intervals of 20.5 metres with a frontage of 5.1 metres and depth of 5.8.
The crude bricks measure 33 centimetres square. Here also there were
gutters to carry off the water, but they were inserted in the curtains
(Fig. 95). The base of the thick wall reaches a depth of 67 centimetres
and that of the narrower wall of 19 centimetres below zero. The thick
wall alone shows traces of an earlier building on which it stands, and
was later repaired by short lengths of supporting walls built with
33–centimetre bricks in front of it.
[Illustration:
FIG. 93.—Northern end of the inner city wall, from the south-east.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 94.—System of the inner city walls.
]
In the intermediate space, close to the narrower wall, but in the
rubbish of the fallen walls, and not _in situ_, several foundation
cylinders of Sardanapalus were found (Fig. 96), with the following text:
“To Marduk, the King of all the Iggigi and Anunnaki, the creator of
heaven and of earth, the predestinator of the final aim (?) who inhabits
Esagila, the lord of Babil, the great lord. I Sardanapalus, the great
king, the mighty king, the king of all, king of the land of Assur, king
of the 4 quarters of the world, son of Esarhaddon, the great king, the
mighty king, the king of all, king of the land of Assur, the ruler of
Babil, king of Sumer and Akkad, the repopulator of Babil, builder of
Esagila, renewer of the temples of all cities, who appointed the rites
in them, and established their regular offerings which had come to an
end, and restored the statutes and ordinances as of old, grandson of
Sennacherib, the great king, the mighty king, the king of all, king of
the land of Assur, am I.—Under my government the great lord Marduk held
his entry into Babil with rejoicing and entered upon his dwelling in
Esagila for ever. The regular offerings of Esagila and of the gods of
Babylon I established, the protectorship of Babil I retained. In order
that the strong should not injure the weak I appointed Shamashshumukin,
my twin (?) brother to reign as king over Babil. Also I filled Esagila
with silver and gold and precious stones, and made Ekua shining as the
constellations in the sky.—At that time Imgur-Bel the dûr of Babil and
Nimitti-Bel its šalḫû, which had become old and fallen, had sunk to the
ground. In order to make the fortress of Esagila and the temple of Babil
strong, with the might of my troops with all haste (?) I caused
Nimitti-Bel its šalḫû with the art of the brick god to be made new and
raised its city gateways. Door leaves I caused to be made and placed
them in its doorways.—Future prince, under whose rule this same work may
come to ruins, consult wise artists. Imgur-Bel the dûr, Nimitti-Bel the
šalḫû make according to their ancient excellence. Behold the records of
my name, and anoint them with oil and offer a sacrificial lamb, lay them
near the records of thy name, so will Marduk hear thy petition. Whoever
shall destroy the records of my name or of the name of my twin (?)
brother with most evil deed, and will not lay the records of my name
near the records of his name, him may Marduk the King of all behold with
wrath and destroy his name and his seed in the land” (trans. by
Delitzsch).
[Illustration:
FIG. 95.—Drain in the inner city wall.
]
Thus the inscription refers expressly to the building of Nimitti-Bel
alone, and it is important to discover from which of the two walls it
came; that, however, cannot be ascertained at present. It is true that
the cylinders lay close to the narrow outer wall, but the fact must be
taken into consideration that at the foot of the broader wall there is a
much larger bank of its own fallen rubbish than there is at the base of
the narrow one, and that any object such as the cylinders which came
from it would roll down the bank much nearer the narrow wall than that
from which it fell. If the cylinder belonged to the thick wall,
Nimitti-Bel must have been a double wall; if it belonged to the narrow
wall, the thick one may be Imgur-Bel; certainty can only be obtained by
further excavation, which must level the greater part of the thicker
wall, in order to bring to light the records which are probably hidden
somewhere inside it. Such levelling would so greatly disfigure the ruins
that hitherto I have avoided entering on the work, but it must be done
before the conclusion of the excavations. The difficulties connected
with the mud walls on the Kasr are very similar, though with some slight
differences. Here also the simplest solution would be to identify the
thick wall with Imgur-Bel and the narrow one with Nimitti-Bel. Many
difficulties, however, arise against doing so. The moat wall of
Imgur-Bel lies to the west of the Southern Citadel, where these mud
walls actually do not survive. According to the above-quoted cylinder,
Nebuchadnezzar surrounded Babylon on all four sides with the wall
Imgur-Bel, while the two mud walls enclosed an area which undoubtedly
was open towards the west. Here also complete and decisive understanding
of the problem must await further excavations.
