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THE 
 
 FIVE GREAT MONARCHIES 
 
 OF THE 
 
 ANCIENT EASTERN WORLD; 
 
 OR, 
 
 THE HISTORY, GEOGRAPHY, AND ANTIQUITIES OF CHALDEA, 
 ASSYRIA, BABYLON, MEDIA, AND PERSIA, 
 
 COLLECTED AND ILLUSTRATED FROM ANCIENT AND MODERN SOURCES. 
 
 By GEORGE RAWLINSON, M.A., 
 
 CAMDEN PROFESSOR OF ANCIENT II1STORY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD; 
 LATE FELLOW AND TUTOR OF EXETER COLLEGE. 
 
 SECOND EDITION. 
 
 IN THREE VOLUMES.— Yol. I. 
 
 WITH MAPS AND ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 
 
 1871 . 
 
LONDON : 
 
 PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET 
 AND CHARING CROSS. 
 
re-co-t ( 30(3 C 
 
 <?3 5 
 R l?-F 
 1*71 
 
 S' v. i 
 
 ^ Cojo.t 
 
 *— £ *■ * ' " p j ..c/ v -4- w *> .. Sf » . 
 
 TO MY BROTHER, 
 
 HENRY CRESWICKE RAWLINSON, K.C.B., D.C.L., 
 
 &c. &c. &c., 
 
 TO WHOSE GENIUS, LABOURS, AND CONSTANT KINDNESS 
 I FEEL MYSELF INDEBTED 
 MORE THAN I CAN EXPRESS, 
 
 THIS WORK 
 IS DEDICATED, 
 
 AS A SMALL TOKEN 
 
 OF GRATEFUL AND AFFECTIONATE REMEMBRANCE. 
 
 
PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 
 
 In preparing for the press, after an interval of seven years, a 
 second edition of this work, the author has found it unnecessary 
 to make, excepting in two chapters, any important or extensive 
 alterations. The exceptions are the chapters on the History 
 and Chronology of Chaldaea and Assyria. So much fresh light 
 has been thrown on these two subjects by additional discoveries, 
 made partly by Sir Henry Rawlinson, partly by his assistant, 
 Mr. George Smith, through the laborious study of fragmentary 
 inscriptions now in the British Museum, that many pages of 
 the two chapters in question required to be written afresh, and 
 the Chronological Schemes required, in the one case a com- 
 plete, and in the other a partial, revision. In making this 
 revision, both of the Chronology and the History, the author 
 has received the most valuable assistance, both from the pub- 
 lished papers and from the private communications of Mr. 
 Smith — an assistance for which he desires to make in this place 
 the warmest and most hearty acknowledgment. He is also 
 beholden to a recent Eastern traveller, Mr. A. I). Berrington, 
 for some valuable notes on the physical geography and pro- 
 ductions of Mesopotamia, which have been embodied in the 
 accounts given of those subjects. A few corrections have like- 
 wise been made of errors pointed out by anonymous critics. 
 Substantially, however, the work continues such as it was on 
 its first appearance, the author having found that time only 
 deepened his conviction of the reality of cuneiform decipher- 
 ment, and of the authenticity of the history obtained by means 
 of it. 
 
 Oxford , November , 1870. 
 
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION. 
 
 The history of Antiquity requires from time to time to be 
 re-written. Historical knowledge continually extends, in part 
 from the advance of critical science, which teaches us little by 
 little the true value of ancient authors, but also, and more 
 especially, from the new discoveries which the enterprise of 
 travellers and the patient toil of students are continually 
 bringing to light, whereby the stock of our information as to 
 the condition of the ancient world receives constant augmen- 
 tation. The extremest scepticism cannot deny that recent 
 researches in Mesopotamia and the adjacent countries have 
 recovered a series of “monuments” belonging to very early 
 times, capable of throwing considerable light on the Antiquities 
 of the nations which produced them. The author of these 
 volumes believes, that, together with these remains, the lan- 
 guages of the ancient nations have been to a large extent 
 recovered, and that a vast mass of written historical matter 
 of a very high value is thereby added to the materials at the 
 Historian’s disposal. This is, clearly, not the place where so 
 difficult and complicated a subject can be properly argued. 
 The author is himself content with the judgment of “ experts,” 
 and believes it would be as difficult to impose a fabricated 
 language on Professor Lassen of Bonn and Professor Max Muller 
 of Oxford, as to palm off a fictitious for a real animal form on 
 Professor Owen of London. The best linguists in Europe have 
 accepted the decipherment of the cuneiform inscriptions as a 
 thing actually accomplished. Until some good linguist, having 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 Vll 
 
 carefully examined into the matter, declares himself of a con- 
 trary opinion, the author cannot think that any serious doubt 
 rests on the subject.* 
 
 The present volumes aim at accomplishing for the Five 
 Nations of which they treat what Movers and Kenrick have 
 accomplished for Phoenicia, or (still more exactly) what Wilkin- 
 son has accomplished for Ancient Egypt. Assuming the inter- 
 pretation of the historical inscriptions as, in general, sufficiently 
 ascertained, and the various ancient remains as assigned on 
 sufficient grounds to certain peoples and epochs, they seek to 
 unite with our previous knowledge of the five nations, whether 
 derived from Biblical or classical sources, the new information 
 obtained from modern discovery. They address themselves in 
 a great measure to the eye ; and it is hoped that even those 
 who doubt the certainty of the linguistic discoveries in which 
 the author believes, will admit the advantage of illustrating the 
 life of the ancient peoples by representations of their produc- 
 tions. Unfortunately, the materials of this kind which recent 
 explorations have brought to light are very unequally spread 
 among the several nations of which it is proposed to treat, and, 
 even where they are most copious, fall short of the abundance 
 of Egypt. Still, in every case there is some illustration pos- 
 sible ; and in one — Assyria — both the “ Arts ” and the “ Manners ” 
 of the people admit of being illustrated very largely from the 
 remains still extant.t 
 
 The Author is bound to express his obligations to the follow- 
 ing writers, from whose published works he has drawn freely : — 
 MM. Botta and Elandin, Mr. Layard, Mr. James Fergusson, 
 
 * Some writers allow that the Persian cuneiform inscriptions have been success- 
 fully deciphered and interpreted, hut appear to doubt the interpretation of the 
 Assyrian records. (See Edinburgh Review for July, 1862, Art. III., p. 108.) Are 
 they a\#are that the Persian inscriptions are accompanied in almost every instance 
 by an Assyrian transcript, and that Assyrian interpretation thus follows upon 
 Persian, without involving any additional “guess-work”? 
 f See Chapters VI. and VII. of the Second Monarchy. 
 
Vlll 
 
 PEEFACE. 
 
 Mr. Loftus, Mr. Cullimore, and Mr. Birch. He is glad to take 
 this occasion of acknowledging himself also greatly beholden to 
 the constant help of his brother, Sir Henry Rawlinson, and 
 to the liberality of Mr. Vaux, of the British Museum. The 
 latter gentleman kindly placed at his disposal, for the purposes 
 of the present work, the entire series of unpublished drawings 
 made by the artists who accompanied Mr. Loftus in the last 
 Mesopotamian Expedition, besides securing him undisturbed 
 access to the Museum sculptures, thus enabling him to enrich 
 the present volume with a large number of most interesting 
 Illustrations never previously given to the public. In the sub- 
 joined list these illustrations are carefully distinguished from 
 such as, in one shape or another, have appeared previously. 
 
 Oxford, September, 1862 . 
 
CONTENTS OF VOL. I, 
 
 THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 CHALDEA. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Page 
 
 General View of the Country 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Climate and Productions 28 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The People 43 
 
 CHAPTER IY. 
 
 Language and Writing 61 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Arts and Sciences 70 
 
 CHAPTER YI. 
 
 Manners and Customs 105 
 
 CHAPTER YII. 
 
 Religion HO 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 History and Chronology 149 
 
X 
 
 CONTENTS OF VOL. I. 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 ASSYRIA. 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 Page 
 
 Description of the Country 180 
 
 CHAPTEE II. 
 
 Climate and Productions 210 
 
 CHAPTEE III. 
 
 The People .. 236 
 
 CHAPTEE IY. 
 
 The Capital 248 
 
 CHAPTEE Y. 
 
 Language and Writing 262 
 
 CHAPTEE YI. 
 
 Architecture and other Arts 277 
 
 CHAPTEE VII. 
 
 Manners and Customs 406 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 9. 
 
 10 . 
 
 11 . 
 
 12 . 
 
 13. 
 
 14. 
 
 15. 
 
 16. 
 
 17. 
 
 18. 
 
 19. 
 
 20 . 
 21 . 
 22 . 
 
 23. 
 
 24. 
 
 25. 
 
 26. 
 
 27. 
 
 28. 
 
 29. 
 
 30. 
 
 31. 
 
 32. 
 
 33. 
 
 34. 
 
 35. 
 
 36. 
 
 Page 
 
 Plan of Mugheir Ruins (after Taylor) 17 
 
 Ruins of Warka (Erech) (after Loftus) 19 
 
 Akkerkuf (after Ker Porter ) 22 
 
 Hammam (after Loftus) 23 
 
 Tel-Ede (ditto) 23 
 
 Palms (after Oppert) 34 
 
 Chaldsean reeds, from an Assyrian sculpture (after Layard) 37 
 
 Wild sow and pigs, from Koyunjik ( Layard) • . • • • 40 
 
 Ethiopians (after Prichard) ** ° 3 
 
 Cuneiform inscriptions ( drawn by the Author from bricks in the British 
 
 Museum) 63 > 64 
 
 Chaldaean tablet (after Layard) 68 
 
 Signet-cylinder (after Ker Porter) 69 
 
 Bowariyeh (after Loftus) 74 
 
 Mugheir Temple (ditto) 76 
 
 Ground-plan of ditto (ditto) J 8 
 
 Mugheir Temple, restored (by the Author) .. .. 79 
 
 Terra cotta cone, actual size (after Loftus) 82 
 
 Plan and wall of building patterned with cones (after Loftus) 83 
 
 Ground-plan of chambers excavated at Abu-Shahrein (after Taylor) . . . . 84 
 
 Brick vault at Mugheir (ditto) • • • • 88 
 
 Chaldaean dish-cover tombs (ditto) 88 
 
 Chaldaean jar-coffin (ditto) 89 
 
 Section of drain (ditto) 99 
 
 Chaldaean vases of the first period (drawn by the Author from vases in the 
 
 British Museum) 9 1 
 
 Chaldaean vases, drinking-vessels, and amphora of the second period (ditto) 91 
 
 Chaldaean lamps of the second period (ditto) 92 
 
 Seal-cylinder on metal axis (drawn and partly restored by the Author) .. 93 
 
 Signet-cylinder of King Urukh (after Ker Porter) 94 
 
 Flint knives (drawn by the Author from the originals in the British 
 
 Museum) 93 
 
 Stone hammer, hatchet, adze, and nail (chiefly after Taylor) 96 
 
 Chaldaean bronze spear and arrow heads (drawn by the Author from the 
 
 originals in the British Museum) 98 
 
 Bronze implements (ditto) 97 
 
 Flint implement (after Taylor) 97 
 
 Ear-rings (drawn by the Author from the originals in the British Museum) 98 
 
 Leaden pipe and jar (ditto) 98 
 
 Bronze bangles (ditto) 99 
 
xii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Page 
 
 37. Senkareh Table of Squares • • 103 
 
 38. Costumes of Chaldasans from the cylinders (after Cullimore and Rich ) . . 106 
 
 39. Serpent symbol (after Cullimore) 122 
 
 40. Symbols of the Moon-God (ditto) 125 
 
 41. Symbols of the Sun-God (ditto) 128 
 
 42. Symbols of the Sun-Goddess (ditto) 129 
 
 43. Flaming sword (ditto) . . . . 130 
 
 44. Figure of Nin, the Fish-God (Layard) . . .. 132 
 
 45. Nin’s emblem, the Man-Bull (ditto) 133 
 
 46. Fish symbols (after Cullimore ) 133 
 
 47. Bel-Merodach (ditto) 135 
 
 48. Nergal’s emblem, the Man-Lion ( Layard ) 137 
 
 49. 50. Clay images of Ishtar (after Cullimore and Layard) 139, 140 
 
 51. Nebo ( drawn by the Author from a statue in the British Museum) . . . . 141 
 
 52. Signet of Kurri-galzu, King of Babylon ( drawn by the Author from an im- 
 
 pression in the possession of Sir H. Rawlinson) .. .. 170 
 
 53. The Khabour, from near Arban, looking north (after Layard) 187 
 
 54. Koukab (ditto) 132 
 
 55. Lake of Khatouniyeh (ditto) .. 120 
 
 56. Colossal lion, near Seruj (after Chesney) 197 
 
 57. Plan of the ruins at Nimrud (Calah) (reduced by the Author from Captain 
 
 Jones’s survey) 200 
 
 58. Great mound of Nimrud or Cal ah (after Zaf/ard) .. .. 202 
 
 59. Hand-swipe, Koyunjik (ditto) 215 
 
 60. Assyrian lion, from Nimrud (ditto) 220 
 
 61. Ibex, or wild goat, from Nimrud (ditto) 221 
 
 62. Wild ass (after Ker Porter) •• •• 222 
 
 63. Leopard, from Nimrud (after Layard) 223 
 
 64. Wild ass, from Koyunjik (from an unpublished drawing by Mr. Boutcher 
 
 in the British Museum) 223 
 
 65. Gazelle, from Nimrud (after Layard) 224 
 
 66. Stag and hind, from Koyunjik (from an unpublished drawing by Mr. 
 
 Boutcher in the British Museum) 224 
 
 67. Fallow deer, from Koyunjik (after Layard) 225 . 
 
 68. Hare and eagles, from Nimrud (ditto) 225 
 
 69. Hare, from Khorsabad (after Botta) 226 
 
 70. Chase of wild ox, from Nimrud (after Layard) 227 
 
 71. Vulture, from Nimrud (ditto) 228 
 
 72. Vulture feeding on corpse, Koyunjik (ditto) • • 228 
 
 73. Ostrich, from a cylinder (after Cullimore) 228 
 
 74. Ostrich, from Nimrud (after Layard) 228 
 
 75. Partridges, from Khorsabad (after Botta) 228 
 
 76. Unknown birds, Khorsabad (ditto) 229 
 
 77. Assyrian garden and fish-pond, Koyunjik (after Layard) 229 
 
 78. Bactrian or two-humped camel, from Nimrud (ditto) 230 
 
 79. Mesopotamian sheep (ditto) 230 
 
 80. Loadings camel, Koyunjik (ditto) 231 
 
 81. Head of an Assyrian horse, Koyunjik (ditto) 231 
 
 82. Assyrian horse, from Nimrud (ditto) 232 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. xiii 
 
 Page 
 
 83. Mule ridden by two women, Ivoyunjik (after Layard ) 233 
 
 84. Loaded mule, Koyunjik (ditto) 233 
 
 85. Cart drawn by mules, Koyunjik (ditto) 234 
 
 86. Dog modelled in clay, from the palace of Asshur-bani-pal, Koyunjik ( drawn 
 
 by the Author from the original in the British Museum) 234 
 
 87. Dog in relief, on a clay tablet (after Layard ) • • 235 
 
 88. Assyrian duck, Nimrud (ditto) 235 
 
 89. Assyrians, Nimrud (ditto) 238 
 
 90. Mesopotamian captives, from an Egyptian monument ( Wilkinson ) . . . . 238 
 
 91. Limbs of Assyrians, from the Sculptures (after Layard ) 240 
 
 92. Capture of a city, Nimrud (ditto) 242 
 
 93. Captives of Sargon, Khorsabad (after Botta) 243 
 
 94. Captive women in a cart, Nimrud (Layard) 243 
 
 95. Ruins of Niniveh ( reduced by the Author from Captain Jones’s survey) . . 253 
 
 96. Khosr-Su and mound of Nebbi-Yunus (after Layard) 255 
 
 97. Gate in the north wall, Nineveh (ditto) 258 
 
 98. Outer defences of Nineveh, in their present condition (ditto) 260 
 
 99. Assyrian cylinder (after Birch) 263 
 
 100. Assyrian seals (after Layard) 264 
 
 101. Assyrian clay tablets (ditto) 265 
 
 102. Black Obelisk, from Nimrud (after Birch) 266 
 
 103. Terrace-wall at Khorsabad (after Botta) 278 
 
 104. Pavement-slab, from the Northern Palace, Koyunjik (Fergusson) .. .. 279 
 
 105. Mound of Khorsabad (ditto) 280 
 
 106. Plan of the Palace of Sargon, Khorsabad (ditto) 281 
 
 107. Hall of Esar-haddon’s Palace, Nimrud (ditto) 283 
 
 108. Plan of the Palace of Sargon, Khorsabad (ditto) 287 
 
 109. Remains of Propylasum, or outer gateway, Khorsabad (Layard) .. .. 288 
 
 110. King and attendants, Khorsabad (after Botta) 290 
 
 111. Plan of palace gateway (ditto) 291 
 
 112. King punishing prisoners, Khorsabad (ditto) 292 
 
 113. North-West Court of Sargon’s Palace at Khorsabad, restored (after Fer- 
 
 gusson) 293 
 
 114. Sargon in his war-chariot, Khorsabad (after Botta) 294 
 
 115. Cornice of temple, Khorsabad (Fergusson) 296 
 
 116. Armenian louvre (after Botta) 304 
 
 117. Armenian buildings, from Koyunjik (Layard) 305 
 
 118. Interior of an Assyrian palace, restored (ditto) 306 
 
 119. Assyrian castle on Nimrud obelisk (drawn by the Author from the original 
 
 in the British Museum) 308 
 
 120. Assyrian altar, from a bas-relief, Khorsabad (after Botta) 308 
 
 121. Assyrian temple, Khorsabad (ditto) 309 
 
 122. Assyrian temple, from Lord Aberdeen’s black stone (after Fergusson) .. 309 
 
 123. Assyrian temple, Nimrud (drawn by the Author from the original in the 
 
 British Museum) 310 
 
 124. Assyrian temple, North Palace, Koyunjik (ditto) 310 
 
 125. Circular pillar-base, Koyunjik (after Layard) 311 
 
 126. Basement portion of an Assyrian temple, North Palace, Koyunjik (drawn 
 
 by the Author from the original in the British Museum) 312 
 
xiv LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Page 
 
 127. Porch of the Cathedral, Trent (from an original sketch made by the 
 
 ## ulO 
 
 Author) •• •• •• * * * * 31.4: 
 
 128. Tower of a temple, Koyunjik (after Layard) ^ 
 
 129. Tower of ditto, restored (by the Author ) 
 
 130. Tower of Great Temple at Nimrud (after Layard ) . . • • 
 
 131. Basement of temple-tower, Nimrud, north and west sides (ditto) .. - 316 
 
 132. Ground-plan of Nimrud Tower (ditto) - 319 
 
 133. Ground-plans of temples, Nimrud (ditto) 
 
 134. Entrance to smaller temple, Nimrud (ditto) ^ 
 
 135. Assyrian village, Koyunjik (ditto) ^ 
 
 136. Village near Aleppo (ditto) ^ 
 
 137. Assyrian hattlemented wall (ditto) .. _ 
 
 138. Masonry and section of platform wall, Khorsabad (after Botta) 
 
 139. Masonry of town-wall, Khorsabad (ditto) 32? 
 
 140. Masonry of tower or moat, Khorsabad (ditto) 
 
 141. Arched drain, North-West Palace, Nimrud (after Layard) ™ 
 
 142. Arched drain, South-East Palace, Nimrud (ditto) ^ 
 
 143. False arch (Greek) .. 
 
 144. Assyrian patterns, Nimrud (Layard) ^ 
 
 145 ' Ditto (ditto) •• ~ 
 
 146. Bases and capitals of pillars (chiefly draun by the Author from bas-rel.efe^ ^ 
 
 in the British Museum) * *' . , , ’ 
 
 147 Ornamental doorway, North Palace, Koyunjik (from an unpublished 
 drawing by Mr. Boutcher in the British Museum) • • • * 
 
 148. Water transport of stone for building, Koyunjik (after Layard) . . •• d38 
 
 149. Assyrian statue from Kileh-Sherghat (ditto) 
 
 150. Statue of Sardanapalus I., from Nimrud (ditto) 
 
 151. Clay statuettes of the god Nebo (after Botta) .. •• “ 
 
 152. Clay statuette of the Fish-God (drawn by the Author from the original in ^ 
 
 the British Museum) " 
 
 153. Clay statuette from Khorsabad (after Botta) ^ 
 
 154. Lion-hunt, from Nimrud (after Layard) 
 
 155. Assyrian seizing a wild bull, Nimrud (ditto) 
 
 156. Hawk-headed figure and sphinx, Nimrud (ditto) ^ 
 
 157. Death of a wild bull, Nimrud (ditto) ^ 
 
 158. King killing a lion, Nimrud (ditto) 34g 
 
 159. Trees from Nimrud (ditto) ^ 
 
 160. Trees from Koyunjik (ditto) ^ ~ • • 35Q 
 
 161. Groom and horses, Khorsabad (ditto) ^ 
 
 162. 163. Assyrian oxen, Koyunjik (ditto)^ ^ 
 
 164. Assyrian goat and sheep, Koyunjik (ditto) .. •• •• “ *! V 
 
 165. Vine trained on a fir, from the North Palace, Koyunjik ( drawn by the 
 
 Author from a bas-relief in the British Museum) 
 
 166. Lilies, from the North Palace, Koyunjik (ditto) .. - •• ■ 
 
 167. Death of two wild asses, from the North Palace, Koyunjik (from an un- 
 
 published drawing by Mr. Boutcher in the British Museum) 355 
 
 168. Lion about to spring, from the North Palace, Koyunjik (ditto) •• • • •• * J 
 
 169. Wounded wild ass, seized by hounds, from the North Palace, hoyunji ^ 
 
 (ditto) 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 XV 
 
 Page 
 
 170. Wounded lion, about to fall, from the North Palace, Koyunjik (from an 
 
 unpublished drawing by Mr. Boutcher, in the British Museum) .. .. 357 
 
 171. Wounded lion biting a chariot-wheel, from the North Palace, Koyunjik 
 
 (ditto) 358 
 
 172. King shooting a lion on the spring, from the North Palace, Koyunjik (ditto) 359 
 
 173. Lion-hunt in a river, from the North Palace, Koyunjik (ditto) 361 
 
 174. Bronze lion, from Nimrud (after Layard) 365 
 
 175. Fragments of bronze ornaments of the throne, from Nimrud (ditto) .. .. 365 
 
 176. Bronze casting, from the throne, Nimrud (ditto) 366 
 
 177. Feet of tripods in bronze and iron (ditto) .. 367 
 
 178. Bronze bull’s head from the throne (ditto) 367 
 
 179. Bronze head, part of throne, showing bitumen inside (ditto) 367 
 
 180. End of a sword-sheath, from the N. W. Palace, Nimrud (ditto) 368 
 
 181. Stool or chair, Khorsabad (after Botta ) 368 
 
 182. Engraved scarab in centre of cup, from the N. W. Palace, Nimrud ( Layard ) 368 
 
 183. Egyptian head-dresses on bronze dishes, from Nimrud (ditto) 369 
 
 184. Ear-rings from Nimrud and Khorsabad (ditto) 371 
 
 185. Bronze cubes inlaid with gold, original size (ditto) 372 
 
 186. Egyptian scarab (from Wilkinson) 372 
 
 187. Fragment of ivory panel, from Nimrud (after Layard) 373 
 
 188. Fragment of a lion in ivory, Nimrud (ditto) 373 
 
 189. Figures and cartouche with hieroglyphics, on an ivory panel, from the N. W. 
 
 Palace, Nimrud (ditto) . . . . 374 
 
 190. Fragment of a stag in ivory, Nimrud (ditto) 375 
 
 191. Royal attendant, Nimrud (ditto) 376 
 
 192. Arcade work, on enamelled Jbrick, Nimrud (ditto) 377 
 
 193. Human figure, on enamelled brick, from Nimrud (ditto) 379 
 
 194. Ram’s head, on enamelled brick, from Nimrud (ditto) 379 
 
 195. King and attendants, on enamelled brick, from Nimrud (ditto) 380 
 
 196. Impression of ancient Assyrian cylinder, in serpentine (ditto) 382 
 
 197. Assyrian seals (ditto) 383 
 
 198. Assyrian cylinder, with the Fish-God (ditto) 383 
 
 199. Royal cylinder of Sennacherib (ditto) 383 
 
 200. Assyrian vases, amphorae, &c. (after Birch) 386 
 
 201. Funereal urn, from Khorsabad (after Botta) 386 
 
 202. Nestorian and Arab workmen, with jar discovered at Nimrud ( Layard ) . . 387 
 
 203. Lustral ewer, from a bas-relief, Khorsabad (after Botta) 387 
 
 204. Wine vase, from a bas-relief, Khorsabad (ditto) 388 
 
 205. Assyrian clay-lamps (after Layard and Birch) 388 
 
 206. Amphora, with twisted arms, Nimrud (Birch) 389 
 
 207. Assyrian glass bottles and bowl (after Layard) 389 
 
 208. Glass vase, bearing the name of Sargon, from Nimrud (ditto) 390 
 
 209. Fragments of hollow tubes, in glass, from Koyunjik (ditto) 391 
 
 210. Ordinary Assyrian tables, from the bas-reliefs (by the Author) 392 
 
 211. 212. Assyrian tables, from bas-reliefs, Koyunjik (ditto) 392 
 
 213. Table, ornamented with rams’ heads, Koyunjik (after Layard) 392 
 
 214. Ornamented table, Khorsabad (ditto) 393 
 
 215. Three-legged table, Koyunjik (ditto) 393 
 
 216. Sennacherib on his throne, Koyunjik (ditto) 393 
 
XVI 
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Page 
 
 217. Arm-chair or throne, Khorsabad (after Botta ) 304 
 
 218. Assyrian ornamented seat, Khorsabad (ditto) 394 
 
 219. Assyrian couch, from a bas-relief, Koyunjik (by the Author ) 395 
 
 220. Assyrian footstools, Koyunjik (ditto) 300 
 
 221. Stands for jars ( Layard 
 
 222. Royal embroidered dresses, Nimrud (ditto) 3 7 
 
 223. Embroidery on a royal dress, Nimrud (ditto) 393 
 
 224. Circular breast ornament on a royal robe, Nimrud (ditto) • • 399 
 
 225. Assyrians moving a human-headed bull, partly restored from a bas-relief 
 
 at Koyunjik (ditto) * * * “ 
 
 226. Labourer employed in drawing a colossal bull, Koyunjik (ditto) 403 
 
 227. Attachment of rope to sledge, on which the bull was placed for transport, 
 
 Koyunjik (ditto) .. y " . " " ' * " 4 °° 
 
 228. Part of a bas-relief, showing a pulley and a warrior cutting a bucket from 
 
 the rope (ditto) * 
 
 229. Assyrian war-chariot, Koyunjik (from the original in the British Museum) 40, 
 
 230. Chariot-wheel of the early period, Nimrud (ditto) 40 ' 
 
 231. Chariot-wheel of the middle period, Koyunjik (ditto) 407 
 
 232. Chariot-wheel of the latest period, Koyunjik (ditto) .. .. 403 
 
 233. Ornamented ends of chariot-poles, Nimrud and Koyunjik (ditto) .. •• 403 
 
 234. End of pole, with cross-bar, Khorsabad (after Botta ) 410 
 
 235. End of pole, with curved yoke, Koyunjik (after Layard) 440 
 
 236. End of pole, with elaborate cross-bar or yoke, Khorsabad (after Botta) . . 411 
 
 237. Assyrian chariot containing four warriors, Koyunjik (after Boutcher) .. 411 
 
 238. Assyrian war-chariot of the early period, Nimrud (from the original in the 
 
 British Museum) " 
 
 239. Assyrian war-chariot of the later period, Koyunjik (ditto) 41 ° 
 
 240. Assyrian chariot of the transition period, Koyunjik (after Boutcher) ..414 
 
 241. Assyrian chariot of the early period, Nimrud (from the original in the 
 
 British Museum) 
 
 242. Chariot-horse protected by clothing, Koyunjik (ditto) y 
 
 243. Head of a chariot-horse, showing collar with bells attached, Koyunjik 
 
 (after Boutcher) • • ' 
 
 244. Bronze bit, Nimrud (from the original in the British Museum) .. •• 4 
 
 245. Bits of chariot-horses, from the Sculptures, Nimrud and Koyunjik (ditto) 419 
 
 246. Driving-whips of Assyrian charioteers, from the Sculptures (ditto) . • • • 4 - < 
 
 247. Mode of tying horses’ tails, Koyunjik (ditto) 
 
 248. Mounted spearmen of the time of Sargon, Khorsabad (after Botta) .. •• ° 
 
 249. Greave or laced boot of a horseman, Khorsabad (ditto) 4 “ 3 
 
 250. Cavalry soldiers of the time of Sennacherib, Koyunjik (after Layard) • • 4_6 
 
 251. Horse archer of the latest period, Koyunjik (from the original in the ^ 
 
 British Museum) • • _ * 
 
 252. Ordinary sandal of the first period, Nimrud (ditto) “* 
 
 253. Convex shield of the first period, Nimrud (after Layard) ... - 
 
 254. Foot spearman of the first period, with wicker shield, Nimrud (from tne 
 
 original in the British Museum) “ 
 
 255. Foot archer, with attendant, first period, Nimrud (ditto) .. •• " 
 
 256. Foot archers of the lightest equipment, time of Sargon, Khorsabad (after 
 
 Botta) ^ 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 XVll 
 
 257. Foot archer of the intermediate equipment, with attendant, time of Sargon, 
 
 Khoi'sabad (after Botta ) 
 
 258. Foot archer of the heavy equipment, with attendant, time of Sargon, 
 
 Khorsabad (ditto) 
 
 259. Foot spearman of the time of Sargon, Khoi’sabad (ditto) 
 
 260. Shield and greave of a spearman, Khorsabad (ditto) 
 
 261. Spear, with weight at the lower end, Khorsabad (ditto) 
 
 262. Sling, Koyunjik (from the original in the British Museum) 
 
 263. Foot archer of the heavy equipment, with attendant, time of Sennacherib, 
 
 Koyunjik (ditto) 
 
 264. Foot archers of the second class, time of Sennacherib, Koyunjik (ditto) 
 
 265. Belts and head-dress of a foot archer of the third class, time of Sen- 
 
 nacherib, Koyunjik (after Boutcher ) 
 
 266. Mode of carrying the quiver, time of Sennacherib, Koyunjik (from the 
 
 original in the British Museum) 
 
 267. Foot archers of the lightest equipment, time of Sennacherib, Koyunjik (ditto) 
 
 268. Foot spearman of the time of Sennacherib, Koyunjik (after Layard ) .. 
 
 269. Wicker shields, time of Sennacherib, Koyunjik (from the originals in the 
 
 British Museum) 
 
 270. Metal shield of the latest period, Koyunjik (ditto) 
 
 271. Slinger, time of Asshur-bani-pal, Koyunjik (after Boutcher •) 
 
 272. Pointed helmet, with curtain of scales, Nimrud (after Layard ) 
 
 273. Iron helmet, from Koyunjik, now in the British Museum (by the Author ) .. 
 
 274. Assyrian crested helmets, from the bas-reliefs, Khorsabad and Koyunjik 
 
 (from the originals in the British Museum) 
 
 275. Scale, Egyptian (after Sir G. Wilkinson) 
 
 276. Arrangement of scales in Assyrian scale-armour of the second period, 
 
 Khorsabad (after Botta) . . 
 
 277. Sleeve of a coat of mail — scale-armour of the first period, Nimrud (from 
 
 the original in the British Museum) 
 
 278. Assyrian gerrha, or large wicker shields (ditto) 
 
 279. Soldier undermining a wall, sheltered by gerrhon, Koyunjik (ditto) .. 
 
 280. Round shields or targes, patterned, Khorsabad (after Botta) 
 
 281. Convex shields with teeth, Nimrud (from the originals in the British 
 
 Museum) 
 
 282. Egyptian convex shield, worn on back (after Sir G. Wilkinson) 
 
 283. Assyrian ditto, Koyunjik (from the original in the British Museum) 
 
 284. Assyrian convex shield, resembling the Greek, Koyunjik (ditto) 
 
 285. Quiver, with arrows and javelin, Nimrud (ditto) 
 
 286. Ornamented end of bow, Khorsabad (after Botta) 
 
 287. Stringing the bow, Koyunjik (from the original in the British Museum) .. 
 
 288. Assyrian curved bow (ditto) . . 
 
 289. Assyrian angular bow, Khorsabad (after Botta) 
 
 290. Mode of carrying the bow in a bow-case, Koyunjik (from the original in 
 
 the British Museum) 
 
 291. Peculiar mode of carrying the quiver, Koyunjik (ditto) 
 
 292. Quiver, with rich ornamentation, Nimrud (after Layard) 
 
 293. Quivers of the ordinary character, Koyunjik (from the originals in the 
 
 British Museum) 
 
 Page 
 
 431 
 
 432 
 
 433 
 
 434 
 
 434 
 
 435 
 
 435 
 
 436 
 
 436 
 
 437 
 
 437 
 
 438 
 
 439 
 
 440 
 
 440 
 
 441 
 
 441 
 
 442 
 
 443 
 
 443 
 
 444 
 
 445 
 
 446 
 
 447 
 
 447 
 
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 448 
 
 448 
 
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 449 
 
 450 
 
 450 
 
 450 
 
 451 
 
 451 
 
 452 
 
 452 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 b 
 
xviii list of illustrations. 
 
 Page 
 
 294. Quiver with projecting rod, Khorsabad (after Botta) .. •• " ** " 
 
 295. Assyrian covered quivers, Koyunjik (from the ongmals m the British ^ 
 
 Museum) * 454. 
 
 296. Bronze arrow-heads, Nimrud and Koyunjik (ditto) ^ 
 
 297. Flint arrow-head, Ximrud (ditto) 455 
 
 298. Assyrian arrow (ditto) •• •• _ ” x 455 
 
 299. Mode of drawing the bow, Koyunjik (after Boutcher) 45g 
 
 300. Guard worn by an archer, Koyunjik (ditto) .. .. *• *’ '* '' ** 456 
 
 301. Bronze spear-head, Kimrud (from the original in the British Museum) .. ^ 
 
 302. Spear-heads (from the Sculptures) .. • • •• •• 
 
 303. Ornamented ends of spear-shafts, Kimrud (after L W ar f) “ 5? 
 
 304. Ornamented handle of short sword, Khorsabad (after Botta) ^ 
 
 305. Sheathed sword, Koyunjik (after Boutcher) •• •• ** ** ** 
 
 306. Ornamented handle of longer sword, Kimrud (from the ongina ^ 
 
 British Museum) 45g 
 
 307. Assyrian curved sword, Khorsabad (after Botta) 
 
 308. Head of royal mace, Khorsabad (ditto) 459 
 
 s m -i-i s 
 
 311. Scythian battle-axe (after Texier) ** ” 4fi0 
 
 312. Ornamented handles of daggers, Ximrud (after Bayard) ^ 
 
 313. Handle of dagger,' with chain, Ximrud (ditto) 401 
 
 314. Sheaths of daggers, Nimrud (ditto) ^ ^ .*461 
 
 315. Assyrian standard, Khorsabad (after Botta) ^ 4g4 
 
 316. Soldier swimming a river, Koyunjik (after Layard) * 
 
 317. Royal tent, Koyunjik (from the original in the British Museum) . . . . «o 
 
 318. Ordinary tent, Koyunjik (after Boutcher) 4 g^ 
 
 r srstrjsss :’. \ _ 
 
 IX k .xj» «... •<•••'■ " *>< ,i "~- 
 
 321. Fortified place, belonging to an enemy of the Adrians, 1 npiu ( ^ 
 
 Layard) . . . 4 gg 
 
 322. Gateway of castle, Koyunjik (after Boutcher) •• •• *; 
 
 323. Battering-rams, Khorsabad and Koyunjik (partly after Botta) ^ 
 
 324. Assyrian balistce , Ximrud (after Layard) . . • • 4 _ g 
 
 325. Crowbar, and mining the wall, Koyunjik (ditto) •• •• •• ” ” 474 
 
 326. Implement used in the destruction of cities, Khorsabad (after Botta) . . 474 
 
 327. Soldiers destroying date-palms, Koyunjik (after Layard) .. .. •• •• 
 
 328. Soldier carrying off spoil from a temple, Khorsabad (after Botta) . . . . < 
 
 329. Scribes taking account of the spoil, Khorsabad (ditto).. .. •• •• •• 
 
 330. Mace-bearer, with attendant, executing a prisoner, Koyunjik (from ^ 
 
 original in the British Museum) \ 478 
 
 331. Swordsman decapitating a prisoner, Koyunjik (ditto) .. 
 
 332. Female captives, with children, Koyunjik (after Layar ) - 
 
 333. Chasuble or outer garment of the king (chiefly after Botta) ^ 
 
 334. King in his robes, Khorsabad (after Botta) •• ** * 
 
 333. Tiaras of the later aad earlier period^ Koyunjik and K.mrud (IsvjarJ ^ 
 
 and Boutcher) 4g7 
 
 336. Fillet worn by the king, Nimrud (after Layard) 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. XIX 
 
 Page 
 
 337. Royal sandals, times of Sargon and Asshur-izir-pal (from the originals in 
 
 the British Museum) 488 
 
 338. Royal shoe, time of Sennacherib, Koyunjik (ditto) 488 
 
 339. Royal necklace, Nimrud (ditto) 489 
 
 340. Royal collar, Nimrud (ditto) 489 
 
 341. Royal armlets, Khorsabad (after Botta') •• 490 
 
 342. Royal bracelets, Khorsabad and Koyunjik (after Botta and Boutcher ) .. 490 
 
 343. Royal ear-rings, Nimrud (from the originals in the British Museum) .. 491 
 
 344. Early king in his war-costume, Nimrud (ditto) 491 
 
 345. King, queen, and attendants, Koyunjik (ditto) 493 
 
 346. Enlarged figure of the queen, Koyunjik (ditto) 494 
 
 347. Royal parasols, Nimrud and Koyunjik (ditto) 495 
 
 348. Heads of eunuchs, Nimrud (ditto) 497 
 
 349. The chief eunuch, Nimrud (ditto) 498 
 
 350. Head-dress of the vizier, Khorsabad (after Botta ) 499 
 
 351. Costumes of the vizier, times of Sennacherib and Asshur-izir-pal, Nimrud 
 
 and Koyunjik (from the originals in the British Museum) 500 
 
 352. Tribute-bearers presented by the chief eunuch, Nimrud obelisk (ditto) .. 502 
 
 353. Fans or fly-flappers, Nimrud and Koyunjik (ditto) 503 
 
 354. King killing a lion, Nimrud (after Layard ) 506 
 
 355. King, with attendants, spearing a lion, Koyunjik (after Boutcher ) . . . . 506 
 
 356. King, with attendant, stabbing a lion, Koyunjik (ditto) 507 
 
 357. Lion let out of trap, Koyunjik (ditto) 509 
 
 358. Hound held in leash, Koyunjik (from the original in the British Museum) 510 
 
 359. Wounded lioness, Koyunjik (ditto) 512 
 
 360. Fight of lion and bull, Nimrud (after Layard) 512 
 
 361. King hunting the wild bull, Nimrud (ditto) 513 
 
 362. King pouring libation over four dead lions, Koyunjik (from the original in 
 
 the British Museum) 515 
 
 363. Hound chasing a wild ass colt, Koyunjik (after Boutcher ) 516 
 
 364. Dead wild ass, Koyunjik (ditto) 516 
 
 365. Hounds pulling down a wild ass, Koyunjik (ditto) .. .. 517 
 
 366. Wild ass taken with a rope, Koyunjik (from the original in the British 
 
 Museum) 517 
 
 367. Hound chasing a doe, Koyunjik (after Boutcher ) 518 
 
 368. Hunted stag taking the water, Koyunjik (ditto) 519 
 
 369. Net spread to take deer, Koyunjik (from the original in the British 
 
 Museum) 520 
 
 370. Portion of net, showing the arrangement of the meshes and the pegs, 
 
 Koyunjik (ditto) 520 
 
 371. Hunted ibex, flying at full speed, Koyunjik (after Boutcher ) 521 
 
 372. Ibex transfixed with arrow — falling (ditto) 521 
 
 373. Sportsman carrying a gazelle, Khorsabad (from the original in the British 
 
 Museum) 522 
 
 374. Sportsman shooting, Khorsabad (after Botta ) 523 
 
 . 375. Greyhound and Rare, Nimrud (from a bronze bowl in the British Museum) 523 
 
 376. Nets, pegs, and balls of string, Koyunjik (after Boutcher ) 524 
 
 377. Man fishing, Nimrud (after Layard ) 525 
 
 378. Man fishing, Koyunjik (ditto) 526 
 
XX 
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Page 
 
 379. Man fishing, seated on skin, Koyunjik (from the original in the British 
 
 Museum). ... ... * 
 
 380. Bear standing, Nimrud (from a bronze bowl in the British Museum) 
 
 381. Ancient Assyrian harp and harper, Nimrud (from the originals in the 
 
 British Museum) 
 
 382. Later Assyrian harps and harpers, Koyunjik (ditto) 
 
 383. Triangular lyre, Koyunjik (ditto) 
 
 384. Lyre with ten strings, Khorsabad (after Botta ) 
 
 385. Lyres with five and seven strings, Koyunjik (from the originals in the 
 
 British Museum) 
 
 386. Guitar or tamboura, Koyunjik (ditto) 
 
 387. Player on the double pipe, Koyunjik (ditto) 
 
 388. Tambourine player and other musicians, Koyunjik (ditto) 
 
 389. Eunuch playing on the cymbals, Koyunjik (after Boutcher ) .. .. •• 
 
 390. Assyrian Mills, or drums, Koyunjik (from the originals in the British 
 
 Museum) 
 
 391. Musician playing the dulcimer, Koyunjik (ditto) 
 
 392. Roman trumpet (Column of Trajan} 
 
 393. Assyrian ditto, Koyunjik (after Bayard) 
 
 394. Portion of an Assyrian trumpet (from the original in the British Museum) 
 
 395. Captives playing on lyres, Koyunjik (ditto) 
 
 396. Lyre on a Hebrew coin (ditto) 
 
 397. Band of twenty-six musicians, Koyunjik (ditto) 
 
 398. Time-keepers, Koyunjik (after Boutcher) 
 
 399. Assyrian coracle, Nimrud (from the original in the British Museum) 
 
 400. Common oar, time of Sennacherib, Koyunjik (ditto) 
 
 401. Steering oar, time of Asshur-izir-pal, Nimrud (ditto) 
 
 402. Early long boat, Nimrud (ditto) - * 
 
 403. Later long boat, Khorsabad (after Botta) 
 
 404. Phoenician bireme, Koyunjik (after Bayard) 
 
 405. Oar kept in place by pegs, Koyunjik (from the original in the British 
 
 Museum) 
 
 406. Chart of the district about Nimrud, showing the course of the ancient 
 
 canal and conduit (after the survey of Captain Jones) . . •• • • 
 
 407. Assyrian drill-plough (from Lord Aberdeen’s black stone, after Fergusson) 
 
 408. Modern Turkish plough (after Sir C. Fellows) 
 
 409. Modern Arab plough (after C. Niebuhr ) •• 
 
 410. Ornamental belt or girdle, Koyunjik (from the original in the British 
 
 Museum) 
 
 411. Ornamental cross-belt, Khorsabad (after Botta) 
 
 412. Armlets of Assyrian grandees, Khorsabad (ditto) 
 
 413. Head-dresses of various officials, Koyunjik (from the originals m the 
 
 British Museum) 
 
 414. Curious mode of arranging the hair, Koyunjik (ditto) 
 
 415. Female seated (from an ivory in the British Museum) •• 
 
 416. Females gathering grapes (from some ivory fragments in the British 
 
 Museum) 
 
 417. Necklace of flat glass beads (from the original in the British Museum) 
 
 418. Metal mirror (ditto) * 
 
 527 
 
 528 
 
 529 
 
 530 
 
 531 
 
 532 
 
 533 
 
 534 
 
 534 
 
 535 
 
 536 
 
 537 
 
 538 
 
 539 
 539 
 
 539 
 
 540 
 
 541 
 
 542 
 
 543 
 
 546 
 
 547 
 547 
 549 
 
 549 
 
 550 
 
 550 
 
 565 
 
 567 
 
 567 
 
 567 
 
 569 
 
 569 
 
 570 
 
 571 
 
 571 
 
 572 
 
 573 
 
 574 
 
 575 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. xxi 
 
 Page 
 
 419. Combs in iron and lapis lazuli (from the originals in the British Museum) 575 
 
 420. Assyrian joints of meat (from the Sculptures) 577 
 
 421. Killing the sheep, Koyunjik (after Boutcher ) 577 
 
 422. Cooking meat in cauldron, Koyunjik (after Layard ) 578 
 
 423. Frying, Nimrud (from the original in the British Museum) 578 
 
 424. Assyrian fruits (from the Monuments) 579 
 
 425. Drinking scene, Khorsabad (after Botta) 580 
 
 426. Ornamental wine-cup, Khorsabad (ditto) 580 
 
 427. Attendant bringing flowers to a banquet, Koyunjik (after Layard ) . . . 581 
 
 428. Socket of hinge, Nimrud (ditto) 582 
 
 429. Assyrians seated on stools, Koyunjik (from the original in the British 
 
 Museum) 583 
 
 430. Making the bed, Koyunjik (after Boutcher ) 583 
 
 431. Domestic utensils (from the Sculptures) 584 
 
 432. Dish handles, Nimrud (after Layard ) 584 
 
 433. Bronze ladle, Nimrud (in the British Museum) 585 
 
 434. Hanging garden, Koyunjik (after Layard) 585 
 
 435. Assyrians drawing a hand-cart, Koyunjik (ditto) 586 
 
 436. Assyrian implements (from the Monuments) 587 
 
 437. Assyrian close carriage or litter, Koyunjik (from an obelisk in the British 
 
 Museum, after Boutcher) 588 
 
 438. Groom feeding horses, Koyunjik (after Layard) 589 
 
 439. Groom currycombing a horse, Nimrud (from the original in the British 
 
 Museum) 589 
 
 VOL. I. c 
 

THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 CHALDEA. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 GENERAL VIEW OF THE COUNTRY. 
 
 “ Behold the land of the Chaldaeans.” — Isaiah xxiii. 13. 
 
 The broad belt of desert which traverses the eastern hemi- 
 sphere, in a general direction from west to east (or, speaking 
 more exactly, of W.S.W. to N.E.E.), reaching from the Atlantic 
 on the one hand nearly to the Yellow Sea on the other, is 
 interrupted about its centre by a strip of rich vegetation, which 
 at once breaks the continuity of the arid region, and serves also 
 to mark the point where the desert changes its character from 
 that of a plain at a low level to that of an elevated plateau or 
 table-land. West of the favoured district, the Arabian and 
 African wastes are seas of sand, seldom raised much above, 
 often sinking below, the level of the ocean ; while east of the 
 same, in Persia, Kerman, Seistan, Chinese Tartary, and Mon- 
 golia, the desert consists of a series of plateaus, having from 
 3000 to nearly 10,000 feet of elevation. The green and fertile 
 region, which is thus interposed between the “ highland ” and 
 the “ lowland ” deserts, 1 participates, curiously enough, in both 
 characters. Where the belt of sand is intersected by the valley 
 of the Nile, no marked change of elevation occurs ; and the 
 continuous low desert is merely interrupted by a few miles of 
 green and cultivable surface, the whole of which is just as 
 smooth and as flat as the waste on either side of it. But it is 
 
 1 Humboldt, Aspects of Nature , vol. i. pp. 77, 78, E. T. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 B 
 
2 
 
 THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. I. 
 
 otherwise at the more eastern interruption. There the verdant 
 and productive country divides itself into two tracts, running 
 parallel to each other, of which the western presents features 
 not unlike those that characterise the Nile valley, but on a 
 far larger scale ; while the eastern is a lofty mountain-region, 
 consisting for the most part of five or six parallel ranges, and 
 mounting in many places far above the level of perpetual snow. 
 
 It is with the western or plain tract that we are here 
 concerned. Between the outer limits of the Syro-Arabian 
 desert and the foot of the great mountain-range of Kurdistan 
 and Luristan intervenes a territory long famous in the world’s 
 history, and the chief site of three out of the five empires of 
 whose history, geography, and antiquities it is proposed to treat 
 in the present volumes. Known to the J ews as Aram-Naharaim, 
 or “ Syria of the two rivers ; ” to the Greeks and Homans as 
 Mesopotamia, or “the between-river country;” to the Arabs 
 as Al-Jezireh, or “the island,” this district has always 2 taken 
 its name from the streams, which constitute its most striking 
 feature, and to which, in fact, it owes its existence. If it were 
 not for the two great rivers— the Tigris and Euphrates— with 
 their tributaries, the more northern part of the Mesopotamian 
 lowland would in no respect differ from the Syro- Arabian desert 
 on which it adjoins, and which in latitude, elevation, and 
 general geological character, it exactly resembles. Towards 
 the south, the importance of the rivers is still greater ; for of 
 Lower Mesopotamia it may be said, with more truth than 
 of Egypt , 3 that it is “ an acquired land,” the actual “ gift ’ of 
 the two streams which wash it on either side ; being, as it is, 
 entirely a recent formation — a deposit which the streams have 
 
 the Fragmenta Historicorum Grcecorum, 
 vol. iv. pp. 283, 284.) 
 
 3 Herodotus, ii. 5. Sir Gardner Wil- 
 kinson observes that Herodotus is mis- 
 taken in this instance. The Nile never 
 emptied itself into a gulf, but from the 
 first laid its deposits on ground already 
 raised above the level of the Mediter- 
 ' ranean. (See the author’s Herodotus t 
 vol. ii. p. 6, note 4 .) 
 
 2 Even the title of Shinar, the earliest 
 known name of the region (Gen. xi. 2), 
 may be no exception ; for it is perhaps 
 
 derived from the Hebrew '*1^, “two,” 
 and ar or nahr (Heb. “ a river.” 
 
 The form ar belongs to the early Scythic 
 or Cushite Babylonian, and is found in 
 the Ar-malchar of Pliny {H. N. vi. 26), 
 and the Armacales of Abydenus — terms 
 used to designate the Nahr-malcha 
 t T? A.ro 1 ‘Rivpr'l of other authors. (See 
 
Chap. I. 
 
 MESOPOTAMIA— UPPER AND LOWER. 
 
 3 
 
 made in tlie shallow waters of a gulf into which they have 
 flowed for many ages. 4 
 
 The division, which has here forced itself upon our notice, 
 between the Upper and the Lower Mesopotamian country, is 
 one very necessary to engage our attention in connexion with 
 the ancient Chalda3a. There is no reason to think that the 
 term Chaldoea had at any time the extensive signification of 
 Mesopotamia, much less that it applied to the entire flat 
 country between the desert and the mountains. Chaldsea was 
 not the whole, but a part, of the great Mesopotamian plain ; 
 which was ample enough to contain within it three or four 
 considerable monarchies. According to the combined testimony 
 of geographers and historians, 5 Chaldaea lay towards the south, 
 for it bordered upon the Persian Gulf; and towards the west, 
 for it adjoined Arabia. If we are called upon to fix more 
 accurately its boundaries, which, like those of most countries 
 without strong natural frontiers, suffered many fluctuations, we 
 are perhaps entitled to say that the Persian Gulf on the south, 
 the Tigris on the east, the Arabian desert on the west, and the 
 limit between Upper and Lower Mesopotamia on the north, 
 formed the natural bounds, which were never greatly exceeded 
 and never much infringed upon. These boundaries are for the 
 most part tolerably clear, though the northern only is invariable. 
 Natural causes, hereafter to be mentioned more particularly, 6 
 are perpetually varying the course of the Tigris, the shore of 
 the Persian Gulf, and the line of demarcation between the 
 sands of Arabia and the verdure of the Euphrates valley. But 
 nature has set a permanent mark, half way down the Meso- 
 potamian lowland, by a difference of geological structure, which 
 is very conspicuous. Near Hit on the Euphrates, and a little 
 below Samarah on the Tigris, 7 the traveller who descends the 
 
 4 Loftus’s Chaldcea and Susiana , p. 
 
 282. 
 
 & See Strabo, xvi. 1, § 6; Pliny, 
 H. N. vi. 28; Ptolemy, y. 20; Beros. 
 ap. Syncell. pp. 28, 29. 
 
 6 See below, pp. 13, 14, Sec. 
 
 7 Ross came to the end of the al- 
 luvium and the commencement of the 
 secondary formations in lat. 34°, long. 
 
 44°. ( Journal of Geographical Society, 
 
 vol. ix. p. 446.) Similarly Captain 
 Lynch found the bed of the Tigris 
 change from pebbles to mere alluvium 
 near Khan Tholiyeh, a little above its 
 confluence with the Adhem. (Ib. p. 472.) 
 For the point where the Euphrates 
 enters on the alluvium, see Fraser’s 
 Assyria and Mesopotamia , p. 27. 
 
 B 2 
 
4 
 
 THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. I. 
 
 streams, bids adieu to a somewhat waving and slightly elevated 
 plain of secondary formation, and enters on the dead flat and 
 low level of the mere alluvium. The line thus formed, is 
 marked and invariable ; it constitutes the only natural division 
 between the upper and lower portions of the valley ; and both 
 probability and history point to it as the actual boundary 
 between Chaldsea and her northern neighbour. 
 
 The extent of ancient Chaldsea is, even after we have fixed 
 its boundaries, a question of some difficulty. From the edge of 
 the alluvium a little below Hit, to the present coast of the 
 Persian Gulf at the mouth of the Shat-el-Arab, is a distance of 
 above 430 miles; while from the western shore of the Bahr-i- 
 Nedjif to the Tigris at Serut is a direct distance of 185 miles. 
 The present area of the alluvium west of the Tigris and the 
 Shat-el-Arab may be estimated at about 30,000 square miles. 
 But the extent of ancient Chaldsea can scarcely have been so 
 great. It is certain that the alluvium at the head of the 
 Persian Gulf now grows with extraordinary rapidity, and not 
 improbable that the growth may in ancient times have been 
 even more rapid than it is at present. Accurate observations 
 have shown that the present rate of increase amounts to as 
 much as a mile each seventy years, 8 while it is the opinion of 
 those best qualified to judge that the average progress during 
 the historic period has been as much as a mile in every thirty 
 years 1 9 Traces of post-tertiary deposits have been found as far 
 up the country as Tel Ede and Hammam, 10 or more than 
 200 miles from the embouchure of the Shat-el-Arab ; and there 
 is ample reason for believing that, at the time when the first 
 Chaldean monarchy was established, the Persian Gulf reached 
 inland, 120 or 130 miles further than at present. We must 
 
 8 Loftus, Chaldcea and Susiana , p. 282.^ 
 
 Mauritanian it was 50 miles from the 
 
 9 Sir Il.Ilawlinson, in the Journal of 
 the Geographical Society , vol.xxvii. p. 186. 
 The increase did not escape the notice 
 of the ancients. It is mentioned and 
 exaggerated by Pliny, who says that 
 Charax of Spasinus was originally built 
 by Alexander the Great at the distance 
 of little more than a mile from the 
 shore, but that in the time of Juba the 
 
 sea, and in his own day 120 miles! 
 {Hist. Nat. vi. 27.) This would give 
 for the first period a rate of increase 
 exceeding a mile in seven years, and 
 for the second a rate of about a mile a 
 year ; or for the whole period, a rate of 
 a mile in years. 
 
 10 Loftus, in Journal of the Geographical 
 Society, vol. xxvi. p. 146. 
 
Chap. I. EXTENT OF ANCIENT CHALDiEA— RIVEKS. 5 
 
 deduct therefore from the estimate of extent grounded upon the 
 existing state of things, a tract of land 130 miles long and 
 some 60 or 70 broad, which has been gained from the sea in 
 the course of about forty centuries. This deduction will reduce 
 Chaldaea to a kingdom of somewhat narrow limits ; for it will 
 contain no more than about 23,000 square miles. This, it is 
 true, exceeds the area of all ancient Greece, including Thessaly, 
 Acarnania, and the islands ; 1 it nearly equals that of the Low 
 Countries, to which Chaldaea presents some analogy ; it is 
 almost exactly that of the modern kingdom of Denmark ; but 
 it is less than Scotland, or Ireland, or Portugal, or Bavaria ; it 
 is more than doubled by England, more than quadrupled by 
 Prussia, and more than octupled by Spain, France, anl Euro- 
 pean Turkey. Certainly, therefore, it was not in consequence 
 of its size that Chaldaea became so important a country in the 
 early ages, but rather in consequence of certain advantages of 
 soil, climate, and position, which will be considered in the next 
 chapter. 
 
 It has been already noticed that in the ancient Chaldaea, the 
 chief — almost the sole — geographical features, were the rivers. 2 
 Nothing is more remarkable even now than the featureless 
 character of the region, although in the course of ages it has 
 received from man some interruptions of the original uniformity. 
 On all sides a dead level extends itself, broken only by single 
 solitary mounds, the remains of ancient temples or cities, by 
 long lines of slightly elevated embankment marking the course 
 of canals, ancient or recent, and towards the south by a few 
 sand-hills. The only further variety is that of colour ; for 
 while the banks of the streams, the marsh-grounds, and the 
 country for a short distance on each side of the canals in actual 
 operation, present to the eye a pleasing, and in some cases a 
 luxuriant verdure ; the rest, except in early spring, is parched 
 and arid, having little to distinguish it from the most desolate 
 districts of Arabia. Anciently, except for this difference, the 
 
 1 See Clinton’s Fasti Hellenici , vol. ii. 
 p. 473, where the whole area of Euro- 
 
 pean Greece, including Thessaly, Acar- 
 
 nania, JEtolia, Euboea, and the other 
 littoral islands, is shown to be 22,231 
 miles. 2 See above, p. 2. 
 
6 
 
 THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. I. 
 
 tract must Lave possessed all the wearisome uniformity of 
 the steppe region ; the level horizon must have shown itself on 
 all sides unbroken by a single irregularity ; all places must 
 have appeared alike, and the traveller can scarcely have per- 
 ceived his progress, or have known whither or how to direct his 
 steps. The rivers alone, with their broad sweeps and bold 
 reaches, their periodical changes of swell and fall, their strength, 
 motion, and life-giving power, can have been objects of thought 
 and interest to the first inhabitants ; and it is still to these that 
 the modern must turn who wishes to represent, to himself or 
 others, the general aspect and chief geographical divisions of 
 the country. 
 
 The Tigris and Euphrates rise from opposite sides of the 
 same mountain-chain. This is the ancient range of Niphates 
 (a prolongation of Taurus), the loftiest of the many parallel 
 ridges which intervene between the Euxine and the Mesopota- 
 mian plain, and the only one which transcends in many places 
 the limits of perpetual snow. Hence its ancient appellation, 
 and hence its power to sustain unfailingly the two magnificent 
 streams which flow from it. The line of the Niphates is from 
 east to west, with a very slight deflection to the south of west ; 
 and the streams thrown off from its opposite flanks, run at first 
 in valleys parallel to the chain itself, but in opposite directions, 
 the Euphrates flowing westward from its source near Ararat to 
 Malatiyeh, while the Tigris from Diarbekr “ goes eastward to 
 Assyria.” 3 The rivers thus appear as if never about to meet; 
 but at Malatiyeh the course of the Euphrates is changed. 
 Sweeping suddenly to the south-east, this stream passes within 
 a few miles of the source of the Tigris below Lake Goljik, and 
 forces a way through the mountains towards the south, pursuing 
 a tortuous course, but still seeming as if it intended ultimately 
 to mingle its waters with those of the Mediterranean. 4 It is 
 not till about Balis, in lat. 36°, that this intention appears to 
 be finally relinquished, and the convergence of the two streams 
 begins. The Euphrates at first flows nearly due east, but soon 
 
 3 Gen. ii. 14, marginal rendering. I dentem petit, ni Taurus obstet, in nostra 
 
 4 See the remark of Mela : — “ Occi- | maria venturus.” (De Sit. Orb. iii. 8.) 
 
Chap. I. DESCRIPTION OF THE EUPHRATES AND TIGRIS. 7 
 
 takes a course which is, with few and unimportant deflections, 
 about south-east, as far as Suk-es-Sheioukh, after which it runs 
 a little north of east to Kurnali. The Tigris from Til to Mosul 
 pursues also a south-easterly course, and draws but a very little 
 nearer to the Euphrates. From Mosul, however, to Samarah, 
 its course is only a point east of south ; and though, after that, 
 for some miles it flows off to the east, yet resuming, a little 
 below the thirty-fourth parallel, its southerly direction, it is 
 brought about Baghdad within twenty miles of the sister stream. 
 From this point there is again a divergence. The course of the 
 Euphrates, which from Hit to the mounds of Mohammed (long. 
 44°), had been E.S.E., becomes much more southerly, while that 
 of the Tigris — which, as w 5 * 7 e have seen, was for a while due south 
 — betimes once more only slightly south of east, 0 till near Serut, 
 where the distance between the rivers has increased from twentv 
 to a hundred miles. After passing respectively Serut and El 
 Khitr, the two streams converge rapidly. The flow of the 
 Euphrates is at first E.S.E., and then a little north of east to 
 Kurnah, while that of the Tigris is S.S.E. to the same point. 
 The lines of the streams in this last portion of their course, 
 together with that which may be drawn across from stream to 
 stream, form nearly an equilateral triangle, the distances being 
 respectively 104, 110, and 115 miles. 6 So rapid is the final 
 convergence of the two great rivers. 
 
 The Tigris and Euphrates are both streams of the first order. 
 The estimated length of the former, including main windings, 
 is 1146 miles; that of the latter is 1780 miles. 7 Like most 
 rivers that have their sources in high mountain regions, they 
 are strong from the first, and, receiving in their early couise a 
 vast number of important tributaries, become broad and deep 
 streams before they issue upon the plains. The Euphiates is 
 navigable from Sumeisat (the ancient Samosata), 1200 miles 
 
 5 In one part of its course, viz. from 
 Kut-el-Amarah at the mouth of the 
 Shat-el-Hie to Hussun Khan’s fort, 50 
 
 miles lower down the stream, the 
 direction of the Tigris is even north 
 
 of east. 
 
 6 From El Khitr to Serut the direct 
 distance is 104 miles, from Serut to 
 Kurnah 110, and from Kurnah to El 
 Khitr 115. 
 
 7 Chesney, Euphrates Expedition , vol. i. 
 pp. 38 and 40. 
 
8 
 
 THE FIKST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. I. 
 
 above its embouchure ; and even 180 miles higher up, is a river 
 “ of imposing appearance,” 120 yards wide and very deep. 8 The 
 Tigris is often 250 yards wide at Diarbekr, 9 which is not a 
 hundred miles from its source, and is navigable in the flood 
 time from the bridge of Diarbekr to Mosul, 10 from which place 
 it is descended at all seasons to Baghdad, and thence to the 
 sea. 1 Its average width below Mosul is 200 yards, with a depth 
 which allows the ascent of light steamers, unless when there is 
 an artificial obstruction. 2 Above Mosul the width rarely exceeds 
 150 yards, and the depth is not more in places than three or 
 four feet. The Euphrates is 250 yards wide at Balbi, and 
 averages 350 yards from its junction with the Khabour to Hit ; 
 its depth is commonly from fifteen to twenty feet. 3 Small 
 steamers have descended its entire course from Bir to tffe sea. 
 The volume of the Euphrates in places is, however, somewhat 
 less than that of the Tigris, which is a swifter and in its latter 
 course a deeper stream. It has been calculated that the quan- 
 tity of water discharged every second by the Tigris at Baghdad 
 is 164,103 cubic feet, while that discharged by the Euphrates at 
 Hit is 72,804 feet. 4 
 
 The Tigris and Euphrates are very differently circumstanced 
 wfith respect to tributaries. So long as it runs among the 
 Armenian mountains, the Euphrates has indeed no lack of 
 affluents ; but these, except the Kara Su, or northern Euphrates, 
 are streams of no great volume, being chiefly mountain-torrents 
 which collect the drainage of very limited basins. After it 
 leaves the mountains and enters upon the low country at 
 Sumeisat, the affluents almost entirely cease ; one, the river of 
 Sajur, is received from the right, in about lat. 36° 40' ; and two 
 
 8 Chesney, Euphrates Expedition , vol. i. 
 p. 44. 
 
 9 Ibid. p. 15. It only attains this 
 width, however, in the season of the 
 floods. Generally it is at Diarbekr 
 about 100 or 120 yards wide. 
 
 10 Loftus, Chatdcea and Susiana, p. 3. 
 
 1 Chesney, Euphrates Expedition, 
 vol. i. p. 32 ; compare Layard, Nineveh 
 and its Remains , vol. ii. ch. xiii. p. 92. 
 
 2 The ‘ Euphrates ’ steamer, under 
 
 l Lieutenant Lynch, ascended the Tigris 
 j nearly to Nimrud in 1838 ; but was 
 stopped by an artificial bund or dam 
 thrown across the stream near that 
 place. (Chesney, vol. i. p. 32.) The 
 ‘ Nitocris ’ in 1846 attempted the. ascent, 
 but was unable to proceed far above 
 Tekrit, from a want of sufficient power. 
 (Nineveh and its Remains , vol. i. ch. v. 
 p. 139.) 3 Chesney, vol. i. pp. 53-57. 
 
 4 Ibid. p. 62. 
 
Chap. I. TRIBUTARIES OF THE EUPHRATES AND TIGRIS. 9 
 
 of more importance flow in from the left — the Belik (ancient 
 Bilichus), which joins it in long. 39° 9' ; and the Khabour 
 (ancient Habor or Chaboras), which effects a junction in long. 
 40° 30', lat. 35° 7'. The Belik and Khabour collect the waters 
 which flow from the southern flank of the mountain range 
 above Orfa, Mardin, and Nisibin, best known as the “Mons 
 Masius ” of Strabo. 4 5 They are not, however, streams of equal 
 importance. The Belik has a course which is nearly straight, 
 and does not much exceed 120 miles. The Khabour, on the 
 contrary, is sufficiently sinuous, and its course may be reckoned 
 at fully 200 miles. It is navigable by rafts from the junction 
 of its two main branches near the volcanic cone of Koukab, 6 
 and adds a considerable body of water to the Euphrates. Below 
 its confluence with this stream, or during the last 800 miles of 
 its course, the Euphrates does not receive a single tributary. 
 On the contrary, it soon begins to give off its waters right and 
 left, throwing out branches, which either terminate in marshes, 
 or else empty themselves into the Tigris. After a while, in- 
 deed, it receives compensation, by means of the Shat-el-Hie 
 and other branch streams, which bring back to it from the 
 Tigris, between Mugheir and Kurnah, the greater portion of 
 the borrowed fluid. The Tigris, on the contrary, is largely 
 enriched throughout the whole of its course by the waters of 
 tributary streams. It is formed originally of three main 
 branches : the Diarbekr stream, or true Tigris, the Myafarekin 
 Biver, and the Bitlis Chai, or Centrites of Xenophon, 7 which 
 carries a greater body than either of the other two. 8 From its 
 entry on the low country near Jezireh to the termination of 
 its course at Kurnah, it is continually receiving from the left 
 a series of most important additions. The chain of Zagros, 
 which, running parallel to the two main streams, shuts in the 
 Mesopotamian plain upon the east, abounds with springs, which 
 
 4 Strab. xi. 12, § 4 ; 14, § 2, &c. 
 
 6 Layard, Nineveh and Babylon , ch. xy. 
 
 p. 322. Compare ch. xi. pp. 269, 270. 
 
 7 Xenophon, Anabasis, iv. 3, § 1. 
 
 8 Layard, Nineveh and Babylon , ch. iii. 
 
 p. 49. The Bitlis Chai at Til, just above 
 the point of confluence, was found by 
 Mr. Layard to be “ about equal in size ” 
 to the united Myafarekin and Diarbekr 
 rivers. 
 
10 
 
 THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. I. 
 
 are well supplied during the whole summer from its snows, and 
 these when collected form rivers of large size and most refresh- 
 ing coolness. The principal are, the eastern Khabour, which 
 joins the Tigris in lat. 37° 12' ; the Upper Zab, which falls in 
 by the ruins of Nimrud ; the Lower Zab, which joins some way 
 below Kileh Sherghat ; the Adhem, which unites its waters half 
 way between Samarah and Baghdad ; and the Diyaleh (ancient 
 Gryndes), which is received between Baghdad and the ruins ot 
 Ctesiphon. 
 
 By the influx of these streams the Tigris continues to grow in 
 depth and strength as it nears the sea, and becomes at last (as 
 we have seen) a greater river than the Euphrates, which shrinks 
 during the latter part of its course, and is reduced to a volume 
 very inferior to that which it once boasted. The Euphrates at 
 its junction with the Khabour, 700 miles above Kurnah, is 400 
 yards wide and 18 feet deep ; at Irzah or Werdi, ( 5 miles lowei 
 down, it is 350 yards wide and of the same depth ; at Hadiseh, 
 140 miles below Werdi, it is 300 yards wide, and still of the 
 same depth; at Hit, 50 miles below Hadiseh, its width has 
 increased to 350 yards, but its depth has diminished to 16 feet ; 
 at Felujiah, 75 miles from Hit, the depth is 20 feet, but the 
 width has diminished to 250 yards. Erom this point the con- 
 traction is very rapid and striking. The Saklawiyeh canal is 
 given out upon the left, and some way further down the Hin- 
 diyeh branches off upon the right, each carrying, when the 
 Euphrates is full, a large body of water. The consequence is 
 that at Hillah, 90 miles below Felujiah, the stream is no more 
 than 200 yards wide and 15 feet deep ; at Diwaniyeh, 65 miles 
 further down, it is only 160 yards wide; and at Lamlun, 20 
 miles below Diwaniyeh, it is reduced to 120 yards wide, with a 
 depth of no more than 12 feet! Soon after, however, it begins 
 to recover itself. The water, which left it by the Hindiyeh, 
 returns to it upon the one side, while the Shat-el-Hie and 
 numerous other branch streams from the Tigris flow in upon 
 the other ; but still the Euphrates never recovers itself entirely, 
 
 0 Loftus, Chaldcea and Susiana, p. 308 ; Journal of Geograph. Society , vol. ix. p. 95. 
 
Chap. I. 
 
 DWINDLING OF THE EUPHRATES. 
 
 I 
 
 nor even approaches in its later course to the standard of its 
 earlier greatness. The channel from Kurnah to El Khitr was 
 found by Colonel Chesney to have an average width of only 
 200 yards, and a depth of about 18 or 19 feet, 10 which implies a 
 body of water far inferior to that carried between the junction 
 with the Khabour and Hit. More recently, the decline of the 
 stream in its later course has been found to be even greater. 
 Neglect of the banks has allowed the river to spread itself more 
 and more widely over the land ; and it is said that, except in 
 the flood time, very little of the Euphrates water reaches the 
 sea. 1 Nor is this an unprecedented or very unusual state of 
 things. From the circumstance (probably) that it has been 
 formed by the deposits of streams flowing from the east as well 
 as from the north, the lower Mesopotamian plain slopes not only 
 to the south, but to the west. 2 The Euphrates, which has low 
 banks, is hence at all times inclined to leave its bed, and to flow 
 off to the right, 3 where large tracts are below its ordinary level. 
 Over these it spreads itself, forming the well-known “ Chaldaean 
 marshes,” 4 which absorb the chief portion of th£ water that 
 flows into them, and in which the “great river” seems at 
 various times to have wholly, or almost wholly, lost itself. 0 No 
 such misfortune can befall the Tigris, which runs in a deep bed, 
 and seldom varies its channel, offering a strong contrast to the 
 sister stream. 6 
 
 Frequent allusion has been made, in the course of this descrip- 
 tion of the Tigris and Euphrates, to the fact of their having each 
 a flood season. Herodotus is scarcely correct when he says, 
 that in Babylonia “ the river does not, as in Egypt, overflow the 
 
 10 Euphrates Expedition , vol. i. pp. 59, 
 
 60. 
 
 1 Layard, Nineveh and Babylon , ch. 
 xxi. p. 475 ; Loftus, Chaldcea and Susiana, 
 
 p. 45. 
 
 2 Heeren’s statement, which is directly 
 the reverse of this (. Asiatic Nations, 
 vol. ii. p. 131, E. T.), is at once false 
 and self-contradictory. The “ deep bed” 
 and “hold shores” of the Tigris are 
 the consequence of the higher level of 
 the plain in its vicinity. The fall of the 
 Tigris is much greater than that of 
 
 the Euphrates in its lower course, and 
 the stream cuts deeper into the alluvium, 
 on the principle of water finding its 
 own level. 
 
 3 Loftus, p. 44. 
 
 4 Arrian, Exped. Alex. vii. 21, 22; 
 Strab. xvi. 1, §§ 11, 12. The “ lacus 
 Chaldaici” of Pliny (Hist. Nat. vi. 27) 
 refer rather to the marshes on the Lower 
 Tigris. (See the next page.) 
 
 5 Arrian, Exped. Alex. vii. 7 ; PI in. 
 Hist. Nat. 1. s. c. 
 
 6 Arrian, vii. 21. 
 
12 
 
 THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap: I. 
 
 corn-lands of its own accord, but is spread oyer them by the 
 help of engines.” 7 Both the Tigris and the Euphrates rise 
 many feet each spring, and overflow their banks in various 
 places. The rise is caused by the melting of the snows in the 
 mountain regions from which the two rivers and their affluents 
 spring. As the Tigris drains the southern, and the Euphrates 
 the northern side of the same mountain range, the flood of the 
 former stream is earlier and briefer than that of the latter. 
 The Tigris commonly begins to rise early in March, and reaches 
 its greatest height in the first or second week of May, after 
 which it rapidly declines, and returns to its natural level by 
 the middle of June. The Euphrates first swells about the 
 middle of March, and is not in full flood till quite the end of 
 May or the beginning of June ; it then continues high for above 
 a month, and does not sink much till the middle of J uly, after 
 which it gradually falls till September. The country inundated 
 by the Tigris is chiefly that on its lower course, between the 
 32nd and 31st parallels, the territory of the Beni Lam Arabs. 
 The territory which the Euphrates floods is far more extensive. 
 As high up as its junction with the Khabour, that stream is 
 described as, in the month of April, “ spreading over the sur- 
 rounding country like a sea.” 8 From Hit downwards it inun- 
 dates both its banks, more especially the country above Baghdad 
 (to which it is carried by the Saklawiyeh canal), the tract west 
 of the Birs Nimrud and extending thence by way of Nedjif to 
 Samava, and the territory of the Affej Arabs, between the rivers, 
 above and below the 32nd parallel. Its flood is, however, very 
 irregular, owing to the nature of its banks, and the general 
 inclination of the plain, whereof mention was made above. 9 If 
 care is taken, the inundation may be pretty equally distri- 
 buted on either side of the stream ; but if the river banks are 
 neglected, it is sure to flow mainly to the west, rendering the 
 whole country on that side the river a swamp, and leaving the 
 territory on the left bank almost without water. This state of 
 things may be traced historically from the age of Alexander to 
 
 ' Herod, i. 193. 
 
 8 Layard, Nineveh and Babylon , p. 297. 
 
 9 See page 11. 
 
Ciiap. I. 
 
 FLOODING OF THE TWO RIVERS. 
 
 13 
 
 the present day, and has probably prevailed more or less since 
 the time when Chaldaea received its first inhabitants. 
 
 The floods of the Tigris and Euphrates combine with the 
 ordinary action of their streams upon their banks to produce a 
 constant variation in their courses, which in a long period of 
 time might amount to something very considerable. It is 
 impossible to say, with respect to any portion of the alluvial 
 plain, that it may not at some former period have been the bed 
 of one or the other river. Still it would seem that, on the 
 whole, a law of compensation prevails, with the result that the 
 general position of the streams in the valley is not very different 
 now from what it was 4000 years ago. Certainly between the 
 present condition of things and that in the time of Alexander, 
 or even of Herodotus, no great difference can be pointed out, 
 except in the region immediately adjoining on the gulf, where 
 the alluvium has grown, and the streams, which were formerly 
 separate, have united their waters. The Euphrates still flows 
 by Hit (Is) and through Babylon ; 10 the Tigris passes near 
 Opis, 1 and at Baghdad runs at the foot of an embankment made 
 to confine it by Nebuchadnezzar. 2 The changes traceable are 
 less in the main courses than in the branch streams, which per- 
 petually vary, being sometimes left dry within a few years of 
 the time that they have been navigable channels. 3 
 
 The most important variations of this kind are on the side of 
 Arabia. Here the desert is always ready to encroach ; and the 
 limits of Chaldsea itself depend upon the distance from the main 
 river, to which some branch stream conveys the Euphrates 
 water. In the most flourishing times of the country, a wide and 
 deep channel, branching off near Hit, at the very commence- 
 ment of the alluvium, has skirted the Arabian rock and gravel 
 for a distance of several hundred miles, and has entered the 
 
 J0 Herod, i. 179, 180. 
 
 1 Ibid. i. 189; Xen. Anab. ii. 4, § 25. 
 The site of Opis is probably marked by 
 the ruins at Khafaji. (See the remarks 
 of Sir H. Rawlinson in the author’s 
 Herodotus , vol. i. p. 326, note 8 .) 
 
 2 Sir H. Rawlinson, Commentary on 
 
 the Cuneiform Inscriptions of Assyria 
 and Babylonia, p. 77, note. 
 
 3 Loftus, Chaldcea and Susiana, p. 112. 
 Some rather considerable changes in the 
 bed of the Tigris are thought to be trace- 
 able a little below Samarah. (See Journal 
 of Geographical Society , vol. ix. p. 472.) 
 
14 
 
 THE FIEST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. I. 
 
 Persian Gulf by a mouth of its own. 4 In this way the extent 
 of Chaldsea has been at times largely increased, a vast tract 
 being rendered cultivable, which is otherwise either swamp or 
 
 desert. _ , 
 
 Such are the chief points of interest connected with the two 
 great Mesopotamian rivers. These form, as has been already 
 observed, the only marked and striking characteristics of the 
 country, which, except for them, and for one further feature, 
 which now requires notice, would be absolutely unvaried and 
 uniform. On the Arabian side of the Euphrates, 50 miles south 
 of the ruins of Babylon, and 25 or 30 miles from the river, is a 
 fresh-water lake of very considerable dimensions — the Bahr-i- 
 Nedjif, the “ Assyrium stagnum” of Justin. 5 This is a natural 
 basin, 40 miles long, and from 10 to 20 miles broad, enclosed on 
 three sides by sandstone cliffs, varying from 20 to 200 feet in 
 height, and shut in on the fourth side — the north-east — by 
 a rocky ridge, which intervenes between the valley of the 
 Euphrates and this inland sea. The cliffs are water-worn, pre- 
 senting distinct indications of more than one level at which the 
 water has rested in former times. 6 At the season of the inunda- 
 tion this lake is liable to be confounded with the extensive 
 floods and marshes, which extend continuously from the country 
 west of the Birs Nimrud to Samava. But at other times the 
 distinction between the Bahr and the marshes is very evident, 
 the former remaining when the latter disappear altogether, and 
 not diminishing very greatly in size even in the driest season. 
 The water of the lake is fresh and sweet, so long as it communi- 
 cates with the Euphrates ; when the communication is cut off it 
 becomes very unpalatable, and those w T ho dwell in the vicinity 
 are no longer able to drink it. This result is attributed to the 
 connexion of the lake with rocks of the gypsiferous series. 7 
 
 It is obvious that the only natural divisions of Chaldsea proper 
 are those made by the river-courses. The principal tract must 
 
 4 Shapur Dholactuf, in the fourth I known as Khandak Sabur, or “ Shapur’s 
 century of our era, either cut or re- ; ditch.” The present name is Kerreh 
 
 opened this canal. He is said to have [ Saideh. 
 
 intended it as a defence against the i 5 Justin, xviii. 3, § 2. 
 
 Arabs. In Arabian geography it is | 6 Loftus, p. 50. Ibid., 1. s. c. 
 
Chap. I. 
 
 DIVISION OF THE COUNTRY. 
 
 15 
 
 always have been that which intervenes between the two 
 streams. This was anciently a district some 300 miles in length, 
 varying from 20 to 100 miles in breadth, and perhaps averaging 
 50 miles, which must thus have contained an area of about 
 15,000 square miles. The tract between the Euphrates and 
 Arabia was at all times smaller than this, and in the most 
 flourishing period of Chaldsea must have fallen short of 10,000 
 square miles. 
 
 We have no evidence that the natural division of Chaldsea 
 here indicated was ever employed in ancient times for political 
 purposes. The division which appears to have been so employed 
 was one into northern and southern Chaldsea, the first extending 
 from Hit to a little below Babylon, the second from Niffer to 
 the shores of the Persian Gulf. In each of these districts we 
 have a sort of tetrarchy, or special pre-eminence of four cities, 
 such as appears to be indicated by the words — “ The beginning 
 of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, 
 in the land of Shinar.” 8 The southern tetrarchy is composed 
 of the four cities, Ur or Hur, Huruk, Nipur, and Larsa or 
 Larancha, which are probably identified with the Scriptural 
 “ Ur of the Chaldees,” Erech, Calneh, and Ellasar. 9 The northern 
 consists of Babel or Babylon, Borsippa, Cutha, and Sippara, of 
 which all except Borsippa are mentioned in Scripture. 10 Besides 
 these cities the country contained many others, as Chilmad, 
 Dur-Kurri-galzu, Ihi or Ahava, Rubesi, Duran, Tel-Humba, &c. 
 It is not possible at present to locate with accuracy all these 
 places. We may, however, in the more important instances, fix 
 either certainly, or with a very high degree of probability, their 
 position. 
 
