THE CONSTITUTION, ARMY, AND ART OF THE ASSYRIANS.
"Asshur was a cedar in Lebanon," so the prophet Ezekiel tells us; "a
shadowing thicket, and of a tall stature, with fair branches, and his
top was among the thick boughs. The waters made him great, the flood set
him up on high; with her stream she went round about his plants, and
sent her conduits unto all the trees of the field. Therefore his height
was exalted above all the trees of the field, and his boughs were great,
and his branches became strong because of the multitude of waters, and
spread themselves out. All the fowls of heaven made their nests in his
boughs, and under his branches did all the beasts of the field bring
forth their young, and under his shadow dwelt all great nations. Then
was he fair in his greatness, in the length of his branches. The cedars
in the garden of God could not hide him; the cypresses were not like his
boughs, and the planes were not like his branches. No tree in the garden
of God was like to him in beauty. I (Jehovah) have made him fair by the
multitude of his branches, and all the trees of Eden envied him."[395]
Babylon and Asshur are two stems springing out of the same root. The
younger could borrow from the elder her religion, her ritual, her
models in art and industry, and finally her writing; and along with this
those scientific acquisitions, by no means contemptible, which had been
made on the Euphrates. The peculiar characteristic of the younger branch
rests on its warlike power, which (nurtured in those long struggles in
the Zagrus and in the Armenian mountains) at last far exceeded the power
of the Babylonians.
There is no state in the ancient East, which, beginning from a reign so
small in proportion, and provided with such scanty material means, rose
so high as Assyria--which from such a basis attained to a wider
supremacy, or maintained it so long and so vigorously. By slow and
laborious steps this kingdom worked its way upward in frequent and
severe conflicts beside Babylonia. To reduce and keep in obedience the
region round the sources of the Euphrates and the Tigris, the land of
Van and Ararat, to subjugate the territory of the Moschi and Tibarenes,
required the most severe struggles. The attempt of Tiglath Pilesar I. to
reach the North of Syria and the Mediterranean was a success, yet it
remained without any lasting results. Not till the beginning of the
ninth century B.C. does the dominion of Assyria obtain more important
dimensions, not in the North only, but also in the West and East.
Assurnasirpal reached Mount Amanus, the Orontes, Mount Lebanon; he
received the tribute of the Phenician cities. Shalmanesar II. directed
his most vigorous efforts against Hamath and Damascus, while at the same
time he reduced the Cilicians, as well as the nations of the Western
table land of Iran, to pay tribute. At the division of the ninth and
eighth centuries B.C. Bin-nirar III. held sway from the shore of the
Red Sea over Edom, on the shore of the Mediterranean over the
Philistines and Israel, in the East over Mount Zagrus and the Medes.
Then after the middle of the eighth century Tiglath Pilesar II. forced
his way as far as Arachosia, and at the least maintained his dominion
over the tribes of the Medes; in the West he humbled Hamath, Damascus,
Samaria; Judah paid homage with the Philistines and all the princes of
Syria with the distant tribes of the Arabians, to the great king of
Asshur. He first completely subjugated Babylonia, and forced even
Southern Chaldæa to recognise his supremacy. Sargon, after him,
maintained Syria even against the arms of Egypt, and added the crown of
Babylon to the crown of Asshur: Cyprus as well as the islands of the
Persian Gulf pay homage to him. Sennacherib maintains the dominion over
Babylonia against the most stubborn rebellions, as well as against the
Elamites, and also the supremacy over Media; and if he was not able to
maintain Syria against Egypt, he still retained the upper hand in the
eastern half of Asia Minor. Esarhaddon ruled over Asshur and Babel; he
restored the dominion over Syria; he conquered Egypt. The armies of his
successor not only march victoriously into the gates of Memphis, Thebes,
and Babylon, but even into the gates of Susa. In repeated campaigns he
annihilates the ancient kingdom of Elam, and receives from the West the
homage of Lydia.
No other kingdom can display so long a series of warlike and active
princes, unwearied in conflict, as Assyria. They believed that they were
fighting not for dominion only, or glory, but also for their gods, for
Asshur, Sin and Samas, for Istar, Bin and Adar, against the nations who
did not worship these deities. It is this extraordinary activity of the
princes which alone explains the long continuance, and the constantly
increasing extent, of the Assyrian power. For great as is the activity
and unwearied perseverance of these princes, there is an equal lack of
capability to create any organisation of their dominion and sovereignty
which could secure even approximately the dependence of the subject
nations. They take the field, defeat the enemy, and rest content if he
pays homage and tribute, if the image of the victorious king of Asshur
is engraved on the rocks of the conquered land, or set up in the city of
the enemy. Ere long, if the tribute fails, war must be again commenced.
