CHALDÆAN, ASSYRIAN, AND BABYLONIAN ARCHITECTURE
=Brick Construction.=--In its principal features and general character of
construction, the architecture of each of these three civilisations is
similar, being based upon the methods that originated with the
Chaldæans. These methods were the direct result of the geographic and
climatic conditions of the country they inhabited. For Lower
Mesopotamia, Babylonia proper, is an alluvial plain, interrupted by a
single ridge of limestone hills which were sparsely covered with small
trees, especially the scrub-oak. Timber and stone were scarce, while
everywhere clay abounded. Accordingly, the chief material of
construction was brick, shaped in wooden moulds and sun-dried. The
limited amount of fuel permitted only the making of burnt bricks for
special purposes: namely, the facing of the structures and the paving of
the floors. And these superior bricks or tiles were frequently glazed
and decorated with ornament in bright colours.
Meanwhile, in Upper Mesopotamia, Assyria proper, the ground was
comparatively arid and plentifully supplied with limestone. Yet such was
the habit of the Assyrians to imitate the Southern kingdom in matters of
civilisation, that they also relied upon sun-dried brick for
construction, and employed glazed earthenware for decoration. In time,
however, they came to employ stone for facing as well as for the
sculpture, which was a characteristic decorative feature of the palaces.
=Platforms.=--We shall see presently how the fierce heat affected the
principles of architectural construction, noting in advance the means
taken to provide against the periodical inundations due to the
torrential rains and the overflow of the Tigris. From earlier times all
important buildings were erected upon platforms, constructed of
sun-dried bricks and faced with fired bricks or stone, the walls having
a batter, that is to say, sloping inward. Approach to the summit was
either by flights of steps or an inclined roadway that paralleled the
wall--technically known as a _ramp_. Intersecting these mounds or
platforms was a system of arched culverts, designed, as in modern
railroad embankments, to carry off the water.
In course of time, as buildings fell into decay or were replaced with
newer ones by later builders, the height of the mound increased. The
result is that the plain of Babylonia for 220 miles is studded with
immense mounds, some of them a mile in diameter and attaining 200 feet
in height, crowned with the remains of towns. Beneath these, the modern
explorer, cutting down into the interior of the mound, comes upon
successive stages of foundations, representing the remains of various
epochs.
=Temple at Nippur.=--The earliest example, so far disclosed, is a temple
at =Nippur=, which bears a close resemblance to the oldest pyramid in
Egypt, =Medum=, before the latter had been faced. It is on the principle
of the _stepped-pyramid_, consisting of several stories, each of which
sets back from the one below it, while the walls of all have a batter.
The terraces on one side are of extra width to allow for the stairways.
This old type of stage-temple, called in the East _ziggurat_ (holy
mountain), derived probably from the ancient custom of worshipping in
“high places,” was still preserved in the famous
[Illustration: “SARGON’S CASTLE,” NEAR KHORSABAD
CONJECTURED RESTORATION. P. 67]
[Illustration: PART OF “LION FRIEZE” AND “FRIEZE OF ARCHERS”
EXECUTED IN GLAZED TILES. P. 72]
[Illustration: DETAILS OF WALL DECORATION AT KOYUNJIK
SHOWING (LEFT) THE HANDLING OF A COLOSSAL BULL STATUE; AND (RIGHT) THAT
THE ASSYRIANS USED SOME FORM OF DOME-ROOFS]
=Temple of Nebo=, rebuilt by Nebuchadnezzar at =Borsippa=. Only four stages
of the latter survive, but a record discovered in the ruins shows that
the original number was seven, dedicated to the seven planets and
decorated with the colours sacred to each. The ground story of this
temple was 272 feet square and 45 feet high, while the total height of
the structure was about 160 feet. It is noteworthy that the tomb-pyramid
of =Medum= also consisted of seven stories.
In a ziggurat at =Tello=, opened up by the French savant, de Sarzac, was
discovered a magnificent collection of statues of diorite--a mixture of
granite, felspar and hornblende--dark grey in colour--which is now in
the Louvre. One of these, which has lost its head, represents a certain
Gudea, priest-king and architect of Lagash. He is seated and carries on
his lap a tablet, on which a fortified enclosure is engraved, while in
the corner appear a dividing scale and a stylos.