 Hur or Ur, the most important of the early capitals, was 
 
 8 Gen. x. 10. The sacred historian per- 
 haps further represents the Assyrians 
 as adopting the Babylonian number on 
 their emigration to the more northern 
 regions: — “ Out of that land went forth 
 Asshur, and builded Nineveh, and the 
 city Iiehoboth, and Calah, and Resen.” 
 (Gen. x. 11, 12.) 
 
 9 In three out of these four cases, the 
 
 similarity of the name forms a sufficient 
 
 ground for the identification. In the 
 fourth case the chief ground of identifi- 
 cation is a statement in the Talmud 
 that Nopher was the site of the Calneh 
 of Nimrod. 
 
 10 Sippara is the Scriptural Sephar- 
 vaim. The Hebrew term has a dual 
 ending, because there were two Sipparas, 
 one on either side of the river. 
 
1 6 
 
 THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap I.. 
 
 situated on the Euphrates, probably at no great distance from 
 its mouth. It was probably the chief commercial emporium in 
 the early times ; as in the bilingual vocabularies its ships are 
 mentioned in connexion with those of Ethiopia . 1 The name is 
 found to have attached to the extensive ruins (now about six 
 miles from the river, on its right bank, and nearly opposite its 
 junction with the Shat-el-Hie) which are known by the name of 
 Mugheir, or “the bitumened .” 2 Here, on a dead flat, broken 
 only by a few sand-hills, are traces of a considerable town, con- 
 sisting chiefly of a series of low mounds, disposed in an oval 
 shape, the largest diameter of which runs from north to south, 
 and measures somewhat more than half a mile. The chief 
 building is a temple, hereafter to be more particularly described, 
 which is a very conspicuous object even at a considerable dis- 
 tance, its greatest height above the plain being about seventy 
 feet . 3 It is built in a very rude fashion, of large bricks, cemented 
 with bitumen, whence the name by which the Arabs designate 
 the ruins. 
 
 About thirty miles from Hur, .in a north-westerly direction, 
 and on the other side of the Euphrates, from which it is distant 
 eight or nine miles, are the ruins of a town, called in the inscrip- 
 tions Larrak, or Larsa, in which some of the best Orientalists 
 have recognised at once the Biblical Ellasar , 4 the Laranchse of 
 Berosus , 5 and the Larissa of Apollodorus, where the king held 
 his court who sent Mernnon to the siege of Troy . 6 The identi- 
 fication is perhaps doubtful ; but, at any rate, we have here the 
 remains of a second Chaldsean capital, dating fiom the very 
 earliest times. The ruins, which bear now the name of Sen- 
 kereh or Sinkara, consist of a low circular platform, about four 
 and a half miles in circumference, rising gradually from the 
 level of the plain to a central mound, the highest point of which 
 attains an elevation of seventy feet above the plain itself, and is 
 
 1 Sir H. Rawlinson, in the Journal 
 of the Geographical Society, vol. xxvii. 
 
 p. 185 * , - x7 
 
 2 Mr. Taylor, in the Journal of the 
 
 Asiatic Society, vol. xv. p. 260. Sir H. 
 
 Rawlinson prefers the derivation of 
 
 Um-qir t “ the mother of bitumen.” 
 
 3 Loftus, Chaldoea and Susiana, p. 128. 
 
 4 Gen. xiv. 1. 
 
 5 Beros. ap. Syncell., Chronographia, 
 p. 39. 
 
 6 Apollod. Bibliotheca , ii. 4, § 4. 
 
Chap. I. CHIEF CITIES — UR, NOW MUGHEIR. iy 
 
 1 1 1 
 
 i 1 i 1 1 ; I /j & 
 
 1 1 1 1 1 1 
 
 ifi'ii 
 'iii' / / ' , 
 ////// ; 
 
 : /7c// /// IT 
 // <7/ /, /'/ 
 
 
 p a v e s- 
 
 C 50 100 
 
 0 
 
 Plan of Mugheir Ruins. 
 
 H H H H. 2946 yards round. 
 a a a. Platform on which the house d is built, 
 d. House cleared. 
 
 b. Pavement at edge of platform a, 12 feet below 
 surface. 
 
 c. Tomb mound. 
 
 d e g hkl m. Points at which excavations 
 were made by Mr. Loftus. 
 ffff • Comparatively open space of very low 
 mounds. 
 
 YOL. I. 
 
 C 
 
THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. I. 
 
 18 
 
 distinctly visible from a distance of fifteen miles. 7 The material 
 used consists of the ordinary sun-dried and baked bricks ; and 
 the basement platforms bear the inscriptions of the same king 
 who appears to have been the original founder of the chief 
 buildings at Ur or Mugheir. 
 
 Fifteen miles from Larsa, in a direction a little north of west, 
 and on the same side of the river, are ruins considerably more 
 extensive than those of either Ur or Larsa, to which the natives 
 apply the name of Warka, which is no doubt a corruption of 
 the original appellation. The Erech, or Orech, 8 of the Hebrews, 
 which appears as Huruk in the cuneiform geographical lists, 
 became known to the Greeks as Orchoe ; 9 and this appella- 
 tion, probably continuing in use to the time of the Arab 
 conquest, was then corrupted into Urka or Warka, in which 
 shape the name given by Nimrod still attaches to the second of 
 his cities. The ruins stand in lat. 31° 19', long. 45° 40', about 
 four miles from the nearest bend of the Euphrates, on its left or 
 east bank. They form an irregular circle, nearly six miles in 
 circumference, which is defined by the traces of an earthen 
 rampart, in some places forty feet high. A vast mass of undu- 
 lating mounds, intersected by innumerable channels and ravines, 
 extends almost entirely across the circular space, in a direction, 
 which is nearly north and south, abutting at either end upon the 
 rampart. East and west of this mass is a comparatively open 
 space, where the mounds are scattered and infrequent; while 
 outside the rampart are not only a number of detached hillocks 
 marking the site of ancient buildings, but in one direction— 
 towards the east— the city may be traced continuously by means 
 of ruined edifices, mounds, and pottery, fully three miles beyond 
 the rampart into the desert. The greatest height of the ruins 
 is about 100 feet ; their construction is very rude and primitive, 
 the date of some buildings being evidently as early as that of 
 the most ancient structures of either Mugheir or Senkereh. 10 
 
 Sixty miles to the north-west of these ruins, still on the left 
 
 7 Loftus, p. 244. 
 
 8 The LXX translators express the 
 
 Hebrew by ’O pe'x. 
 
 9 Strab. xvi. 1, § 6 ; Ftol. v. 20, 
 p. 137. See also Pliny, Hist. Hat. 
 vi. 27. 10 Loftus, pp. 162-170. 
 
Chap. I. 
 
 ERECH, NOW WARKA. 
 
 19 
 
 or eastern bank of the Euphrates, but at the distance of thirty 
 miles from its present course, are the remains of another 
 
 city, the only Chaldaean ruins which can dispute, with those 
 already described, the palm of antiquity. They consist of 
 a number of separate and distinct heaps, which seem to be 
 
 c 2 
 
 O SO IBP Spu IOOO 
 
 Scale of ljcirds. 
 
 Ruins of Warka (Erech). 
 
 A. Bowariyeh. I C. Parthian ruin. 
 
 B. Wuswas. I I). Edifice of cones. 
 
20 
 
 THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. I. 
 
 the remains of different buildings, and are divided into two 
 nearly equal groups by a deep ravine or channel 120 feet 
 wide, apparently the dry bed of a river which once ran 
 through the towm. 1 Conspicuous among the other hillocks is 
 a conical heap, occupying a central position on the eastern side 
 of the river-bed, and rising to the height of about seventy 
 feet above the general level of the plain. 2 Further on in this 
 direction is a low continuous mound, which seems to be a 
 portion of the outer wall of the city. The ruins are of con- 
 siderable extent, but scarcely so large as those at either Sen- 
 kereh or Warka. The name which now attaches to them is 
 Niflfer ; and it appears, from the inscriptions at the place, that 
 the ancient Semitic appellation was but slightly different, 3 This 
 name, as read on the bilingual tablets, was Nipur ; and as there 
 can be little doubt that it is this word which appears in the 
 Talmud as Nopher, 4 we are perhaps entitled, on the authority 
 of that treasure-house of Hebrew traditions, to identify these 
 ruins with the Calneh of Moses, 5 * and the Calno of Isaiah. 
 
 About sixty-five miles from Niffer, on the opposite side of the 
 Euphrates, and in a direction only slightly north of west, are 
 the remains of the ancient Borsippa. These consist of little 
 more than the ruins of a single building — the great temple 
 of Merodach— which was entirely rebuilt by Nebuchadnezzar. 
 They have been sometimes regarded as really a portion of the 
 ancient Babylon ; 7 * but this view is wholly incompatible with 
 the cuneiform records, which distinctly assign to the ruins in 
 question the name of Borsip or Borsippa, a place known with 
 
 1 Layard, Nineveh, and Babylon, ch. which he joins with B ajxriTa and 
 
 xxiv. p. 551- Boats smeared with bitu- Aiyova, precisely as in the inscriptions 
 
 men, and similar to those still in use are joined Borsip, Nipur, and Cutha or 
 
 in Lower Mesopotamia, are said to be Tiggaba. Nipur is given in the bilin- 
 
 occasionally found, beneath the soil, in gual tablets as the Semitic translation 
 
 this ravine. °f Scythic Bilu. 
 
 2 Loftus, p. 101. 4 See above, page 15, note 9 . 
 
 3 In the early Scythic or Cushite 5 Gen. x. 10. Isaiah x. 9. 
 
 Babylonian the name of the city is 7 Rich, Second Memoir on Babylon, 
 
 represented by the same characters as p. 32; Heeren, Asiatic Nations, vol. h. 
 
 are used for the god Belus, though of , p. 172; Ker Porter, Travels, vol. n. p. 
 course with a different determinative ; 379. See also Oppert s map, entitled 
 
 and it thus 6eems highly probable that “ Babylon Autiqua,” in his L.cpedition 
 
 we have the vernacular pronunciation scientifique en Mesopotamie, Paris, Gide, 
 
 of the name in the Bt'A/b? of Ptolemy, 1858. 
 
Chap. I. 
 
 SECONDARY CITIES. 
 
 21 
 
 certainty to have been distinct from, though in the neighbour- 
 hood of, the capital . 8 A remnant of the ancient name appears 
 to be contained in the modern appellation, Birs-Nimrud or 
 Birs-i-Nimrud, which does not admit of any explanation from 
 the existing language of the country . 9 
 
 Fifteen miles from hence, to the north-east, chiefly but not 
 entirely on the left or east bank of the Euphrates, are the 
 remains of “ Babylon the Great,” which have been so frequently 
 described by travellers, that little need be said of them in this 
 place. The chief ruins cover a space about three miles long, 
 and from one to two broad, and consist mainly of three great 
 masses : the first a square mound, called “ Babil ” by the Arabs, 
 lying towards the north at some distance from the other remains ; 
 the second or central mound, a pile called the “Kasr” or 
 Palace ; and the third, a great irregular heap lying towards the 
 south, known as the “ mound of Amram,” from a tomb w r hich 
 crowns its summit. The “ Kasr ” and “ Amram ” mounds are 
 enclosed within two lines of rampart, lying at right angles to 
 each other, and forming, with the river, a sort of triangle, within 
 which all the principal ruins are comprised, except the mound 
 called “ Babil.” Beyond the rampart, towards the north, south, 
 and east, and also across the river to the west, are various smaller 
 detached ruins, while the whole ground, in every direction, is 
 covered with fragments of brick and with nitre, the sure marks 
 of former habitations. 
 
 The other cities of ancient Chaldsea which may be located 
 with an approach to certainty, are Cutha, now' Ibrahim, fifteen 
 miles north-east by north of Hymar; Sippara or Sepharvaim, 
 which was at Sura, near Mosaib on the Euphrates, about twenty 
 miles above Babylon by the direct route ; and Dur-Kurri-galzu, 
 now Akkerkuf, on the Saklawiyeh canal, six miles from Baghdad, 
 and thirty from Mosaib, in a direction a little west of north. 
 I hi, or Ahava, is probably Hit, ninety miles above Mosaib, on 
 the right bank of the river ; Chilmad may be Kalwadha, near 
 Baghdad ; and Bubesi is perhaps Zergliul, near the left bank of 
 
 8 Berosus, Fr. 14; Strab. xvi. 1, § 7 ; Justin, xii. 13; Steph. Byz. ad voc. 
 
 9 Rich, First Memoir , p. 34, note. 
 
22 
 
 THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. I. 
 
 the Shat-el-Hie, a little above its confluence with the Euphrates. 
 Chaldsean cities appear likewise to bave existed at Hymar, ten 
 miles from Babylon towards the east; at Sherifeh and Im 
 Khithr, south and south-east of Hymar ; at Zibbliyeh , 10 on the 
 line of the Nil canal, fifteen miles north-west of Niffer ; at 
 Delay him and Bismiya, in the Affej marshes, beyond Niffer, to 
 
 Akkerkuf. 
 
 the south-east ; at Phara and Jidr, in the same region, to the 
 south-west and south-east of Bismiya; at Hammam , 11 sixteen 
 miles south-east of Phara, between the Affej and the Shatra 
 marshes; at Tel-Ede, six miles from Hammam, to the south- 
 south-west ; at Tel-Medineh and Tel-Sifr, in the Shatra marshes, 
 
 :0 Layard, Nineveh and Babylon, p. age, though occupying the sites of earlier 
 
 569. Mr. Loftus suggests that the re- Chaldaean cities. 
 
 mains nere are of a later date. ( Chaldoea 11 Hammam is thought to be the 
 
 and Susiana, p. 85.) Sir H. Rawlinson Gulaba of the Cuneiform Inscriptions 
 
 regards the existing buildings at Akker- (Loftus, p. 113) ; but this identification 
 
 kuf and Hammam as also of the Parthian | is uncertain. 
 
Chap. I. SECONDARY CITIES. 23 
 
 to the south-east of Tel-Ede and the north-east of Sepkereh ; 
 at Yokha, east of Hararnam, and Nuffdyji, north of Warka; at 
 
 Hammam. 
 
 Lethami, near Niffer ; at Iskhuriyeh, north of Zibbliyeh, near 
 the Tigris ; at Tel Kheir and Tel Dhalab, in the upper part of 
 
 Tel-Ede. 
 
24 
 
 THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. I. 
 
 the alluvium, to the north of Akkerkuf ; at Duair, on the right 
 bank of the Euphrates, south of Hilleh and south-east of the 
 Birs Nimrud ; at Jeb ITehari, south of the Bahr-i-Nedjif ; at 
 Mai Battush, near Swaje; at Tel-el-Lahm, nine or ten miles 
 south of Suk-es-Sheioukh, and at Abu Shahrein, in the same 
 neighbourhood, on the very border of the Arabian desert . 1 
 F urther investigation will probably add largely to this catalogue, 
 for many parts of Babylonia are still to some extent unexplored. 
 This is especially true of the tract between the Shat-el-Hie and 
 the lower Tigris , 2 a district which, according to the geographers, 
 abounds with ruins. No doubt the most extensive and most 
 striking of the old cities have been visited ; for of these Euro- 
 peans are sure to hear through the reports of natives. But it 
 is more than probable that a number of the most interesting 
 sites remain unexplored, and even unvisited ; for these are not 
 always either very extensive or very conspicuous. The process 
 of gradual disintegration is continually lowering the height of 
 the Chaldsean ruins ; and depressed mounds are commonly the 
 sign of an ancient and long-deserted city . 3 Such remains give 
 us an insight into the character of the early people, which it is 
 impossible to obtain from ruins where various populations have 
 raised their fabrics in succession upon the same spot. 
 
 The cities here enumerated may not perhaps, in all cases, 
 have existed in the Chaldsean period. The evidence hitherto 
 obtained connects distinctly with that period only the following 
 — Babylon, Ur or Hur, Larrak or Larsa, Erech or Huruk, 
 Calneh or Nopher, Sippara, Dur-Kurri-galzu, Chilmad, and tbe 
 places now called Abu Shahrein and Tel Sift -. 4 These sites, it 
 will be observed, were scattered over the whole territory from 
 the extreme south almost to the extreme north, and show the 
 extent of the kingdom to have been that above assigned to it . 5 
 They are connected together by a similarity in building arrange- 
 
 1 See Fraser’s Mesopotamia and As- 
 syria , pp. 150-155 ; Ainsworth’s lie- 
 searches in Mesopotamia, p. 127 and 
 
 p. 177 ; Ross and Lynch, in Journal of 
 
 Geographical Society , vol. ix. pp. 443 et 
 
 seq.; Loftus’ Childjea and Susiana , pas- 
 
 sim ; and Journal of Geographical Society , 
 
 vol. xxvi. pp. 133-144. 
 
 2 This district has been visited by 
 Mr. Taylor, but its marshy character 
 makes it very difficult to explore at all 
 completely. 
 
 3 Loftus, Chaldeea and Susiana, p. 251. 
 
 4 Ibid. p. 435. 5 See page 3. 
 
Chap. I. 
 
 BORDER COUNTRIES — ARABIA, ASSYRIA. 
 
 25 
 
 ments and materials, in language, in form and type of writing, 
 and sometimes in actual names of monarchs. The most ancient, 
 apparently, are those towards the south, at Warka, Senkereh, 
 Mugheir, and Niffer ; and here, in the neighbourhood of the sea, 
 which then probably reached inland as far as Suk-es-Sheioukh, 
 there is sufficient reason to place the primitive seat of Chaldsean 
 power. The capital of the whole region was at first Ur or Hur, 
 but afterwards became Nipur, and finally Babel or Babylon. 
 
 The geography of Chaldsea is scarcely complete without a 
 glance at the countries which adjoin upon it. On the west, 
 approaching generally within twenty or thirty miles of the 
 present course of the Euphrates, is the Arabian desert, consisting 
 in this place of tertiary sands and gravels, having a general 
 elevation of a few feet above the Mesopotamian plain, and 
 occasionally rising into ridges of no great height, whose direction 
 is parallel to the course of the great stream. Such are the 
 Hazem and the Qassaim, in the country between the Bahr-i- 
 Nedjif and the Persian Gulf, low pebbly ridges which skirt the 
 valley from the Bahr to below Suk-es-Sheioukh. Further west 
 the desert becomes more stony, its surface being strewn with 
 numerous blocks of black granite, from which it derives its 
 appellation of Hejerra. 6 No permanent streams water this 
 region; occasional “wadys” or torrent-courses, only full after 
 heavy rains, are found ; but the scattered inhabitants depend for 
 water chiefly on their wells, which are deep and numerous, but 
 yield only a scanty supply of a brackish and unpalatable fluid. 
 No settled population can at any time have found subsistence 
 in this region, which produces only a few dates, and in places a 
 poor and unsucculent herbage. Sandstorms are frequent, and 
 at times the baleful simoom sweeps across the entire tract, 
 destroying with its pestilential breath both men and animals. 7 
 
 Towards the north Chakkea adjoined upon Assyria. From 
 the foot of that moderately lofty range already described, 8 which 
 the Greeks called Masius, and the modern Turks know as J ebel 
 Tur and Karajah I)agh, extends, for above 300 miles, a plain of 
 
 6 See the Journal of the Royal Asiatic 1 7 See the elder Niebuhr’s Description 
 
 Society , vol. xv. p. 404. j de V Arabic, pp. 7, 8. 8 See p. 9. 
 
26 
 
 THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. I. 
 
 low elevation, slightly undulating in places, and crossed about 
 its centre by an important limestone ridge, known as the Sinjar 
 hills, which have a direction nearly east and west, beginning 
 about Mosul, and terminating a little below Rakkah. This 
 tract differs from the Chaldsean lowland, by being at once less 
 flat and more elevated. Geologically it is of secondary forma- 
 tion, while Chaldsea proper is tertiary or post-tertiary. It is 
 fairly watered towards the north, but below the Sinjar is only 
 very scantily supplied. In modern times it is for nine months 
 in the year a desert, but anciently it was well inhabited, means 
 having apparently been found to bring the whole into cultiva- 
 tion. As a complete account of this entire region must be given 
 in another part of the present volume, this outline (it is thought) 
 may suffice for our present purpose. 
 
 Eastward of Chaldsea, separated from it by the Tigris, which 
 in its lower course is a stream of more body than the Euphrates, 
 was the country known to the Jews as Elam , 9 to the early 
 Greeks as Cissia , 1 and to the later Greeks as Susis or Susiana . 2 
 This territory comprised a portion of the mountain country 
 whjch separates Mesopotamia from Persia ; but it was chiefly 
 composed of the broad and rich flats intervening between the 
 mountains and the Tigris, along the courses of the Kerkhah, 
 Kuran, and Jerahi rivers. It was a rich and fertile tract, re- 
 sembling Chaldsea in its general character, with the exception 
 that the vicinity of the mountains lent it freshness, giving it 
 cooler streams, more frequent rains, and pleasanter . breezes. 
 Capable of maintaining with ease a dense population, it was 
 likely, in the early times, to be a powerful rival to the 
 Mesopotamian kingdom, over which we shall find that in fact 
 it sometimes exercised supremacy. 
 
 On the south Chaldsea had no neighbour. Here a spacious 
 sea, with few shoals, land-locked, and therefore protected from 
 the violent storms of the Indian Ocean, invited to commerce, 
 offering a ready communication with India and Ceylon, as well 
 as Avith Arabia Felix, Ethiopia, and Egypt. It is perhaps to 
 
 9 Dan. viii. 2. 1 iEschylus, Persae , 123 ; Herodotus, v. 52. 
 
 2 Strabo, xv. 3, § 12. 
 
Chap. I. 
 
 MARITIME POSITION OF CHALDiEA. 
 
 27 
 
 this circumstance of her geographical position, as much as to 
 any other, that ancient Chaldsea owes her superiority over her 
 neighbours, and her right to be regarded as one of the five 
 great monarchies of the ancient world. Commanding at once 
 the sea, which reaches here deep into the land, and the great 
 rivers by means of which the commodities of the land were 
 most conveniently brought down to the sea, she lay in the high- 
 way of trade, and could scarcely fail to profit by her position. 
 There is sufficient reason to believe that Ur, the first capital, 
 was a great maritime emporium ; and if so, it can scarcely be 
 doubted that to commerce and trade, at the least in part, the 
 early development of Chaldsean greatness was owing. 
 
28 
 
 THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. II. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 CLIMATE AND PRODUCTIONS. 
 
 “ Ager totius Asias fertilissimus.” — P lin. H. N. vi. 26. 
 
 Lower Mesopotamia, or Chaldaea, which lies in the same 
 latitude with Central China, the Punjab, Palestine, Marocco, 
 Georgia, Texas, and Central California, has a climate the 
 warmth of which is at least equal to that of any of those 
 regions. Even in the more northern part of the country, the 
 district about Baghdad, the thermometer often rises during 
 the summer to 120° of Fahrenheit in the shade ; 1 and the in- 
 habitants are forced to retreat to their serdabs or cellars, 2 
 where they remain during the day, in an atmosphere which, by 
 the entire exclusion of the sun’s rays, is reduced to about 100°. 
 Lower down the valley, at Zobair, Busrah, and Mohammrah, 
 the summer temperature is still higher; 3 and, ov/ing to the 
 moisture of the atmosphere, consequent on the vicinity of 
 the sea, the heat is of that peculiarly oppressive character 
 which prevails on the sea-coast of Hindustan, in Ceylon, in the 
 West Indian islands, at New Orleans, and in other places whose 
 situation is similar. The vital powers languish under this 
 oppression, which produces in the European a lassitude of body 
 and a prostration of mind that wholly unfit him for active duties. 
 On the Asiatic, however, these influences seem to have little 
 effect. The Cha’b Arabs, who at present inhabit the region, are 
 a tall and warlike race, strong-limbed, and muscular ; 4 they 
 appear to enjoy the climate, and are as active, as healthy, and 
 as long-lived as any tribe of their nation. But if man by long 
 residence becomes thoroughly inured to the intense heat of 
 
 1 Loftus, Chaldcea and Susiana , p. 9. 
 
 2 Chesney, Euphrates Expedition , vol.i. 
 
 p. 106. 
 
 3 Loftus, p. 280. This traveller found 
 
 the temperature at Mohammrah, in 
 June, 1850, to rise often to 124° of 
 Fahrenheit in the shade. 
 
 4 Ibid. p. 285. 
 
Chap. II. CLIMATE OF CHALDiEA — TEMPER ATUKE. 
 
 29 
 
 these regions, it is otherwise with the animal creation. Camels 
 sicken, and birds are so distressed by the high temperature that 
 they sit in the date-trees about Baghdad, with their mouths 
 open, panting for fresh air . 5 
 
 The evils proceeding from a burning temperature are aug- 
 mented in places under the influence of winds, which, arising 
 suddenly, fill the air with an impalpable sand, sometimes circling 
 about a point, sometimes driving with furious force across a wide 
 extent of country. The heated particles, by their contact with 
 the atmosphere, increase its fervid glow, and, penetrating by 
 the nose and mouth, dry up the moisture of the tongue, 
 parch the throat, and irritate or even choke the lungs . 6 Earth 
 and sky are alike concealed by the dusty storm, through whicli 
 no object can be distinguished that is removed many yards ; a 
 lurid gleam surrounds the traveller, and seems to accompany 
 him as he moves ; every landmark is hid from view ; and to the 
 danger of suffocation is added that of becoming bewildered and 
 losing all knowledge of the road. Such are the perils encoun- 
 tered in the present condition of the country. It may be doubted, 
 however, if in the times with which we are here concerned the 
 evils just described had an existence. The sands of Chaldsea, 
 which are still progressive and advancing, seem to have reached 
 it from the Arabian Desert, to which they properly belong: 
 year by year the drifts gain upon the alluvium, and threaten 
 to spread over the whole country . 7 If we may calculate the 
 earlier by the present rate of progress, we must conclude that 
 anciently these shifting sands had at any rate not crossed the 
 Euphrates. 
 
 If the heat of summer be thus fierce and trying, the cold of 
 winter must be pronounced to be very moderate. Erost, indeed, 
 is not unknown in the country ; 8 but the frosts are only slight. 
 Keen winds blow from the north, and in the morning the ground 
 is often whitened by the congelation of the dew; the Arabs, 
 impatient of a low temperature, droop and flag ; but there is at 
 
 5 Loftus, p. 9, note. I 8 Layard, Nineveh and Babylon, 1. s. c.; 
 
 6 Ibid. p. 241 ; Layard, Nineveh and Loftus, Chaldcea and Susiana , p. 73 ; 
 
 Babylon, p. 546. 7 Loftus, pp. 81, 82. J Fraser, Travels, vol. ii. pp. 37 and 47. 
 
30 
 
 THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. II. 
 
 no time any severity of cold ; ice rarely forms in tlie marshes ; 
 snow is unknown; and the thermometer, even on the grass, 
 does not often sink below 30°. The Persian kings passed their 
 winter in Babylon, on account of the mildness of the climate ; 
 and Indian princes, expelled from the Peninsula, are wont, from 
 a similar cause, to fix their residence at Busiah or Baghdad. 
 The cold of which travellers speak is relative rather than 
 positive. The range of the thermometer in Lower Chaldaea is 
 perhaps 100°, whereas in England it is scarcely 80° ; there is 
 thus a greater difference between the heat of summer and the 
 cold of winter there than here ; but the actual greatest cold— 
 that which benumbs the Arabs and makes them fall from their 
 horses 9 — is no more than we often experience in April, or even 
 in May. 
 
 The rainy season of Chaldsea is in the winter time. Heavy 
 showers fall in November, and still more in December, which 
 sensibly raise the level of the rivers. 1 As the spring advances 
 the showers become lighter and less frequent ; but still they 
 recur from time to time, until the summer sets in, about May. 
 From May to November rain is very rare indeed. The sky 
 continues for weeks or even months without a cloud ; and the 
 sun’s rays are only tempered for a short time at morning and at 
 evening" by a grey mist or haze. It is during these months that 
 the phenomenon of the mirage is most remaikable. The strata 
 of air, unequally heated, and therefore differing in rarity, 
 refract the rays of light, fantastically enlarging and distorting 
 the objects seen through them, which frequently appear raised 
 from the ground and hanging in mid-air, or else, by a repetition 
 of their image, which is reflected in a lower stratum, give the 
 impression that they stand up out of a lake. Hence the delu- 
 sion which has so often driven the tiavellei to desperation 
 the “ image of a cool rippling watery mirror,” 2 which flies 
 
 9 Mr. Loft us tells us that he has seen j 
 this effect of the cold. 
 
 1 Sir H. Rawlinson, in the author’s 
 Herodotus , vol. i. p. 331, note 8 ; Rich, 
 First Memoir , p. 13; Chesney, Euphrates j 
 
 Expedition , vol. i. pp. 38, 39, and 61, 
 62. 
 
 2 Humboldt, Aspects of Nature , vol. i. 
 p. 18. See, for the fact, Layard, Nineveh 
 and Babylon, p. 549 ; Loftus, p. 1 13, 
 
Chap. II. FERTILITY AND WEALTH OF CHALDEA. 
 
 31 
 
 before him as he advances, and at once provokes and mocks 
 his thirst. 
 
 The fertility of Chaldaea in ancient times was proverbial. 
 “ Of all countries that we know,” says Herodotus, “ there is none 
 that is so fruitful in grain. It makes no pretension, indeed, of 
 growing the fig, the olive, the vine, or any other tree of the 
 kind ; but in grain it is so fruitful as to yield commonly two 
 hundred-fold, and when the production is at the greatest, even 
 three hundred-fold. The blade of the wheat-plant and of the 
 barley-plant is often four fingers in breadth. As for the millet 
 and the sesame, I shall not say to what height they grow, 
 though within my own knowledge ; for I am not ignorant that 
 what I have already written concerning the fruitfulness of Baby- 
 lonia must seem incredible to those who have not visited the 
 country .” 3 Theophrastus, the disciple of Aristotle, remarks— 
 “ In Babylon the wheat-fields are regularly mown twice, and 
 then fed off with beasts, to keep down the luxuriance of the 
 leaf, otherwise the plant does not run to ear. When this is 
 done, the return, in lands that are badly cultivated, is fifty-fold ; 
 while, in those that are well farmed, it is a hundred-fold .” 4 
 j Strabo observes — “ The country produces barley on a scale not 
 known elsewhere, for the return is said to be three hundred-fold. 
 All other wants are supplied by the palm, which furnishes not 
 : only bread, but wine, vinegar, honey, and meal .” 5 Pliny follows 
 Theophrastus, with the exception that he makes the return of 
 the wheat-crop, where the land is well farmed, a hundred and 
 fifty-fold . 6 The wealth of the region was strikingly exhibited 
 by the heavy demands which were made upon it by the Persian 
 kings, as well as by the riches which, notwithstanding these 
 demands, were accumulated in the hands of those who adminis- 
 tered its government. The money-tribute paid by Babylonia 
 and Assyria to the Persians was a thousand talents of silver 
 (nearly a quarter of a million of our money) annually ; r while 
 
 3 Herodotus, i. 193. j 6 Pliny, Hist. Nat. xviii. 17. 
 
 Theophrast. Hist. Plant, viii. 7. 7 Herodotus, iii. 92. If we set aside 
 
 5 Strabo, xvi. 1, § 14. Compare Xen. the Indian gold tribute, this was one- 
 
 Ana). n. 3, §§ 14-16. ninth of the whole tribute of the empire. 
 
32 
 
 THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 CnAr. II. 
 
 the tribute in kind was reckoned at one-third part of the contri- 
 butions of the whole empire . 8 Yet, despite this drain on its 
 resources, the government was regarded as the best that the 
 Persian king had to bestow, and the wealth accumulated by- 
 Babylonian satraps was extraordinary. Herodotus tells us of a 
 certain Tritantsechmes, a governor, who, to his own knowledge, 
 derived from his province nearly two bushels of silver daily! 
 This fortunate individual had a stud of sixteen thousand mares, 
 with a proportionate number of horses . 9 Another evidence of 
 the fertility of the region may be traced in the fear of Artaxerxes 
 Mnemon, after the battle of Cunaxa, lest the Ten Thousand 
 should determine to settle permanently in the vicinity of Sittace 
 upon the Tigris . 1 Whatever opinion may be held as to the exact 
 position of this place, and of the district intended by Xenophon, 
 it is certain that it was in the alluvial plain , 2 and so contained 
 within the limits of the ancient Chaldsea. 
 
 Modern travellers, speaking of Chaldsea in its present con- 
 dition, express themselves less enthusiastically than the ancients ; 
 but, on the whole, agree with them as to the natural capabilities 
 of the country. “ The soil,” says one of the most judicious, “ is 
 extremely fertile, producing great quantities of rice, dates, and 
 grain of different kinds, though it is not cultivated to above half 
 the degree of which it is susceptible .” 3 “ The soil is rich,” says 
 
 another, “not less bountiful than that on the banks of the 
 Egyptian Nile .” 4 “Although greatly changed by the neglect 
 of man,” observes a third, “ those portions of Mesopotamia which 
 are still cultivated, as the country about Hillah, show that the 
 region has all the fertility ascribed to it by Herodotus .” 5 There 
 is a general recognition of the productive qualities of the dis- 
 trict, combined with a general lamentation over the existing 
 
 8 Herodotus, i. 192. This proportion 
 appears excessive. Perhaps Babylonia 
 really supplied one-third of the grain 
 which the court consumed. 
 
 9 Ibid. l f s. c. 
 
 1 Xen. Anab. ii. 4, § 22. 
 
 2 Ibid. § 13. Compare Ainsworth, 
 Retreat of the Ten Thousand , pp. 105- 
 114. He regards the district intended 
 
 as that between the Shat-Eidha and the 
 bend of the Tigris, in lat. 34°. I should 
 place it lower down, below Baghdad, 
 near the ruins of Ctesiphon. 
 
 3 Rich, First Memoir , p. 12. 
 
 4 Loftus, Ckaldaea and Susiana, p. 14. 
 
 5 Chesney , Euphrates Expedition , vol. ii. 
 
 p. 602. 
 
Chap. II. MODERN NEGLECT OF CULTIVATION. 33 
 
 neglect and apathy which allow such gifts of Nature to run to 
 waste. Cultivation, we are told, is now the exception, instead 
 of the rule. “Instead of the luxuriant fields, the groves and 
 gardens of former times, nothing now meets the eye but an arid 
 waste .” 6 Many parts of Chaldsea, naturally as productive as 
 any others, are at present pictures of desolation. Large tracts 
 are covered by unwholesome marshes, producing nothing but 
 enormous reeds ; others lie waste and bare, parched up by the 
 fierce heat of the sun, and utterly destitute of water ; in some 
 places, as has been already mentioned, sand-drifts accumulate, 
 and threaten to make the whole region a mere portion of the 
 desert. 
 
 The great cause of this difference between ancient and modern 
 Chaldea is the neglect of the water-courses. Left to them- 
 selves, the rivers tend to desert some portions of the alluvium 
 wholly, which then become utterly unproductive; while they 
 spread themselves out over others, which are converted thereby 
 into pestilential swamps. A well-arranged system of embank- 
 ments and irrigating canals is necessary in order to develop the 
 natural capabilities of the country, and to derive from the rich 
 soil of this vast alluvium the valuable and varied products which 
 it can be made to furnish. 
 
 Among the natural products of the region two stand out as 
 pre-eminently important — the wheat-plant and the date-palm. 
 According to the native tradition , 7 wheat was indigenous in 
 Chaldsea ; and the first comers thus found themselves provided 
 by the bountiful hand of Nature with the chief necessary of life. 
 The luxuriance of the plant was excessive. Its leaves were as 
 broad as the palm of a man’s hand, and its tendency to grow 
 leaves was so great that (as we have seen 8 ) the Babylonians used 
 to mow it twice and then pasture their cattle on it for a while, 
 to keep down the blade and induce the plant to run to ear. The 
 ultimate return was enormous: on the most moderate com- 
 putation 9 it amounted to fifty-fold at the least, and often to a 
 
 6 Loftus, l.s.c. 7 Berosus, Fr. 1. 8 See p. 31. 
 
 9 That of Theophrastus, the professed naturalist. See above, p. 31, note 
 
34 THE FIRST MONARCHY. Chap. II. 
 
 hundred-fold. The modern Oriental is content, even in the case 
 of a rich soil, with a ten-fold return . 1 
 
 The date-palm was at once one of the most valuable and one 
 of the most ornamental products of the country. “Of all 
 vegetable forms,” says the greatest of modern naturalists, “ the 
 palm is that to which the prize of beauty has been assigned by 
 
 Palms. 
 
 the concurrent voice of nations in all ages .” 2 And though the 
 date-palm is in form perhaps less graceful and lovely than some 
 of its sister species, it possesses in the dates themselves a beauty 
 which they lack. These charming yellow clusters, semi-trans- 
 parent, which the Greeks likened to amber , 3 and moderns com- 
 pare to gold , 4 contrast, both in shape and tint, with the green 
 
 1 Geograph. Joum. \ ol. ix. p. 27. Com- p. 20, E. T. 
 
 pare Niebuhr, Description de I'Arabie, 3 Xen. Anab. ii. 3, § 15 ; Philostrat. 
 p J 34 Vit. Apollon. Tgan. i. 21 . 
 
 2 Humboldt, Aspects of Nature , vol. ii. 4 Loftus, Chaldea and Susiana, p. 25. 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 BEAUTY OF THE DATE-PALM. 
 
 35 
 
 feathery branches beneath whose shade they hang, and give a 
 richness to the landscape they adorn which adds greatly to its 
 attractions. And the utility of the palm has been at all times 
 proverbial. A Persian poem celebrated its three hundred and 
 sixty uses . 5 The Greeks, with more moderation, spoke of it as 
 furnishing the Babylonians with bread, wine, vinegar, honey, 
 groats, string and ropes of all kinds, firing, and a mash for 
 fattening cattle . 6 The fruit was excellent, and has formed at all 
 times an important article of nourishment in the country. It 
 was eaten both fresh and dried, forming in the latter case a 
 delicious sweetmeat . 7 The wine, “sweet but headachy ,” 8 was 
 probably not the spirit which it is at present customary to distil 
 from the dates, but the slightly intoxicating drink called lagby 
 in North Africa, which may be drawn from the tree itself by 
 decapitating it, and suffering the juice to flow . 9 The vinegar 
 was perhaps the same fluid corrupted, or it may have been 
 obtained from the dates. The honey was palm-sugar, likewise 
 procurable from the sap. How the groats were obtained we 
 do not know; but it appears that the pith of the palm was 
 eaten formerly in Babylonia, and was thought to have a very 
 agreeable flavour . 10 Ropes were made from the fibres of the 
 bark ; and the wood was employed for building and furniture . 1 
 It was soft, light, and easily worked, but tough, strong, and 
 fibrous . 2 
 
 The cultivation of the date-palm was widely extended in 
 Chaldaea, probably from very early times. The combination of 
 sand, moisture,, and a moderately saline soil, in which it delights , 3 
 was there found in perfection, more especially in the lower 
 country, which had but recently been reclaimed from the sea. 
 Even now, when cultivation is almost wholly laid aside, a thick 
 forest of luxuriant date-trees clothes the banks of the Euphrates 
 
 5 Strabo, xvi. 1, § 14. 6 Ibid. 
 
 7 Xen. Anab. 1. s. c. “ The peasantry 
 
 in Babylonia now principally subsist on 
 dates pressed into cakes.” Rich, First 
 Memoir, p. 59, note. 
 
 8 'H8u /x\v, Ke(pu\a\yts 54. Xen. 
 
 Anab. 1 . s. c. 
 
 9 Hamilton’s Wanderings in North 
 Africa , ch. xiv. pp. 189, 190. 
 
 10 Xen. Anab. ii. 3, § 16. 
 
 1 Theophrast. Hist. Plant, ii. 7 ; p. 66. 
 
 2 Ibid. v. 4 and 6. 
 
 3 Theophrast. Hist. Plant, ii. 7 • p 
 64 ; Plin. H. N. xiii. 4. 
 
36 
 
 THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. II. 
 
 on either side, from the vicinity of Mugheir to its embouchure 
 at the head of the Persian Gulf . 4 Anciently the tract was much 
 more generally wooded with them. “ Palm-trees grow in num- 
 bers over the whole of the flat country,” says one of the most 
 observant and truthful of travellers — Herodotus . 5 According to 
 the historians of Julian, a forest of verdure extended from the 
 upper edge of the alluvium, which he crossed, to Mesene and 
 the shores of the sea . 6 When the Arabian conquerors settled 
 themselves in the lower country, they were so charmed with the 
 luxuriant vegetation and the abundant date-groves, that they 
 compared the region with the country about Damascus, and 
 reckoned it among their four earthly paradises . 7 The propaga- 
 tion of the date-palm was chiefly from seed. In Chaldsea, how- 
 ever, it was increased sometimes from suckers or offshoots thrown 
 up from the stem of the old tree ; 8 at other times by a species 
 of cutting, the entire head being struck off with about three feet 
 of stem, notched, and then planted in moist ground . 9 Several 
 varieties of the tree were cultivated ; but one was esteemed above 
 all the rest, both for the size and flavour of the fruit. It bore 
 the name of “ Boyal,” and grew only in one place near Babylon . 10 
 
 Besides these two precious products, Chaldaea produced ex- 
 cellent barley, millet, sesame, vetches, and fruits of all kinds . 1 It 
 was, however, deficient in variety of trees, possessing scarcely 
 any but the palm and the cypress. Pomegranates, tamarisks, 
 poplars, and acacias are even now almost the only trees be- 
 sides the two above mentioned, to be found between Samarah 
 and the Persian Gulf. The tamarisk grows chiefly as a shrub 
 along the rivers, but sometimes attains the dimensions of a 
 tree, as in the case of the “solitary tree” still growing upon 
 the ruins of Babylon . 2 The pomegranates with their scarlet 
 flowers, and the acacias with their light and graceful foliage, 
 
 4 Loftus, Chaldcea and Susiana, p. 127 
 and p. 277 ; Ainsworth, Travels in the 
 Track of the Ten Thousand , p. 105. 
 
 5 Herod, i. 193. 
 
 6 Amin. Marc. xxiv. 3; Zosim. iii. 
 
 pp. 173-9. f . 
 
 7 Sir H. Rawlinson, in the Journal of 
 
 the Geographical Society, \ ol. xxvii. p. 186. 
 
 
 
 8 Theophrast. Hist. Plant, ii. 2 ; p. 53. 
 
 9 Ibid. ii. 7 ; p. 64. 
 
 10 Ibid. p. 67. 
 
 1 Berosus. Fr. 1, § 2 ; Herod, i, 193. 
 
 2 Rich, First Memoir, p. 26 ; Heeren, 
 Asiatic Nations, vol. ii. p. 158; Ains- 
 worth, Researches in Assyria, Babylonia , 
 and Chaldcea, p. 125. 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 USE OF REEDS FOR HOUSES AND BOATS. 
 
 37 
 
 ornament the banks of the streams, generally intermingled 
 with the far more frequent palm, while oranges, apples, 
 pears, and vines are successfully cultivated in the gardens and 
 orchards. 
 
 Chaldee an reeds, from an Assyrian sculpture (after Layard). 
 
 Among the vegetable products of Chaldsea must be noticed, as 
 almost peculiar to the region, its enormous reeds. These, which 
 are represented with much spirit in the sculptures of Senna- 
 cherib, cover the marshes in the summer-time, rising often to 
 
38 
 
 THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. II. 
 
 the height of fourteen or fifteen feet . 3 The Arabs of the marsh 
 region form their houses of this material, binding the stems of 
 the reeds together, and bending them into arches, to make 
 the skeleton of their buildings ; while, • to form the walls, 
 they stretch across from arch to arch mats made of the 
 leaves. From the same fragile substance they construct their 
 terradas or light boats, which, when rendered waterproof by 
 means of bitumen, will support the weight of three or four 
 men . 4 
 
 In mineral products Chaldsea was very deficient indeed. The 
 alluvium is wholly destitute of metals, and even of stone, which 
 must be obtained, if wanted, from the adjacent countries. The 
 neighbouring parts of Arabia could furnish sandstone and the 
 more distant basalt ; which appears to have been in fact transported 
 occasionally to the Chaldsean cities . 5 Probably, however, the chief 
 importation of stone was by the rivers, whose waters would readily 
 convey it to almost any part of Chaldsea from the regions above 
 the alluvium. This we know to have been done in some cases ; 6 
 but the evidence of the ruins makes it clear that such importa- 
 tion was very limited. The Chaldaeans found, in default of stone, 
 a very tolerable material in their own country ; which produced 
 an inexhaustible supply of excellent clay, easily moulded into 
 bricks, and not even requiring to be baked in order to fit it for 
 the builder. Exposure to the heat of the summer sun hardened 
 the clay sufficiently for most purposes, while a few hours in a 
 kiln made it as firm and durable as freestone, or even granite. 
 Chaldsea, again, yielded various substances suitable for mortar. 
 Calcareous earths abound on the western side of the Euphrates 
 towards the Arabian frontier ; 7 while everywhere a tenacious 
 slime or mud is easily procurable, which, though imperfect as a 
 cement, can serve the purpose, and has the advantage of being 
 always at hand. Bitumen is also produced largely in some 
 
 3 Ainsworth, Researches, p. 129 ; | 6 Xenophon states that millstones 
 
 Layard, Nineceh and Babylon , p. 553. were supplied to Babylon from a place 
 
 Mr. Loftus says “ 12 or 14 feet.” ( Chal - which he calls Pylae (Felujiah?), on the 
 
 dcea and Susiana, p. 105.) middle Euphrates. (A«a6. i. 5, § 5.) 
 
 4 Layard, pp. 522-524. 7 Rich, First Memoir , p. 65. 
 
 5 Ibid. p. 528. 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 WILD BEASTS. 
 
 39 
 
 parts, particularly at Hit, where are the inexhaustible springs 
 which have made that spot famous in all ages . 8 Naphtha and 
 bitumen are here given forth separately in equal abundance ; 
 and these two substances, boiled together in certain proportions, 
 form a third kind of cement, superior to the slime or mud, but 
 inferior to lime-mortar. Petroleum, called by the Orientals 
 mumia, is another product of the bitumen-pits . 9 
 
 The wild animals indigenous in Babylonia appear to be 
 chiefly the following: — the lion, the leopard, the hyaena, the 
 lynx, the wild-cat, the wolf, the jackal, the wild-boar, the 
 buffalo, the stag, the gazelle, the jerboa, the fox, the hare, 
 the badger, and the porcupine. The Mesopotamian lion is a 
 noble animal. Taller and larger than a Mount St. Bernard dog, 
 he wanders over the plains their undisputed lord, unless when an 
 European ventures to question his pre-eminence. The Arabs 
 tremble at his approach, and willingly surrender to him the 
 choicest of their flocks and herds. Unless urged by hunger, he 
 seldom attacks man, but contents himself with the destruction 
 of buffaloes, camels, dogs, and sheep. When taken young, he is 
 easily tamed, and then manifests considerable attachment to his 
 master . 1 In his wild state he haunts the marshes and the banks 
 of the various streams and canals, concealing himself during the 
 day, and at night wandering abroad in search of his prey, to 
 obtain which he will approach with boldness to the very skirts 
 of an Arab encampment. His roar is not deep or terrible, but 
 like the cry of a child in pain, or the first wail of the jackal 
 after sunset, only louder, clearer, and more prolonged. Two 
 
 8 Thothmes III. brought bitumen 
 from Hit to Egypt about b.c. 1400. 
 (See Sir G. Wilkinson’s Historical Notice 
 of Egypt in the author’s Herodotus , 
 yoI. ii. p. 360.) Herodotus mentions 
 Hit as the great place for bitumen, 
 about b.c. 450 (Herod, i. 179). Isidore 
 of Charax takes notice of its bitumen- 
 springs, about b.c. 150 (Mans. Earth. 
 
 p. 5). Shortly afterwards its name was 
 made to include a notice of the bitumen ; 
 and thus it is called Ihi-da-kira in the 
 Talmud, Idi-cara in Ptolemy, and Dacira 
 by the historians of Julian — kier or ghier 
 
 ^ ^ being the Arabic 
 
 term for bitu- 
 
 men. 
 
 0 Rich, First Memoir , pp. 63-4. 
 
 1 Mr. Layard gives an amusing ac- 
 count of a tame lion which was given 
 him by Osman Pasha, commandant of 
 Hillah ( Nin . and Bab. p. 487). Sir H. 
 Rawlinson had a tame lion for some 
 years at Baghdad, which was much 
 attached to him, and finally died at his 
 feet, not suffering the attendants to 
 remove him. 
 
40 
 
 THE FIKST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. H. 
 
 varieties of the lion appear to exist : the one is maneless, while 
 the other has a long mane, which is black and shaggy. The 
 former is now the more common in the country ; but the latter, 
 which is the fiercer of the two , 2 is the one ordinarily represented 
 upon the sculptures. The lioness is nearly as much feared as 
 the lion ; when her young are attacked, or when she has lost 
 them, she is perhaps eyen more terrible. Her roar is said to be 
 deeper and far more imposing than that of the male . 3 
 
 The other animals require but few remarks. Gazelles are 
 plentiful in the more sandy regions ; buffaloes abound in the 
 marshes of the south, where they are domesticated, and form the 
 chief wealth of the inhabitants ; 4 troops of jackals are common, 
 while the hyaena and wolf are comparatively rare ; the wild-boar 
 frequents the river banks and marshes, as depicted in the Assy- 
 rian sculptures ; hares abound in the country about Baghdad ; 
 porcupines and badgers are found in most places; leopards, 
 lynxes, wild-cats, and deer, are somewhat uncommon. 
 
 Chaldaea possesses a great variety of birds. Falcons, vultures, 
 kites, owls, hawks and crows of various kinds, francolins or 
 
 2 The inhabitants call the maneless 
 
 lions “ true believers,” those with manes 
 ghaours or infidels.” The former, they 
 
 say, will spare a Mussulman if he prays, 
 the latter never. (Layard, Jm. and 
 Bab. p. 487, note.) A similar distinc- 
 
 tion, I learn from Sir Gardner Wilkin- 
 son, is made at Cairo between the green 
 and the black crocodile. 
 
 3 Loftus, Chaldxa and Susiana, p. 259. 
 * Layard, Nineveh and Babylon , p. 
 566. 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 BIRDS — FISH — DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 
 
 41 
 
 black partridges, pelicans, wild-geese, ducks, teal, cranes, herons, 
 kingfishers, and pigeons, are among the most common. The 
 sand-grouse ( Pterocles arenarius) is occasionally found, as also 
 are. the eagle and the bee-eater. Fish are abundant in the 
 rivers and marshes, principally barbel and carp, which latter 
 grow to a great size in the Euphrates. Barbel form an im- 
 portant element in the food of the Arabs inhabiting the Affej 
 marshes, who take them commonly by means of a fish-spear . 5 
 In the Shat-el-Arab, which is wholly within the influence of the 
 tides, there is a species of goby, which is amphibious. This 
 fish lies in myriads on the mud-banks left uncovered by the 
 ebb of the tide, and moves with great agility on the ap- 
 proach of birds. Nature seems to have made the goby in 
 one of her most freakish moods. It is equally at home in 
 the earth, the air, and the water; and at different times 
 in the day may be observed swimming in the stream, basking 
 upon the surface of the tidal banks, and burrowing deep in the 
 mud . 6 
 
 The domestic animals are camels, horses, buffaloes, cows and 
 oxen, goats, sheep, and dogs. The most valuable of the last- 
 mentioned are greyhounds, which are employed to course the 
 gazelle and the hare. The camels, horses, and buffaloes are of 
 superior quality ; but the cows and oxen seem to be a very 
 inferior breed . 7 The goats and the sheep are small, and yield a 
 scanty supply of a somewhat coarse wool . 8 Still their flocks 
 and herds constitute the chief wealth of the people, who have 
 nearly forsaken the agriculture which anciently gave Chaldsea its 
 pre-eminence, and have relapsed very generally into a nomadic 
 or semi-nomadic condition. The insecurity of property con- 
 sequent upon bad government has in a great measure caused 
 this change, which renders the bounty of Nature useless, and 
 allows immense capabilities to run to waste. The present con- 
 dition of Babylonia gives a most imperfect idea of its former 
 state, which must be estimated not from modern statistics, but 
 
 5 Layard, Nineveh and Babylon, p. 567. I 7 Chesney, Euphrates Expedition, vol. i. 
 
 6 Ainsworth, Researches, pp. 135, 136; 1 p. 108. 
 
 Fraser, Mesopotamia and Assyria , p. 373. j 8 Layard, Nineveh and Babylon, p. 566. 
 
42 
 
 THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. H. 
 
 from the accounts of ancient writers and the evidences which 
 the country itself presents. From them we conclude that this 
 region was among the most productive upon the face of the 
 earth, spontaneously producing some of the best gifts of God to 
 man, and capable, under careful management, of being made 
 one continuous garden. 
 
Chap. III. 
 
 EARLY INHABITANTS. 
 
 43 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 THE PEOPLE. 
 
 “ A mighty nation, an ancient nation.” — J erem. v. 15 . 
 
 That the great alluvial plain at the mouth of the Euphrates 
 and Tigris was among the countries first occupied by man after 
 the Deluge, is affirmed by Scripture , 1 and generally allowed by 
 writers upon ancient history . 2 Scripture places the original 
 occupation at a time when language had not yet broken up 
 into its different forms, and when, consequently, races, as we 
 now understand the term, can scarcely have existed. It is not, 
 however, into the character of these primeval inhabitants that 
 we have here to inquire, but into the ethnic affinities and cha- 
 racteristics of that race, whatever it was, which first established 
 an important kingdom in the lower part of the plain — a 
 kingdom which eventually became an empire. According to 
 the ordinary theory, this race was Aramaic or Semitic. “ The 
 name of Aramseans, Syrians, or Assyrians,” says Niebuhr, “ com- 
 prises the nations extending from the mouth of the Euphrates 
 and Tigris to the Euxine, the river Halys, and Palestine. They 
 applied to themselves the name Aram, and the Greeks called 
 them Assyrians, which is the same as Syrians (?). Within that 
 great extent of country there existed, of course, various dialectic 
 differences of language ; and there can be little doubt but that 
 in some places the nation was mixed with other races .” 3 The 
 early inhabitants of Lower Mesopotamia, however, he considers 
 to have been pure Aramseans, closely akin to the Assyrians, 
 from whom, indeed, he regards them as only separate politically . 4 
 
 1 Gen. xi. 1-9. 
 
 2 Heeren, Asiatic Nations, vol. ii. 
 p. 130; Sir H. Rawlinson, in the Journal 
 
 of the Asiatic Society, vol. xv. p. 232 ; 
 
 Vaux, Nineveh and Persepolis, p. 6 ; 
 Chesney, Euphrates Expedition, vol. ii. 
 p. 18 ; Lenormant, Histoire ancienne de 
 
 r Orient, vol. ii. p. 5 ; &c. 
 
 3 Niebuhr, Lectures on Ancient His- 
 tory, vol. i. p. 12, E. T. 
 
 4 Ibid. p. 11: “We shall begin with 
 the Assyrians ; but with those of Baby- 
 lon ; not, like Justin, with those of 
 Nineveh.” 
 
44 
 
 THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. III. 
 
 Similar views are entertained by most modern writers . 5 
 Baron Bunsen, in one of bis latest works , 6 regards tbe fact as 
 completely established by the results of recent researches in 
 Babylonia. Professor M. Muller, though expressing himself 
 with more caution, inclines to the same conclusion . 7 Popular 
 works, in the shape of Cyclopaedias and short general histories, 
 diffuse the impression. Hence a difficulty is felt with regard to 
 the Scriptural statement concerning the first kingdom in these 
 parts, which is expressly said to have been Cushite or Ethiopian. 
 “ And Cush begat Nimrod : (he began to be a mighty one in the 
 earth ; he was a mighty hunter before the Lord ; wherefore it is 
 said, Even as Nimrod, the mighty hunter before the Lord ;) and 
 the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, 
 and Calneh, in the land of Shinar .” 8 According to this passage 
 the early Chaldaeans should be Hamites, not Semites — Ethio- 
 pians, not Aramaeans ; they should present analogies and points 
 of connexion with the inhabitants of Egypt and Abyssinia, of 
 Southern Arabia and Mekran, not with those of Upper Mesopo- 
 tamia, Syria, Phoenicia, and Palestine. It will be one of the 
 objects of this chapter to show that the Mosa'ical narrative 
 conveys the exact truth — a truth alike in accordance with the 
 earliest classical traditions, and with the latest results of modern 
 comparative philology. 
 
 It will be desirable, however, before proceeding to establish 
 the correctness of these assertions, to examine the grounds on 
 which the opposite belief has been held so long and so con- 
 fidently. Heeren draws his chief argument from the supposed 
 character of the language. Assuming the form of speech called 
 Chaldee to be the original tongue of the people, he remarks 
 that it is “ an Aramaean dialect, differing but slightly from the 
 proper Syriac .” 9 Chaldee is known partly from the Jewish 
 Scriptures, in which it is used occasionally , 1 partly from the 
 
 5 Heeren, As. Nat. vol. ii. p. 145 ; 
 
 Prichard, Physical History of Mankind , 
 
 vol. iv. p. 568 ; Kitto, Biblical Cyclo- 
 paedia , vol. i. p. 275. 
 
 c Philosophy of Universal History , 
 
 vol. i. p. 193, 
 
 7 Languages of the. Seat of War , pp. 
 24, 25 (first edition). 
 
 8 Gen. x. 8-10. 9 As. Nat. 1. s. c. 
 
 1 The portions of the Old Testament 
 
 written in the so-called Chaldee are 
 Ezra, iv. 8 to vi. 18, and vii. 12-26 ; 
 
Chap. III. 
 
 SEMITIC THEORY EXAMINED. 
 
 45 
 
 Targums (or Chaldaean paraphrases of different portions of the 
 Sacred Volume), some of which belong to about the time of the 
 Apostles, and partly from the two Talmuds, or collections of 
 Jewish traditions, made in the third and fifth centuries of our 
 era. It has been commonly regarded as the language of 
 Babylon at the time of the Captivity, which the Jews, as 
 captives, were forced to learn, and which thenceforth took the 
 place of their own tongue. But it is extremely doubtful whether 
 this is a true account of the matter. The Babylonian language 
 of the age of Nebuchadnezzar is found to be far nearer to 
 Hebrew than to Chaldee, which appears therefore to be mis- 
 named, and to represent the western rather than the eastern 
 Aramaic. The Chaldee argument thus falls to the ground ; 
 but in refuting it an admission has been made which may be 
 thought to furnish fully as good proof of early Babylonian 
 Semitism as the rejected theory. 
 
 It has been said that the Babylonian language in the time of 
 Nebuchadnezzar is found to be far nearer to Hebrew than to 
 Chaldee. It is, in fact, very close indeed to the Hebrew. The 
 Babylonians of that period, although they did not speak the 
 tongue known to modern linguists as Chaldee, did certainly 
 employ a Semitic or Aramaean dialect, and so far may be set 
 down as Semites. And this is the ground upon which such 
 modern philologists as still maintain the Semitic character of 
 the primitive Chaldaeans principally rely . 2 But it can be 
 proved, from the inscriptions of the country, that between the 
 date of the first establishment of a Chaldaean kingdom and the 
 reign of Nebuchadnezzar, the language of Lower Mesopotamia 
 underwent an entire change. To whatever causes this may have 
 been owing — a subject which will be hereafter investigated 3 — 
 the fact is certain ; and it entirely destroys the force of the 
 argument from the language of the Babylonians at the later 
 
 Another ground, and that which seems to have had the chief 
 
 Daniel, ii. 4 to vii. 28 ; and Jeremiah, 
 x. 10. There is also a Chaldee gloss in 
 Genesis, xxxi. 47. 
 
 2 Bunsen, Philosophy of Universal 
 
 History , pp. 193 and 201 ; Muller, 
 Languages , &c. 1. s. c. 
 
 3 See below, ch. iy. pp. 61-69. 
 
46 
 
 THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. III. 
 
 weight with Niebuhr, is the supposed identity or intimate con- 
 nexion of the Babylonians with the Assyrians, lhat the latter 
 people were Semites has never been denied ; and, indeed, it is 
 a point supported by such an amount of evidence as renders it 
 quite unassailable. If, therefore, the primitive Babylonians 
 were once proved to be a mere portion of the far greater 
 Assyrian nation, locally and politically, but not ethnically 
 separate from them, their Semitic character would thereupon be 
 fully established. Now that this was the belief of Herodotus 
 must be at once allowed. Not only does that writer regard the 
 later Babylonians as Assyrians — “ Assyrians of Babylon,” as he 
 expresses it 4 — and look on Babylonia as a mere “ district of 
 Assyria,” 5 but, by adopting the mythic genealogy, which made 
 Ninus the son of Belus, 6 he throws back the connexion to the 
 very origin of the two nations, and distinctly pronounces it a 
 connexion of race. But Herodotus is a very weak authority 
 on the antiquities of any nation, even his own ; and it is not 
 surprising that he should have carried back to a remote period 
 a state of things which he saw existing in his own age. If the 
 later Babylonians were, in manners and customs, in religion 
 and in language, a close counterpart of the Assyrians, he would 
 naturally suppose them descended from the same stock. It is 
 his habit to transfer back to former times the condition of 
 things in his own day. Thus he calls the inhabitants of the 
 Peloponnese before the Dorian invasion “Dorians,” 7 regards 
 Athens as the second city in Greece when Croesus sent his 
 embassies, 8 and describes as the ancient Persian religion that 
 corrupted form which existed under Artaxerxes Longimanus. 9 
 He is an excellent authority for what he had himself seen, or 
 for what he had laboriously collected by inquiry from eye- 
 witnesses; but he had neither the critical acumen nor the 
 linguistic knowledge necessary for the formation of a trust- 
 worthy opinion on a matter belonging to the remote history of a 
 distant people. And the opinion of Herodotus as to the ethnic 
 identity of the two nations is certainly not confirmed by other 
 
 5 Ibid. ch. 106. 
 8 Ibid. i. 56. 
 
 4 Herod, i. 177. 
 
 6 Ibid. ch. 7. 
 9 Ibid. iii. 16. 
 
 Ibid. vi. 53. 
 

 Chap. III. CUSHITE ORIGIN OF THE CHALDEANS. 
 
 47 
 
 ancient writers. Berosus seems to have very carefully dis- 
 tinguished between the Assyrians and the Babylonians or 
 Chaldaeans, as may be seen even through the doubly-distorting 
 medium of Polyhistor and the Armenian Eusebius . 1 Diodorus 
 Siculus made the two nations separate and hostile in very early 
 times . 2 Pliny draws a clear line between the “ Chaldaean races,” 
 of which Babylon was the head, and the Assyrians of the region 
 above them . 3 Even Herodotus in one place admits a certain 
 amount of ethnic difference ; for, in his list of the nations 
 forming the army of Xerxes, he mentions the Chaldaeans as 
 serving with, but not included among, the Assyrians . 4 
 
 The grounds, then, upon which the supposed Semitic character 
 of the ancient Chaldaeans has been based, fail, one and all ; and 
 it remains to consider whether we have data sufficient to justify 
 us in determinately assigning them to any other stock. 
 
 Now a large amount of tradition— classical and other— brings 
 Ethiopians into these parts, and connects, more or less dis- 
 tinctly, the early dwellers upon the Persian Gulf with the 
 inhabitants of the Nile valley, especially with those upon its 
 upper course. Homer, speaking of the Ethiopians, says that 
 they were “ divided ,” and dwelt “ at the ends of earth, towards the 
 setting and the rising sun .” 5 This passage has been variously 
 apprehended. It has been supposed to mean the mere division 
 of the Ethiopians south of Egypt by the river Nile, whereby 
 some inhabited its eastern and some its western bank . 6 Again, 
 it Eas been explained as referring to the east and west coasts of 
 Africa, both found by voyagers to be in the possession of 
 Ethiopians, who were “ divided ” by the vast extent of continent 
 that lay between them . 7 But the most satisfactory explanation 
 is that which Strabo gives from Ephorus , 8 that the Ethiopians 
 were considered as occupying all the south coast both of Asia 
 and Africa, and as “ divided ” by the Arabian Gulf (which sepa- 
 rated the two continents) into eastern and western — Asiatic and 
 
 17-21 ; ed. Mai. 
 
 2 Diod. Sic. ii. 1, § 7. 
 
 3 Plin. H. N. vi. 26. 
 
 4 Herod, vii. 63. 
 
 1 Euseb. Chron. Can. i. 4 and 5 ; pp. 
 
 6 Strab. i. 2, § 25. * Ibid. § 26. 
 
 6 Strab. i. 2, § 25. 
 8 Ibid. §§ 26-31. 
 
48 
 
 THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. III. 
 
 African. This was an “old opinion” of the Greeks, we are 
 told ; and, though Strabo thinks it indicated their ignorance, 
 we may perhaps be excused for holding that it might not im- 
 probably have arisen from real, though imperfect, knowledge. 
 
 The traditions with respect to Memnon serve very closely to 
 connect Egypt and Ethiopia with the country at the head of 
 the Persian Gulf. Memnon, King of Ethiopia, according to 
 Hesiod 9 and Pindar , 1 is regarded by iEschylus as the son of a 
 Cissian woman , 2 and by Herodotus and others as the founder 
 of Susa . 3 He leads an army of combined Susianians and 
 Ethiopians to the assistance of Priam, his father’s brother, and, 
 after greatly distinguishing himself, perishes in one of the 
 battles before Troy . 4 At the same time he is claimed as one of 
 their monarchs by the Ethiopians upon the Nile, & and identified 
 by the Egyptians with their king, Amunoph III ., 6 whose statue 
 became known as “ the vocal Memnon.” Sometimes his expe- 
 dition is supposed to have started from the African Ethiopia, 
 and to have proceeded by way of Egypt to its destination . 7 
 There were palaces, called “ Memnonia ” and supposed to have 
 been Wt by him, both in Egypt and at Susa ; 8 9 and there was 
 a tribe, called Memnones, near Meroe . 9 Memnon thus unites 
 the Eastern with the Western Ethiopians; and the less we 
 regard him as an historical personage, the more must we view 
 him as personifying the ethnic identity of the two races. 
 
 The ordinary genealogies containing the name of Belus point 
 in the same direction, and serve more definitely to connect the 
 Babylonians with the Cushites of the Kile. Pherecydes, who is 
 an earlier writer than Herodotus, makes Agenor, the son of 
 Neptune, marry Damno, the daughter of Belus, and have issue 
 Phoenix, Isaea, and Melia, of whom Melia marries Danaus, and 
 
 9 Hesiod. Theogon. 984: “ Mcpvova 
 XaXKoKopvo-TTjv, AlOioirwv fiacrLArja. 
 
 1 Pind. Xem. iii. 62, 63. 
 
 2 Ap. Strab. xv. 3, § 2. 
 
 3 Herod, v. 54. Compare Strab. 1. s. c. ; 
 Diod. Sic. ii. 22, § 3. 
 
 4 Diod. Sic. 1. s. c. ; Pausan. x. 31, § 2; 
 Cephalion ap. Euseb. Chron. Can. i. 15, 
 § 5 . 
 
 5 Diod. Sic. ii. 22, § 4. 
 
 6 Euseb. Chron. Can. ii. p. 278; Syn- 
 cellus, Chronograph, p. 151, C. Compare 
 Strab. xvii. 1 , § 42 ; and Plin. H. N. v. 9. 
 
 7 Demetrius ap. Athen. Deipnosoph. 
 xv. p. 680, A. 
 
 8 Herod, v. 53 ; Strab. xv. 3, § 2, 
 xvii. 1, § 42; Diod. Sic. 1. s. c. ; Plin. 
 H. N. 1. s. c. 
 
 9 Alex. Polyhist. Fr. 1 11 ; Plin. H. X. 
 vi. 30. 
 
Chap. III. 
 
 CUSHITE OKIGIN OF THE CHALD.EANS. 
 
 49 
 
 Isaea .ZEgyptus . 1 Apollodorus, the disciple of Eratosthenes, 
 expresses the connexion thus : — “ Neptune took to wife Libya 
 (or Africa), and had issue Belus and Agenor. Belus married 
 Anchinoe, daughter of Nile, who gave birth to iEgyptus, 
 Danaus, Cepheus, and Phineus. Agenor married Telephassa, 
 and had issue Europa, Cadmus, Phoenix, and Cilix .” 2 Eupo- 
 lemus, who professes to record the Babylonian tradition on the 
 subject, tells us that the first Belus, whom he identifies with 
 Saturn, had two sons, Belus and Canaan. Canaan begat the 
 progenitor of the Phoenicians (Phoenix?), who had two sons, 
 Chum and Mestraim, the ancestors respectively of the Ethiopians 
 and the Egyptians . 3 Charax of Pergamus spoke of iEgyptus 
 as the son of Belus . 4 John of Antioch agrees with Apollo- 
 dorus, but makes certain additions. Accoi'ding to him, Neptune 
 and Libya had three children, Agenor, Belus, and Enyalius or 
 Mars. Belus married Sida, and had issue iEgyptus and 
 Danaus ; while Agenor married Tyro, and became the father of 
 five children — Cadmus, Phoenix, Syrus, Cilix, and Europa . 5 
 
 Many further proofs might be adduced, were they needed, of 
 the Greek belief in an Asiatic Ethiopia, situated somewhere 
 between Arabia and India, on the shores of the Erythraean Sea. 
 Herodotus twice speaks of the Ethiopians of Asia , 6 whom he 
 very carefully distinguishes from those of Africa, and who 
 can only be sought in this position. Epliorus, as we have 
 already seen, extended the Ethiopians along the whole of the 
 coast washed by the Southern Ocean. Eusebius has preserved 
 a tradition that, in the reign of Amenophis III., a body of 
 Ethiopians migrated from the country about the Indus, and 
 settled in the valley of the Nile . 7 Hesiod and Apollodorus, by 
 making Memnon, the Ethiopian king, son of the Dawn (’Hw ?), 8 
 imply their belief in an Ethiopia situated to the east rather 
 than to the south of Greece. These are a few out of the many 
 similar notices which it would be easy to produce from classical 
 
 1 Pherecyd. Fr. 40. 
 
 2 Apollodor. Bibliothec. ii. 1, § 4. 
 
 3 See the Fragments of Polyhistor in 
 
 Muller’s Fr. Hist. Grcec. vol. iii. p. 212; 
 
 Fr. 3. 
 
 4 Charax ap. Steph. Byz. s. v. A.'iyvirTO’s. 
 
 5 Johann. Antiochen. Fr. 6, § i5. 
 
 6 Herod, iii. 94 ; vii. 70. 
 
 7 Euseb. Chron, Can. ii. p. 278. 
 
 8 Hesiod, 1. s. c. ; Apollod. iii. 12, § 4. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 E 
 
THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. HI. 
 
 50 
 
 writers, establishing, if not the fact itself, yet at any rate a full 
 belief in the fact on the part of the best informed among the 
 ancient Greeks. 
 
 The traditions of the Armenians are in accordance with those 
 of the Greeks. The Armenian Geography applies the name of 
 Cush or Ethiopia to the four great regions, Media, Persia, 
 Susiana or Elymais, and Aria, or to the whole territory between 
 the Indus and the Tigris . 9 Moses of Qhorene, the great 
 Armenian historian, identifies Belus, King of Babylon, with 
 Nimrod ; 1 while at the same time he adopts for him a genea- 
 logy only slightly different from that in our present copies of 
 Genesis, making Nimrod the grandson of Cush, and the son of 
 Mizraim . 2 He thus connects, in the closest way, Babylonia, 
 Egypt, and Ethiopia Proper, uniting moreover, by his identifi- 
 cation of Nimrod with Belus, the Babylonians of later times, 
 who worshipped Belus as their hero-founder, with the primitive 
 population introduced into the country by Nimrod. 
 
 The names of Belus and Cush, thus brought into juxtaposi- 
 tion, have remained attached to some portion or other of the 
 region in question from ancient times to the present day. The 
 tract immediately east of the Tigris was known to the Greeks 
 as Cissia ( Ktaata ) or Cosssea (K oaaala), no less than as Elymais 
 or Elam. The country east of Kerman was named Kusan 
 throughout the Sassanian period . 3 The same region is now 
 Beloochistan, the country of the Belooches or Belus, while 
 adjoining.it on the east is Cutch, or Kooch, a term standing to 
 Cush as Belooch stands to Belus. Again, Cissia or Cossaea is 
 now Khuzistan, or the land of Khuz a name not very 
 
 remote from Cush ; but perhaps this is only" a coincidence. 
 
 To the traditions and traces here enumerated must be added, 
 as of primary importance, the Biblical tradition, which is de- 
 livered to us very simply and plainly in that precious docu- 
 ment, the ‘ Toldoth Beni Noah,’ or ‘ Book of the Generations 
 of the Sons of Noah,’ which well deserves to be called “ the most 
 
 9 Mos. Choren. Geograph, pp. 363-5. 
 
 1 Mos. Choren. Ilist. Annen. i. 6 ; 
 pp. 19, 20. 
 
 2 Ibid. i. 4; p. 12. 
 
 3 Journal of Asiatic Society, vol. xv. 
 p. 233. 
 
Chap. III. ANCIENT CHALD.EAN LANGUAGE, CUSHITE. 
 
 51 
 
 authentic record that we possess for the affiliation of nations .” 4 
 “ The sons of Ham,” we are told, “ were Cush, and Mizraim, 
 
 and Phut, and Canaan And Cush begat Nimrod 
 
 And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and 
 Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.” Here a primitive 
 Babylonian kingdom is assigned to a people distinctly said to 
 have been Cushite by blood , 5 and to have stood in close con- 
 nexion with Mizraim, or the people of Egypt, Phut, or those of 
 Central Africa, and Canaan, or those of Palestine. It is the 
 simplest and the best interpretation of this passage to under- 
 stand it as asserting that the four races — the Egyptians, 
 Ethiopians, Libyans, and Canaanites — were ethnically con- 
 nected, being all descended from Ham ; and further, that the 
 primitive people of Babylon were a subdivision of one of these 
 races, namely of the Cushites or Ethiopians, connected in some 
 degree with the Canaanites, Egyptians, and Libyans, but still 
 more closely with the people which dwelt anciently upon the 
 Upper Nile. 
 
 The conclusions thus recommended to us by the consentient 
 primitive traditions of so many races, have lately received most 
 important and unexpected confirmation from the results of lin- 
 guistic research. After the most remarkable of the Mesopo- 
 tamian mounds had yielded their treasures, and supplied the 
 historical student with numerous and copious documents bear- 
 ing upon the history of the great Assyrian and Babylonian 
 empires, it was determined to explore Chaldsea Proper, where 
 mounds of less pretension, but still of considerable height, 
 
 4 Journal of Asiatic Society, vol. xv. 
 p. 230. 
 
 5 “ And Cush begat Nimrod,” Gen. x. 
 8. Baron Bunsen says in one work, 
 “ Nimrod is called a Cushite, which 
 means a man of the land of Cush ” 
 ( Philos . of Univ. Hist. vol. i. p. 191), 
 and proceeds to argue that he was only 
 a Cushite “geographically,” because he, 
 or the people represented by him, so- 
 journed for some time in Ethiopia. In 
 another (Egypt’s Place, &c., vol. iv. 
 p. 412), he admits that this view con- 
 tradicts Gen. x. 8, and allows that “ the 
 compiler of our present Book of Genesis” 
 
 I must have meant to derive Nimrod by 
 I descent from Ham ; but this “ com- 
 piler ” was, he thinks, deceived by the 
 | resemblance of to Nimrod 
 
 was not an Ethiopian, but a Cossian or 
 I Cossaean ; i.e. (he says) a Turanian who 
 j conquered Babylon from the mountain 
 | country east of Mesopotamia. Of course, 
 j if we are at liberty to regard the “com- 
 j piler ” of Genesis as “ mistaken ” when- 
 ever his statements conflict with our 
 theories, while at the same time we 
 ignore linguistic facts, we may speculate 
 upon ancient history and ethnography 
 j much at our pleasure. 
 
52 
 
 THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. III. 
 
 marked the sites of a number of ancient cities. The excavations 
 conducted at these places, especially at Niffer, Senkereh, 
 Warka, and Mugheir, were eminently successful. Among their 
 other unexpected results was the discovery, in the most ancient 
 remains, of a new form of speech, differing greatly from the 
 later Babylonian language, and presenting analogies with the 
 early language of Susiana, as well as with that of the second 
 column of the Achsemenian inscriptions. In grammatical 
 structure this ancient tongue resembles dialects of the Turanian 
 family, but its vocabulary has been pronounced to be “ decidedly 
 Cushite or Ethiopian 6 and the modern languages to which it 
 approaches the nearest are thought to be the Mahra of Southern 
 Arabia and the Gfalla of Abyssinia. Thus comparative philology 
 appears to confirm the old traditions. An Eastern Ethiopia, 
 instead of being the invention of bewildered ignorance , 7 is 
 gather a reality which henceforth it will require a good deal of 
 scepticism to doubt ; and the primitive race which bore sway 
 in Chaldma Proper is with much probability assigned to this 
 ethnic type. 
 
 The most striking physical characteristics of the African 
 Ethiopians were their swart complexions, and their crisp or 
 frizzled hair. According to Herodotus the Asiatic Ethiopians 
 were equally dark, but their hair was straight and not frizzled . 8 
 Probably in neither case was the complexion what we understand 
 by black, but rather a dark red brown or copper-colour, which 
 is the tint of the modern Gallas and Abyssinians, as well as of 
 the Cha’b and Montefik Arabs and the Belooches. The hair 
 was no doubt abundant ; but it was certainly not woolly like 
 that of the negroes. There is a marked distinction between the 
 negro hair and that of the Ethiopian race, which is sometimes 
 straight, sometimes crisp, but never woolly. This distinction is 
 carefully marked in the Egyptian monuments, as is also the 
 
 6 Sir H. Rawlinson, in the author’s 
 Herodotus , vol. i. p. 442. 
 
 7 “ The Bible mentions but one Kush, 
 ^Ethiopia ; an Asiatic Kush exists only 
 
 in the imagination of the interpreters, 
 and is the child of their despair.” 
 
 Bunsen, Philosophy of Univ. Hist. vol. i. 
 p. 191. See on the other hand Sir H. 
 Rawlinson’s article in the J ournal of the 
 Asiatic Society , vol. xv. art. ii.; and 
 compare especially Ezek. xxxviii. 5. 
 
 8 Herod, vii. 70. 
 
Chap. III. PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF CUSHITE RACES. 53 
 
 distinction between the Ethiopian and negro complexions ; 
 whence we may conclude that there was as much difference 
 between the two races in ancient as in modern times. The 
 African races descended from the Ethiopians are on the whole 
 a handsome rather than an ugly people. Their figure is slender 
 and well shaped; their features are regular, and have some 
 delicacy ; the forehead is straight and fairly high ; the nose 
 long, straight, and fine, but scarcely so prominent as that of 
 Europeans ; the chin is pointed and good. The principal defect 
 is in the mouth, which has lips too thick and full for beauty, 
 though they are not turned out like a negro’s . 9 AVe do not 
 
 Ethiopians (after Prichard). 
 
 possess any representations of the ancient people which can be 
 distinctly assigned to the early Cushite period. Abundant hair 
 has been noticed in an early tomb ; 1 and this in the later Baby- 
 lonians, who must have been descended in great part from the 
 earlier, was very conspicuous ; 2 but otherwise we have as yet no 
 direct evidence with respect to the physical characteristics of 
 the primitive race . 3 That they were brave and warlike, in- 
 genious, energetic, and persevering, we have ample evidence, 
 which will appear in later chapters of this work ; but we can 
 do little more than conjecture their physical appearance, which, 
 
 9 See Prichard’s Physical Hist, of 
 Mankind , vol. ii. p. 44. 
 
 1 Loftus, Chaldaea and Susiana , p. 202. 
 
 2 See the Cylinders, passim ; and com- 
 
 pare Herod, i. 195. 
 
 3 Skeletons have been found in abun- 
 dance, but they have undergone no 
 scientific examination. 
 
54 
 
 THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. III. 
 
 however, we may fairly suppose to have resembled that of other 
 Ethiopian nations. 
 
 When the early inhabitants of Chaldsea are pronounced to 
 have belonged to the same race with the dwellers upon the 
 Upper Nile, the question naturally arises, which were the primi- 
 tive people, and which the colonists? Is the country at the 
 head of the Persian Gulf to be regarded as the original abode 
 of the Cushite race, whence it spread eastward and westward, 
 on the one hand to Susiana, Persia Proper, Carmania, Gedrosia, 
 and India itself; on the other to Arabia and the east coast of 
 Africa ? Or are we to suppose that the migration proceeded in 
 one direction only — that the Cushites, having occupied the 
 country immediately to the south of Egypt, sent their colonies 
 along the south coast of Arabia, whence they crept on into the 
 Persian Gulf, occupying Chaldsea and Susiana, and thence 
 spreading into Mekran, Kerman, and the regions bordering upon 
 the Indus? Plausible reasons may be adduced in support of 
 either hypothesis. The situation of Babylonia, and its proximity 
 to that mountain region where man must have first “ increased 
 and multiplied ” after the Flood, are in favour of its being the 
 original centre from which the other Cushite races were derived. 
 The Biblical genealogy of the sons of Ham points, however, the 
 other way; for it derives Nimrod from Cush, not Cush from 
 Nimrod. Indeed this document seems to follow the Hamites 
 from Africa — emphatically “the land of Ham” 4 — in one line 
 along Southern Arabia to Shinar or Babylonia, in another from 
 Egypt through Canaan into Syria. The antiquity of civilization 
 in" the valley of the Nile, which preceded by many centuries 
 that even of primitive Chaldaea, is another argument in favour 
 of the migration having been from west to east ; and the monu- 
 ments and traditions of the Chaldaeans themselves have been 
 thought to present some curious indications of an East African 
 origin . 5 On the whole, therefore, it seems most probable that 
 the race designated in Scripture by the hero-founder Nimrod, 
 
 4 Ps. lxxviii. 51 ; cv. 23, 27 ; cvi. 22. 
 
 Egypt is called Chemi in the native in- 
 scriptions. 
 