The enemy is removed from the government, another prince is set on the
throne of the subjugated land; the same game is commenced once more, as
soon as there is the least prospect of shaking off the yoke. Owing to
the stubbornness, more especially of the Semitic tribes and the
mountaineers in the North, the kings of Asshur are condemned to constant
campaigns. The defections are punished with savage devastation of the
land and destruction of the cities. The rebellious princes and their
leading adherents are often put to death with exquisite cruelty; they
are flayed, or beheaded, or impaled, and yet such terrorism produces no
visible effects. On the other hand, if they submit, they are often
pardoned; they are again recognised or set up as princes over their
lands, in some cases even after repeated defection. Occasionally, in
order to maintain independently the Assyrian supremacy, Assyrian
fortresses are planted in the conquered districts; as at the crossings
over the Euphrates, in the region of the Medes, on the borders of Elam,
and in Syria. For the most part it is only over the smaller districts
that Assyrian viceroys were placed. Native kings, chiefs, and princes
remain on the throne in the more extensive lands, and over the greater
nations, as in the cities and principalities of Syria. Sometimes an
attempt is made to secure the submission of princes by alliance with the
royal house of Assyria. Over Babylonia alone were sons and brothers of
the king repeatedly placed, and not always with a happy result. If
Esarhaddon, instead of transferring the government of Egypt, under his
supremacy, to one prince, divides it among 20, this organisation was not
an Assyrian invention; in all essentials it was a transference of the
lords of the districts from vassalage to the king of Napata to vassalage
to the king of Assyria. The chief means of the kings of Assyria for
securing the obedience of the vanquished for the future consisted at all
times in carrying away and transplanting parts of the conquered
population. The nationalities of Hither Asia, as far as the table-land
of Iran, underwent considerable intermixture in consequence of this
system, but this means could only work thoroughly in the smaller regions
and communities--for the kingdom of Israel, for Hamath, and the Arabian
tribes.
In such a defective organisation of the empire, while limited to such
elementary, and at the same time such unproductive, means, it would be
more interesting to find an answer to the question, how the kings of
Assyria were able to keep their own nation willing to undertake these
endless wars; how from their native land, of no great extent, they could
obtain the men and the means for such burdensome efforts--and in any
crisis this was the only power they could rely upon--how the authority
of the crown could be maintained in spite of such heavy requisitions on
their subjects;--did our knowledge allow us to give even an approximate
explanation. An hereditary succession, interrupted far less than is
usual elsewhere in the East, appears to have rendered these tasks easier
to the kings of Asshur, to have been favourable to the continuance of
the kingdom, and to have assisted the rulers in extending their
supremacy. Tiglath Pilesar I. mentions four of his ancestors in unbroken
succession on the throne (II. 36). The kings always describe themselves
as sons and grandsons of preceding rulers. Down to the time of Sargon we
hear nothing of the murder of kings, and only of one attempt at
rebellion on the part of a king's son. With Sargon a new dynasty seems
to have ascended the throne: he neither calls himself a son of his
predecessor (Shalmanesar IV.), nor does he mention any other of the
earlier rulers as his progenitor. But his race, in its turn, seems to
have held the throne till the fall of the kingdom, though he and his son
Sennacherib fell by assassination, though Esarhaddon only acquired the
throne after a conflict with the two brothers who had slain their
father, and Assurbanipal had to defend it against the rebellion of a
brother. That the power exercised by the kings of Assyria was unlimited
even in their own territory is beyond a doubt. The king is the supreme
judge, the general in chief, the high-priest. He ascertains the will of
the gods, who reveal themselves to him, who send him dreams, assure him
of their assistance. It is the gods, their lords, who overthrow the
enemy and the rebellious princes before them. The kings offer sacrifice
and pour libations in person, not the priests. In his palace at
Kuyundshik (p. 181) Sennacherib pours a drink-offering over four lions
which he has slain in hunting, and which lie before the altar. Other
monuments exhibit the king, with a bowl in his hand containing gifts for
the gods, or holding up a pine-apple. At the sacrifices the king wears
a peculiar priestly robe: small pictures of the sun and moon, with a
horned cap, a pitcher, and a two-pronged fork, hang from his neck: in
his hand he has a short staff. The priests serve at his side; behind the
form of the king on the monuments stand winged spirits, in expectation
or protection, at the sacrifices. Only the king wears the upright tiara
or _kidaris_; a tall conical cap, flattened at the top. He alone speaks
in the inscriptions. He frequently relates the deeds of his generals as
performed immediately by himself. Service about the person of the king
is entrusted to eunuchs, who are distinguished on the monuments by
corpulence, flat cheeks, beardless chins, and lank hair--while all
others wear long hair curling at the end, and long, carefully-trimmed
beards. Eunuchs carry the parasol and the fan of the king; they are his
butlers, and conduct into his presence those who come to pay homage or
tribute; they also perform the duties of the royal scribes. We find them
equally active as magistrates of the state; and finally we see them on
war chariots as commanders of divisions of the troops.
On the organisation of the government we have very scanty information.
