and towns of those first settlers. They gave quite sufficient shelter in
the very mild winters of that region, and, when coated with a layer of
mud which soon dried and hardened in the sun, could exclude even the
violent rains of that season. But they were in no way fitted for more
ambitious and dignified purposes. Neither the palaces of the kings nor
the temples of the gods could be constructed out of bent reeds.
Something more durable must be found, some material that would lend
itself to constructions of any size or shape. The mud coating of the
cabins naturally suggested such a material. Could not this same mud or
clay, of which an inexhaustible supply was always on hand, be moulded
into cakes of even size, and after being left to dry in the sun, be
piled into walls of the required height and thickness? And so men began
to make bricks. It was found that the clay gained much in consistency
when mixed with finely chopped straw--another article of which the
country, abounding in wheat and other grains, yielded unlimited
quantities. But even with this improvement the sun-dried bricks could
not withstand the continued action of many rainy seasons, or many
torrid summers, but had a tendency to crumble away when parched too dry,
or to soak and dissolve back into mud, when too long exposed to rain.
All these defects were removed by the simple expedient of baking the
bricks in kilns or ovens, a process which gives them the hardness and
solidity of stone. But as the cost of kiln-dried bricks is naturally
very much greater than that of the original crude article, so the latter
continued to be used in far greater quantities; the walls were made
entirely of them and only protected by an outward casing of the hard
baked bricks. These being so much more expensive, and calculated to last
forever, great care was bestowed on their preparation; the best clay was
selected and they were stamped with the names and titles of the king by
whose order the palace or temple was built, for which they were to be
used. This has been of great service in identifying the various ruins
and assigning them dates, at least approximately. As is to be expected,
there is a notable difference in the specimens of different periods.
While on some bricks bearing the name of a king who lived about 3000
B.C. the inscription is uncouth and scarcely legible, and even their
shape is rude and the material very inferior, those of the later
Babylonian period (600 B.C.) are handsome and neatly made. As to the
quality, all explorers agree in saying it is fully equal to that of the
best modern English bricks. The excellence of these bricks for building
purposes is a fact so well known that for now two thousand years--ever
since the destruction of Babylon--its walls, temples and palaces have
been used as quarries for the construction of cities and villages. The
little town of HILLAH, situated nearest to the site of the ancient
capital, is built almost entirely with bricks from one single mound,
that of KASR--once the gorgeous and far-famed palace of Nebuchadnezzar,
whose name and titles thus grace the walls of the most lowly Arab and
Turkish dwellings. All the other mounds are similarly used, and so far
is the valuable mine from being exhausted, that it furnishes forth, to
this day, a brisk and flourishing trade. While a party of workmen is
continually employed in digging for the available bricks, another is
busy conveying them to Hillah; there they are shipped on the Euphrates
and carried to any place where building materials are in demand, often
even loaded on donkeys at this or that landing-place and sent miles away
inland; some are taken as far as Baghdad, where they have been used for
ages. The same thing is done wherever there are mounds and ruins. Both
Layard and his successors had to allow their Arab workmen to build their
own temporary houses out of ancient bricks, only watching them narrowly,
lest they should break some valuable relic in the process or use some of
the handsomest and best-preserved specimens.
[Illustration: 8.--VIEW OF NEBBI YUNUS]
4. No construction of bricks, either crude or kiln-dried, could have
sufficient solidity without the help of some kind of cement, to make
them adhere firmly together. This also the lowlands of Chaldea and
Babylonia yield in sufficient quantity and of various qualities. While
in the early structures a kind of sticky red clay or loam is used, mixed
with chopped straw, bitumen or pitch is substituted at a later period,
which substance, being applied hot, adheres so firmly to the bricks,
that pieces of these are broken off when an attempt is made to procure a
fragment of the cement. This valuable article was brought down by water
from IS on the Euphrates (now called HIT), where abundant springs of
bitumen are to this day in activity. Calcareous earth--i.e., earth
strongly mixed with lime--being very plentiful to the west of the lower
Euphrates, towards the Arabian frontier, the Babylonians of the latest
times learned to make of it a white mortar which, for lightness and
strength, has never been surpassed.
[Illustration: 9.--BUILDING IN BAKED BRICK (MODERN). (Perrot and
Chipiez.)]
5. All the essential materials for plain but durable constructions being
thus procurable on the spot or in the immediate neighborhood, the next
important point was the selection of proper sites for raising these
constructions, which were to serve purposes of defence as well as of
worship and royal majesty. A rocky eminence, inaccessible on one or
several sides, or at least a hill, a knoll somewhat elevated above the
surrounding plain, have usually been chosen wherever such existed. But
this was not the case in Chaldea. There, as far as eye can see, not the
slightest undulation breaks the dead flatness of the land. Yet there,
more than anywhere else, an elevated position was desirable, if only as
a protection from the unhealthy exhalations of a vast tract of swamps,
and from the intolerable nuisance of swarms of aggressive and venomous
insects, which infest the entire river region during the long summer
season. Safety from the attacks of the numerous roaming tribes which
ranged the country in every direction before it was definitely settled
and organized, was also not among the last considerations. So, what
nature had refused, the cunning and labor of man had to supply.