 5 See the Essay of Sir H. Rawlinson, 
 in the author’s Herodotus , vol. i. p. 442. 
 note (1st edition). 
 
Chap. III. 
 
 THE AKKAD OR BURBUR, TURANIANS. 
 
 55 
 
 and among the Greeks by the eponym of Belus, passed from 
 East Africa, by way of Arabia, to the valley of the Euphrates, 
 shortly before the opening of the historical period. 
 
 Upon the ethnic basis here indicated, there was grafted, it 
 would seem, at a very early period, a second, probably Turanian, 
 element, which very importantly affected the character and 
 composition of the people. The Burbur or Ahlcad, who are 
 found to have been a principal tribe under the early kings, are 
 connected by name, religion, and in some degree by language, 
 with an important people of Armenia, called Burbur and Urarda, 
 the Alarodians (apparently) of Herodotus . 6 It has been con- 
 jectured that this race at a very remote date descended upon the 
 plain country, conquering the original Cushite inhabitants, and 
 by degrees blending with them, though the fusion remained 
 incomplete to the time of Abraham. The language of the early 
 inscriptiqns, though Cushite in its vocabulary, is Turanian in 
 many points of its grammatical structure, as in its use of post- 
 positions, particles, and pronominal suffixes ; and it would seem, 
 therefore, scarcely to admit of a doubt that the Cushites of 
 Lower Babylon must in some way or other have become mixed 
 with a Turanian people. The mode and time of the commixture 
 are matters altogether beyond our knowledge. We can only 
 note the fact as indicated by the phenomena, and form, or 
 abstain from forming, as we please, hypotheses with respect to 
 its accompanying circumstances. 
 
 Besides these two main constituents of the Chaldsean race, 
 there is reason to believe that both a Semitic and an Arian ele- 
 ment existed in the early population of the country. The 
 subjects of the early kings are continually designated in the 
 inscriptions by the title of Mprat-arbat , “ the four nations,” or 
 arba lisun, “ the four tongues.” In Abraham’s time, again, the 
 league of four kings seems correspondent to a fourfold ethnic 
 division, Cushite, Turanian, Semitic, and Arian, the chief 
 authority and ethnic preponderance being with the Cushites . 7 
 
 6 See an Essay by the same writer in I 7 Chedor-laomer, by his leadership of 
 
 the fourth volume of the same work, j the Elamites or Susianians, should be a 
 pp. 250-254 (1st edition). [ Cushite; Tidal, king of nations, i.e. of 
 
56 
 
 THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. III. 
 
 The language also of the early inscriptions is thought to contain 
 traces of Semitic, and Arian influence ; so that it is at least pro- 
 bable that the 44 four tongues ” intended were not mere local 
 dialects, but distinct languages, the representatives respectively 
 of the four great families of human speech. 
 
 It would result from this review of the linguistic facts and 
 other ethnic indications, that the Chaldmans were not a pure, 
 but a very mixed people. Like the Romans in ancient, and the 
 English in modern Europe, they were a 44 colluvio gentium om- 
 nium,” a union of various races between which there was marked 
 and violent contrast. It is now generally admitted that such 
 races are among those which play the most distinguished part 
 in the world’s history, and most vitally affect its progress. 
 
 With respect to the name of Chaldman, under which it has 
 been customary to designate this mixed people, it is curious to 
 find that in the native documents of the early period it does not 
 occur at all. Indeed it first appears in the Assyrian inscriptions 
 of the ninth century before our era, being then used as the name 
 of the dominant race in the country about Babylon. Still, as 
 Berosus, who cannot easily have been ignorant of the ancient 
 appellation of his race, applies the term Chaldman to the primi- 
 tive people , 8 and, as Scripture assigns Ur to the Chaldees as 
 early as the time of Abraham, we are entitled to assume that 
 this term, whenever it came historically into use, is in fact no 
 unfit designation for the early inhabitants of the country. 
 Perhaps the most probable account of the origin of the word is, 
 that it designates properly the inhabitants of the ancient capital, 
 Ur or Hur — Khaldi being in the Burbur dialect the exact equi- 
 valent of Hur , which was the proper name of the Moon God, and 
 Chaldseans being thus either 44 Moon- worshippers,” or simply 
 ‘ 4 inhabitants of the town dedicated to, and called after, the 
 Moon.” Like the term 44 Babylonian,” it would at first have 
 designated simply the dwellers in the capital, and would subse- 
 quently have been extended to the people generally. 
 
 the wandering tribes, should be a Scyth, Sir H. Rawlinson in the first volume of 
 
 or Turanian ; Arioch recalls the term the author’s Herodotus , vol. i. Essay vi. 
 
 “Arian,” while Amraphel is a name § 21, note 7 (second edition), 
 cast in a Semitic mould. See a note by 8 Berosus, Fr. i. §§ 5, 6, 11, &c. 
 
Chap. III. 
 
 CHALDEAN THEORY OF GESENIUS. 
 
 57 
 
 A different theory has of late years been usually maintained 
 with respect to the Chaldseans. It has been supposed that 
 they were a race entirely distinct from the early Babylonians — 
 Armenians, Arabs, Kurds, or Sclaves — who came down from the 
 north long after the historical period, and settled as the domi- 
 nant race in the lower Mesopotamian valley. 9 Philological 
 arguments of the weakest and most unsatisfactory character 
 were confidently adduced in support of these views ; 1 but they 
 obtained acceptance chiefly on account of certain passages of 
 Scripture, which were thought to imply that the Chaldseans 
 first colonised Babylonia in the seventh or eighth century before 
 Christ. The most important of these passages is in Isaiah. 
 That prophet, in his denunciation of woe upon Tyre, says, 
 according to our translation , — " Behold the land of the Chal- 
 dseans ; this people was not , till the Assyrian founded it for them 
 that dwell in the wilderness ; they set up the towers thereof? 
 they raised up the palaces thereof ; and he brought it to ruin ;” 2 
 or, according to Bishop Lowth, “Behold the land of the Chal- 
 dseans. This people was of no account. (The Assyrians founded 
 it for the inhabitants of the desert, they raised the watch-towers, 
 they set up the palaces thereof.) This people hath reduced her 
 and shall reduce her to ruin.’ , It was argued that we had here 
 a plain declaration that, till a little before Isaiah’s time, the 
 Chaldseans had never existed as a nation. Then, it w r as said, 
 they obtained for the first time fixed habitations from one of 
 the Assyrian kings, who settled them in a city, probably 
 Babylon. Shortly afterwards, following the analogy of so many 
 Eastern races, they suddenly sprang up to power. Here another 
 
 9 Gesenius, Comment, in Esaiam xxiii. 
 13, and Geschichte der Hebr. Sprache, 
 pp. 63, 64 ; Heeren, Asiatic Nations , 
 vol. ii. p. 147 ; Niebuhr, Lectures on 
 Ancient History, vol. i. p. 20, note; 
 Winer, Bealufjrterbuch, vol. i. p. 218; 
 Kitto, Biblical Cyclopaedia , yol. i. p. 408, 
 &c. Mr. Vaux (Diet, of Antiquities, 
 vol. i. p. 601) with good reason questions 
 the common opinion. 
 
 1 As that Nebuchadnezzar might be 
 the Sclavonic sentence Nebye had zenur 
 
 tzar , or “ De coelo missus dominus,” — 
 that Merodach might be the Persian mar- 
 dak, “ homunculus,” &c. (See Prichard’s 
 Phys. Hist, of Mankind, vol. iv. pp. 563- 
 564.) A more refined argument was 
 that of Gesenius, “ that the construction 
 of the names was according, not to 
 Semitic, but to Medo-Persian prin- 
 ciples ; ” but, being based upon pure 
 conjectures as to the possible etymology 
 of the words, it was really worthless. 
 
 2 Isaiah xxiii. 13. 
 
58 
 
 THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. III. 
 
 passage of Scripture was thought to have an important bearing 
 on their history. “ Lo ! I raise up the Chaldaeans,” says 
 Habakkuk, “ that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march 
 through the breadth of the land to possess the dwelling places 
 that are not theirs. They are terrible and dreadful ; their 
 judgment and their dignity shall proceed of themselves ; their 
 horses also are swifter than the leopards, and are more fierce 
 than the evening wolves : and their horsemen shall spread them- 
 selves, and their horsemen shall come from far ; they shall fly 
 as an eagle that hasteth to eat ; they shall come all for violence ; 
 their faces shall nip as the east wind, and they shall gather the 
 captivity as the sand. And they shall scoff at the kings, and 
 the princes shall be a scorn unto them ; they shall deride every 
 stronghold ; they shall heap dust and take it.” 3 The Chaldaeans, 
 recent occupants of Lower Mesopotamia, and there only a domi- 
 nant race, like the Normans in England or the Lombards in 
 North Italy, were, on a sudden, “raised up” — elevated from 
 their low estate of Assyrian colonists to the conquering people 
 which they became under Nebuchadnezzar. 
 
 Such was the theory, originally advanced by Gesenius, which, 
 variously modified by other writers, held its ground on the 
 whole as the established view, until the recent cuneiform dis- 
 coveries. It was, from the first, a theory full of difficulty. The 
 mention of the Chaldaeans in Job, 4 and even in Genesis, 5 as a 
 well-known people, was in contradiction to the supposed recent 
 origin of the race. The explanation of the obscure passage in 
 the 23rd' chapter of Isaiah, on which the theory was mainly 
 based, was at variance with other clearer passages of the same 
 prophet. Babylon is called by Isaiah the “ daughter of the 
 Chaldaeans,” 6 and is spoken of as an ancient city, long “ the 
 glory of kingdoms,” 7 the oppressor of nations, the power that 
 “smote the people in wrath with a continual stroke.” 8 She is 
 “the lady of kingdoms,” 9 and “the beauty of the Chaldees’ 
 excellency.” 1 The Chaldaeans are thus in Isaiah, as elsewhere 
 
 3 Habakkuk i. 6-10. 4 Job i. 17. 
 
 5 Gen. xi. 28 and 31. 
 
 6 Isaiah xlvii. 1 and 5. 
 
 7 Isaiah xiii. 19. 
 9 Ibid, xlvii. 5. 
 
 8 Ibid. xiv. 6. 
 
 1 Ibid. xiii. 19. 
 
Chai\ III. CHALD 2EAN THEORY OF GESENIUS, EXAMINED. 59 
 
 generally in Scripture, the people of Babylonia, the term “ Ba- 
 bylonians ” not being used by him ; Babylon is their chief city, 
 not one which they have conquered and occupied, but their 
 “ daughter ” — “ the beauty of their excellency and so all the 
 antiquity and glory which is assigned to Babylon belong neces- 
 sarily in Isaiah’s mind to the Chaldaeans. The verse, therefore, 
 in the 23rd chapter, on which so much has been built, can at 
 most refer to some temporary depression of the Chaldaeans, 
 which made it a greater disgrace to Tyre that she should be 
 conquered by them. Again, the theory of G-esenius took no 
 account of the native historian, who is (next to Scripture) the 
 best literary authority for the facts of Babylonian history. 
 Berosus not only said nothing of any influx of an alien race 
 into Babylonia shortly before the time of Nebuchadnezzar, but 
 pointedly identified the Chaldaeans of that period with the 
 primitive people of the country. Nor can it be said that he 
 would do this from national vanity, to avoid the confession of 
 a conquest, for he admits no fewer than three conquests of 
 Babylon, a Median, an Arabian, and an Assyrian. 2 Thus, even 
 apart from the monuments, the theory in question would be un- 
 tenable. It really originated in linguistic speculations, 3 which 
 ' turn out to have been altogether mistaken. 
 
 The joint authority of Scripture and of Berosus will probably 
 be accepted as sufficient to justify the adoption of a term which, 
 if not strictly correct, is yet familiar to us, and which will con- 
 veniently serve to distinguish the primitive monarchy, whose 
 chief seats were in Chaldaea Proper (or the tract immediately 
 bordering upon the Persian Gull), from the later Babylonian 
 Empire, which had its head-quarters further to the north. The 
 people of this first kingdom will therefore be called Chaldseans, 
 although there is no evidence that they applied the name to 
 themselves, or that it was even known to them in primitive 
 times. 
 
 The general character of this remarkable people will best 
 
 2 Berosus, Fr. 11 and 12. 
 
 3 See Niebuhr, Lectures on Ancient 
 History , vol. i. p. 20, note ; and Prichard, 
 
 Physical History of Mankind , vol. iy. 
 pp. 563, 564. 
 
6o 
 
 THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. III. 
 
 appear from the account, presently to be given, of their man- 
 ners, their mode of life, their arts, their science, their religion, 
 and their history. It is not convenient to forestal in this place 
 the results of almost all our coming inquiries. Suffice it to 
 observe that, though possessed of not many natural advantages, 
 the Chaldsean people exhibited a fertility of invention, a genius, 
 and an energy, which place them high in the scale of nations, 
 and more especially in the list of those descended from a 
 Hamitic stock. For the last 3000 years the world has been 
 mainly indebted for its advancement to the Semitic and Indo- 
 European races ; but it was otherwise in the first ages. Egypt 
 and Babylon — Mizraim and Nimrod — both descendants of Ham 
 — led the way, and acted as the pioneers of mankind in the 
 various untrodden fields of art, literature, and science. Alpha- 
 betic writing, astronomy, history, chronology, architecture, 
 plastic art, sculpture, navigation, agriculture, textile industry, 
 seem, all of them, to have had their origin in one or other of 
 these two countries. The beginnings may have been often 
 humble enough. We may laugh at the rude picture-writing, 
 the uncouth brick pyramid, the coarse fabric, the homely and 
 ill-shapen instruments, as they present themselves to our notice 
 in the remains of these ancient nations ; but they are really 
 worthier of our admiration than of our ridicule. The first 
 inventors of any art are among the greatest benefactors of their 
 race ; and the bold step which they take from the unknown to 
 the known, from blank ignorance to discovery, is equal to many 
 steps of subsequent progress. “ The commencement,” says 
 Aristotle, “is more than half of the whole.” 4 This is a sound 
 judgment ; and it will be well that we should bear it in mind 
 during the review, on which we are about to enter, of the lan- 
 guage, writing, useful and ornamental art, science, and lite- 
 rature of the Chaldseans. “ The child is father of the man,” 
 both in the individual and the species ; and the human race at 
 the present day lies under infinite obligations to the genius and 
 industry of early ages. 
 
 4 Arist. Eth. Nic. i. 7, ad fin. 
 
Chap. IV. 
 
 LANGUAGE AND WRITING. 
 
 6 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 LANGUAGE AND WRITING. 
 
 “ Vpd^ifxaTa Kai y\axr<ra Xa\8aicovT — Dan. i. 4. (Sept, vers.) 
 
 It was noted in the preceding chapter that Chaldaea, in the 
 earliest times to which we can go back, seems to have been 
 inhabited by four principal tribes. The early kings are con- 
 tinually represented on the monuments as sovereigns over the 
 Kiprat-arbat, or “Four Races.” These “Four Races” are 
 called sometimes the Arba Lisun , or “ Four Tongues,” whence 
 we may conclude that they were distinguished from one another, 
 among other differences, by a variety in their forms of speech. 
 The extent and nature of the variety could not, of course, be 
 determined merely from this expression; but the opinion of 
 those who have most closely studied the subject appears to be 
 that the differences were great and marked — the languages 
 in fact belonging to the four great varieties of human speech — 
 the Hamitic, Semitic, Arian, and Turanian. 
 
 The language which the early inscriptions have revealed to 
 us is not, of course, composed equally of these four elements. 
 It does, however, contain strong marks of admixture. It is 
 predominantly Cushite in its vocabulary, Turanian in its struc- 
 ture. Its closest analogies are with such dialects as the Mahra 
 of Arabia, the Galla and Wolaitsa of Abyssinia, and the ancient 
 language of Egypt, but in certain cases it more resembles the 
 Turkish, Tatar, and. Magyar (Turanian) dialects ; while in some 
 it presents Semitic and in others Arian affinities. This will 
 appear sufficiently from the following list : — 
 
 Bingir or Dimir , “ God.” Compare Turkish Tengri. 
 
 Atta, “ father.” Compare Turkish atta. Etea is “ father” in the Wolaitsa 
 (Abyssinian) dialect. 
 
 Sis, “brother.” Compare Wolaitsa and Woratta isha. 
 
62 
 
 THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. IV. 
 
 Tur , “ a youth,” “ a son.” Compare the tur-khan of the Parthians (Tu- 
 ranians), who was the Crown Prince. 
 
 E, “ a house.” Compare ancient Egyptian e, and Turkish ev. 
 
 Ka , “a gate.” Compare Turkish kapi. 
 
 Kharran, “a road.” Compare Galla kara. 
 
 Bum, “ a town.” Compare Heb. *vy. 
 
 Ar, “ a river.” Compare Heb. “im. Arab. nahr. 
 
 Gabri, “ a mountain.” Compare Arabic jabal. 
 
 Ki, “ the earth.” 
 
 Kingi , “ a countiy.” 
 
 £a?i, “ the sun.” 
 
 Kha, “ a fish” (?). 
 
 .Surra, “ a horse.” Compare Arabic gurra. 
 
 Guski , “ gold.” Compare Galla werke. Guski means also “ red ’ and “ the 
 evening.” 
 
 Babar , “silver,” “white,” “the morning.” Compare Agau her, Tigre 
 burrur. 
 
 Zabar , “ copper.” Compare Arabic sifr. 
 
 Hurud , “ iron.” Compare Arabic hadid. 
 
 Zakad, “ the head.” Compare Gonga toko. 
 
 Kat, “ the hand.” Compare Gonga kiso. 
 
 Si, “ the eye.” 
 
 Pi, “ the ear.” Compare Magyar ful. 
 
 Gula, “ great.” Compare Galla guda. 
 
 Tura, “ little.” Compare Gonga tu and Galla tina. 
 
 Kelga, “ powerful.” 
 
 Ginn , “ first.” 
 
 ilfis, “ many.” Compare Agau mineh or meneh. 
 
 Gar, “ to do.” 
 
 Egir, “ after.” Compare Hhamara (Abyssinian) igria. 
 
 The grammar of this language is still but very little known. 
 The conjugations of verbs are said to be very intricate and 
 •difficult, a great variety of verbal forms being obtained from 
 the same root, as in Hebrew, by means of preformatives. 
 Number and person in the verbs are marked by suffixes the 
 third person singular (masculine) by hi (compare Gonga hi, 
 “ he ”), or ani (compare Galla enni, “ he ’), the third person 
 plural by bi-nini. 
 
 The accusative case in nouns is marked by a postposition, 
 Jcu, as in Hindustani. The plural of pronouns and substantives 
 is formed sometimes by reduplication. Thus ni is “ him, 
 while nini is il them ; ” and Chancum , Yavnan , Libnan , seem 
 to be plural forms from Chna, lavan, and Liban. 
 
Chap. IV. 
 
 LANGUAGE OF THE CHALD2EANS. 
 
 63 
 
 A curious anomaly occurs in the declension of pronouns . 1 
 When accompanied by the preposition hita , “ with,” there is a 
 tmesis of the preposition, and the pronouns are placed between 
 its first and second syllable; e.g. ni, “him” — hi-ni-ta, “with 
 him.” This takes place in every number and person, as the 
 following scheme will show : — 
 
 1st person. 
 
 Sing, hi-mu-ta 
 (with me) 
 Plur. hi -mi-ta 
 
 2nd person. 
 hi-zu-ta 
 (with thee) 
 hi-zu-nini-ta 
 
 3rd person. 
 
 hi-ni-ta 
 (with him) 
 hi-nini-ta 
 
 (with us) (with you) (with them). 
 
 N.B. — The formation of the second person plural deserves 
 attention. The word zu-nini is, clearly, composed of the two 
 elements, zu, “thee,” and mm, “them”— so that instead of 
 having a word for “ you,” the Chaldaeans employed for it the 
 periphrasis “thee-them”! There is, I believe, no known 
 language which presents a parallel anomaly. 
 
 Such are the chief known features of this interesting but diffi- 
 cult form of speech. A specimen may now be given of the mode 
 in which it was written. Among the earliest of the monuments 
 hitherto discovered are a set of bricks bearing the following- 
 cuneiform inscription : — 
 
 1 There is. I believe, a near parallel 
 to this peculiarity in the Ostiak. [It 
 has been compared with our own use of 
 such an expression as “to us- ward ; ” 
 but here “to” and “ward” are really 
 
 separate prepositions, both having the 
 same meaning, and the phrase is merely 
 pleonastic. There is no reason to be- 
 I lieve that ki and ta have separately 
 i the meaning of “ with.”] 
 
64 
 
 THE FIBST MOXAECHY. 
 
 Chap. IV. 
 
 This inscription is explained to mean “ Beltis, his lady, 
 has caused Urukh (?), the pious chief, King of Hur, and 
 King of the land (?) of the Akkad, to build a temple to 
 her.” In the same locality where it occurs, 2 bricks are also 
 found bearing evidently the same inscription, but written in a 
 
 different manner. Instead 
 of the wedge and arrow- 
 head being the elements 
 of the writing, the whole 
 is formed by straight lines 
 of almost uniform thick- 
 ness, and the impression 
 seems to have been made 
 by a single stamp. 
 
 This mode of writing, 
 which has been called with- 
 out much reason “the hieratic,” 3 and of which we have but a 
 small number of instances, has confirmed a conjecture, originally 
 surest ed by the early cuneiform writing itself, that the 
 characters were at first the pictures of objects. In some cases 
 the pictorial representation is very plain and palpable. For 
 instance the “determinative” of a god— the sign, that is, which 
 marks that the name of a god is about to follow, in this early 
 rectilinear writing is ~> | < , an eight-rayed star. The archaic 
 cuneiform keeps closely to this type, merely changing the lines 
 
 into wedges, thus , while the later cuneiform first unites 
 
 the oblique wedges in one an( ^ l^ ieu oxrL >l s Ihera as un- 
 
 necessary, retaining only the perpendicular and the horizontal 
 ones • Again, the character representing the word ••hand 
 
 is, 
 
 in the rectilinear writing 
 
 in the archaic cuneiform 
 
 in the later cuneiform 
 
 The five lines (after- 
 
 2 The bricks in question were found 
 at Warka, the ancient Huruk or Erech. 
 (See Loftus, Chaldeea and Susiana , p. 
 
 169.) 
 
 3 See Oppert's Expedition scientifiquc 
 en J fesopotamie, tom. ii. p. 62. 
 
Chap. IY. 
 
 WRITING OF THE CHALDiEANS. 
 
 65 
 
 wards reduced to four) clearly represent the thumb and the four 
 fingers. So the character ordinarily representing “ a house ” 
 
 is evidently formed from the original | | , the 
 
 ground-plan of a house ; and that denoting “ the sun 
 comes from <j>, through A 
 
 <r- 
 
 and 
 
 the original <^> 
 
 being the best representation that straight lines could give of 
 the sun. In the case of ka, “ a gate,” we have not the original 
 
 design ; but we may see post, bars, and hinges in 
 the ordinary character . 4 
 
 Another curious example of the pictorial origin of the letters 
 
 is furnished by the character &A1 
 
 which is the French 
 
 une, the feminine of “ one.” This character may be traced up 
 through several known forms to an original picture, which is 
 thus given on a Koyunjik tablet = 
 
 = . It has been con- 
 
 jectured that the object here represented is “ a sarcophagus.” 5 
 But the true account seems to be that it is a double-toothed comb, 
 a toilet article peculiar to women, and therefore one which 
 might well be taken to express “ a woman,” or more generally 
 the feminine gender. It is worth notice that the emblem is the 
 very one still in use among the Lurs, in the mountains over- 
 hanging Babylonia . 6 And it is further remarkable that the 
 phonetic power of the character here spoken of is it (or yat ) — 
 the ordinary Semitic feminine ending. 
 
 The original writing, it would therefore seem, was a picture- 
 writing, as rude as that of the Mexicans. Objects were them- 
 selves represented, but coarsely and grotesquely — and, which is 
 especially remarkable, without any curved lines. This would 
 
 * It has been conjectured that the 
 ideograph for “ king,” which stands as 
 the first character in the first and 
 second compartments of the second 
 column in the inscription given above 
 (p. 63), is derived from a rude drawing 
 of a bee, the Egyptian emblem of 
 sovereignty. (See Menant, Briques de 
 VOL. I. 
 
 Babylone , p. 20.) 
 
 3 Oppert, tom. ii. p. 66. 
 
 6 See the Journal of the Geographical 
 Society , vol. ix. p. 58, where, in speaking 
 of the devices on the tombs of the Lurs, 
 Sir H. Rawlinson notes “ the double- 
 toothed comb ” as the distinctive mark 
 of the female sex. 
 
 F 
 
66 
 
 THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. IV. 
 
 seem to indicate that the system grew up where a hard material, 
 probably stone, was alone used. The cuneiform writing arose 
 when clay took the place of stone as a material. A small tool, 
 with a square or triangular point , 7 impressed, by a series of 
 distinct touches, the outline of the old pictured objects on the 
 soft clay of tablets and bricks. In course of time simplifications 
 took place. The less important wedges were omitted. One 
 stroke took the place of two, or sometimes of three. In this 
 way the old form of objects became, in all but a few cases, very 
 indistinct ; while generally it was lost altogether. 
 
 Originally each character had, it would seem, the phonetic 
 power of the name borne by the object which it represented. 
 But, as this name was different in the languages of the different 
 tribes inhabiting the country, the same character came often to 
 have several distinct phonetic values. For instance, the character 
 
 YT ] f, representing “a house,” had the phonetic values of 
 
 e, bit, and mat, because those were the words expressive of “ a 
 house,” among the Hamitic, Semitic, and Arian populations 
 respectively. Again, characters did not always retain their 
 original phonetic powers, but abbreviated them. Thus the 
 character which originally stood for Assur , “ Assyria,” came to 
 have the sound of as, that denoting bit, “ a lord,” had in addition 
 the sound of bi, and so on. Under these circumstances it is 
 almost impossible to feel any certainty in regard to the phonetic 
 representation of a single line of these old inscriptions. The 
 meaning of each word may be well known ; but the articulate 
 sounds which were in the old times attached to them may be 
 matter almost of conjecture. 
 
 The Chaldaean characters are of three kinds — letters proper, 
 monograms, and determinatives. With regard to the letters 
 proper, there is nothing particular to remark, except that they 
 have almost always a syllabic force. The monograms represent 
 in a brief way, by a wedge or a group of wedges, an entire word, 
 often of two or three syllables, as Xebo, Babil, ^lerodach, &c. 
 
 7 Tools with a triangular point, made 
 in ivory, apparently for employment in 
 
 cuneifoim writing, have been found at 
 Babylon. (See Oppert, torn. ii. p. 63.) 
 
Chaf. IV. 
 
 WRITING ON BRICKS AND TABLETS. 
 
 67 
 
 The determinatives mark that the word which they accompany 
 is a word of a certain class, as a god, a man, a country, a town, 
 &c. These last, it is probable, were not sounded at all when 
 the word was read. They served, in some degree, the purpose 
 of our capital letters in the middle of sentences, but gave more 
 exact notice of the nature of the coming word. Curiously 
 enough, they are retained sometimes, where the word which 
 they accompany has merely its phonetic power, as (generally) 
 when the names of gods form a part of the names of monarchs. 
 
 It has been noticed already that the chief material on 
 which the ancient Chaldseans wrote was moist clay, in the 
 two forms of tablets and bricks. On bricks are found only 
 royal inscriptions, having reference to the building in which 
 the bricks were used, commonly designating its purpose, and 
 giving the name and titles of the monarch who erected it 8 The 
 inscription does not occupy the whole brick, but a square or 
 rectangular space towards its centre. It is in some cases 
 stamped, in some impressed with a tool. The writing — as in 
 all cuneiform inscriptions, excepting those upon seals — is from 
 left to right,, and the lines are carefully separated from one 
 another. Some specimens have been already given . 9 
 t The tablets of the Chaldseans are among the most remarkable 
 of their remains, and will probably one day throw great addi- 
 tional light on the manners and customs, the religion, and even, 
 perhaps, the science and learning, of the people. They are 
 small pieces of clay , 10 somewhat rudely shaped into a form 
 
 8 See above, page 64, where the 
 translation of an inscription is given. 
 Other translations of the brick legends 
 belonging to the same king are the 
 following : — 
 
 1. On a brick from Mug heir (Ur): — 
 “Urukh, king of Ur, is he who has 
 built the temple of the Moon-God.” 
 
 2. On a brick from the same : — “ The ' 
 Moon-God, his lord, has caused Urukh, 
 king of Ur, to build a temple to him, 
 
 . and has caused him to build the enceinte 
 of Ur.” 
 
 3. On a brick from the same: — “The 
 Moon-God, brother’s son (?) of Anu, and 
 eldest son of Belus, his lord, has caused 
 Urukh, the pious chief, king of Ur, to 
 
 build the temple of Tsingathu (?), his 
 holy place.” 
 
 4. On a brick from Senkareh : — “ The 
 Sun-God, his lord, has caused Urukh, 
 the pious chief, king of Ur, king of the 
 land (?) of the Akkad, to build a temple 
 to him.” 
 
 5. On a brick from Niffer : — “Urukh, 
 king of Ur, and king of the land (?) of 
 the Akkad, who has built the temple of 
 Belus.” 
 
 9 See above, pp. 63, 64. 
 
 10 The size varies from an inch to four 
 or five inches in length, the width being 
 always less. The envelope is of very 
 thin clay, and does not much add to the 
 bulk. 
 
 F 2 
 
68 
 
 THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. IY. 
 
 resembling a pillow, and thickly inscribed with cuneiform cha- 
 racters, which are sometimes accompanied by impressions of the 
 cylindrical seals so common in the museums of Europe. The 
 seals are rolled across the body of the document, as in the 
 accompanying woodcut. Except where these impressions occur, 
 the clay is commonly covered on both sides with minute writing. 
 
 What is most cu- 
 rious, however, is 
 that the documents 
 thus duly attested 
 have in general 
 been enveloped, 
 after they were 
 baked, in a cover 
 of moist clay, upon 
 which their con- 
 tents have been 
 again inscribed, so 
 as to present ex- 
 ternally a dupli- 
 cate of tli e writing 
 within ; and the 
 tablet in its cover 
 has then been 
 baked afresh. That 
 this was the pro- 
 cess employed is 
 evident from the 
 fact that the inner 
 side of the en- 
 velope bears a cast, 
 
 Chaldaean tablet (after Layard). j n re li e f ? 0 f the in- 
 
 scription beneath it. Probably the object in view was greater 
 security — that if the external cover became illegible, or was 
 tampered with, there might be a means of proving beyond 
 a doubt what the document actually contained. The tablets 
 in question have in a considerable number of cases been de- 
 
Chap. IV. 
 
 WKITING ON SEALS. 
 
 6 9 
 
 cyphered; they are for the most part deeds, contracts, or 
 engagements entered into by private persons and preserved 
 among the archives of families. 
 
 Besides their writings on clay, the Chaldseans were in the 
 habit, from very early times, of engraving inscriptions on gems. 
 The signet cylinder of a very ancient king exhibits that archaic 
 formation of letters which has been already noted as appearing 
 upon some of the earliest bricks. That it belongs to the same 
 period is evident, not only from the resemblance of the literal 
 type, 1 but from the fact that the same king’s name appears upon 
 both. This signet inscrip- 
 tion — so far as it has been 
 hitherto decyphered — is 
 read as follows: — “The 
 signet of Urukh, the pious 
 chief, king of Ur, ... . 
 
 High-Priest (?) of ... . 
 
 Niffer.” Another similar relic, belonging to a son of this 
 monarch, has the inscription, i( To the manifestation of Nergal, 
 king of Bit-Zida, of Zurgulla, for the saving of the life of Ilgi, 
 
 the powerful hero, the king of Ur, , son of Urukh. 
 
 May his name be preserved.” 2 A third signet, which 
 
 belongs to a later king in the series, bears the following legend : 
 
 “ sin, the powerful chief, the king of Ur, the king of the 
 
 Kiprat-arbat (or four races) his seal.” The cylinders, 
 
 however, of this period are more usually without inscriptions, 
 being often plain, 3 and often engraved with figures, but without 
 a legend. 
 
 JDM * ® 
 
 4“ O' 
 
 
 
 
 59BSr*->|^ 
 
 
 riJhi si] 
 
 1 We have only a representation of 
 this inscription, the cylinder itself 
 being lost. The representation will be 
 
 found in Sir It. Ker Porter’s Travels , 
 
 vol. ii. plate 79, no. 6. 
 
 2 I am indebted for the translation of 
 this legend to Mr. George Smith, of the 
 British Museum. 
 
 3 As. Soc. Journ. vol. xv. pp. 272. 273, 
 
7 o 
 
 THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. V* 
 
 CHAPTER Y. 
 
 ARTS AND SCIENCES. 
 
 “ Chaldad cognitione astrorum sollertiaque ingeniomm antecellunt.” 
 
 Cic. de Div. i. 41. 
 
 Among the arts which the first Ethiopic settlers on the shores 
 of the Persian Gulf either brought with them from their former 
 homes, or very early inyented in their new abode, must un- 
 doubtedly haye been the two whereby they were especially 
 characterised in the time of their greatest power — architecture 
 and agriculture. Chaldaea is not a country disposing men to 
 nomadic habits. The productive powers of the soil would at 
 once obtrude themselves on the notice of the new comers, and 
 would tempt to cultivation and permanency of residence. If 
 the immigrants came by sea, and settled first in the tract im- 
 mediately bordering upon the gulf, as seems to have been the 
 notion of Berosus , 1 their earliest abodes may have been of that 
 simple character which can even now be witnessed in the Affej 
 and Montefik marshes — that is to say, reed cabins, supported by 
 the tall stems of the growing plants bent into arches, and walled 
 with mats composed of flags or sedge . 2 Houses of this descrip- 
 tion last for forty or fifty years , 3 and would satisfy the ideas of a 
 primitive race. When greater permanency began to be required, 
 palm-beams might take the place of the reed supports, and 
 wattles plastered with mud that of the rush mats ; in this way 
 
 1 Berosus, Fr. 1, § 3. ' place, but was of gigantic size, forty 
 
 2 Layard, Nineveh and Babylon , pp. feet long and eighteen feet high. It 
 
 554, 555 ; Loftus, Chaldeea and Susiana, boasted the almost fabulous age for a 
 
 p. 91 ; Journal of Geographical Society , , reed building (if the Arabs might be 
 vol. xxvi. p. 137. credited) of no less than half a century, 
 
 3 “ We were conducted to the muthif and appeared likely to last as long 
 
 or reception-hut of the chief, which again.” (Loftus, Chaldeea and Susiana , 
 
 resembled the other habitations of the p. 92.) 
 
Chap. V. 
 
 ARTS AND SCIENCES. 
 
 71 
 
 habitations would soon be produced quite equal to those in 
 which the bulk of mankind reside, even at the present day. 
 
 In process of time, however, a fresh want would be felt. 
 Architecture, as has been well observed, has its origin, not in 
 nature only, but in religion . 4 The common worship of God 
 requires temples ; and it is soon desired to give to these sacred 
 edifices a grandeur, a dignity, and a permanency corresponding 
 to the nature of the Being worshipped in them. Hence in 
 most countries recourse is had to stone, as the material of 
 greatest strength and durability; and by its means buildings 
 are raised which seem almost to reach the heaven whereof they 
 witness. In Babylonia, as it has been already observed , 5 this 
 material was entirely wanting. Nowhere within the limits of 
 the alluvium was a quarry to be found ; and though at no very 
 great distance, on the Arabian border, a coarse sandstone might 
 have been obtained, yet in primitive times, before many canals 
 were made, the difficulty of transporting this weighty substance 
 across the soft and oozy soil of the plain would necessarily 
 have prevented its adoption generally, or, indeed, anywhere, 
 except in the immediate vicinity of the rocky region. Accord- 
 ingly we find that stone was never adopted in Babylonia as a 
 building material, except to an extremely small extent ; and 
 that the natives were forced, in its default, to seek for the grand 
 edifices, which they desired to build, a different substance. 
 
 The earliest traditions , 6 and the existing remains of the 
 earliest buildings, alike inform us that the material adopted 
 was brick. An excellent clay is readily procurable in all parts 
 of the alluvium ; and this, when merely exposed to the intense 
 heat of an Eastern sun for a sufficient period, or still more when 
 kiln-dried, constitutes a very tolerable substitute for the stone 
 employed by most nations. The baked bricks, even of the 
 earliest times, are still sound and hard; while the sun-dried 
 bricks, though they have often crumbled to dust or blended 
 together in one solid earthen mass, yet sometimes retain their 
 shape and original character almost unchanged, and offer a 
 
 4 Stieglitz, quoted in Smith’s Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, ad voe. 
 
 Architecture. 5 See above, p. 38. 6 Gen. xi. 3. 
 
72 
 
 THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. Y. 
 
 stubborn resistance to the excavator. 7 In the most ancient of 
 the Chaldsean edifices we occasionally find, as in the Bowariyeh 
 ruin at Warka, 8 the entire structure composed of the inferior 
 material ; but the more ordinary practice is to construct the 
 mass of the building in this way, and then to cover it com- 
 pletely with a facing of burnt brick, which sometimes extends to 
 as much as ten feet in thickness. The burnt brick was thus 
 made to protect the unburnt from the influence of the weather, 
 while labour and fuel were greatly economised by the employ- 
 ment to so large an extent of the natural substance. The size 
 and colour of the bricks vary. The general shape is square, or 
 nearly so, while the thickness is, to modern ideas, dispropor- 
 tionately small ; it is not, however, so small as in the bricks of 
 the Romans. The earliest of the baked bricks hitherto dis- 
 covered in Chaldsea are 11 J inches square, and 2J inches thick, 9 
 while the Roman are often 15 inches square, and only an inch 
 and a quarter thick. 1 The baked bricks of later date are of 
 larger size than the earlier ; they are commonly about 13 inches 
 square, with a thickness of three inches. 2 The best quality of 
 baked brick is of a yellowish- white tint, and very much re- 
 sembles our Stourbridge or fire brick ; another kind, extremely 
 hard, but brittle, is of a blackish blue ; a third, the coarsest of 
 all, is slack-dried, and of a pale red. The earliest baked bricks 
 are of this last colour. 3 The sun-dried bricks have even more 
 variety of size than the baked ones. They are sometimes as 
 large as 16 inches square and seven inches thick, sometimes as 
 small as six inches square by two thick. 4 Occasionally, though 
 not very often, bricks are found differing altogether in shape 
 from those above described, being formed for special purposes. 
 Of this kind are the triangular bricks used at the corners of 
 walls, intended to give greater regularity to the angles than 
 would otherwise be attained ; 5 and the wedge-shaped bricks, 
 
 7 Journal of the Asiatic Society , vol. xv. 
 pp. 263 and 405. 
 
 8 This ruin is carefully described by 
 Mr. Loftus in his Chaldcea and Susiana, 
 pp. 167-170. 
 
 9 Journal of the Asiatic Society , vol. 
 xv. p. 261. 
 
 1 Wyttenbach, Guide to the Roman 
 Antiquities of Treces, p. 42. 
 
 2 Rich, First Memoir , p. 61. 
 
 3 Loftus, p. 130. 
 
 4 Journal of Asiatic Society, vol. xv. 
 
 pp. 263, 264. 5 Ibid. p. 266. 
 
Chap. Y. 
 
 ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 73 
 
 formed to be employed in arches, which were known and used 
 by this primitive people . 6 
 
 The modes of applying these materials to building purposes 
 were various. Sometimes the crude and the burnt brick were 
 used in alternate layers, each layer being several feet in thick- 
 ness ; 7 more commonly the crude brick was used (as already 
 noticed) for the internal parts of the building, and a facing of 
 burnt brick protected the whole from the weather. Occasionally 
 the mass of an edifice was composed entirely of crude brick ; 
 but in such cases special precautions had to be taken to secure 
 the stability of this comparatively frail material. In the first 
 place, at intervals of four or five feet, a thick layer of reed 
 matting was interposed along the whole extent of the building, 
 which appears to have been intended to protect the earthy mass 
 from disintegration, by its projection beyond the rest of the 
 external surface. The readers of Herodotus are familiar with 
 this feature, which (according to him) occurred in the massive 
 walls wdiereby Babylon w r as surrounded . 8 If this was really the 
 case, we may conclude that those walls were not composed of 
 burnt brick, as he imagined, but of the sun-dried material. 
 Heeds were never employed in buildings composed of burnt 
 brick, being useless in such cases ; where their impression is 
 found, as not unfrequently happens, on bricks of this kind, the 
 brick has been laid upon reed matting when in a soft state, and 
 afterwards submitted to the action of fire. In edifices of crude 
 brick, the reeds were no doubt of great service, and have enabled 
 some buildings of the kind to endure to the present day. They 
 are very strikingly conspicuous where they occur, since they 
 stripe the whole building with continuous horizontal lines, 
 having at a distance somewhat the effect of the courses of dark 
 marble in an Italian structure of the Byzantine period. 
 
 Another characteristic of the edifices in which crude brick is 
 thus largely employed, is the addition externally of solid and 
 massive buttresses of the burnt material. These buttresses have 
 
 6 Loftus, p. 133 ; Journal of Asiatic 
 Society, 1. s. c. The “moulded semi- 
 
 circular bricks” found at Warka 
 
 (Loftus, p. 175) are probably of the 
 
 Babylonian, not the Chaldsean, period. 
 
 7 Journal of the Asiatic Society , vol. 
 
 xv. p. 263. 
 
 8 Herod, i. 179. 
 
74 
 
 THE FIEST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. V. 
 
 sometimes a very considerable projection ; they are broad, but 
 not high, extending less than half way up the walls against 
 which they are placed. 
 
 Two kinds of cement are used in the early structures. One 
 is a coarse clay or mud, which is sometimes mixed with chopped 
 straw ; the other is bitumen. This last is of excellent quality, 
 and the bricks which it unites adhere often so firmly together 
 that they can with difficulty be separated. 9 As a general rule, 
 in the early buildings, the crude brick is laid in mud, while the 
 bitumen is used to cement together the burnt bricks. 
 
 These general remarks will receive their best illustration from 
 a detailed description of the principal early edifices which recent 
 researches in Lower Mesopotamia have revealed to us. These 
 are for the most part temples; but in one or two cases the 
 edifice explored is thought to have been a residence, so that the 
 domestic architecture of the period may be regarded as known 
 to us, at least in some degree. The temples most carefully 
 examined hitherto are those at Warka, Mugheir, and Abu- 
 Shahrein, the first of which was explored by Mr. Loftus in 1854, 
 the second by Mr. Taylor in the same year, and the third by 
 the same traveller in 1855. 
 
 Bowariyeh. 
 
 The Warka ruin is called by the natives Bowariyeh, which 
 signifies “ reed mats,” in allusion to a peculiarity, already noticed, 
 
 9 Loftus, Chaldcea and Susiana, p. 169. 
 
Chap. V. 
 
 ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 75 
 
 in its construction. It is at once the most central and the 
 loftiest ruin in the place. At first sight it appears to have been 
 a cone or pyramid ; but further examination proves that it was 
 in reality a tower, 200 feet square at the base, built in two 
 stories, the lower story being composed entirely of sun-dried 
 bricks laid in mud, and protected at intervals of four or five feet 
 by layers of reeds, while the upper one was composed of the 
 same material, faced with burnt brick. Of the upper stage very 
 little remains; and this little is of a later date than the inferior 
 story, which bears marks- of a very high antiquity. The sun- 
 dried bricks whereof the lower story is composed, are “ rudely 
 moulded of very incoherent earth, mixed with fragments of 
 pottery and freshwater shells,” and vary in size and shape, being 
 sometimes square, seven inches each way ; sometimes oblong, 
 nine inches by seven, and from three to three and a half inches 
 thick. 1 The whole present height of the building is estimated 
 at 100 feet above the level of the plain. Its summit, except 
 where some slight remains of the second story constitute an in- 
 terruption, is “perfectly flat,” and probably continues very much 
 in the condition in which it was when the lower stage was first 
 built. This stage, being built of crude brick, was necessarily 
 weak ; it is therefore supported by four massive buttresses of 
 baked brick, each placed exactly in the centre of one of the 
 sides, and carried to about one-third of the height. Each 
 buttress is nineteen feet high, six feet one inch wide, and seven 
 and a half feet in depth ; and each is divided down the middle 
 by a receding space, one foot nine inches in width. All the 
 bricks composing the buttresses are inscribed, and are very firmly 
 cemented together with bitumen, in thick layers. The buttresses 
 were entirely hidden under the mass of rubbish which had fallen 
 from the building, cliiefly from the upper story, and only became 
 apparent when Mr. Loftus made his excavations. 2 
 
 It is impossible to reconstruct the Bowariyeh ruin from the 
 facts and measurements hitherto supplied to us ; even the height 
 
 1 Loftus, Chaldoea and Susiana, p. 168. 
 
 2 See this traveller’s account of his labours ( Chaldcea and Susiana , pp. 167-170). 
 
;6 
 
 THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. V. 
 
 of the first story is at present uncertain ; 3 and we have no means 
 of so much as conjecturing the height of the second. The exact 
 emplacement of the second upon the first is also doubtful, while 
 the original mode of access is undiscovered ; and thus the plan 
 of the building is in many respects still defective. We only 
 know that it was a square ; that it had two stories at the least ; 
 and that its entire height above the plain considerably exceeded 
 100 feet. 
 
 Mugheir Temple. 
 
 The temple at Mugheir has been more accurately examined. 
 On a mound or platform of some size, raised about twenty feet 
 above the level of the plain, there stands a rectangular edifice, 
 consisting at present of two stories, both of them ruined in parts, 
 and buried to a considerable extent in piles of rubbish composed 
 of their debris. The angles of the building exactly face the four 
 
 3 The whole building is said to be nor what height the fragment of the 
 
 100 feet above the surface of the plain ; second story attains. All that can be 
 
 but we are not told what is the height gathered from Mr. Loftus is that the 
 
 from the plain of the mound or plat- first story was at least 46 feet high, 
 
 form upon which the temple stands ; 
 
Chap. V. 
 
 ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 77 
 
 cardinal points. 4 It is not a square, but a parallelogram, having 
 two longer and two shorter sides. The longer sides front to the 
 north-east and south-west respectively, and measure 198 feet ? 
 while the shorter sides, which face the north-west and the south- 
 east, measure 133 feet. The present height ot the basement 
 story is 27 feet ; but, allowing for the concealment of the lower 
 part by the rubbish, and the destruction of the upper part by 
 the hand of time, we may presume that the original height was 
 little, if at all, short of 40 feet. The interior of this story is 
 built of crude or sun-dried bricks of small size, laid in bitumen ; 
 but it is faced throughout with a wall, ten feet in thickness, com- 
 posed of red kiln-dried bricks, likewise cemented with bitumen. 
 This external wall is at once strengthened and diversified to the 
 eye by a number of shallow buttresses or pilasters in the same 
 material ; of these there are nine, including the corner ones, on 
 the longer, and six on the shorter sides. The width of the but- 
 tresses is eight feet, and their projection a little more than a 
 foot. The walls and buttresses alike slope inwards at an angle 
 of nine degrees. On the north-eastern side of the building there 
 is a staircase nine feet wide, with sides or balustrades three feet 
 wide, which leads up from the platform to the top of the first 
 story. It has also been conjectured that there was a second or 
 grand staircase on the south-east face, equal in width to the 
 second story of the building, and thus occupying nearly the 
 whole breadth of the structure on that side. 5 A number of 
 narrow slits or air-holes are carried through the building from 
 side to side ; they penetrate alike the walls and buttresses, 
 and must have tended to preserve the dryness of the structure. 
 
 The second story is, like the first, a parallelogram, and not of 
 very different proportions. 6 Its longer sides measure 119 feet, 
 and its shorter ones 75 feet at the base. Its emplacement upon 
 the first story is exact as respects the angles, but not central as 
 regards the four sides. While it is removed from the south- 
 
 4 Loftus, Chaldoea and Susiana, p. 128. I 5 Loftus, Chaldea and Susiana, p. 129. 
 
 According to Mr. Loftus, this emplace- | 6 The proportions of the lower stage 
 
 ment “ is observable in all edifices are almost exactly as 3 to 2. Those of 
 (temples?) of true Chaldsean origin.” the upper are as 3 T * 3 to 2. 
 
73 
 
 THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. V 
 
 eastern edge a distance of 47 feet, from the north-western it is 
 distant only 30 feet. From the two remaining sides its distance 
 is apparently about 28 feet. The present height of the second 
 
 story, including the rubbish upon 
 its top, is 19 feet; but we may 
 reasonably suppose that the ori- 
 ginal height was much greater. 
 The material of which its inner 
 structure is composed, seems to be 
 chiefly (or wholly) partially-burnt 
 brick, of a light red colour, laid 
 in a cement composed of lime and 
 ashes. This central mass is faced 
 with kiln-dried bricks of large 
 size and excellent quality, also 
 laid, except on the north-west 
 face, 7 in lime mortar. No but- 
 tresses and no staircase are trace- 
 
 G round-plan of Mugheir Temple. on ^jg g^ory ; though it is 
 
 possible that on the south-east side the grand staircase may 
 have run the whole height of both stories. 
 
 According to information received by Mr. Taylor from the 
 Arabs of the vicinity, 8 there existed, less than half a century ago, 
 some remains] of a third story, on the summit of the rubbish 
 which now crowns the second. This building is described as a 
 room or chamber, and was probably the actual shrine of the 
 god in whose honour the whole structure was erected. Mr. 
 Taylor discovered a number of bricks or tiles glazed with a 
 blue enamel, and also a number of large copper nails, at such a 
 height in the rubbish which covers up much of the second story, 
 that he thinks they could only have come from this upper 
 chamber. The analogy of later Babylonian buildings, as of the 
 Birs-Nimrud and the temple of Belus at Babylon, 9 confirms this 
 view, and makes it probable that the early Chaldaean temple was 
 
 7 On this side the material used is 
 
 bitumen. (See Mr. Taylor’s article in 
 
 the Journal of the Asiatic Society , vol. 
 
 xv. p. 261.) 
 
 8 Journal of the Asiatic Society, vol. 
 xv. p. 264. 9 Herod, i. i81. 
 
Chap. Y. 
 
 ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 79 
 
 a building in three stages, of which the first and second were 
 solid masses of brickwork, ascended by steps on the outside, 
 while the third was a small house or chamber highly ornamented, 
 containing the image and shrine of the god. 
 
 In conclusion, it must be observed that only the lower story 
 of the Mugheir temple exhibits the workmanship of the old or 
 Chaldman period. Clay cylinders found in the upper story in- 
 form us that in its present condition this story is the work of 
 Nabonidus, the last of the Babylonian kings ; and most of its 
 bricks bear his stamp. Some, however, have the stamp of the 
 same monarch who built the lower story ; 1 and this is sufficient 
 to show that the two stories are a part of the original design, 
 and therefore that the idea ot building in stages belongs to the 
 first kingdom and to primitive times. There is no evidence to 
 prove whether the original edifice had, or had not, a third story ; 
 since the chamber seen by the Arabs was no doubt a late Baby- 
 lonian work. The third story of the accompanying sketch must 
 therefore be regarded as conjectural. 
 
 It is not necessary for our present purpose to detain the reader 
 with a minute description of the ancient temple at Abu-Shahrein. 
 The general character of this building seems to have very closely 
 resembled that of the Mugheir temple. Its angles fronted the 
 cardinal points ; it had two stories, and an ornamented chamber 
 at the top ; it was faced with burnt brick, and strengthened by 
 buttresses ; and in most other respects followed the type of the 
 Mugheir edifice . 2 Its only very notable peculiarities are the 
 
 1 Journal of the Asiatic Society, vol. ] Journal of the Asiatic Society , vol. xv. 
 
 xv. p. 264, note. pp. 405-408. 
 
 2 See Mr. Taylor’s description in the j 
 
8 o 
 
 THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. V. 
 
 partial use of stone in the construction, and the occurrence of a 
 species of pillar, very curiously composed. The artificial plat- 
 form on which the temple stands is made of beaten clay, cased 
 with a massive wall of sandstone and limestone, in some places 
 twenty feet thick. There is also a stone, or rather marble, stair- 
 case which leads up from the platform to the summit of the 
 first story, composed of small polished blocks, twenty-two inches 
 lon^, thirteen broad, and four and a half thick. The bed of the 
 staircase is made of sun-dried brick, and the marble was fastened 
 to this substratum by copper bolts, some portion of which was 
 found by Mr. Taylor still adhering to the blocks. 3 At the foot 
 of the staircase there appear to have stood two columns, one on 
 either side of it. The construction of these columns is very sin- 
 gular. A circular nucleus composed of sandstone slabs and small 
 cylindrical pieces of marble disposed in alternate layers, was 
 coated externally with coarse lime, mixed with small stones and 
 pebbles, until by means of many successive layers the pillar had 
 attained the desired bulk and thickness. Thus the stone and 
 marble were entirely concealed under a thick coating of plaster ; 
 and a smoothness was given to the outer surface, which it would 
 have otherwise been difficult to obtain. 
 
 The date of the Abu-Shahrein temple is thought to be con- 
 siderably later than that of the other buildings above described ; 4 
 and the pillars would seem to be a refinement on the simplicity 
 of the earlier times. The use of stone is to be accounted for, 
 not so much by the advance of architectural science, as by the 
 near vicinitv of the Arabian hills, from which that material 
 could be readily derived. 5 
 
 It is evident* that if the Chaldaean temples were of the cha- 
 racter and construction which we have gathered from their 
 remains, they could have possessed no great architectural 
 beauty, though they may not have lacked a certain grandeur. 
 In the dead level of Babylonia, an elevation even of 100 or 
 150 feet must have been impressive; 6 and the plain massive- 
 
 3 Journal of Asiatic Society, vol. xv. 
 p. 406, note. 
 
 4 See below, chapter viii. p. 166. 
 
 5 Supra, ch. i. p. 25. 
 
 6 Mr. Loftus says— “ I know of no- 
 thing more exciting or impressive than 
 
Chap. V. 
 
 ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 8 
 
 ness of the structures no doubt added to their grand effect on 
 the beholder. But there was singularly little in the buildings, 
 architecturally viewed, to please the eye or gratify the sense of 
 beauty. No edifices in the world — not even the Pyramids 
 are more deficient in external ornament. The buttresses and 
 the air-holes, which alone break the flat uniformity of the walls, 
 are intended simply for utility, and can scarcely be said to be 
 much embellishment. If any efforts were made to delight by 
 the ordinary resources of ornamental art, it seems clear that 
 such efforts did not extend to the whole edifice, but were con- 
 fined to the shrine itself — the actual abode of the god — the 
 chamber which crowned the whole, and was alone, strictly 
 speaking, “the temple .” 7 Even here there is no reason to 
 believe that the building had externally much beauty. No 
 fragments of architraves or capitals, no sculptured ornaments of 
 any kind, have been found among the heaps of rubbish in which 
 Chaldsean monuments are three-parts buried. The ornaments 
 which have been actually discovered, are such as suggest the 
 idea of internal rather than external decoration ; and they 
 render it probable that such decoration was, at least in some 
 cases, extremely rich. The copper nails and blue enamelled 
 tiles found high up in the Mugheir mound, have been already 
 noticed . 8 At Abu-Shahrein the ground about the basement 
 of the second story was covered with small pieces of agate, 
 alabaster, and marble, finely cut and polished, from half an inch 
 to two inches long, and half an inch (or somewhat less) in 
 breadth, each with a hole drilled through its back, containing 
 often a fragment of a copper bolt. It was also 
 strewn less thickly with small plates of pure gold, 
 and with a number of gold-headed or gilt-headed 
 nails , 9 used apparently to attach the gold plates to the internal 
 plaster or wood- work. These fragments seem to attest the high 
 
 the first sight of one of these great 
 Chaldsean piles, looming in solitary 
 grandeur from the surrounding plains 
 and marshes.” ( Chaldcea and Susiana , 
 
 p. 113.) 
 
 7 See Herod, i. 181, where the stages 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 (irvpyoi) are carefully distinguished 
 from the temple (yrj os) at the summit. 
 
 8 See above, p. 78. 
 
 9 Journal of Asiatic Society, vol. xv. 
 p. 407. 
 
 G 
 
82 THE FIRST MONARCHY. Chap. Y. 
 
 ornamentation of the shrine in this instance, which we have no 
 reason to regard as singular or in any way exceptional. 
 
 The Chaldsean remains which throw light upon the domestic 
 architecture of the people are few and scanty. A small house 
 was disinterred by Mr. Taylor at Mugheir, and the plan of some 
 chambers was made out at Abu-Shahrein ; but these are hitherto 
 the only specimens which can be confidently assigned to the 
 Chaldsean period. The house stood on a platform of sun-dried 
 bricks, paved on the top with burnt bricks. It was built in 
 the form of a cross, but with a good deal of irregularity, every 
 wall being somewhat longer or shorter than the others. The 
 
 material used in its construction was 
 burnt brick, the outer layer imbedded 
 in bitumen, and the remainder in a 
 cement of mud. Externally the house 
 was ornamented with perpendicular 
 stepped recesses , 1 while internally the 
 bricks had often a thin coating of 
 gypsum or enamel, upon winch cha- 
 racters were inscribed. The floors of 
 the chambers were paved with burnt 
 brick, laid in bitumen. Two of the 
 doorways were arched, the arch ex- 
 tending through the whole thickness 
 of the walls ; it was semicircular, and 
 was constructed with bricks made 
 wedge-shaped for the purpose. A good 
 deal of charred date-wood was found 
 in the house, probably the remains of 
 rafters which had supported the roof . 2 
 
 The chambers at Abu-Shahrein w^ere 
 of sun-dried brick, with an internal 
 covering of fine plaster, ornamented 
 Terra cotta cone. Actual size. w ^h p a i n t. In one the ornamentation 
 
 consisted of a series of red, black, and white bands, three inches 
 
 Loftus, Chaldoea and Susiana, p. 133. 
 
 2 Journal of As. Soc. vol. xv. pp. 265, 266. 
 
Chap. Y. 
 
 ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 83 
 
 in breadth ; in another was represented, but very rudely, the 
 figure of a man holding a bird on his wrist, with a smaller 
 
 figure near him, in red paint . 3 The favourite external orna- 
 mentation for houses seems to have been by means of coloured 
 
 3 Journal of Asiatic Society , vol. xv. pp. 408, 410. 
 
 G 2 
 
8 4 
 
 THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. V. 
 
 cones in terra cotta, which were imbedded in moist mud or 
 plaster, and arranged into a variety of patterns . 4 
 
 But little can he said as to the plan on which houses were 
 built. The walls were generally of vast thickness, the chambers 
 long and narrow, with the outer doors opening directly into 
 them. The rooms ordinarily led into one another, passages 
 being rarely found. Squared recesses, sometimes stepped or 
 
 Scale of l/urds 
 
 S /o /S’ zof/urOo 
 
 Ground-plan of chambers excavated at Abu-Shahrein. 
 
 dentated, were common in the rooms ; and in the arrangement 
 of these something of symmetry is observable, as they fre- 
 quently correspond to or face each other. The roofs were pro- 
 bably either flat — beams of palm-wood being stretched across 
 from wall to wall 5 — or else arched with brick . 6 No indication 
 
 4 Loftus, Chaldcea and Susiana, pp. 188, j 
 189. The building discovered by Mr. ' 
 Loftus (from which the representation j 
 on p. 83 is taken) was at Warka, and 
 therefore might perhaps not be Chal- 
 dcean. The vast number of similar | 
 cones, however, which occur at Abu- 
 Shahrein {Journal of As. Soc. vol. xv. p. 
 
 411) and other purely Chaldaean ruins, 
 sufficiently indicate the style of orna- \ 
 
 mentation to belong to the first empire. | 
 
 5 Mr. Taylor found remnants of these 
 at Mugheir. {Journal of As. Soc. vol. 
 xv. p. 266.) 
 
 6 Mr. Loftus believes that Chaldaean 
 buildings were usually roofed in this 
 way. {Chaldcea and Susiana , pp. 182, 
 183.) Mr. Taylor also believes that 
 some of the chambers which he exca- 
 vated must have been domed. {Journal 
 of As. Soc. vol. xv. p. 411.) 
 
Chap. V. 
 
 BUKIAL-PLACES. 
 
 85 
 
 of windows lias been found as yet ; but still it is thought that 
 the chambers were lighted by them, 7 only they were placed 
 high, near the ceiling or roof, and thus do not appear in the 
 existing ruins, which consist merely of the lower portion of 
 walls, seldom exceeding the height of seven or eight feet. The 
 doorways, both outer and inner, are towards the sides rather 
 than in the centre of the apartments — a feature common to 
 Chaldaean with Assyrian buildings. 
 
 Next to their edifices, the most remarkable of the remains 
 which the Chaldaeans have left to after-ages, are their burial- 
 places. While ancient tombs are of very rare occurrence in 
 Assyria and Upper Babylonia, Chaldsea Proper abounds with 
 them. It has been conjectured, with some show of reason, that 
 the Assyrians, in the time of their power, may have made the 
 sacred land of Chaldsea the general depository of their dead, 8 
 much in the same way as the Persians even now use Kerbela 
 and Nedjif or Meshed Ali as special cemetery cities, to which 
 thousands of corpses are brought annually. 9 At any rate, the 
 quantity of human relics accumulated upon certain Chaldsean 
 sites is enormous, and seems to be quite beyond what the mere 
 population of the surrounding district could furnish. At Warka, 
 for instance, excepting the triangular space between the three 
 principal ruins, the whole remainder of the platform, the whole 
 space within the walls, and an unknown extent of desert beyond 
 them, are everywhere filled with human bones and sepulchres. 1 
 In places coffins are piled upon coffins, certainly to the depth 
 of 30, probably to the depth of 60 feet ; and for miles on every 
 side of the ruins the traveller walks upon a soil teeming with 
 the relics of ancient, and now probably extinct, races. Some- 
 times these relics manifestly belong to a number of distinct and 
 widely separate eras ; but there are places where it is otherwise. 
 However we may account for it — and no account has been yet 
 given which is altogether satisfactory — it seems clear, from the 
 comparative homogeneousness of the remains in some places, 
 that they belong to a single race, and if not to a single period, 
 
 7 Loftus, p. 182. 
 
 8 Ibid. p. 199. 
 
 9 Ibid. pp. 54 and 65. 
 
 Ibid. p. 199. 
 
86 
 
 THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. V. 
 
 at any rate to only two, or, at the most, three distinct periods, 
 so that it is no longer very difficult to distinguish the more 
 ancient from the later relics. 2 Such is the character of the 
 remains at Mugheir, which are thought to contain nothing of 
 later date than the close of the Babylonian period, b.c. 588; 3 
 and such is, still more remarkably, the character of the ruins at 
 Abu-Shahrein and Tel-el-Lahm, which seem to be entirely, or 
 almost entirely, Chaldsean. In the following account of the 
 coffins and mode of burial employed by the early Chaldeans, 
 examples will be drawn from these places only ; since otherwise 
 we should be liable to confound together the productions of very 
 different ages and peoples. 
 
 The tombs to which an archaic character most certainly 
 attaches are of three kinds — brick vaults, clay coffins shaped 
 
 like a dish-cover, and 
 coffins in the same ma- 
 terial, formed of two 
 large jars placed mouth 
 to mouth, and cemented 
 together with bitumen. 
 The brick vaults are 
 found chiefly at Mug- 
 heir. They are seven 
 feet long, three feet 
 seven inches broad, and 
 five feet high, composed 
 of sun-dried bricks im- 
 bedded, in mud, and ex- 
 hibit a very remarkable 
 form and construction of 
 the arch. The side walls 
 of the vaults slope out- 
 Brick vault at Mugheir. wards as they ascend; 
 
 and the arch is formed, like those in Egyptian buildings and 
 
 - Position of the relics in situ, cha- 
 racter of the tomb or coffin, and ap- 
 parent antiquity, or the reverse, of the 
 
 enclosed vessels and ornaments, will 
 commonly determine the age without 
 much uncertainty. 3 Loftus, p. 134. 
 
Chap. Y. 
 
 TOMBS. 
 
 87 
 
 Scythian tombs, 4 by each successive layer of bricks, from the 
 point where the arch begins, a little overlapping the last, till 
 the two sides of the roof are brought so near together that 
 the aperture may be closed by a single brick. The floor of the 
 vaults was paved with brick similar to that used for the roof and 
 sides ; on this floor was commonly spread a matting of reeds, 
 and the body was laid upon the matting. It was commonly 
 turned on its left side, the right arm falling towards the left, 
 and the fingers resting on the edge of a copper bowl, usually 
 placed on the palm of the left hand. The head was pillowed on 
 a single sun-dried brick. Various articles of ornament and use 
 were interred with each body, which will be more particularly 
 described hereafter. Food seems often to have been placed in 
 the tombs, and jars or other drinking vessels are universal. The 
 brick vaults appear to have been family sepulchres ; they have 
 often received three or four bodies, and in one case a single 
 vault contained eleven skeletons. 5 
 
 The clay coffins, shaped like a dish-cover, are among the most 
 curious of the sepulchral remains of antiquity. On a platform 
 of sun-dried brick is laid a mat, exactly similar to those in 
 common use among the Arabs of the country at the present 
 day; and hereon lies the skeleton, disposed as in the brick 
 vaults, and surrounded by utensils and ornaments. Mat, skele- 
 ton, and utensils are then concealed by a huge cover in burnt 
 clay, formed of a single piece, which is commonly seven feet 
 long, two or three feet high, and two feet and a half broad at 
 the bottom. It is rarely that modem potters produce articles of 
 half the size. Externally the covers have commonly some slight 
 ornament, such as rims and shallow indentations, as represented 
 in the sketch overleaf (No. 1). Internally they are plain. Not 
 more than two skeletons have ever been found under a single 
 cover ; and in these cases they were the skeletons of a male and 
 a female. Children were interred separately, under covers about 
 half the size of those for adults. Tombs of this kind commonly 
 
 4 See the author’s Herodotus , vol. iii. p. 61. 
 
 5 Journal of the Asiatic Society , vol. xv. pp. 271-274. 
 
88 
 
 THE FIRST MONARCHY 
 
 Chap. V 
 
 occur at some considerable depth. None were discovered at 
 ^lugheir nearer the surface than seven or eight feet . 6 
 
 No. l. 
 
 No. 2. 
 
 Chaldaean dish-cover tombs. 
 
 a. San- dried brick under head. e. Pieces of bamboo. 
 
 b. Copper bowl. f. Jars and utensils for food and water, made 
 
 c. Small cylinder of meteoric stone ; remains of baked clay ; remains of date-stones in the 
 
 of thread going round arm-bone. shallow dish. 
 
 d. Pieces of cylindrical meteoric stone. 
 
 The third kind of tomb, common both at Mugheir and at Tel- 
 el-Lahm , 7 is almost as eccentric as the preceding. Two large 
 
 6 Journal of the Asiatic Society , vol. xv. p. 269. 
 
 7 Ibid. pp. 413, 414. 
 
Chap. V. 
 
 COFFINS. 
 
 89 
 
 open-mouthed jars {a and b), shaped like the largest of the 
 water-jars at present in use at Baghdad, are taken, and the body 
 is disposed inside them with the usual accompaniments of dishes, 
 vases, and ornaments. The jars average from two and a half 
 feet to three feet in depth, and have a diameter of about two 
 feet ; so that they would readily contain a full-sized corpse if it 
 was slightly bent at 
 the knees. Some- 
 times the two jars 
 are of equal size, 
 and are simply 
 united at their 
 mouths by a layer 
 of bitumen (d d); Chaldean jar-coffin. 
 
 but more commonly one is slightly larger than the other, and 
 the smaller mouth is inserted into the larger one for a depth 
 of three or four inches, while a coating of bitumen is still 
 applied externally at the juncture. In each coffin there is an 
 air-hole at one extremity (c), to allow the escape of the gases 
 generated during decomposition. 
 
 Besides the coffins themselves, some other curious features 
 are found in the burial-places. The dead are commonly buried, 
 not underneath the natural surface of the ground, but in ex- 
 tensive artificial mounds, each mound containing a vast number 
 of coffins. The coffins are arranged side by side, often in several 
 layers ; and occasionally strips of masonry, crossing each other 
 at right angles, separate the sets of coffins from their neigh- 
 bours. The surface of the mounds is sometimes paved with 
 brick; and a similar pavement often separates the layers of 
 coffins one from another. But the most remarkable feature in 
 the tomb-mounds is their system of drainage. Long shafts of 
 baked clay extend from the surface of the mound to its base, 
 composed of a succession of rings two feet in diameter, and about 
 a foot and a half in breadth, joined together by thin layers of 
 bitumen. To give the rings additional strength, the sides have 
 a slight concave curve (see woodcut, 2 and 3) ; and, still further 
 to resist external pressure, the shafts are filled from bottom to 
 
go 
 
 THE FIEST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. V. 
 
 top with a loose mass of broken pottery. At the top the shaft 
 contracts rapidly by means of a ring of a peculiar shape (see 
 woodcut, 1) ; and above this ring are a series of perforated bricks 
 
 leading up to the top of the 
 mound, the surface of which 
 is so arranged as to conduct 
 the rain-water into these ori- 
 fices. For the still more 
 effectual drainage of the 
 mound, the top-piece of the 
 shaft immediately below the 
 perforated bricks, and also 
 the first rings, are full of 
 small holes to admit any 
 stray moisture ; and be- 
 sides this, for the space of 
 a foot every way, the shafts are surrounded with broken pottery, 
 so that the real diameter of each drain is as much as four feet. 8 
 By these arrangements the piles have been kept perfectly dry ; 
 and the consequence is the preservation, to the present day, not 
 only of the utensils and ornaments placed in the tombs, but of 
 the very skeletons themselves, which are seen perfect on opening 
 a tomb, though they* generally crumble to dust at the first 
 touch. 9 
 
 The skill of the Chaldaeans as potters has received consider- 
 able illustration in the foregoing pages. No ordinary ingenuity 
 was needed to model and bake the large vases, and still larger 
 covers, which were the ordinary receptacles of the Chaldaean 
 dead. The rings and top-pieces of the drainage-shafts also 
 exhibit much skill and knowledge of principles. Hitherto, 
 however, the reader has not been brought into contact with any 
 
 8 Journal of the Asiatic Society, vol. 
 xv. pp. 268, 269. 
 
 9 Ibid. p. 272; Loftus, p. 210. Mr. 
 Taylor, however, qualifies this latter 
 statement. “ Directly on opening these 
 covers,” he says, “ were I to attempt to 
 touch the skulls or bones, they would 
 fall into dust almost immediately ; but 
 I found, on exposing them for a few 
 
 days to the air, that they became quite 
 har'd, and could be handled with im- 
 punity.” It is to be regretted that 
 Mr. Taylor did not send any of the 
 skulls, when thus hardened, to England, 
 as their examination would have been 
 important towards determining the 
 ethnic character of the race. 
 
Chap. V. 
 
 VASES AND LAMPS. 
 
 9 
 
 specimens of Chaldaean fictile art which can be regarded as 
 exhibiting elegance of form, or, indeed, any .sense of beauty as 
 
 Chaldsean vases of the first period. 
 
 distinguished from utility. Such specimens are, in fact, some- 
 what scarce, but they are not wholly wanting. Among the 
 vases and drinking-vessels with which the Chaldaean tombs 
 
 Chaldsean vase», drinking-vessels, and amphora of the second period. 
 
 abound, while the majority are characterised by a certain 
 rudeness both of shape and material , 10 we occasionally meet 
 
 10 The vases represented in the first of the above cuts are in a coarse clay, mixed 
 with chopped straw, which sometimes appears upon the surface. 
 
92 
 
 THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. Y. 
 
 with specimens of a higher character, which would not shrink 
 from a comparison with the ordinary productions of Greek 
 fictile art. A number of these are represented in the second 
 woodcut on the preceding page which exhibits several forms not 
 hitherto published — some taken from drawings by Mr. Churchill, 
 the artist who accompanied Mr. Loftus on his first journey; 
 others drawn for the present work from vases now in the British 
 Museum. 
 
 It is evident that, while the vases of the first group are roughly 
 moulded by the hand, the vases and lamps of the second have 
 been carefully shaped by the aid of the potter’s wheel. These 
 
 Chaldaean lamps of the second period. 
 
 last are formed of a far finer clay than the earlier specimens, 
 and have sometimes a slight glaze upon them, which adds much 
 to their beauty. 
 
 In a few instances the works of the Chaldmans in this material 
 belong to mimetic art, of which they are rude but interesting 
 specimens. Some of the primitive graves at Senkareh yielded 
 tablets of baked clay, on which were represented, in low relief, 
 sometimes single figures of men, sometimes groups, sometimes 
 men in combination with animals. A* scene in which a lion is 
 disturbed in his feast off a bullock, by a man armed with a club 
 and a mace or hatchet, possesses remarkable spirit, and, were it 
 not for the strange drawing of the lion’s uplifted leg, might be 
 
Chap. V. 
 
 BAS-RELIEFS — SEAL CYLINDERS. 
 
 93 
 
 regarded as a very creditable performance . 11 In another, a lion 
 is represented devouring a prostrate human being ; while a third 
 exhibits a pugilistic encounter after the most approved fashion 
 of modern England ! 1 It is perhaps uncertain whether these 
 tablets belong to the Chaldoean or to the Babylonian period ; 
 but on the whole their rudeness and simplicity favour the 
 earlier rather than the later date. 
 
 The onlv other works having anything of an artistic character, 
 that can be distinctly assigned to the primitive period, are a 
 certain number of engraved cylinders, some of which are very 
 curious. It is clearly established that the cylinders in question, 
 which are generally of serpentine, meteoric stone, jasper, chalce- 
 dony, or other similar substance, were the seals or signets of 
 their possessors, who impressed them upon the moist clay which 
 formed the ordinary material for writing.? They are round, or 
 nearly so , 3 and measure from half-an-inch to three inches in 
 length ; ordinarily they are about one-third of their length in 
 diameter. A hole is bored through the stone from end to end, 
 so that it could be worn upon a string ; and cylinders are found 
 in some of the earliest tombs which 
 have been worn round the wrist in 
 this way . 4 In early times they may 
 have been impressed by the hand ; 
 but afterwards it was common to 
 place them upon a bronze or cop- 
 per axis attached to a handle, by 
 means of which they were rolled 
 across the clay from one end to the 
 other . 5 The cylinders are frequently unengraved, and this is 
 most commonly their condition in the primitive tombs ; but there 
 is some very curious evidence, from which it appears that the 
 
 11 See Loftus, Chaldcea and Susiana, I 4 Journal of Asiatic Society , vol. xv. 
 p. 258. 1 Ibid. p. 257. | p. 271. 
 
 2 Layard, Nineveh and Babylon, pp. 5 Mr. Layard found remains of the 
 
 608, 609 ; Rawlihson’s Herodotus, vol. i. j bronze in one specimen. (. Nineveh and 
 p. 336 ; Birch’s Ancient Pottery, vol. i. | Babylon, p. 609.) The above represen- 
 p. 114. tation gives the probable form of the 
 
 3 Sometimes the sides are slightly bronze setting, 
 concave, as in the above representation. 
 
94 
 
 THE FIE ST MOXAKCHY. 
 
 Chap. V. 
 
 art of engraving them was really known and practised (though 
 doubtless in rare instances) at a very early date. The signet 
 cylinder of the monarch who founded the most ancient of the 
 buildings at Mugheir, Warka, Senkareli, and differ, and who thus 
 stands at the head of the monumental kings, was in the possession 
 of Sir E. Porter ; and though it is now lost, an engraving made 
 from it is preserved in his ‘Travels.’® The signet cylinder of 
 this monarch’s son has been recently recovered, and is now in 
 the British 3Iuseum. We are entitled to conclude from the data 
 
 thus in our possession that the art of cylinder-engraving had, 
 even at this early period, made considerable progress. The 
 letters of the inscriptions, which give the names of the kings 
 and their titles, are indeed somewhat rudely formed, as they are 
 on the stamped bricks of the period ; 7 but the figures have been 
 as well cut, and as flowingly traced, as those of a much later 
 date. It was thought possible that the artist employed by Sir 
 E. Porter had given a flattering representation of his original ; 
 but the newly recovered relic, known as the “ cylinder of Ilgi,” 
 bears upon it figures of quite as great excellence 4 and we are 
 thus led to the conclusion that both mechanical and artistic 
 
 Travels in Georgia , Persia , &c., vol. ii. pi. 79, fig. 6. ' See above, pp. 63, 64, 69. 
 
Chap. V. 
 
 IMPLEMENTS AND WEAPONS. 
 
 95 
 
 skill had reached a very surprising degree of excellence at the 
 most remote period to which the Chaldsean records carry us 
 back. 
 
 It increases the surprise which we naturally feel at the dis- 
 covery of these re- 
 
 lics to reflect upon 
 the rudeness of the 
 implements with 
 which such results 
 would seem to have 
 been accomplished. 
 
 In the primitive 
 Chaldsean ruins, the 
 implements which 
 have been disco- 
 vered are either in 
 stone or bronze. 
 
 Iron in the early 
 times is seemingly 
 unknown, and when 
 
 it first appears is 1 and 2- Back v ’ ew tf flint knives. No. 3. Side view of No. 2. 
 
 wrought into ornaments for the person . 8 Knives of flint or 
 chert, stone hatchets, hammers, adzes, and nails, are common in 
 the most ancient mounds, which contain also a number of clay 
 models, the centres, as it is thought , 9 of moulds into which 
 molten bronze was run, and also occasionally the bronze instru- 
 ments themselves, as (in addition to spear-heads and arrow- 
 heads) hammers, adzes, hatchets, knives, and sickles. It will 
 be seen by the engraved representations that these instruments 
 are one and all of a rude and coarse character. The flint and 
 stone knives, axes, and hammers, which abound in all the true 
 Chaldsean mounds, are somewhat more advanced indeed than 
 
 8 Bangles and rings. (See the Journal 
 of the Asiatic Society , vol. xv. p. 415.) 
 
 9 This view was taken by Mr. Vaux 
 in a paper read by him before the 
 Society of Antiquaries, January, 1860, 
 which he has kindly put into my hands. 
 
 It may he questioned, perhaps, whether 
 these clay models are not rather the 
 representatives of real weapons and 
 implements, buried in their stead by 
 relatives too poor to part with the 
 originals. 
 
THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. V. 
 
 9 6 
 
 1. Stone hammer. 2. Stone hatchet. 3. Stone adze. 4. Stone nail. 
 
Chap. V. 
 
 IMPLEMENTS AND WEAPONS. 
 
 97 
 
 those very primitive implements which have been found in the 
 drift ; but they are of a workmanship at least as unskilled as 
 that of the ordinary stone celts of Western and Northern Europe, 
 which till the discoveries of M. Perthes were regarded as the 
 
 i 
 
 most ancient human remains in our quarter of the globe. Thev 
 indicate some practical knowledge of the cleavage of silicious 
 rocks, hut they show no power of producing even such finish as 
 the celts frequently exhibit. In one case only has a flint instru- 
 ment been discovered per- 
 fectly regular in form, and 
 presenting a sharp angular 
 
 , mi • x x Flint Implement. 
 
 exactness. 1 he instrument, 
 
 which is figured here, is a sort of long parallelogram, round at 
 
 VOL. i. H 
 
THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. V* 
 
 98 
 
 the back, and with a deep depression down its face. Its use is 
 uncertain; but, according to a reasonable conjecture, it may 
 have been designed for impressing characters upon the moist 
 clay of tablets and cylinders — a purpose for which it is said to 
 be excellently fitted . 10 
 
 The metallurgy of the Chaldaeans, though indicative of a 
 higher state of civilization and a greater knowledge of the useful 
 arts than their stone weapons, is still of a somewhat rude cha- 
 racter, and indicates a nation but just emerging out of an almost 
 barbaric simplicity. Metal seems to be scarce, and not many 
 
 kinds are found. There 
 is no silver, zinc, or pla- 
 tinum ; but only gold, 
 copper, tin, lead, and 
 iron. Gold is found in 
 beads, ear-rings, and 
 other ornaments , 11 which 
 are in some instances of 
 a fashion that is not inelegant . 1 Copper occurs pure, but 
 is more often hardened by means of an alloy of tin, whereby 
 
 Leaden pipe and jar. 
 
 it becomes bronze, and is rendered suitable for implements and 
 weapons . 2 Lead is rare, occurring only in a very few specimens, 
 
 
 Ear-rings. 
 
 10 Journal of Asiatic Society , vol. xv. 
 p. 411. 
 
 1 1 As fillets for the head. (Ibid. p. 273.) 
 
 1 These ear-rings are given as Chal- 
 
 daean, because they were found at Niffer 
 among remains thought to be purely j 
 
 Chaldaean. At the same time it must 
 be allowed that they very much re- 
 semble the Greek “Cupid ear-rings,” 
 of which there are so many in the 
 British Museum. 
 
 2 See above, pp. 96, 97. 
 
Chap. V. 
 
 METALLURGY. 
 
