solid mass of sun-dried bricks,
was also covered with cuneiform writing, occupying three columns. It is
difficult to understand why so much labor should have been apparently
thrown away upon an inscription which would remain unseen until the
edifice itself was utterly destroyed. Still more curious is the fact, that
whilst this inscription contains all the historical details of that on the
opposite side, the records of two or three more years are added, and that
the upper inscription stops abruptly in the middle of a sentence. It is
possible that the builders of the temple, foreseeing its ruin, had
determined that if their enemies should through malice deface their
annals, there should yet remain another record, inaccessible and unknown,
which would preserve the history of their greatness and glory unto all
time.
The inscription on this great monolith appears to have been similar in its
historical details to that on the king in the frame. I shall quote some
specimens, translated by Dr. Hincks, to show the minuteness with which the
Assyrian kings chronicled every event of their reign, and the consequent
value of their historical records. It is to be remarked that, although
these inscriptions are in the form of annals, the years are not mentioned.
The king generally sets out on his campaigns in one particular month, the
name of which is given; probably in the autumn, when the heats of summer
were over. In the beginning of his reign he collected his army, and made
his first expedition into the country of Nummi, or Numi, probably Elam or
Susiana, subsequently, as we shall find, called Numaki or Nuvaki. He took
many cities, towns, and districts whose names have not been identified.
He slew their women, their slaves, and their children, and carried away
their cattle and flocks. _Their fighting men escaped to a hill fort_ (?).
"Their houses he burned like _stubble_" (?). Many other countries to the
south and south-east of Assyria, some of which are mentioned on the
obelisk, were conquered during this campaign. The city of _Nishtun_ (?) is
particularly described as one of considerable importance. He seized its
king or governor, whose name reads Babou, the son of Baboua, and
imprisoned him in Babylon. "At that time the cities of Nerib (their
position is doubtful), their principal cities, he destroyed. From Nerib he
departed to the city of Tushka.... A palace for his dwelling he made
there, and placed _pillars_ (?) at the gates, and put a statue of ...
(probably some kind of stone) ... and set up tablets, and made a place for
them in the citadel."
An account follows of the building of the north-west palace of Nimroud,
which, when deciphered, will be of considerable interest, and may enable
us to restore that edifice. He also built two cities on the Euphrates,
_one on each bank_ (?), calling one after his own name, and the other
after the name of the great god Ashur.
Numerous expeditions to countries to the north, west, and south of Assyria
are then related in detail. Amongst them one to Carchemish, where he
received the tribute of Sangara, king of the Khatti (the Hittites or
people of Syria), including a great variety of gold and silver ornaments,
some apparently to be recognised by their pure Hebrew names. As few of the
cities and countries conquered and visited by this king have yet been
identified, and a mere repetition of the same dry details would scarcely
interest the reader, I will merely give literal versions, as far as they
can be given, of the history of two of the most important campaigns. They
will show the style of these remarkable chronicles, and the minuteness
with which events were recorded.
The first paragraph relates to the campaign of the king on the borders of
the Euphrates.
"On the 22nd day of the month.... I departed from Calah (the quarter of
Nineveh now called Nimroud). I crossed the Tigris. On the banks of the
Tigris I received much tribute. In the city of Tabit I halted. I occupied
the banks of the river Karma (? the Hermus, or eastern confluent of the
Khabour). In the city of Megarice I halted. From the city of Megarice I
departed. I occupied the banks of the Kabour (Chaboras). I halted at the
city of _Sadikanni_ (? or Kar-dikanni). I received the tribute of the city
of Kedni. From Kedni I departed to the city of ...lemmi. In the city of
...lemmi I halted. From the city of ...lemmi I departed. In the city of
Beth-Khilapi I halted. The tribute of Beth-Khilapi I received, gold,
silver," and many other articles, amongst which are apparently objects of
clothing, or embroidered stuffs. Then follow his marches day by day to the
cities of Sirki, Tzufri, Naqua-rabani, and Kindani, from each of which he
received tribute in gold, silver, several objects not identified, cattle,
and sheep. The inscription goes on--"The city of Kindani stands on the
right bank of the river Euphrates. From Kindani I departed: on the
mountain, by the side of the Euphrates, I halted. From the mountain I
departed. In Beth-Shebaiya, over against Karid, I halted. The city of
Karid stands on the right bank of the river Euphrates. From Bath-Shebaiya
I departed: on the top of (or above) Anat I halted. Anat stands in the
middle of the Euphrates" (agreeing with the position of the modern town of
Ana). He then attacked and took the principal city of _Shadu_ (?), of the
country of Suka, and the city of _Tzur_ (?), the capital of _Shadu_ (?),
whose inhabitants were assisted by the soldiers of Bishi (a nation also
alluded to in the second year of the annals of Sennacherib). Nebo-Baladan,
king of Kar-Duniyas, is then mentioned, showing that the campaign was
carried _down_ the banks of the Euphrates far to the south of Babylon.