Artificial hills or platforms were constructed, of enormous size and
great height--from thirty to fifty, even sixty feet, and on their flat
summits the buildings were raised. These platforms sometimes supported
only one palace, sometimes, as in the case of the immense mounds of
Koyunjik and Nimrud in Assyria, their surface had room for several,
built by successive kings. Of course such huge piles could not be
entirely executed in solid masonry, even of crude bricks. These were
generally mixed with earth and rubbish of all kinds, in more or less
regular, alternate layers, the bricks being laid in clay. But the
outward facing was in all cases of baked brick. The platform of the
principal mound which marks the place of ancient UR, (now called
MUGHEIR),[H] is faced with a wall ten feet thick, of red kiln-dried
bricks, cemented with bitumen. In Assyria, where stone was not scarce,
the sides of the platform were even more frequently "protected by
massive stone-masonry, carried perpendicularly from the natural ground
to a height somewhat exceeding that of the platform, and either made
plain at the top, or else crowned into stone battlements cut into
gradines."[I]
[Illustration: 10.--MOUND OF NIMRUD. (Hommel.)]
6. Some mounds are considerably higher than the others and of a peculiar
shape, almost like a pyramid, that is, ending in a point from which it
slopes down rapidly on all sides. Such is the pyramidal mound of Nimrud,
which Layard describes as being so striking and picturesque an object as
you approach the ruins from any point of the plain.[J] Such also is the
still more picturesque mound of BORSIP (now BIRS NIMRUD) near Babylon,
the largest of this kind.[K] These mounds are the remains of peculiar
constructions, called ZIGGURATS, composed of several platforms piled one
on the other, each square in shape and somewhat smaller than the
preceding one; the topmost platform supported a temple or sanctuary,
which by these means was raised far above the dwellings of men, a
constant reminder not less eloquent than the exhortation in some of our
religious services: "Lift up your hearts!" Of these heavenward pointing
towers, which were also used as observatories by the Chaldeans, great
lovers of the starry heavens, that of Borsip, once composed of seven
stages, is the loftiest; it measures over 150 feet in perpendicular
height.
[Illustration: 11.--MOUND OF MUGHEIR (ANCIENT UR).]
7. It is evident that these artificial hills could have been erected
only at an incredible cost of labor. The careful measurements which have
been taken of several of the principal mounds have enabled explorers to
make an accurate calculation of the exact amount of labor employed on
each. The result is startling, even though one is prepared for something
enormous. The great mound of Koyunjik--which represents the palaces of
Nineveh itself--covers an area of one hundred acres, and reaches an
elevation of 95 feet at its highest point. To heap up such a pile of
brick and earth "would require the united exertions of 10,000 men for
twelve years, or of 20,000 men for six years."[L] Then only could the
construction of the palaces begin. The mound of Nebbi-Yunus, which has
not yet been excavated, covers an area of forty acres and is loftier and
steeper than its neighbor: "its erection would have given full
employment to 10,000 men for the space of five years and a half."
Clearly, none but conquering monarchs, who yearly took thousands of
prisoners in battles and drove home into captivity a part of the
population of every country they subdued, could have employed such hosts
of workmen on their buildings--not once, but continually, for it seems
to have been a point of honor with the Assyrian kings that each should
build a new palace for himself.
[Illustration: 12.--TERRACE WALL AT KHORSABAD. (Perrot and Chipiez.)]
8. When one considers the character of the land along the upper course
of the Tigris, where the Assyrians dwelt, one cannot help wondering why
they went on building mounds and using nothing but bricks in their
constructions. There is no reason for it in the nature of the country.
The cities of Assyria--NINEVEH (Koyunjik), KALAH (Nimrud), ARBELA,
DUR-SHARRUKIN (Khorsabad) were built in the midst of a hilly region
abounding in many varieties of stone, from soft limestone to hard
basalt; some of them actually stood on rocky ground, their moats being
in part cut through the rock. Had they wanted stone of better quality,
they had only to get it from the Zagros range of mountains, which skirts
all Assyria to the East, separating it from Media. Yet they never
availed themselves of these resources, which must have led to great
improvements in their architecture, and almost entirely reserved the use
of stone for ornamental purposes. This would tend to show, at all
events, that the Assyrians were not distinguished for inventive genius.