The prophet Nahum speaks of the leaders and mighty men of the king of
Asshur, of the "crowned" of the Assyrians who are numerous as the
locusts, and the captains whom he compares to a swarm of
grasshoppers.[396] Ezekiel mentions the "captains and rulers of Assyria
gorgeously clothed in blue purple, horsemen riding upon horses, all of
them desirable young men."[397] From the chronicle of the Assyrian
kingdom preserved to us from the beginning of the ninth century, B.C. we
find that the years were regularly distinguished in a definite series
by the names of certain high officers. The beginning is made by the year
of Turtanu (Tartan), the chief-commander of the king; then follows the
year of the chief of the palace, the year of the Rabbitur, _i.e._
controller of the harem (or this precedes the other), the year of the
privy councillor of the king, the year of the overseer of the land, then
the years of the prefects of the cities or regions of Rezeph, Nisibis,
Arapha; and finally, the year of the prefect of the metropolis, Chalah.
The viceroys of other cities or districts,_ e.g._ of Gozan and Amida,
were sometimes prefixed to the year; in the second half of the reign of
Assurbanipal we also find the prefect of Babylon in the series of these
high officers.[398] The regular list of the officers, after whom the
year is named, and the record of the most important events which took
place in the year, placed against the name of the officer, indicate a
certain established order in the management of business. That in other
respects also records were accurately kept is shown by the inscriptions,
not only in the definite chronological statements for remote events, but
also in the continued announcements of the numbers of slain enemies, of
prisoners, of cattle taken as booty, of men and women removed and
transplanted, and tribute received in money and animals. We see on the
reliefs (at least on the monuments of the time of Sargon and after) the
scribes occupied with these enumerations; they put down their notes on
strips of leather. Short accounts of their successes by generals who
have been sent out, reviews of affairs in neighbouring states,
invariably directed to the king in person, are still in existence. The
informant as a rule refers to the detailed communications which the
messengers will make. There is also preserved a fragment of the
diplomatic correspondence between Assyria and Elam, a letter of
Ummanaldas II. of Elam concerning the descendant of Merodach Baladan,
who fled to him (p. 174), and a proclamation of Assurbanipal to the
subjects of this Nabubelzikri, that he had taken them under his
protection, and made Balibni a viceroy over them.[399]
As to the activity, the forethought, and the results of the regular
government, we only learn from the inscriptions of the kings about their
buildings, that storehouses were in existence and kept up for the booty
taken in war, and the tribute; that horses and beasts of burden were
kept for the army. If we may conclude from these lists of the years and
officers, these indications and hints, that the government of the native
land was duly arranged and discharged its functions regularly, the fact
that the army and siege apparatus were perpetually in readiness leads us
to assume an active and careful military government. The army no doubt
occupied the first place in the attention of the kings. Their warlike
activity, supported by a force always in readiness, was the only
foundation of their power beyond the borders of Asshur. Of the warriors
of Assyria Isaiah says: "They shall come with speed from the ends of the
earth; none shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber
nor sleep; neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, nor the
latchet of their shoes be broken; whose arrows are sharp and all their
bows bent; their horses' hoofs shall be counted like flint, and their
chariots like a whirlwind. They shall roar like young lions, and lay
hold of the prey, and shall carry it away safe, and none shall deliver
it."[400] According to the description of Herodotus, the Assyrians wore
brazen helmets worked in a peculiar way; cuirasses of linen, lances, and
shields and swords like the Egyptians; and besides these, war-clubs with
iron heads.[401] From the evidence of the monuments the Assyrian
infantry were divided into troops, distinguished by their clothing and
armour. The heavy-armed had conical helmets or round caps with a high
ridge and cheek-pieces, armour-coats, provided with plates or rings of
steel on the breast, or cuirasses of scale armour in the place of these
plates and rings, greaves extending from the knee to the ancle, or
scale-armour hose. Beside this they cover themselves with round or oval
shields. Their weapons of attack are the lance, and a short sword,
straight or crooked, which was carried in the belt. In addition to this
heavy infantry there were the light troops; bowmen and slingers. The
first were occasionally accompanied by shield-bearers, who carried
shields of the height of a man, and planted them before the bowmen.
The kings fought from their chariots with bow and arrows. This was the
mode of fighting of the princes and captains throughout the Semitic
warlike states. The kings of Elam and Ur and those of Erech and Babel
were no doubt the first to take the field with war-chariots; after them
the kings of Damascus and Hamath, and the princes of the Philistines.
From the Syrians the Pharaohs borrowed their royal war-chariots and the
chariots for their army. So long as the Hebrews were husbandmen and
breeders of cattle, they fought simply on foot; when they established a
monarchy we saw that the first care of the new princes was to provide
themselves with chariots of war. From the Semites this mode of fighting
spread westward, not only to Egypt but also to Asia Minor and Hellas,
and eastwards to the Indians on the Ganges. The commanders of the
Assyrian army also fought from their chariots, which at the same time
carried the standards of their divisions. The mass of chariots formed a
special portion of the Assyrian army. Beside the two pole-horses, which
are yoked, they are, as a rule, provided with a third or subsidiary
horse; on the chariot, as a rule, are three men, a charioteer, and an
archer, besides a shield-bearer, provided with coats of mail which leave
only the arms free, and scale-armour for the legs. Occasionally the
charioteer, as well as the archer, has a shield-bearer behind him.
