through many centuries in all the pride of power and wealth, and sank
into masses of ruin, leaving scarcely a record among the historians
of the world. It was known such cities had existed, and it was said
that, in the height of their glory, they had no peers in splendor.
But of the mighty kings who ruled them, and the manners, customs,
characteristics, and achievements of the people who dwelt within their
walls, succeeding ages knew almost nothing. Nineveh was a heap of ruins
in the days of Xenophon, twenty centuries ago. Greece and Rome grew,
ruled, flourished, and decayed. A new religion arose, and spread a
strange civilization among the nations of northern Europe, who rose to
power upon the ruins of the Roman empire. From these people, curious
travellers wandered to the banks of the Tigris and the Euphrates. Vast
mounds and fragments of sculptures met their gaze. There they were told
the mighty Babylon and the gorgeous Nineveh had reared their temples
and palaces to the sun, awing into submission the neighboring nations.
No one cared to explore these ruins, so long untouched amid the busy
march of centuries.
In 1820, Mr. Rich, the political President of the East India Company
at Bagdad, visited the mounds of Babylon and Nineveh, and found some
fragments of inscriptions, engraved stones, and pieces of pottery, of
which a description was published. These precious relics were placed in
the British Museum, and they excited much wonder and curiosity. But the
great mass of ruins still remained unseen. Nothing was ascertained in
regard to Assyrian art, and the architecture of Nineveh and Babylon was
a matter of speculation.
At length an enthusiastic and persevering individual applied himself
to the exploration of the sites of Nineveh and Babylon, and made
discoveries that shed a lustre upon the present age. They are, in fact,
the most important historical developments that have been made during
the present century. During the autumn of 1839 and the winter of 1840,
Austen Henry Layard, accompanied by a person no less enthusiastic than
himself, had been wandering through Asia Minor and Syria, scarcely
leaving untrod one spot hallowed by classical association. He then
determined to turn eastward, and, at least, tread upon the remains of
Nineveh and Babylon. Reaching Mosul in April, he had the pleasure of
seeing, upon the opposite bank of the Tigris, the great mound called
the Birs Nimroud, and other mounds, that had been generally considered
the ruins of the mighty Nineveh. The curiosity of Mr. Layard was
greatly excited, and, as he floated down the Tigris towards Bagdad,
he formed the design of exploring those lofty masses of ruin. At that
time, he had not the means to carry out his noble scheme; and it was
not until the summer of 1842 that he could again visit Mosul.
In the mean time, M. Botta, a man of energy and intelligence, had
been appointed French consul at Mosul, and, when Mr. Layard arrived,
he found that personage had already commenced excavations in the
large mound on the opposite side of the river, called by the Arabs
Konyunjik. These excavations were on a small scale. But Mr. Layard
encouraged M. Botta to proceed, and went to Constantinople to interest
some Englishmen in the work. To the persevering French consul belongs
the honor of having discovered the first Assyrian monument, an
acknowledgment of which Mr. Layard has very gracefully made in his
"Nineveh and its Remains." A building was partially excavated, upon
the walls of which were slabs of gypsum, covered with sculptured
representations of battles, sieges, and other warlike events. The
dresses of the figures, their arms, and the objects that accompanied
them were all new to M. Botta, and he could find no clue to the epoch
of the erection of the edifice. Numerous inscriptions, in the cuneiform
or arrowhead character, were cut between the bas-reliefs, and evidently
contained the explanation of the events thus recorded in sculpture.
As Mr. Layard afterwards said: "The French consul had discovered an
Assyrian edifice, the first, probably, which had been exposed to
the view of man since the fall of the Assyrian empire." M. Botta
communicated the results of his labors to the Academy at Paris; and,
being furnished with funds by the French government, he returned to the
work of excavation, which he continued until the beginning of 1845. His
researches did not extend beyond Khorsobad; and, having secured some
fine specimens of Assyrian sculpture, he returned to Europe.