 99 
 
 as in one jar or bottle, and in what seems to be a portion of a 
 pipe, brought by Mr. Loftus from Mugheir. Iron, as already 
 observed, is extremely uncommon ; and, when it occurs, is chiefly 
 used for the rings and bangles which seem to have been among 
 the favourite adornments of the people. Bronze is, however, 
 even for these, the more common material. It is sometimes 
 wrought into thin and elegant shapes, tapering to a point at 
 either extremity ; sometimes the form into which it is cast is 
 coarse and massive, resembling a solid bar twisted into a rude 
 
 Bronze bangles. 
 
 circle. For all ordinary purposes of utility r it is the common 
 metal used. A bronze or copper bowl is found in almost every 
 tomb ; bronze bolts remain in the pieces of marble used for tes- 
 selating ; 3 bronze rings sometimes strengthen the cones used for 
 ornamenting walls ; 4 bronze weapons and instruments are, as we 
 have seen, common ; and in the same material have been found 
 chains, nails, toe and finger rings, armlets, bracelets, and fish- 
 hooks. 
 
 No long or detailed account can be given of the textile 
 fabrics of the ancient Chaldmans ; but there is reason to believe 
 that this was a branch of industry in which they particularly 
 excelled. We know that as early as the time of Joshua a 
 Babylonian garment had been imported into Palestine, and was 
 of so rare a beauty as to attract the covetous regards of Achan, 
 
 3 See the small woodcut on p. 81. 
 
 4 See p. 83 ; where a representation 
 of this mode of ornamenting walls 
 
 is given; and for the use of bronze 
 rings, see Journal of the Asiatic Society , 
 
 vol. xv. p. 411. 
 
100 
 
 THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. Y. 
 
 in common with certain large masses of the precious metals . 0 
 The very ancient cylinder figured above , 5 6 must belong to a time 
 at least five or six centuries earlier ; upon it we observe flounced 
 and fringed garments, delicately striped, and indicative appa- 
 rently of an advanced state of textile manufacture. Recent 
 researches do not throw much light on this subject. The frail 
 materials of which human apparel is composed can only under 
 peculiar circumstances resist the destructive power of thirty or 
 forty centuries ; and consequently we have but few traces of the » 
 actual fabrics in use among the primitive people. Pieces of 
 linen are said to have been found attaching to some of the 
 skeletons in the tombs ; 7 * and the sun-dried brick which supports 
 the head is sometimes covered with the remains of a ‘ * tasselled 
 cushion of tapestry ;” 8 but otherwise we are without direct 
 evidence either as to the material in use, or as to the character 
 of the fabric. ■ In later times Babylon was especially celebrated 
 for its robes and its carpets . 9 Such evidence as we have would 
 seem to make it probable that both manufactures had attained 
 to considerable excellence in Chaldsean times. 
 
 The only sciences in which the early Ohaldacans can at 
 present be proved to have excelled are the cognate ones of 
 arithmetic and astronomy. On the broad and monotonous 
 plains of Lower Mesopotamia, where the earth has little upon 
 it to suggest thought or please by variety, the “ variegated 
 heaven,” ever changing with the hours and with the seasons, 
 would early attract attention, while the clear sky, dry atmo- 
 sphere, and level horizon would afford facilities for observations, 
 so soon as the idea of them suggested itself to the minds of the 
 inhabitants. The “ Chaldsean learning ” of a later age 1 appears 
 to have been originated, in all its branches, by the primitive 
 people ; in whose language it continued to be written even in 
 Semitic times. 
 
 We are informed by Simplicius that Callisthenes, who accom- 
 panied Alexander to Babylon, sent to Aristotle from that capital 
 
 5 Josh. vii. 21. 6 See p. 94. 
 
 7 Journal of the Asiatic Society , vol. 
 
 xv. p. 271. 8 Ibid. 1. s. c. 
 
 9 Arrian. Exp. Alex. vi. 29; Atlic- 
 naeus, Deipnosoph. v. p. 197. 
 
 1 Dan. i. 4. 
 
Chap. V. 
 
 ASTRONOMY. 
 
 IOI 
 
 a series of astronomical observations, which lie had found pre- 
 served there, extending back to a period of 1903 years from 
 Alexander’s conquest of the city. 2 Epigenes related that these 
 observations were recorded upon tablets of baked clay, 3 which is 
 quite in accordance with all that we know of the literary habits of 
 the people. They must have extended, according to Simplicius, 
 as far back as b.c. 2234, and would therefore seem to have been 
 commenced and carried on for many centuries by the primitive 
 Chaldaean people. We have no means of determining their 
 exact nature or value, as none of them have been preserved to 
 us : no doubt they were at first extremely simple ; but we have 
 every reason to conclude that they were of a real and sub- 
 stantial character. There is nothing fanciful, or (so to speak) 
 astrological, in the early astronomy of the Babylonians. Their 
 careful emplacement of their chief buildings, 4 which were pro- 
 bably used from the earliest times for astronomical purposes, 5 
 their invention of different kinds of dials, 6 and their division of 
 the day into those hours which we still use, 7 are all solid, 
 though not perhaps very brilliant, achievements. It was only 
 in later times that the Chaldseans were fairly taxed with im- 
 posture and charlatanism ; in the early ages they seem to have 
 really deserved the eulogy bestowed on them by Cicero. 8 
 
 It may have been the astronomical knowledge of the Chal- 
 dseans which gave them the confidence to adventure on im- 
 portant voyages. Scripture tells us of the later people, that 
 “ their cry was in the ships ; ” 9 and the early inscriptions not 
 only make frequent mention of the “ ships of Ur,” but by 
 
 2 This passage has often been referred 
 to, hut rarely quoted. Simplicius argues 
 that the earlier Greek writers on 
 astronomy have less value than the 
 later ones : — Sta to p.iyiru) t as virb KaA- 
 XiaOevovs e/c BafivXwvos Trep-cpOelcras 
 7rapaT7jp7}(rets atpiKecrdai els tt)v C EA- 
 AaSa, tov 'ApuTTOTeXovs tovto eirKTur)- 
 \ paj/ros avrcf 5* aCTivas SnjyeiTai 6 Ilop- 
 < pvpios xiXlav er u>v elvai nal evvea- 
 Koaiuv rpicov, /**XP L T ^ v XP 0V0V ’AAe|- 
 avbpov tov MaKebovos <rw£b/xeVas. 
 
 3 Plin. II. JS T . vii. 56. “ Epigenes 
 
 apud Babylonios dccxx annorum ob- 
 servationes siderum coctilibus laterculis 
 inscriptas docet.” 
 
 4 See above, p. 76. 
 
 5 This is distinctly asserted of the 
 great temple of Belus by Diodorus 
 (ii. 9, § 4). The careful emplacement 
 of the earliest temples makes it probable 
 that they were applied to similar uses. 
 
 6 Herod, ii. 109. 7 Ibid. 
 
 8 See the passage prefixed as a motto 
 to this chapter (supra, p. 70). 
 
 9 Isaiah xliii. 14. 
 
102 
 
 THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chaf. V 
 
 connecting these vessels with those of Ethiopia 1 seem to imply 
 that they were navigated to considerable distances. Unfortu- 
 nately we possess no materials from which to form any idea 
 either of the make and character of the Chaldaean vessels, or of 
 the nature of the trade in which they were employed. We 
 mav perhaps assume that at first they were either canoes 
 hollowed out of a palm-trunk, or reed fabrics made water-tight 
 by a coating of bitumen. The Chaldee trading operations lay, 
 no doubt, chiefly in the Persian Gulf ; 2 but it is quite possible 
 that even in very early times they were not confined to this 
 sheltered basin. The gold, which was so lavishly used in de- 
 coration, 3 could only have been obtained in the necessary quan- 
 tities from Africa or India ; and it is therefore probable that 
 one, if not both, of these countries was visited by the Chaldaean 
 traders. 
 
 Astronomical investigations could not be conducted without a 
 fair proficiency in the science of number. It would be reason- 
 able to conclude, from the admitted character of the Chaldaeans 
 as astronomers, that they were familiar with most arithmetical 
 processes, even had we no evidence upon the subject. Evidence 
 however, to a certain extent, does exist. On a tablet found at 
 Senkareh, and belonging 'probably to an early period, a table of 
 squares is given, correctly calculated from one to sixty. 4 The 
 system of notation, which is here used, is very curious. Berosus 5 
 informs us that, in their computations of time, the Chaldaeans 
 employed an alternate sexagesimal and decimal notation, 
 reckoning the years by the soss, the ner , and the sar — the soss 
 being a term of 60 years, the ner one of 600, and the sar 
 one of 3600 (or 60 sosses ). It appears from the Senkareh 
 monument, that they occasionally pursued the same practice 
 in mere numerical calculations, as will be evident from the fol- 
 io wins: extract : — 
 
 O 
 
 1 Sir H. Rawlinson in the Journal of xv. p. 218 ; and compare Loftus’s Chal- 
 
 the Asiatic Soc. vol. xxvii. p. 185. dcea and Susiana , p. 256. 
 
 2 See Heeren’s Asiatic Nations, vol. ii. 5 Ap. Euseb. Chron. Can. i. i. p. 5, 
 
 p. 220, E. T. 3 Supra, p. 81. ed. Mai. 
 
 4 See Journal of the Asiatic Soc. vol. 
 
Chap. Y. 
 
 ARITHMETIC. 
 
 103 
 
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 Y 
 
 
 »r~ I 
 
 «< 
 
 YVV 
 
 yvy 
 
 « 
 
 TT 
 
 1 
 
 
 - H — Y 
 
 « 
 
 YYY 
 
 ;< YY 1 - H-Y « YYT 
 
 T - sfM 
 
 In Arabic numerals this table may be expressed as follows : — 
 
 Soss. Units. 
 
 Soss. Units. 
 
 43 21 « 51 2 
 
 45 4 52 2 
 
 46 49 = 53 2 
 
 48 36 = 54 2 
 
 50 25 = 55 2 
 
 52 16 = 56 2 
 
 54 9 = 57 2 
 
 56 4 58 2 
 
 58 1 = 59 2 
 
 60 0 60 2 
 
 The calculation is in every case correct ; and the notation is 
 by means of two signs — the simple wedge | , and the arrow- 
 head ( ; the wedge representing the unit, the soss (60), and the 
 sar (3600), while the arrowhead expresses the decades of each 
 series, or the numbers 10 and 600. 6 The notation is cumbrous, 
 but scarcely more so than that of the Homans. It would be 
 
 6 This is the ner of Berosus, which 
 was a period of 600 years. Compare 
 with this notation that of the Mexicans 
 (Prescott, History of the Conquest of 
 
 Mexico , vol. i. p. 91), where, besides the 
 unit, the only numbers which had dis- 
 tinct signs were 20, 400, and 8000. 
 
104 
 
 THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. Y. 
 
 awkward to use, from the paucity in the number of signs, which 
 could scarcely fail to give rise to confusion, — more especially as 
 it does not appear that there was any way of expressing a cypher. 
 It is not probable that at any time it was the notation in ordi- 
 nary use. Numbers were commonly expressed in a manner not 
 unlike the Roman, as will be seen by the subjoined table. One, 
 ten, a hundred, and a thousand, had distinct signs. Fifty had 
 the same sign as the unit — a simple wedge. The other numbers 
 were composed from these elements. 
 
 1 
 
 I 
 
 11 
 
 <1 
 
 100 
 
 1 k 
 
 2 
 
 TT 
 
 12 
 
 <YY 
 
 200 
 
 II k 
 
 3 
 
 YTf 
 
 20 
 
 « 
 
 300 
 
 YYY Y- 
 
 4 
 
 V 
 
 30 
 
 «< 
 
 400 
 
 V k 
 
 5 
 
 TTY 
 
 YT 
 
 40 
 
 
 500 
 
 YYY r 
 YY 1 
 
 6 
 
 YYY 
 
 YYY 
 
 50 
 
 1 
 
 600 
 
 YYY r 
 YYY 1 
 
 7 
 
 VVY 
 
 YYY 
 
 Y 
 
 60 
 
 K 
 
 700 
 
 YYY V 
 YYY f 
 
 Y 1 
 
 8 
 
 YYY 
 
 YYY 
 
 YY 
 
 70 
 
 1« 
 
 800 
 
 YYY w 
 VVY Y 
 
 YY I 
 
 9 
 
 YYY 
 
 YYY 
 
 YYY 
 
 80 
 
 K« 
 
 900 
 
 SB 
 
 YYY i 
 
 10 
 
 < 
 
 90 
 
 r? 
 
 1000 
 
 Kk 
 
Chap. VI. 
 
 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 
 
 105 
 
 CHAPTER YI. 
 
 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 
 
 Chaldea, unlike Egypt, has preserved to our day but few 
 records of the private or domestic life of its inhabitants. Beyond 
 the funereal customs, to which reference was made in the last 
 chapter , 1 we can obtain from the monuments but a very scanty 
 account of their general mode of life, manners, and usages. 
 Some attempt, however, must be made to throw together the 
 few points of this nature on which we have obtained any light 
 from recent researches in Mesopotamia. 
 
 The ordinary dress of the common people among the Chal- 
 dseans seems to have consisted of a single garment, a short tunic, 
 tied round the waist, and reaching thence to the knees, a cos- 
 tume very similar to that worn by the Madan Arabs at the 
 present day . 2 To this may sometimes have been added an abba , 
 or cloak, thrown over the shoulders, and falling below the tunic, 
 about half-way down the calf of the leg . 3 The material of the 
 former we may perhaps presume to have been linen, which best 
 suits the climate, and is a fabric found in the ancient tombs . 4 
 The outer cloak was most likely of woollen, and served to 
 protect hunters and others against the occasional inclemency of 
 the air. The feet were unprotected by either shoes or sandals ; 
 on the head was worn a skull-cap, or else a band of camel s 
 hair 5 — fl; ie germ of the turban which has now become universal 
 throughout the East. 
 
 1 See above, pp. 85-89. 
 
 2 Mr. Loftus makes this comparison 
 ( Chaldcea and Susiana, p. 257). For re- 
 presentations of the costume see Loftus, 
 
 pp. 257, 258, 260; and Rich ( Second 
 
 Memoir , pi. iii. fig. 13). 
 
 3 See Loftus, Chaldcea and Susiana, 
 p. 258. 
 
 4 Asiatic Journal, vol. xv. p. 271. 
 
 3 Loftus, p. 258. Compare the central 
 standing figure in the cylinder of which 
 a representation is given, p. 94. 
 
THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VI. 
 
 106 
 
 The costume of the richer classes was more elaborate. A high 
 mitre, of a very peculiar appearance, * * * * * 6 or else a low cap, orna- 
 mented with two curved horns, covered the head, 
 s^v) The neck and arms were bare. The chief gar- 
 
 3 ment was a long gown or robe, extending from 
 
 J the neck to the feet, commonly either striped 
 or flounced, or both ; and sometimes also adorned 
 > 7— ~^ j with fringe. This robe, which was scanty ac- 
 
 j U— Jj i cording to modern notions, appears not to have 
 
 =4 been fastened by any girdle or cincture round 
 
 the waist, but to have been kept in place by passing 
 
 over one shoulder, a slit or hole being made for 
 the arm on one side of the dress only. In some cases the 
 upper part of the dress seems to have been detached from the 
 lower, and to have formed a sort of jacket, 
 which reached about to the hips. 
 
 The beard was commonly worn straight 
 and long, not in crisp curls, as by the As- 
 syrians. The hair was also worn long, either 
 gathered together into a club behind the 
 head, or depending in long -spiral curls on 
 either side the face and down the back. 
 Ornaments were much affected, especially 
 by the women. Bronze and iron bangles 
 and armlets, bracelets of rings or beads, 
 
 ear-rings, and rings for the toes, are common 
 in the tombs, and few female skeletons are without them. The 
 material of the ornaments is generally of small value. Many 
 
 of the rings are formed by grinding down a small kind of 
 shell ; 7 the others are of bronze or iron. Agate beads, however, 
 
 are not uncommon, and gold beads have been found in a few 
 
 tombs, as well as some other small ornaments in the same ma- 
 terial. The men seem to have carried generally an engraved 
 
 cylinder in agate or other hard stone, which was used as a seal 
 
 6 See the same cylinder, where two 7 Taylor in the Journal of the Asiatic 
 of the three standing figures wear the Society , vol. xv. p. 272. 
 
 mitre in question. 
 
Chap. YI. 
 
 MANNEKS AND CUSTOMS. 
 
 107 
 
 or signet, and was probably worn round the wrist . 8 Sometimes 
 rings , 9 and even bracelets , 1 formed also a part of their adorn- 
 ment. The latter were occasionally in gold — they consisted of 
 bands or fillets of the pure beaten metal, and were as much as 
 an inch in breadth. 
 
 The food of the early Chaldmans consisted probably of the 
 various esculents which have already been mentioned as products 
 of the territory . 2 The chief support, however, of the mass of 
 the population was, beyond a doubt, the dates, which still form 
 the main sustenance of those who inhabit the country. It is 
 clear that in Babylonia, as in Scythia , 3 the practice existed of 
 burying with a man a quantity of the food to which he had been 
 accustomed during life. In the Chaldsean sepulchres a number 
 of dishes are always ranged round the skeleton, containing the 
 viaticum of the deceased person, and in these dishes are almost 
 invariably found a number ot date-stones. They are most com- 
 monly unaccompanied by any traces of other kinds of food ; 
 occasionally, However, besides date-stones, the bones of fish and 
 of chickens have been discovered, from which we may conclude 
 that those animals were eaten, at any rate by the upper classes. 
 Herodotus 4 tells us that in his day three tribes of Babylonians 
 subsisted on fish alone; and the present inhabitant^ ot Lower 
 Mesopotamia make it a principal article of their diet . 5 The 
 rivers and the marshes produce it in great abundance, while the 
 sea is also at hand, if the fresh-water supply should fail. Carp 
 and barbel are the principal fresh- water sorts, and of these the 
 former grows to a very great size in the Euphrates. An early 
 tablet, now in the British Museum, represents a man carrying a 
 large fish by the head, which may be a carp, though the species 
 . can scarcely be identified. There is evidence that the wild-boar 
 was also eaten by the primitive people ; for Mr. Loftus found a 
 jaw of this animal, with the tusk still remaining, lying in a 
 
 8 At least this is the position which 
 the signet cylinder always occupies in 
 the tombs. ( Asiatic Journal, vol. xv. 
 p. 271.) 
 
 9 Ibid. p. 415. 
 
 1 See the sitting figure in the cylinder, 
 
 p. 94 ; and compare As. Journ. vol. xv. 
 p. 273. 2 See above, pp. 33-36. 
 
 3 Herod, iv. 71 (Author’s Translation, 
 vol. iii. pp. 61-63). 4 Ibid. i. 200. 
 
 5 Layard, Nineveh and Babylon , ch. 
 xxiv. p. 567. 
 
io8 
 
 THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VI. 
 
 shallow clay dish in one of the tombs. 6 Perhaps we may be 
 justified in concluding, from the comparative rarity of any 
 remains of animal food in the early sepulchres, that the primi- 
 tive Chaldaeans subsisted chiefly on vegetable productions. The 
 variety and excellence of such esculents are prominently put 
 forward by Berosus in his account of the original condition of 
 the country ; 7 and they still form the principal support of those 
 who now inhabit it 
 
 We are told that Nimrod was e< a mighty hunter before the 
 Lord ; ” 8 and it is evident, from the account already given of 
 the animals indigenous in Lower Mesopotamia, 9 that there was 
 abundant room for the display of a sportsman’s skill and daring 
 when men first settled in that region. The Senkareh tablets 
 show the boldness and voracity of the Chaldaean lion, which not 
 only levied contributions on the settlers’ cattle, 1 but occasionally 
 ventured to attack man himself. We have not as yet any 
 hunting scenes belonging to these early times ; but there can 
 be little doubt that the bow was the chief weapon used against 
 the king of beasts, whose assailants commonly prefer remaining 
 at a respectful distance from him. 2 The wild-boar may have 
 been hunted in the same way, or he may have been attacked 
 with the spear — a weapon equally well known with the bow to 
 the early settlers. 3 Fish were certainly taken with the hook ; 
 for fish-hooks have been found in the tombs; 4 but probably they 
 were also captured in nets, which are among the earliest of 
 human inventions. 5 
 
 A considerable portion of the primitive population must have 
 been engaged in maritime pursuits. In the earliest inscriptions 
 we find constant mention of the “ ships of Ur,” which appear to 
 have traded with Ethiopia — a country whence may have been “ 
 derived the gold, which — as has been already shown — was so 
 
 6 Journal of the Asiatic Society , vol. xv. vide supra, p. 96. 
 
 p. 272, note 1 . 4 Journal of Asiatic Society , vol. xv. 
 
 7 See the Fragmenta Hist. Graze, vol. p. 272, note 2 . 
 
 ii. p. 496 ; Fr. 1, § 2. 8 Gen. x. 9. 5 See Wilkinson, Ancient Egyptians , 
 
 9 See above, ch. ii. p. 39. 1st Series, vol. ii. p. 21 ; vol. iii. p. 55 ; 
 
 1 See Loftus, Chaldaea and Susiana , and compare Sophocl. Antig. 347, where 
 
 p. 258. 2 Ibid. ch. xx. p. 259. the invention of nets is united with 
 
 3 For representations of spearheads, that of ships, agriculture, and language. 
 
Chap. VI. 
 
 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 
 
 109 
 
 largely used by the Chaldaeans in ornamentation . 6 It would be 
 interesting could we regard it as proved that they traded also 
 with the Indian peninsula ; but the “ rough logs of wood, appa- 
 rently teal” which Mr. Taylor discovered in the great temple at 
 Mngheir , 7 belong more probably to the time of its repair by 
 Nabonidus than to that of its original construction by a Chaldsean 
 monarch. The Sea-god was one of the chief objects of venera- 
 tion at Ur and elsewhere; and Berosus appears to have preserved 
 an authentic tradition, where he makes the primitive people of 
 the country derive their arts and civilization from “ the Bed 
 Sea .” 8 Even if their commercial dealings did not bring them 
 into contact with any more advanced people, they must have 
 increased the intelligence, as well as the material resouices, of 
 those employed in them, and so have advanced their civilization. 
 
 Such are the few conclusions concerning the manners of the 
 Chaldmans which alone we seem to have any right to form with 
 our present means of information. 
 
 6 See above, p. 81. 
 
 7 Journal of the Asiatic Society , vol. 
 xv. p. 264. 
 
 8 Fragm. Hist. Grcec. 1. s. c. The 
 “Red Sea” of Berosus, like that of 
 Herodotus, is not our Red Sea, but the 
 
 ] sea which washes the south of Asia, 
 including both the Indian Ocean and 
 the Persian Gulf. (See Herod, i. 1; 
 Author’s Translation, vol. i. p. 153, 
 note 2 .) 
 
I IO 
 
 THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. YII. 
 
 CHAPTER YII. 
 
 RELIGION. 
 
 . ’A 7 ToreXecraL Be tov BrjXov ieal acrrpa , k al rjXiov , Ka'i (reXgvrjv, Kai tovs irevre 
 7r\avr)Tas . — Beros. ap. Syncell. p. 53. 
 
 The religion of the Chaldaeans, from the very earliest times to 
 which the monuments carry us back, was, in its outward aspect, a 
 polytheism of a very elaborate character. It is quite possible that 
 there may have been esoteric explanations, known to the priests 
 and the more learned, which, resolving the personages of the 
 Pantheon into the powers of nature, reconciled the apparent 
 multiplicity of gods with monotheism, or even with atheism . 1 
 So far, however, as outward appearances were concerned, the 
 worship was grossly polytheistic. Yarious deities, whom it was 
 not considered at all necessary to trace to a single stock, divided 
 the allegiance of the people, and even of the kings, who regarded 
 with equal respect, and glorified with equally exalted epithets, 
 some fifteen or sixteen personages. Next to these principal gods 
 were a far more numerous assemblage of inferior or secondary 
 divinities, less often mentioned, and regarded as less worthy of 
 honour, but still recognised generally through the country. 
 Finally, the Pantheon contained a host of mere local gods or 
 genii, every town and almost every village in Babylonia being 
 imder the protection of its own particular divinity. 
 
 It will be impossible to give a complete account of this vast 
 and complicated system. The subject is still but partially 
 
 1 It appears from Eusebius ( Chron . 
 Can. pars i. c. ii.) and Syncellus (Chrono- 
 graph. vol. i. pp. 50-53) that Berosus at 
 any rate gave this turn to the Baby- 
 lonian mythology. What is commonly 
 reported of Pythagoras, Democritus, 
 and others, who are said to have drawn 
 
 their philosophies from Chalda?an sources, 
 would seem to show that there was really 
 such an esoteric doctrine as is suggested 
 in the text. We cannot tell, however, 
 which more nearly represented it — the 
 monotheism of the Samian, or the atheism 
 of the Abderite philosopher. 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 RELIGION. 
 
 1 1 1 
 
 worked out by cuneiform scholars ; the difficulties in the way of 
 understanding it are great; and in many portions to which 
 special attention has been paid it is strangely perplexing and 
 bewildering . 2 All that will be attempted in the present place 
 is to convey an idea of the general character of the Chaldsean 
 religion, and to give some information with regard to the 
 principal deities. 
 
 In the first place, it must be noticed that the religion was to 
 a certain extent astral. The heaven itself, the sun, the moon, 
 and the five planets, have each their representative in the 
 Chaldaean Pantheon among the chief objects of worship. At 
 the same time it is to be observed that the astral element is not 
 universal, but partial ; and that, even where it has place, it is 
 but one aspect of the mythology, not by any means its full and 
 complete exposition. The Chaldsean religion even here is far 
 from being mere Sabaeanism — the simple worship of the “ host 
 of heaven.” The aether, the sun, the moon, and still more the 
 five planetary gods, are something above and beyond those parts 
 of nature. Like the classical Apollo and Diana, Mars and 
 Venus, they are real persons, with a life and a history, a power 
 and an influence, which no ingenuity can translate into a meta- 
 phorical representation of phenomena attaching to the air and 
 to the heavenly bodies. It is doubtful, indeed, whether the 
 gods of this class are really of astronomical origin, and not 
 rather primitive deities, whose characters and attributes were, 
 to a great extent, fixed and settled before the notion arose of 
 connecting them with certain parts of nature. Occasionally 
 they seem to represent heroes rather than celestial bodies ; and 
 they have all attributes quite distinct from their physical or 
 astronomical character. 
 
 Secondly, the striking resemblance of the Chaldsean system 
 to that of the Classical Mythology seems worthy of particular 
 attention. This resemblance is too general, and too close in 
 some respects, to allow of the supposition that mere accident 
 has produced the coincidence. In the Pantheons of Greece and 
 
 2 See the Essay of Sir H. Rawlinson in the author’s Herodotus, vol. i. p. 585 ; 
 from which most of the views contained in this chapter are taken.^ 
 
1 1 2 
 
 THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VII. 
 
 Rome, and in that of Chaldsea, the same general grouping is to 
 be recognised ; the same genealogical succession is not unfre- 
 quently to be traced ; and in some cases even the familiar names 
 and titles of classical divinities admit of the most curious illus- 
 tration and explanation from Chaldsean sources. We can 
 scarcely doubt but that, in some way or other, there was a com- 
 munication of beliefs — a passage in very early times, from the 
 shores of the Persian Gulf to the lands washed by the Mediter- 
 ranean, of mythological notions and ideas. It is a probable 
 conjecture 3 that “ among the primitive tribes who dwelt on the 
 Tigris and Euphrates, when the cuneiform alphabet was invented 
 and when such writing was first applied to the purposes of 
 religion, a Scythic or Scytho-Arian race existed, who subse- 
 quently migrated to Europe, and brought with them those 
 mythical traditions which, as objects of popular belief, had been 
 mixed up in the nascent literature of their native country,” 
 and that these traditions were passed on to the classical nations, 
 who were in part descended from this Scythic or Scytho-Arian 
 people . 4 
 
 The grouping of the principal Chaldacan deities is as follows. 
 At the head of the Pantheon stands a god, II or Ra, of whom 
 but little is known. Next to him is a Triad, Ana , Bil, or Belus, 
 and Hea or Hoa, who correspond closely to the classical Pluto, 
 Jupiter, and Neptune. Each of these is accompanied by a 
 female principle or wife*, — Ana by Anat, Bil (or Bel) by Mulita 
 or Beltis, and Eea or Hoa by Davkina. Then follows a further 
 Triad, consisting of Sin or Hurki, the Moon-god ; San or Sansi, 
 the Sun ; and Vul, b the god of the atmosphere. The members 
 of this Triad are again accompanied by female powers or wives, 
 — Vul by a goddess called Shala or Tala, San (the Sun) by Gula 
 
 3 Sir H. Rawlinson, in the above- 
 quoted Essay, p. 586. 
 
 4 It is now generally allowed that 
 a Scythic or Turanian race was the first 
 to people Europe. Of this race we have 
 still remnants in the Basques, Fins, 
 Laps, and Esths or Esthonians upon the 
 Baltic. The Etruscans in Italy are 
 perhaps of the same stock. In Greece 
 they probably blended with the Pelasgi 
 
 I (Arians), as they did also with the 
 Celts in several countries. The “lake- 
 dwellings ” of Europe may be with 
 great probability assigned to them ; and 
 the flint-weapons in the drift are per- 
 haps traces of their burial-grounds. 
 
 A This name is very doubtful. Mr. 
 Fox Talbot renders it by Yen ; M. Op- 
 pert by Ao or Hu ; Dr. Hincks by /o 
 or lea ; M. Lenormant by Bin. 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 GROUPING OF THE CHIEF DEITIES. 
 
 13 
 
 or Anunit, and Htirlci (the Moon) by a goddess whose name is 
 wholly uncertain, but whose common title is “ the great lady.” 
 Such are the gods at the head of the Pantheon. Next in order 
 to them we find a group of five minor deities, the representa- 
 tives of the five planets,— Nin or Ninip (Saturn), Merodach 
 (Jupiter), Nergal (Mars), Ishtar (Yenus), and Nebo (Mercury). 
 These together constitute what we have called the principal 
 gods; after them are to be placed the numerous divinities of the 
 second and third order. 
 
 These principal gods do not appear to have been connected, 
 like the Egyptian and the classical divinities , 6 into a single 
 genealogical scheme : yet still a certain amount of relationship 
 was considered to exist among them. Ana and Bel, for instance, 
 were brothers, the sons of II or Ba ; Vul was son of Ana ; 
 Hurki, the Moon-god, of Bel ; Nebo and Merodach were sons of 
 Hea or Hoa. Many deities, however, are without parentage, 
 as not only II or Ra, but Hea, San (the Sun), Ishtar, and Nergal. 
 Sometimes the relationship alleged is confused, and even con- 
 tradictory, as in the case of Nin or Ninip, who is at one time 
 the son, at another the father of Bel, and who is at once the son 
 and the husband of Beltis. It is evident that the genealogical 
 aspect is not that upon which much stress is intended to be laid, 
 or which is looked upon as having much reality. The great 
 gods are viewed habitually rather as a hierarchy of co-equal 
 powers, than as united by ties implying on the one hand pre- 
 eminence and on the other subordination. 
 
 M^e may now consider briefly the characters and attributes of 
 the several deities, so far as they can be made out, either from 
 the native records, or from classical tradition. And first, 
 concerning the god who stands in some sense at the head of 
 the Chaldsean Pantheon, 
 
 6 These schemes themselves were 
 probably not genealogical at first. In 
 their genealogical shape they were an 
 arrangement given after a while to 
 separate and independent deities recog- 
 
 nised in different places by distinct 
 communities, or even by distinct races. 
 (See Bunsen’s Egypt, vol. iv. p. 66, B. 
 Engl. Transl.) 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 I 
 
THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. Yn. 
 
 1 14 
 
 IL or RA. 
 
 The form Ba represents probably the native Chaldsean 
 name of this deity, while 11 is the Semitic equivalent. 17 , of 
 course, is but a variant of El (b$), the root of the well-known 
 Biblical Elohim as well as of the Arabic Allah. It is 
 
 this name which Diodorus represents under the form of Elus 
 ( HA09), 7 and Sanchoniathon, or rather Philo-Byblius, under 
 that of Elus CHX09) or Bus f IX09). 8 The meaning of the 
 word is simply “God,” or perhaps “the god” emphatically. 
 Ba, the Cushite equivalent, must be considered to have had 
 the same force originally, though in Egypt it received a 
 special application to the sun, and became the proper name 
 of that particular deity. The word is lost in the modern 
 Ethiopic. It formed an element in the native name of Babylon, 
 which was Ka-ra, the Cushite equivalent of the Semitic Bab-il, 
 an expression signifying “ the gate of God.” 
 
 Ba is a god with few peculiar attributes. He is a sort of 
 fount and origin of deity, too remote from man to be much 
 worshipped or to excite any warm interest. There is no evi- 
 dence of his having had any temple in Chaldsea during the 
 early times. A belief in his existence is implied rather than 
 expressed in inscriptions of the primitive kings, where the 
 Moon-god is said to be “ brother’s son of Ana, and eldest son of 
 Bil, or Belus.” We gather from this, that Bel and Ana were 
 considered to have a common father ; and later documents suffi- 
 ciently indicate that that common father was II or Ba. We 
 must conclude from the name Babil, that Babylon was origin- 
 ally under his protection, though the god specially worshipped 
 in the great temple there seems to have been in early times 
 Bel, and' in later times Merodach. The identification of the 
 Chaldsean II or Ba with Saturn, which Diodorus makes , 9 and 
 w 7 hick may seem to derive some confirmation from Philo- 
 
 7 See Diod. Sic. ii. 30, § 3, where, 
 however, there is a corrupt reading, the 
 word y HAov being most absurdly replaced 
 by 'HA. tou. 
 
 8 See his fragments in Muller’s Fragni. 
 
 Hist. Grate, vol. iii. pp. 567 and 571; 
 Fr. 2, § 14, and Fr. 5. 
 
 9 Loc. sup. cit. T5ta t ov tnrb tuv 
 'EAA^ra'v Kpovov oyo/xa^ofievov Ku\ov<rtv 
 y HA ov. 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 CHIEF GODS — 1L AND ANA. 
 
 IIS 
 
 Byblius , 1 is certainly incorrect, so far as the planet Saturn, 
 which Diodorus especially mentions, is concerned ; but it may 
 be regarded as having a basis of truth, inasmuch as Saturn was 
 in one sense the chief of the gods, and was the father of Jupiter 
 and Pluto, as Ka was of Bil and Ana. 
 
 ANA. 
 
 Ana, like II and Pa, is thought to have been a word ori- 
 ginally signifying “ God,” in the highest sense. The root occurs 
 probably in the Annedotus and Oannes of Berosus , 2 as well as 
 in Philo-Byblius’s Anobret . 3 In its origin it is probably 
 Cushite ; but it was adopted by the Assyrians, who inflected 
 the word (which was indeclinable in the Chaldtean tongue), 
 makino- the nominative Anu, the genitive Ani, and the accusa- 
 tive Ana. 
 
 Ana is the head of the first Triad, which follows immediately 
 after the obscure god Ra. His position is well marked by 
 Damascius , 4 who gives the three gods, Anus, Illinus, and 
 Aiis, as next in succession to the primeval pair, Assorus and 
 Missara. He corresponds in many respects to the classical 
 Hades or Pluto, who, like him, heads the triad to which he 
 belongs . 5 His epithets are chiefly such as mark priority and 
 antiquity. He is called “the old Ana,” “the original chief,” 
 perhaps in one place “ the father of the gods,” and also “ the 
 Lord of spirits and demons.” Again, he bears a number of 
 titles which serve to connect him with the infernal regions. 
 He is “ the king of the lower world, ’ the “ Lord of darkness 
 or “ death,” “ the ruler of the far-off city,” and the like. The 
 chief seat of his worship is Huruh or Erech— the modern Warka 
 —which becomes the favourite Chaldman burying city, as being 
 under his protection. There are some grounds for thinking 
 
 1 Kp6vos TOLVVV, %V Ot 4>0lVlK6S^HA0P 
 * rrpoo'a'yopevovo'L , j8 a<n\evccv rrjs x w P as > 
 
 Kal vffTtpov /xera tt]V tov fiiov re- 
 Xivrrjv els t bv tov K povov acrrepa 
 KadiepwOels, k.t.A. This, however, pro- 
 fesses to he Phoenician and not Baby- 
 lonian mythology. 
 
 2 Fr. 1, § 3 and Fr. 6. Annedotus 
 
 (Ai/j/tjSot os) is (perhaps) “given by 
 Ana,” or “ given by God.” Oannes is 
 probably Hoa-ana ; or “ the god Hoa.” 
 
 3 Fr. 5. Anobret (’Ai 'w^per) signifies 
 “ beloved by Ana.” 
 
 4 Damasc. Be Princip. 125. 
 
 5 Hesiod, Theogon. 455-457 ; Apollod. 
 Bibliothec. i. 1, §§ 5, 6. 
 
 i 2 
 
THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VII. 
 
 1 1 6 
 
 that one of his names was Dis. 6 If this was indeed so, it 
 would seem to follow, almost beyond a doubt, that Dis, the 
 lord of Orcus in Eoman mythology, must have been a re- 
 miniscence brought from the East — a lingering recollection of 
 Dis or Ana, patron god of Erech (’O pe% of the LXX), the 
 great city of the dead, the necropolis of Lower Babylonia. 
 Further, curiously enough, we have, in connexion with this god, 
 an illustration of the classical confusion between Pluto and 
 Plutus ; for Ana is “ the layer-up of treasures ” — the “ lord of 
 the earth ” and of the “ mountains,” whence the precious metals 
 are derived. 
 
 The worship of Ana by the kings of the Chaldaean series is 
 certain. Not only did Shamas-vul, the son of Ismi-dagon, raise 
 a temple to the honour of Ana and his son Yul at Kileh- 
 Shergat (or Asshur) about B.c. 1830— whence that city appears 
 in later times to have borne the name of Telane, 7 or “the 
 mound of Ana ” — but Urukh himself mentions him as a god in 
 an inscription quoted above ; 8 and there is reason to believe 
 that from at least as early a date he was recognised as the pre- 
 siding deity at Erech or Warka. This is evident from the fact, 
 that though the worship of Beltis superseded that of Ana in the 
 great temple at that place from a very remote epoch, yet the 
 temple itself always retained the title of Bit- Ana (or Beth- Ana), 
 “ the house of Ana;” and Beltis herself was known commonly 
 as “ the lady of Bit-Ana” from the previous dedication to this 
 god of the shrine in question. Ana must also have been wor- 
 shipped tolerably early at Nipur ( Niffer ), or that city could 
 scarcely have acquired, by the time of Moses, 9 the appellation 
 of Calneh (¥La\dvr] in the Septuagint translation), which is 
 clearly Kal-Ana, “ the fort of Ana.” 
 
 6 A single wedge j , which according 
 
 to Chaldaean numeration represents the 
 number 60 (supra, p. 103), is emblematic 
 of the god Ana on the notation tablets ; 
 and, as would be expected from this 
 fact, Ana is one of the phonetic powers 
 
 of | . Another of its powers is Dis ; 
 
 and hence the conclusion is drawn that 
 
 Dis was probably another name 
 (See the Essay of Sir H. Rawlinson in 
 the author’s Herodotus , vol. i. p. 592.) 
 
 7 Cf. Steph. Byz. ad voc. T e\avr)'. 
 TeKavr), tto\is apx at0T “ T, 7 2vptas (i.e. 
 ’ Aaavplas) v £fcei NtVos irph rris Ni .vov 
 KTiVews. 8 Supra, page 67. 
 
 9 Gen. x. 10. The identification of 
 NifFer with Calneh rests on the authority 
 of the Talmud (see above, p. 15). 
 
Ciiap. vii. 
 
 AN AT A — BIL OR ENU. 
 
 117 
 
 Ana was supposed to have a wife, Anata, of whom a few 
 words will be said below. She bore her husband a numerous 
 progeny. One tablet shows a list of nine of their children, 
 among which, however, no name occurs of any celebrity. But 
 there are two sons of Ana mentioned elsewhere, who seem en- 
 titled to notice. One is the god of the atmosphere, Vul(?), of 
 whom a full account will be hereafter given. 1 The other bears 
 the name of Martu, and may be identified with the JBrathy 
 (B paOv) of Sanchoniathon. 2 He represents “ Darkness” or 
 “ the West,” corresponding to the Erebus of the Greeks. 
 
 ANATA. 
 
 Anat or Anata has no peculiar characteristics. As her name 
 is nothing but the feminine form of the masculine Ana, so she 
 herself is a mere reflection of her husband. All his epithets are 
 applied to her, with a simple difference of gender. She has 
 really no personality separate from his, resembling Amente in 
 Egyptian mythology, who is a mere feminine Ammon. 3 She is 
 rarely, if ever, mentioned in the historical and geographical in- 
 scriptions. 
 
 BIL or ENU. 
 
 Bil or Enu is the second god of the first Triad. He is, pro- 
 bably, the Illinus ( ll-Enu or “ God Enu ”) of Damascius. 4 His 
 name, which seems to mean merely “ lord,” 5 is usually followed 
 bv a qualificative adjunct, possessing great interest. It is pro- 
 posed to read this term as Nipru, or in the feminine Niprut, a 
 word which cannot fail to recall the Scriptural Nimrod, who is 
 in the Septuagint Nebroth (N e/3poo0). The term nipru seems to 
 be formed from the root napar, which is in Syriac to “ pursue,’’ 
 to “ make to flee,” and which has in Assyrian nearly the same 
 meaning. Thus Bil-Nipru would be aptly translated as “ the 
 Hunter Lord,” or “the god presiding over the chase,” while, 
 
 1 Infra, pp. 129-131. 
 
 2 Fragm. Hist. Gr. vol. iii. p. 566. 
 
 3 Bunsen’s Egypt , vol. i. p. 378, E. T. ; 
 
 Wilkinson in the author’s Herodotus, 
 
 vol. ii. p. 295. 4 Be Frincip. 125. 
 
 5 Bil or Bilu is “lord” in the As- 
 syrian and the Semitic Babylonian: 
 Enu is the corresponding Cushite or 
 Hamitic term. 
 
1 1 8 
 
 THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VII. 
 
 at the same time, it might combine the meaning of “ the con- 
 quering Lord ” or “ the Great Conqueror.” 
 
 On these grounds it is reasonable to conclude that we have, in 
 this instance, an admixture of hero-worship in the Chaldsean 
 religion. Bil-Nipru is probably the Biblical Nimrod, the ori- 
 ginal founder of the monarchy, the “ mighty hunter” and con- 
 queror. At the same time, however, that he is this hero deified, 
 be represents also, as the second God of the first Triad, the 
 classical Jupiter. He' is “the supreme,” “the father of the 
 gods,” “ the procreator,” “ the Lord” par excellence , “the king 
 of all the spirits,” “ the lord of the world,” and again, “ the lord 
 of all the countries.” There is some question whether he is 
 altogether to be identified with the Belus of the Greek writers, 
 who in certain respects rather corresponds to Merodacli . 6 When 
 Belus, however, is called the first king , 7 the founder of the 
 empire, or the builder of Babylon , 8 it seems necessary to under- 
 stand Bil-Nipru or Bel-Nimrod. Nimrod, we know, built 
 Babylon ; 9 and Babylon was called in Assyrian times “ the city 
 of Bil-Nipru,” while its famous defences — the outer and the 
 inner wall — were known, even under Nebuchadnezzar, by 
 the name of the same god . 1 Nimrod, again, was certainly the 
 founder of the kingdom ; 2 and, therefore, if Bil-Nipru is his 
 representative, he would be Belus under that point of view. 
 
 The chief seat of Bel-Nimrod’s worship was undoubtedly 
 Nipur (Niffer) or Calneh. Not only was this city designated by 
 the very same name as the god, and specially dedicated to him 
 and to his wife Beltis, but Bel-Nimrod is called “Lord of 
 Nipra,” and his wife “Lady of Nipra,” in evident allusion to 
 this city or the tract wherein it was placed. Various tradi- 
 tions, as will be hereafter shown , 3 connect Nimrod with Niffer, 
 
 6 The Jupiter Belus worshipped in 
 the great temple at Babylon seems 
 certainly to have been Merodach, who 
 likewise represents the planet Jupiter. 
 (See below, p. 134.) 
 
 7 As by Abydenus (cf. Euseb. Chrcn. 
 
 Can. i. 12, p. 36, and Mos. Choren. i. 4, 
 
 p. 13), by Stephen (ad. voc. B aBv\wv), 
 and, perhaps we may say, by Hero- 
 
 dotus (i. 7). Compare also Thallus (Fr. 2) 
 and Mos. Choren. (i. 6, and 9), who 
 absolutely identifies Belus with Nimrod. 
 
 8 Abj'den. Fr. 8. 9 Gen. x. 10. 
 
 1 These walls were known respectively 
 as the Ingur-Bilu-Nipru , and the Nimiti- 
 Bilu-Nipnt. (Sir II. Rawlinson in the au- 
 thor’s Herodotus, vol. i.p. 596, and vol. ii. p. 
 586.) 2 Gen. x. 10. 3 Infra, pp. 153, 154. 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 BELTIS. 
 
 1 19 
 
 which may fairly be regarded as his principal capital. Heie 
 then he would be naturally first worshipped upon his decease ; 
 and here seems to have been situated his famous temple called 
 Kharris-Nipra, so noted for its wealth, splendoui, and anti- 
 quity, which was an object of intense veneration to the 
 Assyrian kings. Besides this celebrated shrine, he does not 
 appear to have possessed many others. He is sometimes said to 
 have had four “arks” or “ tabernacles ; ” but the only places, 
 besides Niffer, where we know that he had buildings dedicated 
 to him, are Calah (Nimrud) and Dur-Kurri-galzu (Akker- 
 kuf). At the same time he is a god almost universally acknow- 
 ledged in the invocations of the Babylonian and Assyrian 
 kings, in which he has a most conspicuous place. In Assyria 
 he seems to be inferior only to Assliur ; in Ghaldsea to Ba 
 and Ana. 
 
 Of Beltis, the wife of Bel-Nimrod, a full account will be 
 given presently. Nin or Ninip — the Assyrian Hercules was 
 universally regarded as their son ; and he is frequently joined 
 with Bel-Nimrod in the invocations. Another famous deity, 
 the Moon-god, Sin or Hurki, is also declared to be Bel-Nimrod’s 
 son in some inscriptions. Indeed, as “ the lather of the gods, 
 Bel-Nimrod might evidently claim an almost infinite paternity. 
 
 The worship of Bel-Nimrod in Chaldsea extends through the 
 whole time of the monarchy. It has been shown that he was 
 probably the deified Nimrod, whose apotheosis would take place 
 shortly after his decease. Urukh, the earliest monumental king, 
 built him a temple at Niffer ; and Kurri-galzu, one of the latest, 
 paid him the same honour at Akkerkuf. Urukh also frequently 
 mentions him in his inscriptions in connexion with Hurki, the 
 Moon-god, whom he calls his “ eldest son.” 
 
 BELTIS. 
 
 Beltis, the wife of Bel-Nimrod, presents a strong contrast to 
 Anata, the wife of Ana. She is far more than the mere female 
 power of Bel-Nimrod, being in fact a sepaiate and veiy im- 
 portant deity. Her common title is “the Great goddess.” In 
 
120 
 
 THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VII. 
 
 Chaldsea her name was Mulita 4 or Ennta— both words signify- 
 ing “ the Lady ; ” in Assyria she was Bilta or Bilta-Nipruta, 
 the feminine forms of Bil and Bilu-Nipru. Her favourite title 
 was “ the Mother of the Gods,” or “ the Mother of the Great 
 Gods ; ” whence it is tolerably clear that she was the “ Dea 
 Syria ” worshipped at Hierapolis under the Arian appellation of 
 Mabog . 5 Though commonly represented as the wife of Bel- 
 Nimrod, and mother of his son Nin or Ninip, she is also called 
 “ the wife of Nin,” and in one place “ the wife of Asshur.” Her 
 other titles are “ the lady of Bit- Ana,” “ the lady of Nipur,” 
 “ the Queen of the land” or “ of the lands,” “ the great lady,” 
 “ the goddess of war and battle,” and “ the queen of fecundity.” 
 She seems thus to have united the attributes of the Juno, 
 the Ceres or Demeter , 6 the Bellona, and even the Diana of the 
 classical nations ; for she was at once the queen of heaven, the 
 goddess who makes the earth fertile, the goddess of war and 
 battle, and the goddess of hunting. In these latter capacities 
 she appears, however, to have been gradually superseded by 
 Ishtar, who sometimes even appropriates her higher and more 
 distinctive appellations. 
 
 The worship of Beltis was wide-spread, and her temples were 
 very numerous. At Erech (Warka) she was worshipped on the 
 same platform, if not even in the same building, with Ana. At 
 Calneh or Nipur (Niffer), she shared fully in her husband’s 
 honours. She had a shrine at Ur (Mugheir), another at Bubesi, 
 and another outside the walls of Babylon. Some of these 
 temples were very ancient, those at Warka and Niffer being 
 
 4 Hence the Mylitta ( MvAirra ) of 
 Herodotus (i. 131, 199),and perhaps the 
 Molis (MoAts) of Nic. Damascenus 
 ( Fragm . Hist. Gr. vol. iii.p. 361, note 16). 
 It has been usual to derive these words 
 
 from the Hebrew “ generare but 
 
 no similar root is found in either As- 
 syrian or Babylonian. Mul in Hamitic 
 Babylonian is the exact equivalent of 
 Bil in Semitic Assyrian. Both signify 
 “ lord,” while Bilta and Mulita signify 
 “ lady.” 
 
 5 Mabog is “ the mother of the gods, 
 from ma or mata, “ mother,” and bag a, 
 “ god ” (Sclavonic bog). 
 
 6 Etymologists have been puzzled by 
 the name Rhea ('Pea) — one of the 
 numerous appellatives of the “ Great 
 Goddess ” — who is known also as Ceres, 
 Cybele or Cybebe, Mater Dindymene, 
 Magna Mater, Bona Dea, Dea Phrygia, 
 Ops, Terra, and Tellus. Perhaps the ex- 
 planation is to be found in the numerical 
 symbol of this goddess, which was 15, 
 pronounced as Hi by the Chaldaeans. 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 HEA OR HOA. 
 
 1 2 I 
 
 built by TJrukh, while that at Mugheir was either built or 
 repaired by Ismi-dagon. 
 
 According to one record , 7 Beltis was a daughter of Ana. It 
 was especially as “Queen of Nipur” that she was the wife of 
 her son Nin. Perhaps this idea grew up out of the fact that at 
 Nipur the two were associated together in a common worship. 
 It appears to have given rise to some of the Greek traditions 
 with respect to Semiramis, who was made to contract an in- 
 cestuous marriage with her own son Ninyas, although no ex- 
 planation can at present be given of the application to Beltis 
 of that name. 
 
 HEA or HOA. 
 
 The third god of the first Triad was Hea or Hoa, probably 
 the Axis (’Ad?) of Damascius . 8 His appellation is perhaps best 
 rendered into Greek by the’'H?7 of Helladius — the name given 
 to the mystic animal, half man, half fish, which came up from 
 the Persian Gulf to teach astronomy and letters to the first 
 settlers on the Euphrates and Tigris . 9 It is perhaps contained 
 also in the word by which Berosus designates this same creature 
 — Oannes (’Havvrjs ) -which may be explained as Eoa-ana, or 
 
 the god Hoa.” There are no means of strictly determining 
 the precise meaning of the w r ord in Babylonian ; but it is 
 perhaps allowable to connect it, provisionally, with the Arabic 
 Iliya, which is at once “ life ” and “ a serpent,” since, according 
 to the best authority, “ there are very strong grounds for con- 
 necting Hea or Hoa with the serpent of Scripture, and the 
 Paradisaical traditions of the tree of knowledge and the tree 
 of life .” 2 
 
 Hoa occupies, in the first Triad, the position which in the 
 classical mythology is filled by Poseidon or Neptune, and in 
 some respects he corresponds to him. He is “the lord of the 
 
 7 The inscription on the open-mouthed 
 
 lion, now in the British Museum. (See 
 the author’s Herodotus , vol. i. p. 625, 
 note 6 .) 8 De Princip. 1. s. c. 
 
 9 Ap. Phot. Bibliothec . cclxxxix, p. 
 1594. 
 
 1 Beros. Fr. 1, § 3. Oannes has been 
 otherwise explained. It has been thought 
 to signify “ given by Ana.” 
 
 2 Sir H. Kawlinson in the author's 
 Herodotus , vol. i. p. 600. 
 
122 
 
 THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VII. 
 
 earth,” just as Neptune is ; he is “ the king of rivers ; 
 
 and he comes from the sea to teach the Babylonians ; but he is 
 never called “ the lord of the sea.” That title belongs to Nin 
 or Ninip. Hoa is “ the lord of the abyss,” or of “ the great 
 deep,” which does not seem to be the sea, but something distinct 
 from it. His most important titles are those which invest him 
 with the character, so prominently brought out in Oe and 
 Oannes , 3 of the god of science and knowledge. He is “ the 
 intelligent guide,” or, according to another interpretation, “ the 
 intelligent fish ,” 4 “ the teacher of mankind,” “ the lord of 
 understanding.” One of his emblems is the “ wedge or 
 £C arrow-head,” the essential element of cuneiform writing, which 
 seems to be assigned to him as the inventor, or at least 
 the patron, of the Chaldsean alphabet . 5 Another is the 
 serpent, which occupies so conspicuous a place among 
 [f. the symbols of the gods on the black stones recording 
 benefactions, and which sometimes appears upon the 
 / cylinders. This symbol, here as elsewhere, is emble- 
 | matic of superhuman knowledge — a record of the 
 ^ primeval belief that “ the serpent was more subtle 
 than any beast of the field.” 6 The stellar name of Hoa was 
 Kimmut ; and it is suspected that in this aspect he was identi- 
 fied with the constellation Draco, which is perhaps the Kimah 
 of Scripture . 7 Besides his chief character of “ god of 
 knowledge,” Hoa is also “ god of life,” a capacity in which the 
 serpent would again fitly symbolise him . 8 He was likewise 
 
 3 Cf. Hellad. 1. s. c., and Beros. Fr. 
 
 1, § 3. The latter writer gave the fol- 
 lowing account of Oannes — Ilapadidbvai, i 
 </> 7 ?(Tt, toA audpunrois ypappaTwv Kcd ; 
 paQypaTuv Kal t^x v ^ v Ttavroba irwv ip.- ( 
 7T eipiav, Ka\ TroXeccv crvvoiKurpovs, /col | 
 kpuiv ISpvcreis, nal vopw v el(rr)yfi<Teis, J 
 /cat yewpLZTp'iav difiacKeiv, leal aireppaTa 
 Ka\ Kapirwv (Tvuaycoyas viroZeinvvvai, 
 kclI gvvo\(i)S nvavTa to tt pbs 7 ]pepw(riv 
 oli>t)kovtb. /3 (ov iTapad i£6va.i tois avdpco- 
 ttois’ airb 5e t ov xp^ vov ^ne'ivov ouSei' 
 &\\o Trepicrahv evpeOrjvcu. 
 
 4 Berosus and Helladius both agree in 
 
 regarding Hoa ( *D.t} or ’Xiawrjs) as the 
 
 Fish-God 5 but from the inscriptions it 
 
 appears that the Fish-God was really 
 Nin or Ninip. (See below, p. 132.) 
 
 5 So Berosus, 1. s. c. 6 Gen. iii. 1. 
 
 7 Job ix. 9 ; xxxviii. 31 ; Amos v. 8. 
 There seem to be no grounds for our 
 translating Kimah as “ the Pleiades.” 
 It is not even a plural. 
 
 8 It is not perhaps altogether clear 
 u-hy the serpent has been so frequently 
 regarded as an emblem of life. Some 
 say, because serpents are long-lived ; 
 others because the animal readily formed 
 a circle, and a circle was the symbol of 
 eternity. But, whatever the reason, 
 the fact cannot be doubted. 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 DAY-KINA — SIN OR HURIvI. 
 
 123 
 
 “ god of glory,” and “ god of giving,” being, as Berosns said, 
 the great giver of good gifts to man . 9 
 
 The monuments do not contain much evidence of the early 
 worship of Hoa. His name appears on a very ancient stone 
 tablet brought from Mugheir (Ur); but otherwise his claim to 
 be accounted one of the primeval gods must rest on the testi- 
 mony of Berosus and Helladius, who represent him as known to 
 the first settlers. He seems to have been the tutelary god of 
 Is or Hit, which Isidore of Charax calls Aeipolis 1 (’AetiroXt?), 
 or “ Hea’s city ; ” but there is no evidence that this was a. very 
 ancient place. The Assyrian kings built him temples at Asshur 
 and Cal ah. 
 
 Hoa had a wife Dav-Kina, of whom a few words will be said 
 presently. Their most celebrated son was Merodach or Bel- 
 Merodach, the Belus of Babylonian times. As Kiminut, Hoa 
 was also the father of Nebo, whose functions bear a general 
 resemblance to his own. 
 
 DAY-KINA. 
 
 Dav-Kina, the wife of Hoa, is clearly the Dauke or Davke 
 (A avtcrj) of Damascius , 2 who was the wife of Aiis and mother of 
 Belus (Bel-Merodach). Her name is thought to signify “ the 
 chief lady .” 3 She has no distinctive titles or important position 
 in the Pantheon, but, like Anata, takes her husband’s epithets 
 with a mere distinction of gender. 
 
 SIN or HURKT. 
 
 The first god of the second Triad is Sin or Hurki, the moon- 
 deity. It is in condescension to Greek notions that Berosus 
 inverts the true Chaldsean order, and places the sun before the 
 
 & See the passage cited at full length 
 in note 3 . According to Assyrian no- 
 tions, Hoa did not confine his presents 
 to men. One of the kings of Assyria 
 says — “ The senses of seeing, hearing, 
 and understanding, which Hoa allotted 
 to the whole 4000 gods of heaven and 
 
 earth, they in the fulness of their hearts 
 granted to me.” 
 
 1 Mans. Parth. p. 5. 
 
 2 De Princip. 1. s. c. Tou 5e ’A ov Kal 
 Aavuys vlov yeve(rdcu rbv Bt)Aoj\ 
 
 3 Sir H. Rawlinson in the author’s 
 Herodotus , vol. i. p. 601, note & * 8 . Mo- 
 vers and Bunsen derive AauKt] from 
 the Heb. TtH, “ tundere,” and interpret 
 
 I it “strife,” comparing the Syriac dau- 
 \ kat. (See Bunsen’s Egypt , vol. iv. pp. 
 j 155, 156.) 
 
124 
 
 THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VII. 
 
 moon in his enumeration of the heavenly bodies. 4 Chaldaean 
 mythology gives a very decided preference to the lesser luminary, 
 perhaps because the nights are more pleasant than the days in 
 hot countries. With respect to the names of the god, we may 
 observe that Sin, the Assyrian or Semitic term, is a word of 
 quite uncertain etymology, which, however, is found applied to 
 the moon in many Semitic languages ; 5 while Hurki, which is 
 the Chaldsean or Hamitic name, is probably from a root cognate 
 to the Hebrew ’ Z7r, “Viy, “ vigilare,” whence is derived the 
 term sometimes used to signify “ an angel ” 6 — ’Ir, *?¥ “ a 
 watcher.” 
 
 The titles of Hurki are usually somewhat vague. He is 
 “ the chief,” “ the powerful,” “ the lord of spirits,” “ he who 
 dwells in the great heavens ; ” or, hyperbolically, “ the chief of 
 the gods of heaven and earth,” “ the king of the gods,” and even 
 “ the god of the gods.” Sometimes, however, his titles are 
 more definite and particular : as, firstly, when they belong to 
 him in respect of his being the celestial luminary — e. g. “ the 
 bright,” “ the shining,” “ the lord of the month ; ” and, secondly, 
 when they represent him as presiding over buildings and archi- 
 tecture, which the Chaldseans appear to have placed under his 
 special superintendence. In this connexion he is called “ the 
 supporting architect,” “ the strengthener of fortifications,” and, 
 more generally, “the lord of building” (Bel-zuna). 7 Bricks, 
 the Chaldsean building material, were of course under his 
 protection; and the sign which designates them is also the 
 sign of the month over which he was considered to exert par- 
 ticular care. 8 His ordinary symbol is the crescent or new 
 moon, which is commonly represented as large, but of extreme 
 
 4 Beros. Fr. 1, § 6. 
 
 6 Sin is used for the Moon in Men- 
 dsean and Syriac at the present day. 
 It is the name given to the Moon-God 
 in St. James of Seruj’s list of the idols 
 of Harran ; and it was the term used 
 for Monday by the Sabajans as late as 
 the 9th century. 
 
 6 As in Daniel iv. 13, 17, and in the 
 
 Syriac liturgy. 
 
 7 The term zuna may perhaps be 
 connected with the Ileb. )T, “form.” 
 
 Zanan is common in Assyrian for 
 “ building.” 
 
 8 Sin is expressly called “ the god of 
 the month Sivan of happy name;” and 
 it may be suspected that his name is a 
 mere contraction of Sivan. The sign 
 used for the month Sivan is also the 
 sign which represents “ bricks.” 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 SIN OR HURKI, THE MOON-GOD. 
 
 125 
 
 thinness 
 
 ; though not without a certain variety in the 
 
 forms 
 
 The most curious and the most purely 
 
 conventional representations are a linear semicircle V / > an( * 
 
 an imitation of this semicircle formed by three straight lines 9 
 \ / . The illuminated part of the moon’s disk is always 
 
 turned directly towards the horizon, a position but rarely seen 
 in nature. 
 
 The chief Chaldsean temple to the moon-god was at Ur or 
 Hur (Mugheir), a city which probably derived its name from 
 him, 1 and which was under his special protection. He had also 
 shrines at Babylon and Borsippa, and likewise at Calah and 
 Dur-Sargina (Khorsabad). Few deities appear to have been 
 worshipped with such constancy by the Chaldsean kings. His 
 great temple at Ur was begun by Urukh, and finished by his son 
 IIp- 1 — the two most ancient of all the monarchs. Later in the 
 series we find him in such honour that every king’s name 
 during some centuries comprises the name of the moon-god in 
 it. On the restoration of the Chaldsean power he is again in 
 high repute. Nebuchadnezzar mentions him with respect; and 
 Nabonidus, the last native monarch, restores his shrine at Ur, 
 
 and accumulates upon him the most high-sounding titles. 2 
 
 The moon-god is called, in more than one inscription, the 
 eldest son of Bel-Nimrod. He had a wife (the moon-goddess) 
 whose title was “ the great lady,” and who is frequently asso- 
 ciated with him in the lists. She and her husband were con- 
 jointly the tutelary deities of L T r or Hur; and a particular 
 
 9 These forms are taken chiefly from 
 the engravings of cylinders published 
 by the late Mr. Cullimore. 
 
 1 It is not uncommon for the second 
 syllable in an Assyrian or Babylonian 
 god’s name to be dropped as unim- 
 portant. We have both Asshur and As, 
 both Sansi and San, both Ninip and Nin, 
 &c. Thus we might expect to find both 
 llur and Hurki. It is not perhaps a 
 proof of the connexion — but still it is 
 an argument in favour of it — to find 
 
 that when TTr changed its name to 
 Camarina (Eupolem. ap. Alex. Polyhist. 
 Fr. 3), the new appellation was a de- 
 rivative from another word ( Kamar , 
 Arab.) signifying “ the moon.” (Sir 
 H. Rawlinson in the author’s Herodotus , 
 vol. i. p. 616.) 
 
 2 Nabonidus calls him “the chief of 
 the gods of heaven and earth, the king 
 of the gods, god of gods, he who dwells 
 in the great heavens,” &c. 
 
126 
 
 THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VII. 
 
 portion of the great temple there was dedicated to her honour 
 especially. Her “ ark ” or “ tabernacle,” which was separate from 
 that of her husband, was probably, as well as his, deposited in 
 this sanctuary. It bore the title of “ the lesser light, while his 
 was called, emphatically, “ the light.” 
 
 SAN or SANSI. 
 
 San or Sansi, the sun-god, was the second member of the 
 second Triad. The main element of this name is probably con- 
 nected with the root shani , 'if, which is in Arabic, and perhaps 
 in Hebrew, “ bright.” 3 Hence we may perhaps compare our 
 own word “ sun ” with the Chaldaean “ San ; ” for “ sun ” is most 
 likely connected etymologically with “sheen” and “shine.” 
 Shamas or Shemesh, the Semitic title of the god, is alto- 
 gether separate and distinct, signifying, as it does, the minister- 
 ing office of the sun, 4 and not the brilliancy of his light. A 
 trace of the Hamitic name appears in the well-known city 
 Bethsan, 5 whose appellation is declared by Eugesippus to signify 
 « domus Solis,” “the house of the sun.” 6 
 
 The titles applied to the sun-god have not often much direct 
 reference to his physical powers or attributes. He is called 
 indeed, in some places, “ the lord of fire,” “ the light of the 
 gods,” “the ruler of the day,” and “he who illumines the 
 expanse of heaven and earth.” But commonly he is either 
 spoken of in a more general way, as “ the regent of all things,” 
 “ the establisher of heaven and earth ; ” or, if special functions 
 are assigned to him, they are connected with his supposed 
 “ motive ” power, as inspiring warlike thoughts in the minds of 
 
 3 In Hebrew shani, is usually 
 
 translated “scarlet,” but some learned 
 Jews suggest that the true meaning is 
 bright. (See Newman’s Hebrew Lexicon 
 ad voc., and compare Gesenius.) 
 
 4 From “ ministrare.” (See 
 
 Buxtorf ad voc.) 
 
 5 Josh. xvii. 11 ; Judg. i. 27 ; l Sam. 
 
 xxxi. 10, &c. The Hebrew form is 
 JKtSHVa, Bcth-shean , or Beth- 
 
 shan. The LXX give But6<rdv, Ba«0- 
 
 aadv, B aidaciibL. and Br]d<rdu. Josephus 
 has Bt) daava and B edcrdurj^ The Tal- 
 mud contracts the word to Bisan, JD'3 ; 
 and the existing name is Beisan. As 
 Scythopolis this city was well known to 
 the Greeks and Romans. 
 
 6 See the small treatise of Eugesippus, 
 De Locis, &c., in the folio edition of the 
 Byzantine Historians (vol. xxiii. sub 
 fin.). “Scythopolis civitas, Galilaeae 
 metropolis, quae et Bethsan, id est, 
 domus solis. ’ 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 SAX OR SANSI. 
 
 127 
 
 the kings, directing and favourably influencing their expeditions ; 
 or again, as helping them to discharge any of the other active 
 duties of royalty. San is “the supreme ruler who casts a 
 favourable eye on expeditions,” “ the vanquisher of the king’s 
 enemies,” “ the breaker-up of opposition.” He “ casts his 
 motive influence” over the monarchs, and causes them to 
 “ assemble their chariots and warriors ” — he goes forth with 
 their armies, and enables them to extend their dominions — he 
 chases their enemies before them, causes opposition to cease, 
 and brings them back with victory to their own countries. 
 Besides this, he helps them to sway the sceptre of power, and to 
 rule over their subjects with authority. It seems that, from 
 observing the manifest agency of the material sun in stimulating 
 all the functions of nature, the Chaldmans came to the con- 
 clusion that the sun-god exerted a similar influence on the 
 minds of men, and was the great motive agent in human 
 history. 
 
 The chief seats of the sun-god’s worship in Clialdaea appear to 
 have been the two famous cities of Larsa (Ellasar ?) and Sippara. 
 The great temple of the Sun, called Bit-Parra, 7 at the former 
 place, was erected by Urukh, repaired by more than one of the 
 later Chaldsean monarchs, and completely restored by Nebu- 
 chadnezzar. At Sippara, the worship of the sun-god was so 
 predominant, that Abydenus, probably following Berosus, calls 
 the town Heliopolis. 8 There can be little doubt that the 
 Adrammelech, or “Fire-king,” 9 whose worship the Sepharvites 
 (or people of Sippara) introduced into Samaria, 1 was this deity. 
 Sippara is called Tsijpar sha Shamas , “ Sippara of the Sun,” in 
 various inscriptions, and possessed a temple of the god which 
 was repaired and adorned by many of the ancient Chaldaean 
 kings, as well as by Nebuchadnezzar and Nabonidus. 
 
 7 It would seem from this name that 
 Parra was also a title under which the 
 Sun was known in Chaldsea in the early 
 times. May not this title be connected 
 with the Egyptian Ph-ra or Pi-ra, “ the 
 sun,” whence probably the Hebrew 
 Pharaoh ? 
 
 8 Abyden. Fr. 1 ; Syncell. vol. i. p. 70. 
 
 9 Winer, Pealuorterbuch , ad voc. 
 “ Adrammelech.” Sir H. Rawlinson 
 allows this derivation to be not im- 
 probable (Rawlinson’s Herodotus , vol. i. 
 p. 611), suggesting, however, another, 
 from edim , “ the arranger,” and melek 
 (ibid.). 1 2 Kings xvii. 31. 
 
128 
 
 THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. YIT. 
 
 The general prevalence of San’s worship is indicated most 
 clearly by the cylinders. Few comparatively of those which 
 have any divine symbol upon them are without his. The symbol 
 
 is either a simple circle (^)> a quartered disk Q 5 or a four- 
 
 raved orb of a more elaborate character 
 
 San or Sansi had a wife, Ai, Gula, or Anunit, of whom- it 
 now follows to speak. 
 
 AI, GULA, or ANUNIT. 
 
 Ai, Gula, or Anunit, was the female power of the sun, and 
 was commonly associated with San in temples and invocations. 
 Her names are of uncertain signification, except the second, 
 Gula, which undoubtedly means “ great,” being so translated in 
 the vocabularies. 2 It is suspected that the three terms may 
 have been attached respectively to the “ rising,” the “ culmi- 
 nating,” and the “ setting sun,” 3 since they do not appear to 
 interchange \ while the name Gula is distinctly stated in one 
 inscription to belong to the “great” goddess, “ the wife of the 
 meridian Sun.” It is perhaps an objection to this view, that 
 the male Sun, who is decidedly the superior deity, does not 
 appear to be manifested in Chaldsea under any such threefold 
 representation. 4 
 
 As a substantive deity, distinct from her husband, Gula’s 
 characteristics are that she presides over life and over fecundity. 
 It is not quite clear whether these offices belong to her alone, 
 or whether she is associated in each of them with a sister 
 goddess. There is a “ Mistress of Life,” who must be regarded 
 as the special dispenser of that blessing ; and there is a Mis- 
 tress of the Gods” who is expressly said to “preside over 
 
 2 Gula is rendered by rabu in the 
 vocabularies, which is the Hebrew rab, 
 3”) “ a great one ” — and thence “ a 
 
 doctor.” It is probably connected with 
 the Abyssinian guda , “ great ; ” but not 
 
 with bna. or at any rate only indi- 
 
 TT* 
 
 rectly. 
 
 Ai may perhaps be the same word 
 as the Agau (Abyssinian) aiu, “ light.” 
 
 3 Sir II. Rawlinson in the author’s 
 Herodotus , vol. i. p. 612. 
 
 4 In Assyria such a threefold worship 
 of the male Sun is found ; but even 
 there we have no triple nomenclature. 
 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 VUL OE IVA. 
 
 I 29 
 
 births.” Concerning these two personages we cannot at present 
 determine whether they are really distinct deities, or whether 
 they are not rather aspects of Gula, sufficiently marked to be 
 represented in the temples by distinct idols . 5 
 
 Gula was worshipped in close combination with her husband, 
 both at Larsa and Sippara. Her name appears in the inscrip- 
 tions connected with both places; and she is probably the 
 “Anammelech,” whom the Sepharvites honoured in conjunction 
 with Adrammelech, the “ Fire-King .” 6 In later times she had 
 also temples independent of her husband, at Babylon and Bor- 
 sippa, as well as at Calah and Asshur. 
 
 The emblem now commonly regarded as symbolizing Gula is 
 the eight-rayed disk or orb, which frequently accompanies the 
 orb with four rays in the Babylonian representations. In lieu 
 
 of a disk, we have sometimes an eiglit-raved star , and 
 
 even occasionally a star with six rays only 
 
 It is curious 
 
 that the eight-rayed star became at an early period the universal 
 emblem of divinity; but perhaps we can only conclude from 
 this the stellar origin of the worship generally, and not any 
 special pre-eminence or priority of Anunit over other deities. 
 
 VUL or IVA. 
 
 The third member of the second Triad is the god of the 
 atmosphere, whose name it has been proposed to render 
 phonetically in a great variety of ways . 7 Until a general agree- 
 ment shall be established, it is thought best to retain a name 
 with which readers are familiar ; and the form Vul will there- 
 fore be used in these volumes. Were Iva the correct articula- 
 
 5 The only place where these two 
 deities are clearly distinguished from 
 Gula is in the list of the idols con- 
 tained in the great temple of Bel-Mero- 
 dach at Babylon. But for this notice, 
 the names would certainly have been 
 regarded as nothing more than titles of 
 Gula. 
 
 6 No satisfactory explanation has been 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 given of the word Anammelech. If it 
 represents the female power of the sun, 
 we must suppose that Ana is an ab- 
 breviated form of Anunit, and that 
 
 melek , is for malcah, the 
 
 Jews from contempt not caring to be 
 correct in the names of false gods. 
 
 7 See above, p. 112, note 5 . 
 
 K 
 
130 
 
 THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VII. 
 
 tion, we might regard the term as simply the old Hamitic name 
 for “ the air,” and illustrate it by the Arabic heva, which has 
 still that meaning. 
 
 The importance of Yul in the Chaldsean mythology, and his 
 strong positive character, contrast remarkably with the weak and 
 shadowy features of Uranus, or AEther, in the classical system. 
 Yul indeed corresponds in great measure with the classical Zeus 
 or Jupiter, being, like him, the real “ Prince of the power of 
 the air,” the lord of the whirlwind and the tempest, and 
 the wielder of the thunderbolt. His standard titles are “ the 
 minister of heaven and earth,” “ the Lord of the air,” “ he who 
 makes the tempest to rage.” He is regarded as the destroyer 
 of crops, the rooter-up of trees, the scatter er of the harvest. 
 Famine, scarcity, and even their consequence, pestilence, are 
 assigned to him. He is said to have in his hand a “ flaming 
 sword,” with which he effects his works of destruction ; and this 
 “ flaming sword,” which probably represents lightning, becomes 
 his emblem upon the tablets and cylinders, where 
 / it is figured as a double or triple bolt. * 8 Yul again, 
 
 ) as the god of the atmosphere, gives the rain ; and 
 ) hence he is “ the careful and beneficent chief,” “ the 
 giver of abundance,” “ the lord of fecundity.” In 
 this capacity he is naturally chosen to preside over 
 canals, the great fertilizers of Babylonia ; and we find among 
 his titles “ the lord of canals,” and “ the establisher of works 
 of irrigation.” 
 
 There is not much evidence of the worship of Yul in Chaldsea 
 during the early times. That he must have been known 
 appears from the fact of his name forming an element in the 
 name of Shamas-Yul, son of Ismi-dagon, who ruled over Chaldsea 
 about b.c. 1850. 9 It is also certain that this Shamas-Yul set 
 up his worship at Asshur (Kileh-Sherghat) in Assyria, asso- 
 ciating him there with his father Ana, and building to them 
 
 8 Bolts of the kind represented were 
 also used as trophies of victory. Ti- 
 glath-Pileser I. made one of copjyr and 
 inscribed upon it a record of his con- 
 
 quests. (Sir II. Rawlinson in the author’s 
 
 Herodotus , vol. i. p. 609.) 
 
 9 See below, ch. viii. p. 164. 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 BAR, NIN, OR NINIP. 
 
 131 
 
 conjointly a great temple . 1 Further than this we have no proof 
 that he was an object of worship in the time of the first monarchy; 
 though in the time of Assyrian preponderance, as well as in 
 that of the later Babylonian Empire, there were few gods more 
 venerated. 
 
 Yul is sometimes associated with a goddess, Shala or Tala, 
 who is probably the Salambo or Salambas of the lexicographers . 2 
 The meaning of her name is uncertain ; 3 and her epithets are 
 for the most part obscure. Her ordinary title is sarrat or 
 sharrat , “ queen,” the feminine of the common word sar, which 
 means “ Chief,” “ King,” or “ Sovereign.” 
 
 BAR, NIN, or NINIP. 
 
 If we are right in regarding the five gods who stand next to 
 the Triad formed of the Moon, the Sun, and the Atmosphere, as 
 representatives of the five planets visible to the naked eye, the 
 god Nin, or Ninip, should be Saturn. His names Bar, and Kin, 
 are respectively a Semitic and a Hamitic term signifying 
 “ lord ” or “ master.” Nin-ip, his full Hamitic appellation, 
 signifies “Nin, by name,” or “he whose name is Nin;” and, 
 similarly, his full Semitic appellation seems to have been Bar- 
 shem, “ Bar, by name,” or “ he whose name is Bar ” — a term 
 which is not indeed found in the inscriptions, but which appears 
 to have been well known to the early Syrians and Armenians , 4 
 and which was probably the origin of the title Barsemii, borne 
 by the kings of Hatra ( Hadhr near Kileh-Sherghat) in Boman 
 times . 5 
 
 In character and attributes the classical god, whom Nin most 
 closely resembles, is, however, not Saturn, but Hercules. An indi- 
 cation of this connexion is perhaps contained in the Herodotean 
 
 1 See the Inscription of Tiglath-Pi- 
 
 leser I. p. 62. 
 
 2 Hesychius uses the form SaAa^ujScb, 
 and calls the goddess “ the Babylonian 
 Venus.” In the Etymologicum Magnum 
 the form used is 2aA apfias. 
 
 3 The second element in Salambo or 
 Salambas is probably amma (Heb. 
 
 “ a mother.” 
 
 4 See Mos. Choren. Hist. Armen, i. 13, 
 “ Barsamum ob fortissimas res gestas in 
 Deos ascriptum ad longum tempus Syri 
 coluere.” ii. 13, “ Tigranes in Mesopo- 
 tamiam descendit, et nactus ibi Barsami 
 statuam, quam ex ebore et beryllo fac- 
 tam argento ornaverat, deportari earn 
 jubet, et in Thordano oppido locari.” 
 
 5 Herodian. iii. 1, § 11. 
 
 K 2 
 
132 
 
 THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VII. 
 
 genealogy, which makes Hercules an ancestor of Ninus . 6 Many 
 classical traditions, we must remember, identified Hercules with 
 Saturn ; 7 and it seems certain that in the East at any rate this 
 identification was common . 8 Nin, in the inscriptions, is the god 
 of strength and courage. He is “ the lord of the brave, “ the 
 champion,” “ the warrior who subdues foes,” “ he who strengthens 
 the heart of his followers;” and again, “the destroyer of 
 
 enemies,” “ the reducer of the dis- 
 obedient,” “the exterminator of 
 rebels,” “ he whose sword is good.” 
 In many respects he bears a close 
 resemblance to Nergal or Mars. 
 Like him, he is a god of battle and 
 of the ehace, presiding over the 
 king’s expeditions, whether for war 
 or hunting, and giving success in 
 both alike. At the same time he 
 has qualities which seem wholly un- 
 connected with any that have been 
 hitherto mentioned. He is the true 
 « Fish-God ” of Berosus , 9 and is 
 figured as such in the sculptures. 
 In this point of view he is called 
 “the god of the sea,” “he who 
 dwells in the deep,” and again, 
 somewhat curiously, “ the opener 
 of aqueducts.” Besides these epi- 
 thets he has many of a more 
 general character, as “ the power- 
 Figure of Ain, the Fish-God. ful chief, “ the SUpieme, the 
 first of the gods,” “ the favourite of the gods,” “ the chief of 
 the spirits,” and the like. Again, he has a set of epithets, 
 
 6 Herod, i. 7. 
 
 7 Lydus, De Mensibus , iv. 46 ; Athe- 
 nag. Leg. pro Christ, xv. 6 ; Damasc. 
 
 de Princip. 
 
 8 See the Memoir of M. Raoul Ro- 
 chette on the Assyrian Hercules in the 
 
 17 th volume of the M€m. de l' Institute 
 
 I where this point is abundantly proved. 
 
 9 Fr. 1, § 3. Tb p\v 8\ov awg.a exov 
 IxOvos, vi rb 8e r^v K€(pa\^v irapaire- 
 (pvKviav &\\r]v K((pa\7)v vnoKaru rrjs 
 rov IxOvos KMpaArjs, Kal vdSas dpoiws 
 avdpwirov, napairecpvKdTas 8e etc rrjs 
 ovpas tov IxOvos. 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 NIN'S EMBLEM, THE MAN-BULL. 
 
 133 
 
 which seem to point to his stellar character, very difficult to 
 reconcile with the notion, that, 
 as a celestial luminary, he was 
 Saturn. We find him called “ the 
 light of heaven and earth,” “ he 
 who, like the sun, the light of 
 the gods, irradiates the nations.” 
 
 These phrases appear to point 
 to the Moon, or to some very 
 brilliant star, and are scarcely re- 
 concilable with the notion that he 
 was the dark *and distant Saturn. 
 
 Nin’s emblem in Assyria is the 
 Man-Bull, the impersonation of 
 strength and power. He guards 
 the palaces of the Assyrian kings, 
 who reckon him their tutelary 
 god, and give his name to their 
 capital city. We may conjecture 
 that in Babylonia his emblem was 
 the sacred fish, which is often 
 seen under different forms upon 
 the cylinders. 
 