Cavalry was not wanting in the armies of Assyria any more than in the
armies of the Pharaohs. We see numerous troops of cavalry with
well-trained horses, partly armed with the lance and partly with the
bow; partly sitting without any saddle on the bare back of the horse,
and partly provided with pack saddles. Pictures of parade-duty are not
uncommon. In these the lance is held free in the right hand, the shield
is carried under the left arm. In the camp the rows of tents are
separated by a broad gangway, in which rises the great tent of the king.
We have already seen the king seated even in the camp on a high seat,
with his bow in one hand and his arrow in the other. In the spacious
tents, the warriors kindle fire between stones and place pots thereon,
while in others the wounded are being tended on beds. We see the
Assyrian army crossing a river; the king, the chariots and the baggage
are rowed over in boats; the horses and the men swim, the latter with
the aid of inflated bladders, as is still the custom in Mesopotamia.
Other pictures exhibit ships with two rows of oars. In the battle we
see the line of the heavy-armed infantry awaiting the attack of the
enemy; the first rank kneel down with outstretched lance; the second
rank, in a somewhat crouching position, also hold the lance in rest;
while the bowmen in the third rank stand upright and shoot over the two
first ranks. Then the king, on his splendidly adorned chariot, drawn by
richly caparisoned horses, sending forth arrow upon arrow, with the
picture of Asshur the supreme deity over him, dashes upon the ranks of
the enemy. In some reliefs, the infantry, or the cavalry of the enemy,
already turned back in flight, shoot their arrows as they fly, an
artifice well understood by the cavalry of the Medes and Persians. We
also see the riders on camels defending themselves in this way in their
flight.
The greater number of reliefs exhibit the enemies of the Assyrians in
strongly fortified cities, protected by lofty walls and towers, in part
with beautifully decorated pinnacles; sometimes two or three walls rise
one behind the other. The fortresses lie on heights surrounded by
vineyards, or forests of pines and fir-trees, or on rivers by
palm-groves, where the fruits occasionally indicate the season of the
siege; in other representations the position of the enemy's city on a
river or the sea-coast is indicated by creatures of the water or the
sea, like tortoises, large fish, etc. The Assyrians knew how to throw
walls of circumvallation round the hostile city,[402] to build
besieging-towers, to undermine the walls or force their way into the
city by means of shafts under the earth.[403] But the ordinary mode of
attack was to fill up the moat and then to make a breach in the walls by
battering-rams. The battering-rams stood on wheels, and were protected
by a case covered by the skins of animals, or they were placed in the
lower story of a moveable wooden tower, the upper part of which is
occupied by archers; and the whole is then moved up on wheels to the
wall. Machines for throwing stones are also to be seen on the monuments.
When a breach is made, the infantry advance towards it under the
protection of the "tortoise." If an attempt is made to scale the walls
by ladders, the bowmen, where possible, from a covered position, such as
a wood near the walls, keep up a lively fire upon the turrets of the
wall, in order to distress the defenders and drive them from the
breastwork, while the heavy-armed plant their ladders. The besieged then
attempt to meet the storm by a shower of arrows, by throwing down stones
and firebrands. When the walls are scaled we see the besieged pledging
submission by raising their hands, the women escaping on mules or
camels, or kneeling and praying for mercy. The victors collect the
booty: arms, tripods, vessels, beds, stools; guards are set over these,
while others bring to their commanders the heads of the slain, the
number of which is taken down by the scribes. The flocks and herds of
the vanquished, camels, sheep, and goats, are driven away; the prisoners
are put in fetters and led before the king, who has ascended the throne.
Here they appear, some with heavy irons on their hands and feet, some
with the hands tied, some led by ropes, which are drawn through holes in
their lips and noses, sometimes tied in pairs, sometimes in troops,
driven forward with blows by the soldiers in charge. The king plants his
foot on the neck of a captive prince; he puts out the eyes of another
with his lance; others are impaled. Then follows the victorious return;
soldiers and music go before the king's chariot, before which, as we
already know, the heads of the slain or executed princes of the enemy
were occasionally carried.