[Illustration:
FIG. 96.—Nimitti-Bel foundation cylinder of Sardanapalus.
]
At the site of the 14th tower from the north in the thick wall there is
below a piece of wall the breadth of the tower, which consists of
Nebuchadnezzar’s burnt bricks laid in asphalt. A small drain roofed with
high-pitched slanting bricks pierces this block of brickwork and
continues for 19 metres farther to the east. This block of brickwork,
which is 4.2 metres broad and contains the channel, gives the impression
of being a roadway, and therefore one would expect to find a gateway at
this place in the city wall (Fig. 97). Both walls, however, are so
ruined here that nothing of the kind can now be recognised. The
brickwork of the drain is strengthened with small pilasters at the
sides, which grip into the ground like teeth, and would clearly prevent
any slipping of the walls which slope towards the east. The drain itself
also continues westward.
[Illustration:
FIG. 97.—Drain through inner city wall.
]
Apart from this, on the entire length of 1½ kilometres of the city wall,
there is no indication of any gateway. A short distance from the
southern end there is a small mound with walls of burnt brick laid in
asphalt, which may perhaps be the remains of a gateway, but which is not
yet excavated.
Upon the ruins of the wall and near it there are numerous clay coffins,
often as many as 30 between one tower and the next. They are widened
with a bulge on one side, and many are anthropoid, and may belong to the
Persian or latest Babylonian period.
The exploration of the inner city wall cannot be regarded as complete.
We will now turn back to the Kasr to study the northern extension, which
abuts on the Southern Citadel.
XXVI
THE PRINCIPAL CITADEL
That part of the Kasr that is enclosed on the south by the two mud
walls, and on the north by the deep valley in square 7 of the Kasr plan
(Fig. 13), we call the Principal Citadel. It was enclosed by a
fortification wall, which in the east ran by the side of the Procession
Street and in the north turned westward in the great valley just
mentioned, where it must have reached the Euphrates of that period. The
Principal Citadel in this quarter is, however, only the outcome of a
second scheme of Nebuchadnezzar, and the one that was actually carried
out. The first scheme, which does not appear to have been carried out,
only enclosed one half of the area which was later built upon. Of this
we have found the remains of a thick wall in the centre of the Principal
Citadel which was intended to form the northern end. It (_k_ 13) ran
from west to east, and where it reaches the Procession Street it turned
in a southerly direction to join the bastion of the fosse wall at the
Ishtar Gate. The wall of burnt brick laid in pure asphalt is 17 metres
thick, and is therefore one of the strongest and most massive
fortification walls we possess. At the part already excavated there is a
doorway which leads through the wall and looks like a long passage. On
the north side there are outstanding towers; the extension to the west
and eventually to the south we have not yet made out. It is only built
to a height of 6.8 metres above zero, and at 4.25 it rests on a
foundation banquette.
Of the second completed scheme a terrace of brick rubble was constructed
over the entire area, of which the upper level lies at 8 metres above
zero. On this terrace stand the foundation walls of the palace, which
even now rise as high in parts as 15.5 metres. At about this height the
ancient pavement must have been laid. The space between the foundation
walls was built up with brick rubble. Thus, in comparison with the
Southern Citadel, immense care has been bestowed on the regularity of
the foundations. The area lies immediately north of the Arachtu wall,
which points to the conclusion that the Principal Citadel was
constructed in the bed of the original watercourse, and this explains
the unusual form of foundations both here and in the western part of the
Southern Citadel, which also overlapped the ancient Arachtu wall.
[Illustration:
FIG. 98.—Blocks of brickwork in the Principal Citadel.
]
In the great courts round which the palace buildings are grouped, as in
the Southern Citadel, the filling of brickwork is not arranged in a
solid mass but in the form of long blocks about 2 metres in breadth and
height. One course of these runs from east to west, the next above from
north to south, as is clearly seen in _m_ 12, and again in the
south-east corner.