They had wandered northward from the lowlands, where they had dwelt for
centuries as a portion of the Chaldean nation. When they separated from
it and went off to found cities for themselves, they took with them
certain arts and tricks of handicraft learned in the old home, and never
thought of making any change in them. It does not even seem to have
occurred to them that by selecting a natural rocky elevation for their
buildings they would avoid the necessity of an artificial platform and
save vast amount of labor and time.
[Illustration: 13.--RAFT BUOYED BY INFLATED SKINS. (ANCIENT.) (Kaulen.)]
[Illustration: 14.--RAFT BUOYED BY INFLATED SKINS. (MODERN.) (Kaulen.)]
9. That they did put stone to one practical use--the outward casing of
their walls and platforms--we have already seen. The blocks must have
been cut in the Zagros mountains and brought by water--rafted down the
Zab, or some other of the rivers which, springing from those mountains,
flow into the Tigris. The process is represented with perfect clearness
on some of the sculptures. That reproduced in Fig. 13 is of great
interest, as showing a peculiar mode of transport,--rafts floated on
inflated skins--which is at the present moment in as general and
constant use as it appears to have been in the same parts three thousand
years ago and probably more. When Layard wished to send off the bulls
and lions which he had moved from Nimrud and Koyunjik down the Tigris to
Baghdad and Busrah, (or Bassorah), there to be embarked for Europe, he
had recourse to this conveyance, as no other is known for similar
purposes. This is how he describes the primitive, but ingenious
contrivance: "The skins of full-grown sheep and goats, taken off with as
few incisions as possible, are dried and prepared, one aperture being
left, through which the air is forced by the lungs. A framework of
poplar beams, branches of trees, and reeds, having been constructed of
the size of the intended raft, the inflated skins are tied to it by
osier twigs. The raft is then complete and is moved to the water and
launched. Care is taken to place the skins with their mouths upward,
that, in case any should burst or require refilling, they can be easily
reached. Upon the framework are piled bales of goods, and property
belonging to merchants and travellers.... The raftmen impel these rude
vessels by long poles, to the ends of which are fastened a few pieces of
split cane. (See Fig. 14.) ... During the floods in spring, or after
heavy rains, small rafts may float from Mosul to Baghdad in about
eighty-four hours; but the larger are generally six or seven days in
performing the voyage. In summer, and when the river is low, they are
frequently nearly a month in reaching their destination. When they have
been unloaded, they are broken up, and the beams, wood and twigs, sold
at considerable profit. The skins are washed and afterward rubbed with a
preparation, to keep them from cracking and rotting. They are then
brought back, either on the shoulders of the raftmen or upon donkeys, to
Mossul and Tekrit, where the men engaged in the navigation of the Tigris
usually reside." Numerous sculptures show us that similar skins were
also used by swimmers, who rode upon them in the water, probably when
they intended to swim a greater distance than they could have
accomplished by their unassisted efforts. (See Figure 16.)
[Illustration: 15.--EXCAVATIONS AT MUGHEIR (UR).]
10. Our imagination longs to reconstruct those gigantic piles as they
must have struck the beholder in their towering hugeness, approached
from the plain probably by several stairways and by at least one ascent
of a slope gentle enough to offer a convenient access to horses and
chariots. What an imposing object must have been, for instance, the
palace of Sennacherib, on the edge of its battlemented platform (mound
of Koyunjik), rising directly above the waters of the Tigris,--named in
the ancient language "the Arrow" from the swiftness of its current--into
the golden and crimson glory of an Eastern sunset! Although the sameness
and unwieldy nature of the material used must have put architectural
beauty of outline out of the question, the general effect must have been
one of massive grandeur and majesty, aided as it was by the elaborate
ornamentation lavished on every portion of the building. Unfortunately
the work of reconstruction is left almost entirely to imagination, which
derives but little help from the shapeless heaps into which time has
converted those ancient, mighty halls.
[Illustration: 16.--WARRIORS SWIMMING ON INFLATED SKINS. (Babelon.)]
11. Fergusson, an English explorer and scholar whose works on subjects
connected with art and especially architecture hold a high place, has
attempted to restore the palace of Sennacherib such as he imagines it to
have been, from the hints furnished by the excavations. He has produced
a striking and most effective picture, of which, however, an entire half
is simply guesswork. The whole nether part--the stone-cased,
battlemented platform wall, the broad stairs, the esplanade handsomely
paved with patterned slabs, and the lower part of the palace with its
casing of sculptured slabs and portals guarded by winged bulls--is
strictly according to the positive facts supplied by the excavations.