The strength of the chief cities formed in the last resort the support
of the kingdom. The walls of these the kings of Asshur cannot have
neglected to renew and strengthen. In the inscriptions only the
buildings of Sennacherib and Assurbanipal at the walls of Nineveh are
mentioned. According to the statements of Ctesias, preserved in
Diodorus, the city of Nineveh formed a long rectangle of 480 stades (60
miles) in the circuit. The walls which inclosed this space were 100 feet
high, and were overtopped by 1500 towers of double the height.[404] A
writing of the Hebrews, which, however, is not earlier than the fourth
century B.C., maintains that the circuit of Nineveh was three days'
journey; 120,000 inhabitants lived in the city, who could not
distinguish the right hand and the left, _i.e._ children in the earliest
years of life. More important is the evidence of Nahum, from the middle
of the seventh century B.C., that "Nineveh is full of men as a pool is
full of water; her merchants are more numerous than the stars in
heaven."[405] The position of Nineveh is marked by the ruins of
Kuyundshik and Nebbi Yunus, opposite Mosul; and the remains of the outer
wall allow us to fix, with tolerable accuracy, the circuit which it
really had. As a fact it formed a long rectangle, somewhat out of the
square. On the west the course of the Tigris covered the city; the wall
on this side of the city extended along the ancient bed of the river for
13,600 feet; the wall of the longer eastern side measures 16,000 feet;
the wall of the north side is exactly 7000 feet; that on the short south
side is only half this length;[406] so that the whole circuit of the
city does not reach ten miles, _i.e._ does not reach a sixth part of
the extent given to it by Ctesias. Even if we add to this the circuit of
the strong outer ramparts which run in a double and sometimes in a
quadruple line, on the east side, from the point where the Khosr flows
into the city, as far as the stream which, emptying into the Tigris,
covered the southern front of Nineveh--even if we reckon in the city of
Sargon (Khorsabad), which lay ten good miles to the north-east of
Nineveh, on the left bank of the Khosr (p. 95), the circuit of both
cities taken together does not amount to more than 15 miles. Xenophon,
who was on the spot, and saw the walls of Nineveh still standing, gives
them a circuit of six parasangs, _i.e._ of 20 miles. According to this,
either the fortresses of Khorsabad and Nineveh were connected, and this
circuit is actually given,--or Xenophon assumes that they once were in
connection. We are hardly justified in excluding the first hypothesis.
The lower part of the walls, so Xenophon tells us, was built of smoothed
shell-stone;[407] the thickness was about 50 feet, and the height also
50 feet. On this substructure is raised the wall of bricks, which also
is 50 feet thick, but 100 feet high. Hence these walls were standing 200
years after the fall of Nineveh; with the walls of Khorsabad, though
broken by wide breaches, they were still to be traced through a circuit
of 20 miles, and reached the astounding height of 150 feet, _i.e._
higher than Ctesias puts them. The remains of the walls of Khorsabad
possess to this day a thickness of 45 feet, which agrees with Xenophon's
measure; in the walls of Nineveh the substructure of well-hewn limestone
can be traced, but the remains of the walls do not rise more than 46
feet above the present surface of the ground. If we are to venture on a
supposition about the number of the inhabitants from the extent of the
walls of Nineveh and Khorsabad--the total of the two cities, in which
the royal palaces and temples occupied a considerable space, can hardly
be put down at more than 300,000.
Twenty good miles to the south of Nineveh lay the other residence of the
kings of Asshur, Chalah, the city founded by Shalmanesar I. Chalah was
naturally even stronger than Nineveh. On the west, as at Nineveh, the
Tigris formed the protection; about seven and a half miles to the south
the greater Zab emptied into the Tigris. The course of this from the
north-east to the south-west formed on the east also an outer line of
defence, which was made still more strong by the fact that a not
inconsiderable tributary of the Zab, the Bumodus (Ghasr), which flows
from north to south, empties into the Zab about ten miles to the east of
Chalah, just before the latter unites with the Tigris. Above the mouth
of the Zab, Assurnasirpal carried a canal from that river in a northern
direction to Chalah (II. 312). The city itself formed, as has been
already remarked, a regular square, the extent of which reached about
half the circuit of Nineveh; the south-west corner of the city was
occupied by the royal palace. Xenophon gives to the walls of this "large
but desolated" city, which he calls Larissa, a circuit of two parasangs
(seven miles, nearly). The walls also were of less dimensions here.
Xenophon found the substructure of stones 20 feet high; the walls of
burnt bricks on the substructure 100 feet high; the thickness of the
walls was 25 feet.[408] Northward of Chalah, on the brook Shordere,
which flows past on the south and east of Chalah, are heaps of ruins,
extending as far as Keremles, and from this point again through the
plain as far as the district of Khorsabad. It is possible that the line
of these forts formed an outer system of defence for Nineveh and Chalah,
and that it lies at the bottom of the story of the 60 miles of circuit
of Nineveh. The same circuit is given by Herodotus for the city of
Babylon (cf. Chap. xv.). Of the third chief city, Asshur, which stood in
ancient times, as we have seen, not only before Chalah, but also before
Nineveh, nothing is left but heaps of refuse, out of which rises a
conical hill. The ruins are of brick, among which here and there are
seen some stones. The line of the old walls can still be traced. This
city also formed a square, not less, but rather longer, in circuit than
Chalah.[409]
It seems that the kings of Assyria laid less weight on the fortification
of the city of Asshur, than on the strengthening of Chalah and Nineveh.