The success of M. Botta increased the anxiety of Mr. Layard to
explore the ruins of Assyria. He spoke to others, but received little
encouragement. At length, in the autumn of 1845, Sir Stratford Canning,
the British minister at the Sublime Porte, mentioned his readiness to
incur, for a limited period, the expenses of excavations, in the hope
that, should success attend the researches, means would be obtained
to carry them forward on an extensive scale. Mr. Layard seized the
opportunity, with many expressions of joy and gratitude. Furnished
with the usual documents given to travellers when recommended by the
embassy, and with letters of introduction to the authorities at Mosul,
he started from Constantinople, and, after a journey of twelve days,
reached Mosul. He immediately presented his letters to Mohammed Pasha,
governor of the province, and the terror of the neighboring countries.
That official received Layard with civility; but displayed a curiosity
to know the object of his visit, which the adventurer did not, at that
time, see fit to gratify.
Having procured a few tools and weapons, and engaged a mason, Mr.
Layard, accompanied by Mr. Ross, a British merchant of Mosul, his
canvas, and a servant, floated down the Tigris to Nimroud. There he
engaged six Arabs to work under his direction. On the morning of the
9th of November, the work of excavation was commenced at the great
mound, and, in a few hours, a chamber, formed by slabs of alabaster,
which were inscribed with cuneiform characters, was exhumed. At another
part of the mound, a wall, with similar inscriptions, was discovered
upon the same day. From the appearance of the slabs, it was evident
that the building or buildings had been destroyed by fire. Some of the
slabs were reduced to lime, and they threatened to fall to pieces as
soon as exposed to the air.
The next day, Mr. Layard, more enthusiastic than ever, employed more
workmen, and had the gratification of making some new discoveries. In
the rubbish, near the bottom of the chamber first discovered, he found
several ivory ornaments, upon which were traces of gilding. Among
them was the figure of a man in long robes, carrying in one hand the
Egyptian crux ansata, part of a crouching sphinx, and flowers designed
with great taste and elegance. The Arabs were at a loss to conjecture
the real object of Mr. Layard's search. On seeing the gilding, one of
them took him quietly aside, and, with a knowing wink, said it had been
ascertained that he was searching for gold. Mr. Layard immediately
presented him and his comrades with all the treasure they might find.
The excavations were continued until the 13th, still uncovering
chambers and passages, but finding no sculptures. Mr. Layard then
deemed it expedient to go to Mosul, and satisfy the curiosity of the
Pasha in regard to the object of the researches.
The authorities threw many obstacles in the way of Mr. Layard. At
first, they suspected him of seeking the precious metals. When he had
convinced them that their suspicions were totally unfounded, they
afterwards strove to stop his work by placing false gravestones upon
the mound, and declaring that no excavations could be made near the
graves of Mohammedans. But the prudence and perseverance of Mr. Layard
surmounted all difficulties, and the developments proceeded, all things
considered, with remarkable rapidity.
Returning to Nimroud on the 19th of November, our explorer increased
the number of his workmen to thirty. On the 28th of November, the first
sculptured bas-reliefs were discovered. On one of the slabs was a
battle-scene. Two chariots, drawn by horses richly caparisoned, were,
each occupied by a group of three warriors; the principal person in
both groups was beardless, and evidently a eunuch. He was clothed in
a complete suit of mail, and wore a pointed helmet on his head, from
the sides of which fell lappets covering the ears, the lower part
of the face, and the neck. The left hand, the arm being extended,
grasped a bow at full stretch; whilst the right, drawing the string
to the ear, held an arrow ready to be discharged. A second warrior
urged with reins and whip, to the utmost of their speed, three horses,
who were galloping over the plain. A third, without helmet, and with
flowing hair and beard, held a shield for the defence of the principal
figure. Under the horses' feet, and scattered about the relief, were
the conquered, wounded by the arrows of the conquerors. Mr. Layard
observed with surprise the richness of the ornaments, and the faithful
and delicate delineation of the limbs and muscles, both in the men and
horses. Unfortunately, this slab had been so much injured by fire that
its removal was hopeless. From its position, it seemed to have been
brought from another building, and this rendered any conjecture as to
the origin of the edifice still more difficult. Upon the same slab
and its companion were found representations of a regular siege, with
various attendant incidents. The figures displayed a thorough knowledge
of art.