For the rest, there is no authority whatever. We do not even positively
know whether there was any second story to Assyrian palaces at all. At
all events, no traces of inside staircases have been found, and the
upper part of the walls of even the ground-floor has regularly been
either demolished or destroyed by fire. As to columns, it is impossible
to ascertain how far they may have been used and in what way. Such as
were used could have been, as a rule, only of wood--trunks of great
trees hewn and smoothed--and consequently every vestige of them has
disappeared, though some round column bases in stone have been found.[M]
The same remarks apply to the restoration of an Assyrian palace court,
also after Fergusson, while that of a palace hall, after Layard, is not
open to the same reproach and gives simply the result of actual
discoveries. Without, therefore, stopping long to consider conjectures
more or less unsupported, let us rather try to reproduce in our minds a
clear perception of what the audience hall of an Assyrian king looked
like from what we may term positive knowledge. We shall find that our
materials will go far towards creating for us a vivid and authentic
picture.
[Illustration: 17.--VIEW OF KOYUNJIK. (Hommel.)]
12. On entering such a hall the first thing to strike us would probably
be the pavement, either of large alabaster slabs delicately carved in
graceful patterns, as also the arched doorways leading into the adjacent
rooms (see Figs. 24 and 25, pp. 69 and 71), or else covered with rows of
inscriptions, the characters being deeply engraven and afterwards filled
with a molten metallic substance, like brass or bronze, which would give
the entire floor the appearance of being covered with inscriptions in
gilt characters, the strange forms of cuneiform writing making the whole
look like an intricate and fanciful design.
[Illustration: 18.--STONE LION AT THE ENTRANCE OF A TEMPLE. NIMRUD.
(Perrot and Chipiez.)]
13. Our gaze would next be fascinated by the colossal human-headed
winged bulls and lions keeping their silent watch in pairs at each of
the portals, and we should notice with astonishment that the artists had
allowed them each an extra leg, making the entire number five instead of
four. This was not done at random, but with a very well-calculated
artistic object--that of giving the monster the right number of legs,
whether the spectator beheld it in front or in profile, as in both cases
one of the three front legs is concealed by the others. The front view
shows the animal standing, while it appears to be striding when viewed
from the side. (See Figures 18 and 27, pp. 59 and 75.) The walls were
worthy of these majestic door-keepers. The crude brick masonry
disappeared up to a height of twelve to fifteen feet from the ground
under the sculptured slabs of soft grayish alabaster which were solidly
applied to the wall, and held together by strong iron cramps. Sometimes
one subject or one gigantic figure of king or deity was represented on
one slab; often the same subject occupied several slabs, and not
unfrequently was carried on along an entire wall. In this case the lines
begun on one slab were continued on the next with such perfect
smoothness, so absolutely without a break, as to warrant the conclusion
that the slabs were sculptured _after_ they had been put in their
places, not before. Traces of paint show that color was to a certain
extent employed to enliven these representations, probably not over
plentifully and with some discrimination. Thus color is found in many
places on the eyes, brows, hair, sandals, the draperies, the mitre or
high headdress of the kings, on the harness of horses and portions of
the chariots, on the flowers carried by attendants, and sometimes on
trees. Where a siege is portrayed, the flames which issue out of windows
and roofs seem always to have been painted red. There is reason to
believe, however, that color was but sparingly bestowed on the
sculptures, and therefore they must have presented a pleasing contrast
with the richness of the ornamentation which ran along the walls
immediately above, and which consisted of hard baked bricks of large
size, painted and glazed in the fire, forming a continuous frieze from
three to five feet wide. Sometimes the painting represented human
figures and various scenes, sometimes also winged figures of deities or
fantastic animals,--in which case it was usually confined above and
below by a simple but graceful running pattern; or it would consist
wholly of a more or less elaborate continuous pattern like Fig. 22,
23, or 25, these last symbolical compositions with a religious
signification. (See also Fig. 21, "Interior view," etc.) Curiously
enough the remains--mostly very trifling fragments--which have been
discovered in various ruins, show that these handsomely finished glazed
tiles exhibited the very same colors which are nowadays in such high
favor with ourselves for all sorts of decorative purposes: those used
most frequently were a dark and a pale yellow, white and cream-color, a
delicate pale green, occasionally orange and a pale lilac, very little
blue and red; olive-green and brown are favorite colors for grounds.
"Now and then an intense blue and a bright red occur, generally
together; but these positive hues are rare, and the taste of the
Assyrians seems to have led them to prefer, for their patterned walls,
pale and dull hues.... The general tone of their coloring is quiet, not
to say sombre. There is no striving after brilliant effects. The
Assyrian artist seeks to please by the elegance of his forms and the
harmony of his hues, not to startle by a display of bright and strongly
contrasted colors.[N]"
[Illustration: 19.--COURT OF HAREM AT KHORSABAD. (RESTORED.) (Perrot and
Chipiez.)]
[Illustration: 20.--CIRCULAR PILLAR-BASE.]