They saw danger in the west only, from the lower Euphrates. The city of
Asshur, on the western bank of the Tigris, was exposed to attacks from
the west; Chalah and Nineveh were covered in this direction by the
Tigris, which the enemy had to cross. To make the two cities so covered
impregnable from the eastern side also was the object of the kings of
Assyria, especially of Sargon, Sennacherib, and Assurbanipal. The
thickness given to the walls of Nineveh, Khorsabad, and Chalah (25 to 50
feet), was sufficient to defy the battering-ram--the turrets, raised to
the elevation of 120 to 150 feet, were so high that the stones of the
slingers and the arrows of the bowmen could not reach them with effect,
and no scaling-ladder or besieging-tower could be set up which would
carry men to these turrets.
What Babylon possessed or acquired in science and poetry, Assyria did
not fail to appropriate, just as she used her divisions of the heavens
and the year, her weights and measures, her standard of coinage, and her
writing from all antiquity. In the ruins of Kuyundshik a great number of
tablets have been dug up,[410] copies of old Babylonian originals, which
have preserved for us the story of the Babylonians about Chasisathra
(Xisuthrus) and the great flood, about the descent of Istar to the under
world, and other narratives of a mythical character. In addition to this
are prayers and poems, with fragments apparently on cosmogonical
subjects, very difficult of interpretation, and hardly to be referred
to any definite date. Of especial value for the deciphering of the
Babylonian and Assyrian cuneiform writing are the clay tablets
discovered here, on which the cuneiform symbols are explained by
placing beside them the phonetic value of the words and inflections,
first of the Accadian, that language unknown to us, and then of
Babylonian-Assyrian.[411] The use of writing was not less extensive in
Babylonia and Assyria than in Egypt. The copious application of it for
the purposes of government and legal business has been already
mentioned. We are indebted to this for the remains of the list of years
and rulers, the synchronistic tablets of the kings of Asshur and Babel,
and a long series of private documents from the time of Bin-nirar III.
down to the overthrow of the empire. These documents, and the ambition
of the kings to retain their names in the buildings which they erected,
to set up their images wherever their armies or their dominion advanced,
to transfer to the walls of the buildings which they erected their
achievements written on cylinders or stone slabs, to adorn the walls of
their palaces with pictures of their hunts, their sieges, their
victories and triumphs, accompanied by written explanations, have
enabled us to restore, at least in its main lines, the lost history of
Assyria--a history of which the Greeks have left and could only leave to
us the fact that a kingdom of this name existed, and was the foremost
power in Hither Asia, along with echoes of Medo-Persian songs about
Ninus, Semiramis, and Sardanapalus--from which the Hebrews have retained
no more than the names and the acts of the rulers who made their
influence most deeply felt in the fortunes of Israel. Yet even the
inscriptions of the kings of Asshur do not give us the history of
Assyria undefiled. But whatever care they took to represent their
successes in the most brilliant light possible--here and there we are
driven to the attempt to bring back these accounts to the fact--they are
far removed from the extravagance and the voluble assertions of the
inscriptions of the Pharaohs. The far more realistic and historical
sense of the Assyrians is stamped in their monuments and inscriptions.
As they allow us to see, year by year, the activity, the untiring
perseverance, and warlike skill of the Assyrian nation and its princes,
even though they magnify their successes--so too the reverse side of
these qualities is brought into prominence; the fierce cruelty, the
bloody savagery which the conquered had to undergo. The kings constantly
boast of the punishments they have inflicted, and appear more than once
to exaggerate them.
The rivalry of the long series of the rulers of Assyria in building
temples and palaces, which begins with the oldest period of the realm,
after the pattern of Babylonia, has preserved for us no inconsiderable
remains of Assyrian arts, and ocular evidence of the industry and mode
of life, of the character and manners of the Assyrians--not indeed in
the breadth and unbroken succession of development in which the
monuments and the inexhaustible sepulchres on the Nile have retained the
picture of ancient Egypt. For monuments of plastic art, the ruins of
Erech, and Ur, and of Babylon, have been investigated almost in vain.