In the midst of difficulties with the authorities, Mr. Layard continued
his excavations. Many new and remarkable sculptures were discovered.
Among them were gigantic winged bulls, winged lions, a small crouching
lion, and a human figure nine feet in height, the right hand elevated,
and carrying in the left a branch with three flowers, resembling the
poppy. These were only partially uncovered, to prevent them from being
destroyed by the action of the air. Mr. Layard was satisfied for the
time. There was no longer any doubt of the existence of sculptures,
inscriptions, and even vast edifices in the interior of the mound
of Nimroud. The triumphant explorer lost no time in communicating
the results of his labors to Sir Stratford Canning, and urging the
necessity of a firman, or order from the Porte, which would prevent any
future interference on the part of the authorities or the inhabitants
of the country. Soon afterwards, Mr. Layard covered up the sculptures
he had brought to light, and withdrew altogether from Nimroud; but
left agents near the great mound. He did not return until the 17th of
January, 1846. In the mean time, the agents had explored the mounds of
Barshiekha and Karamles, and proved the Assyrian origin of the ruins by
showing the name of the Khorsobad king inscribed upon the bricks.
Among the sculptures discovered soon after Mr. Layard's return to the
scene of the excavations, was one of a singular form. A human body,
clothed in long ornamented robes, was surmounted by the head of an
eagle. The curved beak, of considerable length, was half open, and
displayed a narrow-pointed tongue, which was still covered with red
paint. On the shoulders fell the usual curled and bushy hair of the
Assyrian images, and a comb of feathers rose on the top of the head.
Two wings sprang from the back. In one hand was a fir cone, and in the
other a square vessel, ornamented with small figures.
On the morning following the discovery of the above figure, the
Arabs came running to Mr. Layard with the intelligence that they had
discovered Nimroud himself. Hastening to the trench, he found an
enormous human head, sculptured in full out of the alabaster of the
country. The intelligent explorer conjectured at once that the head
belonged to a winged lion or bull, similar to those of Khorsobad and
Persepolis. The expression of the features was calm and majestic.
The cap had three horns, and, unlike that of the human-headed bulls
previously found in Assyria, was rounded and without ornament at the
top. The Arabs, frightened at the sight of the head, carried the news
of its discovery to Mosul; and, the next day, Mr. Layard received an
order to stop the excavations. He at once hastened to the town, and,
acquainting the Pasha with the real nature of the discovery, obtained
permission to proceed as soon as the excitement had subsided. Thus was
the persevering explorer continually disturbed by the malicious and
superstitious interference of the Turkish authorities.
By the end of March, Mr. Layard had discovered two finely preserved
pairs of winged human-headed lions, which seemed to be so placed as to
guard the entrances to the vast palace. They had undoubtedly been the
divinities of the Assyrians. These people could find no better type of
intelligence than the head of the man; of strength than the body of the
lion; of rapidity of motion than the wings of the bird. For twenty-five
centuries these strange idols had been buried from the sight of man,
and now they were once more exposed to the light, and to the wondering
gaze of those who had no worship for such gods. Once they were regarded
with awe, now with mere curiosity.
Mr. Layard was now compelled to suspend operations until he could
receive assistance from Constantinople. In the mean time, he visited
the shieks of the neighboring tribes of Arabs. When he returned, he
found near the human-headed lions some copper mouldings, two small
ducks in baked clay, and tablets of alabaster inscribed on both sides.
The number of workmen was now reduced of necessity; but the excavations
proceeded with considerable rapidity. On some of the slabs were figures
of a king, his vizier, and attendants. The dresses of the figures
were singular. They had high boots, turned up at the toes, somewhat
resembling those still worn in Turkey and Persia. Their caps, though
conical, seemed to have been made up of folds of felt or linen. Their
tunics varied in shape. All the figures seemed to have been colored.
On one of the largest slabs were two kings facing one another, but
separated by a symbolic tree, above which was a divinity with the
wings and tail of a bird, inclosed in a circle, and holding a ring in
one hand, resembling the image so frequently occurring on the early
sculptures of Persia, and at times conjectured to be the Loroastrian
"feronher," or spirit of the person beneath. The fact of the identity
of this figure with the Persian symbol is remarkable, and gives rise
to new speculations and conjectures in regard to the religion of the
Assyrians. But, as yet, nothing definite has been ascertained.