The bright yellow bricks in the upper parts are some of the hardest and
best of those struck by Nebuchadnezzar; 7– or 3–lined stamps are used
almost exclusively. In the narrow, often scarcely measurable joints
there is fine white lime mortar as hard as stone, and here and there
matting or reeds, which, however, do no damage to the hardness of the
brickwork. In the lower parts the bricks are redder and softer and the
mortar is grey, less solid, and reddish at the edges. For this reason
the brick robbers have here preferred to work underground in search of
the lower bricks, which are more easily removed. Thus the high walls
have been largely robbed of their supports, and they are now sunk and
split, as though they had been flung together by an earthquake (Fig.
98).
During the progress of the building the details of the plan were
frequently altered. Walls were thrown down and doors were displaced, so
that at every 10th or 12th course a new plan was adopted. The royal
builder must have insisted very specially and with great energy on his
own wishes being carried out, for no architect would of his own free
will alter plans so frequently during the course of building.
The decorations were still more splendid than those of the southern
palace. Remains have been found of large reliefs consisting of a
beautiful blue paste, similar to lapis lazuli. The figures were made up
of separate pieces, each of which only contained a small part, such as a
lock of hair. On the back of these separate pieces there was a prismatic
addition, by which they were affixed to some background of which we know
nothing.
[Illustration:
FIG. 99.—Inscribed paving slabs—above of Evil-Merodach, below of
Nebuchadnezzar.
]
Paving stones of white and mottled sandstone, limestone, and black
basalt were used for the pavements, at any rate in the courts. They
measure 66 centimetres square, and bear on their edges the name of
Nebuchadnezzar, and in one case that of Evil-Merodach (Fig. 99). Here
also the ceilings were not vaulted, but according to the inscription
quoted later on, they consisted of cedar, cypress, and other wood. In
the entrances stood gigantic basalt lions similar to those of Assyrian
palaces; of these we have found immense paws and other portions in the
north-east corner.
All these facts we have gained as the result of the comparatively
trifling excavations hitherto undertaken. These are limited to the
central portion with the thick wall mentioned above, a cutting against
the east front, and a similar one against the north front and on the
north-east corner, but they have occupied a great deal of time owing to
the amount of rubbish, as much as 8 to 12 metres deep or more, which has
had to be cut through. Limited as the work has been, it has already
yielded abundant proofs of the treasures of art and learning that
Nebuchadnezzar and his successors heaped up in this portion of the
palace for the “amazement of mankind,” as the king states in his
inscription. It must always be remembered in this connection that the
Kasr has been burrowed over, not once or twice, but repeatedly by brick
robbers, for it is not without reason that the mound bears in addition
to the name Kasr that of Mudshallibeh, which means “the overturned.”
Here in the Principal Citadel this is more apparent than in the Southern
Citadel, for here not only the foundation walls but also the spaces
between them, which in the Southern Citadel consisted chiefly of earth,
have yielded a supply of the greedily-sought brick materials.
At the north-east corner (Fig. 100), in _q_ 8 of the plan, before our
excavations began there was a great basalt figure of a lion trampling on
a man who lay beneath him with his right hand on the flank of the
animal, and the left on his muzzle. This latter has been chopped away by
superstitious hands, and he is marked all over by the stones and flint
balls that have been, and are still, flung at him; for he is regarded as
the much-feared “Djin.” On one side the Arabs have dug out a deep hole
in his flanks, which is now filled in with cement. The reason of this is
as follows. A European once came here, and inquired about the lion,
which he had probably read of in the books of earlier travellers. The
Arabs showed it to him, and after looking at it attentively, he chose
from among the small holes in the basalt the right one, into which he
thrust a key and turned it, whereupon his hand was immediately filled
with gold pieces. Having accomplished his practical joke the traveller
went his way, unable as he was to speak Arabic. The worthy Arabs,
however, in order to render the treasure available, hammered this hole
in the lion, which must have caused them immense labour, for the stone
is extremely hard. The figure is not completely carved, and is still
little more than blocked out. It therefore looks more ancient than it
really is, for it can scarcely be earlier than the time of
Nebuchadnezzar (Fig. 101). People are divided as to its meaning. Some
see in it Daniel in the lions’ den, and others Babylonia above defeated
Egypt. But a concrete past is throughout this period never represented
otherwise than in reliefs, and, on the other hand, it is foreign to
Babylonian art to take as a basis the representation of an abstract
idea.