The ruins of Nineveh and Chalah have preserved a considerable series of
works of sculpture. If in the ruins of Babylon, with the exception of
outlines on seals or other cylinders, there is scarcely a single image
of a god preserved, there have been discovered at Nineveh some statues
of gods, and innumerable pictures in relief of gods and demons, on the
slabs of the palaces. The most frequent object on these is the image of
the god Asshur. On a bearded human head, of grave aspect, the god wears
a round cap or a helmet, round which are horns; the figure extends only
to the knees; it is surrounded by a winged disk to which, from the knees
of the god downwards, are attached the tail-feathers of a bird. In
battle-pictures the breast of the god is clothed with a cuirass of
steel-plates; his bow is in his hand; he shoots his arrows against the
enemies of his nation. On the pictures representing a victorious return,
and the seal-cylinders of the kings, the bow rests in the hands of the
god. Nebo, the god of the planet Mercury (I. 267), is exhibited in
standing images, with long beard and bared breast; the robe descends
from the breast. Of a statue of Istar, in her old temple at Nineveh, we
have at the least the head.[412] The god Bin also is to be seen on
cylinders; he holds the trident of his lightning in his hand, a pointed
cap is on his head; his robe falls, not from the shoulders, but only
from the hips down to his ancles. The moon god Sin is seen on Assyrian
cylinders in a long robe, with a long beard, standing on a half-moon; a
second half-moon rises above the tall covering of his head. In a figure
swimming in water, with a round horned cap on the head, and ending in
the body of a fish from the hips downwards, we may no doubt recognise
Dagon. The cylinders most frequently exhibit a sun's disk by the side of
the images of Asshur, the crescent and seven stars.[413] On the slabs of
stone which exhibit to us the forms of the kings, symbolical indications
of the chief deities are visible to the left of the kings; we see the
sun, the moon, a horned cap, and a winged disk, perhaps the symbol of
the god Asshur. In the reliefs winged demons are often to be seen. They
wear the high round cap, out of which rise four united bull's horns:
occasionally the head is uncovered, and then it is surrounded merely
with the narrow fillet of the priests; the arms and thighs are always
uncovered. These forms also are frequently found in pairs, guarding the
entrance to rooms; at times standing or kneeling in an attitude of
blessing or prayer, on both sides of a wonderfully-shaped and adorned
tree. In the same way two eagle-headed genii often stand opposite each
other. Human figures, clothed in royal attire, with the head and wings
of an eagle, are often found. Walking figures of lions with eagle heads
and wings, or the back of a man on the legs of a bird surmounted by a
lion's head, are found. The gates of the temples and palaces are guarded
by winged bulls and lions with human heads. These are always placed in
pairs. The height of these images ranges from 10 to 18 feet. At the
point where the long, richly-worked wings, which are thrown far back,
are joined to the shoulders, rises a grave and solemn countenance, with
a strong beard, sometimes wearing a cap, sometimes a tall tiara, round
which wind four bull's horns. These figures stand at times entirely
detached before the entrance; in others the fore part and fore legs
alone are free from the pilasters of the doors, and the figure is
continued in relief on the side of the pilaster.
Plastic art in Assyria is less forced and typical in the lines, forms,
and figures, than plastic art on the Nile: it is not fettered by the
unchangeable laws of Egyptian art; it is less solemn, and free from the
tiresome parallelism of the Egyptian forms. The sculpture of Assyria is
more significant and vigorous. Not tied down by the hieratic style, like
the Egyptian, it also works for the most part in the softer material of
limestone, while the Egyptians prefer granite, the hardest of all
materials. The Assyrians do not strive after the gigantic and colossal
forms of Egypt: the dimensions even of the colossal bulls and lions are
on a more moderate scale. Far more naïve, they conceive of life more
freshly, fully, and powerfully, and aim far more at a true
representation of life than the Egyptian. Egypt prefers the sunk,
Assyria the raised picture. On the Nile the outline is the chief object:
in Assyria the forms are always modelled full, strong, and round, with
energetic expression of the limbs, and muscular to an excess. The
movement is more vigorous and full of expression than in Egypt, without,
however, sacrificing repose and fixedness, and without destroying
dignity in the representation of ceremonies. The feet of the figures
exhibit the Egyptian position in profile, but the upper part of the body
is full, rounded, and closely compressed. The tall and thin forms of
Egypt are not to be found in the monuments of Assyria. The clothing is
heavy; the position and expression of the face is far more varied than
in Egypt. The animals are represented plump and full of life, often with
startling truth even in the most rapid motion; though not unfrequently
with great exaggeration in the muscles. The great guardians of the
portals exhibit a beautiful effect in the contrast of their mighty
animal energy, and the quiet dignity of their human faces. Great
practice in the treatment of the forms can hardly be mistaken anywhere;
in spite of the dimensions, often colossal, the proportions are
correctly preserved; and the larger pictures of camps, battles, and
marches, if not better than those of Egypt, are more various and free in
composition. Within the sphere of Assyrian art we are in a position to
establish a certain distinction, a progress of some importance. The
figures in the palaces of Assurnasirpal and Shalmanesar II., the two
great princes of the ninth century B.C., are stronger and thicker, more
coarse, violent, and exaggerated than the reliefs in the buildings of
Sargon. In the century which passed since that time the plastic art of
Assyria obviously made technical advances, and attained a more delicate
treatment and greater regularity in the exposition. Later still, at the
height of its development, Assyrian art is seen in the figures of the
great palace of Nineveh (Kuyundshik), which Sennacherib, Esarhaddon, and
Assurbanipal built in succession (p. 181).
