The valley of the Euphrates might well rival that of the Nile if it
were scientifically explored, but unhappily all the excavation has been
done solely with a view to inscription and sculpture, and no proper
record has been made, nor have any towns been examined, the only work
being in palaces and temples.
The earliest study on the ground was by Rich (1818–20), who gathered
some few sculptures and formed an idea of Assyrian art. The French
Consul, Botta, excavated Khorsabad (founded 700 B. C.) in 1834–35, and
Layard excavated Nimrud in 1845–47; these were both Assyrian sites.
The older Babylonian civilization was touched at Erech by Loftus, in
1849–52; and this age has attracted the most important excavations
made since, at Tello by Sarzec (1876–81), and at Nippur by Peters and
Haynes, of Philadelphia, during the last few years.
The cuneiform characters were absolutely unexplained until Grotefend,
in 1800, resolved several of them by taking inscriptions which he
presumed might contain names of Persian kings and comparing them
alongside of the known names; thus—without a single fixed point to
start from—he tried a series of hypotheses until he found one which
fitted the facts. Bournouf (in 1836) and Lassen (1836–44) rectified and
completed the alphabet. But the cuneiform signs were used to write many
diverse languages, as the Roman alphabet is used at present; and the
short Persian alphabet was only a fraction of the great syllabary of
six hundred signs used for Assyrian. Rawlinson had independently made
out the Persian alphabet, using the Zend and Sanskrit for the language.
He next, from the trilingual Behistun inscription in Persian, Assyrian,
and Vannic, resolved the long Assyrian syllabary, using Hebrew for the
language. Since then other more obscure languages written in cuneiform
have been worked with more or less success; the most important is
the Turanian language, used by the earlier inhabitants of Babylonia
before the Semitic invasion; this is recorded by many syllabaries and
dictionaries, and translations compiled by the literary Semitic kings.
The general view of the civilization which has been obtained by these
labors of the century shows it to have been more important to the
world than any other. Cuneiform was the literary script of the world
for at least six thousand years, the only medium of writing from the
Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean. The Babylonian culture was almost
certainly the source of the oldest present civilization—that of China.
And the arts were developed probably even earlier than in Egypt. The
first inhabitants were called Sumirian (or river folk) in distinction
from the Accadian (or highland) people, who came from Elam down into
the Euphrates valley, bringing with them the use of writing. Their
earliest writing was of figure symbols (like the Egyptian and Hittite);
but as in the valley clay tablets were the only material for writing,
the figures became gradually transformed into groups of straight lines
and spots impressed on the clay; hence the signs were formalized into
what we call cuneiform. The Semitic invaders were using cuneiform
characters by about 3000 B. C.
The early civilization was intensely religious, the main buildings
being the temples, which were placed on enormous piles of brick-work.
The sculpture was at a high level in the time of Naram-Sinn, about
3750 B. C.; and yet below his ruins at Nippur there are no less than
thirty-five feet depth of earlier ruins, which must extend back to
6000 or 7000 B. C. In early times stone implements were used alongside
of copper and bronze, as we find in Egypt 4000 B. C. Pottery was well
made, and also reliefs in terra-cotta. Personal ornaments of engraved
gems and gold-work were common.
The main landmarks in the later time of this civilization are the
Elamite invasion of Kudur-nan-khundi (2280 B. C.) which upset the
Semitic rulers, and the Assyrian invasion of Tiglath-Adar (1270
B. C.), after which interest centres in the Assyrian kingdom and its
development of the Mesopotamian culture which it borrowed. The main
buildings of the Assyrian kings were their enormous palaces, the mass
of which was of unbaked bricks, faced with alabaster slabs; such were
the works of Assurnazir-pal (Nimrud, 880 B. C.), Sargon (Khorsabad,
710 B. C.), Sennacherib and Assurbani-pal (Kouyunjik, 700 B. C.). The
later, Assyrian, form of the civilization was to the earlier Chaldean
much what Rome was to Greece, a rather clumsy borrower, who laboriously
preserved the literature and art. Some of the Assyrian sculpture
of animals is, however, perhaps unsurpassed for vivid action. The
systematic libraries, containing copies of all the older literature
for general study, were most creditable, though the Assyrian himself
composed nothing better than chronicles. Nearly all that we possess
of Babylonian religion, and much of the history, is in the copies
scrupulously made from the ancient tablets by the Assyrian scribes, who
noted every defect in the original with critical fidelity.
The Mesopotamian civilization has left its mark on the modern world.
Its religion greatly influenced Hebrew, and thence Christian, thought,
the psalms, for instance, being a Babylonian form of piety. Its science
fixed the signs of the zodiac, the months of the year, the days of the
week, and the division of the circle in degrees, all of which are now
universal. And its art, carried by the Phœnicians, was copied by the
Greeks and Etruscans, and thus passed on into modern design.