=Sargon’s Castle.=--The oldest palace remains have been discovered at
=Nimroud=, the ancient Calah. They belong to the palace of Assur-nazar-pal
(885-860 <small>B.C.</small>). Ten miles to the northeast, at =Khorsabad=, the French
explorer P. E. Botta, discovered in 1843 the remains of a tower and
palace, which subsequent excavations have proved to be the ruins of
Dur-Sharrukim, “Sargon’s Castle,” built by Sargon as a royal residence
(705-702 <small>B.C.</small>). The remains of the palace, being the most extensive of
those hitherto explored, can be studied as a type of Assyrian palace
architecture.
The platform on which the palace stood, constructed of sun-dried bricks
and faced with cut stone, reaches the immense size of nearly a million
square feet, raised forty-eight feet above the surrounding level
country. The total platform, therefore, measured about 23 acres, as
compared with the 3½ acres occupied by the Capitol at Washington, or the
8 acres occupied by the Houses of Parliament in London. Making allowance
for the fact that the Assyrian Palace did not extend over the whole of
the platform space, its actual dimensions must have been approximately
twice as large as the Houses of Parliament and four and a half times
those of the Capitol.
Leading up from the level on the northeast side appears to have been a
double ramp, for the use of chariots and for general service, while the
state entrance was at the southeast by a double flight of steps. These
mounted to a terrace that extended the whole length of the palace front,
some 900 feet. In the centre of this façade was the principal gate,
which was small in actual size, but flanked by two tower-like
projections of masonry. These, for the moment, may recall the pylons
that flanked the entrance to an Egyptian temple. But the latter stately
structures, built with a batter and crowned with a _cavetto cornice_,
were designed for monumental dignity. On the other hand, the towers of
Sargon’s Castle were pierced near the top with loop-holes and surmounted
by battlements. They were designed to serve the purpose of warlike
defence and suggest appropriately that the entrance is not only to a
palace but also to the castle or stronghold of a feudal chieftain. The
same suggestion is prolonged in the battlemented walls, free of windows
and only occasionally pierced with loopholes, which seem to have
surrounded the entire structure.
=Gateway.=--The towers were embellished with a notably structural
decoration, a system of rectangular panelling, filled with semi-circular
shafts. The ornamental details were derived from the Chaldæan use of
glazed tiles, decorated with rosettes, palmettes, lotus-flowers and the
_guilloche_ or repeat of intertwined bands, arching round a central
button. Similarly decorated is the _archivolt_ which surrounds the arch
of the entrance, the latter being a _barrel-_ or semi-circular-vaulted
passageway, carried right through the thickness of the walls.
=Colossal Bulls.=--In Egypt the entrance to the temples was made solemn
and magnificent by colossal statues of the monarch. Here, the beholder
must have been filled with awe by the colossal monsters that stood as
guardians of the portal, projecting from the side-posts of the gateway
and ranged in pairs at the foot of each tower. These monsters, which are
now in the British Museum, fitly embody the warlike ideals of the
Assyrian nation. They loom up in height to twelve feet. Their bodies are
those of bulls, mighty in bulk and thews; yet they are quick to attack,
having eagle’s wings, while dominating them is the head of a man,
large-eyed, thick-lipped, square of jaw and hairy, implacably sensual
and cruel.
The modeling of these monsters is for the most part as broad as a Barye
bronze; though minute detail is attained in the sculpturing of the
beards, hair and head-dresses. But, while their treatment is in the main
naturalistic, their motive is not representation of nature, but the
representation of an idea through natural suggestion. Accordingly, each
embodiment has five legs; the two forelegs, planted side by side, being
supplemented by another in the act of walking; so that whether the
monster be viewed from the front or the side, the full significance of
the legs is emphasised--the forelegs representing firmly established
power; the side view showing the legs in free and powerful movement.
=No Columns.=--The arched entrance leads into a large open court that
corresponds to the great court of an Egyptian temple, although here the
sides are not embellished with colonnades. For, nowhere in Assyrian
architecture has the column been found as a structural member. The
single example which has been excavated, measured only three feet four
inches in height and, it is conjectured, was used for a pavilion,
possibly to support an awning. The absence of columnar construction in
the early buildings of the Lower Kingdom is easily accounted for by the
scarcity of stone; and the northern builders in dispensing with columns
were only following their usual habit of imitation.