 The monuments furnish no evidence of the early worship of 
 Nin in Chaldsea. We may perhaps gather the fact from Berosus’ 
 account of the Fish-God as an early object of vene- 
 ration in that region , 10 as well as from the Hamitic 
 etymology of the name by which he was ordinarily 
 known even in Assyria . 1 There he was always 
 one of the most important deities. His temple at 
 Nineveh was very famous, and is noticed by 
 Tacitus in his ‘Annals ;’ 2 and he had likewise 
 two temples at Calah (Nimrud), both of them 
 buildings of some pretension. 
 
 Nin’s emblem, the Man-Bull. 
 
 10 The Fish-god (’HawTjs) comes out of ; Semitic Bar, or Barshem, is proved by 
 the Red Sea (Persian Gulf) to instruct ! the traditions concerning Ninus, and 
 the settlers in Chaldcea. j by the name of their capital city. 
 
 1 That the Assyrians commonly used 2 Tacit. Ann. xii. 13. 
 the Hamitic Nin, or Ninip, and not the 
 
134 
 
 THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VII. 
 
 It has been already mentioned 3 that Nin was the son of Bel- 
 Nimrod, and that Beltis was both his wife and his mother. 
 These relationships are well established, since they are repeatedly 
 asserted. One tablet, however, inverts the genealogy, and 
 makes Bel-Nimrod the son of Nin, instead of his father. The 
 contradiction perhaps springs from the double character of this 
 divinity, who, as Saturn, is the father, but, as Hercules, the son 
 of Jupiter. 
 
 BEL-MEROHACH. 
 
 Bel-Merodach is, beyond all doubt, the planet Jupiter, which 
 is still called Bel by the Mendseans. The name Merodach is 
 of uncertain etymology and meaning. It has been compared 
 with the Persian mardak , 4 the diminutive of mard, “ a man,” 
 and with the Arabic Mirrich , 5 which is the name of the planet 
 Mars. But, as there is every reason to believe that the term 
 belongs to the Hamitic Babylonian, it is in vain to have recourse 
 to Arian or Semitic tongues for its derivation. Most likely the 
 word is a descriptive epithet, originally attached to the name 
 Bel, in the same way as Nipru, but ultimately usurping its 
 place and coming to be regarded as the proper name of the 
 deity. It is doubtful whether any phonetic representative of 
 Merodach has been found on the monuments; if so, the pro- 
 nunciation should, apparently, be Amardak, whence we might 
 derive the Amordacia (’A /lophcuda) of Ptolemy . 6 
 
 The titles and attributes of Merodach are of mere than usual 
 vagueness. In the most ancient monuments which mention 
 him, he seems to be called “the old man of the gods ,” 7 and 
 “ the judge ” ; he also certainly has the gates, which in early 
 times were the seats of justice, under his special protection. 
 Thus he would seem to be the god of justice and judgment— 
 
 3 See above, page 120. 
 
 4 Gesenius, Lexicon Hebraicum , ad voc. 
 “ Merodach.” 
 
 5 Kitto’s Biblical Cyclopaedia , vol. ii. 
 p. 328. 
 
 6 This is Ptolemy’s name for a dis- 
 
 trict of Babylonia (see his Geography i, 
 v. 20). The Latin translator renders it 
 by Mardocaea. 
 
 | 7 So the Phoenicians worshipped Bel 
 
 j as BeXiOav, or |JYN ‘PS, “ the old Bel ” 
 I (Damasc. ap. Phot. Bibliothec. p. 343) ; 
 and the Sabaeans of Harran called their 
 Bel, “ Bel, the grave old man.” (Chwol- 
 sohn, Ssabier und Ssabismus, vol. ii. p. 
 39.) 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 ZIR-BANIT. 
 
 135 
 
 an idea which may have given rise to the Hebrew name of the 
 planet Jupiter, viz. Sedek, P*J£, “ justitia.” Bel-Merodach was 
 worshipped in the early Chaldaean kingdom, as appears from 
 the Tel-Sifr tablets. He was probably from a very remote time 
 the tutelary god of the city of Babylon ; 8 and hence, as that 
 city grew into importance, the worship of Merodach became 
 more prominent. The Assyrian monarchs always especially 
 associate Babylon with this god; and in the later Babylonian 
 empire he becomes by far the chief object ot worship. It is his 
 temple which Herodotus describes so elaborately , 9 and his 
 image, which, according to the Apocryphal Daniel, the Baby- 
 lonians worshipped with so much devotion . 10 Nebuchadnezzar 
 calls him “ the king of the heavens and the earth,” “ the great 
 lord,” “ the senior of the gods,” “the most ancient,” “ the sup- 
 porter of sovereignty,” “ the layer-up of treasures, &c., and 
 ascribes to him all his glory and successes. 
 
 We have no means of determining which among the em- 
 blems of the gods is to be assigned to Bel-Merodach ; 
 nor is there any sculptured form which can be 
 certainly attached to him. According to Diodorus 
 the great statue of Bel-Merodach at Babylon was 
 a figure “ standing and walking .” 1 Such a form ap- 
 pears more often than any other upon the cylin- 
 ders of the Babylonians ; and it is perhaps allowable 
 to conjecture that it may represent this favourite 
 deity. 
 
 ZIR-BANIT. 
 
 Bel-Merodach has a wife, with whom he is commonly asso- 
 ciated, called Zir-banit. She had a temple at Babylon, probably 
 attached to her husband’s, and is perhaps the Babylonian Juno 
 (Hera) of Diodorus . 2 The essential element of her name seems 
 
 8 The Babylonian kings are. fond of I 
 including the word Merodach in their 
 names. As early as b.c. 1110, we find 
 a Merodach-iddin-akki , the son of an 
 Irba- Merodach. Afterwards we have 
 
 Merodach-Baladan, Mesessimordachus, i 
 
 Evil-Merodach, &c. 
 
 9 Herod, i. 181-183. Compare Diod. 
 Sic. ii. 9. 
 
 10 Apoc. Dan. xiv. 2. 
 
 1 Diod. Sic. ii. 9, § 5 : To v rov 
 A ibs &ya\fia €(TT7]Kbs 9) v ical 5 i a 0 e- 
 0 7 ]k6s. 2 Ibid. ii. 9, § 6. 
 
THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. Y 1 L 
 
 136 
 
 to be Zir, whicli is an old Hamitic root, of uncertain meaning, 
 while the accompanying banit is a descriptive epithet, which 
 may be rendered by “ genetrix.” Zir-banit was probably the 
 goddess whose worship the Babylonian settlers carried to Samaria, 
 and who is called Succoth-benoth in Scripture . 3 
 
 NERGAL. 
 
 Nergal, the planet Mars, whose name was continued to a late 
 date, under the form of Nerig in the astronomical system of the 
 Mendseans, is a god whose character and attributes are tolerably 
 clear and definite. His name is evidently compounded of the 
 two Hamitic roots nir, “ a man,” and gula , “ great so that he 
 is “ the great man,” or “ the great hero.” He is the special god 
 of war and of hunting, more particularly of the latter. His 
 titles are “the king of battle,” “the champion of the gods,” 
 “ the storm ruler,” “ the strong begetter,” “ the tutelar god of 
 Babylonia,” and u the god of the chace.” He is usually coupled 
 with Hin, who likewise presides over battles and over hunting ; 
 but while Nin is at least his equal in the former sphere, Nergal 
 has a decided pre-eminence in the latter. 
 
 We have no distinct evidence that Nergal was worshipped in 
 the primitive times. He is first mentioned by some of the early 
 Assyrian kings , 4 who regard him as their ancestor. It has, how- 
 ever, been conjectured that, like Bil-Nipru, he represented the 
 deified hero, Nimrod , 5 who may have been worshipped in dif- 
 ferent parts of Chaldsea under different titles. 
 
 The city peculiarly dedicated to Nergal was Cutlia or Tiggaba, 
 which is constantly called his city in the inscriptions. He was 
 worshipped also at Tarbisa, near Nineveh, but in Tiggaba he was 
 said to “ live,” and his shrine there was one of great celebrity. 
 Hence “ the men of Cuth,” when transported to Samaria by the 
 Assyrians, naturally enough “ made Nergal their god,” carrying 
 his worship with them into their new country . 6 
 
 3 Succoth, “ tents,” is probably a mis- 
 
 translation of Zir, or Zirat, which was 
 
 confounded with zarat , a word having 
 that meaning. 
 
 1 As Tiglath-Pileser I., about b.c. 
 
 1100, and Asshur-izir-pal, about b.c. 850. 
 
 5 Sir H. Rawlinson in the author’s 
 Herodotus , vol. i. p. 632. 
 
 0 See 2 Kings xvii. 30. 
 
Chap. VIT. 
 
 NERGAL, THE MAN-LION. 
 
 137 
 
 Nergal’s emblem, the Man-Lion. 
 
138 
 
 THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VII. 
 
 It is probable that Nergal’s symbol was the Man-Lion. Nir 
 is sometimes used in the inscriptions in the meaning of “lion 
 and the Semitic name for the god himself is “ Aria ” — the 
 ordinary term for the king of beasts both in Hebrew and in 
 Syriac. Perhaps we have here the true derivation of the Greek 
 name for the god of war, Ares (’'A which has long puzzled 
 classical scholars. The lion would symbolize both the fighting 
 and the hunting propensities of the god, for he not only engages 
 in combats upon occasions, but often chases his prey and runs it 
 down like a hunter. Again, if Nergal is the Man-Lion, his asso- 
 ciation in the buildings with the Man-Bull, would be exactly 
 parallel with the conjunction, which we so constantly find, 
 between him and Nin in the inscriptions. 
 
 Nergal had e wife, called Laz, of whom, however, nothing is 
 known beyond her name. It is uncertain which among the 
 emblems of the gods appertains to him. 
 
 ISHTAR or NANA. 
 
 Islitar or Nana is the planetary Yenus, and in general features 
 corresponds with the classical goddess. Her name Ishtar is that 
 by which she was known in Assyria ; and the same term pre- 
 vailed with slight modifications among the Semitic races gene- 
 rally. The Phoenician form was Astarte, the Hebrew Ashtoreth ; 8 
 the later Mendsean form was Ashtar. In Babylonia the goddess 
 was known as Nana, which seems to be the Nansea of the second 
 book of Maccabees, 9, and the Nani of the modern Syrians . 10 No 
 satisfactory account can at present be given of the etymology of 
 either name ; for the proposal to connect Ishtar with the Greek 
 
 7 The Sabseans of Harran, who used 
 generally the Babylonian appellations of 
 the gods, applied the name of Ares to 
 the third day of the week — the “ dies 
 Martis ” of the Romans. (Chwolsohn, 
 Ssabier und Ssabismus, vol. ii. p. 22.) 
 
 8 2 Kings xi. 5 and 33. Ashtoreth 
 
 (ninfyy 
 
 “ the goddess of the Si- 
 
 donians ” (’A(TTopT7j of LXX.), is 
 to be distinguished from Ashtaroth 
 the plural form (rais 
 
 ’ Aa-rdprats of LXX.), which seems to 
 he a generic word for “ false goddesses.” 
 
 9 2 Mac. i. 13-15. 
 
 10 The name of Nani is given by the 
 Syrian lexicographer Bar-Bahlul as one 
 of the fifteen titles applied to the planet 
 Venus by the Arabs. The word is also 
 found further east, as in Afghanistan, 
 where many places are called Bibi Nani, 
 after “ the lady Venus.” The same 
 origin may be assigned to the Greek 
 “ Navviov” the name of a courtesan. 
 (Athen. xiii. p. 576.) 
 
Chap. YII. 
 
 ISHTAR OR NANA. 
 
 139 
 
 aarrip (Zend starann, Sanscrit tara, English star, Latin stella), 
 though it has great names in its favour , 1 2 is not worthy of much 
 attention. 
 
 Ish tar’s aphrodisiac character, though it can scarcely be 
 doubted, does not appear very clearly in the inscriptions. She 
 is “ the goddess who rejoices mankind,” and her most common 
 epithet is “ Asurah,” “the fortunate” or “the happy. But 
 otherwise her epithets are vague and general, insomuch that she 
 is often scarcely distinguishable from Beltis. She is called “ the 
 mistress of heaven and earth,” “ the great goddess, “ the queen 
 of all the gods and again « the goddess of war and battle,” 
 
 “ the queen of victory,” “ she who arranges battles, and ‘ she 
 who defends from attacks ” She is also represented in the in- 
 scriptions of one king as the goddess of the chace . 3 * 
 
 The worship of Ishtar was wide-spread, and her shrmes were 
 numerous. She is often called “ the queen of Babylon,” and 
 must certainly have had a temple in that city. She 
 had also temples at Asshur (Kileh-Sherghat), at Arbela, 
 and at Nineveh. It may be suspected that her symbol 
 was the naked female form, which is not uncommon 
 upon the cylinders. She may also be represented by 
 the rude images in baked clay so common throughout 
 the Mesopotamian ruins, which are generally regarded as images 
 of Mylitta . 5 
 
 Ishtar is sometimes coupled with Nebo in such a way as to 
 suggest the notion that she was his wife. This, however, can 
 hardly have been her real position in the my thology, since Nebo 
 had, as will presently appear, another wife, Varamit, whom there 
 
 1 As Gesenins, Moyers, and Fiirst. 
 Bunsen’s argument against an Iranian 
 derivation of the name of a Semitic 
 god ( Egypt's Place , vol. iv. p. 349, E. T.) 
 is perfectly sound; but his suggestion 
 that the true etymology of Ashtoreth 
 is has-toreth, “the seat of the cow,” 
 seems scarcely entitled to acceptance. 
 
 2 Compare the Roman notion by 
 which the best throw on the dice was 
 
 called “Venus,” or “ jactus Venereus.” 
 
 (Plaut. Asin. v. ii. 55 ; Cic. de Div. ii. 
 
 59, &c.) 
 
 3 This is her character in the records 
 of Asshur-bani-pal, the son and suc- 
 cessor of Esar-haddon. 
 
 4 Nebuchadnezzar speaks of having 
 “ made the way of Nana ” in Babylon, 
 by which he probably means a way or 
 road to her temple. (See the Standard 
 Inscription, as given in the authors 
 Herodotus, vol. ii. p. 586.) 
 
 5 Loftus, Chaldoea and Susiana, ch. 
 xviii. p. 214; Layard, Nineveh and its 
 Remains , vol. ii. ch. 7. 
 
140 
 
 Chap, VII. 
 
 THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 /C 
 
 is no reason to Relieve identical with Ishtar. It is most pro- 
 bable that the conjunction is casual 
 and accidental, being due to special 
 and temporary causes. 6 
 
 NEBO. 
 
 The last of the five planetary gods 
 is Nebo, who undoubtedly represents 
 the planet Mercury. His name is 
 the same, or nearly so, both in Baby- 
 lonian and Assyrian; 7 and we may 
 perhaps assign it a Semitic deriva- 
 tion, from the root uibbah, N3J, “to 
 prophesy. It is his special function to preside over knowledge 
 and learning. He is called “ the god who possesses intelligence,” 
 “ he who hears from afar,” “ he who teaches,” or “ he who 
 teaches and instructs.’’ In this point of view, he of course 
 approximates to Hoa, whose son he is called in some inscriptions, 
 and to whom he bears a general resemblance. Like Hoa, he is 
 symbolized by the simple wedge or arrowhead, 8 the primary and 
 essential element of cuneiform writing, to mark his joint presi- 
 dency with that god over writing and literature. At the same 
 time Nebo has, like so many of the Chaldsean gods, a number 
 of general titles, implying divine power, which, if they had 
 belonged to him only, would have seemed to prove him the 
 supreme deity. He is “ the Lord of lords, who has no equal in 
 power, “the supreme chief,” “the sustainer,” “the supporter,” 
 
 b The conjunction appears to belong 
 only to the time of Nebuchadnezzar. 
 Sir H. Rawlinson observes that, as 
 Nebuchadnezzar never once mentions 
 Varamit, the true wife of Nebo, in his 
 inscriptions, it is evident she was out 
 of favour with him, and that therefore 
 Nana “may have been thrust tem- 
 porarily into her place.” {See the author’s 
 Herodotus, vol. i. p. 637.) 
 
 7 The Babylonian form is Nabiu , the 
 Assyrian Nabu. The word forms the 
 initial element in Nabonassar, Nabopo- 
 lassar, Nebuchadnezzar, Nabonidus or 
 
 Labynetus, Nebuzaradan, and possibly 
 in Laborosoarchod. 
 
 8 In the great temple of Nebo at Bor- 
 sippa there is an interior chamber, 
 which seems to have been a chapel or 
 oratory, all the bricks of which are 
 found to be stamped— in addition to the 
 j ordinary legend of Nebuchadnezzar — 
 
 J with the figure of a wedge or arrow- 
 ! head. It is probably with reference to 
 this symbol that Nebo received the 
 name of Tir , which is at once “ an 
 arrow,” and the name of the planet 
 Mercury in ancient Persian. 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 NEBO. 
 
 141 
 
 “the ever ready,” “the guardian over the heavens and the 
 earth,” “ the lord of the con- 
 stellations,” “ the holder of 
 the sceptre of power,” “ he 
 who grants to kings the 
 sceptre of royalty for the 
 governance of their people.” 
 
 It is chiefly by his omission 
 from many lists, and his 
 humble place when he is 
 mentioned together with the 
 really great gods, that we 
 know he was mythologically 
 a deity of no very great 
 eminence. 
 
 There is nothing to prove 
 the early worship of Nebo. 
 
 His name does not appear as 
 an element in any royal ap- 
 pellation belonging to the 
 Chaldsean series. Nor is there 
 any reference to him in the 
 records of the primeval times. 
 
 Still, as he is probably of 
 Babylonian rather than As- 
 syrian origin, 9 and as an 
 Assyrian king is named after 
 him in the twelfth century 
 B.c., 1 we may assume that he 
 was not unknown to the pri- 
 mitive people of Chaldma, 
 
 thouo’h at present their re- Nebo (^from a statue in the British Museum). 
 
 mains have furnished us with no mention of him. In later 
 
 9 When Nebo first appears in Assyria, 
 it is as a foreign god, whose worship 
 is brought thither from Babylonia. His 
 worship was never common in the more 
 northern country. 
 
 1 This is the monarch whose name is 
 read as Mutaggil-Nebu , the grandfather 
 of Tiglath-Pileser I., who is mentioned 
 in that monarch’s great inscription (p. 
 60 ). 
 
142 
 
 THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. YII. 
 
 ages the chief seat of his worship was Borsippa, where the great 
 and famous temple, known at present as the Birs-Nimrud, was 
 dedicated to his honour. He had also a shrine at Calah (Nim- 
 rud), whence were procured the statues representing him which 
 are now in the British Museum. He was in special favour 
 with the kings of the great Babylonian empire, who were mostly 
 named after him and viewed him as presiding over their house. 
 His symbol has not yet been recognised. 
 
 The wife of Nebo, as already observed, was Yaramit or 
 Urmit— a word which perhaps means “exalted,” from the root 
 Dn, “to be lifted up.” No special attributes are ascribed to 
 this goddess, who merely accompanies her husband in most of 
 the places where he is mentioned by name. 
 
 Such, then, seem to have been the chief gods worshipped by 
 the early Chaldaeans. It would be an endless as well as an 
 unprofitable task to give an account of the inferior deities. 
 Their name is “Legion;” and they are, for the most part, too 
 vague and shadowy for effective description. A vast number 
 are merely local ; and it may be suspected that where this is 
 the case the great gods of the Pantheon come before us re- 
 peatedly, disguised under rustic titles. We have, moreover, no 
 clue at present to this labyrinth, on which, even with greater 
 knowledge, it would perhaps be best for us to forbear to enter ; 
 since there is no reason to expect that we should obtain any 
 really valuable results from its exploration. 
 
 A few words, however, may be added upon the subject of the 
 Chaldsean cosmogony. Although the only knowledge that we 
 possess on this point is derived from Berosus, and therefore we 
 cannot be sure that we have re illy the belief of the ancient 
 people, yet, judging from internal evidence of character, we 
 may safely pronounce Berosus’ account not only archaic, but in 
 its groundwork and essence a primeval tradition, more ancient 
 probably than most of the gods whom we have been considering. 
 
 “ In the beginning,” says this ancient legend, “ all was dark- 
 ness and water, and therein were generated monstrous animals 
 of strange and peculiar forms. There were men with two wings, 
 and some even with four, and with two faces ; and others with 
 
Chat*. VII. 
 
 COSMOGONY. 
 
 143 
 
 two heads, a man’s and a woman’s, on one body ; and there were 
 men with the heads and the horns of goats, and men with hoofs 
 like horses, and some with the upper parts of a man joined to 
 the lower parts of a horse, like centaurs ; and there were bulls 
 with human heads, dogs with four bodies and with fishes’ tails, 
 men and horses with dogs’ heads, creatures with the heads and 
 bodies of horses, but with the tails of fish, and other animals 
 mixing the forms of various beasts. Moreover, there were mon- 
 strous fish and reptiles and serpents, and divers other creatures, 
 which had borrowed something from each other’s shapes ; of all 
 which the likenesses are still preserved in the temple of Belus. 
 A woman ruleth them all, by name Omorka, which is in Chaldee 
 Thalatth, and in Greek Thalassa (or 4 the sea ’). Then Belus 
 appeared, and split the woman in twain ; and of the one half of 
 her he made the heaven, and of the other half the earth ; and 
 the beasts that were in her he caused to perish. And he split 
 the darkness, and divided the heaven and the earth asunder, 
 and put the world in order ; and the animals that could not bear 
 the light perished. Belus, upon this, seeing that the earth was 
 desolate, yet teeming with productive power, commanded one 
 of the gods to cut off his head , 2 and to mix the blood which 
 flowed forth with earth, and form men therewith, and beasts 
 that could bear the light. So man was made, and was intelli- 
 gent, being a partaker of the divine wisdom . 3 Likewise Belus 
 made the stars, and the sun and moon, and the five planets.” 
 
 It has been generally seen that this cosmogony bears a re- 
 markable resemblance to the history of Creation contained in 
 the opening chapters of the book of Genesis. Some have gone 
 so far as to argue that the Mosaic account was derived from it . 4 
 
 2 There is a confusion here in Poly- 
 histor both as reported by Eusebius 
 (Chron. Can. i. 2, pp. 11, 12) and by 
 Syncellus ( Chronograph . vol. i. p. 53), 
 which can scarcely have belonged to his 
 authority, Berosus. Belus is first made 
 to cut off his own head, and “ the other 
 gods ” are said to have mixed his blood 
 with earth and formed man ; but after- 
 wards the account contained in the text 
 
 is given. It seems to me that the first 
 account is an interpolation in the legend. 
 
 3 I have placed this phrase a little 
 out of its order. It occurs in the passage, 
 which appears to me interpolated, and 
 which is perhaps rather an explanation 
 which Berosus gave of the legend than 
 part of the legend itself. However, 
 Berosus has no doubt here explained the 
 legend rightly. 
 
 4 So Niebuhr says ( Lectures on Ancient 
 History , vol. i. p. 16, E.T.), but without 
 mentioning to what writers he alludes. 
 
144 
 
 THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. YII. 
 
 Others, who reject this notion, suggest that a certain “ old 
 Chaldee tradition” was “the basis of them both .” 5 If we 
 drop out the word “ Chaldee ” from this statement, it may be 
 regarded as fairly expressing the truth. The Babylonian legend 
 embodies a primeval tradition, common to all mankind, of which 
 an inspired author has given us the true groundwork in the first 
 and second chapters of Genesis. What is especially remarkable 
 is the fidelity, comparatively speaking, with which the Babylonian 
 legend reports the facts. While the whole tone and spirit of the 
 two accounts , 6 and even the point of view from which they are 
 taken, differ , 7 the general outline of the narrative in each is 
 nearly the same. In both we have the earth at first “ without 
 form and void,” and “ darkness upon the face of the deep.” In 
 both the first step taken towards creation is the separation of 
 the mixed mass, and the formation of the heavens and the earth 
 as the consequence of such separation. In both we have light 
 mentioned before the creation of the sun and moon ; in both we 
 have the existence of animals before man ; and in both we have 
 a divine element infused into man at his birth, and his formation 
 “ from the dust of the ground.” The only points in- which the 
 narratives can be said to be at variance are points of order. The 
 Babylonians apparently made the formation of man and of the 
 animals which at present inhabit the earth simultaneous, and 
 placed the creation of the sun, moon, and planets after, instead 
 of before, that of men and animals. In other respects the Baby- 
 lonian narrative either adds to the Mosaic account, as in its 
 description of the monsters and their destruction, or clothes in 
 mythic language, that could never have been understood literally, 
 the truth which in Scripture is put forth with severe simplicity. 
 The cleaving of the woman Thalatth in twain, and the beheading 
 of Belus, are embellishments of this latter character ; they are 
 
 5 Bunsen, Egypt's Place in Universal 
 History , vol. iv. p. 365, E. T. 
 
 6 The Chaldee narrative is extrava- 
 
 gant and grotesque ; the Mosaical is I 
 miraculous, as a true account of creation 
 must he ; but it is without unnecessary I 
 marvels, and its tone is sublime and I 
 solemn. 
 
 7 In Genesis the point of view is the 
 divine — “ In the beginning God created 
 the heaven and the earth, and the 
 Spirit of God moved upon the face of 
 the waters.” In the Chaldee legend the 
 point of view is the physical and mun- 
 dane, God being only brought in after a 
 while as taking a certain part in creation. 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 TRADITION OF THE FLOOD. 
 
 145 
 
 plainly and evidently mythological ; nor can we suppose them 
 to have been at any time regarded as facts. Ihe existence of 
 the monsters, on the other hand, may well have been an actual 
 belief. All men are prone to believe in such marvels ; and it 
 is quite possible, as Niebuhr supposes, 8 that some discoveries ot 
 the remains of mammoths and other monstrous forms embedded 
 in the crust of the earth, may have given definiteness and promi- 
 nency to the Chaldsean notions on this subject. 
 
 Besides their correct notions on the subject of creation, the 
 primitive Chaldeans seem also to have been aware of the general 
 destruction of mankind, on account of their wickedness, 9 by a 
 Flood ; and of the rebellious attempt which was made soon after 
 the Flood to concentrate themselves in one place, instead of 
 obeying the command to “ replenish the earth 10 — an attempt 
 which was thwarted by means of the confusion of their speech. 
 The Chaldsean legends embodying these primitive traditions 
 were as follows : — 
 
 “ God appeared to Xisuthrus (Noah) in a dream, and warned 
 him that on the . fifteenth day of the month Dsesius, mankind 
 would be destroyed by a deluge. He bade him bury in Sippara, 
 the City of the Sun, the extant writings, first and last ; and 
 build a ship, and enter therein with his family and his close 
 friends ; and furnish it with meat and drink ; and place on 
 board winged fowl, and four-footed beasts of the earth ; and 
 when all was ready, set sail. Xisuthrus asked ‘ Whither he was 
 to sail?’ and was told, 4 To the gods, with a prayer that it might 
 fare well with mankind.’ Then Xisuthrus was not disobedient 
 to the vision, but built a ship five furlongs (3125 feet) in length, 
 and two furlongs (1250 feet) in breadth ; and collected all that 
 had been commanded him, and put his wife and children and 
 close friends on board. The flood came ; and as soon as it 
 ceased, Xisuthrus let loose some birds, which, finding neither 
 food nor a place where they could rest, came back to the ark. 
 
 8 Lectures on Ancient History , vol. i. 
 p. 17, E.T. 
 
 9 This is not expressly stated in the 
 legend ; but the divine warning to 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 Xisuthrus, and the stress laid by Xisu- 
 thrus in his last words on the worship of 
 God, seem to imply such a belief. 
 
 10 Gen. ix. 1. 
 
 L 
 
146 
 
 THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. YH. 
 
 After some days he again sent out the birds, 1 which again re- 
 turned to the ark, but with feet covered with mud. Sent out a 
 third time, the birds returned no more, and Xisuthrus knew that 
 land had reappeared : so he removed some of the covering of 
 the ark, and looked, and behold ! the vessel had grounded on a 
 mountain. Then Xisuthrus went forth with his wife and his 
 daughter, and his pilot, 2 and fell down and worshipped the 
 earth, 3 and built an altar, and offered sacrifice to the gods ; after 
 which he disappeared from sight, together with those who had 
 accompanied him. They who had remained in the ark and not 
 gone forth with Xisuthrus, now left it and searched for him, and 
 shouted out his name ; but Xisuthrus was not seen any moie. 
 Only his voice answered them out of the air, saying, 4 T\ orship 
 God ; for because I worshipped God, am I gone to dwell with 
 the gods; and they who were with me have shared the same 
 honour.’ And he "bade them return to Babylon, and recover 
 the writings buried at Sippara, and make them known among 
 men; and he told them that the land in which they then were 
 was Armenia. So they, when they had heard all, sacrificed to 
 the gods and went their way on foot to Babjdon, and, having 
 reached it, recovered the buried writings from Sippara, and 
 built many cities and temples, and restored Babylon. Some 
 portion of the ark still continues in Armenia, in the Gordiman 
 (Kurdish) Mountains ; and persons scrape off the bitumen from 
 it to bring away, and this they use as a remedy to avert mis- 
 fortunes.” 4 
 
 « The earth was still of one language, when the primitive men, 
 who were proud of their strength and stature, and despised the 
 gods as their inferiors, erected a tower of vast height, in order 
 that they might mount to heaven. And the tower was now near 
 to heaven, when the gods (or God) caused the winds to blow 
 and overturned the structure upon the men, and made them 
 
 1 So in Syncellus ( Chronograph . p. 54) ; 
 but in the Armenian Eusebius we read 
 “ other birds ” ( Chron . Can. i. 3, p. 15). 
 
 2 The Armenian translator turns the 
 
 pilot (Kvf3epi/riTT]v) into the “architect 
 
 of the ship.” M. Bunsen follows him 
 C Egypt* &c., vol. i y - P* 371). 
 
 3 This is plainly stated both in the 
 Greek and in the Armenian. M. Bun- 
 sen has “ threw himself upon the earth 
 and prayed ” (1. s. c.). 
 
 4 I have inverted the order of this 
 clause and the preceding one, to keep 
 the connexion more clear. 
 
Chap. YII. 
 
 TRADITION OF THE TOWER. 
 
 147 
 
 speak with divers tongues; wherefore the city was called 
 Babylon .” 5 
 
 Here again we have a harmony with Scripture of the most 
 remarkable kind — a harmony not confined to the main facts, but 
 reaching even to the minuter points, and one which is altogether 
 most curious and interesting. The Babylonians have not only, 
 in common with the great majority of nations, handed down 
 from age to age the general tradition of the Flood, but they 
 are acquainted with most of the particulars of the occurrence. 
 They know of the divine warning to a single man , 6 the direction 
 to construct a huge ship or ark , 7 the command to take into it a 
 chosen few of mankind only , 8 and to devote the chief space to 
 winged fowl and four-footed beasts of the earth . 9 They are 
 aware of the tentative sending out of birds from it , 10 and of their 
 returning twice , 11 but when sent out a third time returning no 
 more . 12 They know of the egress from the ark by removal of 
 some of its covering , 13 and of the altar built and the sacrifice 
 offered immediately afterwards . 14 They know that the ark rested 
 in Armenia ; 15 that those who escaped by means of it, or their 
 descendants, journeyed towards Babylon ; 1 that there a tower 
 was begun, but not completed, the building being stopped by 
 divine interposition and a miraculous confusion of tongues . 2 As 
 before, they are not content with the plain truth, but must 
 amplify and embellish it. The size of the ark is exaggerated to 
 an absurdity , 3 and its proportions are misrepresented in such a 
 way as to outrage all the principles of naval architecture . 4 The 
 
 5 Two separate versions of this legend 
 have descended to us. They come re- 
 spectively from Abydenus and Poly- 
 histor. We have the words of the 
 authors in Euseb. Prcep. Ev. ix. 14, 15, 
 and Syncell. Chronograph, vol. i. p. 81. 
 We have also a translation of their 
 words in the Armenian Eusebius (CArow. 
 
 Can. i. 4 and 8). 6 Gen. vi. 13. 
 
 7 lb. 14-16. 8 lb. verse 18. 
 
 9 lb. verse 20. 10 lb. viii. 7. 
 
 11 lb. 9-11. 12 lb. verse 12. 
 
 13 lb. verse 13 : u Noah removed the 
 
 covering of the ark , and looked, and, 
 
 behold, the face of the earth was dry.” 
 
 14 lb. viii. 20. “ And Noah builded 
 
 an altar unto the Lord, and took of 
 every clean beast, and of every clean 
 fowl, and offered burnt offerings upon 
 the altar.” 
 
 15 lb. verse 8 : - “ And the ark rested 
 . . . upon the mountains of Ararat.” 
 
 , Ararat is the usual word for Armenia 
 in the Assyrian inscriptions. 
 
 1 lb. xi. 2. 3 lb. 4-9. 
 
 3 The ark is made more than half a 
 mile long, whereas it was really only 300 
 cubits, which is at the utmost 600 feet, 
 or less than an eighth of a mile. 
 
 4 According to some writers, the 
 j principles of naval architecture were 
 
 not concerned in the building of the ark, 
 
 L 2 
 
148 
 
 THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VII. 
 
 translation of Xisutbrus, his wife, his daughter, and his pilot — a 
 reminiscence possibly of the translation of Enoch — is unfitly as 
 well as falsely introduced just after they have been miraculously 
 saved from destruction. The story of the Tower is given with 
 less departure from the actual truth. The building is, however, 
 absurdly represented as an actual attempt to scale heaven ; 5 
 and a storm of wind is somewhat unnecessarily introduced to 
 destroy the Tower, which from the Scripture narrative seems to 
 have been left standing. It is also especially to be noticed that 
 in the Chaldsean legends the whole interest is made narrow and 
 local. The Flood appears as a circumstance in the history of 
 Babylonia; and the priestly traditionists, who have put the 
 legend into shape, are chiefly anxious to make the event redound 
 to the glory of their sacred books, which they boast to have been 
 the special objects of divine care, and represent as a legacy from 
 the antediluvian ages. The general interests of mankind are 
 nothing to the Chaldsean priests, who see in the story of the 
 Tower simply a local etymology, and in the Deluge an event 
 which made the Babylonians the sole possessors of primeval 
 wisdom . 6 
 
 since (as they say) “ it was not a ship, 
 but a house” (Kitto’s Biblical Cyclo- 
 paedia, *vol. i. p. 212). But would “a 
 floating house,” not shaped shipwise, 
 have been safe amid the winds and 
 currents of so terrible a crisis? The 
 Chaldseans, despite the absurd propor- 
 tions that they assign it, term the ark 
 “ a ship,” and give it “ a pilot.” 
 
 5 The expression in Gen. xi. 4, “ a 
 tower whose top may reach unto heaven,” 
 is a mere common form of Oriental 
 hyperbole, applied to any great height. 
 (See Deut. i. 28, where the spies are 
 said to have brought back word that 
 
 the cities of the Canaanites were great, 
 and “ walled up to heaven.”) But in 
 the Chaldee version of the story we are 
 told that the men built the tower “ in 
 order that they might mount to heaven” 
 ( 07 T(as els rbv ovpavbv avafiwai). 
 
 6 Baron Bunsen observes with reason 
 — “The general contrast between the 
 Biblical and the Chaldee version is very 
 great. What a purely special local 
 character, legendary and fabulous, with- 
 out ideas, does it display in every point 
 which it does not hold in common with 
 the Hebrew!” ( Egypt's Place , vol. iv. 
 p. 374, E. T.) 
 
Chap. VIII. 
 
 HISTORY AND CHRONOLOGY. 
 
 149 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 HISTORY AND CHRONOLOGY. 
 
 “ The beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and 
 Calneh, in the land of Shinar.” — Gen. x. 10. 
 
 The establishment of a Cushite kingdom in Lower Babylonia 
 dates probably from (at least) the twenty-fourth or twenty-fifth 
 century before our era. Greek traditions 1 assigned to the city 
 of Babylon an antiquity nearly as remote ;• and the native 
 historian, Berosus, spoke of a Chaldsean dynasty as bearing rule 
 anterior to B.c. 2250. Unfortunately the works of this great 
 authority have been lost ; and even the general outline of his 
 chronological scheme, whereof some writers have left us an 
 account, 2 is to a certain extent imperfect ; so that, in order to 
 obtain a definite chronology for the early times, we are forced 
 to have recourse, in some degree, to conjecture. Berosus de- 
 clared that six dynasties had reigned in Chaldaea since the great 
 flood of Xisuthrus, or Noah. To the first, which consisted of 
 86 kings, he allowed the extravagant period of 34,080 years. 
 
 1 Simplicius relates ( Comment . in 
 Aristot. de Coelo, ii. p. 123) that Calli- 
 sthenes, the friend of Alexander, sent to 
 Aristotle from Babylon a series of 
 stellar observations made in that city, 
 which reached back 1903 years before 
 the conquest of the place by Alexander. 
 (b.c. 331 + 1903 = b.c. 2234.) Philo- 
 Byblius, according to Stephen (ad voc. 
 BapvXwv), made Babylon to have been 
 built 1002 years before Semiramis, 
 whom he considered contemporary with, 
 or a little anterior to, the Trojan War. 
 ( Fragm . Hist. Graze. vol. iii. p. 563.) 
 We do not know his date for this last 
 event, but supposing it to be that of 
 the Parian Chronicle, b.c. 1218, we 
 
 should have b.c. 2220 for the building 
 
 | of the city, according to him. Again, 
 j Berosus and Critodemus are said by 
 I Pliny (Zf. N. vii. 56) to have declared 
 that the Babylonians had recorded their 
 : stellar observations upon bricks for 
 ! 480 years before the era of Phoroneus . 
 j At least the passage may be so under- 
 stood. (See the Journal of Asiatic Society , 
 vol. xv. p. 222.) Now the date of Pho- 
 | roneus, according to Clinton (F. H. vol. i. 
 
 J p. 139), is b.c. 1753; and b.c. 1753 + 
 480 gives b.c. 2233. 
 
 2 The most authentic account seems 
 to be that which Eusebius copied from 
 Polyhistor ( Chronica , i. 4). Syncellus is 
 far less to be trusted, on account of his 
 elaborate systematizing. 
 
THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. Till. 
 
 ISO 
 
 Evechous, the founder of the dynasty, had enjoyed the royal 
 dignity for 2400 years, and Chomasbelus, his somand successor, 
 had reigned 300 years longer than his father. The other 84 
 monarehs had filled up the remaining space of 28,980 years — 
 their reigns thus averaging 345 years apiece. It is clear that 
 these numbers are unhistoric ; and though it would be easy to 
 reduce them within the limits of credibility by arbitrary suppo- 
 sitions — as, for instance, that, the years of the narrative repre- 
 sent months or days 3 — yet it may reasonably be doubted whether 
 we should in. this way be doing any service to the cause of 
 historic truth. The names Evechous and Chomasbelus seem 
 mythic rather than real ; they represent personages in the 
 Babylonian Pantheon, and can scarcely have been borne by 
 men. It is likely that the entire series of names partook of the 
 same character, and that, if we possessed them, their bearing 
 would be found to be, not historic, but mythological. We may 
 parallel this dynasty of Berosus, where he reckons kings’ reigns 
 by the cyclical periods of sosses and ners, with Manetho’s dynasties 
 of Gods and Demigods in Egypt, where the sum of the years is 
 nearly as great. 4 
 
 It is necessary, then, to discard as unhistorical the names and 
 numbers assigned to his first dynasty by Berosus, and to retain 
 from this part of his scheme nothing but the fact which he lays 
 down of an ancient Chaldsean dynasty having ruled in Baby- 
 lonia, prior to a conquest, which led to the establishment of a 
 second dynasty, termed by him Median. 
 
 The scheme of Berosus then, setting aside his numbers for 
 the first period, is — according to the best extant authorities 5 
 — as follows : — 
 
 Dynasty I. 
 
 of (?) Chaldseau kings .. 
 
 
 „ II. 
 
 „ 8 Median ,, . . . 
 
 .. .. 234 (?) „ 
 
 „ III. 
 
 V 11 >» •• 
 
 . .. 48 (?) „ 
 
 IV. 
 
 „ 49 Chaldsean „ .. . 
 
 • - 458 
 
 3 This view is taken by Mr. William 
 Palmer in his Appendix on ‘ Babylonian 
 and Assyrian Antiquities.’ (See his 
 Egyptian Chronicles , vol. ii. pp. 942, 943.) 
 
 4 Manetho assigns 24,925 years to 
 
 the reigns of Gods, Demigods, and 
 Manes, who ruled Egypt before Menes 
 — the first historical king. (See Fragm. 
 Hist. Gr. vol. ii. p. 528.) 
 
 5 Eusebius and Josephus. 
 
Chap. VIII. 
 
 CHRONOLOGICAL SCHEME OF BEROSUS. 
 
 151 
 
 Dynasty V. of 9 Arabian kings 
 „ VI. ,,45 (?) „ 
 
 Reign of Pul" 
 
 Dynasty VII. of ( ? ) (?) kings 
 „ VIII. „ 6 Chaldsean „ 
 
 245 years. 
 526 „ 
 
 ? 
 
 ? I 
 
 87 „ 
 
 It will be observed that this table contains certain defects and 
 weaknesses, which greatly impair its value, and prevent ns from 
 constructing upon it, without further aid, an exact scheme of 
 chronology. Not only does a doubt attach to one or two of the 
 number — to the years, i.e. of the second and third dynasty 
 but in two cases we have no numbers at all set down for us, and 
 must supply them from conjecture, or from extraneous sources, 
 before we can make the scheme available. Fortunately m the 
 more important case, that of the seventh dynasty, the number 
 of years can be exactly supplied without any difficulty. I he 
 Canon of Ptolemy covers, in fact, the whole interval between the 
 reign of Pul and the close of the Babylonian Empire, giving for 
 the° period of the seventh dynasty 13 reigns in 122 years, and 
 for that of the eighth 5 reigns in 87 years. The length of the 
 reign of Pul can, however, only be supplied from conjecture. 
 As it is not an unreasonable supposition that he may have 
 reigned 28 years, and as this number harmonises well with the 
 chronological notices of the monuments, w r e shall venture to 
 assume it, and thus complete the scheme which the fragments 
 of Berosus leave imperfect. 
 
 Berosus’ Chronological Scheme completed. 
 
 Dynasty I. of ? Chaldsean kings 
 
 „ II. „ 8 Median „ 
 
 „ III. „ 11 ? 
 
 „ IV. „ 49 Chaldsean „ 
 
 V. ,, 9 Arabian „ 
 
 VI. „ 45 ? 
 
 Reign of Pul (Chaldsean king) . . . 
 
 Dynasty VII. of 13 ? kings 
 
 VIII. „ 6 6 7 Babylonian „ 
 
 Y ears. 
 ? 
 
 234 
 
 48 
 
 458 
 
 245 
 
 526 
 
 28 
 
 122 
 
 87 
 
 B.C. 
 
 B.C. 
 
 ? 
 
 2286 
 
 2286 i 
 
 2052 
 
 2052 
 
 2004 
 
 2004 
 
 1546 
 
 1546 ! 
 
 1301 
 
 1301 
 
 775 
 
 775 
 
 747 
 
 747 
 
 '625 
 
 625 
 
 538 
 
 6 The 48 years of the third dynasty 
 are not in the text of the Armenian 
 Eusebius, but in the margin only. The 
 
 text of the same authority assigns 224 
 years to the second dynasty, but the 
 
 margin gives 234. 
 
 7 The Canon mentions five only of 
 these kings, omitting one (Laboroso- 
 archod), because he reigned less than a 
 full year. 
 
152 
 
 THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VIII. 
 
 This scheme, in which there is nothing conjectural except 
 the length of the reign of Pul, receives very remarkable con- 
 firmation from the Assyrian monuments. These inform us, 
 first, that there was a conquest of Babylon by a Susianian 
 monarch 1635 years before the capture of Susa by Asshur-bani- 
 pal, the son of Esarhaddon ; 8 and, secondly, that there was a 
 second conquest by an Assyrian monarch 600 years before the 
 occupation of Babylon by Esarhaddon’s father, Sennacherib. 
 Now Sennacherib’s occupation of Babylon was in b.c. 702 ; and 
 600 years before this brings us to B.c. 1302, within a year of the 
 date which the scheme assigns to the accession of the seventh 
 dynasty. Susa was taken by Asshur-bani-pal probably in 
 B.c. 651 ; and 1635 years before this is B.c. 2286, or the exact 
 year marked in the scheme for the accession of the second 
 (Median) dynasty. This double coincidence can scarcely be 
 accidental ; and we may conclude, therefore, that we have in the 
 above table at any rate a near approach to the scheme of Baby- 
 lonian chronology as received among both the Babylonians and 
 Assyrians in the seventh century before our era. 
 
 Whether the chronology is wholly trustworthy is another 
 question. The evidence both of the classical writers 9 and of the 
 monuments is to the effect that exact chronology was a subject 
 to which the Babylonians and Assyrians paid great attention. 
 The 44 Canon of Ptolemy,” which contained an exact Babylonian 
 computation of time from B.c. 747 to B.c. 331 is generally 
 allowed to be a most authentic document, and one on which w r e 
 may place complete reliance. 1 The 44 Assyrian Canon,” which 
 gives the years of the Assyrian monarchs from b.c. 911 to B.c. 
 660, appears to be equally trustworthy. How much further 
 exact notation went back, it is impossible to sav. All that we 
 know is, first, that the later Assyrian monarchs believed they had 
 means of fixing the exact date of events in their own history and 
 in that of Babylon up to a time distant from their own as much 
 
 8 G. Smith in Ztitschrift fur Aegypti- 
 sche Sprache, November, 18G8. 
 
 9 Herod, i. 95 ; Aristot. De Coelo , ii. 
 12, §3; Simplic. Comment, ad Aristot. 
 de Cuelo, ii. p. 123. 
 
 1 Mr. Bosanquet is almost the only 
 chronologer who still disputes the ac- 
 curacy of this document. (See his 
 Messiah the Piince , Appendix, pp. 455-8, 
 2nd edition.) 
 
Chai\ VIII. FOUNDING OF THE EMPIRE — NIMROD. 
 
 153 
 
 as sixteen or seventeen hundred years ; and, secondly, that the 
 chronology which results from their statements and those of 
 Berosus is moderate, probable, and in harmony with all the 
 knowledge which we obtain of the East from other sources. It 
 is proposed therefore, in the present volumes, to accept the 
 general scheme of Berosus as, in all probability, not seriously in 
 error ; and to arrange the Chaldman, Assyrian, and Babylonian 
 history on the framework, which it furnishes. 
 
 Chaldsean history may therefore be regarded as opening upon 
 us at a time anterior, at any rate by a century or two, 2 to B.c. 
 2286. It was then that Nimrod, the son or descendant of Cush, 
 set up a kingdom m Lower IVIesopotamia, which atti acted the 
 attention of surrounding nations. The people, whom he led, 
 came probably by sea ; at any rate, their earliest settlements 
 were on the coast ; and Ur or Hur, on the right bank of the 
 Euphrates, at a very short distance from its embouchure, was 
 the primitive capital. The “mighty hunter” rapidly spread 
 his dominion inland, subduing or expelling the various tribes 
 by which the country was previously occupied. His kingdom 
 extended northwards, at least as far as Babylon, which (as 
 well as Erech or Huruk, Accad, and Calneh) was first founded 
 by this monarch. 3 Further historical details of his reign are 
 wanting ; but the strength of his character and the greatness 
 of his achievements are remarkably indicated by a variety of 
 testimonies, which place him among the foremost men of the 
 Old World, and guarantee him a never-ending remembrance. 
 At least as early as the time of Moses his name had passed into 
 a proverb. He was known as “ the mighty hunter before the 
 Lord ” 4 — an expression which had probably a double meaning, 
 implying at once skill and bravery in the pursuit and destruc- 
 
 2 Syncellus gave 225 years to the I to the late Babylonian period. One 
 first Chaldsean dynasty in Babylonia; | only (Chomasbelus, perhaps Shamas-Bel) 
 hut it is difficult to say on what basis has at all the air of a name of this 
 he went. He admitted seven kings, to early time, 
 whom he gave the names of Evechius, ; 3 Gen. x. 10. 
 
 Chomasbelus, Porus, Nechubas, Nabius, 4 Gen. x. 9 : “ He was a mighty hunter 
 
 Oniballus, and Zinzerus. These names before the Lord ; wherefore it is said, 
 
 do not much encourage us to view the j Even as Nimrod, the mighty hunter 
 
 list as historical. Three of them belong j before the Lord. 
 
154 
 
 THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VIII. 
 
 tion of wild beasts, and also a genius for war and success in his 
 aggressions upon men. In his own nation he seems to have 
 been deified, and to have continued down to the latest times 
 one of the leading objects of worship, under the title of Bilii- 
 Nipru or Bel-Nimrod , 5 which may be translated “the god of the 
 chace,” or “ the great hunter.” One of bis capitals, Calneh, 
 which was regarded as his special city, appears afterwards to 
 have been known by his name (probably as being the chief seat 
 of his worship in the early times) ; and this name it still retains, 
 slightly corrupted. In the modern Niffer we may recognise the 
 Talmudical Nopher, and the Assyrian Nipur, which is Nipru, 
 with a mere metathesis of the two final letters. The fame of 
 Nimrod has always been rife in the country of his domination. 
 Arab writers record a number of remarkable traditions, in which 
 he plays a conspicuous part ; 6 and there is little doubt but' that 
 it is in honour of his apotheosis that the constellation Orion 
 bears in Arabian astronomy the title of El J abbar, or “ the 
 giant .” 7 Even at the present day his name lives in the mouth 
 of the people inhabiting Chaldsea and the adjacent regions, 
 whose memory of ancient heroes is almost confined to three — 
 Nimrod, Solomon, and Alexander. Wherever a mound of ashes 
 is to be seen in Babylonia or the adjoining countries, the local 
 traditions attach to it the name of Nimrud or Nimrod ; 8 and 
 the most striking ruins now existing in the Mesopotamian 
 valley, whether in its upper or its lower portion, are made in 
 this way monuments of his glory . 9 
 
 5 The Greek forms, Ne/3 pwS and Ne- 
 fipwd, serve to connect Nipru with 
 
 TipD. The native root is thought to be 
 
 napar , “ to pursue,” or “ cause to flee.” 
 (See the author’s Herodotus , vol. i. p. 
 597.) 
 
 6 Yacut declares that Nimrod at- 
 tempted to mount to heaven on the 
 wings of an eagle, and makes Niffer 
 
 (Calneh) the scene of this occurrence. 
 I Lex. Geograph, in voc. Niffer .) It is 
 supposed that we have here an allusion 
 
 to the building of the tower of Babel. 
 
 The Koran contains a story of Nimrod’s 
 
 casting Abraham into a fiery furnace. 
 
 7 The Arabic Jabbar represents the 
 
 Hebrew "03, which is the epithet 
 
 applied to Nimrod in Gen. x. 9. The 
 identification of Nimrod with Orion is 
 noted by Greek writers. (See John of 
 Antioch, Er. 3; Pasch. Chron. vol. i. 
 p. 64 ; John of Malala, p. 17 ; Cedrenus, 
 vol. i. p. 27 ; &c.) Orion is a “mighty 
 hunter,” even in Homer. (See Odyss. 
 xi. 572-575.) 
 
 8 Journ. of Asiatic Soc. vol. xv. p. 230. 
 
 9 The great temple of Borsippa is 
 known as the Birs-i-Nimrud ; and the 
 
Chap. VIII. 
 
 SUCCESSORS OF NIMROD — URUKH. 
 
 155 
 
 Of the immediate successors of Nimrod we have no account 
 that even the most lenient criticism can view as historical. It 
 appears that his conquest was followed rapidly by a Semitic 
 emigration from the country — an emigration which took a 
 northerly direction. The Assyrians withdrew from Babylonia, 
 which they still always regarded as their parent land, and, 
 occupying the upper or non-alluvial portion of the Mesopotamian 
 plain, commenced the building of great cities in the tract upon 
 the middle Tigris . 1 The Phoenicians removed from the shores 
 of the Persian Gulf, and, journeying towards the north-west, 
 formed settlements upon the coast of Canaan , 2 where they 
 became a rich and prosperous people. The family of Abra- 
 ham, and probably other Aramaean families, ascended the 
 Euphrates , 3 withdrawing from a yoke which was oppressive, or 
 at any rate unpleasant. Abundant room was thus made for the 
 Cushite immigrants, who rapidly established their preponde- 
 rance over the whole of the southern region. As war ceased to 
 be the necessary daily occupation of the new comers, civilisa- 
 tion and the arts of life began to appear. The reign of the 
 u Hunter ” was followed, after no long time, by that of the 
 “ Builder.” A monumental king, whose name is read doubt- 
 fully as Urkham 4 or Urukh, belongs almost certainly to this 
 early dynasty, and may be placed next in succession, though at 
 what interval we cannot say, to Nimrod. He is beyond ques- 
 tion the earliest Chaldsean monarch of whom any remains have 
 been obtained in the country. Not only are his bricks found 
 in a lower position than any others, at the very foundations of 
 buildings, but they are of a rude and coarse make, and the 
 inscriptions upon them contrast most remarkably, in the sim- 
 plicity of the style of writing used and in their general archaic 
 
 simple name Nirnrud is given to probably 
 the most striking heap of ruins in the 
 ancient Assyria. 1 Gen. x. 11, 12. 
 
 2 Herod, i. 1 ; vii. 89 ; Strab. xvi. 3 § 4; 
 Justin, xviii. 3, § 2 ; Plin. H. N. iv. 22 ; 
 Dionys. Per. 1. 906. 3 Gen. xi. 31. 
 
 4 This conjectural reading of the 
 name has led to a further conjecture, 
 viz. that in this monumental sovereign 
 we have the real original of the “ Or- 
 
 chamus ” of Ovid, whom he represents 
 as the seventh successor of Belus in the 
 government of Babylon ( Metaph . iv. 
 212-3). But the phonetic value of the 
 monograms, in which the names of the 
 early Chaldsean kings are written, is so 
 wholly uncertain that it seems best to 
 abstain from speculations, which may 
 have their basis struck from under 
 them at any moment. 
 
156 
 
 THE FIE ST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VIII. 
 
 type, with the elaborate and often complicated symbols of the 
 later monarchs. 5 The style of Urukh’s buildings is also primi- 
 tive and simple in the extreme ; his bricks are of many sizes, 
 and ill fitted together ; 6 he belongs to a time when even the 
 baking of bricks seems to have been comparatively rare, for 
 sometimes he employs only the sun-dried material ; 7 and he is 
 altogether unacquainted with the use of lime mortar, for which 
 his substitute is moist mud, or else bitumen. There can be 
 little doubt that he stands at the head of the present series of 
 monumental kings, another of whom probably reigned as early 
 as b.c. 2286. As he was succeeded by a son, whose reign seems 
 to have been of the average length, we must place his accession 
 at least as early as b.c. 2326. Possibly it may have fallen a 
 century earlier. 
 
 It is as a builder of gigantic /works that Urukh is chiefly 
 known to us. The basement platforms of his temples are of 
 an enormous size ; and though they cannot seriously be com- 
 pared with the Egyptian pyramids, yet indicate the employ- 
 ment for many years of a vast amount of human labour in a 
 very unproductive sort of industry. The Bowariyeh mound at 
 AYarka is 200 feet square, and about 100 feet high. 8 Its cubic 
 contents, as originally built, can have been little, if at all, under 
 3,000,000 feet ; and above 30,000,000 of bricks must have been 
 used in its construction. Constructions of a similar character, 
 and not very different in their dimensions, are proved by the 
 bricks composing them to have been raised by the same monarch 
 at Ur, Calneh or Xipur, and Larancha or Larsa, which is perhaps 
 Ellasar. 9 It is evident, from the size and number of these works, 
 that their erector had the command of a vast amount of “nakei 
 human strength,” and did not scruple to employ that strength 
 in constructions from which no material benefit was derivable, 
 but which were probably designed chiefly to extend his own 
 fame and perpetuate his glory. We may gather from this that 
 
 5 See Sir H. Rawlinson’s remarks in Susiana , p. 168. 
 
 the author’s Herodotus , vol. i. p. 425 ; 7 As in the Bowariyeh ruin at Warka 
 
 and compare above, pp. 63, 64. (Loftus, p. 167). 
 
 6 Journal of Asiatic Society, vol. xv. 8 Supra, pp. 75, 76. 9 Gen. xiv. 1. 
 
 pp. 261-263; Loitus, Ctialdcea and | 
 
Chap. VIII. 
 
 URUKH’S GREAT BUILDINGS. 
 
 157 
 
 he was either an oppressor of his people, like some of the 
 Pyramid Kings in Egypt , 10 or else a conqueror, who thus 
 employed the numerous captives carried off in his expeditions. 
 Perhaps the latter is the more probable supposition ; for the 
 builders of the great fabrics in Babylonia and Chaldsea do not 
 seem to have left behind them any character of oppressiveness, 
 such as attaches commonly to those monarchs who have ground 
 down their own people by servile labour. 
 
 The great buildings of Urukh appear to have been all designed 
 for temples. They are carefully placed with their angles facing 
 the cardinal points , 1 and are dedicated to the Bun, the Moon, 
 to Belus (Bel-Nimrod), or to Beltis. The temple at Mugheir 
 was built in honour of the Moon-god, Sin or Hurki , who was 
 the tutelary deity of the city. The Warka temple was dedi- 
 cated to Beltis. At Calneh or Nipur, Urukh erected two 
 temples, one to Beltis and one to Belus. At Larsa or Ellasar 
 the object of his worship was the Sun-god, San or Sansi. He 
 would thus seem to have been no special devotee of a single 
 god, but to have divided out his favours very fairly among the 
 chief personages of the Pantheon. 
 
 It has been observed that both the inscriptions of this king, 
 and his architecture, are of a rude and primitive type. Still in 
 neither case do we seem to be brought to the earliest dawn of 
 civilisation or of art. The writing of Urukh has passed out 
 of the first or hieroglyphic stage, and entered the second or 
 transition one, when pictures are no longer attempted, but the 
 lines or wedges follow roughly the old outline of the objects . 2 
 In his architecture, again, though there is much ^that is rude 
 and simple, there is also a good deal which indicates knowledge 
 and experience. The use of the buttress is understood; and 
 the buttress is varied according to the material . 3 The impor- 
 tance of sloping the walls of buildings inwards to resist interior 
 
 10 Herod. ii. 124, 128; Arist.Pol.yii.il. 
 
 1 Loftus, Chaldcea and Susiana, p. 246. 
 
 2 Supra, pp. 63, 64. 
 
 3 Compare the slight buttresses, only 
 13 inches thick, supporting the Mugheir 
 temple, which has a facing of burnt 
 
 brick to the depth of ten feet, with the 
 strong ones at Warka (where unburnt 
 brick is the material used), which pro- 
 ject seven feet and a half from the 
 central mass. (Loftus, pp. 128, 129, 
 and p. 169.) 
 
5 * 
 
 THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VIH. 
 
 pressure is thoroughly recognised. 4 Drains are introduced to 
 carry off moisture, which must otherwise have been very destruc- 
 tive to buildings composed mainly, or entirely, of crude brick. 
 It is evident that the builders whom the king employs, though 
 they do not possess much genius, have still such a knowledge of 
 the most important principles of their art as is only obtained 
 gradually by a good deal of practice. Indeed the very fact 
 of the continued existence of their works at the distance of forty 
 centuries is sufficient evidence that they possessed a considerable 
 amount of architectural skill and knowledge. 
 
 W e are further, perhaps, justified in concluding, from the 
 careful emplacement of TTrukh’s temples, that the science of 
 astronomy was already cultivated in his reign, and was regarded 
 as having a certain connexion with religion. We have seen that 
 the early worship of the Chaldseans was to a great extent astral 5 
 — a fact which naturally made the heavenly bodies special objects 
 of attention. If the series of observations, which Callisthenes 
 sent to Aristotle, dating from b.c. 2234, was in reality a record, 
 and not a mere calculation backwards of the dates at which 
 certain celestial phenomena must have taken place, astronomical 
 studies must have been pretty well advanced at a period not 
 long subsequent to Urukh. 
 
 Nor must we omit to notice, if we would estimate aright the 
 condition of Chaldasan art under this king, the indications fur- 
 nished by his signet-cylinder. So far as we can judge from 
 the representation, which is all that we possess of this relic, the 
 drawing on the cylinder was as good and the engraving as well 
 executed as any work of the kind, either of the Assyrian or 
 of the later Babylonian period. Apart from the inscription, this 
 work of art has nothing about it that is rude or primitive. The 
 elaboration of the dresses and headgear of the figures has been 
 already noticed. 6 It is also worthy of remark, that the prin- 
 cipal figure sits on an ornamental throne or chair, of particu- 
 larly tasteful construction, two legs of which appear to have 
 been modelled after those of the bull or ox. We may conclude, 
 
 4 Loftus, p. 128. 
 
 5 See above, ch. vii. p. 111. 
 
 8 Supra, pp. 105 and 106. 
 
Chap. VIII. 
 
 REIGN OF ILGI. 
 
 159 
 
 without much danger of mistake, that in the time of the monarch 
 who owned this seal, dresses of delicate fabric and elaborate 
 pattern, and furniture of a reehereU and elegant shape, were m 
 use among the people over whom he exercised dominion. 
 
 The chief capital city of TJrukh appears to have been Ur. 
 He calls himself “ King of Ur and Kingi-Accad” ; and it is at 
 Ur that he raises his principal buildings. Ur, too, has furnished 
 the great bulk of his inscriptions. Babylon was not yet a place 
 of much importance, though it was probably built by Nimrod. 
 The second city of the Empire was Huruk or Erech: other 
 places of importance were Larsa (Ellasar?) and Nipur or 
 Calneh. 
 
 Urukli appears to have been succeeded in the kingdom by a 
 son, whose name it is proposed to read as Elgi or Ilgi. Of this 
 prince our knowledge is somewhat scanty. Bricks bearing his 
 name have been found at Ur (Mugheir) and at Tel Eid, near 
 Erech, or Warka ; and his signet-cylinder has been recovered, 
 and is* now in the British Museum. We learn from inscriptions 
 of Nabonidus that he completed some of the buildings at Ur, 
 which had been left unfinished by his father ; while his own 
 bricks inform us that he built or repaired two of the principal 
 temples at Erech. On his signet-cylinder he takes the title 
 of 44 King of Ur.” 
 
 After the death of Ilgi, Chaldsean history is for a time a blank. 
 It would seem, however, that, while the Cushites were establish- 
 ing themselves in the alluvial plain towards the mouths of the 
 two great rivers, there was growing up a rival power, Turanian, 
 or Ario-T uranian , 7 in the neighbouring tract at the foot of the 
 Zagros mountain-chain. One of the most ancient, perhaps the 
 
 O _ gy • 
 
 7 At this early period in the world’s 
 history, the differences between the 
 great families of human speech were 
 hut very partially developed. Language 
 was altogether in an agglutinate, rather 
 than in an inflected, state. The intricacies 
 of Arian — even the lesser intricacies of 
 Semitic grammar^had not been in- 
 vented. Languages differed one from 
 another chiefly in their vocabularies. 
 What we observe with respect to the 
 Susianians or Elamites is, that while 
 
 their vocabulary is mainly Turanian, 
 it also contains numerous words which 
 were continued in the later Arian 
 speech. For instance, Nakhunta is be- 
 yond a doubt the Anahita of the Persians 
 and the Anaitis of the Greeks. Kudur 
 is the same word as the Persian chitra , 
 “ sprung from ” (compare Zend chithra, 
 “ seed Mabuk is, perhaps, Mabog , 
 which is formed from the two thoroughly 
 Arian roots, ma, “ mother,” and bog { Old 
 Pers. baga, Slavon. bog , bogie). “ God,” 
 
i6o 
 
 THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VIII. 
 
 most ancient, of all the Asiatic cities, was Susa, the Elamitic 
 capital, which formed the centre of a nationality that endured 
 from the twenty-third century b.c. to the time of Darius 
 Hystaspis (b.c. 520), when it sank finally under the Persians. 8 
 A king of Elam, whose court was held at Susa, led, in the year 
 B.c. 2286 (or a little earlier 9 ), an expedition against the cities 
 of Chaldsea, succeeded in carrying all before him, ravaged the 
 country, took the towns, plundered the temples, and bore off 
 into his own country, as the most striking evidence of victory, 
 the images of the deities which the Babylonians especially 
 reverenced. 10 This king’s name, which was Kudur-Nakhunta, is 
 thought to be the exact equivalent of one which has a world- 
 wide celebrity, to wit, Zoroaster. 1 Now, according to Poly- 
 hist or 2 (who here certainly repeats Berosus), Zoroaster was the 
 first of those eight Median kings who composed the second 
 dynasty in Chaldeea, and occupied the throne from about b.c. 
 2286 to 2052. The Medes are represented by him as capturing 
 Babylon at this time, and imposing themselves as rulers upon 
 the country. Eight kings reign in the space of 234 (or 224) 
 years, after which we hear no more of Medes, the sovereignty 
 being (as it would seem) recovered by the natives. The coin- 
 cidences of the conquest, the date, the foreign sovereignty, and 
 the name Zoroaster, tend to identify the Median dynasty of 
 Berosus with a period of Susianian supremacy, 3 which the 
 
 f 8 See Behist. Inscr. col. i. pars. 16, 17 ; 
 col. ii. pars. 3, 4. The transfer of the Per- 
 sian capital to Susa, which took place 
 soon after this, was probably in part an 
 acknowledgment of the superior anti- 
 quity and dignity of the Elamitic capital. 
 
 9 The date of Asshur-bani-pal’s con- 
 quest of Susa is doubtful. It may have 
 been as early as r.c. 661. (See Mr. G. 
 Smith’s paper in the Zeitschrift fiir 
 Aegyptische Sprache for Nov. 1868, p. 
 116.) The conquest of Chaldeea by 
 Kudur-Nakhunta may therefore have 
 fallen as early as b.c. 2296. 
 
 10 Zeitschrift , 1. s. c. 
 
 1 It was long ago suggested by Sir H. 
 Rawlinson that the etymology of this 
 name is to be sought in the languages 
 of the Semitic rather than in those of 
 
 the Arian family ( Journal of Asiatic 
 Society , vol. xv. p. 227, note 2 ) ; and 
 that its true meaning is “ the seed of 
 Ishtar (Yenus).” If so, Kudur-Na- 
 khunta would exactly correspond to 
 Zoro-aster (or Ziru-Ishtar). Seep. 159, 
 note 7 . 
 
 2 Ap. Syncell. Chronograph, p 78, B. 
 Compare Mos. Choren. Hist. Armen, i. 5. 
 “ Zoroastrem Magum . . . qui fuit Me- 
 dorum principium.” 
 
 3 By calling his second dynasty “Me- 
 dian,” Berosus probably only meant to 
 say that it came from the mountain 
 tract east of Babylonia, which in his 
 own day had been for so many ages the 
 seat of Medo-Persic power. Susiana 
 had in his time been completely ab- 
 sorbed into Persia. (Strabo, xv. 3 § 2.) 
 
Chap. VIII. 
 
 REIGN OF CHEDOR-LAOMER. 
 
 161 
 
 monuments show to have been established in Chaldaea at a date 
 not long subsequent to the reigns of Urukh and II gi, and to 
 have lasted for a considerable period. 
 
 There are five monarchs known to us who may be assigned 
 to this dynasty. The first is the Kudur-Nakhunta above named, 
 who conquered Babylonia and established his influence there, 
 but continued to hold his court at Susa, governing his conquest 
 probably by means of a viceroy or tributary king. Next to 
 him, at no great interval, may be placed Kudur-Lagamer, the 
 Chedor-laomer of Scripture , 4 who held a similar position to 
 Kudur-Nakhunta, reigning himself in Elam, while his vassals, 
 Amraphel, Arioch, and Tidal (or Turgal 5 ) held the governments 
 respectively of Shinar (or Upper Babylonia), Ellasar (Lower 
 Babylonia or Chaldaea), and the Goiim or the nomadic races. 
 Possessing thus an authority over the whole of the alluvial 
 plain, and being able to collect together a formidable army, 
 Kudur-Lagamer resolved on an expedition up the Euphrates, 
 with the object of extending his dominion to the Mediterranean 
 Sea and to the borders of Egypt. At first his endeavours were 
 successful. Together with his confederate kings, he marched as 
 far as Palestine, where he was opposed by the native princes, Bera, 
 king of Sodom, Birsha, king of Gomorrah, Shinab, king of 
 Admah, Shemeber, king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela or 
 Zoar . 6 A great battle was fought between the two confederated 
 armies in the vale of Siddim towards the lower end of the 
 Dead Sea . 7 The invaders were victorious ; and for twelve years, 
 Bera and his allies were content to own themselves subjects of 
 the Elamitic king, whom they “ served ” for that period . 8 In the 
 
 4 Gen. xiv. 1. 
 
 5 For the Tidal (pjnn) of the 
 present Hebrew text, the LXX. have 
 Thargal ( Qapyd \ ), which implies a 
 
 reading of in their copies. 
 
 Turgal would- he significative in early 
 Babylonian, meaning “ the great chief.” 
 (See Smith’s Biblical Dictionary , ad voc. 
 Tidal.) 6 Gen. xiv. 2. 
 
 7 The scene of the battle seems to 
 have been that part of the plain which 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 was afterwards submerged, when the 
 area of the Dead Sea was extended. 
 Compare the expression (Gen. xiv. 3), 
 “ All these were joined together in the 
 vale of Siddim, uhich is the salt sea ; ” 
 and see Mr. Ffoulkes’s article on Go- 
 morrah in Dr. Smith’s Biblical Dic- 
 tionary, vol. i. pp. 709, 710. 
 
 8 “ Twelve years they served Chedor- 
 laomer, and in the thirteenth year they 
 rebelled.” (Gen. xiv. 4.) 
 
 M 
 
THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. YIII. 
 
 162 
 
 thirteenth year they rebelled : a general rising of the western 
 nations seems to have taken place ; 9 and in order to main- 
 tain his conquests it was necessary for the conqueror to make a 
 fresh effort. Once more the four eastern kings entered Syria, 
 and, after various successes against minor powers, engaged a 
 second time in the valley of Siddim with their old antagonists, 
 whom they defeated with great slaughter; after which they 
 plundered the chief cities belonging to them . 10 It was on this 
 occasion that Lot, the nephew of Abraham, was taken prisoner. 
 Laden with booty of various kinds, and encumbered with a 
 number of captives, male and female , 1 the conquering army set 
 out upon its march home, and had reached the neighbourhood 
 of Damascus, when it was attacked and defeated by Abraham, 
 who with a small band ventured under cover of night to fall 
 upon the retreating host, which he routed and pursued to some 
 distance . 2 The actual slaughter can scarcely have been great; 
 but the prisoners and the booty taken had to be surrendered , 
 the prestige of victory was lost ; and the result appears to have 
 been that the Mesopotamian monarch relinquished his projects, 
 and, contenting himself with the fame acquired by such distant 
 expeditions, made no further attempt to carry his empire beyond 
 the Euphrates . 3 
 
 The other three kings who may be assigned to the Elamitic 
 dynasty are a father, son, and grandson, whose names appear 
 upon the native monuments of Chaldaea in a position which is 
 thought to imply that they were posterior to the kings Urukh 
 and Ilgi, but of greater antiquity than any other monarchs who 
 have left memorials in the country. Their names are read as 
 Sinti-shil-khak, Kudur-Mabuk, and Arid-Sin. Of Sinti-shil- 
 
 9 Among the nations chastised by 
 Chedor-laomer on his second invasion 
 we find the Rephaim or “Giants,” the 
 Zuzim, the Emim, the Horites, the 
 Amorites, and the Amalekites. (Gen. 
 xiv. 5-7.) 
 
 10 Gen. xiv. 9-12. 1 Gen. xiv. 16. 
 
 2 May not the tradition, that Abra- 
 ham was king of Damascus (Nic. Dam. 
 Fr. 30), be connected with this exploit ? 
 
 It could scarcely have been grounded on 
 the mere fact that he had for steward a 
 native of that city. (Gen. xv. 2.) 
 
 3 The expression in verse 17 of the 
 Authorised Version, “ the slaughter of 
 Chedor-laomer, and of the kings which 
 Mere Mith him,” is over-strong. The 
 
 Hebrew phrase DISHD does not mean 
 more than “defeat” or “overthrow.” 
 
Chap. VIII. 
 
 END OF ELAMITIC DYNASTY. 
 
 163 
 
 khak nothing is known beyond the name. 4 Kudur-Mabuk is 
 said in the inscriptions of his son to have “ enlarged the do- 
 minions of the city of Ur;” and on his own bricks he bears the 
 title of Apda Martu, which probably means “ Conqueror of the 
 West.” 5 We may presume therefore that he was a warlike 
 prince, like KudurdSTakkunta and Kudur-Lagamer ; and that, 
 like the latter of these two kings, he made war in the direction 
 of Syria, though he may not have carried his arms so far as his 
 great predecessor. He and his son both held their court at 
 Ur, 6 and, though of foreign origin, maintained the Chaldaean 
 religion unchanged, making additions to the ancient temples, 
 and worshipping the Chaldaean gods under the old titles. 
 
 The circumstances which brought the Elamitic dynasty to a 
 close, and restored the Chaldaean throne to a line of native 
 princes, are unrecorded by any historian ; nor have the monu- 
 ments hitherto thrown any light upon them. If we may trust 
 the numbers of the Armenian Eusebius, 7 the dynasty which 
 succeeded, ab. b.c. 2052, to the Susianian (or Median), though 
 it counted eleven kings, bore rule for the short space of forty- 
 eight years only. This would seem to imply either a state of 
 great internal disturbance, or a time during which viceroys, 
 removable at pleasure and often removed, governed the country 
 under some foreign suzerain. 8 In either case, the third dynasty 
 of Berosus may be said to mark a transition period between the 
 time of foreign subjection and that of the recovery by the native 
 Chaldmans of complete independence. 
 
 To the fourth Berosian dynasty, which held the throne for 458 
 
 4 It is not, perhaps, quite certain 
 that Sinti-shil-khak was a Chaldaean 
 monarch. His name appears only in the 
 inscriptions of his son, Kudur-Mabuk, 
 where he is not given the title of 
 king. 
 
 5 Martu certainly means either “ the 
 West ” generally, or Syria in particular, 
 which was the most western country 
 known to the early Babylonians. Apda 
 is perhaps connected with the Hebrew 
 root “QK, which in the Hiphil has the 
 sense of “ destroy ” or “ ravage.” 
 
 6 The inscriptions of Kudur-Mabuk 
 
 and Arid-Sin have been found only 
 
 at Mugheir, the ancient Ur. (See British 
 Mus. Series, vol. i. PI. 2, No. iii., and 
 PI. 5, No. xvi.) 
 
 7 It is true that the number 48 oc- 
 curs only in the margin of the Armenian 
 MS. But the inserter of that number 
 must have had it before him in some 
 copy of Eusebius; for he could not 
 have conjectured it from the number 
 of the kings. 
 
 8 Compare the rapid succession in the 
 seventh dynasty, which is given (par- 
 tially) in the Canon of Ptolemy, more fully 
 in the fragments of Berosus and Poly- 
 histor. 
 
 M 2 
 
THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VIII. 
 
 164 
 
 years, from about B.c. 2004 to B.c. 1546, the monuments enable 
 us to assign some eight or ten monarchs, whose inscriptions are 
 characterised by a general resemblance, and by a character 
 intermediate between the extreme rudeness of the more ancient 
 and the comparative elegance and neatness of the later legends. 
 Of these kings one of the earliest w r as a certain Ismi-dagon, 
 the date of whose reign we are able to fix with a near approach 
 to exactness. Sennacherib, in a rock inscription at Bavian, 
 relates that in his tenth year (which was B.c. 692) he recovered 
 from Babylon certain images of the gods which had been carried 
 thither by Merodach-iddin-aJclii, King of Babylon, after his 
 defeat of Tiglath-Pileser, King of Assyria, 418 years previously. 
 And the same Tiglath-Pileser relates, that he rebuilt a temple 
 in Assyria, which had been taken down tO years before, after it 
 had lasted 641 years from its foundation by Shamas-Vul, son 
 of Ismi-dagon. 9 It results from these numbers, that Ismi-dagon 
 was king as early as B.c. 1850, or, probably, a little earlier. 10 
 
 The monuments furnish little information concerning Ismi- 
 dagon, beyond the evidence which they afford of the extension 
 of this king’s dominion into the upper part of the Mesopotamian 
 valley, and especially into the country known in later times as 
 Assyria. The fact that Shamas-Vul, the son of Ismi-dagon, 
 built a temple at Kileh-Sherghat, implies necessarily that the 
 Chaldseans at this time bore sway in the upper region. Shamas- 
 Vul appears to have been, not the eldest, but the second son of 
 the monarch, and must be viewed as ruling over Assyria in 
 the capacity of viceroy, either for his father or his brother. 
 Such evidence as we possess of the condition of Assyria about 
 this period seems to show that it was weak and insignificant, 
 administered ordinarily by Babylonian satraps or governors, 
 whose office was one of no great rank or dignity. 1 
 
 9 See the author’s Herodotus , vol. i. 
 Essay vi. p. 433, note 1 . 
 
 10 If Sennacherib’s 10th year is b.c. 
 692, Tiglath-Pileser’s defeat must have 
 been in b.c. 1110. His restoration of 
 the temple was certainly earlier, for it 
 was at the very beginning of his reign 
 — say b.c. 1120. Add the 60 years 
 
 during which the building had been in 
 ruins and the 641 during which it had 
 stood, and we have b.c. 1821 for the 
 building of the original temple by Sha- 
 mas-Vul. The date of his father’s ac- 
 cession should be at least 30 years 
 earlier — or b.c. 1851. 
 
 1 Three or four tablets of Babylonian 
 
Chap. VIII. 
 
 GURGUNA — NARAM-SIN. 
 
 165 
 
 In Chaldaea Ismi-dagon was succeeded by a son, whose name 
 is read, somewhat doubtfully, as Gunguna or Gurguna. 2 This 
 prince is known to us especially as the builder of the great 
 public cemeteries which now form the most conspicuous objects 
 among the ruins of Mugheir, and the construction of which is 
 so remarkable. 3 Ismi-dagon and his son must have occupied 
 the Chaldaean throne during most of the later half of the nine- 
 teenth century before our era — from about B.c. 1850 to B.c. 
 1800. 
 
 Hitherto there has been no great difficulty in determining the 
 order of the monumental kings, from the position of their bricks 
 in the principal Chaldaean ruins and the general character of 
 their inscriptions. But the relative place occupied in the series 
 by the later monarchs is rendered very doubtful by their records 
 being scattered and unconnected, while their styles of inscrip- 
 tion vary but slightly. It is most unfortunate that no writer 
 has left us a list corresponding in Babylonian history with that 
 which Manetho put on record for Egyptian ; since we are thus 
 compelled to arrange our names in an order which rests on little 
 more than conjecture. 4 
 
 The monumental king who is thought to have approached 
 the nearest to Gurguna is Naram-Sin, of whom a record has been 
 discovered at Babylon, 5 and who is mentioned in a late inscrip- 
 tion 6 as the builder, in conjunction with his father, of a temple 
 at the city of Agana. His date is probably about b.c. 1750. The 
 
 satraps have been discovered at Kileh- 
 Sherghat. The titles assumed are said 
 to “ belong to the most humble class of 
 dignities.” (Sir H. Rawlinson, in the 
 author s Herodotus , vol. i. p. 448, note 7 .) 
 
 2 For inscriptions of Gurguna, see 
 British Museum Series , vol. i. pi. 2, No. vi. 
 Some doubt has been entertained as to 
 whether this prince was the son or the 
 grandson of Ismi-dagon, but on the 
 whole the verdict of cuneiform scholars 
 has been in favour of the interpretation 
 of these inscriptions which makes him 
 the son. 
 
 3 See above, ch. v. pp. 86-90. 
 
 4 Berosus gave no doubt the complete 
 list ; but his names have not been pre- 
 served to us. The brief Chaldaean list 
 
 in Syncellus (p. 169) probably came 
 from him ; but the names seem to have 
 belonged to the first or mythical dynasty. 
 One might have hoped to obtain some 
 help from Ctesias’s Assyrian list, as 
 it went back at least as far as b.c. 
 2182, when Assyria was a mere pro- 
 vince of the Chaldaean Empire. But 
 it presents every appearance of an ab- 
 solute forgery, being composed of Arian, 
 Semitic, Egyptian, and Greek appella- 
 tions, with a sprinkling of terms bor- 
 rowed from geography. 
 
 5 Brit. Mus. Series, vol. i. pi. 3, No. 7. 
 
 6 The fact is recorded by Nabonidus 
 — the Labynetus of Herodotus — on the 
 famous Mugheir cylinder. (Brit. Mus. 
 Series , vol. i. pi. 69 ; col. 2, 1. 30.) 
 
THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VIH. 
 
 1 66 
 
 seat of his court may be conjectured to have been Babylon, 
 which had by this time risen into metropolitan consequence. It 
 is evident that, as time went on, the tendency was to remove the 
 seat of government and empire to a greater distance from the 
 sea. The early monarchs reign at Ur (Mugheir), and leave no 
 traces of themselves further north than Niffer. Sin-Shada holds 
 his court at Erech (Warka), twenty-five miles above Mugheir ; 
 while Naram-Sin is connected with the still more northern city 
 of Babylon. We shall find a similar tendency in Assyria, as it 
 rose into power. In both cases we may regard the fact as 
 indicative of a gradual spread of empire towards the north , and 
 of the advance of civilisation and settled government in that 
 direction. 
 