The second extract is from the records of a campaign in northern Syria.
Having first crossed the Euphrates:
"From Kunulua, the capital of Lubarna, the Sharutinian[150], I departed.
The Arantu (Orontes) I crossed. On the banks of the Arantu I encamped.
From the banks of the Arantu I departed. Between the countries of
_Saraban_ and _Tapan_ (?) I occupied the country. By the seashore I
encamped. To the city of _Ariboua_ (?), a principal city of Lubarna, the
Sharutinian, I returned.... (undeciphered passage). _I caused some men of
Assyria to dwell in his palace_ (?). Whilst I was in Ariboua the cities of
Lukuta I took. I slew many of their men. I overthrew and burned their
cities. Their _fighting men_ (or ? the deserters from my army) I laid hold
of. On stakes over against their city I impaled them.[151] At that time
the countries that are upon Lebanon I took possession of, to the great
sea of the country of Akkari (the Mediterranean). On the great sea _I put_
my servants (?). Sacrifices to the gods I offered. The tribute of the
kings of the people who dwelt near the sea, of the Tyrians, the Sidonians,
the Kubalians, the _Mahalatai_ (?), the Ma...ai, the Kha..., and the
Akkarians (all nations to the north of Tyre), and of the city of Arvad,
which is in the middle of the sea--silver and gold pieces, rings (?) of
copper, _ingots_ (?) of copper, two kinds of _clothing_ (?) (perhaps the
dyed cloth of Tyre, or embroideries such as are frequently mentioned in
the Bible), great '_yagouti_' and small '_pagouti_' (meaning not
determined), some wooden objects, apparently of cedar, and _pearls_ (?),
from the rivers at or between the sea.[152] I went to the mountain of
Kamana (the Camanus, in the north of Syria). I sacrificed to the gods. I
made _bridges_ (or beams), and _pillars_ (?). From Kamana I brought them
to Bithkara, for my own house, for the temple of San, for the temple of
the sun. I went to the forests and cut them down, and made _bridges_ (?)
(or roofs or beams) of the wood, for Ishtar, mistress of the city of
Nineveh, my protectress."[153]
The chief events of the reign of this king are briefly alluded to in the
standard and other inscriptions discovered in the north-west palace at
Nimroud; but in the records just described we have a minuteness of
geographical detail, which enables us to trace the course of his
expeditions with great certainty.
Standing one day on a distant part of the mound, I smelt the sweet smell
of burning cedar. The Arab workmen, excavating in the small temple, had
dug out a beam, and, the weather being cold, had at once made a fire to
warm themselves. The wood was cedar; probably one of the very beams
mentioned in the inscription as brought from the forests of Lebanon by the
king who built the edifice. After a lapse of nearly three thousand years,
it had retained its original fragrance. It is likely that the whole
superstructure, as well as the roof and floor of the building, like those
of the temple and palace of Solomon, were of this precious material.
In these ruins was also found a mass of lead melted by the fire, for
embedded in it was the iron head of a hatchet. Amongst the various small
objects collected were figures of winged deities, &c., of clay, colored in
the mass with a blue derived from copper; eyes, beards, hair, and
ornaments in enamel, probably belonging to figures of wood, metal, or
ivory, resembling the cryselaphantine statues of the Greeks; eyes of black
marble inlaid with ivory, with the eye-balls of a bright blue enamel,
belonging to similar statues; and arms, legs, and other parts of figures
in charred wood.