=No Windows.=--Meanwhile, another reason for the absence of columns may be
found in the fierce heat of Mesopotamia, against which colonnades would
prove no protection. The same cause explains the absence of windows in
Assyrian palaces, for none have been found or shown in any of the
bas-reliefs. It has been considered possible that such light as was
needed was admitted through terra-cotta pipes or cylinders, for many of
the latter have been come upon in the ruins and this method is still
employed in the East for the lighting of domes.
=?Barrel Vaults?=--Another feature of the interior construction was the
immense thickness of the walls, which varied from nine to twenty-five
feet in solid brickwork. The object may have been to secure additional
coolness, but this reason will scarcely afford a complete explanation of
the extreme measurement. It is significant that the latter occurs in the
halls of state which are also distinguished by their great length of 150
feet as compared with the width, 30 feet. When the narrow width of the
halls is considered in relation to the immense thickness of the walls,
it seems reasonable to conclude that the latter were intended to
support the downward strain of barrel-vaulted ceilings. Additional
probability is given to this conclusion by La Place’s discovery of great
blocks, curved like the soffits of a vault, which had apparently fallen
from a height. Moreover, in a bas-relief found by Layard in Koyunjik
some of the buildings are shown to be roofed on the outside by domes.
Accordingly, it is now the generally accepted belief that the usual
style of ceiling employed by the Assyrians, was the barrel-vault.
The origin of the latter may be found in the culverts by which the
mounds were drained; but how, considering the scarcity of timber, it was
possible to construct vaults of thirty feet span, is purely a matter of
conjecture. It has been suggested that, while timber was costly,
slave-labour was cheap, and it is possible that temporary structures of
brick were erected as an underpinning to support the vault while in
process of construction. On the other hand, we shall note later on that
the architects of Gothic cathedrals, in countries where timber was
scarce, adopted the method of rib-vaulting. Can it be possible that this
invention was anticipated by the Assyrians?
=Decorations.=--The walls of these halls of state were decorated up to a
height of nine feet with sculptured slabs of delicate white alabaster or
brilliantly yellow limestone, on which traces of paint have been
discovered. As in the case of the Egyptian temples, scenes of everyday
life, as well as of war or hunting, are represented, with a vividness
that shows how closely nature had been studied by the sculptors, who,
however, were more intent upon representing the spirit of the scene and
preserving the feeling of decoration than in imitating nature.
Thus, when they represented an archer, stretching his bow, neither the
string nor the arrow was allowed to cut the lines of the figure. Both
were shown as if the hand which held them were on the opposite side of
the body. It is needless to say that this could not have been due to
ignorance or negligence on the part of the sculptor, who otherwise
proved his knowledge and observation of nature; but was a deliberate
kind of conventionalisation, adopted, like the five legs of the colossal
bulls, for a well-considered purpose--perhaps, not to interfere with the
action of the figure.
Above the dado of sculpture the walls were embellished with glazed
tiles, decorated with winged figures of the King, and occasionally with
animals, especially lions, framed with borders of rosettes. The usual
colours were yellow, blue, green, and black. Coloured tiles also, as
well as slabs of alabaster, formed the paving of the floors, which, in
the case of smaller rooms, were formed merely of stamped clay, covered,
no doubt, while in use, with mats or rugs.
Wall paintings of figures and arabesques seem to have been an
exceptional form of decoration, found at Khorsabad only in the larger
rooms of the harem.
Yet for all this brilliance of decoration, the effect of the interiors
must have been one of subdued richness. The imagination, indeed,
pictures the vast palace with its labyrinth of seven hundred rooms,
surrounding three sides of the entrance court, where the glare of
sunshine would be pitiless, as a sort of subterranean arrangement of
tunnel-like passages and chambers.
Their distribution can be studied in the ground plan restoration. There
were three groups, each disposed around its own central court. On the
left of the main court lay the harem, with its separate provision for
four wives, while on the opposite side was accommodation for the
service, including kitchen, bakery, wine cellars, and stables. Fronting
the main entrance were the King’s suite of rooms and the quarters of his
official staff, beyond which were the halls of state. In the open space,
adjoining the royal rooms, rose the ziggurat, or terraced temple, the
three lower stories of which still exist, connected by a winding ramp.
The conception that one gathers of this huge pile is, externally, of a
stronghold, somewhat forbidding; internally, of a crypt-like maze,
offering perhaps comfort, but little beauty--the lair of the absolute
monarch of a race to whom the market-place and fields of battle and
hunting represented the chief ideals of existence.