 A king, who disputes the palm of antiquity with Naram-Sin, 
 has left various records at Erech or Warka, T which appears to 
 have been his capital city. It is proposed to call him Sin-Shada. 7 8 
 He constructed, or rather re-built, the upper terrace of the 
 Bowariyeh ruin, or great temple, which Urukh raised at Warka 
 to Beltis ; and his bricks are found in the doorway of another 
 large ruin (the Wuswas) at the same place; it is believed, how- 
 ever, that in this latter building they are not in situ, but have 
 been transferred from some earlier edifice. 9 His reign fell pro- 
 bably in the latter part of the 18th century b.c. 
 
 Several monarchs of the Sin series — i. e. monarchs into whose 
 names the word Sin, the name of the Moon-god, enters as an 
 element — now present themselves. The most important of them 
 has been called Zur-Sin. This king erected some buildings at 
 Mugheir ; but he is best known as the founder of the very 
 curious town whose ruins bear at the present day the name of 
 Abu-Shahrein. A description of the principal buildings at this 
 site has been already given. 10 They exhibit certain improve- 
 ments on the architecture of the earlier times, and appear to 
 have been very richly ornamented, at least in parts. At the 
 
 7 Brit. Mus. Series, vol. i. pi. 3, No. 8. certainly a female name. 
 
 8 Sin-Shada seems to have imme- 9 Loftus, Chaldoea and Susiana, ch. xvi. 
 
 diately succeeded a queen. He calls ; p. 184. 
 
 himself ‘“son of Bilat**at,” which is J 10 See above, pp. 79, 80. 
 
Chap. VIII. 
 
 ARABIAN DYNASTY. 
 
 167 
 
 same time they contain among tlieir debris remarkable proofs 
 of the small advance which had as yet been made in some of 
 the simplest arts. Flint knives and other implements, stone 
 hatchets, chisels, and nails, are abundant in the ruins; and 
 though the use of metal is not unknown, it seems to have been 
 comparatively rare. When a metal is found, it is either gold or 
 bronze, no trace of iron (except in ornaments of the person) 
 appearing in any of the Chaldtean remains. Zur-Sin, Rim-Sin, 1 
 and three or four other monarchs of the Sin series, whose names 
 are imperfect or uncertain, may be assigned to the period included 
 between b.c. 1700 and b.c. 1546. 
 
 Another monarch,’ and the only other monumental name that 
 we can assign to Berosus’s fourth dynasty, is a certain Nur-Vul, 
 who appears by the Chaldsean sale-tablets to have been the 
 immediate predecessor of Rim-Sin, the last king of the Sin 
 series. Nur-Vul has left no buildings or inscriptions ; and we 
 seem to see in the absence of all important monuments at this 
 time a period of depression, such as commonly in the history of 
 nations precedes and prepares the way for a new dynasty or a 
 conquest. 
 
 The remaining monumental kings belong almost certainly to 
 the fifth, or Arabian, dynasty of Berosus, to which he assigns 
 the period of 245 years — from about b.c. 1546 to B.c. 1300. 
 That the list comprises as many as fifteen names, whereas 
 Berosus speaks of nine Arabian kings only, need not surprise us, 
 since it is not improbable that Berosus may have omitted kings 
 who reigned for less than a year. 2 To arrange the fifteen monarchs 3 
 in chronological order is, unfortunately, impossible. Only three 
 of them have 'left monuments. The names of the others are 
 
 1 Rim-Sin has left a very fine inscrip- 
 tion on a small black tablet, found at 
 Mugheir. (Brit, Mas. Series , vol. i. 
 pi. 3 ; No. 10.) 
 
 2 As Ptolemy did in his Canon. 
 
 3 Some writers have exaggerated the 
 number of the names to twenty-four or 
 twenty-five. (See Oppert, Expedition 
 scientifique en Mesopotamie , vol. i. p. 
 276 ; and compare Lenormant, Manuet 
 d'Histoire ancienne de V Orient, vol. ii. 
 pp. 25, 32.) But this is by misunder- 
 
 standing a tablet on which nine of them 
 occur. M. Lenormant obtains thirteen 
 successors to Khammu-rabi (p. 32) by 
 not seeing that the tablet is bilingual, 
 and counting in five translations of 
 names which he has already reckoned. 
 M. Oppert does not fall into this error, 
 but unduly enlarges his royal list by 
 counting twelve names from the ob- 
 verse of the tablet, which there is no 
 ground for regarding as royal names 
 i at all. 
 
THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VIII. 
 
 1 68 
 
 found on linguistic and other tablets, in a connection which 
 rarely enables us to determine anything with respect to their 
 relative priority or posteriority . 4 We can, however, definitely 
 place seven names, two at the beginning and five towards the 
 end of the series, thus leaving only eight whose position in the 
 list is undetermined. 
 
 The series commences with a great king, named Khammu- 
 rabi, who was probably the founder of the dynasty, the “ Arab ” 
 chief, who, taking advantage of the weakness and depression of 
 Chaldsea under the later monarchs of the fourth dynasty, by in- 
 trigue or conquest established his dominion over the country, and 
 left the crown to his descendants. Khammu-rabi is especially 
 remarkable as having been the first (so far as appears) of the 
 Babylonian monarchs to conceive the notion of carrying out a 
 system of artificial irrigation in his dominions, by means of a 
 canal derived from one of the great rivers. The Nahar -Khammu- 
 rabi (“ Biver of Khammu-rabi ”), whereof he boasts in one of 
 his inscriptions , 5 was no doubt, as he states, “a blessing to 
 the Babylonians” — it “ changed desert plains into well- watered 
 fields ; it spread around fertility and abundance ” — it brought a 
 whole district, previously .barren, into cultivation, and it set an 
 example, which the best of the later monarchs followed, of a 
 mode whereby the productiveness of the country might be 
 increased to an almost inconceivable extent. 
 
 Khammu-rabi was also distinguished as a builder. He re- 
 paired the great temple of the Sun at Senkereh , 6 and con- 
 structed for himself a new palace at Kalwadha, or Chilmad, not 
 
 4 Eight royal names follow Khammu- 
 rabi on the tablet above mentioned 
 (see last note). It might have been sup- 
 posed that they would occur in chx*ono- 
 logical order. But, in fact, Khammu- 
 rabi’s successor, his son, Samsu-iluna, 
 is omitted ; and Kurri-galzu, the son of 
 Purna-puriyas, who was the third king 
 after his father, is put in the fifth place 
 before him. The order of the names 
 cannot, therefore, be chronological. 
 
 5 This inscription is on a white stone 
 
 in the Museum of the Louvre. It has 
 been published with a comment by M. 
 
 Me'nant ( Inscriptions de ffammourabi , 
 roi de Baby lone, Paris. 1863), and 
 has also been translated by M. Oppert 
 in the Expedition, vol. i. pp. 267, 268. 
 M. Lenormant assumes without reason 
 ( Manuel , vol. ii. p. 31) the identity of 
 the Xahar-Khammurabi with the Bahr- 
 Jlalcha of Nebuchadnezzar. 
 
 6 See Brit. Mus. Series, vol. i. pi. 4, 
 No. xv. ; Inscr. 2 (translated by M. Op- 
 pert, Expedition , vol. i. p. 267); and 
 compare the cylinder of Nabonidus. 
 (Brit. 31. Series , voL i. pi. 69, col. ii. 
 1 . 1 .) 
 
Chap. VIII. 
 
 ARABIAN DYNASTY. 
 
 169 
 
 far from the modern Baghdad. 7 His inscriptions have been found 
 at Babylon, at Zerghul, and at Tel-Sifr; and it is thought pro- 
 bable that he made Babylon his ordinary place of residence. 
 His reign probably covered the space from about B.c. 154(1 to 
 B.c. 1520, when he left his crown to his son, Samsu-iluna. Of 
 this monarch our notices are exceedingly scanty. We know 
 him only from the Tel-Sifr clay tablets, several of which are 
 dated by the years of his reign. ’ He held the crown probably 
 from about b.c. 1520 to b.c. 1500. 
 
 About sixty or seventy years after this we come upon a group 
 of names, belonging almost certainly to this same dynasty, which 
 possess a peculiar interest, inasmuch as they serve to connect 
 the closing period of the First, or Cbaldsean, with the opening 
 portion of the Second, or Assyrian, Monarchy. A succession of 
 five Babylonian monarchs is mentioned on an Assyrian tablet, 
 the object of which is to record the synchronous history of the 
 two countries. 8 These monarchs are contemporary with inde- 
 pendent Assyrian princes, and have relations towards them which 
 are sometimes peaceful, sometimes warlike. Kara-m-das, the 
 first of the five, is on terms of friendship with Asshur-bel-nisi-su, 
 king of Assyria, and concludes with him a treaty of alliance. 
 This treaty is renewed between his successor, Purna-puriyas, 
 and Buzur-Asshur, the successor of Asshur-bel-nisi-su on the 
 throne of Assyria. Not long afterwards a third Assyrian monarch, 
 Asshur-upallit, obtains the crown, and Purna-puriyas not only 
 continues on the old terms of amity with him, but draws the 
 ties which unite the two royal families closer by marrying 
 Asshur-upallit’s daughter. The issue of this marriage is a prince 
 named Kara-khar-das, who, on the death of Purna-puriyas, 
 ascends the throne of Babylon. But now a revolution occurs. 
 A certain Nazi-bugas rises in revolt, puts Kara-khar-das to death, 
 and succeeds in making himself king. Hereupon Asshur-upallit 
 takes up arms, invades Babylonia, defeats and kills Nazi-bugas, 
 and places upon the throne a brother of the murdered Kara- 
 khar-das, a younger son of Purna-puriyas, by name Kurri-galzu, 
 
 7 Brit. M. Series, vol. i. pi. 4, No. xv. Ins. 3. 
 
 Ibid. vol. ii. p. 65. 
 
170 THE FIRST MONARCHY. Chap. VIII. 
 
 or Durri-galzu. These events may be assigned with much pro- 
 bability to the period between b.c. 1440 and b.c. 1380. 10 
 
 Of the five consecutive monarchs presented to our notice in 
 this interesting document, two are known to us by their own 
 inscriptions. Memorials of Purna-puriyas and Kurri-galzu, very 
 similar in their general character, have been found in various 
 parts of Chaldsea. Those of Purna-puriyas come from Senkereh, 1 
 the ancient Larsa, and consist of bricks, showing that he repaired 
 the great temple of the Sun at that city — which was originally 
 built by Urukh. Kurri-galzu’ s memorials comprise bricks from 
 
 Mugheir (Ur) and Akker- 
 kuf, 2 together with his sig- 
 net-seal, which was found 
 at Baghdad in the year 
 I860. 3 It also appears by 
 an inscription of Naboni- 
 dus 4 that he repaired a 
 Signet-seal of Kurri-galzu, King of Babylon. temple at the city of 
 Agana, and left an inscription there. 
 
 But the chief fame of Kurri-galzu arises from his having been 
 the founder of an important city. The remarkable remains at 
 Akkerkuf, of which an account has been given in a former 
 chapter, 5 mark the site of a town of his erection. It is conjec- 
 tured with some reason that this place is the Dur-Kum-galzu of 
 the later Assyrian inscriptions — a place of so much consequence 
 in the time of Sargon that he calls it “ the key of the country.” 
 The remaining monarchs, who are on strong grounds of pro- 
 
 10 The position of the kings, Asshur- 
 bel-nisi-su, Buzur-Asshur, and Asshur- 
 upallit, in the Assyrian list, has been defi- 
 nitely fixed by Mr. G. Smith’s discovery in 
 1869 of an inscription of Pudiel, in which 
 he states that Asshur-upallit was his 
 grandfather. "We have thus now a con- 
 tinuous succession from Asshur-bel-nisi- 
 su to Tiglathi-Nin, the conqueror of 
 Babylon ; and as this conquest is fixed j 
 to about b.c. 1300, we can count back i 
 to Asshur-bel-nisi-su by allowing an 
 average of twenty years to a reign, and 
 approximately fix his date as from b.c. 
 
 1440 to 1420. 
 
 1 Brit. Mus. Series , vol. i. pi. 4, No. 
 xiii. 2 Ibid. pi. 4, No. xiv. 
 
 3 The inscription on .the seal is read 
 as follows : — “ Kurri-galzu, king of 
 
 son of Purna-puriyas, king 
 
 of Babylon.” (See Brit. Mus. Series, 
 vol. i., Table of Contents, pi. 4, No. xiv.) 
 
 4 Ibid. pi. 69, col. ii. 1. 32. 
 
 5 See above, p. 21. The bricks of 
 Kurri-galzu are not found, however, 
 in the great ruin, which is most pro- 
 bably a Parthian work. 
 
 i 
 
Chap. YIII. 
 
 TABLE OF KINGS. 
 
 I/I 
 
 Kings of Chalidea. 
 
 Dynasty. 
 
 (Chaldsean) 
 
 II. 
 
 (Elamite) 
 
 III. 
 
 IV. 
 
 (Clialdsean) 
 
 V. 
 
 (Arab) 
 
 b.c. to B.C. 
 
 2286 
 
 2052 
 
 2004 
 
 2286 
 
 2052 
 
 2004 
 
 1546 
 
 1546 
 
 1301 
 
 Kings. 
 
 Events, &c. 
 
 1300 
 
 Nimrod 
 
 * * * * 
 
 * * * * 
 
 Urukh 
 
 II gi (son). 
 
 * * * * 
 
 Kudur-Nakhunta 
 (Zoro -aster) 
 
 * * * * 
 
 Kudur-Lagamer . . 
 
 * * * * 
 
 Sinti-shil-khak. 
 Kudur-Mabuk (son) 
 Arid-Sin (son). 
 
 * * * * 
 
 * * * * 
 
 Ismi-dagon 
 
 Gurguna (son) 
 
 * * * * 
 
 Naram-Sin. 
 
 * * * * 
 
 Bilat * * at (a queen). 
 
 Sin-Shada (son). 
 
 * * * * 
 
 Zur-Sin. 
 
 * * * * 
 
 Founds the Empire. 
 
 Builds numerous temples. 
 
 Conquers Chaldsea, b.c. 2286. 
 
 (Contemporary with Abra- 
 ] ham. Makes two expedi- 
 ( tions into Syria. 
 
 Wars in Syria. 
 
 j Reigns from about b.c, 1850 
 \ to 1830. 
 
 jllis brother, Shamas-Yul, 
 \ rules in Assyria. 
 
 Nur-Vul 
 
 Rim-Sin 
 
 Khammu-rabi 
 
 Samsu-iluna (son) 
 
 * * * * 
 
 * * * * 
 
 Kara-in-das . . 
 
 Purna-puriyas 
 
 Kara-khar-das (son) 
 Nazi-bugas 
 Kurri-galzu (brother 
 of Kara-khar-das) 
 * * * * 
 
 * * * * 
 
 ( Reigns from about b.c. 1586 
 I to 1566. 
 
 Reigns from about b.c. 1566 
 v to 1546. 
 
 (Reigns from about b.c. 1546 
 \ to 1520. 
 
 j Reigns from about b.c. 1520 
 1 to 1500. 
 
 j Contemporary with Asshur- 
 \ bel-nisi-su, ab. b.c. 1440. 
 (Contemporary with Buzur- 
 \ Asshur, b.c. 1420-1400. 
 
 | Contemporary with Asshur- 
 upallit, b.c. 1400-1380. 
 
 j Chaldsea conquered 
 1 Tiglathi-Nin. 
 
 by 
 
172 
 
 THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. YIII. 
 
 bability, etymological and other, assigned to this dynasty are 
 Saga-raktiyas , 6 the founder of a Temple of the male and female 
 Sun at Sippara , 7 Ammidi-kaga, Simbar-sikhu, Kharbi-sikhu, 
 Ulam-puriyas, Nazi-urdas, Mili-sikhu, and Kara-kharbi. Nothing 
 is known at present of the position which any of these monarchs 
 held in the dynasty, or of their relationship to the kings pre- 
 viously mentioned, or to each other. Most of them are known 
 to us simply from their occurrence in a bilingual list of kings, 
 together with Khammu-rabi, Kurri-galzu, and Purna-puriyas. 
 The list in question appears not to be chronological.® 
 
 Modern research has thus supplied us with memorials (or at 
 any rate with the names) of some thirty kings, who ruled in the 
 country properly termed Chaldaea at a very remote date. Their 
 antiquity is evidenced by the character of their buildings and 
 of their inscriptions, which are unmistakably rude and archaic. 
 It is further indicated by the fact that they are the builders of 
 certainly the most ancient edifices whereof the country contains 
 any trace. The probable connexion of two of them 9 with the 
 only king known previously from good authority to have reigned 
 in the country during the primitive ages confirms the conclusion 
 drawn from the appearance of the remains themselves ; which is 
 further strengthened by the monumental dates assigned to two 10 
 of them, which place them respectively in the twenty-third and 
 the nineteenth century before our era. That the kings belong 
 to one series, and (speaking broadly) to one time, is evidenced 
 by the similarity of the titles which they use, by their unin- 
 terrupted worship of the same gods, and by the general resem- 
 blance of the language and mode of writing w r hich they employ . 11 
 
 6 Saga-raktiyas is by some regarded Mabuk, who are certainly to be con- 
 
 as the father of Yaram-Sin (Oppert, nected with the Chedor-laomer (Kudur- 
 Expedition, vol. i. p. 273, note 2 ; Le- Lagamer) of Scripture. (See above, pp. 
 normant, Manuel, vol. ii. p. 27). But 162, 163.) 
 
 the foundation of this notion is the 10 Kudur-Nakhunta and Ismi-dagon. 
 
 identification of a temple bearing the (See page 164.) 
 
 name of Ulmas at Agana, with a temple 11 Sir H. Rawlinson says: — “All the 
 
 of the same name at Sippara. Agana kings whose monuments are found in 
 
 and Sippara must, however, have been ancient Chaldaea used the same language 
 
 distinct cities. and the same form of writing ; they 
 
 7 Brit. Mus. Series , vol. i. pi. 69, col. professed the same religion, inhabited 
 
 iii. 1. 20. 8 See above, p. 168, note 4 . the same cities, and followed the same 
 
 9 Kudur-Isakhunta, and Kudur- { traditions. Temples built in the earliest 
 
Chap. VIII. 
 
 PROBABLE NUMBER OF THE K£NGS. 
 
 173 
 
 That the time to which they belong is anterior to the rise of 
 Assyria to greatness appears from the synchronism of the later 
 monarchs of the Chaldman with the earliest of the Assyrian list, 
 as well as from the fact that the names borne by the Babylonian 
 kings after Assyria became the leading power in the country 
 are not only different, but of a different type. If it be objected 
 that the number of thirty kings is insufficient for the space over 
 which they have in our scheme been spread, we may answer 
 that it has never been supposed by any one that the twenty-nine 
 or thirty kings, of whom distinct mention has been made in the 
 foregoing account, are a complete list of all the Chaldsean sove- 
 reigns. On the contrary, it is plain that they are a very incom- 
 plete list, like that which Herodotus gives of the kings of Egypt, 
 or that which the later Romans possessed of their early monarchs. 
 The monuments themselves present indications of several other 
 names of kings, belonging evidently to the same series, 1 which 
 are too obscure or too illegible for transliteration. And there 
 may, of course, have been many others of whom no traces remain, 
 or of whom none have been as yet found- On the other hand, 
 it may be observed, that the number of the early Chaldsean 
 kings reported by Polyhistor 2 is preposterous. If sixty-eight 
 consecutive monarchs held the Chaldsean throne between b.c. 
 2286 and b.c. 1546, they must have reigned on an average less 
 than eleven years apiece. Hay, if forty-nine ruled between 
 B.c. 2001 and b.c. 1546, covering a space of little more than four 
 - centuries and a half — which is what Berosus is made to assert — 
 these later monarchs cannot even have reigned so long as ten 
 years each, an average which may be pronounced quite impossible 
 in a settled monarchy such as the Chaldsean. The probability 
 would seem to be that Berosus has been misreported,*his numbers 
 having suffered corruption during their passage through so many 
 hands, 3 and being in this instance quite untrustworthy. We 
 
 times received, the veneration of suc- 
 cessive generations, and were repaired 
 and adorned by a long series of monarchs, 
 even down to the time of the Semitic 
 Nabonidus.” (Rawlinson’s Herodotus , 
 vol. i. Essay vi. p 441.) 
 
 1 See the author’s Herodotus, vol. i. 
 p. 440. 
 
 2 See the fragments of this writer 
 preserved by Eusebius ( Chron . Can. 
 pars i. c. 4). 
 
 3 The words of Polyhistor are re- 
 
T/4 
 
 THE FIKST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VIII- 
 
 may conjecture that the actual number of reigns which he 
 intended to allow his fourth dynasty was nineteen , 4 or at the 
 utmost twenty-nine, the former of which numbers would give 
 the common average of twenty-four years, while the latter would 
 produce the less usual but still possible one of sixteen years. 
 
 The monarchy, which we have had under review, is one, no 
 doubt, rather curious from its antiquity than illustrious from 
 its great names, or admirable for the extent of its dominions. 
 Less ancient than the Egyptian, it claims the advantage of 
 priority over every empire or kingdom which has grown up upon 
 he soil of Asia. The Arian, Turanian, and even the Semitic 
 tribes appear to have been in the nomadic condition, when the 
 Cushite settlers in Lower Babylonia betook themselves to agri- 
 culture, erected temples, built cities, and established a strong 
 and settled government. The leaven which was to spread by 
 degrees through the Asiatic peoples was first deposited on the 
 shores of the Persian Gulf at the mouth of the “ Great River ; ” 5 
 and hence civilisation, science, letters, art, extended themselves 
 northward, and eastward, and westward. Assyria, Media, Semitic 
 Babylonia, Persia, as they derived from Chaldsea the character 
 of their writing , 6 so were they indebted to the same country for 
 their general notions of government and administration, for their 
 architecture, their decorative art, and still more for their science 
 and literature. Each people no doubt modified in some measure 
 the boon received, adding more or less of its own to the common 
 inheritance. But Chaldsea stands forth as the great parent and 
 
 ported to us by Eusebius in a work (his 
 Chronica ) the original of which is lost, 
 and which we have only in an Armenian 
 version. Polyhistor himself does not 
 appear to have read the work of Be- 
 rosus. He derives his knowledge of it 
 from Apollodorus. Thus we have Be- 
 rosus at fifth hand — through Apollo- 
 dorus, Polyhistor, Eusebius, and the 
 Armenian translator. Hence the ex- 
 cellent advice of C. Muller — “ Igitur 
 cum per tot manus migraverint quae ad 
 nos perdurarunt fragmenta, haud mira- 
 beris variis modis verba Berosi defor- 
 mata esse, cavendumque ne Beroso im- 
 putemus quae sunt imputanda excerp- | 
 
 toribus.” ( Fragm . Hist . Gr. vol. ii. 
 
 p. 496.) 
 
 4 The change of A0 into A0 is one 
 very likely to occur, and has numerous 
 parallels. 
 
 5 Gen. xv. 18 ; Deut. i. 7 ; Josh. i. 4. 
 
 6 The alphabets, as well as the 
 languages, of these various races differ ; 
 but, as all assume the wedge as the 
 ultimate element out of which their 
 letters are formed, it seojns almost cer- 
 tain that they learnt the art of writing 
 from one another. If so, Chaldsea has 
 on every ground the best claim to be 
 regarded as the teacher of the others. 
 
Chap. VIII. 
 
 GENERAL RESULTS. 
 
 175 
 
 original inventress of Asiatic civilisation, without any rival that 
 can reasonably dispute her claims. 
 
 The great men of the Empire are Nimrod, Urukh, and Checlor- 
 laomer. Nimrod, the founder, has the testimony of Scripture 
 that he was “ a mighty one in the earth 7 “a mighty hunter ; ” 8 
 the establisher of a “ kingdom,” when kingdoms had scarcely 
 begun to be known ; the builder of four great and famous cities, 
 “ Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of 
 Shinar,” 9 or Mesopotamia. To him belongs the merit of selecting 
 a site peculiarly fitted for the development of a great power in 
 the early ages of the world, 10 and of binding men together into 
 a community which events proved to possess within it the ele- 
 ments of prosperity and permanence. Whether he had, indeed, 
 the rebellious and apostate character which numerous traditions, 
 Jewish, Arabian, and Armenian, 1 assign to him ; whether he 
 was in reality concerned in the building of the tower related in 
 the eleventh chapter of the Book of Genesis, 2 we have no means 
 of positively determining. The language of Scripture with 
 regard to Nimrod is laudatory rather than the contrary ; 3 and 
 it would seem to have been from a misapprehension of the nexus 
 of the Mosaic narrative that the traditions above mentioned 
 originated. 4 * Nimrod, “ the mighty hunter before the Lord,” had 
 
 7 Gen. x. 8. 8 lb. verse 9. 
 
 9 lb. verse 10. 
 
 10 In later times, when civilisation 
 was more advanced, less fruitful tracts 
 may, by calling forth men’s powers, 
 have produced the most puissant races 
 (see Herod, ix. ad fin.) ; but in the first 
 ages only fertile regions could nurture 
 and develop greatness. Elsewhere man’s 
 life was a struggle for bare existence. 
 
 1 Josephus makes Nimrod the prime 
 mover in the building of the tower (Ant. 
 Jud. i. 4, § 2). The Targums generally 
 take the same view. Some of the Arabic 
 traditions have been already mentioned. 
 (Supra, p. 151, note 6 .) The Armenian 
 account will be found in Moses of Cho- 
 rene, who, identifying Nimrod with 
 Belus, proceeds to describe him as the 
 chief of the Giants, by whom the tower 
 was built, proud and fierce, and of in- 
 satiable ambition, engaged in perpetual 
 
 wars with his neighbours. ( Hist. Armen. 
 
 i. 6-10.) 2 Gen. xi. 1-9. 
 
 3 Nimrod is called “ a mighty one in 
 the earth,” and “ a mighty hunter 
 before the Lord .” Many commentators 
 have observed that the phrase in italics 
 is almost always used in a good sense, 
 implying the countenance and favour 
 of God, and his blessing on the work 
 which is said to have been done “ before” 
 him, or “ in his sight.” 
 
 4 Commentators seem generally to 
 have supposed that the building, or 
 attempt to build, described in Gen. xi. 
 
 1-9, is the building of Babel ascribed to 
 
 Nimrod in Gen. x. 10. But this cannot 
 be so : for in Gen. xi. we are told, “ they 
 left off to build the city.” The truth 
 seems to be that the tenth chapter is 
 parenthetical, and the author in ch. xi. 
 takes up the narrative from ch. ix., going 
 back to a time not long after the Deluge. 
 
i;6 
 
 THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VIII. 
 
 not in the days of Moses that ill reputation which attached to 
 him in later ages, when he was regarded as the great Titan or 
 Giant, who made war upon the gods, and who was at once the 
 builder of the tower, and the persecutor who forced Abraham to 
 quit his original country. It is at least doubtful whether we 
 ouo-ht to allow any weight at all to the additions and embellish- 
 ments with which later writers, so much wiser than Moses, have 
 overlaid the simplicity of his narrative. 
 
 Urukh, whose fame may possibly have reached the Bomans , 5 
 w as the great Chaldsean architect. To him belongs, apparently, 
 the conception of the Babylonian temple, with its rectangular 
 base, carefully placed so as to present its angles to the four 
 cardinal points, its receding stages, its buttresses, its drains, its 
 sloped walls, its external staircases for ascent, and its ornamental 
 shrine crowning the w 7 hole. At any rate, if he was not the first 
 to conceive and erect such structures, he set the example of 
 building them on such a scale and with such solidity as to secure 
 their long continuance, and render them well nigh imperishable. 
 There is no appearance in all Chaldaea, so far as it has been 
 explored, of any building which can be even probably assigned 
 to a date anterior to Urukh. The attempted tower was no doubt 
 earlier; and it may have been a building of the same type ; 6 
 but there is no reason to believe that any remnant, or indeed 
 any trace, of this primitive edifice, has continued to exist to our 
 day. The structures of the most archaic character throughout 
 Chaldaea are, one and all, the work of King Urukh : who was 
 not content to adorn his metropolitan city only with one of the 
 new edifices, but added a similar ornament to each of the great 
 cities within his empire . 7 
 
 The great builder was followed shortly by the great conqueror. 
 Kudur-Lagamer, the Elamitic prince, who, more than twenty 
 centuries before our era, having extended his dominion over 
 Babylonia and the adjoining regions, marched an army a dis- 
 
 5 If, that is, the Orchamus of Ovid, 
 is really to be connected with the word 
 now read as Urukh. 
 
 6 See the article on the “ Tower of 
 
 Babel ” in Smith’s Dictionary of the 
 Bible , vol. i. pp. 158-160. 
 
 7 See above, p. 156. 
 
Chap. Till. 
 
 GREAT MEN OF THE EMPIRE. 
 
 1 77 
 
 tance of 1200 miles 8 from the shores of the Persian Gulf to the 
 Dead Sea, and held Palestine and Syria in subjection for twelve 
 years, thus effecting conquests which were not again made from 
 the same quarter till the time of Nebuchadnezzar, fifteen or 
 sixteen hundred years afterwards, has a good claim to be re- 
 garded as one of the most remarkable personages in the world’s 
 history — being, as he is, the forerunner and prototype of all 
 those great Oriental conquerors who from time to time have 
 built up vast empires in Asia out of heterogeneous materials, 
 which have in a longer or a shorter space successively crumbled 
 to decay. At a time when the kings of Egypt had never ventured 
 beyond their borders, unless it were for a foray in Ethiopia, 9 
 and when in Asia no monarch had held dominion over more than 
 a few petty tribes, and a few hundred miles of territory, he con- 
 ceived the magnificent notion of binding into one the manifold 
 nations inhabiting the vast tract which lies between the Zagros 
 mountain-range and the Mediterranean. Lord by inheritance 
 (as we may presume) of Elam and Chaldsea or Babylonia, he was 
 not content with these ample tracts, but, coveting more, pro- 
 ceeded boldly on a career of conquest up the Euphrates valley, 
 and through Syria, into Palestine. Successful here, he governed 
 for twelve years dominions extending near a thousand miles 
 from east to west, and from north to south probably not much 
 short of five hundred. It is true that he was not able to hold 
 this large extent of territory ; but the attempt and the success 
 temporarily attending it are memorable circumstances, and w^ere 
 probably long held in remembrance through Western Asia, where 
 they served as a stimulus and incentive to the ambition of later 
 monarchs. 
 
 These, then, are the great men of the Chaldsean empire. Its 
 extent, as we have seen, varied greatly at different periods. 
 Under the kings of the first dynasty — to which Urukh and Ugi 
 belonged — it was probably confined to the alluvium, wLich seems 
 
 8 The march would necessarily be 
 along the Euphrates to the latitude 
 (nearly) of Aleppo, and then down 
 Syria to the Dead Sea. This is 1200 
 miles. The direct distance by the desert 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 is not more than 800 miles; but the 
 desert cannot be crossed by an army. 
 
 9 See the “Historical Essay” of Sir 
 G. Wilkinson, in the author’s Herodotus, 
 vol. ii. pp. 341-351. 
 
 N 
 
78 
 
 THE FIRST MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VIII. 
 
 then to have been not more than 300 miles in length along the 
 course of the rivers, 10 and which is about 70 or 80 miles in breadth 
 from the Tigris to the Arabian desert. In the course of the 
 second dynasty it received a vast increase, being carried in one 
 direction to the Elamitic mountains, and in another to the Medi- 
 terranean, by the conquests of Kudur-Nakhunta and Chedor- 
 laomer. On the defeat of the latter prince it again contracted, 
 though to what extent we have no means of determining. It is 
 probable that Elam or Susiana, and not unlikely that the 
 Euphrates valley, for a considerable distance above Hit, formed 
 parts of the Chaldsean Empire after the loss of Syria and Pales- 
 tine. Assyria occupied a similar position, at any rate from the 
 time of Ismi-dagon, whose son built a temple at Kileh-Sherghat 
 or Asshur. There is reason to think that the subjection of 
 Assyria continued to the very end of the dynasty, and that 
 this region, whose capital was at Kileh-Sherghat, was adminis- 
 tered by viceroys deriving their authority from the Chaldsean 
 monarchs. 1 These monarchs, as has been already observed, 2 
 gradually remove their capital more and more northwards ; by 
 which it would appear as if their empire tended to progress in 
 that direction. 
 
 The different dynasties which ruled in Chaldsea prior to the 
 establishment of Assyrian influence, whether Chaldsean, Susia- 
 nian, or Arabian, seem to have been of kindred race; and, 
 whether they established themselves by conquest, or in a more 
 peaceful manner, to have made little, if any, change in the lan- 
 guage, religion, or customs of the Empire. The so-called Arab 
 kings, if they are really (as we have supposed), Khammu-rabi 
 and his successors, show themselves by their names and their 
 inscriptions to be as thoroughly proto-Chaldsean as Urukh or 
 Ilgi. But with the commencement of the Assyrian period the 
 case is altered. From the time of Tiglathi-Nin (about b.c. 1300), 
 the Assyrian conqueror who effected the subjugation of Babylon, 
 a strong Semitising influence made itself felt in the lower 
 country — the monarchs cease to have Turanian or Cushite and 
 
 10 Compare ch. i. p. 4. 
 
 Supra, p. 164, note l . 
 
 2 P. 166. 
 
Chap. VIII. 
 
 FALL OF THE EMPIRE. 
 
 179 
 
 bear instead thoroughly Assyrian names; inscriptions, when 
 they occur, are in the Assyrian language and character. The 
 entire people seems by degrees to have been Assyrianised, or at 
 any rate Semitised — assimilated, that is, to the stock of nations 
 to which the Jews, the northern Arabs, the Aramaeans or 
 Syrians, the Phoenicians, and the Assyrians belong. Their lan- 
 guage fell into disuse, and grew to be a learned tongue, studied 
 by the priests and the literati; their Cushite character was lost, 
 and they became, as a people, scarcely distinguishable from the 
 Assyrians. 3 After six centuries and a half of submission and 
 insignificance, the Chaldaeans, however, began to revive and re- 
 cover themselves — they renewed the struggle for national inde- 
 pendence, and in the year B.c. 625 succeeded in establishing a 
 second kingdom, which will be treated of in a later volume, as 
 the fourth or Babylonian Monarchy. Even when this monarchy 
 met its death at the hands of Cyrus the Great, the nationality 
 of the Chaldaeans was not swept away. We find them recognised 
 under the Persians, 4 and even under the Parthians, 5 as a distinct 
 people. When at last they cease to have a separate national 
 existence, their name remains ; and it is in memory of the suc- 
 cessful cultivation of their favourite science by the people of 
 Nimrod from his time to that of Alexander, that the professors 
 of astronomical and astrological learning under the Eoman 
 Emperors receive, from the poets and historians of the time, the 
 appellation of “ Chaldaeans.” 6 
 
 3 Hence Herodotus always regards 
 
 the Babylonians as Assyrians, and Baby- 
 lonia as a district of Assyria. (See i. 
 
 106, 178, 188, 192, &c. ; iii. 92 and 
 
 155.) 4 Herod, vii. 63. 
 
 5 Strab. xvi. 1, § 6 ; Plin. H. N. vi. 
 28. 
 
 6 Juv. Sat vi. 552 ; x. 94 ; Tacit. 
 Ann. ii. 27 ; iii. 22 ; vi. 20, &c. ; Sueton. 
 Vit. Vitell. 14; Vit. Domit. 14. 
 
THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 ASSYRIA. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF THE COUNTRY. 
 
 “ Tpirrifiopl^ r] ’Aorrupii? x^P 7 ? T V ^vvdfiei rys hAXrjs A<nr}s. Herod, i. 192. 
 
 The site of tlie second — or great Assyrian monarchy was the 
 upper portion of the Mesopotamian valley. The cities which 
 successively formed its capitals lay, all of them, upon the middle 
 Tigris; and the heart of the country was a district on either 
 side that river, enclosed within the thirty-fifth and thirty-seventh 
 parallels. By degrees these limits were enlarged; and the 
 term, Assyria, came to be used, in a loose and \ague way, of 
 a vast and ill-defined tract extending on all sides from this 
 central region. Herodotus 1 considered the whole of Babylonia 
 to be a mere district of Assyria. Pliny 2 reckoned to it all 
 Mesopotamia. Strabo 3 gave it, besides these regions, a great 
 portion of Mount Zagros (the modern Kurdistan) and all Syria 
 as far as Cilicia, Judaea, and Phoenicia. 
 
 If, leaving the conventional, which is thus vague and un- 
 
 1 Herod, i. 106, 192; iii.^ 92. ’Anb 
 BajSuXc bvos 8e ical Tjjs Aonrris ’Affffvplris. 
 
 2 Plin. Hist. Nat. vi. 26. “Mesopo- 
 tamia tota Assy riorum fuit.”. 
 
 3 Strabo says: “The Assyrians ad- 
 join on Persia and Susiana ; for by this 
 name they call Babylonia, and a vast 
 tract of the surrounding country, in- 
 cluding Aturia (which contains Nineveh) 
 and Apollonias, and the Elymaeans, and 
 the Paraetacae, and the district about , 
 Mount Zagros called Chalonitis, and the i 
 plain tracts near Nineveh — Dolomene, I 
 
 and Calachene, and Chazene, and Adia- 
 bene— and the Mesopotamian nations 
 about the Gordiaeans, and the Mygdo- 
 nians about Nisibis, as far as the passage 
 of the Euphrates, and a great part of the 
 country beyond the Euphrates (which is 
 in possession of the Arabs), and the 
 people now called by way of distinction 
 Syrians, reaching to Cilicia, and Phoe- 
 nicia, and Judaea, and to the sea over 
 against the sea of Egypt and the gulf of 
 Issus .” ( Geograph . xvi. 1, § 1.) 
 
Chap. I. 
 
 GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF ASSYRIA. 
 
 1 8 1 
 
 satisfactory, we seek to find certain natural limits which we may 
 regard as the proper boundaries of the country, in two directions 
 we seem to perceive an almost unmistakable line of demarcar 
 tion. On the east the high mountain-chain of Zagros, pene- 
 trable only in one or two places, forms a barrier of the most 
 marked character, and is beyond a doubt the natural limit for 
 which we are looking. On the south a less striking, but not 
 less clearly defined, line — formed by the abutment of the upper 
 and slightly elevated plain on the alluvium of the lower valley 4 
 — separates Assyria from Babylonia, which is best regaled as 
 a distinct country. In the two remaining directions, there is 
 more doubt as to the most proper limit. Northwards, we may 
 either view Mount Masius as the natural boundary, or the course 
 of the Tigris from Diarbekr to Til, or even perhaps the Armenian 
 mountain-chain north of this portion of the Tigris, from whence 
 that river receives its early tributaries . 5 Westward, we might 
 confine Assyria to the country watered by the affluents of the 
 Tigris , 6 or extend it so as to include the Khabour and its 
 tributaries, or finally venture to carry it across the whole of 
 Mesopotamia, and make it be bounded by the Euphrates. On 
 the whole it is thought that in both the doubtful cases the 
 wider limits are historically the truer ones. Assyrian remains 
 cover the entire country between the Tigris and the Khabour, 
 and are frequent on both banks of the latter stream, giving un- 
 mistakable indications of a long occupation of that region 
 by the great Mesopotamian people. The inscriptions show that 
 even a wider tract was in process of time absorbed by the con- 
 querors; and if we are to draw a line between the country 
 actually taken into Assyria, and that which was merely con- 
 quered and held in subjection, we can select no better boundary 
 than the Euphrates westward, and northward the snowy moun- 
 tain-chain known to the ancients as Mons Niphates. 
 
 If Assyria be allowed the extent which is here assigned to 
 
 4 Supra, p. 3. 5 Supra, p. 9. 
 
 6 This is the division adopted in the 
 
 geographical essay, contained in vol. i. 
 of the author’s Herodotus (p. 569). It 
 
 was thought most suitable to a general 
 review of the geography of Western 
 Asia ; but is less adapted to a special 
 account of the empire of the Assyrians. 
 
182 
 
 THE SECOND MONAKCHY. 
 
 Chap. I. 
 
 her, she will be a country, not only very much larger than 
 Chaldsea or Babylonia, but, positively, of considerable dimensions. 
 Beaching on the north to the thirty-eighth and on the south to 
 the thirty-fourth parallel, she had a length diagonally from 
 Diarbekr to the alluvium of 350 miles, .and a breadth between 
 the Euphrates and Mount Zagros varying from about 300 to 
 170 miles. Her area was probably not less than 75,000 square 
 miles, which is more than double that of Portugal, and not 
 much below that of Great Britain. She would thus from her 
 mere size be calculated to play an important part in history ; 
 and the more so, as during the period of her greatness scarcely 
 any nation, with which she came in contact, possessed nearly 
 so extensive a territory. 
 
 Within the limits here assigned to Assyria, the face of the 
 country is tolerably varied. Possessing, on the whole, perhaps, 
 a predominant character of flatness, the territory still includes 
 some important ranges of hills, while on two sides it abuts upon 
 lofty mountain-chains. Towards the north and east it is pro- 
 vided by nature with an ample supply of water ; rills everywhere 
 flowing from the Armenian and Kurdish ranges, which soon 
 collect into rapid and abundant rivers. The central, southern, 
 and western regions are, however, less bountifully supplied , for 
 though the Euphrates washes the whole western and south- 
 western frontier, it spreads fertility only along its banks ; and 
 though Mount Masius sends down upon the Mesopotamian plain 
 a considerable number of streams, they form in the space of 200 
 miles between Balis and Mosul but two rivers, leaving thus 
 large tracts to languish for want of the precious fluid. The 
 vicinity of the Arabian and Syrian deserts is likewise felt in 
 these regions, which, left to themselves, tend to acquire the 
 desert character, and have occasionally been regarded as actual 
 parts of Arabia. 7 
 
 The chief natural division of the country is that made by the 
 Tigris, which, having a course nearly from north to south, 
 between Til and Samarah, separates Assyria into a western and 
 
 i Xenophon, Amb. i. 5, § 1 ; Plin. H. N. v. 24 ; Strab. xvi. 1, § 2G. 
 
Chap. I. CHIEF DIVISIONS — EASTERN AND WESTERN. 
 
 183 
 
 an eastern district. Of these two, the eastern or that upon the 
 left bank of the Tigris, although considerably the smaller, has 
 always been the more important region. Comparatively narrow 
 at first, it broadens as the course of the river is descended, till it 
 attains about the thirty-fifth parallel a width of 130 or 140 
 miles. It consists chiefly of a series of rich and productive 
 plains, lying along the courses of the various tributaries which 
 flow from Mount Zagros into the Tigris, and often of a semi- 
 alluvial character. These plains are not, however, continuous. 
 Detached ranges of hills, with a general direction parallel to the 
 Zagros chain, intersect the flat rich country, separating the 
 plains from one another, and supplying small streams 8 and 
 brooks in addition to the various rivers, which, rising within or 
 beyond the great mountain barrier, traverse the plains on their 
 way to the Tigris. The hills themselves— known now as the 
 Jebel Maklub, the Ain-es-sufra, the Karachok, &c. — are for the 
 most part bare and sterile. In form they are hogbacked, and 
 viewed from a distance have a smooth and even outline ; but on 
 a nearer approach they are found to be rocky and rugged. 
 Their limestone sides are lurrowed by innumerable ravines, and 
 have a dry and parched appearance, being even in spring 
 generally naked and without vegetation. The sterility is most 
 marked on the western flank, which faces the hot rays of the 
 afternoon sun; the eastern slope is occasionally robed with a 
 scanty covering of dwarf oak or stunted brushwood. 9 In the 
 fat soil of the plains the rivers commonly run deep and concealed 
 from view, 1 unless in the spring and the early summer, when 
 through the rains and the melting of the snows in the mountains 
 they are greatly swollen, and run bank full, or even overflow 
 the level country. 
 
 The most important of these rivers are the following : — the 
 
 8 The most important of these is the 
 
 Khosr, or river of Koyunjik, which, 
 rising from the Ain Sifni hills beyond 
 the Jebel Maklub, forces its way through 
 that range, and after washing Khor- 
 sabad, and crossing the great plain, 
 winds round the eastern base of the 
 mound at Koyunjik, and then runs on 
 
 to the Tigris. It is a narrow and sluggish 
 stream, but deep, and only fordable about 
 Koyunjik in a few places. (See Layard’s 
 Nineveh and Babylon , p. 77 ; and com- 
 pare the view of the ruins of Nineveh, 
 infra, p. 255.) 
 
 9 Layard, p. 222. 1 Ibid. p. 223. 
 
184 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. I. 
 
 Kurnib or Eastern Khabour, which joins the Tigris in lat. 37° 12'; 
 the Greater Zab (Zab Ala), which washes the ruins of Kimrud, 
 and enters the main stream almost exactly in lat. 36°; the 
 Lesser Zab (Zab Asfal), which effects its junction about lat. 
 35° 15'; the Adhem, which is received a little below Samarah, 
 about lat. 34° ; and the Diyaleh, which now joins below 
 Baghdad, but from which branches have sometimes entered the 
 Tigris a very little below the mouth of the Adhem. Of these 
 streams the most northern, the Khabour, runs chiefly in an un- 
 traversed country — the district between Julamerik and the 
 Tigris. It rises a little west of Julamerik in one of the highest 
 mountain districts of Kurdistan, and runs with a general south- 
 westerly course to its junction with another large branch, which 
 reaches it from the district immediately west of Amadiyeh ; it 
 then flows due west, or a little north of west, to Zakko, and, 
 bending to the north after passing that place, flows once more 
 in a south-westerly direction until it reaches the Tigris. The 
 direct distance from its source to its embouchure is about 
 80 miles ; but that distance is more than doubled by its windings. 
 It is a stream of considerable size, broad and rapid, at many 
 seasons not fordable at all and always forded with difficulty. 2 
 
 The Greater Zab is the most important of all the tributaries 
 of the Tigris. It rises near Konia, in the district of Karasu, 
 about lat. 38° 20/ long. 44° 30', a little west of the watershed 
 which divides the basins of Lakes Van and Urumiveh. Its 
 general course for the first 150 miles is S.S.W., after which for 
 25 or 30 miles it runs almost due south through the country of 
 the Tiyari. Kear Amadiyeh it makes a sudden turn, and flows 
 S.E. or S.S.E. to its junction with the Kowandiz branch ; 3 
 whence, finally, it resumes its old direction, and runs south-west 
 past the Nimrud ruins into the Tigris. Its entire course, 
 exclusive of small windings, is above 350 miles, and of these 
 nearly 100 are across the plain country, which it enters soon 
 
 2 Mr. Layard forded the Khabour on 3 Ainsworth, in the Journal of the 
 his way to Mosul in 1849. The water Geographical Society, vol. xi. p. 70. Com- 
 
 was above the horses’ bellies. ( Nineveh pare Mr. Layard’s large map at the end 
 
 and Babylon, p. 56.) of his Nineveh and Babylon. 
 
Chap. I. 
 
 RIVERS OE EASTERN ASSYRIA. 
 
 185 
 
 after receiving the Rowandiz stream. Like the Khabour, it is 
 fordable at certain places and during the summer season ; but 
 even then the water reaches above the bellies ot horses. 4 It is 
 20 yards wide a little above its junction with the main stream. 5 
 On account of its strength and rapidity the Arabs sometimes call 
 it the “ Mad River.” 6 
 
 The Lesser Zab has its principal source near Legwin, 7 about 
 twenty miles south of Lake Urumiyeh, in lat. 36° 40 , long. 
 46° 25'. This source is to the east of the great Zagros chain ; 
 and it might have been supposed that the waters would neces- 
 sarily flow northward or eastward, towards Lake Urumiyeh, or 
 towards the Caspian. But the Legwin river, called even at its 
 source the Zei or Zab, flows from the first westward, as if deter- 
 mined to pierce the mountain barrier. Failing, however, to find 
 an opening where it meets the range, the Little Zab turns south 
 and even south-east along its base, till about 25 or 30 miles 
 from its source it suddenly resumes its original direction, enters 
 the mountains in lat. 36° 20', and forces its way through the 
 numerous parallel ranges, flowing generally to the S.S.W., till it 
 debouches upon the plain near Arbela, after which it runs S.W. 
 and S.W. by S. to the Tigris. Its course among the mountains 
 is from 80 to 90 miles, exclusive of small windings ; and it runs 
 more than 100 miles through the plain. Its ordinary width, just 
 above its confluence with the Tigris, is 25 feet. 8 
 
 The Diyaleh, which lies mostly within the limits that have 
 been here assigned to Assyria, is formed by the confluence of 
 two principal streams, known respectively as the Holwan, and 
 the Shirwan, river. Of these, the Shirwan seems to be the main 
 branch. This stream rises from the most eastern and highest of 
 the Zagros ranges, in lat. 34° 45', long. 47° 40' nearly. It flows 
 at first west, and then north-west, parallel to the chain, but on 
 entering the plain of Shalirizur, where tributaries join it from 
 the north-east and the north-west, the Shirwan changes its 
 
 4 Layard, p. 169. 
 
 5 Chesney, Euphrates Expedition , vol. 
 
 i. p. 24. 6 Ibid. p. 22, note 3 . 
 
 7 See the account of its source given 
 
 by Sir H. Rawlinson, who was the first 
 European to explore this region, in the 
 Journal of the Geographical Society , vol. 
 x. p. 31. 8 Chesney, vol. i. p. 25. 
 
1 86 
 
 THE SECOND MONAKCHY. 
 
 Chap. I. 
 
 course and begins to run south of west, a direction which it 
 pursues till it enters the low country, about lat. 35° 5', near 
 Semiram. Thence to the Tigris it has a course which in direct 
 distance is 150 miles, and 200 if we include only main windings. 9 
 The whole course cannot be less than 380 miles, which is about 
 the length of the Great Zab river. The width attained, before 
 the confluence with the Tigris, is 60 yards, 1 or three times the 
 width of the Greater, and seven times that of the Lesser Zab. 
 
 On the opposite side of the Tigris, the traveller comes upon 
 a region far less favoured by nature than that of which we have 
 been lately speaking. Western Assyria has but a scanty supply 
 of water ; and unless the labour of man is skilfully applied to 
 compensate this natural deficiency, the greater part of the 
 region tends to be, for ten months out of the twelve, a desert. 
 The general character of the country is level, but not alluvial. 
 A line of mountains, rocky and precipitous, but of no great 
 elevation, stretches across the northern part of the region, 
 running nearly due east and west, and extending from the 
 Euphrates at Rum-kaleh to Til and Chelek upon the Tigris. 
 Below this, a vast slightly undulating plain extends from the 
 northern mountains to the Babylonian alluvium, only inter- 
 rupted about midway by a range of low limestone hills called 
 the Sinjar, which leaving the Tigris near Mosul runs nearly 
 from east to west across central Mesopotamia, and strikes the 
 Euphrates half-way between Rakkeh and Kerkesiyeh, nearly in 
 long. 40°. 
 
 The northern mountain region, called by Strabo “Mons 
 Masius,” and by the Arabs the Karajah Dagh towards the west, 
 and towards the east the Jebel Tur, is on the whole a tolerably 
 fertile country. 2 It contains a good deal of rocky land ; but 
 
 9 See the map attached to Sir H. 
 Rawlinson’s Memoir on the Atropatenian 
 Ecbatana, in the Journal of the Geo- 
 graphical Society , vol. x. 
 
 1 Chesney, Euphrates Expedition, vol. 
 i. p. 35. 
 
 2 This region has been traversed by 
 few, and described by fewer, Europeans. 
 The best published account which I have 
 been able to find is that of the elder 
 
 Niebuhr. (See his Voyage en Arabic, 
 pp. 300-334.) Some careful MS. notes 
 have been kindly placed at my disposal 
 by Mr. A. D. Berrington, who has tra- 
 versed it. On the general fertility of 
 the region, compare Niebuhr’s Description 
 de V Arabie, pp. 134, 135. Strabo’s words 
 are well weighed, and just meet the case — 
 ’E(tti S'tj pfv 7r apopuos ev8c.ifj.ui/ iuavws. 
 xvi. i. § 23. 
 
Chap. I. 
 
 RIVERS OF WESTERN ASSYRIA. 
 
 187 
 
 has abundant springs, and in many parts is well wooded. To- 
 wards the west it is rather hilly than mountainous ; 3 but towards 
 the east it rises considerably, and the cone above Mardin is 
 both lofty and striking. 4 The waters flowing from the range 
 consist, on the north, of a small number of brooks, which after 
 a short course fall into the Tigris ; on the south, of more 
 numerous and more copious streams, which gradually unite, and 
 eventually form two rather important rivers. These rivers are 
 
 The Khabour, from near Arban, looking north (after Layard). 
 
 the Belik, known anciently as the Bilecha, 5 and the Western 
 Khabour, called Habor in Scripture, and by the classical writers 
 Aborrhas or Chaboras. 6 
 
 The Belik rises among the hills east of Orfa, about long. 39°, 
 lat. 37° 10'. Its course is at first somewhat east of south ; but 
 
 3 Niebuhr, Voyage en Arabie, pp. 
 328-334 ; Pocock, Description of the 
 East , vol. ii. pp. 158-163 ; Chesney, 
 Euphrates Expedition , vol. i. p. 107. 
 
 4 Niebuhr, p. 317 ; Layard, Nineveh 
 
 and Babylon , p. 51. 5 Isid. Char. p. 3. 
 
 6 Aborrhas by Strabo (xvi. i. § 27) 
 and Procopius {Bell. Pers. ii. 5) ; Cha- 
 boras (Xafiwpas) by Pliny (xxx. 3), and 
 Ptolemy (v. 18). Other forms of the 
 word are Aburas (’Aj Qovpas, Isid. Char, 
 p. 5), and Abora (’ A/3wpa , Zosim. iii. 12). 
 
1 88 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. I. 
 
 it soon sweeps round, and, passing by tbe city of Harran — the 
 Haran of Scripture and the classical Carrhse 7 — proceeds nearly 
 due south to its junction, a few miles below Rakkah, with the 
 Euphrates. It is a small stream throughout its whole course, 8 
 which may be reckoned at 100 or 120 miles. 
 
 The Khabour is a much more considerable river. It collects 
 the waters which flow southward from at least two-thirds of the 
 Mons Masius, 9 and has, besides, an important source, which the 
 Arabs regard as the true “head of the spring,” 1 derived appa- 
 rently from a spur of the Sinjar range. This stream, which rises 
 about lat. 36° 40', long. 40°, flows a little south of east to its 
 junction near Koukab with the Jerujer or river of Nisibis, which 
 comes down from Mons Masius with a course not much west 
 of south. Both of these branches are formed by the union of a 
 number of streams. Neither of them is fordable for some dis- 
 tance above their junction ; and below it, they constitute a river 
 of such magnitude as to be navigable for a considerable distance 
 by steamers. 2 The course of the Khabour below Koukab is 
 tortuous ; 3 but its general direction is S. S.W. The entire 
 length of the stream is certainly not less than 200 miles. 
 
 The country between the “ Mons Masius ” and the Sinjar 
 range is an undulating plain, from 60 to 70 miles in width, 
 almost as devoid of geographical features as the alluvium of 
 Babylonia. From a height the whole appears to be a dead 
 level: 4 but the traveller finds, on descending, that the surface, 
 like that of the American prairies and the Roman Campagna, 
 really rises and falls in a manner which offers a decided con- 
 trast to the alluvial flats nearer the sea. Great portions of the 
 tract are very deficient in water. Only small streams descend 
 from the Sinjar range, and these are soon absorbed by the 
 thirsty soil ; so that except in the immediate vicinity of the 
 hills north and south, and along the courses of the Khabour, 
 the Belik, and their affluents, there is little natural fertility, 
 
 Plin. H. N. v. 24 ; Dio Cass, xxxvii. I the Ten Thousand , p. 79, note *. 
 
 5 ; Strab. xvi. 1, § 23, &c. 1 Eas el Ain. (Niebuhr, p. 316- 
 
 Chesney, Euphrates Expedition , vol. Layard, p. 308 ; Ainsworth, p. 75.) 
 i. p. 48. Ainsworth, 1. s. c. 
 
 y Ainsworth, Travels in the Track of j 3 Layard, p. 304. * Ibid. p. 51. 
 
Chap. I. 
 
 VOLCANIC HILL OF KOUKAB. 
 
 189 
 
 and cultivation is difficult. The soil too is often gypsiferous ; 
 and its salt and nitrous exudations destroy vegetation; 5 while 
 at the same time the streams and springs are from the same 
 cause for the most part brackish and unpalatable. 6 Volcanic 
 action probably did not cease in the region very much, if at all, 
 before the historical period. Fragments of basalt in many 
 places strew the plain ; and near the confluence of the two 
 chief branches of the Khabour, not only are old craters of 
 volcanoes distinctly visible, but a cone still rises from the centre 
 
 Koukab (after Layard). 
 
 of one, precisely like the cones in the craters of Etna and 
 Vesuvius, composed entirely of loose lava, scoriae, and ashes, 
 and rising to the height of 300 feet. The name of this re- 
 markable hill, which is Koukab, is even thought to imply, that 
 the volcano may have been active within the time to which the 
 traditions of the country extend. 7 
 
 Sheets of water are so rare in this region that the small lake 
 of Khatouniyeh seems to deserve especial description. This 
 
 5 Layard, p. 324. 6 Ibid. pp. 242, 325. 
 
 7 Ibid. p. 308. Koukab is said to signify “ a jet of fire or flame.” 
 
I90 THE SECOND MONARCHY. Chap. I. 
 
 lake is situated near the point where the Sinjar changes its 
 character, and from a high rocky range subsides into low 
 broken hills. It is of oblong shape, with its greater axis point- 
 
 ing nearly due east and west, in length about four miles, and 
 in its greatest breadth somewhat less than three . 8 The banks 
 
 O 
 
 8 See Mr. Layard’s maps at the end 
 of his JS'ineveh and Babylon. For a ge- 
 neral description of the lake, compare 
 
 the same 'work. p. 324. with C. Niebuhr’s 
 Voyage en Arabic , p. 316. 
 
Chap. I. 
 
 SINJAR RANGE. 
 
 191 
 
 are low and in part marshy, more especially on the side towards 
 the Khabour, which is not more than ten miles distant . 9 In 
 the middle of the lake is a hilly peninsula, joined to the main- 
 land by a narrow causeway, and beyond it a small island 
 covered with trees. The lake abounds with fish and waterfowl ; 
 and its water, though brackish, is regarded as remarkably whole- 
 some both for man and beast. 
 
 The Sinjar range, which divides Western Assyria into two 
 plains, a northern and a southern, is a solitary limestone ridge, 
 rising up abruptly from the flat country, which it commands 
 to a vast distance on both sides. The limestone, of which it is 
 composed, is white, soft, and fossiliferous ; it detaches itself in 
 enormous flakes from the mountain-sides, which are sometimes 
 broken into a succession of gigantic steps, while occasionally 
 they present the columnar appearance of basalt . 1 The flanks 
 of the Sinjar are seamed with innumerable ravines, and from 
 these small brooks issue, which are soon dispersed by irrigation, 
 or absorbed in the thirsty plains . 2 The sides of the mountain 
 are capable of being cultivated by means of terraces, and pro- 
 duce fair crops of corn and excellent fruit ; the top is often 
 wooded with fruit-trees or forest-trees . 3 Geographically, the 
 Sinjar may be regarded as the continuation of that range of 
 hills which shuts in the Tigris on the west, from Tekrit nearly 
 to Mosul, and then leaving the river strikes across the plain in 
 a direction almost from east to west as far as the town of Sinjar. 
 Here the mountains change their course and bend to the south- 
 west, till having passed the little lake described above, they 
 somewhat suddenly subside , 4 sinking from a high ridge into low 
 undulating hills, which pass to the south of the lake, and then 
 disappear in the plain altogether. According to some, the Sinjar 
 here terminates ; but perhaps it is best to regard it as rising 
 
 9 A long swamp, called the Hoi, ex- 
 tends from the lake to within a short 
 distance of the Khabour (Layard, 1. s. c.). 
 This is probably the Holi, or Hauli of 
 some writers, which is represented as a 
 tributa ry of the Khabour. (See Chesney, 
 Euphrates Expedition , vol. i. p. 51 ; 
 Journal of Geographical Society , vol. ix. 
 
 p. 423, &c.) 
 
 1 Layard, Nineveh and Babylon, p. 250. 
 
 2 Ibid. p. 256. Compare Nineveh and 
 its Bemains, vol. i. p. 315, note. 
 
 3 Layard, Nineveh and Babylon , pp. 
 253-256. 
 
 4 Ibid. p. 265. 
 
192 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. I. 
 
 again in the Abd-el-aziz hills , 5 which, intervening between the 
 Khabour and the Euphrates, run on in the same south-west 
 direction from Arban to Zelabi. If this be accepted as the 
 true course of the Sinjar, we must view it as throwing out two 
 important spurs. One of these is near its eastern extremity, 
 and runs to the south-east, dividing the plain of Zerga from the 
 great central level. Like the main chain, it is of limestone ; 
 and, though low, has several remarkable peaks which serve as 
 landmarks from a vast distance. The Arabs call it Kebritiyeh, 
 or “ the Sulphur range,” from a sulphurous spring which rises 
 at its foot . 6 The other spur is thrown' out near the western 
 extremity, and runs towards the north-west, parallel to the 
 course of the upper Khabour, which rises from its flank at 
 Eas-el-Ain . 7 The name of Abd-el-aziz is applied to this spur, 
 as well as to the continuation of the Sinjar between Arban and 
 Halebi. It is broken into innumerable valleys and ravines , 8 
 abounding with wild animals, and is scantily wooded with dwarf 
 oak. Streams of water abound in it. 
 
 South of the Sinjar range, the country resumes the same level 
 appearance which characterises it between the Sinjar and the 
 Mons Masius. A low limestone ridge skirts the Tigris valley 
 from Mosul to Tekrit , 9 and near the Euphrates the country is 
 sometimes slightly hilly ; 1 but generally the eye travels over 
 a vast slightly undulating level, unbroken by eminences, and 
 supporting but a scanty vegetation. The description of Xeno- 
 phon a little exaggerates the flatness, but is otherwise faithful 
 enough “ In these parts the country was a plain throughout, 
 as smooth as the sea, and full of wormwood ; if any other 
 shrub or reed grew there, it had a sweet aromatic smell , but 
 there was not a tree in the whole region .” 2 Water is still more 
 
 5 This is the view of Colonel Chesney. 
 (See his Euphrates Expedition , vol. i. 
 p. 105.) 
 
 6 Layard, Nineveh and Babylon , p. 242, 
 note, and p. 249. 
 
 7 Chesney, Euphrates Expedition, p. 49. 
 
 8 Layard, Nineveh and Babylon , p. 312. 
 
 9 Ibid. pp. 240, 241. 
 
 1 Chesney, Euphrates Expedition , pp. 
 52, 53. The hills in this region are of 
 
 chalk formation, as is the Abd-el-aziz, 
 according to the same author. (Ibid. 
 
 I P* 105 ’) , , X 
 
 2 Xen. Anab. i. 5, § 1. ’Ey rovrcp 5e 
 rep t owcp "hv pkv t) yij weS'iov, away dpaXbv 
 &awep OaXarra, a^Lvdiov Se wXrjpes ‘ el 
 5 e Ti ua\ &XX o ivriv vXiqs ^ uaXapov , 
 awavra •t\<rav evwSr), tfiawep apwpaTa’ 
 SevSpov S' ovSey iyrjy. 
 
Chap. L 
 
 POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY. 
 
 193 
 
 scarce than in the plains north of the Sinjar. The brooks 
 descending from that range are so weak that they generally 
 lose themselves in the plain before they have run many miles. 
 In one case only do they seem sufficiently strong to form a 
 river. The Tharthar, which flows by the ruins of El Hadhr, 
 is at that place a considerable stream, not indeed very wide, 
 but so deep that horses have to swim across it. 3 Its course 
 above El Hadhr has not been traced ; but the most probable 
 conjecture seems to be that it is a continuation of the Sinjar 
 river, which rises about the middle of the range, in long. 41° 50', 
 and flows south-east through the desert. The Tharthar ap- 
 pears at one time to have reached the Tigris near Tekrit, 4 but 
 it now ends in a marsh or lake to the south-west of that city. 5 
 
 The political geography of Assyria need not occupy much of 
 our attention. There is no native evidence that in the time 
 of the great monarchy the country was formally divided into 
 districts, to which any particular names were attached, or 
 which were regarded as politically separate from one another ; 
 nor do such divisions appear in the classical writers until the 
 time of the later geographers, Strabo, Dionysius, and Ptolemy. 
 If it were not that mention is made in the Old Testament of 
 certain districts within the region which has been here termed 
 Assyria, we should have no proof that in the early times 
 any divisions at all had been recognised. The names, however, 
 of Padan-Aram, Aram-Naharaim, Gozan, Halah, and (perhaps) 
 Huzzab, designate in Scripture particular portions of the 
 Assyrian territory ; and as these portions appear to correspond 
 in some degree with the divisions of the classical geographers, 
 we are led to suspect that these writers may in many, if not 
 in most, cases have followed ancient and native traditions or 
 authorities. The principal divisions of the classical geographers 
 will therefore be noticed briefly, so far at least as they are 
 intelligible. 
 
 According to Strabo, 6 the district within which Nineveh stood 
 
 3 Journal of Geographical Society , vol. 
 ix. p. 455. 
 
 4 Chesney, p. 50. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 5 Ibid. p. 51 ; Layard, Nineveh and its 
 Remains , vol. i. p. 315, note. 
 
 6 Strab. xvi. 1, § 1. 
 
 0 
 
194 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. I. 
 
 was called Aturia, which seems to be the word Assyria slightly 
 corrupted, as we know that it habitually was by the Persians.' 
 The neighbouring plain country he divides into four regions — 
 Dolomene, Calachene, Chazene, and Adiabene. Of Dolomene, 
 which Strabo mentions but in one place, and which is wholly 
 omitted by other authors, no account can be given . 7 8 Cala- 
 chene, which is perhaps the Calacine of Ptolemy , 9 must be the 
 tract about Ca.lah (Nimrud), or the country immediately north 
 of the Upper Zab river. Chazene, like Dolomene, is a term 
 which cannot be explained . 1 Adiabene, on the contrary, is a 
 well-known geographical expression . 2 It is the country of the 
 Zab or Diab rivers , 3 and either includes the whole of Eastern 
 Assyria between the mountains and the Tigris , 4 or more strictly 
 is applied to the region between the Upper and Lower Zab , 5 
 which consists of two large plains separated from each other 
 by the Karachok hills. In this way Arbelitis, the plain between 
 the Karachok and Zagros, would fall within Adiabene ; but it 
 is sometimes made a distinct region , 6 in which case Adiabene 
 must be restricted to the flat between the two Zabs, the Tigris, 
 
 7 The form Aturia (’At ovpla) is used 
 likewise by Arrian; {Exp. Al. iii. 7), and 
 by Stephen (ad voc. NlVos). Dio Cassius 
 writes Atyria ('Arupia), and asserts that 
 the r was always used for the s “ by the 
 barbarians” (lv. 28). It was certainly 
 so used by the Persians (see the Behistun 
 Inscription , passim)'; but the Assyrians 
 themselves, like the Jews and the Greeks, 
 seem to have employed the s. 
 
 8 Dolomene is ingeniously connected 
 by Mons. C. Muller with the Dolba of 
 Arrian. (Fr. IT. See the Fragment. 
 Hist. Gr. vol. iii. p. 588.) It is clear 
 that the ethnic AoXfivvy (Steph. Byz. 
 ad voc.) would easily pass into AoXo/j.'pv'fi. 
 Dolba, according to Arrian, was a city 
 in Adiaben^. 
 
 9 Ptol. vi. I. As Ptolemy, however, 
 places Calacine above Adiabene, he may 
 possibly intend it for Chalonitis. 
 
 1 Chazen6 was indeed mentioned by 
 Arrian in his Parthica ; and if we pos- 
 sessed that work, we should probably not 
 find much difficulty in locating it. But 
 the fragment in Stephen (ad voc. Xafrvrj) 
 tells us nothing of its exact position. 
 Stephen himself is clearly wrong in 
 
 placing it on the Euphrates . Arrian 
 probably included it in the territory of 
 Dolba, which was with him a part of 
 Adiaben^. (See above, note 8 , and com- 
 pare the fragment of Arrian : ’Ev raurr? 
 T 7 ? ’OA/3ta (leg. AoAjSta vel AoA/3ata) 
 /cat ra 7 re$ta tt)s Xa^Vjvijs aarpaireias 
 67rt /jl7]KI<Ttov airOTerapLeva.') 
 
 2 See Strab. xvi. 1, § 1 and § 19; 
 Plin. H. N. v. 12, vi. 13; Ptol. vi. 1; 
 Arrian, Fr. 11-13; Pomp. Mel. i. 11; 
 Solin. 48 ; Amm. Marc, xxiii. 20, &c. 
 
 3 So Ammianus explains the name — 
 « Nos autem id dicimus, quod in his 
 terris amnes sunt duo perpetui, quos et 
 transivimus, Diabas et Adiabas, juncti 
 navalibus pontibus ; ideoque intelligi 
 Adiabenam cognomina tarn, ut a flumi- 
 nibus maximis iEgyptus, et India, iti- 
 demque Hiberia et Bsetica.” (xxiii. 6.)^ 
 
 4 Pliny seems to give to Adiabene 
 this extended signification, when he 
 says, — “ Adiabenen Tigris et montium 
 sinus cingunt. At laeva ejus regio Me- 
 dorum est.” (if. N. vi. 9 ; compare ch. 
 vi. 26.) 
 
 5 Amm. Marc. 1. s. c. 
 
 6 As by Ptolemy ( Geograph . vi. 1). 
 
Chap. I. 
 
 DISTRICTS OF ASSYRIA. 
 
 *95 
 
 and the Karachok. Clialonitis and Apolloniatis, which Strabo 
 seems to place between these northern plains and Susiana , 7 must 
 be regarded as dividing between them the country south of the 
 Lesser Zab, Apolloniatis (so called from its Greek capital, 
 Apollonia) lying along the Tigris, and Chalonitis along the 
 mountains from the pass of Derbend to Gilan . 8 Chalonitis 
 seems to have taken its name from a capital city called Chala , 9 
 which lay on the great route connecting Babylon with the 
 southern Ecbatana, and in later times was known as Holwan . 1 
 Below Apolloniatis , 2 and (like that district) skirting the Tigris, 
 was Sittacene (so named from its capital, Sittace 3 ), which is 
 commonly reckoned to Assyria , 4 but seems more properly re- 
 garded as Susianian territory. Such are the chief divisions of 
 Assyria east of the Tigris. 
 
 West of the Tigris, the name Mesopotamia is commonly 
 used, like the Aram-Naharaim of the Hebrews, for the whole 
 country between the two great rivers. Here are again several 
 districts, of which little is known, as Acabend, Tingene, and 
 Ancobaritis . 5 Towards the north, along the flanks of Mons 
 Masius from Nisibis to the Euphrates, Strabo seems to place 
 the Mygdonians, and to regard the country as Mygdonia . 6 
 Below Mygdonia, towards the west, he puts Anthemusia, which 
 he extends as far as the Khabour river . 7 The region south of 
 
 7 Strab. xv. 3, § 12; xvi. 1, § 1. 
 
 8 The position of Chalonitis is pretty 
 exactly indicated by Strabo, Polybius, 
 and Isidore of Charax. Strabo calls it 
 t))v tt epl to Z aypov opos XaA cov'Itiv (xvi. 
 1 , § 4 ). Polybius connects it with the 
 same mountain range (v. 54, § 7). Isidore 
 distinctly places it between Apolloniatis 
 and Media (Mans. Parth. p. 5). See also 
 Dionys. Perieg. i. 1015, and Plin. H. N. 
 vi. 27. 
 
 9 Isid. Mans. Parth. 1. s. c. Tacitus 
 probably intends the same city by his 
 “ Halus” (Ann. vi. 41), which he couples 
 with Artemita. It does not appear to 
 have been identical either with the 
 Halah of the Book of Kings, or with 
 the Calah of Genesis. 
 
 1 The ruins of Holwan were visited 
 by Sir H. Rawlinson in the year 1836. 
 For an account of them, and for a notice 
 of the importance of Holwan in Maho- 
 
 metan times, see the Journal of the Geo- 
 graphical Soc. vol. ix. pp. 35-40. 
 
 2 Strabo identifies Sittacend with 
 Apolloniatis (xv. 3, § 12); but from 
 Ptolemy (vi. 1) and other geographers 
 we gather that Sittacene was further 
 down the river. 
 
 3 Sittace was first noticed by Heca- 
 taeus (Fr. 184). It was visited by Xe- 
 nophon (Anab. ii. 4, § 13). Strabo omits 
 all mention of it. We have notices of 
 it in Pliny ( H . N. vi. 27), and Stephen 
 (ad voc. IfiTTaKr]). 
 
 4 Strab. xvi. 1, § 1, et passim ; Ptol. 
 vi. 1. 
 
 5 Ptol. v. 18. 
 
 6 Strab. xvi. 1, § 1, and § 23. 
 
 7 Ibid. § 27. Anthemusia derived its 
 name from a city Anthemus (Steph. Byz.), 
 or Anthemusias (Tacit. Isid.), byilt by 
 the Macedonians between the Euphrates 
 and the Belik. 
 
 o 2 
 
196 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chai\ I. 
 
 the Kbabour and the Sinjar he seems to regard as inhabited 
 entirely by Arabs. 8 Ptolemy has, in lieu of the Mygdonia of 
 Strabo, a district which he calls Gauzanitis; 9 and this name is 
 on good grounds identified with the Gozan of Scripture 1 the 
 true original probably of the “ Mygdonia ” of the Greeks. 2 
 Gozan appears to represent the whole of the upper country 
 from which the longer affluents of the Khabour spring ; while 
 Halah, which is coupled with it in Scripture, 3 and which Ptolemy 
 calls Chalcitis, and makes border on Gauzanitis, may designate 
 the tract upon the main stream, as it comes down from Pas-el-* 
 Ain. 4 The region about the upper sources of the Belik has no 
 special designation in Strabo, but in Scripture it seems to be 
 called Padan-Aram, a a name which has been explained as “ the 
 flat Syria,” or “ the country stretching out from the foot of the 
 hills.” 6 In the later Poman times it was known as Osrhoene ; 7 
 but this name was scarcely in use before the time of the An- 
 tonines. 
 
 The true heart of Assyria was the country close along the 
 Tigris, from lat. 35° to 36° 30'. Within these limits were the 
 four great cities, marked by the mounds at Khorsabad, Mosul, 
 Nimrud, and Bileh-Shergliat, besides a multitude of places of 
 inferior consequence. It has been generally supposed that the 
 left bank of the river was more properly Assyria than the 
 ri^rht ; 8 and the idea is so far correct, as that the left bank was 
 
 8 Strab. xvi. 1, § 26. Compare Plin. 
 H. N. v. 24. 9 Ptol. v. 18. 
 
 1 2 Kings xvii. 6 ; xviii. 11 ; xix. 12 ; 
 1 Chron. v. 26 ; Is. xxxvii. 12. The 
 identification does not depend upon the 
 mere resemblance of name ; but upon 
 that, combined with the mention of the 
 Habor (or Khabour) as the river of 
 Gozan, and the implied vicinity of Gozan 
 to Haran (Harran) and Halah (Chalcitis). 
 
 2 See the article on “Gozan” in 
 Smith’s Biblical Dictionary , vol. i. p. 726. 
 The initial m (D) in the word Mygdonia 
 is probably a mere adjectival or parti- 
 cipial prefix ; while the d represents the 
 Semitic * (T), according to an ordinary 
 phonetic variation. 
 
 3 2 Kings xvii. 6 ; xviii. 11; 1 Chron. 
 v. 26. 
 
 4 One of the mounds on this stream 
 
 is still called Gla. or Kalah, by the 
 Arabs. (See Layard’s Nineveh and Baby- 
 lon , p. 312, note.) 
 
 5 Gen. xxv. -20; xxviii. 2-7, &c. .The 
 name is only used in Genesis. 
 
 6 Stanley, Sinai and Palestine , p. 128, 
 note l . It is curious, however, that both 
 Padan-Nravn and A ra m - ^ aha ra i rn recall 
 the names of nations inhabiting these 
 parts in the Assyrian times. The chief 
 inhabitants of the Mons Masius men- 
 tioned by the early Assyrian kings are 
 the Nairi ; and across the Euphrates, 
 towards Aleppo, there is a tribe called 
 the Patena. Probably, however, both 
 coincidences are accidental. 
 
 7 Dio Cass. xl. 19; lxviii. 18, &c. 
 Arrian, Fr. 2 ; Herodian, iii. 9, &c. 
 
 8 Ptolemy bounds Assyria by the 
 Tigris ( Geograph . vi. 1). Pliny identi- 
 
Chap. I. 
 
 EXTENT OF* ASSYRIAN RUINS. 
 
 197 
 
 in truth of primary value and importance , 9 whence it naturally 
 happened that three out of the four capitals were built on that 
 side of the stream. Still the very fact that one early capital 
 was on the right bank is enough to show that both shores of the 
 stream were alike occupied by the race from the first; and this 
 conclusion is abundantly confirmed by other indications through- 
 out the region. Assyrian ruins, the remains of considerable 
 towns, strew the whole country between the Tigris and Kha- 
 bour, both north and south of the Sinjar range . 1 On the 
 banks of the Lower Ivhabour are the remains of a royal 
 palace , 2 besides many other traces of the tract through which 
 it runs having been permanently occupied by the Assyrian 
 people . 3 Mounds, probably Assyrian, are known to exist along 
 the course of the Khabour’s great western affluent ; 4 and even 
 near Seruj, in the country between Harran and the Euphrates 
 some evidence has been found 
 not only of conquest but of occu- 
 pation . 5 Remains are perhaps 
 more frequent on the oppo- 
 site side of the Tigris ; at any 
 rate they are more striking 
 and more important. Bavian, 
 
 Khorsabad, Shereef - Khan, 
 
 Kebbi- Yunus, Koyunjik, and Colossal lion, near Seruj. 
 
 Nimrud, which have furnished 
 
 by far the most valuable and interesting of the Assyrian monu- 
 ments, all lie east of the Tigris ; while on the west two places 
 
 fies Adiabene with Assyria ( H . N. v. 
 12). If the Huzzab of Nahum is really 
 “ the Zab region ” (Smith’s Biblical Dic- 
 tionary , sub voc.), that prophet would 
 make the same identification. When 
 Strabo (xvi. 1, § 1) and Arrian (Exp. 
 Alex. iii. 7) place Aturia on the left 
 bank of the Tigris only, they indicate a 
 similar feeling. 
 
 9 See above, pp. 182, 183. 
 
 1 They are less numerous north of the 
 Sinjar. (See Layard, Nineveh and Baby- 
 lon , p. 252.) Still there are a certain 
 number of ancient mounds in the more 
 
 northern plain. (Ibid. pp. 334, 335 ; 
 and compare Nineveh and its Remains, 
 vol. i. p. 311.) 
 
 2 At Arban. (Nineveh and Babylon, 
 pp. 275, 276.) 
 
 3 Ibid. pp. 297-300. 
 
 4 Ibid. p. 312, and note. 
 
 5 The colossal lions at this place, 12 feet 
 long and 7 feet 3 inches high, are un- 
 mistakably Assyrian, and must have 
 belonged to some large building. (See 
 Chesney, Euphrates Expedition, vol. i. 
 pp. 114, 115, whence the above repre- 
 sentation is taken.) 
 
THE SECOND MONAECHY. 
 
 Chap. L 
 
 198 
 
 only have yielded relics worthy to he compared with these, 
 Arban and Kileh-Sherghat. 
 
 It is curious that in Assyria, as in early Chaldoea, there is a 
 special pre-eminence of four cities. An indication of this might 
 seem to be contained in Genesis, where Asshur is said to have 
 “ build ed Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah, and 
 Resen ; ” 6 7 * but on the whole it is more probable that we have 
 here a mistranslation (which is corrected for us in the margin '), 
 and that three cities only are ascribed by Moses to the great 
 patriarch. In the flourishing period of the empire, however, 
 we actually find four capitals, of which the native names seem 
 to have been Ninua, Calah, Asshur, and Bit-Sargina, or Dur- 
 Sargina (the city of Sargon) — all places of first-rate conse- 
 quence. Besides these principal cities, which were the sole seats 
 of government, Assyria contained a vast number of large towns, 
 few of which it is possible to name, but so numerous that 
 they cover the whole face of the country with their ruins. 
 Among them were Tarbisa, Arbil, Arapkha, and Khazeli, in the 
 tract between the Tigris and Mount Zagros ; Haran, Tel-Apni, 
 Razappa (Rezeph), and Amida, towards the north-west fron- 
 tier ; Nazibina (Nisibis), on the eastern branch of the Kha- 
 bour ; Sirki (Circesium), at the confluence of the Khabour with 
 the Euphrates ; Anat on the Euphrates, some way below this 
 junction; Tahiti, Magarisi, Sidikan, Katni, Beth-Khalupi, &c., 
 in the district south of the Sinjar, between the lower course of 
 the Khabour and the Tigris. Here, again, as in the case of 
 Chaldma , 9 it is impossible at present to locate with accuracy all 
 the cities. We must once more confine ourselves to the most 
 important, and seek to determine, either absolutely or with a 
 certain vagueness, their several positions. 
 
 It admits of no reasonable doubt that the ruins opposite 
 Mosul are those of Nineveh. The name of Nineveh is read on 
 
 6 Gen. x. 11, 12. 
 
 7 In the margin we have ]"Qrn 
 translated “the streets of the city,” 
 
 which is far better than the textual 
 
 rendering. Had r’hoboth been the name 
 of a place, the term *ir would scarcely 
 
 have been added. 
 