Mr. Layard now began to prepare the sculptures he had discovered for
transport to Bombay. All unimportant parts were sawn away from them.
The winged human-headed lions could not be removed for want of means.
But a number of slabs and figures were packed in felts and matting,
screwed down in roughly-made cases, placed on rafts, and floated down
the Tigris as far as Bagdad, whence they were taken in boats to
Busrah. These sculptures formed the first collection sent to England
and deposited in the British Museum. Soon after the departure of
these treasures, Mr. Layard, whose health had suffered from continued
exposure to the intense heat of the sun, retired to Mosul to recruit.
Yet so indefatigable was his spirit that, instead of remaining quiet,
he employed his leisure in making some fruitless excavations in the
mound of Konyimjik. He returned to Nimroud in the middle of August, and
attempted to renew his labors. But his health became so bad that he was
compelled to retire to the cooler climate of the Fiyari mountains.
On returning to Mosul, Mr. Layard received letters from England,
informing him that Sir Stratford Canning had presented the Assyrian
sculptures to the British nation, and that the British Museum had
received a grant of funds for the continuation of the researches at
Nimroud and elsewhere. The grant was small; but Mr. Layard was induced
to accept the charge of superintending the excavations even with that
inadequate sum. He immediately applied himself to organizing a band of
workmen, selected from the Chaldæans of the mountains and the Arabs of
the Jebour tribe; and, at the end of October, 1846, he was again among
the ruins, with complete _material_ for extensive excavations.
Many new trenches were opened along the walls of the chambers; but
the interior of them was left unexplored, as Mr. Layard desired to
economize his means as much as possible. Upon the slabs exposed to view
were bas-reliefs, representing the wars of the king, and the conquests
of some strange people. In the battles, chariots, highly ornamented,
spears, shields, and armor appeared. In the sieges, battering-rams,
instruments like blunt spears, machines for throwing fire, and women
tearing their hair and imploring mercy from the walls were seen. Boats
towed by men, or rowed with oars, and persons supported on inflated
skins swimming rivers, in the manner to be witnessed at the present day
upon the Tigris, were finely sculptured.
Among other objects found amid the ruins, were fragments of copper
and iron armor, several entire helmets of a pointed shape, and some
vases of alabaster and glass. On exposure to the air, most of these
articles fell to pieces. A glass vase, however, was preserved. On a
brick in one of the chambers was found a genealogy, which afforded a
kind of clue to the date of the building. An obelisk, containing twenty
small bas-reliefs and a cuneiform inscription 210 lines in length, was
taken from one of the trenches. From the nature of the sculptures, Mr.
Layard conjectured that the monument was erected to commemorate the
conquest of India by the king of Khorsobad. Winged bulls, crouching
sphinxes, and winged divinities were exhumed in abundance. They had
been injured by fire, and almost crumbled at the touch. A small
sarcophagus, containing a crumbling skeleton, was found in another
part of the mound; there was no name inscribed upon the sepulchre, and
Mr. Layard could obtain no clue to its origin. A large number of these
interesting relics of the past made up a cargo, to be sent to England.
By the end of April, 1847, Mr. Layard had explored almost the whole
building which he had first touched, and which he calls the north-west
palace. He had opened twenty-eight chambers cased with alabaster
slabs. Each of the chambers had several entrances, and some of them
were extensive enough to have been halls of state. Many sculptures,
ivory ornaments, and other curious objects were taken from the various
apartments. Paintings, in which the colors blue, red, white, yellow,
and black were visible, were discovered in upper chambers. The subjects
of the paintings appeared to be generally processions, in which the
king was represented followed by his eunuchs and attendant warriors.
But the most important discovery connected with these upper chambers
was that of the slabs forming the pavement of the entrances, upon which
were the names and titles of five kings, in genealogical succession,
commencing with the father of the founder of the north-west palace, and
ending with the grandson of the builder of the centre edifice.