[Illustration:
FIG. 100.—North-east corner or Principal Citadel, from the north.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 101.—The basalt lion in the Principal Citadel.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 102.—The Shamash-resh-ussur stela.
]
Close to the lion but deeper down was found a fine large stela of white
limestone, which the “governor of the lands of Sukhi and of the lands of
Maër” caused to be made in his honour (Fig. 102). His name was
Shamashresh-ussur, and his lands lay in the neighbourhood of the Khabur,
on the Euphrates. He caused himself to be represented in the midst of
the gods worshipped by him, and the name of each figure is inscribed
close to it. In his left hand he holds the club with the rounded stone
head, the same that is in use here to-day and called “Hattre.” When the
club has the same shaped head in asphalt instead of stone it is called
“Mugwar.” His right hand, which is clenched in votive fashion, is raised
to the statue of Adad the weather god, who stands before him, with a
long beard and long hair, and with shafts of lightning in his hand, and
a feather crown on his head. His girdle is wound twice round his body,
and then tucked in slanting, exactly as the town Arabs of to-day wear
their girdles. Next to Adad stands the somewhat smaller statue of
Ishtar. She is raising the right hand in greeting, and is leaning on the
bow with her left, upon which her star Venus is resting. The arrangement
of her hair differs from that of a man, as one lock hangs long in front
of the ear. The third statue is largely broken away. The three great
shields worn by the figures in front of the lower part of the body are
remarkable, but they are found on representations of other divinities.
They hang one above another, and are held in place from behind by
ornamented bands. We must suppose them to be gold plates, and they do
not occur on the dress of human beings. The statues stand on pedestals,
which are decorated with a pattern representing mountains, rows of
semicircular peaks which form the same scheme of decoration that the
cotton-printer in Persia to-day uses to express mountains on his
so-called “Perde” hangings. Other divinities beside these three are
introduced by means of their emblems: Marduk by the shafted triangle on
a pedestal, Nabu by his writing-stick, Shamash by the winged disc of the
sun, which, however, is half broken away, and Sin by the new moon. The
relief is worked in the flat level manner characteristic of the Assyrian
provincial style of the seventh century B.C.
On the stone face surrounding this sunk relief there is a Neo-Babylonian
inscription of many columns, which is thus epitomised by Weissbach: “It
begins with a sudden invasion of neighbouring foes (the Tu’mânu people)
who were some of them killed, and some overthrown (col. 2, 17–26).
Restoration of the fallen canal of Suḫi and inauguration of the same by
a trial voyage (2, 27–37). The planting of date palms and setting up of
his throne in Ribaniš (2, 38–44). Founding and laying out of the town
Gabbari-KAK. Malediction (col. 3). With this the inscription originally
ended. The governor, however, continued his works of peace, the planting
of palms and introducing of bees (?), and described these further in the
4th and 5th columns.” The stela was inserted in a plinth with the aid of
a tenon at the base, as was always done with stelae. This one does not
appear to have arrived in Babylon by peaceful methods. As a rule a
prince would not have allowed any addition to be made to his
inscription.
The ancient Hittite stela which was found to the east of the lion (Figs.
103, 104) must also be regarded as booty. On the front of the somewhat
coarse-grained block of dolerite there stands the weather god (Teshup?),
with the rays of lightning in his left hand, the axe in his right hand,
and a sword in his girdle. He wears a short-sleeved garment, peaked
shoes, and a remarkable cap with a knob at the top and horns or double
rims at the sides, as well as bracelets and an anklet on the right foot.
The lips are shaven, and a long lock of hair falls down on his shoulder.
The rounded back of the stela contains a long, well-preserved
inscription of Hittite hieroglyphs,—a script which is still
undeciphered. There is a similar representation on the east side of the
outer citadel gateway of Sendjirli, and no doubt our stela comes from
the same region of Northern Syria. The style of its relief is between
that of the citadel gateway and of the town gate of Sendjirli, and it
may therefore be ascribed to the tenth century B.C. (see F. v. Luschan,
_Ausgrabungen von Sendschirli_, iii.).