Fragments of porcelain (?), parts of a cup or vase, with carvings in low
relief, several inscribed fragments of agate, lapis-lazuli, cornelian, and
other precious materials, beads, cylinders, and one or two clay tablets
with inscriptions and impressions of seals, complete the list of small
objects discovered in this temple.
About one hundred feet to the east of the building last described, and on
the very edge of the artificial platform, I discovered a second temple.
Its principal entrance faced the south, and was on the same level as the
north-west palace. This gateway was formed by two colossal lions with
extended jaws, gathered up lips and nostrils, flowing manes, and ruffs of
bristly hair. The heads, though to a certain extent conventional in form,
were designed with that vigor so remarkably displayed by the Assyrian
sculptor in the delineation of animals. The limbs conveyed the idea of
strength and power, the veins and muscles were accurately portrayed, and
the outline of the body was not deficient in grace and truth. But the
front of the animal, which was in full, was narrow and cramped, and
unequal in dignity to the side. The sculptor has given five legs to the
animal for the same reason that he gave them to the sphinxes, that they
might offer a complete front and side view.
This gateway, about eight feet wide, was paved with one inscribed slab.
The height of the lions was about eight feet, and their length thirteen.
An inscription was carved across them. In front of them, in the corners
formed by walls projecting at right angles with the entrance, were two
altars, hollow at the top, and ornamented with gradines resembling the
battlements of a castle. The exterior walls appeared to have been adorned
with enamelled bricks, many of which still remained.
Unfortunately, one of these lions had been too much injured by fire to
bear removal. The other, although cracked in several places when
discovered, and consequently moved in pieces, has been preserved, and is
now in the British Museum.
The Lion portal led into a chamber 57 feet by 25. At one end was a recess
similar to that in the opposite temple, and also paved with one great
alabaster slab, inscribed on both sides. This monolith, 19-1/2 ft. by 12
ft., was likewise broken into several pieces, and had been injured in
parts by fire.
The inscription on the upper side, divided into two columns, and
containing 230 lines, was nearly the same as that on the king in the frame
and on the monolith in the other temple. It was also a record of the wars
and campaigns of the early Nimroud king.
The other rooms in the same building contained no inscriptions,
sculptures, or other objects of interest.
In the earth above the great inscribed slab was found an interesting
figure, 3 feet 4 inches high, and cut in a hard, compact limestone. It
appeared to represent the king himself, attired as high priest in his
sacrificial robes. In his right hand he held an instrument resembling a
sickle, and in his left the sacred mace. Round his waist was the knotted
girdle; and his left arm, like that of the king in the opposite temple,
was partly concealed by an outer robe. His garments descended to his feet,
the toes alone projecting from them. The beard and hair were elaborately
curled, the features were majestic, and the general proportions of the
statue not altogether incorrect, with the exception of a want of breadth
in the side view peculiar to Assyrian works of art of this nature. It was,
however, chiefly remarkable as being the only entire statue "in the round"
of this period, hitherto discovered in the ruins of Nineveh.
On the breast is an inscription nearly in these words:--After the name and
titles of the king, "The conqueror from the upper passage of the Tigris to
Lebanon and the Great Sea, who all countries, from the rising of the sun
to the going down thereof, has reduced under his authority." The statue
was, therefore, probably raised after his return from the campaign in
Syria described, as we have seen, on the monoliths, and alluded to in the
standard inscription.
This statue originally stood on a pedestal of reddish limestone, which,
with the figure itself, was found broken into several pieces. They have
been restored, and are now in the British Museum.
The two interesting buildings just described, the only undoubted remains
of temples hitherto found at Nimroud, complete the discoveries at the
northern extremity of the mound. They enable us, as will hereafter be
seen, to restore part of the group of edifices raised on the grand
platform in this quarter of Nineveh.