 8 Layard, Nineveh and its Remains , 
 vol i. p. 314 ; Nineveh and Babylon, pp. 
 245, 246, 312, 313, &c. ; Journal of 
 Asiatic Society, vol. xv. pp. 303, 304. 
 
 9 See above, p. 15. 
 
Chap. I. 
 
 IDENTIFICATION OF SITES — NINEVEH. 
 
 199 
 
 the bricks ; and a uniform tradition, reaching from the Arab 
 conquest to comparatively recent times, 1 attaches to the 
 mounds themselves the same title. They are the most exten- 
 sive ruins in Assyria ; and their geographical position suits per- 
 fectly all the notices of the geographers and historians with 
 respect to the great Assyrian capital. 2 As a subsequent chapter 
 will be devoted to a description of this famous city, 3 it is 
 enough in this place to observe that it was situated on the left 
 or east bank of the Tigris, in lat. 36° 21', at the point where a 
 considerable brook, the Khosr-su, falls into the main stream. 
 On its west flank flowed the broad and rapid Tigris, the “ arrow- 
 stream,” as we may translate the word ; 4 while north, east, and 
 south, expanded the vast undulating plain which intervenes 
 between the river and the Zagros mountain-range. Midway in 
 this plain, at the distance of from fifteen to eighteen miles from 
 the city, stood boldly up the Jabel Maklub and Ain-sufra hills, 
 calcareous ridges rising nearly 2000 feet 5 above the level of the 
 Tigris, and forming by far the most prominent objects in the 
 natural landscape. 6 Inside the Ain Sufra, and parallel to it, 
 ran the small stream of the Gomel, or Ghazir, like a ditch 
 skirting a wall, an additional defence in that quarter. On the 
 south-east and south, distant about fifteen miles, was the strong 
 and impetuous current of the Upper Zab, completing the 
 natural defences of the position, which was excellently chosen 
 to be the site of a great capital. 
 
 1 The early Arabian geographers and 
 historians mentioned the forts of Ninawi 
 to the east and of Mosul to the west of 
 the Tigris. (As. Soc. Journ. vol. xii. 
 p. 418, note 4 .) To prove the continuity 
 of the tradition, it would be necessary 
 to quote all travellers, from Benjamin 
 of Tudela to Mr. Layard, who disputes 
 its value, but does not deny it. 
 
 2 See Herod, i. 193; Strab. xvi. 1, 
 § 3 ; Ptol. vi. 1 ; Plin. vi. 13, § 16 ; 
 Amm. Marc, xviii. 7 ; Eustath. ad Dio- 
 nys. Perieg. 991. 
 
 3 See below, ch. iv. 
 
 4 So Strabo, xi. 14, § 8 ; Plin. H. N. 
 
 vi. 27 ; Q. Curt. iv. 9, § 16, &c. There 
 
 are, however, some difficulties attaching 
 to this etymology. It is Arian, not Se- 
 
 mitic — tigra , as “an arrow,” standing 
 connected with the Sanscrit tij, “ to 
 sharpen,” Armenian teg , “ a javelin,” 
 Persian Ugh , “ a blade,” and tir , “ an 
 arrow.” Yet it was used by the Jews, 
 under the slightly corrupted form of 
 Dehel, (bjTl), as early as Moses (Gen. ii. 
 14), and by the Assyrians about b.c. 
 1000. (Journal of As. Soc. vol. xiv. p. 
 xcv.) It is conjectured that there was 
 a root dik in ancient Babylonian, of 
 cognate origin with the Sanscrit tij , 
 from which the forms Dehel , Digla , or 
 Dig lath were derived. 
 
 5 Capt. Jones, in the Journal of the 
 As. Soc. vol. xv. p. 299. 
 
 6 Ibid. p. 298. 
 
200 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. T. 
 
 South of Nineveh, at the distance of about twenty miles by 
 the direct route and thirty by the course of the Tigris , 7 stood 
 the second city of the empire, Calah, the site of which is 
 marked by the extensive ruins at Nimrud . 8 Broadly, this place 
 may be said to have been built at the confluence of the Tigris 
 with the Upper Zab ; but in strictness it was on the Tigris only 
 
 the Zab flowing fiye or six miles further to the south , 9 and 
 entering the Tigris at least nine miles below the Nimrud ruins . 1 
 
 7 So Colonel Chesney ( Euphrates Ex- I 
 ^edition , vol. i. p. 21). 
 
 8 Sir H. Rawlinson and Dr. Hincks J 
 agree in reading the ancient name of ! 
 this city as Calah. At the same time it I 
 is not to be denied that there are diffi- 
 culties in the identification. 1. Nimrud 
 being only 20 miles from Nineveh, it is 
 difficult to find room for Resen, a “ great 
 city” (Gen. x. 12) between them, not to 
 
 mention that there are no important 
 ruins in this position. 2. Calah, more- j 
 
 over, if it gave name to Ptolemy’s Cala- 
 cine, should be away from the river, for 
 by placing Calacine above Adiabene, he 
 almost certainly meant further from the 
 river. 
 
 9 Journal of As. Soo. vol. xv. p. 342. 
 At the same time it must be admitted 
 that water from the Zab was conducted 
 into the city by a canal and tunnel, of 
 which more will be said in another 
 chapter. 
 
 1 Chesney, 1. s. c. 
 
Chap. I. 
 
 CALAH, NOW NIMRUD. 
 
 20 T 
 
 These ruins at present occupy an area somewhat short of a 
 thousand English acres, 2 which is little more than one-half of 
 the area of the ruins of Nineveh ; but it is thought that the 
 place was in ancient times considerably larger, and that the 
 united action of the Tigris and some winter streams has swept 
 away no small portion of the ruins. 3 They form at piesent an 
 irregular quadrangle, the sides of which face the four caidinal 
 points. On the north and east the rampart may still be dis- 
 tinctly traced. It was flanked with towers along its whole 
 course, 4 and pierced at uncertain intervals by gates, but was 
 nowhere of very great strength or dimensions. On the south 
 side it must have been especially weak, for there it has disap- 
 peared altogether. Here, however, it seems probable that the 
 Tigris and the Shor Derreh stream, to which the present ob- 
 literation of the wall may be ascribed, formed in ancient tunes 
 a sufficient protection. Towards the west, it seems to be certain 
 that the Tigris (which is now a mile off) anciently flowed close 
 to the city. 5 On this side, directly facing the river, and extend- 
 ing along it a distance of 600 yards, 6 or more than a third of a 
 mile, was the royal quarter, or portion of the city occupied by 
 the palaces of the kings. It consisted of a raised platform, 
 forty feet above the level of the plain, composed in some parts 
 of rubbish, in others of regular layers of sun-dried bricks, and 
 cased on every side with solid stone masonry, containing an 
 area of sixty English acres, and in shape almost a regular rect- 
 angle, 560 yards long, and from 350 to 450 broad. 7 The plat- 
 form was protected at its edges by a parapet, and is thought to 
 have been ascended in various places by wide staircases, or in- 
 clined ways, leading up from the plain. 8 The greater part of its 
 area is occupied by the remains of palaces constructed by 
 
 2 Capt. Jones, in the Journal of the 
 Asiatic Soc. vol. xv. pp. 347-351. 
 
 3 Ibid. vol. xv. p. 347. 
 
 4 Layard, Nineveh and Babylon , p. 656. 
 
 5 Ibid. 1. s.c. ; As. Soc. Journal , vol. 
 xv. pp. 342, 343. 
 
 6 See Mr. Layard’s “Plan” in his 
 
 Nineveh and Babylon , opp. p. 655. For 
 
 the present state of the ruins, see his 
 
 Nineveh and its Remains , vol. i. opp. p. 
 331, and compare the chart (supra, p. 
 200), which is reduced from Captain 
 F. Jones’s Survey. 
 
 7 The platform is not quite regular, 
 being broader towards the south than 
 towards the north, as will be seen in the 
 plan. 
 
 8 Layard, Nineveh and Babylon , p. 654. 
 
202 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. I. 
 
 various native kings, of which a more particular account will be 
 given in the chapter on the architecture and other arts of the 
 Assyrians . 9 It contains also the ruins of two small temples, 
 and abuts at its north-western angle on the most singular struc- 
 ture which has as yet been discovered among the remains of the 
 Assyrian cities. This is the famous tower or pyramid which 
 looms so conspicuously over the Assyrian plains, and which has 
 always attracted the special notice of the traveller . 1 An exact 
 description of this remarkable edifice will be given hereafter. 
 
 Great Mound of Nimrud or Calah (after Lavard). 
 
 It appears from the inscriptions on its bricks to have been com- 
 menced by one of the early kings, and completed by another. 
 Its internal structure has led to the supposition that it was 
 designed to be a place of burial for one or other of these 
 monarchs. Another conjecture is, that it was a watch-tower ; 2 
 but this seems very unlikely, since no trace of any mode bv 
 which it could be ascended has been discovered. 
 
 Forty miles below Calah, on the opposite bank of the Tigris, 
 
 9 See below, chap. vi. 
 
 1 Xenophon describes Calah, which 
 he calls Larissa (compare the Lachisa, 
 HDw. of the Samaritan Pentateuch), as 
 “ a vast deserted city, formerly inha- 
 bited by the Medes ; it was.” he savs, 
 “ surrounded by a wall 25 feet broad. 
 100 feet high, and nearly seven miles in 
 circumference, built of baked brick, with 
 a stone basement to the height of 20 feet.” 
 He then observes : “ nap’ avrrjv ttjv 
 noXiv 'ijy rvpapus XiQivi rb per efipos 
 rXeOpov, to 8e inlos S vo vX eOp&r” {A nob. 
 iii. 4, § 9.) Ctesias, with his usual ex- 
 
 aggeration. made the width nine stades. 
 and the height eight stades. or nearly a 
 mile ! He placed the pyramid at Ni- 
 neveh, and on the Euphrates ! (See 
 Diod. Sic. ii. 7, § 1.) The imposing 
 effect of the structure even now is wit- 
 nessed to by Mr. Lavard (Sinereh and its 
 Remains, voL i. p. 4) ; Colonel Rich 
 ( Kurdistan . vol. ii. p. 132); Colonel 
 Chesney (Euphrates Expedition , voL i. 
 p. 21): and Captain Jones (As. Soc. 
 Journal , vol. xv. pp. 34S, 349). 
 
 5 This is the opinion of Captain Jones 
 (As. Soc. Journal , voL xv. p. 349). 
 
Chap. I. ASSHUR — DUR-SARGINA. 20 3 
 
 was a third great city, the native name of which appears to have 
 been Asshur. This place is represented by the ruins at Kileh- 
 Sherghat, which are scarcely inferior in extent to those at 
 Nimrud or Calah. 3 It will not be necessary to describe minutely 
 this site, as in general character it closely resembles the other 
 ruins of Assyria. Long lines of low mounds mark the position 
 of the old walls, and show that the shape of the city was quad- 
 rangular. The chief object is a large square mound or plat- 
 form, two and a half miles in circumference, and in places a 
 hundred feet above the level of the plain, composed in part of 
 sun-dried bricks, in part of natural eminences, and exhibiting 
 occasionally remains of a casing of hewn stone, which may once 
 have encircled the whole structure. About midway on the 
 north side of the platform, and close upon its edge, is a high 
 cone or pyramid. The rest of the platform is covered with the 
 remains of walls and with heaps of rubbish, but does not show 
 much trace of important buildings. This city has been sup- 
 posed to represent the Biblical Ilesen ; but the description of 
 that place as lying “ between Nineveh and Calah seems to 
 render the identification worse than uncertain. 
 
 The ruins at Kileh-Sherghat are the last of any extent to- 
 wards the south, possessing a decidedly Assyrian character. To 
 complete our survey, therefore, of the chief Assyrian towns, we 
 must return northwards, and, passing Nineveh, direct our atten- 
 tion to the magnificent ruins on the small stream of the Khosr- 
 su, which have made the Arab village of Khorsabad one of the 
 best known names in Oriental topography. About nine miles 
 from the north-east angle of the wall of ^Nineveh, in a diiection 
 a very little east of north, stands the ruin known as Khorsabad, 
 from a small village which formerly occupied its summit 4 the 
 scene of the labours of M. Botta, who was the first to disentomb 
 from among the mounds of Mesopotamia the relics of an 
 Assyrian palace. The enclosure at Khorsabad is nearly square 
 in shape, each side being about 2000 yards long. 5 No part of 
 
 3 See Layard, Nineveh and its Remains , 
 
 vol. i. p. 5, and vol. ii. p. 44. 
 
 4 M. Botta purchased and removed 
 
 this village before he made his great ex- 
 
 cavations. (Letters from Nineveh , p. 57, 
 note.) 
 
 5 See Captain Jones’s Survey , sheet I. 
 
204 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. I. 
 
 it is very lofty, but the walls are on every side well marked. 
 Their angles point towards the cardinal points, or nearly so; 
 and the walls themselves consequently face the north-east, the 
 north-west, the south-west, and the south-east. Towards the 
 middle of the north-west wall, and projecting considerably be- 
 yond it, was a raised platform of the usual character ; and here 
 stood the great palace, which is thought to have been open 
 to the plain, and on that side quite undefended . 6 
 
 Four miles only from Khorsabad, in . a direction a little west 
 of north, are the ruins of a smaller Assyrian city, whose native 
 name appears to have been Tarbisa, situated not far from the 
 modern village of Sherif-khan. Here was a palace, built by 
 Esarhaddon for one of his sons, as well as several temples and 
 other edifices. In the opposite direction, at the distance of 
 about twenty miles, is Keremles, an Assyrian ruin, whose name 
 cannot yet be rendered phonetically . 7 West of this site, and 
 about half-way between the ruins of Nineveh and Nimrud or 
 Calah, is Selamiyah, a village of some size, the walls of which 
 are thought to be of Assyrian construction . 8 We may conjecture 
 that this place was the Eesen, or Dase , 9 of Holy Scripture, which 
 is said to have been a large city, interposed between Nineveh 
 and Calah . 1 In the same latitude, but considerably further to 
 the east, was the famous city of Arabil or Arbil , 2 known to the 
 Greeks as Arbela, and to this day retaining its ancient appel- 
 lation. These were the principal towns, whose positions can be 
 fixed, belonging to Assyria Proper, or the tract in the immediate 
 vicinity of Nineveh. 
 
 Besides these places, the inscriptions mention a large number 
 of cities which we cannot definitely connect with any particular 
 
 6 Layard, Nineveh and Babylon, p. 657. 
 
 7 The name is formed of two elements, 
 the first meaning city, which would be 
 Bur or Beth. The second element is the 
 name of a god otherwise unknown to us ; 
 and this, being a mere monogram, can- 
 not be represented phonetically. 
 
 8 Journal of Asiatic Society , vol. xv. 
 pp. 351 and 374. 
 
 9 The LXX. interpreters have Aacrrj 
 
 in the place of the Hebrew |D“1. The 
 Targums substitute the wholly different 
 
 name of Tel-Assar ("lDN"^n). 
 
 1 Gen. x. 12. 
 
 2 Arbil is etymologically “ the city of 
 the four go Js ; ” but it is not known 
 which are the deities intended. This 
 place is first mentioned in the reign of 
 Shamas-Vul, the son of the Black Obe- 
 lisk king, about b.c. 850. 
 
Chap. I. 
 
 CITIES OF UNCERTAIN SITE. 
 
 205 
 
 site. Such, are Zaban and Zadu, beyond the Lower Zab, pro- 
 bably somewhere in the vicinity of Kerkuk ; Kurban, Tidu (?), 
 Napulu, Kapa, in Adiaben6 ; Arapkha and Khaparkhu, the 
 former of which names recalls the Arrapachitis of Ptolemy, 3 in 
 the district about Arbela ; Hurakha, Sallat (?), Dur-Tila, Dariga, 
 Lupdu, and many others, concerning whose situations it is not 
 even possible to make any reasonable conjecture. The whole 
 country between the Tigris and the mountains was evidently 
 studded thickly with towns, as it is at the present day with 
 ruins; 4 but until a minute and searching examination of the 
 entire region has taken place, it is idle to attempt an assign- 
 ment to particular localities of these comparatively obscure 
 names. 
 
 In Western Assyria, or the tract on the right bank of the 
 Tigris, while there is reason to believe that population was as 
 dense, and that cities were as numerous, as on the opposite side 
 of the river, 5 even fewer sites can be determinately fixed, owing 
 to the early decay of population in those parts, which seem to 
 have fallen into their present desert condition shortly after the 
 destruction of the Assyrian empire by the conquering Medes. 
 Besides Asshur, which is fixed to the ruins at Kileh-Sherghat, 
 we can only locate with certainty some half-dozen places. 
 These are Nazibina, which is the modern Nisibin, the Nisibis of 
 the Greeks ; Amidi, which is Amida or Diarbekr ; Haran, 6 
 which retains its name unchanged ; Sirki, which is the Greek 
 Circesium, 7 now Kerkesiyeh ; Anat, now Anali, on an island in 
 the Euphrates ; and Sidikan, now Arban, on the Lower Khabour. 
 The other known towns of this region, whose exact position is 
 more or less uncertain, are the following : — Tavnusir, which is 
 perhaps Dunisir, near Mardin; Guzana, or Gozan, 8 in the 
 vicinity of Nisibin ; Kazappa, or Rezeph, probably not far from 
 
 3 Geograph, vi. 1. Arapkha would be 
 etymologically “the four fish,” a name 
 not very intelligible. It was certainly 
 to the east of the Tigris, and probably 
 not far from Arbela. 
 
 4 Journal of Asiatic Soc. vol. xv. p. 304. 
 
 5 Layard, Nineveh and its Remains , 
 
 vol. i. p. 315; Nineveh and Babylon , pp. 
 
 245, 246. 
 
 6 The name of Haran has not, I be- 
 lieve, been found in the Assyrian in- 
 
 I scriptions ; but it is mentioned in Kings 
 and Chronicles as an Assyrian city. 
 (2 Kings xix. 12 ; 1 Chron. v. 26.) 
 
 7 See Mr. Fox Talbot’s Assyrian Texts 
 Translated , p. 31. 
 
 8 See 2 Kings, 1. s. c. 
 
20 6 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. I. 
 
 Harran ; Tel-Apni, about Orfah or Bas-el-Ain ; Tahiti r and 
 Magarisi, on the Jerujer, or river of Nisibin ; Katni and Beth- 
 Khalupi, on the Lower Khabour ; Tsupri and Nakarabani, on 
 the Euphrates, between its junction with the Khabour and 
 Anah ; and Khuzirina, in the mountains near the source of the 
 Tigris. Besides these, the inscriptions contain a mention of 
 some scores of towns wholly obscure, concerning which we 
 cannot even determine whether they lay west or east of the 
 Tigris. 
 
 Such are the chief geographical features of Assyria. It 
 remains to notice briefly the countries by which it was bordered. 
 
 To the east lay the mountain region of Zagros, inhabited 
 principally, during the earlier times of the Empire, by the 
 Zimri, and afterwards occupied by the Medes, and known as a 
 portion of Media. This region is one of great strength, and at 
 the same time of much productiveness and fertility. Com- 
 posed of a large number of parallel ridges, Zagros contains, 
 besides rocky and snow-clad summits, a multitude of fertile 
 valleys, watered by the great affluents of the Tigris or their 
 tributaries, and capable of producing rich crops with very 
 little cultivation. The sides of the hills are in most parts 
 clothed with forests of walnut, oak, ash, plane, and sycamore, 
 while mulberries, olives, and other fruit-trees abound ; in many 
 places the pasturage is excellent ; and thus, notwithstanding its 
 mountainous character, the tract will ^bear a large population. 9 
 Its defensive strength is immense, equalling that of Switzerland 
 before military roads were constructed across the High Alps. 
 The few passes by which it can be traversed seem, according to 
 the graphic phraseology of the ancients, to be carried up ladders ; l 
 they surmount six or seven successive ridges, often reaching 
 the elevation of 10,000 feet, 2 and are only open during seven 
 
 9 See Rich’s Kurdistan^ vol. i. pp. 
 48-192 ; Ker Porter, Travels , vol. ii. pp. 
 137-219 ; Ainsworth, Travels , vol. ii. 
 pp. 183-326; Layard, Nineveh and its 
 Remains , vol. i. pp. 153-235 ; Nineveh 
 and Babylon , pp. 367-384, and 416-436 ; 
 Journal of Geographical Society , vol. ix. 
 pp. 26-56, &c. ; Fraser, Travels in Kur- 
 
 distan , vol. i. pp. 89-195; vol. ii. pp. 
 179-204. 
 
 1 Diod. Sic. xix. 21, § 2. Compare 
 Ivinneir, Persian Empire , p. 74 ; and see 
 also Ainsworth’s Researches , pp. 224, 225. 
 
 2 Layard, Nineveh and Babylon , p. 430 ; 
 Journal of Geographical Society , vol. xvi. 
 p. 49. 
 
Chap. I. COUNTRIES BORDERING ON ASSYRIA— ARMENIA. 20 7 
 
 months of the year. Nature appears to have intended Zagros 
 as a sevenfold wall for the protection of the fertile Mesopota- 
 mian lowland from the marauding tribes inhabiting the bare 
 plateau of Iran. 
 
 North of Assyria lay a country very similar to the Zagros 
 region. Armenia, like Kurdistan, consists, for the most part, 
 of a number of parallel mountain ranges , 3 with deej) valleys 
 between them, watered by great rivers or their affluents. Its 
 highest peaks, like those of Zagros, ascend considerably above 
 the snow-line . 4 It has the same abundance of wood, especially 
 in the more northern parts ; and though its valleys are scarcely 
 so fertile, or its products so abundant and varied, it is still a 
 country where a numerous population may find subsistence. 
 The most striking contrast which it offers to the Zagros region 
 is in the direction of its mountain ranges. The Zagros ridges 
 run from north-west to south-east, like the principal mountains 
 of Italy, Greece, Arabia, Hindustan, and Cochin China ; those 
 of Armenia have a course from a little north of east to a little 
 south of west, like the Spanish Sierras, the Swiss and Tyrolese 
 Alps, the Southern Carpathians, the Greater Balkan, the Cilician 
 Taurus, the Cyprian Olympus, and the Thian Chan. Thus the 
 axes of the two chains are nearly at right angles to one another, 
 the triangular basin of Vau occurring at the point of contact, 
 and softening the abruptness of the transition. Again, whereas 
 the Zagros mountains present their gradual slope to the Meso- 
 potamian lowland, and rise in higher and higher ridges as they 
 recede from it, the mountains of Armenia ascend at once to 
 their full height from the level of the Tigris, and the ridges 
 then gradually decline towards the Euxine. It follows from 
 this last contrast, that, while Zagros invites the inhabitants of 
 the Mesopotamian plain to penetrate its recesses, which are at 
 first readily accessible, and only grow wild and savage towards 
 the interior, the Armenian mountains repel by presenting their 
 greatest difficulties and most barren aspect at once, seeming, 
 with their rocky sides and snow -clad summits, to form an almost 
 
 3 Layard, Nineveh and Babylon , pp. 6, 7. Compare Strab. xi. 12, § 4. 
 
 4 Chesney, Euphrates Expedition , vol. i. p. 69 ; Layard, 1. s. c. 
 
208 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. I. 
 
 insurmountable obstacle to an invading host. Assyrian history 
 bears traces of this difference ; for while the mountain region 
 to the east is gradually subdued and occupied by the people of 
 the plain, that on the north continues to the last in a state of 
 hostility and semi-independence. 
 
 West of Assyria (according to the extent which has here been 
 given to it), the border countries were, towards the south, 
 Arabia, and towards the north, Syria. A desert region, similar 
 to that which bounds Chaldaea in this direction, extends along 
 the Euphrates as far north as the 36th parallel, approaching 
 commonly within a very short distance of the river. This has 
 been at all times the country of the wandering Arabs. It is 
 traversed in places by rocky ridges of a low elevation, and inter- 
 cepted by occasional wotdys ,* but otherwise it is a continuous 
 gravelly or sandy plain, 5 incapable of sustaining a settled popu- 
 lation. Between the desert and the river intervenes commonly 
 a narrow strip of fertile territory, which in Assyrian times was 
 held by the Tsukhi or Shuhites, and the Aramaeans or Syrians. 
 North of the 36th parallel, the general elevation of the country 
 west of the Euphrates rises. There is an alternation of bare 
 undulating hills and dry plains, producing wormwood and other 
 aromatic plants. 6 Permanent rivers are found, which either 
 terminate in salt lakes or run into the Euphrates. In places 
 the land is tolerably fertile, and produces good crops of grain, 
 besides mulberries, pears, figs, pomegranates, olives, vines, and 
 pistachio-nuts. 7 Here dwelt, in the time of the Assyrian Empire, 
 the Khatti, or Hittites, whose chief city, Carchemish, appears to 
 have occupied the site of Hierapolis, now Bambuk. In a 
 military point of view, the tract is very much less strong than 
 either Armenia or Kurdistan, and presents but slight difficulties 
 to invading armies. 
 
 The tract south of Assyria was Chaldsea, of which a descrip- 
 tion has been given in an earlier portion of this volume. 8 
 
 5 Niebuhr Description de V Arabic, p. 2. I 7 Ainsworth, Travels and Researches , 
 
 6 Ainsworth, Travels in the Track of \ vol. i. pp. 305-358 ; Pocock, Description, 
 
 the Ten Thousand , p. 67; Pocock, De- t fc., yol. ii. p. 155. 
 
 scription of the East , vol. ii. pp. 150-172. 8 Supra, pp. 3-14. 
 
Chap. I. 
 
 CHALDEA. 
 
 209 
 
 Naturally, it was at once tlie weakest of the border countries 
 and the one possessing the greatest attractions to a conqueror. 
 Nature had indeed left it wholly without defence ; and though 
 art was probably soon called in to remedy this defect, yet it 
 could not but continue the most open to attack of the various 
 regions by which Assyria was surrounded. Syria was defended 
 by the Euphrates — at all times a strong barrier; Arabia, not 
 only by this great stream, but by her arid sands and burning 
 climate ; Armenia and Kurdistan had the protection of their 
 lofty mountain ranges. Chaldsea was naturally without either 
 land or water barrier ; and the mounds and dykes whereby she 
 strove to supply her want were at the best poor substitutes for 
 Nature’s bulwarks. Here again geographical features will be 
 found to have had an important bearing on the course of history, 
 the close connexion of the two countries, in almost every age, 
 resulting from their physical conformation. 
 
 VOL. 1. 
 
 p 
 
210 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. II. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 CLIMATE AND PRODUCTIONS. 
 
 “ Assyria, celebritate et magnitudine, et multiformi feracitate ditissima.” — 
 Amm. Marc. xxiii. 6. 
 
 In describing the climate and productions of Assyria, it will be 
 necessary to divide it into regions ; since the country is so large 
 and the physical geography so varied, that a single description 
 would necessarily be both incomplete and untrue. Eastern 
 Assyria has a climate of its own, the result of its position at the 
 foot of Zagros. In Western Assyria we may distinguish three 
 climates, that of the upper or mountainous country extending 
 from Bir to Til and Jezireh, that of the middle region on either 
 side of the Sinjar range, and that of the lower region imme- 
 diately bordering on Babylonia. The climatic differences depend 
 in part on latitude ; but probably in a greater degree on differ- 
 ences of elevation, distance or vicinity of mountains, and the 
 like. 
 
 Eastern Assyria, from its vicinity to the high and snow-clad 
 range of Zagros, has a climate at once cooler and moister than 
 Assyria west of the Tigris. The summer heats are tempered by 
 breezes from the adjacent mountains, and, though trying to the 
 constitution of an European, are far less oppressive than the 
 torrid blasts which prevail on the other side of the river . 1 A 
 good deal of rain falls in the winter, and even in the spring ; 
 while, after the rains are past, there is frequently an abundant 
 dew , 2 which supports vegetation and helps to give coolness to 
 the air. The winters are moderately severe . 3 
 
 1 Journal of Asiatic Society , vol. xv. 
 
 p. 299. Eastern Assyria is not, how- 
 
 ever, entirely free from the “ torrid 
 blasts,” which are the curse of these 
 countries. Mr. Layard experienced at 
 Koyunjik “ the sherghis, or burning 
 
 winds from the south, which occasion- 
 ally swept over the country, driving in 
 their short-lived fury everything before 
 them.” (Nineveh and Babylon , p. 364.) 
 
 2 Journal of Asiatic Society, 1. s. c. 
 
 3 Ainsworth’s Assyria, p. 32. 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 PRESENT CLIMATE OF ASSYRIA. 
 
 21 1 
 
 In the most southern part of Assyria, from lat. 31° to 35° 30', 
 the climate scarcely differs from that of Babylonia, which has 
 been already described. 4 The same burning summers, and the 
 same chilly, but not really cold, winters prevail in both districts ; 
 and the time and character of the rainy season is alike in each. 
 The summers are perhaps a little less hot, and the winters a 
 little colder than in the more southern and alluvial region ; but 
 the difference is inconsiderable, and has never been accurately 
 measured. 
 
 In the central part of Western Assyria, on either side of the 
 Sinjar range, the climate is decidedly cooler than in the region 
 adjoining Babylonia. In summer, though the heat is great, 
 especially from noon to sunset, 5 yet the nights are rarely oppres- 
 sive, and the mornings are enjoyable. The spring-time in this 
 region is absolutely delicious ; 6 the autumn is pleasant; and the 
 winter, though cold and accompanied by a good deal of rain and 
 snow, 7 is rarely prolonged and never intensely rigorous. Storms 
 of thunder and lightning are frequent, 8 especially in spring, and 
 they are often of extraordinary violence : hailstones fall of the 
 size of pigeon’s eggs; 9 the lightning is incessant; and the wind 
 rages with fury. The force of the tempest is, however, soon 
 exhausted ; in a few hours’ time it has passed away, and the sky 
 is once more cloudless ; a delightful calm and freshness pervade 
 the air, producing mingled sensations of pleasure and repose. 1 
 
 The mountain tract, which terminates Western Assyria to the 
 north, has a climate very much more rigorous than the central 
 region. The elevation of this district is considerable, 2 and the 
 near vicinity of the great mountain country of Armenia, with 
 its eternal snows and winters during half the year, tends greatly 
 to lower the temperature, which in the winter descends to eight 
 
 4 Supra, pp. 28-30. 
 
 5 Chesney, Euphrates Expedition , vol. 
 
 i. p. 106. 
 
 6 See Mr. Layard’s account of his visit 
 to the Sinjar and the Khabour in 1850. 
 ( Nineveh and Babylon , pp. 234-336 ; cf. 
 particularly pp. 246, 269, 273, and 324.) 
 
 7 Chesney, 1. s. c. 
 
 8 Layard, Nineveh and its Remains, 
 
 vol. i. p. 124, vol. ii. p. 54 ; Nineveh and 
 Babylon , pp. 242, 243, and 294, 295 ; 
 Rich’s Kurdistan, vol. i. p. 10. 
 
 9 Layard, Nineveh and Babylon, p. 294 ; 
 Jones, Journal of Asiatic Society, vol. xv. 
 p. 360. 
 
 1 Layard, ibid. p. 243. 
 
 2 Mr. Ainsworth estimates the average 
 elevation at 1300 feet ( Assyria , p. 29). 
 
 p 2 
 
212 
 
 THE SECOND MONAKCHY. 
 
 Chap. II. 
 
 or ten degrees below zero. 3 Much snow then falls, which usually 
 lies for some weeks ; the spring is wet and stormy, but the 
 summer and the autumn are fine ; and in the western portion of 
 the region, about Harran and Orfah, the summer heat is great. 
 The climate is here an “ extreme” one, to use an expression of 
 Humboldt’s — the range of the thermometer being even greater 
 than it is in Chaldsea, reaching nearly (or perhaps occasionally 
 exceeding) 120 degrees. 4 
 
 Such is the present climate of Assyria, west and east of the 
 Tigris. There is no reason to believe that it was very different 
 in ancient times. If irrigation was then more common and 
 cultivation more widely extended, the temperature would no 
 doubt have been somewhat lower and the air more moist. But 
 neither on physical nor on historical grounds can it be argued, 
 that the difference thus produced was more than slight. The 
 chief causes of the remarkable heat of Mesopotamia — so much 
 exceeding that of many countries under the same parallels of 
 latitude — are its near vicinity to the Arabian and Syrian deserts, 
 and its want of trees, those great refrigerators. 5 While the first 
 of these causes would be wholly untouched by cultivation, the 
 second would be affected in but a small degree. The only tree, 
 which is known to have been anciently cultivated in Mesopotamia, 
 is the date-palm ; and as this ceases to bear fruit 6 about lat. 35°, 
 its greater cultivation could have prevailed only in a very small 
 portion of the country, and so would have effected the general 
 climate but little. Historically, too, we find, among the earliest 
 notices which have any climatic bearing, indications that the 
 temperature and the consequent condition of the country were 
 anciently very nearly what they now are. Xenophon speaks of 
 the barrenness of the tract between the Khabour and Babylonia, 
 
 3 Chesney, Euphrates Expedition , vol. 
 i. p. 107. 
 
 4 Colonel Chesney says : “ The heat in 
 summer is 110° under a tent.” ( Eu- 
 phrates Expedition , 1. s. c.) Mr. Ainsworth 
 says the thermometer reaches 115° in the 
 shade (p. 31). 
 
 5 Humboldt mentions three ways in 
 
 which trees cool the air, viz., by cooling 
 shade, by evaporation, and by radiation. 
 
 “ Forests,” he says, “ protect the ground 
 from the direct rays of the sun, evapo- 
 rate fluids elaborated by the trees them- 
 selves, and cool the strata of air in im- 
 mediate contact with them by the radia- 
 tion of heat from their appendicular 
 organs or leaves.” ( Aspects of Nature , 
 vol. i. p. 127, E. T.) 
 
 6 Chesney, Euphrates Expedition , vol. 
 i. p. 106. 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 FERTILITY OF ASSYRIA. 
 
 213 
 
 and the entire absence of forage in as strong terms as could 
 be used at the present day . 7 Arrian, following his excellent 
 authorities, notes that Alexander, after crossing the Euphrates, 
 kept close to the hills, “ because the heat there was not so scorch- 
 ing as it was lower down, and because he could then procure 
 green food for his horses .” 8 The animals too which Xenophon 
 found in the country are either such as now inhabit it , 9 or 
 where not such, they a*e the denizens of hotter rather than 
 colder climates and countries . 1 
 
 The fertility of Assyria is a favourite theme with the ancient 
 writers . 2 Owing to the indefiniteness of their geographical 
 terminology, it is however uncertain, in many cases, whether 
 the praise which they bestow upon Assyria is really intended 
 for the country here called by that name, or whether it does 
 not rather apply to the alluvial tract already described, which 
 is more properly termed Chaldsea or Babylonia. Naturally 
 Babylonia is very much more fertile than the greater part of 
 Assyria, which being elevated above the courses of the rivers, 
 and possessing a saline and gypsiferous soil, tends, in the absence 
 of a sufficient water supply, to become a bare and arid desert. 
 Trees are scanty in both regions except along the river courses ; 
 but in Assyria, even grass fails after the first burst of spring ; 
 and the plains, which for a few weeks have been carpeted with 
 the tenderest verdure and thickly strewn with the brightest and 
 loveliest flowers , 3 become, 'as the summer advances, yellow, 
 parched, and almost herbless. Few things are more remarkable 
 than the striking difference between the appearance of the same 
 
 7 Xen. Anab. i. 5, § 5. Ov yap ?iv 
 Xopros, ov 5e &AAo 8eVS pov ovbev, aWa 
 
 9 )v aivaffa y x^pa. 
 
 8 Arrian, Exp. Alex. iii. 7. 
 
 9 As bustards, antelopes, and wild 
 asses. 
 
 1 As the ostrich. It is curious that 
 Heeren should regard the wild ass as 
 gone from Mesopotamia, and the ostrich 
 as still occurring. (As. Nat. vol. i. pp. 
 132, 133, E. T.) His statement exactly 
 inverts the truth. 
 
 2 Herod, i. 193 ; Strab. xvi. 1, § 14; 
 Dionys. Perieg. 992-999 ; Plin. H. N. 
 vi. 26 ; Amm. Marc, xxiii. 6, &c. 
 
 3 This peculiarity did not escape Dio- 
 nysius, a native of Charax, on the Per- 
 sian Gulf (Plin. H. N. vi. 27), who speaks 
 feelingly of the “ flowery pastures ” 
 (y/oyovs evavOeas) of Mesopotamia (1. 
 1000). Mr. Layard constantly alludes 
 to the wonderful beauty of the spring 
 flowers in the country at the foot of the 
 Sinjar. ( Nineveh and Babylon , pp. 268, 
 273, 301, &c.) Mr. Rich notices the 
 same features in the country near Kerkuk 
 ( Kurdistan , vol. i. p. 47). Captain Jones 
 remarks similarly of the tract in the 
 vicinity of Nimrud. ( Journal of Asiatic 
 Society , voi. xv. pp. 372, 373.) 
 
214 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. II. 
 
 tract in Assyria at different seasons of the year. What at one 
 time is a garden, glowing with brilliant hues and heavy with 
 luxuriant pasture, on which the most numerous flocks can 
 scarcely make any sensible impression, at another is an absolute 
 waste, frightful and oppressive from its sterility . 4 
 
 If we seek the cause of this curious contrast, we shall find it 
 in the productive qualities of the soil, wherever there is sufficient 
 moisture to allow of their displaying themselves, combined with 
 the fact, already noticed, that the actual supply of water is 
 deficient. Speaking generally, we may say with truth, as was 
 said by Herodotus more than two thousand years ago — that 
 “but little rain falls in Assyria ,” 5 and, if water is to be supplied 
 in adequate quantity to the thirsty soil, it must be derived from 
 the rivers. In most parts of Assyria there are occasional rains 
 during the winter, and in ordinary years, frequent showers in 
 early spring. The dependance of the present inhabitants both 
 for pasture and for grain is on these. There is scarcely any 
 irrigation ; 6 and though the soil is so productive that wherever 
 the land is cultivated, good crops are commonly obtained by 
 means of the spring rains, while elsewhere nature at once 
 spontaneously robes herself in verdure of the richest kind, yet 
 no sooner does summer arrive than barrenness is spread over the 
 scene ; the crops ripen and are gathered in ; “ the grass 
 withereth, the flower fadeth ;” 7 the delicate herbage of the 
 plains shrinks back and disappears; all around turns to a 
 uniform dull straw-colour; nothing continues to live but what 
 is coarse, dry, and sapless ; and so the land, which was lately 
 an Eden, becomes a desert. 
 
 Ear different would be the aspect of the region, were a due 
 use made of that abundant water supply — actually most lavish 
 in the summer time, owing to the melting of the snows 8 — which 
 nature has provided in the two great Mesopotamian rivers and 
 their tributaries. So rapid is the fall of the two main-streams 
 in their upper course, that by channels derived from them, with 
 
 4 Layard, Nineveh and its Remains , 
 vol. ii. p. 70. 
 
 5 Herod, i. 193. 'H yrj twv ’A irav- 
 
 p'luu V€TCll fJiiV 6\ly(p. 
 
 6 Layard, ut supra, p. 69. 
 
 7 Isaiah xl 7. 8 See above, p. 12. 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 ANCIENT PRODUCTS OF ASSYRIA. 
 
 215 
 
 the help perhaps of dams thrown across them, at certain intervals, 
 the water might be led to almost any part of the intervening 
 country, and a supply kept up during the whole year. Or, even 
 without works of this magnitude, by hydraulic machines of a 
 very simple construction, the life-giving fluid might be raised 
 from the great streams and their affluents in sufficient quantity 
 to maintain a broad belt on either side of the river-courses in 
 perpetual verdure. Anciently, we know that recourse was had 
 to both of these systems. In the tract between the Tigris and 
 the Upper Zab, which is the only part of Assyria that has been 
 minutely examined, are distinct remains of at least one Assyrian 
 canal, wherein much ingenuity and hydraulic skill is exhibited, 
 the work being carried through the more elevated ground by 
 tunnelling, and the canal led for eight 
 miles contrary to the natural course 
 of every stream in the district . 9 Sluices 
 and dams, cut sometimes in the solid 
 rock, regulated the supply of the fluid 
 at different seasons, and enabled the 
 natives to make the most economical 
 
 application of the great fertiliser. The Hand-swipe (Koyunjik). 
 use of the hand-swipe was also certainly 
 
 known, since it is mentioned by Herodotus , 1 and even repre- 
 sented upon the sculptures. Very probably other more elaborate 
 machines were likewise employed, unless the general prevalency 
 of canals superseded their necessity. It is certain that over 
 wide districts, now dependant for productive power wholly on 
 the spring rains, and consequently quite incapable of sustain- 
 ing a settled population, there must have been maintained in 
 Assyrian times some effective water-system, whereby regions 
 that at present with difficulty furnish a few months’ subsistence 
 to the wandering Arab tribes, were enabled to supply to scores 
 of populous cities sufficient food for their consumption . 2 
 
 We have not much account of the products of Assyria Proper 
 
 9 See the account of these works, given 
 by Captain Jones in the Journal of the 
 Asiatic Society , vol. xv. pp. 310, 311. 
 Compare Layard, Nineveh and its lie- 
 
 mains , vol. i. pp. 80, 81. 
 
 1 Herodotus calls it neXwvniov (i. 193). 
 
 2 See Layard, Nineveh and Babylon , p. 
 
 241. 
 
21 6 
 
 THE SECOND MONAECHY. 
 
 Chap. II. 
 
 in early times. Its dates were of small repute, being greatly 
 inferior to those of Babylon . 3 It grew a few olives in places , 4 
 and some spicy shrubs , 5 which cannot be identified with any 
 certainty. Its cereal crops were good, and may perhaps be 
 regarded as included in the commendations bestowed by 
 Herodotus 6 and Strabo 7 on the grain of the Mesopotamian 
 region. The country was particularly deficient in trees, large 
 tracts growing nothing but wormwood and similar low shrubs , 8 
 while others were absolutely without either tree or bush . 9 The 
 only products of Assyria which acquired such note as to be 
 called by its name were its silk 10 and its citron trees. The silk, 
 according to Pliny, was the produce of a large kind of silkworm 
 not found elsewhere . 11 The citron trees obtained a very great 
 celebrity. Hot only were they admired for their perpetual 
 fruitage, and their delicious odour ; 12 but it was believed that 
 the fruit which they bore was an unfailing remedy against 
 poisons . 1 Numerous attempts were made to naturalize the tree 
 in other countries ; but up to the time when Pliny wrote, every 
 such attempt had failed, and the citron was still confined to 
 Assyria, Persia, and Media . 2 
 
 It is not to be imagined that the vegetable products of Assyria 
 were confined within the narrow compass which the ancient 
 notices might seem to indicate. Those notices are casual, and 
 it is evident that they are incomplete ; nor will a just notion be 
 obtained of the real character of the region, unless we take into 
 
 3 Pliny speaks of the Assyrian dates 
 as used chiefly for fattening pigs and 
 other animals. (Hist. Hat. xiii. 4, 
 sub fin.) 
 
 4 As in Chalonitis. (Plin. H. N. vi. 27.) 
 
 5 Strab. xvi. 1, § 24, sub fin. ; Xen. 
 Anab. i. 5, § 1. 
 
 6 Herod, i. 192. Mr. Layard remarks 
 that the kinds of grain mentioned by 
 Herodotus, sesame, millet, wheat, and 
 barley, still constitute “the principal 
 agricultural produce of Assyria.” (Ni- 
 neveh and its Remains , vol. ii. p. 423.) 
 
 7 Strab. xvi. 1, § 14. 
 
 8 Xen. Anab. i. 5, § 1. 
 
 9 Ibid. i. 5, § 5. See the passage 
 
 quoted at length in note 7 , page 213. 
 
 10 Pliny speaks of “ Assyrian silk ” as 
 a proper dress for women. (“Assyria 
 tamen bombyce adhuc feminis cedimus.” 
 — H. N. xi. 23.) 
 
 11 Ibid. xi. 22. 
 
 12 Ibid. xii. 3. “ Odore praecellit foli- 
 
 orum quoque, qui transit in vestes unh, 
 conditus arcetque animalium noxia. Ar- 
 bor ipsa omnibus horis pomifera est, 
 aliis cadentibus, aliis maturescentibus, 
 aliis vero subnascentibus.” 
 
 1 Ibid. 1. s. c. “ Malus Assyria, quam 
 alii Medicam vocant, venenis medetur.” 
 Compare Yirg. Georg, ii. 126 ; Solin. 
 49, &c. 
 
 2 Plin. H. N. xii. 3; xvi. 32; Solin. 
 1. s. c. 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 MODERN VEGETABLE PRODUCTS. 
 
 217 
 
 account such of the present products as may be reasonably 
 supposed to be indigenous. Now, setting aside a few plants of 
 special importance to man, the cultivation of which may have 
 been introduced, such as tobacco, rice, Indian corn, and cotton, 
 we may fairly say that Assyria has no exotics, and that the trees, 
 shrubs, and vegetables now found within her limits are the same 
 in all probability as grew there anciently. In order to complete 
 our survey, we may therefore proceed to inquire, what are the 
 chief vegetable products of the region at the present time. 
 
 In the south the date-palm grows well as far as Anah on 
 the Euphrates and Tekrit on the Tigris. Above that latitude 
 it languishes, and ceases to give fruit altogether about the 
 junction of the Khabour with the one stream and the Lesser 
 Zab with the other . 3 The unproductive tree, however, which 
 the Assyrians used for building purposes , 4 will grow and attain 
 a considerable size to the very edge of the mountains . 5 Of 
 other timber trees the principal are the sycamore and the 
 oriental plane, which are common in the north ; the oak, which 
 abounds about Mardin 6 (where it yields gall-nuts and the rare 
 product manna), and which is also found in the Sinjar and 
 Abd-el-Aziz ranges ; 7 the silver poplar, which often fringes the 
 banks of the streams ; 8 the sumac, which is found on the Upper 
 Euphrates ; 9 and the walnut, which growls in the Jebel Tur, 
 and is not uncommon between the foot of Zagros and the out- 
 lying ranges of hills . 10 Of fruit-trees the most important are 
 the orange, lemon, pomegranate, apricot, olive, vine, fig, mul- 
 berry, and pistachio-nut. The pistachio-nut grows wild in the 
 northern mountains, especially between Orfah and Diarbekr . 11 
 The fig is cultivated with much care in the Sinjar . 12 The vine 
 
 3 Chesney, Euphrates Expedition , vol. 
 i. p. 107 ; Layard, Nineveh and its Re- 
 mains, vol. ii. p. 423. 
 
 4 Strabo, xvi. 1, § 5 ; Plin. H. N. 
 xiii. 4. 
 
 5 Chesney, 1. s. c. ; Layard, 1. s. c. 
 
 6 Niebuhr, Voyage en Arable , p. 323. 
 
 (Compare his Description de l’ Arabic, p. 
 
 128.) Mr. Berrington observed two 
 
 species of oak in the Jebel Tur, one of 
 
 which he identified with the Valonia oak. 
 
 7 Layard, Nineveh and Babylon , pp. 
 256 and 312. 
 
 8 Chesney, p. 108. 
 
 9 Ainsworth, Assyria , p. 34. 
 
 10 Layard, Nineveh and Babylon, p. 366. 
 Mr. Berrington found walnuts near Ain 
 Kaf in the Jebel Tur range. 
 
 11 Pocock, Description of the East , vol. 
 ii. pp. 158 and 163. 
 
 12 It is grown on terraces, like the 
 vine in Switzerland and on the banks 
 
2 1 8 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. II. 
 
 is also grown in that region , 1 hut bears better on the skirts of 
 the hills above Orfah and Mardin . 2 Pomegranates flourish in 
 various parts of the country. Oranges and lemons belong to 
 its more southern parts, where it verges on Babylonia . 3 The 
 olive clothes the flanks of Zagros in places . 4 Besides these 
 rarer fruits, Assyria has chesnuts, pears, apples, plums, cherries, 
 wild and cultivated, quinces, apricots, melons, and filberts. 
 
 The commonest shrubs are a kind of wormwood — the absin- 
 thium of Xenophon — which grows over much of the plain 
 extending south of the Khabour 5 — and the tamarisk. Green 
 myrtles, and oleanders with their rosy blossoms, clothe the 
 banks of some of the smaller streams between the Tigris and 
 Mount Zagros ; 6 and a shrub of frequent occurrence is the 
 liquorice plant . 7 Of edible vegetables there is great abun- 
 dance. Truffles 8 and capers 9 grow wild; while peas, beans, 
 onions, spinach, cucumbers, and lentils are cultivated success- 
 fully . 10 The carob ( Ceratonia Siliqua) must also be mentioned 
 as among the rarer products of this region . 11 
 
 It was noticed above that manna is gathered in Assyria from 
 the dwarf oak. It is abundant in Zagros, and is found also in 
 the woods about Mardin, and again between Orfah and Diarbekr. 
 According to Mr. Rich, it is not confined to the dwarf oak, or 
 even to trees and shrubs, but is deposited also on sand, rocks, 
 and stone . 12 It is most plentiful in wet seasons, and especially 
 after fogs ; 1 in dry seasons it fails almost totally. The natives 
 
 of the Rhine. (Layard, Nin. and Babylon , 
 pp. 254, 255.) Niebuhr speaks of the 
 Sinjar figs as in great request — “ fort 
 recherches.” ( Voyage en Arable , p. 315.) 
 
 1 Layard, 1. s. c. The vine is also 
 cultivated at Bavian (Berrington) and 
 near Kerkuk (Rich, Kurdistan , vol. i. 
 p. 50). 
 
 2 Pocock, vol. ii. p. 158; Niebuhr, p. 
 318. The vine was at one time culti- 
 vated as low down as the commencement 
 of the alluvium. See Amm. Mar. xxiv. i 
 3 and 6. 
 
 3 Layard, p. 472 ; Loftus, Chaldoca and 
 Susiana, p. 5 ; Rich, Kurdistan, vol. i. 
 
 p. 26. 
 
 4 Layard, Nineveh and its Remains, I 
 vol. ii. p. 423 ; Nin. and Bab. pp.123, 132. 
 
 5 Ainsworth, Travels in the Track of 
 the Ten Thousand, p. 76. Wormwood 
 abounds also near Jumeila, in the Kerkuk 
 district (Rich, Kurdistan, vol. i. p. 41). 
 
 6 Layard, Nin. and Bab. pp. 216 and 
 
 366. 7 Chesney, 1. s. c. 
 
 8 Layard, p. 315. 9 Chesney, 1. s. c. 
 
 10 See for most of these the account of 
 Colonel Chesney (1. s. c.). Lentils are 
 mentioned by Niebuhr ( Voyage en Arable, 
 p. 295) ; cucumbers by Mr. Layard {Nin. 
 and Bab. p. 224). 
 
 11 Chesney, 1. s. c. 
 
 12 Rich, Kurdistan , vol. i. p. 143. Com- 
 pare Chesney, Euphrates Exp. vol. i. 
 p. 123. 
 
 1 Chesney, 1. s. c. Compare Niebuhr, 
 
 Description de l' Arabic, p. 128. 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 MANNA — MINERALS. 
 
 219 
 
 collect it in spring and autumn. The best and purest is that 
 taken from the ground ; but by far the greater quantity is 
 obtained from the trees, by placing cloths under them and 
 shaking the branches. The natives use it as food both in its 
 natural state and manufactured into a kind of paste. It soon 
 corrupts ; and in order to fit it for exportation, or even for the 
 storeroom of the native housewife, it has to undergo the pro- 
 cess of boiling . 8 When thus prepared, it is a gentle purgative ; 
 but, in its natural state and when fresh, it may be eaten in large 
 quantities without any unpleasant consequences . 2 3 
 
 Assyria is far better supplied with minerals than Babylonia. 
 Stone of a good quality, either limestone, sandstone, or conglo- 
 merate, is always at hand ; while a tolerable clay is also to be 
 found in most places. If a more durable material is required, 
 basaltic rock may be obtained from the Mons Masius — a sub- 
 stance almost as hard as granite . 4 On the left bank of the 
 Tigris a soft grey alabaster abounds, which is easily cut into 
 slabs, and forms an excellent material for the sculptor . 5 The 
 neighbouring mountains of Kurdistan contain marbles of many 
 different qualities ; and these could be procured without much 
 difficulty by means of the rivers. From the same quarter it 
 was easy to obtain the most useful metals. Iron, copper, and 
 lead, are found in great abundance in the Tiyari Mountains 
 within a short distance of Nineveh ; 6 where they crop out upon 
 the surface, so that they cannot fail to be noticed. Lead and 
 copper are also obtainable from the neighbourhood of Diarbekr . 7 
 The Kurdish Mountains may have supplied other metals. They 
 still producfe silver and antimony ; 8 and it is possible that they 
 may anciently have furnished gold and tin. As their mineral 
 riches have never been explored by scientific persons, it is very 
 probable that they may contain many other metals besides 
 those which they are at present known to yield . 9 
 
 2 Chesney, p. 124. 
 
 3 Niebuhr, p. 129. 
 
 4 Layard, Nin. and its Remains , vol. 
 ii. p. 316. 
 
 5 Ibid. pp. 313, 314. This is the ma- 
 
 terial universally employed for the bas- 
 
 reliefs. 
 
 6 Ibid. vol. i. p. 223 ; vol. ii. p. 415. 
 
 7 Chesney, vol. i. p. 108. 
 
 8 Layard, Nin. and its Remains , vol. 
 ii. pp. 417-419. 
 
 9 Mr. Rich observed traces of iron in 
 more places than one. ( Kurdistan , vol. 
 i. pp. 176 and 222.) 
 
220 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chai\ II. 
 
 Among tlie mineral products of Assyria — bitumen, naphtha, 
 petroleum, sulphur, alum, and salt, have also to be reckoned. 
 The bitumen pits of Kerkuk, in the country between the Lesser 
 Zab and the Adhem, are scarcely less celebrated than those of 
 Hit ; 1 and there are some abundant springs of the same cha- 
 racter close to Nimrud, in the bed of the Shor Derreh torrent . 2 
 The Assyrian palaces furnish sufficient evidence that the springs 
 were productive, in old times ; for the employment of bitumen 
 as a cement, though not so frequent as in Babylonia, is yet 
 occasionally found in them . 3 With the bitumen are always 
 procured both naphtha and petroleum ; 4 while at Kerkuk there 
 
 is an abundance of sulphur also . 5 Salt is obtained from springs 
 in the Kerkuk country ; 6 and is also formed in certain small 
 lakes lying between the Sinjar and Babylonia . 7 Alum is plen- 
 tiful in the hills about Kifri . 8 
 
 The most remarkable wild animals of Assyria are the folio w- 
 
 1 See Niebuhr’s Voyage en Arabic , p. 
 275 ; Ker Porter, Travels, vol. ii. pp. 
 440-442 ; Rich, Kurdistan, vol. i. p. 3 1 ; 
 First Memoir on Babylon, p. 63. 
 
 2 Layard, Nin. and Bab. p. 202 ; Jones, 
 Journal of Asiatic Society, vol. xv. p. 371. 
 The position of the chief springs is 
 marked in the plan, supra, p. 200. There 
 are other naphtha springs near Kifri. 
 (Rich, Kurdistan, vol. i. p. 29.) 
 
 3 In his first work Mr. Layard doubted 
 
 the use of bitumen as a cement in As- 
 
 syria (Nineveh and its Remains, vol. ii. 
 pp. 278, 279) ; but subsequently he found 
 some traces of its employment {Nin. and 
 Bab. p. 203, &c.). M. Botta represents 
 the use of it as common both at Ivhor- 
 sabad and Koyunjik {Letters from Nine- 
 veh, p. 43). 
 
 4 See above, p. 39. 
 
 5 Ker Porter, Travels, vol. ii. p. 441. 
 
 6 Rich, Kurdistan, vol. i. p. 27. 
 
 7 Layard, Nineveh and Babylon, p. 256. 
 
 8 Rich, p. 29. 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 WILD ANIMALS. 
 
 22 
 
 ing : — the lion, the leopard, the lynx, the wild-cat, the bysena, 
 the wild-ass, the bear, the deer, the gazelle, the ibex, the wild- 
 sheep, the wild-boar, the jackal, the wolf, the fox, the beaver, 
 the jerboa, the porcupine, the badger, and the hare. The 
 Assyrian lion is of the maneless kind, and in general habits 
 resembles the lion of Babylonia. The animal is comparatively 
 rare in the eastern districts, being seldom found on the banks 
 of the Tigris above Baghdad, and never above Kileh-Sherghat . 9 
 
 On the Euphrates it has been seen as high as Bir ; and it is 
 frequent on the banks of the Khabour, and in the Sinjar . 10 It 
 has occasionally that remarkable peculiarity — so commonly 
 represented on the sculptures — a short horny claw at the 
 extremity of the tail in the middle of the ordinary tuft of hair . 1 
 The ibex or wild-goat — also a favourite subject with the Assyrian 
 sculptors — is frequent in Kurdistan, and moreover abounds on 
 the highest ridges of the Abd-el-Aziz and the Sinjar, where it 
 
 9 Layard, Nin. and its Remains , vol. 
 ii. p. 48. 
 
 10 Ibid. 1. s. c., note. For its fre- 
 
 quency in old times, see Amm. Marc, 
 xviii. 7. 
 
 1 Layard, pp. 428, 429. 
 
222 
 
 THE SECOND MONAECHY. 
 
 Chap. II. 
 
 is approached with difficulty by the hunter . 2 The gazelle, wild- 
 boar, wolf, jackal, fox, badger, porcupine, and hare, are common 
 in the plains, and confined to no particular locality. The 
 jerboa is abundant near the Khabour . 3 Bears and deer are 
 found on the skirts of the Kurdish hills. The leopard, hytena, 
 lynx, and beaver are comparatively rare. The last-named 
 animal, very uncommon in Southern Asia, was at one time 
 found in large numbers on the Khabour ; but in consequence 
 of the value set upon its musk bag, it has been hunted almost 
 
 Wild Ass. 
 
 to extermination, and is now very seldom seen. The Khabour 
 beavers are said to be a different species from the American. 
 Their tail is not large and broad, but sharp and pointed ; nor 
 do they build houses, or construct dams across the stream, but 
 live in the banks, making themselves large chambers above the 
 ordinary level of the floods, which are entered by holes beneath 
 the water-line . 4 
 
 The rarest of all the animals which are still found in Assyria 
 
 2 Layard, Nineveh and its Remains , p. 4 Ibid. pp. 296, 297. Beavers are 
 
 431. Compare Nin. and Bab. pp. 256 also found in the Zohab river, a tri- 
 and 312. I butary of the Diyaleh. 
 
 3 Layard, Nin. and Bab. p. 271. 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 THE WILD ASS. • 
 
 223 
 
 is the wild ass ( Equus hemionus). Till the present generation 
 of travellers, it was believed to have disappeared altogether 
 from the region, and to have “ retired into the steppes of Mon- 
 
 golia and the deserts of Persia .” 5 But a better acquaintance 
 with the country between the rivers has shown, that wild asses, 
 though uncommon, still inhabit the tract where they were seen 
 
 by Xenophon . 6 They are delicately made, in colour varying 
 from a greyish-white in winter to a bright bay, approaching to 
 pink, in the summer-time; they are said to be remarkably 
 
 5 Heeren’s Asiatic Nations , vol. i. p. 
 132, E. T. 
 
 6 Anab. i. 5, § 2. Xenophon speaks of 
 
 them as numerous in his day. He calls 
 them “ the most common animal ” for 
 some distance below the Khabour. 
 
224 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. II. 
 
 swift. It is impossible to take them when full grown ; but the 
 Arabs often capture the foals, and bring them up with milk in 
 their tents. They then become very 
 playful and docile ; but it is found diffi- 
 cult to keep them alive ; and they have 
 never, apparently, been domesticated. 
 The Arabs usually kill them and eat 
 their flesh . 7 
 
 It is probable that all these animals, 
 and some others, inhabited Assyria dur- 
 ing the time of the Empire. Lions of two 
 kinds, with and without manes, abound in 
 the sculptures, the former, which do not 
 
 Gazelle, from Nimrud. . , . . . , . 
 
 now exist m Assyria, being the more 
 common. They are represented with a skill and a truth which 
 shows the Assyrian sculptor to have been familiar not only with 
 
 7 Layard, Nin. and its Remains , vol. i. pp. 323, 324 ; Nin. and Bab. p. 270 ; 
 Ainsworth, Travels, p. 77. 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 DEER AND HARES. 
 
 225 
 
 their forms and proportions, but with their natural mode of life, 
 their haunts, and habits. The leopard is far less often depicted, 
 but appears sometimes in the ornamentation of utensils , 8 and is 
 
 frequently mentioned in the in- 
 scriptions. The wild ass is a 
 favourite subject with the sculp- 
 tors of the later Empire, and is 
 represented with great spirit, 
 though not with complete accu- 
 racy. The ears are too short, the 
 head is too fine, the legs are not 
 fine enough, and the form alto- 
 gether approaches too nearly to 
 the type of the horse. The deer, 
 all occur frequently ; and though tl 
 
 Fallow Deer, from Koyunjik. 
 
 the gazelle, and the ibex, 
 ) forms are to some extent 
 
 Hare and Eagles, from Nimrud. 
 
 conventional, they are not wanting in spirit. Deer are appa- 
 rently of two kinds. That which is most commonly found 
 appears to represent the grey deer, which is the only species 
 existing at present within the confines of Assyria . 9 The other 
 sort is more delicate in shape, and spotted, seeming to represent 
 the fallow deer, which is not now known in Assyria or the 
 adjacent countries. It sometimes appears wild, lying among 
 the reeds ; sometimes tame, in the arms of a priest or of a 
 
 8 See the woodcut, p. 223. 
 
 9 The deer which the army of Julian 
 found in such numbers on the left bank 
 
 of the Euphrates, a little above Anah, 
 were probably of this species. (Amm. 
 Marc. xxiv. 1.) 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 Q 
 
226 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. II. 
 
 winged figure. There is no representation in the sculptures of 
 the wild boar ; but a wild sow and pigs are given in one bas- 
 relief , 10 sufficiently indicating the Assyrian acquaintance with 
 this animal. Hares are often depicted, and 
 with much truth ; generally they are carried 
 in the hands of men, but sometimes they are 
 being devoured by vultures or eagles . 11 No 
 representations have been found of bears, 
 wild-cats, hyaenas, wolves, jackals, wild-sheep, 
 foxes, beavers, jerboas, porcupines, or badgers. 
 
 There is reason to believe that two other 
 animals, which have now altogether disap- 
 peared from the country, inhabited at least 
 some parts of Assyria during its flourishing 
 period. One of these is the wild bull — often 
 represented on the bas-reliefs as a beast of 
 chase, and perhaps mentioned as such in the 
 inscriptions . 1 This animal, which is some- 
 times depicted as engaged in a contest with 
 the lion , 2 must have been of vast strength and boldness. It is 
 often hunted by the king, and appears to have been considered 
 nearly as noble an object of pursuit as the lion. We may pre- 
 sume, from the practice in the adjoining country, Palestine , 3 
 
 that the flesh was eaten as food. 
 
 The other animal, once indigenous, but which has now dis- 
 appeared, was called by the Assyrians the mithin , and is thought 
 to have been the tiger. Tigers are not now found nearer to 
 Assyria than the country south of the Caspian, G-hilan, and 
 
 10 Supra, p. 40. Both this and the 
 representation on p. 225 of a fallow-deer 
 belong to the decorations of Sennache- 
 rib’s palace at Koyunjik. They are given 
 by Mr. Layard in his “ Second Series ” 
 of the Monuments of Nineveh , pi. 12. 
 
 11 The representation on p. 225 is on 
 one of the beautiful bronze plates or 
 dishes which were brought by Mr. Lay- 
 ard from Nimrud, and are now in the 
 British Museum. The dish is represented 
 in the Monuments of Nineveh , second 
 series, pi. 62. 
 
 1 See the Inscription of Tiglath-Pileser 
 pp. 54, 55, where both Sir H. Raw- 
 
 linson and Dr. Hincks understand the 
 wild-bull to be intended. Dr. Hincks 
 reads the word used as Rim, which would 
 clearly be identical with the Hebrew 
 DX1, or D'H, translated in our version 
 “ unicorn,” and sometimes thought to be 
 an antelope, but understood by Gesenius 
 to designate “ the wild buffalo.” (See his 
 Lexicon in voc.) 
 
 2 Layard, Monuments of Nineveh , first 
 
 series, pi. 46 and 48. 3 Deut. xiv. 5. 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 BIRDS. 
 
 22 7 
 
 Mazanderan ; but as there is no conceivable reason why they 
 should not inhabit Mesopotamia , 4 and as the mithin is constantly 
 joined with the lion, as if it were a beast of the same kind, and 
 of nearly equal strength and courage, we may fairly conjecture 
 that the tiger is the animal intended. If this seem too bold a 
 theory, we must regard the mithin as the larger leopard , 5 an 
 animal of considerable strength and ferocity, which, as well as 
 the hunting leopard, is still found in the country . 6 
 
 The birds at present frequenting Assyria are chiefly the fol- 
 lowing: — The bustard (which is of two kinds — the great and 
 the middle-sized), the egret, the crane, the stork, the pelican, 
 the flamingo, the red partridge, the black partridge or francolin, 
 
 the parrot, the Seleucian thrush (turdus Seleucus), the vulture, 
 the falcon or hunting-hawk, the owl, the wild swan, the bramin 
 goose, the ordinary wild goose, the wild duck, the teal, the tern, 
 the sand-grouse, the turtle-dove, the nightingale, the jay, the 
 plover, and the snipe . 7 There is also a large kite or eagle, 
 called “ agab,” or “ the butcher,” by the Arabs, which is greatly 
 dreaded by fowlers, as it will attack and kill the falcon no less 
 than other birds. 
 
 4 Diodorus speaks of “ Babylonian 
 tigers ” as among the animals indigenous 
 in Arabia (ii. 50, § 2). 
 
 5 This animal is now called the nimr. 
 
 The smaller or hunting-leopard (now 
 called fahad') is the nimr of the Assy- 
 rians, an animal of which the inscrip- 
 tions make frequent mention. 
 
 6 Sir H. Rawlinson brought a speci- 
 men of the larger leopard, which he had 
 
 Q 2 
 
 tamed, trom .Baghdad to England, and 
 presented it to the Clifton Zoological 
 Gardens. Many visitors will remember 
 Fahad , who died in the Gardens in 1858 
 or 1859. 
 
 7 The authorities for this list are Mr. 
 Berrington, Mr. Layard, and Colonel 
 Chesney. (See the Euph. Expedition , vol. 
 i. pp. 107, 108 ; and Nineveh and Babylon , 
 passim.) 
 
228 
 
 THE SECOND MONAKCHY. 
 
 Chap. II. 
 
 We have little information as to which of these birds fre- 
 quented the country in ancient times. The Assyrian artists 
 are not happy in their delineation of the feathered tribe ; and 
 
 Ostrich, from a cylinder. Ostrich, from Nimrud. 
 
 though several forms of birds are represented upon the sculp- 
 tures of Sargon and elsewhere, there are but three which any 
 
 writer has ventured to 
 identify — the vulture, 
 the ostrich, and the par- 
 tridge. The vulture is 
 commonly represented 
 flying in the air, in 
 attendance upon the 
 march and the battle 
 — sometimes devouring, 
 as he flies, the entrails 
 of one of Assyria’s ene- 
 mies. Occasional] y he appears upon the battle-field, perched 
 upon the bodies of the slain, and pecking at their eyes or their 
 
 vitals . 8 The ostrich, 
 which we know from 
 Xenophon to have been 
 a former inhabitant of 
 the country on the left 
 bank of the Euphrates , 9 
 but which has now re- 
 treated into the wilds 
 of Arabia, occurs fre- 
 quently upon cylinders, dresses, and utensils ; sometimes stalk- 
 
 Partridges, from Khorsabad. 
 
 8 See especially the Monuments of Nineveh, second series, pi. 46. 9 Anab. 1. s. c. 
 
Chap. II 
 
 BIRDS. 
 
 229 
 
 ing along apparently unconcerned ; sometimes hastening at full 
 speed, as if pursued by the hunter, 
 and, agreeably to the descrip- 
 tion of Xenophon, using its wing 
 for a sail . 10 The partridge is 
 still more common than either 
 of these. He is evidently sought 
 as food. We find him carried 
 in the hand of sportsmen return- 
 ing from the chace, or see him 
 flying above their heads as they 
 
 beat the coverts , 1 
 
 or 
 
 Unknown birds (Khorsabad). 
 
 finally observe him pierced by a sue- 
 
 Assyrian Garden and Fish-pond, Koyunjik (after Layard). 
 
 10 Ta?s TTTcpv^v, &pa(Ta, &air ep Iffrlcp, xp^P-^y]. Anab. i. 5, § 3. 
 1 Monuments of Nineveh , second series, pi. 32. 
 
230 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. H. 
 
 cessful shot, and in the act of falling a prey to his pur- 
 suers. 2 
 
 The other birds represented upon the sculptures, though 
 occasionally possessing some marked peculiarities of form or 
 habit, have not yet been identified with any known species. 
 
 They are commonly represented as haunting the fir-woods, and 
 often as perched upon the trees. 3 One appears, in a sculpture 
 of Sargon’s, in the act of climbing the stem of a tree, like the 
 nut-hatch or the woodpecker. 4 Another has a tail like a 
 
 Mesopotamian Sheep (after Layard). 
 
 pheasant, but in other respects cannot be said to resemble that 
 bird. The artist does not appear to aim at truth in these de- 
 lineations, and it probably would be a waste of ingenuity to con- 
 jecture which species of bird he intended. 
 
 We have no direct evidence that bustards inhabited 3Ieso- 
 
 2 Botta, Monumens de Xinive, voL ii. pi. 111. 3 Ibid. Plates 109 to 112. 
 
 4 Ibid. PI. 110. Compare the upper woodcut, supra, p. 229. 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 FISH — DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 
 
 231 
 
 potamia in Assyrian times; but as they have certainly been 
 abundant in that region from the time of Xenophon 5 to our 
 own, there can be little doubt that they existed in some parts 
 of Assyria during the Empire. 
 
 Considering their size, their 
 peculiar appearance, and the 
 delicacy of their flesh, it is 
 remarkable that the Assy- 
 rian remains furnish no trace 
 of them. Perhaps, as they 
 are extremely shy, they may 
 have been comparatively rare 
 in the country when the 
 
 , . Loading a Camel (Koyunjik). 
 
 population was numerous, 
 
 and when the greater portion of the tract between the rivers was 
 brought under cultivation. 
 
 The fish most plentiful in Assyria are the same as in -Baby - 
 lonia , 6 namely, barbel and 
 carp. They abound not only 
 in the Tigris and Euphrates, 
 but also in the lake of Khu- 
 taniyeh, and often grow to 
 a great size . 7 Trout are 
 found in the streams which 
 run down from Zagros ; 8 and 
 there may be many other 
 sorts which have not yet 
 been observed. The sculp- 
 tures represent all the waters, 
 whether river, pond, or marsh, 
 as full of fish ; 9 but the 
 
 Head of an Assyrian Horse, Koyunjik 
 (after Layard). 
 
 forms are for the most part too conventional to admit of iden- 
 tification. 
 
 The domestic animals now found in Assyria are camels, horses, 
 asses, mules, sheep, goats, oxen, cows, and dogs. The camels 
 
 5 Anab. 1. s. c. 
 
 6 See above, p. 41. 
 
 7 Chesney, Euphrates Exp. vol. i. 
 
 108 ; Layard, Nin. and Babylon , p. 325. 
 
 8 Rich, Kurdistan , vol. i. p. 143. 
 
 9 See woodcut on p. 229. 
 
232 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. II. 
 
 are of three colours — white, yellow, and dark brown or black . 1 
 They are probably all of the same species, though commonly 
 distinguished into camels proper, and delouls or dromedaries ; the 
 latter differing from the others as the English race-horse from 
 the cart-horse. The Bactrian or two-humped camel, though 
 known to the ancient Assyrians , 2 is not now found in the country. 
 The horses are numerous, and of the best Arab blood. Small 
 
 in stature, but of exquisite symmetry and wonderful powers of 
 endurance, they are highly prized throughout the East , 3 and 
 constitute the chief wealth of the wandering tribes who occupy 
 the greater portion of Mesopotamia. The sheep and goats are 
 also of good breeds, and produce wool of an excellent quality . 4 
 The cows and oxen cannot be commended . 5 The dogs kept are 
 
 1 Layard, Nineveh and Babylon , p. 265. 
 
 2 The Bactrian camel is, I believe, 
 only represented on the famous Black 
 Obelisk, where it appears among the 
 presents sent to the king from foreign 
 countries. (See woodcut on p. 230.) 
 
 3 The young colts fetch prices vary- 
 
 ing from 30/. to 150/. A thousand 
 
 pounds is no uncommon price for a well- 
 
 known mare. Mr. Layard mentions a 
 case where a Sheikh refused for a fa- 
 vourite mare no less a sum than 1200/. 
 (Nin. and Bab. p. 327.) 
 
 4 Chesney, Euphrates Expedition , vol. 
 i. p. 108. (Compare woodcut represent- 
 ing Mesopotamian sheep, p. 230.) 
 
 5 Ibid. 1. s. c. 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 HORSES — MULES. 
 
 233 
 
 chiefly greyhounds , 6 which are used to course the hare and the 
 gazelle. 
 
 It is probable that in ancient times the animals domesticated 
 by the Assyrians were not very different from these. The camel 
 appears upon the 
 monuments both as 
 a beast of burthen 
 and also as ridden 
 in war, but only by 
 the enemies of the 
 Assyrians. The horse 
 is used both lor 
 draught and for rid- 
 ing, but seems never 
 degraded to ignoble 
 purposes . 7 His breed 
 is good, though he 
 is not SO finely or Mule ridden by two women (Koyunjik). 
 
 delicately made as 
 
 the modern Arab. The head is small and well shaped, the 
 nostrils large and high, the neck arched, but somewhat thick, 
 the body compact, 
 the loins strong, the 
 legs moderately slen- 
 der and sinewy. The 
 ass is not found ; but 
 the mule appears, 
 sometimes ridden by 
 women, sometimes 
 used as a beast of 
 burthen, sometimes 
 employed in drawing 
 a cart. Cows, oxen, 
 sheep, and goats are 
 frequent ; but they 
 are foreign rather than Assyrian, since they occur only among 
 
 6 Layard, Nineveh and Babylon , p. 246. 
 The horse draws chariots and not carts. He is never used as 
 
 beast of burthen. 
 
234 
 
 THE SECOND MONAKCHY. 
 
 Chap. II. 
 
 the spoil taken from conquered countries. The dog is frequent 
 on the later sculptures ; and has been found modelled in clay, 
 
 No. I. Dog modelled in clay, from the palace of Asshur-bani-pal, Koyunjik. 
 
 and also represented in relief on a clay tablet. Their character 
 is that of a large mastiff or hound, and there is abundant evi- 
 dence that they were employed in hunting . 8 
 
 If the Assyrians domesticated any bird, it would seem to have 
 
 8 Dogs are constantly represented as 
 engaged in the chase upon the sculp- 
 tures of Asshur-bani-pal (Sardanapa- 
 lus). A number of his hounds were 
 found modelled in clay at Koyunjik. 
 
 They have each their name inscribed on 
 them, which is always a term indicative 
 of their hunting prowess. The woodcut 
 (No. I.) on this page is taken from one 
 of them. 
 
Chap. II. 
 
 DOGS — DUCKS — FISH PONDS. 
 
 235 
 
 been the duck. Models of the duck are common, and seem 
 generally to have been used for weights . 9 The bird is ordinarily 
 
 No. II. Dog in relief, on a clay tablet. 
 
 represented with its head turned upon its back, the attitude of 
 the domestic duck when asleep. 
 
 The Assyrians seem to have 
 had artificial ponds or stews, 
 which are always represented 
 as full of fish, but the forms 
 are conventional, as has been 
 already observed . 1 Considering 
 
 the size to which the carp and . _ w „. 
 
 barbel actually grow at the pre- 
 sent day, the ancient representations are smaller than might 
 
 have been expected. 
 
 9 Layard, Nin. and Bab. pp. 600, 601. 
 
 Supra, p. 231. 
 
236 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. III. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE PEOPLE. 
 
 The Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon, fair of branches, and with a 
 shadowing shroud, and of an high stature ; and his top was among the thick 
 
 toughs Nor was any tree in the garden of God like unto him in his 
 
 beauty.”— Ezek. xxxi. 3 and 8. 
 
 The ethnic character of the ancient Assyrians, like that of the 
 Chaldseans, was in former times a matter of controversy. When 
 nothing was known of the original language of the people beyond 
 the names of certain kings, princes, and generals, believed 
 to have belonged to the race, it was difficult to arrive at any 
 determinate conclusion on the subject. The ingenuity of 
 etymologists displayed itself in suggesting derivations for the 
 words in question, 1 , which were sometimes absurd, sometimes 
 plausible, but never more than very doubtful conjectures. Ho 
 sound historical critic could be content to base a positive view 
 on any such unstable foundation, and nothing remained but to 
 decide the controversy on other than linguistic considerations. 
 
 ^ arious grounds existed on which it was felt that a conclusion 
 could be drawn. The Scriptural genealogies 2 connected Asshur 
 with Aram, Eber, and Joktan, the allowed progenitors of the 
 Aramaeans or Syrians, the Israelites or Hebrews, and the northern 
 or J oktanian Arabs. The languages, physical type, and moral 
 characteristics of these races were well known ; they all belonged 
 evidently to a single family — the family known to ethnologists 
 as the Semitic. Again, the manners and customs, especially 
 the religious customs, of the Assyrians connected them plainly 
 with the Syrians and Phoenicians, with whose practices they 
 were closely allied . 3 Further, it was observed that the modern 
 Chaldseans of Kurdistan, who regard themselves as descendants 
 
 1 See Prichard’s Physical History of 
 Mankind , vol. iv. pp. 563, 564, where some 
 of the supposed derivations are given. 
 
 2 Gen. x. 21-31 ; 1 Chr. i. 17-23. 
 
 3 See this argument urged by Dr. 
 Prichard, Physical Hist, of Mankind , vol. 
 iv. pp. 567, 568. 
 
Chap. III. ETHNIC CHARACTER OF THE PEOPLE. 237 
 
 of the ancient inhabitants of the neighbouring Assyria, still 
 speak a Semitic dialect . 4 These three distinct and convergent 
 lines of testimony were sufficient to justify historians in the con- 
 clusion, which they commonly drew , 5 that the ancient Assyrians 
 belonged to the Semitic family, and were more or less closely 
 connected with the Syrians , 6 the (later) Babylonians, the 
 Phoenicians, the Israelites, and the Arabs of the northern por- 
 tion of the peninsula. 
 
 Recent linguistic discoveries have entirely confirmed the 
 conclusion thus arrived at. We now possess in the engraved 
 slabs, the clay tablets, the cylinders, and the bricks, exhumed 
 from the ruins of the great Assyrian cities, copious documentary 
 evidence of the character of the Assyrian language, and (so far 
 as language is a proof) of the ethnic character of the race. It 
 appears to be doubted by none, who have examined the evi- 
 dence , 7 that the language of these records is Semitic. However 
 imperfect the acquaintance which our best Oriental archaeologists 
 have as yet obtained with this ancient and difficult form of 
 speech, its connexion with the Syriac, the later Babylonian, the 
 Hebrew, and the Arabic does not seem to admit of a doubt. 
 
 Another curious confirmation of the ordinary belief is to be 
 found in the physical characteristics of the people, as revealed 
 to us by the sculptures. Few persons in any way familiar with 
 these works of art can have failed to remark the striking re- 
 semblance to the Jewish physiognomy which is presented by the 
 sculptured effigies of the Assyrians. The forehead straight but 
 
 4 The elder Niebuhr was the first to 
 report this fact. (See his Voyage en 
 Arabie, p. 285.) It was commonly dis- 
 believed till Mr. Ainsworth confirmed 
 the statement. 
 
 5 See B. G. Niebuhr’s Lectures on An- 
 cient History , vol. i. p. 12, E. T. ; Grote, 
 Hist, of Greece , vol. iii. p. 403 ; Bunsen, 
 Essay on Ethnology (1847), p. 29. 
 
 6 Niebuhr went so far as to identify 
 the Assyrians with the Syrians ; but 
 here he fell into a mistake. The Ara- 
 maeans were probably as distinct from 
 
 the Assyrians as any other Semitic race. 
 Niebuhr was misled by the Greek fancy 
 
 that the names , “ Assyrian ” and “ Sy- 
 rian,” were really identical. (See Herod, 
 vii. 63.) But these names had, in truth, 
 an entirely distinct origin. Syria (more 
 properly Tsyria ) was the name given by 
 the Greeks to the country about Tsur 
 or Tyre, “1-1X. Assyria was the cor- 
 respondent term to Asshur, — the 
 
 native, as well as the Hebrew, name of 
 the tract upon the middle Tigris. 
 
 7 See Bunsen’s Philosophy of History , 
 vol. iii. pp. 193-216 ; Max Muller, Lan- 
 guages of the Seat of War , p. 25, 2nd ed. ; 
 Oppert, Ele'mens de la Grammaire Assy- 
 rienne ; &c. 
 
238 
 
 THE SECOND MONAKCHY. 
 
 Chap. III. 
 
 not high, the full brow, the eye large and almond-shaped, the 
 aquiline nose, a little coarse at the end, and unduly depressed, 
 the strong, firm, mouth, with lips somewhat over thick, the well- 
 formed chin — best seen in the representations of eunuchs — the 
 abundant hair and ample beard, both coloured as black, — all 
 
 these recall the chief peculiarities of the Jew, more especially as 
 he appears in southern countries. They are less like the traits 
 of the Arab, though to them also they bear a considerable 
 resemblance. Chateaubriand’s description of the Bedouin — “ la 
 tete ovale, le front haut et arque, le nez aquilin, les yeux grands 
 
 Mesopotamian captives, from an Egyptian monument. 
 