[Illustration:
FIGS. 103, 104.—The Hittite stela.
Obverse. Reverse.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 105.—Pavement slab of Adad-nirari.
]
The same prolific site yielded also a basalt paving stone with an
inscription that showed it to belong to the palace of Adad-nirari (ii.),
the son of Asurdan, son of Tiglathpileser (Fig. 105). Whether this
palace of Adad-nirari (911?–891) stood here or in Assyria cannot be
proved. At any rate this paving stone appears to have been set in the
Principal Citadel of Nebuchadnezzar as an object of interest.
Fifteen fragments of dolerite with inscriptions belong to stelae of the
same kind as one that was found by brick robbers shortly before the
beginning of our excavations, in the north-east corner of the Principal
Citadel. It is an upright semi-cylindrical block inscribed on both
sides, on which Nabonidus reports in detail on his endowment of temples
in Babylon and other places (see Scheil, “Inscription de Nabonide,” in
the _Recueil de travaux rel. à la philologie_, etc., xviii. p. 15). A
block of dolerite which formed part of a thick large stela was found in
_r_ 9 of the Kasr plan. It contains in Neo-Babylonian writing a
duplicate of the famous inscription which Darius Hystaspes (521–485)
engraved on the rocks of Bagistana in Persian, Susian, and Babylonian.
The numerous fragments of building cylinders which have been found on
the Kasr, naturally refer principally to the building of the palace, the
Ishtar Gate, and the fortification walls. The greater number are
Nebuchadnezzar’s, but there are a few of Sardanapalus, Nabopolassar,
Nabonidus, and Neriglissar.
A number that were found actually in the Principal Citadel are of
buildings outside the Kasr, such as Etemenanki, and of buildings outside
Babylon. Thus we have an inscription of Nabonidus of E-ḫul-ḫul in Haran,
one of E-bar-ra in Sippara, and one of Nebuchadnezzar from E-ul-la in
Sippara, and also an E-an-na of Sardanapalus and others. It appears
therefore that such documents were systematically collected and
preserved in the Principal Citadel.
Any one who compares the comparatively small area that is excavated with
the extent of that which is yet untouched, and realises how much has
already been found, will see how much yet remains to be done and
acquired in the Principal Citadel, apart from the gain to science that
would ensue from laying open the palace buildings.
The palace did not extend quite as far as the fortification wall on the
north. The foundations of the front consist of excellent brickwork laid
in asphalt and reeds, while in the foundations behind broken brick laid
in lime mortar is employed throughout.
Between the palace and the fortification walls there was an open strip
in which a wide canal, originally 13 metres broad, which led from the
Euphrates, flowed from here almost to the eastern wall. Smaller
conduits, 1.2 metres wide, roofed over with tilted bricks, branched off
from it through the massive foundations of the Principal Citadel to
supply it with water. They were connected with the palace level by
quadrangular well shafts. The embankment of the canal in front of the
palace and of the northern fortification wall, projecting from their
foundations, formed a rampart 2 metres broad, and at this level we have
fixed our zero, which serves as the starting-point for the level of the
entire city and its buildings. The water-level of Nebuchadnezzar’s time
was at about this height, for here the projecting courses of the
coverings of the smaller conduits begin, and the pavement in the door of
the northern wall is only some 1.5 metres higher than our zero.
It is obvious that the great canal was open above. It was later replaced
by a smaller one only 1.8 metres wide, which runs beside its southern
bank wall and was certainly covered in. At this later period a broad
road 9.5 metres wide led between the palace and the north wall, which
consisted of three brick courses laid in asphalt. Upon it were Parthian
houses and brick graves. We cut into them with our trench at the mound
“Atele” (_n_ 8). On this hill, which rises to 18 metres above zero,
stood in Oppert’s time a nebek tree; the Arabs believed that this had
grown out of a tent stake that Ali had driven in here. From a shoot of
this tree the solitary nebek sprang that still flourishes in the long
low region of the Northern Citadel.
For a time I held the opinion that this canal was the Libil-ḫigalla,
because bricks with the Aramaic stamp “Libilḫi” were found here. Later
on, however, similar bricks were found on other parts of the Kasr, which
rendered my earlier reasons fallacious.