In the centre of the mound, Mr. Layard discovered a number of tombs,
which seemed to be the remains of a people whose funeral vases and
ornaments were identical in form and material with those found in the
catacombs of Egypt; while beneath these receptacles of the dead were
the Assyrian ruins. From this state of things, it was inferred that,
after the destruction of the Assyrian palaces, another nation had
occupied the country.
Mr. Layard was astonished to find, by the vaulted passages of the
palaces, that the principle of the arch was understood by the ancient
Assyrians. This important principle was long believed to be a
comparatively modern discovery. A pulley, resembling the one now used,
was also seen upon one of the bas-reliefs.
Transferring the scene of his excavations to the mound called Kalah
Sherghat, Mr. Layard came upon a sitting figure in basalt, which, from
the inscriptions, he inferred to be a statue of one of the Nimroud
kings. Around it were a large number of tombs, which seemed to have
been made long after the destruction of the Assyrian buildings,
and in the rubbish and earth that had accumulated above them. The
principal ruin at Kalah Sherghat, as at Nimroud, Khorsobad, and on
other ancient Assyrian sites, is a large square mound, surmounted by
a cone or pyramid. Long lines of smaller mounds, or ramparts, inclose
a quadrangle, which, from the irregularities in the surface of the
ground, and from the pottery and other rubbish scattered about, appears
originally to have been partly occupied by small houses, or buildings
of no importance. The excavations at Kalah Sherghat were soon abandoned
as laborious and unprofitable.
The removal of the larger sculptures from the ruins to Busrah was a
work of great difficulty. Mr. Layard took drawings of a number of them
that were too much injured to be conveyed to Europe. A gigantic winged
lion, and a winged bull of equal size, were safely placed on board of
an English vessel, while a considerable number of small bas-reliefs and
ornaments were sent with them to enrich the British Museum, and set the
scientific to speculating. Those sculptures which Mr. Layard had not
the means of removing were covered with earth, and thus preserved from
injury.
(To be continued.)
LOVE'S ELYSIUM.
BY J. A. BARTLEY.
In a dreamy land Elysian,
Charmed by many a magic vision,
Have I lately roamed with one--
With an angel maiden smiling,
All my soul from night beguiling,
By one smiling as a sun.
In that bright Elysian region,
Where the flowers and stars are legion,
And its rivers crystal clear,
And above its mountains blushing,
Sweetest music-words are gushing
On the charmed, bewildered ear--
And within that wondrous Aidenn,
I and my angel maiden
Roamed but lately side by side;
And the words we spoke were solely
Murmured thoughts of passion holy--
I and my angel bride!
Oh, mischance most ill and evil,
Wrought by some malignant devil,
From that bright and radiant clime
I have now been cast forever,
By an Acherontic river
Roaming through the desert Time!
A GOSSIP ON THE FASHIONS.
MY DEAR FRIEND: Your own observations on the prevailing modes of dress
will have told you very plainly that, excepting caps and bonnets, there
is nothing either very new or very striking. The caps are, however,
unquestionably becoming, full of that fairy grace and elegance which
distinguish the workmanship of a Parisian _artiste_. I send you a
sketch of one which you will find extremely becoming. The foundation
is a caul of black net, in front of which a wreath of roses with
foliage and grass surrounds the face, the part crossing the forehead
being of leaves alone, and forming a small point, _à la_ Marie Stuart.
A single row of black lace is laid on the caul behind the wreath,
and the lappets are formed of black velvet ribbon, edged all round
with the same lace. They droop from the summit of the crown down each
side. The back of the crown is covered with falling loops of the same
ribbon. Morning caps of white lace are frequently trimmed with plain
blond sarsnet ribbon (pink or blue) formed with a succession of bows,
terminating in one on each side the face. The lace itself approaches
the face only on the forehead, where it forms a point. Several morning
caps have two rows of blond lace, in which case a few bows of ribbon,
like those on the cheek, are placed on the ear, between them. All have
small bows, and very long floating ends at the back of the neck. It is
not at all uncommon to see them half a yard long.
[Illustration: PARISIAN CAP.]