The architecture of Assyria was not essentially different from that of
Babylonia. The Assyrians had brought with them from the lower Euphrates
the habit of building in bricks, and continued to use this style, though
harder material lay at a less distance from them than from the cities
of the Babylonian plain. The temples and the palaces of Asshur, Nineveh,
and Chalah consisted for the most part of unburnt brick-slabs, dried in
the sun and mixed with straw. This material made it necessary here, as
in Babylonia, to make the walls stout, which was also advisable owing to
the summer heat. The thickness varies between five and fifteen feet. The
stone for the substructure and casing, mostly limestone and shell-stone,
was quarried in the adjacent mountains. The buildings were roofed by
beams extending from wall to wall: by this necessity the breadth of the
rooms was limited. As a rule these are narrow, and the want of breadth
is compensated by length. These are the dimensions of the porticoes and
galleries which we can trace in the remains of the royal palaces: the
great portico of the palace of king Assurnasirpal at Chalah (II. 313)
has only a breadth of 35 feet, with a length of 154 feet; the porticoes
in the palace of Kuyundshik are from 150 to 180 feet long, and 40 feet
in width; the great gallery is only 25 feet broad, but more than 200
feet in length. Yet in the palace of king Sargon at Khorsabad, remains
of the bases of pillars have been found. The application of the
brick-vaulted roof in the form of pointed and round arches is shown in
the narrow passage in the building of Shalmanesar II. at Chalah (II.
323), and in some remains of door-arches at Khorsabad. The pictures of
cities in relief also occasionally exhibit arched gateways. The
sculptures in the stone slabs of white, grey, and yellow limestone or
alabaster, which cover the walls and chambers to a height of 10 or 12
feet, were painted, as is shown by numerous traces of colour upon
them.[414] The walls of the chambers above the sculptures, where they
did not make way for window lights, were decked with burnt and glazed
tiles, sometimes coloured and enamelled; the beams of the roofs were
adorned with carved work of wood and ivory, with plates of gold and
silver, and precious stones.[415] The outer walls of the palaces must
also have been cased with slabs of stone.
The wealth of Nineveh is called endless by the prophet Nahum. He
mentions the abundance of carved and molten images, of costly vessels in
the "house of their god." The monuments exhibit not only the "carved"
images; beside many actual remains, they prove that costly furniture was
in extensive use in the temples, at the court, and among the great
officers of Assyria. The tables, stools, seats, drinking-vessels, vases,
harness and bridles of horses, shown in the reliefs of the palace, are
wrought with great delicacy and with good taste. The yokes of the
chariots, the bows and bow-covers, exhibit very delicate carved work. On
the robes of the kings we see groups of wild animals inwoven, partly
real in form, as lions, partly mythical, like scenes of hunting and war.
The ear-drops, which the kings and other persons of distinction wear,
the bands round the arms and wrists, are of artistic work, and generally
closed by the heads of lions, rams, and bulls; the weapons also, the
handles and sheaths of the swords and daggers, must have been finished
with great care and neatness, and in an excellent style. The not
inconsiderable number of vessels of copper and bronze, of pitchers,
stained glass, ivory articles, necklaces, armrings, and eardrops, which
have been preserved in the ruins, prove that the monuments represent the
possession of the Assyrians, without exaggeration of their beauty, that
Assyria, besides what was brought to her by trade, possessed a school
of artisans long trained in the art, and excellently taught, without
which such great and excellent works in architecture and sculpture would
have been impossible. Of the tombs of the Assyrians few have been opened
as yet. The coffins, like those in the Babylonian sepulchres, are narrow
and small, and only contain skeletons, with bands on the arms and neck,
and some simple clay vessels beside the coffins.[416]
FOOTNOTES:
[395] Ezek. xxi. 3-9.
[396] Nahum iii. 17, 18.
[397] Ezek. xxiii. 6, 12.
[398] E. Schrader, "Z. D. M. G." 25, 449 ff.; G. Smith, "Assyrian
Canon;" Vol. II. p. 328, and above, p. 171, _note_.
[399] G. Smith, "Assurb." p. 252.
[400] Isaiah v. 26-29.
[401] Herod. 7, 63.
[402] Isaiah xxxvii. 33; cf. 2 Kings xix. 32; above, p. 127.
[403] Layard, "Nineveh," p. 378.
[404] Vol. II. p. 4.
[405] Nahum ii. 9; iii. 16.
[406] G. Rawlinson, "Monarchies," 1^2, p. 254 ff.
[407] Lyell, 'Elements of Geology,' ed. 3. p. 368.
[408] Xenoph. "Anab." 3, 4, 7-9.
[409] Layard, "Nineveh and its Remains," 2, 44.
[410] The so-called Archive of Assurbanipal in chambers 40 and 41 on
Layard's plan.
[411] Lénormant, "Etudes Accadiennes," 1, 3, p. 67 ff.; E. Schrader,
"Jen. Lit. Z." 4th April, 1874.
[412] G. Smith, "Disc." p. 248.
[413] G. Rawlinson, "Monarchies," 2^2, 16, 17; Layard, "Mon." Pl. 69
_note_, 45, 47, 48.
[414] Ezekiel also supports this, xxiii. 14, 15.
[415] Layard, _loc. cit._ p. 327, 328.
[416] Layard, _loc. cit._ p. 304.