Chap. III. 
 
 RESEMBLANCE TO JEWS. 
 
 239 
 
 et coupes en amandes, le regard humideetsingulierementdoux’’ 8 
 — would serve in many respects equally well for a description of 
 the physiognomy of the Assyrians, as they appear upon the 
 monuments. The traits, in fact, are for the most j)art common 
 to the Semitic race generally, and not distinctive of any par- 
 ticular subdivision of it. They are seen now alike in the Arab, 
 the Jew, and the Chaldsean of Kurdistan; while anciently they 
 not only characterised the Assyrians, but probably belonged also 
 to the Phoenicians, the Syrians, and other minor Semitic races. 
 It is evident, even from the mannered and conventional sculp- 
 tures of Egypt, that the physiognomy was regarded as cha- 
 racteristic of the western Asiatic races. Three captives on the 
 monuments of Amenophis III., 9 represented as belonging to the 
 Patana (people of Bashan?), the Asuru (Assyrians), and the 
 Karukamishi (people of Carchemish), present to us the same 
 style of face, only slightly modified by Egyptian ideas. 
 
 While in face the Assyrians appear thus to have borne a most 
 close resemblance to the Jews, in shape and make they are 
 perhaps more nearly represented by their descendants, the 
 Chaldaeans of Kurdistan. While the Oriental Jew has a spare 
 form and a weak muscular development, the Assyrian, like the 
 modern Chaldsean, 1 is robust, broad-shouldered, and large-limbed. 
 Nowhere have we a race represented to us monumentally of 
 a stronger or more muscular type than the ancient Assyrian. 
 The great brawny limbs are too large for beauty ; but they 
 indicate a physical power, which we may well believe to have 
 belonged to this nation — the Romans of Asia — the resolute and 
 sturdy people which succeeded in imposing its yoke upon all its 
 neighbours. 
 
 If from physical we proceed to mental characteristics, we 
 seem again to have in the Jewish character the best and closest 
 analogy to the Assyrian. In the first place there is observable 
 in each a strong and marked prominency of the religious 
 principle. Inscriptions of Assyrian kings begin and end, almost 
 
 8 Itindraire, vol. i. p. 421. 9 Lepsius, Benhnaler , Abtheil. iii. Bl. 88. 
 
 1 Rich, Residence in Kurdistan , vol. i. p. 278. 
 
240 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. III. 
 
 without exception, with praises, invocations, and prayers to the 
 principal objects of their adoration. All the monarch’s suc- 
 cesses, all his conquests and victories, and even his good fortune 
 in the chase , 2 are ascribed continually to the protection and 
 favour of guardian deities. Wherever he goes, he takes care to 
 “ set up the emblems of Asshur,” or of “ the great gods ; ” and 
 forces the vanquished to do them homage. The choicest of the 
 
 spoil is dedicated as a thank-offering in the temples. The 
 temples themselves are adorned, repaired, beautified, enlarged, 
 increased in number, by almost every monarch. The kings 
 worship in them in person , 3 and offer sacrifices . 4 They embellish 
 their palaces, not only with representations of their own victories 
 and hunting expeditions, but also with religious figures — the 
 emblems of some of the principal deities , 5 and with scenes in 
 
 2 See especially the Tiglath - Pileser 
 cylinder, where such expressions as these 
 occur: — Under the auspices of Ninip, 
 my guardian deity, I killed four wild 
 hulls, strong and fierce.” “ Under the 
 auspices of Ninip, 120 lions fell before 
 me ” (pp. 54—57). 
 
 3 “ As he (Sennacherib) was worship- 
 ping in the house of Nisroch his god” 
 (2 Kings xix. 37). 
 
 4 Tiglath-Pileser I. speaks of sacri- 
 
 ficing as a part of the kingly office ( In- 
 scription , , &c. p. 70). 
 
 5 See above, pp. 132, 133, 137. Ac- 
 cording to Ammianus Marcellinus, the 
 later inhabitants of the country were 
 far less religious, and confined their 
 pictured and sculptured representations 
 to battles and hunting-pieces. (“ Nec 
 enim apud eos pingitur vel fingitur 
 aliud praeter varias [bestiarum] caedes 
 et bella,” xxiv. 6.) 
 
Chap. III. 
 
 RELIGIOUS FEELING. 
 
 241 
 
 which are portrayed acts of adoration. Their signets, and 
 indeed those of the Assyrians generally , 6 have a religious cha- 
 racter. In every way religion seems to hold a marked and pro- 
 minent place in the thoughts of the people, who fight more for 
 the honour of their gods than even of their king, and aim at ex- 
 tending their belief as much as their dominion. 
 
 Again, combined with this prominency of the religious 
 principle, is a sensuousness — such as we observe in Judaism 
 continually struggling against a higher and purer element — but 
 which in this less favoured branch of the Semitic family reigns 
 uncontrolled, and gives to its religion a gross, material, and even 
 voluptuous character. The ideal and the spiritual find little 
 favour with this practical people, which, not content with 
 symbols, must have gods of wood and stone whereto to pray, 
 and which in its complicated mythological system, its priestly 
 hierarchy, its gorgeous ceremonial, and finally in its lascivious 
 ceremonies , 7 is a counterpart to that Egypt, from which the Jew 
 was privileged to make his escape. 
 
 The Assyrians are characterised in Scripture as “ a fierce 
 people .” 8 Their victories seem to have been owing to their 
 combining individual bravery and hardihood with a skill and 
 proficiency in the arts of war not possessed by their more un- 
 civilised neighbours. This bravery and hardihood were kept 
 up, partly (like that of the Romans) by their perpetual wars, 
 partly by the training afforded to their manly qualities by the 
 pursuit and destruction of wild animals. The lion — the king of 
 beasts — abounded in their country , 9 together with many other 
 dangerous and ferocious animals. Unlike the ordinary Asiatic, 
 who trembles before the great beasts of prey and avoids a 
 collision by flight if possible , 1 the ancient Assyrian sought out 
 the strongest and fiercest of the animals, provoked them to the 
 encounter, and engaged with them in hand-to-hand combats. 
 
 6 Layard, Nineveh and its Remains , 
 vol. ii. p. 421 ; Nin. and Bab. pp. 603- 
 605. 
 
 7 See below, ch. viii. 
 
 8 Isaiah xxxiii. 19. 
 
 9 “Inter arundineta Mesopotamise 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 fluminum et fruteta leones vagantur in- 
 numeric Amm. Marc, xviii. 7. Tiglath- 
 Pileser I. claims to have slain in all 800 
 lions. ( Inscription , &c. p. 56.) 
 
 1 Loftus, Chaldsea and Susiana pp. 
 261, 262. 
 
 R 
 
242 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. III. 
 
 The spirit of Nimrod, the “ mighty hunter before the Lord,” 
 not only animated his own people, but spread on from them to 
 their northern neighbours ; and, as far as we can judge by the 
 monuments, prevailed even more in Assyria than in Chaldsea 
 itself. The favourite objects of chase with the Assyrians seem 
 to have been the lion and the wild-bull, both beasts of vast 
 
 strength and courage, which could not be attacked without great 
 danger to the bold assailant. 
 
 No doubt the courage of the Assyrians was tinged with 
 ferocity. The nation was “ a mighty and a strong one, which, 
 as a tempest of hail and a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty 
 waters overflowing, cast down to the earth with the hand .” 2 
 Its capital might well deserve to be called “ a bloody city,” or 
 
 2 Isaiah xxviii. 2. 
 
Chaf. III. FIERCENESS COMBINED WITH CLEMENCY. 
 
 243 
 
 “a city of bloods .” 3 Few conquering races have been tender- 
 hearted, or much inclined to spare ; and undoubtedly carnage, 
 ruin, and desolation followed upon the track of an Assyrian 
 army, and raised feelings of fear and hatred among their 
 adversaries. But we have no reason to believe that the nation 
 
 Captives of Sargon (Ivhorsabad). 
 
 was especially bloodthirsty or unfeeling. The mutilation of the 
 slain — not by way of insult, but in proof of their slayer’s prowess 4 
 — was indeed practised 
 among them ; but 
 otherwise there is little 
 indication of any bar- 
 barous — much less of 
 any really cruel — 
 usages. The Assyrian 
 listens to the enemy 
 who asks for quarter, Captive Women in a cart (Nimrud). 
 
 he prefers making 
 
 prisoners to slaying ; he is very terrible in the battle and the 
 assault, but afterwards he forgives, and spares. Of course in 
 some cases he makes exceptions. When a town has rebelled 
 and been subdued, he impales some of the most guilty ; 5 and in 
 
 3 Nahum iii. 1. “ Woe to the bloody 
 
 city,” — or, as the margin gives it. — 
 “Woe to the city of bloods ! ” (TJ? 'in 
 
 DW). 
 
 4 Probably a reward was given for 
 heads, as has often been the fashion 
 
 with Orientals. Sometimes scribes are 
 represented as taking account of them. 
 (See Layard, Nin. and its Remains vol. 
 ii. p. 184.) 
 
 5 Mr. Layard has, I think, expressed 
 himself too strongly when he says that 
 
 R 2 
 
244 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. III. 
 
 two or three instances prisoners are represented 6 as led before 
 the king by a rope fastened to a ring which passes through the 
 under lip, while now and then one appears in the act of being 
 flayed with a knife . 7 But, generally, captives are either released, 
 or else transferred, without unnecessary suffering , 8 from their 
 own country to some other portion of the empire. There seems 
 even to be something of real tenderness in the treatment of 
 captured women, who are never manacled, and are often allowed 
 to ride on mules , 9 or in carts. 
 
 The worst feature in the character of the Assyrians was 
 their treachery. “ Woe to thee that spoilest, though thou wast 
 not spoiled, and dealest treacherously, though they dealt- not 
 treacherously with thee ! ” is the denunciation of the evangelical 
 prophet . 1 And in the same spirit the author of “ the Burthen 
 of Nineveh ” declares that city to be “ full of lies and robbery ” 2 
 — or, more correctly, “ full of lying and violence .” 3 Falsehood 
 and treachery are commonly regarded as the vices of the weak, 
 who are driven to defend themselves against superior strength 
 by the weapon of cunning ; but they are perhaps quite as often 
 employed by the strong, as furnishing short cuts to success, and 
 even where the moral standard is low, as being in themselves 
 creditable . 4 It certainly was not necessity which made the 
 Assyrians covenant-breakers; it seems to have been in part 
 the wantonness of power — because they “ despised the cities 
 and regarded no man ;” 5 perhaps, it was in part also their im- 
 
 on the capture of a town “ an indiscri- 
 minate slaughter appears to have suc- 
 ceeded ; and that the prisoners were 
 either impaled or carried away as 
 slaves.” (Nin. and its Remains , vol. ii. 
 p 374.) It appears, by the inscriptions, 
 that towns were frequently spared, and 
 that the bulk of the inhabitants were 
 generally left in the place. 
 
 6 Botta, Monument de Ninive , PL 83 
 and 118. 
 
 7 Ibid. vol. ii. PI. 120; Layard, Mo- 
 numents of Nineveh, Second Series, PI. 47. 
 Is it quite certain that these unfortunates 
 are alive ? The Persians and Scythians 
 sometimes flayed men after death, in 
 order to make use of their skins (Herod, 
 iv. 64 ; v. 25). 
 
 8 Captives are occasionally represented 
 as urged onwards by blows, like tired 
 cattle ; and they are sometimes heavily 
 fettered. But in each case the usage is 
 exceptional. 
 
 9 See above, p. 233. 
 
 1 Isaiah xxxiii. 1. 
 
 2 Nahum iii. 1. 
 
 3 Mr. Vance Smith renders, “ full of 
 
 treachery and violence ; ” which is pro- 
 bably the real meaning. But the word 
 used is “ mendacium,” not 133 
 
 “ perfidia.” 
 
 4 See Thucyd. iii. 83. 
 
 s Isaiah xxxiii. 8 ; “ He hath broken 
 the covenant, he hath despised the cities, 
 he regardeth no man.” 
 
Chap. III. 
 
 TRIDE — LUXURY. 
 
 245 
 
 perfect moral perception, which may have failed to draw the 
 proper distinction between craft and cleverness. 
 
 Another unpleasant feature in the Assyrian character but 
 one at which we can feel no surprise — was their pride. This is 
 the quality which draws forth the sternest denunciations of 
 Scripture, and is expressly declared to have called down the 
 Divine judgments upon the race . 6 Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Zepha- 
 niah alike dwell upon it , 7 It pervades the inscriptions. With- 
 out being so rampant or offensive as the pride of some Orientals 
 —as, for instance, the Chinese— it is of a marked and decided 
 colour : the Assyrian feels himself infinitely superior to all the 
 nations with whom he is brought into contact ; he alone enjoys 
 the favour of the gods; he alone is either truly wise or truly 
 valiant ; the armies of his enemies are driven like chaff before 
 him ; he sweeps them away, like heaps of stubble ; either they 
 fear to fight, or they are at once defeated ; he carries his vic- 
 torious arms just as far as it pleases him, and never under any 
 circumstances admits that he has suffered a reverse. The only 
 merit that he allows to foreigners is some skill in the mecha- 
 nical and mimetic arts, and his acknowledgment of this is tacit 
 rather than express, being chiefly known from the recorded 
 fact that he employs foreign artists to ornament his edifices. 
 
 According to the notions which the Greeks derived from 
 Ctesias , 8 * * and passed on to the Romans, and through them to 
 the moderns generally, the greatest defect in the Assyrian 
 character— the besetting sin of their leading men— was luxu- 
 riousness of living and sensuality. From Ninyas to Sardana- 
 palus — from the commencement to the close of the empire 
 a line of voluptuaries, according to Ctesias and his followers, 
 held possession of the throne ; and the principle was established 
 from the first, that happiness consisted in freedom from all 
 
 6 Ezek. xxxi. 10, 11; 11 Because thou 
 hast lifted up thyself in height, and he 
 hath shot up his top among the thick 
 
 houghs, and his heart is lifted up in his 
 
 height; I have therefore delivered him I 
 
 into the hand of the mighty one of the I 
 
 heathen ; he shall surely deal with him : j 
 
 I have driven him out for his wicked- | 
 
 ness. 
 
 7 Isaiah x. 7-14, xxxvii. 24-28 ; Ezek. 
 xxxi. 10; Zeph. ii. 15. 
 
 8 Some idea of notable luxuriousness 
 attaching to the Assyrians is, perhaps, 
 earlier than Ctesias. (See Aristoph. Aves, 
 958, ed. Bothe.) Did it come from the 
 5 AaavpioL A 6yoi of Herodotus ? 
 
246 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. III. 
 
 cares or tioubles, and unchecked indulgence in every species of 
 sensual pleasure . 9 This account, intrinsically suspicious, is now 
 directly contradicted by the authentic records which we possess 
 of the warlike character and manly pursuits of so many of the 
 kings. It probably, however, contains a germ of truth. In a 
 flourishing kingdom, like Assyria, luxury must have gradually 
 advanced ; and when the empire fell under the combined attack 
 of its two most powerful neighbours, no doubt it had lost much 
 of its pristine vigour. The monuments lend some support to 
 the view that luxury wae among the causes which produced the 
 fall of Assyria ; although it may be questioned whether, even 
 to the last, the predominant spirit was not warlike and maqlv, 
 or even fierce and violent. Among the many denunciations of 
 Assyria in Scripture, there is only one which can even be 
 thought to point to luxury as a cause of her downfall ; and that 
 is a passage of very doubtful interpretation . 1 In general it is 
 her violence, her treachery, and her pride that are denounced. 
 When Nineveh repented in the time of Jonah, it was by each 
 man ‘ turning from his evil way and from the violence which 
 was in their hands.’ 2 When Nahum announces the final de- 
 struction, it is on “ the bloody city, full of lies and robbery .” 
 In the emblematic language of prophecy, the lion is taken as 
 the fittest among animals to symbolise Assyria, even at this 
 late period of her history . 4 She is still “ the lion that did tear 
 in pieces enough for his whelps, and strangled for his lioness, 
 and filled his holes with prey, and his dens with ravin.” The 
 favourite national emblem, if it may be so called , 5 is accepted 
 as the true type of the people ; and blood, ravin, and robbery 
 are their characteristics in the mind of the Hebrew prophet. 
 
 In mental power the Assyrians certainly deserve to be con- 
 sidered as among the foremost of the Asiatic races. They 
 
 ® See Diod - Sic - ii- 21, § 2. I 2 Jonah jjj 8 
 
 Nahum iii. 4; “ Because of the mul- | 3 Nahum iii. 1. 
 
 titude of the whoredoms of the well- 
 favoured harlot, the mistress of witch- 
 crafts, that selleth nations through her 
 whoredoms, and families through her 
 witchcrafts, Behold, I am against thee, 
 saith the Lord.” Idolatry is probably 
 the u whoredom ” here intended. 
 
 5 The frequent occurrence of the lion 
 on the monuments, either in the natural 
 form or with a human head, seems to 
 justify this expression. It must be ad- 
 mitted, however, that the standards bear 
 a different emblem. See below, ch. vii. 
 
 4 Ibid. ii. 11-13. 
 
Chap. III. 
 
 MENTAL POWEE. 
 
 247 
 
 had not perhaps so much originality as the Chaldseans, from 
 whom they appear to have derived the greater part of their 
 civilisation ; hut in many respects it is clear that they sur- 
 passed their instructors, and introduced improvements which 
 gave a greatly increased value and almost a new character to 
 arts previously discovered. The genius of the people will best 
 be seen from the accounts, hereafter to be given, of their lan- 
 guage, their arts, and their system of government. If it must 
 be allowed that these have all a certain smack of rudeness and 
 primitive simplicity, still they are advances upon aught that 
 had previously existed — not only in Mesopotamia — but in the 
 world. Fully to appreciate the Assyrians we should compare 
 them with the much-lauded Egyptians, who in all important 
 points are very decidedly their inferiors. The spirit and 
 progressive character of their art offers the strongest contrast 
 to the stiff, lifeless, and unchanging conventionalism of the 
 dwellers on the Nile. Their language and alphabet are con- 
 fessedly in advance of the Egyptian . 6 Their religion is more 
 earnest and less degraded. I11 courage and military genius their 
 superiority is very striking ; for the Egyptians are essentially 
 an unwarlike people. The one point of advantage to which 
 Egypt may fairly lay claim is the grandeur and durability of 
 her architecture. The Assyrian palaces, magnificent as they 
 undoubtedly were, must yield the palm to the vast structures 
 of Egyptian Thebes . 7 No nation, not even Kome, has equalled 
 Egypt in the size and solemn grandeur of its buildings. But, 
 except in this one respect, the great African kingdom must be 
 regarded as inferior to her Asiatic rival — which was indeed 
 “a cedar in Lebanon, exalted above all the trees of the field 
 — fair in greatness and in the length of his branches — so that 
 all the trees that were in the garden of God envied him, and 
 not one was like unto him in his beauty .” 8 
 
 6 See Bunsen’s Philosophy of History , 
 vol. iii. p. 192 ; Egypt , vol. iv. pp. 144, 
 638, &c. 
 
 7 Denon says of Thebes, with equal 
 force and truth : — “On est fatigue 
 d’ecrire, on est fatigue de lire, on est 
 
 epouvante de la pensee d’une telle con- 
 ception ; on ne peut croire, meme apres 
 
 l’avoir vu, a la realite de l’existence de 
 tant de constructions reunies sur un 
 meme point, a leurs dimensions, a la 
 Constance obstinee qu’a exigee leur fabri- 
 cation, aux depenses incalculables de 
 tant de sumptuosite'.” figypte, vol. ii. 
 
 p. 226 . 
 
 8 Ezek. xxxi. 3-9. 
 
248 
 
 THE SECOND MONAKCHV. 
 
 Chap. IV. 
 
 CHAPTEE IV. 
 
 THE CAPITAL. 
 
 “ Fuit et Ninus, imposita Tigri, ad solis occasum spectans, quondam claris- 
 sima .” — Plin. H. N. vi. 13. 
 
 The site of the great capital of Assyria had generally been 
 regarded as fixed with sufficient certainty to the tract imme- 
 diately opposite Mosul, alike by local tradition and by the 
 statements of ancient writers , 1 when the discovery by modern 
 travellers of architectural remains of great magnificence at 
 some considerable distance from this position, threw a doubt 
 upon the generally received belief, and made the true situation 
 of the ancient Nineveh once more a matter of controversy. 
 When the noble sculptures and vast palaces of Nimrud were 
 first uncovered, it was natural to suppose that they marked 
 the real site; for it seemed unlikely that any mere provincial 
 city should have been adorned by a long series of monarchs 
 with buildings at once on so grand a scale and so richly orna- 
 mented. A passage of Strabo, and another of Ptolemy , 2 were 
 thought to lend confirmation to this theory, which placed the 
 Assyrian capital nearly at the junction of the Upper Zab with 
 the Tigris ; and for a while the old opinion was displaced, and 
 the name of Nineveh was attached very generally in this 
 country to the ruins at Nimrud. 
 
 Shoitly afterwards a rival claimant started up in the regions 
 further to the north. Excavations carried on at the village of 
 
 1 The local tradition is strikingly- 
 marked by the Mahometan belief that 
 on the smaller of the two mounds oppo- 
 site Mosul is “ the tomb of Jonah:” 
 whence the name Nebbi -Yunus. The 
 most important of the ancient authorities 
 is Xenophon ( Anab . iii. 4, §§ 10-12). 
 
 2 See Layard’s Nineveh and its Re- 
 mains, vol. ii. p. 242. Neither passage 
 is correctly represented by Mr. Layard. 
 
 I Ptolemy distinctly places Nineveh— not 
 j on the Lycus, as Mr. Layard says— but 
 S on the Tigris ( Geograph . vi. 1); and 
 Strabo, though he does not actually do 
 the same, certainly does not anywhere 
 say that it was “ near the junction of 
 the two rivers.” He says that the Lycus 
 divided Aturia from Arbelitis, and that 
 Nineveh was situated in the middle of 
 the former district (xvi. 1, § 3). 
 
Chap. IV. 
 
 THE CAPITAL. 
 
 249 
 
 Khorsabad showed, that a magnificent palace and a consider- 
 able town had existed in Assyrian times at that site. In spite 
 of the obvious objection that the Khorsabad ruins lay at the 
 distance of fifteen miles from the Tigris, which according to 
 every writer of weight 3 anciently washed the walls of Nineveh, 
 it was assumed by the excavator that the discovery of the 
 capital had been reserved for himself, and the splendid work 
 representing the Khorsabad bas-reliefs and inscriptions, which 
 was published in France under the title of ‘ Monument de 
 Ninive,’ caused the reception of M. Bottas theory in many 
 parts of the Continent. 
 
 After a while an attempt was made to reconcile the rival 
 claims by a theory, the grandeur of which gained it acceptance, 
 despite its improbability. It was suggested that the various 
 ruins, which had hitherto disputed the name, were in fact all 
 included within the circuit of the ancient Nineveh ; w hich was 
 described as a rectangle, or oblong square, eighteen miles long 
 and twelve broad. The remains at Khorsabad, Koyunjik* 
 Nimrud, and Keremles marked the four corners of this vast 
 quadrangle, 4 which contained an area of 216 square miles 
 about ten times that of London ! In confirmation of this view 
 was urged, first, the description in Diodorus, 5 derived probably 
 from Ctesias, which corresponded (it was said) both with the 
 proportions and with the actual distances ; and next, the state- 
 ments contained in the book of Jonah, 6 wKich (it was argued) 
 implied a city of some such dimensions. The parallel of 
 Babylon, according to the description given by Herodotus, 7 
 might fairly have been cited as a further argument ; since it 
 might have seemed reasonable to suppose that there was no 
 great difference of size between the chief cities of the two 
 kindred empires. 
 
 3 Herod, i. 193; Nic. Ham. Fr. 9; 
 Arrian. Hist. Ind. 42 ; Plin. H. N. vi. 
 13 ; Eustath. ad Dionys. Perieg. 988 ; 
 &c. It is perhaps by a slip of the pen 
 that Diodorus places Nineveh on the 
 Euphrates (ii. 3). 
 
 4 See Layard’s Nineveh and its Remains , 
 
 vol. ii. p. 247. 
 
 5 Diodorus (1. s. c.) made Nineveh an 
 oblong square 140 stades (18J miles) 
 long, and 90 stades (Ilf miles) broad. 
 Nimrud is eighteen miles from Koyunjik, 
 and about twelve from Keremles. (Lay- 
 ard, 1. s. c.) 
 
 6 Ch. iii. ver. 3, and ch. iv. ver. 11. 
 
 7 Eook i. oh. 178. 
 
250 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. IV. 
 
 Attractive, however, as this theory is from its grandeur, and 
 harmonious as it must be allowed to be with the reports of the 
 Greeks, we have nevertheless to reject it on two grounds, the 
 one historical and the other topographical. The ruins of Khor- 
 sabad, Keremles, Nimrud, and Koyunjik bear on their bricks 
 distinct local titles; and these titles are found attaching to 
 distinct cities in the historical inscriptions. Nimrud, as al- 
 ready observed, is Calah ; and Khorsabad is Dur-Sargina, or 
 u ^ ie cit y Sargon.” Keremles has also its own appellation, 
 Dur- * ", “ the city of the God JJjH.” Now the Assyrian 
 writers do not consider these places to be parts of Nineveh, 
 but speak of them as distinct and separate cities. Calah for 
 a long time is the capital, while Nineveh is mentioned as a 
 provincial town. Dur-Sargina is built by Sargon not at 
 Nineveh, but “ near to Nineveh.” Scripture, it must be re- 
 membered, similarly distinguishes Calah as a place separate 
 from Nineveh and so far from it that there was room for “ a 
 great city between them . 8 And the geographers, while they 
 give the name of Aturia or Assyria Proper to the country about 
 the one town , 9 call the region which surrounds the other by 
 a distinct name, Calachene . 1 Again, when the country is closely 
 examined, it is found, not only that there are no signs of any 
 continuous town over the space included within the four sites 
 of Nimrud, Keremles, Khorsabad, and Koyunjik, nor any re- 
 mains of walls or ditches connecting them , 2 but that the four 
 sites themselves are as carefully fortified on what, by the theory 
 we are examining, would be the inside of the city as in other 
 directions . 3 It perhaps need scarcely be added, unless to meet 
 the argument drawn from Diodorus, that the four sites in 
 
 8 Gen. x. 11, 12. We must understand 
 the expression “ a great city,” as qua- 
 lified by the circumstances under which 
 it is used — a great city according to the 
 size of cities in the primeval times. The 
 city in question may probably have oc- 
 cupied the site of the ruins at Selamiyeh . 
 
 u Strab. xvi. 1, § 1 ; Arrian. Exp. 
 Alex. iii. 7 ; Plin. //. N. v. 12. 
 
 1 Supra, p. 194. 
 
 2 See the careful surveys of Capt. 
 Jones, published by the Royal Asiatic 
 Society. ( Journal , vol. xv.) 
 
 3 See the plans of the ruins at Nimrud 
 and Koyunjik (pp. 200 and 253). Koyun- 
 jik, according to the hypothesis, would 
 occupy the north-west angle of the town, 
 and its southern and eastern sides would 
 thus be within the town ; but the chief 
 defences are those on the east. 
 
Chap. IV. 
 
 THEORIES AS TO ITS SIZE, EXAMINED. 
 
 251 
 
 question are not so placed as to form the “ oblong square 
 of his description, 4 but mark the angles of a rhombus Yeiy 
 much slanted from the perpendicular. 
 
 The argument derived from the book of Jonah deserves more 
 attention than that which rests upon the authority of Diodorus 
 and Ctesias. Unlike Ctesias, Jonah saw Nineveh while it still 
 stood ; and though the writer of the prophetical book may not 
 have been Jonah himself, 5 he probably lived not very many 
 years later. 6 Thus his evidence is that of a contemporary, 
 though (it may be) not that of an eye-witness ; and, even apart 
 from the inspiration which guided his pen, he is entitled to be 
 heard with the utmost respect. Now the statements of this 
 writer, which have a bearing on the size of Nineveh, are two. 
 He tells us, in one place, that it was “an exceeding great city, 
 of three days’ journey;” 7 in another, that “in it were more 
 than 120,000 persons who could not discern between their right 
 hand and their left.” 8 These passages are clearly intended to 
 describe a city of a size unusual at the time ; but both of them 
 are to such an extent vague and indistinct, that it is impossible 
 to draw from either separately, or even from the two combined, 
 an exact definite notion. “A city of three days journey may 
 be one which it requires three days to traverse from end to end, 
 or one which is three days’ journey in circumference, or, lastly, 
 one which cannot be thoroughly visited and explored by a 
 prophet commissioned to warn the inhabitants of a coming 
 danger in less than three days’ time. Persons not able to dis- 
 tinguish their right hand from their left may (if taken literally) 
 mean children, and 120,000 such persons may therefore indi- 
 cate a total population of 600,000; or, the phrase may perhaps 
 
 4 Diod. Sic. ii. 3. 
 
 5 It has been remarked that “ the 
 
 writer of the book of Jonah nowhere 
 identifies himself with the prophet.” 
 (Vance Smith, Prophecies on Nineveh , p. 
 252.) “ On the contrary, he rather 
 
 carefully keeps himself distinct, speak- 
 ing of Jonah always in the third person, 
 and not suggesting , by a single word or 
 
 implication , that he ever thought of 
 being regarded as, at the same time, 
 
 both writer and subject of the narrative.” 
 All this is undoubtedly true, but it does 
 not establish the negative. 
 
 6 The position of the book in the He- 
 brew Canon, between Amos and Micah, 
 shows that its date was regarded as fall- 
 ing between Uzziah (b.c. 808) and Heze- 
 kiah (b.c. 697). Nineveh was not de- 
 stroyed till, at any rate, b.c. 625. 
 
 7 Jonah iii. 3. 
 
 8 Ibid. iv. 11. 
 
THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Ciiap. IV. 
 
 with greater probability be understood of moral ignorance, and 
 the intention would in that case be to designate by it all the 
 inhabitants. If Nineveh was in Jonah’s time a city containing 
 a population of 120,000, it would sufficiently deserve the title 
 of “ an exceeding great city ; ” and the prophet might well be 
 occupied for three days in traversing its squares and streets. 
 We shall find hereafter that the ruins opposite Mosul have an 
 extent more than equal to the accommodation of this number 
 of persons. 
 
 The weight of the argument from the supposed parallel case 
 of Babylon must depend on the degree of confidence which can 
 be reposed in the statement made by Herodotus, and on the 
 opinion which is ultimately formed with regard to the real size 
 ot that capital. It would be improper to anticipate here the 
 conclusions, which may be arrived at hereafter, concerning; the 
 real dimensions of “ Babylon the Great ; ” but it may be ob- 
 served that grave doubts are entertained in many quarters as 
 to the ancient statements on the subject, and that the ruius do 
 not cover much more than one twenty-fifth of the space which 
 Herodotus assigns to the city. 
 
 We may, therefore, without much hesitation, set aside the 
 theory which would ascribe to the ancient Nineveh dimensions 
 nine or ten times greater than those of London, and proceed 
 to a description of the group of ruins believed by the best 
 judges to mark the true site. 
 
 The ruins opposite Mosul consist of two principal mounds, 
 known respectively as Nebbi-Yunus and Koyunjik. The Ko- 
 yunjik mound, which lies to the north-west of the other, at the 
 distance of 900 yards, or a little more than half a mile, is very 
 much the more considerable of the two. Its shape is an irre- 
 gular oval, elongated to a point towards the north-east, in the 
 line of its greater axis. The surface is nearly flat ; the sides 
 slope at a steep angle, and are furrowed with numerous ravines, 
 worn in the soft material by the rains of some thirty centuries. 
 The greatest height of the mound above the plain is towards 
 the south-eastern extremity, where it overhangs the small 
 stream of the Khosr; the elevation in this part being about 
 
Chap. IV. 
 
 DESCRIPTION OF THE RUINS. 
 
 253 
 
 ninety-five feet. The area covered by the mound is estimated 
 at a hundred acres, and the entire mass is said to contain 
 14,500,000 tons of earth. The labour of a man would scarcely 
 excavate and place in position more than 120 tons of earth 
 in a year ; it would require therefore the united exertions 
 of 10,000 men for twelve years, or 20,000 men for six years, 
 
 to complete the structure. 1 On this artificial eminence were 
 raised in ancient times the palaces and temples of the Assyrian 
 monarclis, which are now imbedded in the debris of their own 
 ruins. 
 
 The mound of A T ebbi-Yunus is at its base nearly triangular. 
 
 1 See the Journal of the Asiatic Society , vol. xv. p. 326, note “. 
 
254 
 
 THE SECOND MONAKCHY. 
 
 Chap. IV. 
 
 It covers an area of about forty acres. It is loftier, and its sides 
 are more precipitous, than Koyunjik, especially on the west, 
 where it abutted upon the wall of the city. The surface is 
 mostly flat, but is divided about the middle by a deep ravine, 
 running nearly from north to south, and separating the mound 
 into an eastern and a western portion. The so-called tomb of 
 Jonah is conspicuous on the north edge of the western portion 
 of the mound, and about it are grouped the cottages of the 
 Kurds and Turcomans to whom the site of the ancient Nineveh 
 belongs. The eastern portion of the mound forms a burial- 
 ground, to which the bodies of Mahometans are brought from 
 considerable distances. The mass of earth is calculated at six 
 and a half millions of tons ; so that its erection would have 
 given full employment to 10,000 men for the space of five years 
 and a half. 
 
 These two vast mounds — the platforms on which palaces and 
 temples were raised — are both in the same line, and abutted, 
 both of them, on the western wall of the city. Their position 
 in that wall is thought to have been determined, not by chance, 
 but by design ; since they break the western face of the city 
 into three nearly equal portions. 2 The entire length of this 
 side of Nineveh was 13,600 feet, or somewhat more than two and 
 a half miles. Anciently it seems to have immediately overhung 
 the Tigris, which has now moved off to the west, leaving a plain 
 nearly a mile in width between its eastern edge and the old 
 rampart of the city. This rampart followed, apparently, the 
 natural course of the river-bank ; and hence, while on the whole 
 it is tolerably straight, in the most southern of the three por- 
 tions it exhibits a gentle curve, where the river evidently made 
 a sweep, altering its course from south-east nearly to south. 
 
 The western wall at its northern extremity approaches the 
 present course of the Tigris, and is here joined, exactly at right 
 angles, by the northern, or rather the north-western, rampart, 
 
 2 Capt. Jones notes that from the 
 N.W. angle of the city to the centre of 
 the Koyunjik mound, from that to the 
 centre of the Nebbi-Yunus mound, and 
 
 from the centre of the Nebbi - Yunus 
 mound to the S.TV. angle of the city, are 
 exactly equal distances. ( Journal of Asi- 
 atic Society , vol. xv. p. 325.) 
 
Chap. IV. 
 
 REAL EXTENT OF NINEVEH. 
 
 255 
 
 which runs in a perfectly straight line to the north-eastern 
 angle of the city, and is said to measure exactly 7000 feet. 3 
 This wall is again divided, like the western, but with even 
 more preciseness, into three equal portions. Commencing at 
 the north-eastern angle, one-third of it is carried along com- 
 paratively high ground, after which for the remaining two- 
 thirds of its course it falls by a gentle decline towards the 
 
 Khosr-Su and Mound of Nebbi-Yunus (after Layard). 
 
 Tigris. Exactly midway in this slope the rampart is broken 
 by a road, adjoining which is a remarkable mound, covering 
 one of the chief gates of the city. 4 
 
 At its other extremity the western wall forms a very obtuse 
 angle with the southern, which impends over a deep ravine 
 formed by a winter torrent, and runs in a straight line for about 
 
 3 Journal of Asiatic Society , vol. xv. p. 322. 
 
 4 Ibid. p. 323. 
 
256 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chai\ IT. 
 
 1000 yards, when it meets the eastern wall, with which it forms 
 a slightly acute angle. 
 
 It remains to describe the eastern wall, which is the longest, 
 and the least regular of the four. This barrier skirts the edge 
 of a ridge of conglomerate rock, which here rises somewhat 
 above the level of the plain, and presents a slightly convex 
 sweep to the north-east. At first it runs nearly parallel to the 
 western, and at right angles to the northern wall ; but, after 
 pursuing this course for about three quarters of a mile, it is 
 forced by the natural convexity of the ridge to retire a little, 
 and curving gently inwards it takes a direction much more 
 southerly than at first, thus drawing continually nearer to the 
 western wall, whose course is almost exactly south-east. The 
 entire length of this wall is 16,000 feet, or above three miles. 
 It is divided into two portions, whereof the southern is some- 
 what the longer, by the stream of the Khosr-Su ; which, coming 
 from the north-west, finds its way through the ruins of the city, 
 and then runs on across the low plain to the Tigris. 
 
 The enceinte of Nineveh forms thus an irregular trapezium, 
 or a “ triangle with its apex abruptly cut off to the south.” 5 
 The breadth, even in the broadest part — that towards the 
 north — is very disproportionate to the length, standing to it 
 as four to nine, or as 1 to 2*25. The town is thus of an oblong 
 shape, and so far Diodorus truly described it ; 6 though his 
 dimensions greatly exceed the truth. The circuit of the walls 
 is somewhat less than eight miles, instead of being more than 
 fifty ; and the area which they include is 1800 English acres, 
 instead of being 112,000 ! 
 
 It is reckoned that in a populous Oriental town we may 
 compute the inhabitants at nearly, if not quite, a hundred per 
 acre. This allows a considerable space for streets, open squares, 
 and gardens ; since it assigns but one individual to every space 
 of fifty square yards. According to such a mode of reckoning, 
 the population of ancient Nineveh, within the enceinte here 
 described, may be estimated at 175,000 souls. No city of 
 Western Asia is at the present day so populous. 
 
 5 Journal of the Asiatic Society , vol. xv. p. 324. 
 
 G Diod. Sic. ii. 3, § 2. 
 
Chap. IV. 
 
 HEIGHT OF THE WALLS. 
 
 257 
 
 In the above description of the ramparts surrounding Nineveh, 
 no account has been given of their width or height. According 
 to Diodorus the wall wherewith Ninus surrounded his capital was 
 100 feet high, and so broad that three chariots might drive 
 side by side along the top. Xenophon, who passed close to the 
 ruins on his retreat with the Ten Thousand, calls the height 
 150 feet, and the width 50 feet. 7 The actual greatest height at 
 present seems to be 46 feet; 8 but the debris at the foot of the 
 walls are so great, and the crumbled character of the walls 
 themselves is so evident, that the chief modern explorer inclines 
 to regard the computation of Diodorus as probably no exaggera- 
 tion of the truth. 9 The width of the walls, in their crumbled 
 condition, is from 100 to 200 feet. 
 
 The mode in which the walls were constructed seems to have 
 been the following. Up to a certain height — fifty feet, accord- 
 ing to Xenophon 1 — they were composed of neatly-hewn blocks 
 of a fossiliferous limestone, smoothed and polished on the out- 
 side. 2 Above this, the material used was sun-dried brick. The 
 stone masonry was certainly ornamented along its top by a con- 
 tinuous series of battlements or gradines in the same material ; 3 
 
 and it is not unlikely that a similar ornamentation crowned the 
 upper brick structure. 4 The wall was pierced at irregular 
 
 7 Anab. iii. 4, § 10. I assume that 
 the Mespila of Xenophon is identical 
 with the ruins opposite Mosul. There 
 does not seem to be any reasonable doubt 
 of this. (See Ainsworth, Travels in the 
 Track of the Ten Thousand , p. 140 ; 
 Journal of Asiatic Society , vol. xv. p. 
 332.) 
 
 8 Journal of Asiatic Society , vol. xv. 
 p. 322. 
 
 9 Layard, Nineveh and Babylon , p. 660. 
 “ The remains still existing of these for- 
 tifications almost confirm the statement 
 of Diodorus Siculus, that the wails were 
 a hundred feet high,” &c. 
 
 1 Anab. iii. 4, § 10. The excavations 
 have not yet tested this statement of 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 Xenophon’s ; but, as his estimate of 
 twenty feet is exactly correct for the 
 stone basement of the walls of Nimrud 
 (Larissa), we may fairly assume that 
 he probably did not much miscalculate 
 here. (Cf. Anab. iii. 4, § 7, with Layard’s 
 Nineveh and Babylon , pp. 123, 125.) 
 
 2 Aldov i-earov /co7xuAidrou. (Anab. 
 iii. 4, § 10.) Mr. Ainsworth remarks 
 that this fossiliferous stone is the com- 
 mon building material at Mosul, but 
 “ does not occur far to the north or to 
 the south, being succeeded by wastes of 
 gypsum.” ( Travels in the Track of the 
 Ten Thousand, p. 140.) 
 
 3 Layard. Nin. and Bab., p. 658. 
 
 4 Ibid., note. 
 
 S 
 
THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. IV. 
 
 258 
 
 intervals by gates, above which rose lofty towers ; while towers, 
 probably of lesser elevation, occurred also in the portions of the 
 wall intervening between one gate and another. A gate in the 
 north-western rampart has been cleared by means of excava- 
 tion, the form and construction of which will best appear from 
 the annexed ground-plan. It seems to have consisted of three 
 gateways, whereof the inner and outer were ornamented with 
 colossal human-headed bulls and other figures, while the central 
 
 Eclrj-c ofjTmmd 
 
 Gate in the North Wall, Nineveh. 
 
 one was merely panelled with slabs of alabaster. Between the 
 gateways were two large chambers, 70 feet long by 23 feet 
 wide, which were thus capable of containing a considerable 
 body of soldiers. The chambers and gateways are supposed to 
 have been arched over, like the castles’ gates on the bas-reliefs. 
 The gates themselves have wholly disappeared ; but the debris 
 which filled both the chambers and the passages contained so 
 much charcoal that it is thought they must have been made, 
 not of bronze, like the gates of Babylon, 5 but of wood. The 
 
 5 Herod, i. 179. 
 
Chap. IV. 
 
 MOATS — OUTER DEFENCES. 
 
 259 
 
 ground within the gateway was paved with large slabs of lime- 
 stone, still bearing the marks of chariot wheels. 6 
 
 The castellated rampart which thus surrounded and guarded 
 Nineveh did not constitute by any means its sole defence. Out- 
 side the stone basement wall lay on every side a water barrier, 
 consisting on the west and south of natural river courses; on 
 the north and east, of artificial channels into which water was 
 conducted from the Khosr-su. The northern and eastern walls 
 were skirted along their whole length by a broad and deep 
 moat, into which the Khosr-su was made to flow by occupying 
 its natural bed with a strong dam, carried across it in the line 
 of the eastern wall, and at the point where the stream now 
 enters the enclosure. On meeting this obstruction, of which 
 there are still some remains, the waters divided, and while part 
 flowed to the south-east, and reached the Tigris by the ravine 
 immediately to the south of the city, which is a natural water- 
 course, part turned at an acute angle to the north-west, and, 
 washing the remainder of the eastern and the whole of the 
 northern wall, gained the Tigris at the north-west angle of 
 the city, where a second dam kept it at a sufficient height. 
 Moreover, on the eastern face, which appears to have been 
 regarded as the weakest, a series of outworks were erected for 
 the further defence of the city. North of the Khosr, between 
 the city wall and that river, which there runs parallel to the 
 wall, and forms a sort of second or outer moat, there are traces 
 of a detached fort of considerable size, which must have greatly 
 strengthened the defences in that quarter. South and south- 
 east of the Khosr, the works are still more elaborate. In the 
 first place, from a point where the Khosr leaves the hills and 
 debouches upon comparatively low ground, a deep ditch, 200 
 feet broad, was carried through compact silicious conglomerate 
 for upwards of two miles, till it joined the ravine which formed 
 the natural protection of the city upon the south. On either 
 side of this ditch, which could be readily supplied with water 
 from the Khosr at its northern extremity, was built a broad 
 and lofty wall ; the eastern one, which forms the outermost of 
 
 6 Layard, Nin. and Bab. pp. 120-123. 
 
 s 2 
 
Chap. IV. 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Outer defences of Nineveh, in their present condition (after Layard). 
 
Chap. IY. 
 
 INTERIOR OF THE CITY. 
 
 26l 
 
 the defences, rises even now a hundred feet above the bottom 
 of the ditch on which it adjoins. Further, between this outer 
 barrier and the city moat was interposed a species of demi-lune, 
 guarded by a double wall and a broad ditch, and connected (as 
 is thought) by a covered way with Nineveh itself. 7 Thus the 
 city was protected on this, its most vulnerable side, towards the 
 centre by five walls and three broad and deep moats ; towards 
 the north, by a wall, a moat, the Khosr, and a strong outpost ; 
 towards the south, by two moats and three lines of rampart. 
 The breadth of the whole fortification on this side is 2200 feet, 
 or not far from half a mile. 8 
 
 Such was the site, and such were the defences, of the capital 
 of Assyria. Of its internal arrangements but little can be said 
 at present, since no general examination of the space within 
 the ramparts has been as yet made, and no ancient account of 
 the interior has come down to ns. We can only see that the 
 side of the city which was most fashionable was the western, 
 which immediately overhung the Tigris ; since here were the 
 palaces of the kings, and here seem also to have been the dwell- 
 ings of the richer citizens ; at least, it is on this side, in the 
 space intervening between Koyunjik and the northern rampart, 
 that the only very evident remains of edifices — besides the great 
 mounds of Koyunjik and Nebbi- Yunus — are found. 9 The river 
 was no doubt the main attraction ; but perhaps the western side 
 was also considered the most secure, as lying furthest from the 
 quarter whence alone the inhabitants expected to be attacked, 
 namely, the east. It is impossible at present to give any 
 account of the character of the houses or the direction of the 
 streets. Perhaps the time may not be far distant when more 
 systematic and continuous efforts will be made by the enterprise 
 of Europe to obtain full knowledge of all the remains which 
 still lie buried at this interesting site. No such discoveries are 
 indeed to be expected as those which have recently startled the 
 world ; but patient explorers would still be sure of an ample 
 reward, were they to glean after Layard in the field from which 
 he swept so magnificent a harvest. 
 
 7 Journal of Asiatic Society , vol. xv. p. 322. 8 Layard, Nin. and Bab. p. 660, note. 
 
 9 See the plan (supra, p. 253) ; and comp, the Journ. of Asiatic Society , vol. xv. p. 323. 
 
262 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. Y. 
 
 CHAPTER Y. 
 
 LANGUAGE AND WRITING. 
 
 “ Tpappara ’ Acravpia .” — Herod, iv. 87. 
 
 There has never been much difference of opinion among the 
 learned with regard to the language spoken by the Assyrians. 
 As the Biblical genealogy connected Asshur with Eber and 
 Aram , 1 while the Greeks plainly regarded the Syrians, Assy- 
 rians, and Babylonians as a single race , 2 it was always supposed 
 that the people thus associated must have possessed a tongue 
 allied, more or less closely, to the Hebrew, the Syriac, and the 
 Chaldee. These tongues were known to be dialectic varieties of 
 a single form of speech— the Semitic ; and it was consequently 
 the general belief, before any Assyrian inscriptions had been 
 disinterred, that the Assyrian language was of this type, either 
 a sister tongue to the three above mentioned, or else identical 
 with some one of them. The only difficulty in the way of this 
 theory was the supposed Medo-Persic or Arian character of a 
 certain number of Assyrian royal names i but this difficulty was 
 thought to be sufficiently met by a suggestion that the ruling 
 tribe might have been of Median descent, and have maintained 
 its old national appellatives, while the mass of the population 
 belonged to a different race . 3 Recent discoveries have shown 
 that this last suggestion was needless, as the difficulty which it 
 was intended to meet does not exist. The Assyrian names, 
 which either history or the monuments have handed down to us, 
 are Semitic, and not Arian. It is only among the fabulous 
 accounts of the Assyrian Empire put forth by Ctesias that Arian 
 
 1 Gen. x. 21-25. 
 
 2 See Herod, vii. 63, and 140 ; iEsch. 
 Pers. 86 ; Xen. Cyrop. v. 4, § 51, &c. ; 
 Scylax, Peripl. p. 80 ; Dionys. Perieg. 
 
 772 ; Strab. xvi. 1, § 2 ; Arrian, Fr. 48 ; 
 Plin. H. N. v. 12; Mela, i. 11, for the 
 confusion of Assyrians with Syrians. 
 
 For the close connexion and almost iden- 
 tification of the Babylonians with the 
 Assyrians, see Herod, i. 106, 178 ; iii. 92 ; 
 Strab. 1. s. c. ; &c. 
 
 3 Prichard, Physical History of Man- 
 kind, vol. iv. p. 568. 
 
Chap. Y. 
 
 ASSYRIAN LANGUAGE AND WRITING. 
 
 263 
 
 names, such as Xerxes, Anus, Armamithres, Mithrseus, &c., are 
 
 to be found. , 
 
 Together with the true names of the Assyrian kings, the 
 mounds of Mesopotamia have yielded up a mass of documents 
 in the Assyrian language, from which it is possible that we may 
 one day acquire as full a knowledge of its structure and vocabu- 
 lary as we possess at present of Greek or Latin. These docu- 
 ments have confirmed the previous belief that the tongue is 
 Semitic. They consist, in the first place, of long inscriptions 
 upon the slabs of stone with which 
 the walls of palaces were panelled, 
 sometimes occupying the stone to the 
 exclusion of any sculpture, sometimes 
 carried across the dress of figures, 
 always carefully cut and generally in 
 good preservation. 4 Next in impor- 
 tance to these memorials are the hollow 
 cylinders, or more strictly speaking, 
 hexagonal or octagonal prisms, made 
 in extremely fine and thin terracotta, 
 which the Assyrian kings used to de- 
 posit at the corners of temples, inscribed 
 with an account of their chief acts and 
 with numerous religious invocations. 
 
 These cylinders vary from a foot and 
 a half to three feet in height, and are Assyrian Cylinder, 
 covered closely with a small writing, 
 
 which it often requires a good magnifying glass to decipher. A 
 cylinder of Tiglath-Pileser I. (about b.c. 1 1 80) contains thirty lines 
 in a space of six inches, or five lines to an inch, which is nearly 
 as close as the type of the present volume. This degree of close- 
 ness is exceeded on a cylinder of Asshur-bani-pal’s (about b.c. 
 660), where the lines are six to the inch, or as near together as 
 the type of the Edinburgh Review. If the complexity of the 
 Assyrian characters be taken into account, and if it be lemem- 
 
 < Occasionally the slabs have been purposely 
 bably by kings of another dynasty. 
 
 defaced and rendered illegible, pro- 
 5 Birch, Ancient Pottery , p. 144. 
 
264 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY 
 
 Chap. V. 
 
 bered that the whole inscription was in every case impressed by 
 the hand, this minuteness must be allowed to be very surprising. 
 It is not favourable to legibility ; and the patience of cuneiform 
 scholars has been severely tried by a mode of writing which 
 sacrifices everything to the desire of crowding the greatest pos- 
 sible quantity of words into the smallest possible space. In one 
 respect, however, facility of reading is consulted, for the inscrip- 
 tions on the cylinders ar^ not carried on in continuous lines 
 
 Assyrian Seals (after Layard). 
 
 iound all the sides, but are written in columns, each column 
 occupying a side. The lines are thus tolerably short ; and the 
 whole of a sentence is brought before the eye at once. 
 
 Besides slabs and cylinders, the written memorials of Assyria 
 comprise inscribed bulls and lions, stone obelisks, clay tablets, 
 bricks, and engraved seals. The seals generally resemble those 
 of the Chaldaeans, which have been already described ; 6 but are 
 somewhat more elaborate, and more varied in their character. 
 
 6 See above, “ First Monarchy,” ch. iv. p. G8, and ch. v. pp. 93-95. 
 
Chap. Y. 
 
 SLABS, CYLINDERS, SEALS, TABLETS. 
 
 265 
 
 They do not very often exhibit any writing; hut occasionally 
 they are inscribed with the name of their owner,’ while in 
 a few instances they show an inscription of some length. The 
 clay tablets are both numerous and curious. They are of 
 various sizes, ranging from nine inches long by six and a 
 half wide, to an inch and a half long by an inch wide, or 
 even less . 8 Sometimes they are entirely covered with writing ; 
 while sometimes they exhibit on a portion of their surface the 
 
 Assyrian Clay Tablets (after Layard). 
 
 impressions of seals, mythological emblems, and the like. Some 
 thousands of them have been recovered ; and they are found to 
 be of the most varied character. Many are historical, still 
 more mythological; some are linguistic, some geographic, some 
 again astronomical. It is anticipated that, when they are deci- 
 phered, we shall obtain a complete encyclopaedia of Assyrian 
 science, and shall be able by this means to trace a large portion 
 of the knowledge of the Greeks to an Oriental source. Here is 
 a mine still very little worked, from which patient and cautious 
 investigators may one day extract the most valuable liteiary 
 
 7 Layard, Nineveh and Babylon, p. 604, note. 
 
 8 Ibid. p. 345. 
 
266 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. Y. 
 
 treasures. The stone obelisks are but few, and are mostly in a 
 fragmentary condition. One alone is perfect — the obelisk in 
 black basalt, discovered by Mr. Layard at Nimrud, which has 
 now for many years been in the British Museum. This monu- 
 ment is sculptured on each of its four sides, in part with writing 
 
 Black Obelisk, from Nimrud (after Birch). 
 
 and in part with bas-reliefs. It is about seven feet high, and 
 two feet broad at the base, tapering gently towards the summit, 
 which is crowned with three low steps, or gradines. The in- 
 scription, which occupies the upper and lower portion of each 
 side, and is also carried along the spaces between the bas-reliefs, 
 consists of 210 clearly cut lines, and is one of the most im- 
 portant documents that has come down to us. It gives an 
 
Chap. Y. 
 
 WRITING MATERIALS. 
 
 267 
 
 account of various victories gained by the monarch who set it 
 up, and of the tribute brought him by several princes . 9 The 
 inscribed lions and bulls are numerous. They commonly guard 
 the portals of palaces, and are raised in a bold relief on alabaster 
 slabs. The writing does not often trench upon the sculpture, but 
 covers all those portions of the slabs which are not occupied by the 
 animal. It is usually a full account of some particular campaign, 
 which was thus specially commemorated, giving in detail what is 
 far more briefly expressed in the obelisk and slab inscriptions. 
 
 This review of the various kinds of documents which have 
 been discovered in the ancient cities of Assyria, seems to show 
 that two materials were principally in use among the people 
 for literary purposes, namely, stone and moist clay. The 
 monarchs used the former most commonly, though sometimes 
 they condescended for some special object to the coarser and 
 more fragile material. Private persons in their business trans- 
 actions, literary and scientific men in their compositions, em- 
 ployed the latter, on which it was possible to write rapidly with 
 a triangular instrument, and which was no doubt far cheaper 
 than the slabs of fine stone, which were preferred for the royal 
 inscriptions. The clay documents, when wanted for instruction 
 or as evidence, were carefully baked ; and thus it is that they 
 have come down to us, despite their fragility, often in as legible 
 a condition, with the letters as clear and sharp, as any legend 
 on marble, stone, or metal that we possess belonging to Greek, 
 or even to Roman times. The best clay skilfully baked, is a 
 material quite as enduring as either stone or metal ; 2 resisting 
 many influences better than either of those materials. 
 
 It may still be asked, did not the Assyrians use other ma- 
 terials also ? Did they not write with ink of some kind on 
 paper, or leather, or parchment ? It is certain that the Egypt- 
 ians had invented a kind of thick paper many centuries before 
 the Assyrian power arose ; 8 and it is further certain that the 
 
 2 Birch, Ancient Pottery , vol. i. p. 2. 
 
 3 Wilkinson, in the author’s Herodo- 
 tus , vol. ii. p. 320, § 33. 
 
 9 See the translation by Dr. Hincks 
 
 in the Dublin University Magazine for 
 
 October, 1853. 
 
 I A cV/v/ftS* Vol. Xll. T). 44:1. 
 
268 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. A’. 
 
 later Assyrian kings had a good deal of intercourse with Egypt. 
 Under suck circumstances, can we suppose that they did not 
 import paper from that country ? Again, the Persians, we are 
 told, used parchment for their public records . 4 Are not the 
 Assyrians, a much more ingenious people, likely to have done 
 the same, at any rate to some extent? There is no direct 
 evidence by which these questions can be determinately an- 
 swered. No document on any of the materials suggested has 
 been found. No ancient author states that the Assyrians or 
 the Babylonians used them . 5 Had it not been for one piece of 
 indirect evidence, it would have seemed nearly certain that they 
 were not employed by the Mesopotamian races. In some of the 
 royal palaces, however, small lumps of fine clay have been 
 found, bearing the impressions of seals, and exhibiting traces of 
 the string by which they were attached to documents, while the 
 documents themselves, being of a different material, have pe- 
 rished . 6 It seems probable that in these instances some sub- 
 stance like paper or parchment was used ; and thus we are led 
 to the conclusion that, while clay was the most common, and 
 stone an ordinary writing material among the Assyrians, some 
 third substance, probably Egyptian paper, was also known, and 
 was used occasionally, though somewhat rarely, for public 
 documents. 
 
 We may now proceed to consider the style and nature of the . 
 Assyrian writing. Derived evidently from the Chaldman, it is 
 far less archaic in type, presenting no pictorial representations 
 of objects, and but a few characters where the pictorial repre- 
 sentation can be traced. It is in no case wholly rectilinear ; and 
 
 4 Diod. Sic. ii. 32. As Diodorus’ sole 
 authority here is the untrustworthy 
 Ctesias, no great dependance can be 
 placed on his statement. 
 
 5 This is not a mere negative argu- 
 ment, since statements of the nature of 
 the material used do occur, and accord 
 with the monumental facts. Epigenes, 
 for instance, spoke of the Babylonians 
 
 recording their astronomical observa- 
 tions upon baked tiles (“ coctilibus later- 
 culis,” Plin. II. N. vii. 56), and the his- 
 
 torians of Alexander mentioned a stone 
 inscription of Sardanapalus (Arr. Exp. 
 Al. ii. 5 ; Strab. xiv. 5, § 9). The east- 
 ern tradition that Seth wrote the history 
 and wisdom of antediluvian times on 
 burnt and unburnt brick (Layard, Nin. 
 and Bab. p. 347, note), has a similar 
 bearing. 
 
 6 Layard, p. 154; Botta, Letters from 
 Nineveh , p. 27. For a representation 
 of the mark of the string see above, 
 p. 264. 
 
Chap. V. 
 
 CHARACTERS. 
 
 269 
 
 indeed preserves the straight line only in a very few characters, 
 =y for “house,” for “gate,” 
 
 as m 
 
 for “ temple, altar,” and 
 
 
 for “ fish,” all which are in 
 
 the later inscriptions superseded by simpler forms. The wedge 
 may thus be said to be almost the sole element of the writing — 
 the wedge, however, under a great variety of forms — sometimes 
 
 greatly elongated, as thus 
 
 , sometimes contracted 
 
 to a triangle >~ , sometimes broadened out 
 
 
 sometimes 
 
 doubled in such a way as to form an arrow-head and placed 
 
 in every direction — horizontal, perpendicular, and diagonal. 
 
 The number of characters is very great. Sir H. Rawlinson, 
 in the year 1851, published a list of 246, or including variants, 
 366 characters, as occurring in the inscriptions known to him. 7 
 M. Oppert, in 1858, gave 318 forms as those “ most in use.” 8 Of 
 course it is at once evident that this alphabet cannot represent 
 elementary sounds. The Assyrian characters, do, in fact, cor- 
 respond, not to letters, according to our notion of letters, but to 
 syllables. These syllables are either mere vowel sounds, such 
 as we represent by our vowels and diphthongs, or such sounds 
 accompanied by one or two consonants. The vowels are not 
 very numerous. The Assyrians recognise three only as funda- 
 mental— a, i, and u. Besides these they have the diphthongs ai , 
 nearly equivalent to e, and au, nearly equivalent to o. 9 The 
 vowels i and u have also the powers, respectively, of y and v. 
 
 The consonant sounds recognised in the language are sixteen 
 
 7 Journal of Asiatic Society , vol. xiv. 
 
 8 Expedition scientifique en Mesopota- 
 mie, tom. ii. livre i. Appendice ; Catalogue 
 
 des signes les plus usite's, pp. 107-120. 
 
 9 The vowels must he sounded as in 
 Italian, A as a in ‘‘vast” — E as a in 
 “face” — I as e in “me” — O as o in 
 “ host ” — U as u in “ rude.” 
 
2JO 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. Y. 
 
 in number. They are the labial, guttural, and dental tenues , p, 
 1c, t ; the labial, guttural, and dental mediae, b, g, d ; the guttural 
 and dental aspirates, leh (= Heb. n) and th (= Greek 6) ; the 
 liquids l, m, 1 n, r; and the sibilants s, sh (= Heb. £>), ts 
 (=Heb. v), and z. The system here is nearly that of the 
 Hebrews, from which it differs only by the absence of the 
 simple aspirate n, 2 of the guttural y, and of the aspirated a 
 (ph). It has no sound which the Hebrew has not. 
 
 From these sounds, combined with the simple vowels, comes 
 the Assyrian syllabarium, to which, and not to the consonants 
 themselves, the characters were assigned. In the first place, 
 each consonant being capable of two combinations with each 
 simple vowel, could give birth naturally to six simple syllables, 
 each of which would be in the Assyrian system represented bv 
 a character. Six characters, for instance, entirely different 
 from one another, represented pa, pi, pu, ap , ip, up ; six others, 
 lea, lei, leu, ale, ile, ule ; six others again, ta, ti, tu, at, it, ut. If 
 this rule were carried out in every case the sixteen consonant 
 sounds would, it is evident, produce 96 characters. The actual 
 number, however, formed in this way, is only 75, since there are 
 seven of the consonants which only combine with the vowels in 
 one way. Thus we have, ba, bi, bu, but not ab, ib, ub ; ga, gi, 
 gu, but not ag, ig, ug ; and so on. The sounds regarded as 
 capable of only one combination are the mediae, b, g, d; the 
 aspirates leh and th ; and the sibilants ts and 2 . 
 
 Such is the first and simplest syllabarium : but the Assyrian 
 system does not stop here. It proceeds to combine with each 
 simple vowel sound two consonants, one preceding the vowel and 
 the other following it. If this plan were followed out to the 
 utmost possible extent, the result would be an addition to the 
 syllabarium of 768 sounds, each having its proper character, 
 which would raise the number of characters to between eight 
 and nine hundred! Fortunately for the student, phonetic laws 
 
 1 The Assyrians confounded the sounds 
 
 of m and v, as the Greeks did those of [x 
 and )8. (See Buttmann’s Lexilogus , p. 
 84, and p. 189, E. T.) 
 
 2 There is a character representing 
 the soft breathing ’ ; but none, appa- 
 rently, for the rough breathing \ 
 
Chap. V. 
 
 CHARACTERS. 
 
 271 
 
 and other causes have intervened to check this extreme luxu- 
 riance ; and the combinations of this kind which are known to 
 exist, instead of amounting to the full limit ol 768, are under 
 150. The known Assyrian alphabet is, however, in this way 
 raised from 80, or, including variants, 100, to between 240 and 
 250 characters. 
 
 Further, there is another kind of character, quite different 
 from these, which Orientalists have called “ determinatives.” 
 Certain classes of words have a sign prefixed or suffixed to them, 
 most commonly the former, by which their general character is 
 indicated. The names of gods, of men, of cities, of tribes, of 
 wild animals, of domestic animals, of metals, of months, of the 
 points of the compass, and of dignities, are thus accompanied. 
 The sign prefixed or suffixed may have originally represented a 
 word ; but when used in the way here spoken of, it is believed 
 that it was not sounded, but served simply to indicate to the 
 reader the sort of word which was placed before him. Thus a 
 
 single perpendicular wedge, indicates that the next word 
 
 will be the name of a man ; such a wedge, preceded by two 
 
 horizontal ones, >HT , tells us to expect the appellative of 
 
 a god ; while other more complicated combinations are used in 
 the remaining instances. There are about ten or twelve cha- 
 racters of this description. 
 
 Finally, there are a certain number of characters which have 
 been called “ ideographs,” or “ monograms.” Most of the gods, 
 and various cities and countries are represented by a group of 
 wedges, which is thought not to have a real phonetic force, but 
 to be a conventional sign for an idea, much as the Arabic nu- 
 merals, 1, 2, 3, &c., are non-phonetic signs representing the 
 ideas, one, two, three, &c. The known characters of this de- 
 scription are between twenty and thirty. 
 
 The known Assyrian characters are thus brought up nearly to 
 three hundred! There still remain a considerable number 
 which are either wholly unknown, or of which the meaning is 
 
THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. Y. 
 
 272 
 
 knoVvn, while the phonetic value cannot at present be deter- 
 mined. M. Oppert’s Catalogue contains fourteen of the former 
 and fifty-nine of the latter class. 
 
 It has been already observed, that the monumental evidence 
 accords with the traditional belief in regard to the character 
 of the Assyrian language, which is unmistakably Semitic. Not ^ 
 only does the vocabulary present constant analogies to other 
 Semitic dialects, but the phonetic laws and the grammatical 
 forms are equally of this type. At the same time the language 
 has peculiarities of its own, which separate it from its kindred 
 tongues, and constitute it a distinct form of Semitic speech, not 
 a mere variety of any known form. It is neither Hebrew, nor 
 Arabic, nor Phoenician, nor Chaldee, nor Syriac, but a sister 
 tongue to these, having some analogies with all of them, and 
 others, more or fewer, with each. O11 the whole, its closest 
 relationship seems to be with the Hebrew, and its greatest di- 
 vergence from the Aramaic or Syriac, with which it was yet, 
 locally, in immediate connection. 
 
 To attempt anything like a full illustration of these state- 
 ments in the present place would be manifestly unfitting. It 
 would be to quit the province of the historian and archgeologist, 
 in order to enter upon that of the comparative philologer or 
 the grammarian. At the same time a certain amount of illus- 
 tration seems necessary, in order to show that the statements 
 above made are not mere theories, but have a substantial basis. 
 
 The Semitic character of the vocabulary will probably be felt 
 to be sufficiently established by the following lists : — 
 
 NOUNS SUBSTANTIVE. 
 
 Abu, “ a father.” Compare Heb. '2X ; Arabic dbou. 
 
 TJmmu , “ a mother.” Comp. Heb. DN, and Arabic um. 
 
 Akim, “ a brother.” Comp. Heb. nK, 'nK. 
 
 Pal or bal, “ a son.” Comp. Syriac bar, and perhaps Hub. ]3. 
 
 llu, “ God.” Comp. Heb. ; Arabic Allah. 
 
 Sarru, “ a king.” Comp. Heb. 
 
 Malik, “ a prince.” Comp. Heb. and Arabic malik. 
 
 Bilu, “ a lord.” Comp. Heb. ^JJ3. 
 
 Nisu, “ a man.” Comp. Heb. “ a mortal,” and Chald. D'BO, “ women.” 
 
Chap. Y. 
 
 THE VOCABULARY SEMITIC. 
 
 273 
 
 Dayan, “ a judge.” Comp. Heb. jn, from fH, judicare. 
 
 Sumu, “ a name.” Comp. Heb. DK\ 
 
 Sami, “ heaven.” Comp. Heb. “ the heavens.” 
 
 Irtsit, “ the earth.” Comp. Heb. 
 
 Shamas, “ the sun.” Comp. Heb. 
 
 Tsin, “ the moon.” Comp. Syriac sin. 
 
 Marrat, or varrat, “ the sea.” Comp. Arabic balir, “a lako”(?). Or may the 
 root be “ID, “ bitter ” ? Comp. Lat. mare, a-marus. 
 
 Nahar , “ a river.” Comp. Heb. "ini, and Arabic nahr. 
 
 Yumu, “ day.” Comp. Heb. D1\ 
 
 Ilamu , “ the world.” Comp. Heb. 
 
 *Ir, “ a city.” Comp. Heb. *Y>y. 
 
 Bit, “ a house.” Comp. Heb. IY3. 
 
 i?a&, “ a gate.” Comp. Chald. H33, and Arabic bab. 
 
 Lisan, “ a tongue,” or “ language.” Comp. Heb. )it^7 ; Chald. 
 
 Asar, “ a place.” Comp. Chald. "1HS. 
 
 .Mttfw, “ death.” Comp. Heb. JTID. 
 
 “ a horse.” Comp. Heb. D-1D. 
 
 ADJECTIVES. 
 
 Bobu, “ great.” Comp. Heb. in ; whence the well-known Rabbi (K33), “ a great 
 one, a doctor.” 
 
 Tabu, “ good.” Comp. Chald. 30, and Heb. 310. 
 
 Bashu, “ bad.” Comp. Heb. t?'3D, “ a base one,” from ^'l3, “ to be ashamed.” 
 Madut, “ many.” Comp. Heb. ‘1N0, “ exceedingly.” 
 
 Buk, “ far, wide.” Comp. Heb. pirn. 
 
 NUMERALS. 
 
 [The forms marked with an asterisk are conjectural.] 
 
 Ishtin, “ one” (masc.). Comp. Heb. in “eleven.” 
 
 Ikhit, “one” (fern.). Comp. Heb. nfltf. 
 
 Shanai, “two” (masc.). Comp. Heb. \3GP-. 
 
 Shalshat, “ three” (masc.). Comp. Heb. D tthw. 
 
 Shilash, “ three ” (fern.). Comp. Heb. G5^E5\ 
 
 Arbat, “four” (masc.). Comp. Heb. ny2“]K. 
 
 Arba, “ four” (fern.). Comp. Heb. JJ33K. 
 
 Khamshat, “ five ” (masc.). Comp. Heb. 11^013. 
 
 Khamish, “ five ” (fern.). Comp. Heb. t^Dn. 
 
 Shashat, “ six ” (masc.). Comp. Heb. n^i£\ 
 
 Shash, “ six” (fern.). Comp. Heb. 
 
 Sliibit, “ seven ” (masc.). Comp. Heb. njJ3E^. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 T 
 
2/4 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. Y. 
 
 Shibi, “seven” (fem.). Comp. Heb. 
 
 Shamnat* “ eight ” (masc.). Comp. Heb. iljtoi?, 
 Tishit* “ nine ” (masc.). Comp. Heb. nyfc?R 
 Tishi* “ nine ” (fem.). Comp. Heb. y^E. 
 
 Isi'it, “ ten ” (masc.). Comp. Heb. iTltyy. 
 
 Isri, “ ten ” (fem.). Comp. Heb. Xty. 
 
 Israi, “twenty.” Comp. Heb. D'X’y. 
 
 Shilcishai, “ thirty.” Comp. Heb. 
 
 Irba’ai, “ forty.” Comp. Heb. D'yinX. 
 Khamshai , “fifty.” Comp. Heb. 
 
 Shisliai, “ sixty.” Comp. Heb. DX’iF. 
 
 SJiibai, “ seventy.” Comp. Heb. D'JDt?. 
 
 • Shamnai* “ eighty.” Comp. Heb. D':b'2\ 
 Tishai, “ ninety.” Comp. Heb. DtyK'R 
 ilfai, or Mi, “ a hundred.” Comp. Heb. EXE. 
 
 PRONOUNS. 
 
 [The forms marked with an asterisk are conjectural.] 
 
 Andku, “ I.” Heb. 'DjfiJ. 
 
 Atta, “ thou” (masc.). Heb. HEX. 
 
 Aft/,* “ thou ” (fem.). Heb. EX. 
 
 Shu, “he.” Heb. XI n. 
 
 Shi, “ she.” Heb. X'R 
 Analchni (?), “ we.” Heb. -DEOX.. 
 
 Attun* “ye” (masc.). Heb. DEX. 
 
 Attin,* “ye” (fem.). Heb. jEX. 
 
 Shunut, or “they” (masc.). Heb. EEll, Dil. 
 
 Shinat, or Shin . “they” (fem.). Heb. rDE, jil. 
 
 Ma, “ who, which.” Heb. HD. 
 
 UUu, “ that.” Heb. nj?X, “ these.” 
 
 VERBS. 
 
 Alak, “ to go.” Heb. 
 
 Bakhar, “ to collect.” Comp. Heb. "1113, “ to select.” 
 
 Bana, “ to create, to build.” Heb. H33. 
 
 Dana, “ to give,” in Niphal, nadan. Heb. |E1 
 Bin, “ to judge.” Heb. ]'*]. 
 
 Buk, “ to kill.” Comp. Heb. ppl, “ to beat small i'll, “ to pound or bruise.” 
 Chald. XI. 
 
 ’Ibir, “ to pass, cross.” Heb. “lhy_. 
 
 ’Ibush, “ to make.” Comp. Chald. Xy. 
 
 ’Irish, “ to ask, pray.” Comp. Heb. Ey’lX, “ a request, desire.” 
 
Chap. V. 
 
 THE GRAMMAR ALSO SEMITIC. 
 
 275 
 
 Natsar, “ to guard.” Heb. 
 
 Naza , “ to leap.” Heb. nil 
 
 Nazal, “ to flow, sink, descend.” Heb. ?T3. 
 
 Paltad, 11 to entrust.” Heb. np£3. 
 
 Saga, “ to grow, become great.” Heb. 
 
 Shaitan, “ to dwell.” Heb. pK\ 
 
 Shatar, “ to write.” Comp. Chald. “ a written contract.” 
 
 Tsabat, “ to hold, possess.” Comp. Heb. rQV, “ a bundle Arab, tsabat, “ to 
 hold tight;” Chald. n 02 )S, “ tongs.” 
 
 ADVERBS, CONJUNCTIONS, &c. 
 
 U, “ and.” Heb. ) or V 
 ia, or td, “ not.” Heb. 1^. 
 
 Lapani, “ before the face of.” Heb. \35 -i ?Nt. 
 
 Tsilli, “ by favour of.” Heb. 
 
 ’.Ilat, “ except.” . Chald. 
 
 Adi, “ until.” Heb. ny. 
 
 Kh “ if.” Heb. p. 
 
 It remains to notice briefly some of the- chief grammatical 
 laws and forms. There is one remarkable difference between 
 the Assyrian language and the Hebrew, namely, that the 
 former has no article. In this it resembles the Syriac, which 
 is likewise deficient in this part of speech. 
 
 Assyrian nouns, like Hebrew ones, are all either masculine or 
 feminine. Feminine nouns end ordinarily in - at or -it, as 
 Hebrew ones in -eth, - ith , - uth , or -all. There is a dual number, 
 as in Hebrew, and it has the same limited use, being applied 
 almost exclusively to those objects which form a pair. The 
 plural masculine is commonly formed by adding -i or -ani to 
 the singular — terminations which recal the Hebrew addition of 
 U ]- ; but sometimes by adding - ut or -uti, to which there is no 
 analogy in Hebrew . 3 The plural feminine is made by changing 
 -it into -et, and -at into at, or (if the word does not end in t), by 
 adding -at. Here again there is resemblance to, though not 
 identity with, the Hebrew, which forms the feminine plural in 
 -oth (ni-). 
 
 3 The nearest approach to an analogy 
 is to be found in those Hebrew nouns 
 which adopt the feminine termination 
 for their plurals, as UK “ a father,” 
 
 iTDN “ fathers.” But in Assyrian the 
 masculine plural' termination -ut is not 
 identical with the feminine, which is -et 
 or -at. 
 
 T 2 
 
2 y 6 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. Y. 
 
 Assyrian, like Hebrew, adjectives, agree in gender and num- 
 ber with their substantives. They form the feminine singular in 
 -at, the plural masculine in -i and -ut, the plural feminine in -at 
 and -et. 
 
 In Assyrian, as in all other Semitic languages, the posses- 
 sive pronouns are expressed by suffixes. These suffixes are, for 
 the first person singular, -ya, or - iya (Heb. V) ; for the second 
 person singular masculine, -lea (Heb. sp) ; for the second person 
 singular feminine, -hi (Heb. %) ; for the third person singular 
 masculine, -shu (Heb. -1-) ; for the third person siugular feminine, 
 -sha (Heb. PH) ; for the first person plural, -n (Heb. -i>) ; for the 
 second person plural masculine, -hun (Heb. BJ") ; for the second 
 person plural feminine, -hin (Heb. I? - ) ; for the third person 
 plural masculine, shun (Heb. 2;) ; for the third person plural 
 feminine, shin (Heb. 1;). The resemblance, it will be seen, is in 
 most cases close, though in only one is there complete identity. 
 
 Assyrian verbs have five principal, and four secondary, voices. 
 Only two of these — the hal and the niphal — are exactly iden- 
 tical with the Hebrew. The pael, however, corresponds nearly 
 to the Hebrew piel, and the aphel to the Hebrew hiphil. In 
 addition to these we find enumerated the shaphil, the iphteal, 
 the iphtaal, the istaphal, and the itaphal. Several of these are 
 well known forms in Chaldee. 
 
 It is peculiar to Assyrian to have no distinctions of tense. 
 The same form of the verb serves for the present, the past, and 
 the future. The only distinctions of mood are an imperative 
 and an infinitive, besides the indicative. There is also, in each 
 voice, one participle. 
 
 The verbs are conjugated by the help of pronominal suffixes 
 and prefixes, chiefly the latter, like the future (present) tense 
 in Hebrew. The suffixes and prefixes are nearly identical with 
 those used in Hebrew. 
 
 For further particulars on this interesting subject the student 
 is referred to the modest but excellent work of M. Oppert, 
 entitled 4 Siemens de la Grammaire Assyrienne,’ 4 from which 
 the greater portion of the above remarks are taken. 
 
 4 “ Etemens, &c.” par M. Jules Oppert. Paris, Imprimerie Imperiale, I860. 
 
Chap. VI. 
 
 ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 2 17 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 ARCHITECTURE AND OTHER ARTS. 
 
 “ Architect! multarum artium solertes.” — Mos. Chor. ( Be Assyriis ) i. 15. 
 
 The luxury and magnificence of tlie Assyrians, and the ad- 
 vanced condition of the arts among them which such words 
 imply, were matters familiar to the Greeks and Romans ; who, 
 however, had little ocular evidence of the fact, hut accepted it 
 upon the strength of a very clear and uniform tradition. More 
 fortunate than the nations of classical antiquity, whose compa- 
 rative proximity to the time proved no advantage to them, we 
 possess in the exhumed remains of this interesting people a 
 mass of evidence upon the point, which, although in many 
 respects sadly incomplete, still enables us to form a judgment 
 for ourselves upon the subject, and to believe — on better grounds, 
 than they possessed — the artistic genius and multiform in- 
 genuity of the Assyrians. As architects, as designers, as sculp- 
 tors, as metallurgists, as engravers, as upholsterers, as workers 
 in ivory, as glassblowers, as embroiderers of dresses, it is evident 
 that they equalled, if they did not exceed, all other Oriental 
 nations. It is the object of the present chapter to give some 
 account of their skill in these various respects. Something is 
 now known of them all ; and though in every case there are 
 points still involved in obscurity, and recourse must therefore 
 be had upon occasion to conjecture, enough appears certainly 
 made out to justify such an attempt as the present, and to 
 supply a solid groundwork of fact valuable in itself, even if it 
 be insufficient to sustain in addition any large amount of hypo- 
 thetical superstructure. 
 
 The architecture of the Assyrians will naturally engage our 
 attention at the outset. It is from an examination of their edi- 
 fices that we have derived almost all the knowledge which we 
 
2 y8 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VI. 
 
 possess of their progress in every art; and it is further as 
 architects that they always enjoyed a special repute among 
 their neighbours. Hebrew and Armenian united with Greek 
 tradition in representing the Assyrians as notable builders at a 
 very early time. When Asshur ‘ c went forth out of the land of 
 Shinar,” it was to build cities, one of which is expressly called 
 “ a great city.” 1 When the Armenians had to give an account 
 of the palaces and other vast structures in their country, they 
 ascribed their erection to the Assyrians . 2 Similarly, when the 
 Greeks sought to trace the civilisation of Asia to its source, 
 
 10 20 00 40 50 feet. 
 
 Terrace-wall at Rhorsabad. 
 
 they carried it back to Ninus and Semiramis, whom they made 
 the founders, respectively, of Nineveh and Babylon , 3 the two 
 chief cities of the early world. 
 
 Among the architectural works of the Assyrians, the first 
 place is challenged by their palaces. Less religious, or more 
 servile, than the Egyptians and the Greeks, they make their 
 temples insignificant in comparison with the dwellings of their 
 kings, to which indeed the temple is most commonly a sort of 
 appendage. In the palace their art culminates — there every 
 effort is made, every ornament lavished. If the architecture of 
 
 1 Gen. x. 12. 
 
 2 Mos. Choren. i. 15. 
 
 3 Diod. Sic. ii. 3 and 5. 
 
Chap. YI. 
 
 PALACE PLATFORMS. 
 
 279 
 
 the Assyrian palaces be fully considered, very little need be said 
 on the subject of their other buildings. 
 
 The Assyrian palace stood uniformly on an artificial platform. 
 Commonly this platform was composed of sun-dried bricks m 
 regular layers ; but occasionally the material used was merely 
 earth or rubbish, excepting towards the exposed parts— the 
 sides and the surface— which were always either of brick or of 
 stone. In most cases the sides were protected by massive stone 
 
 Pavement-slab, from the Northern Palace, Koyunjik. 
 
 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 with stone battlements cut into 
 gradines. The pavement consisted in part of stone slabs, in part 
 of kiln-dried bricks of a large size, often as much as two feet 
 square. The stone slabs were sometimes inscribed, sometimes 
 ornamented with an elegant pattern. (See above.) Occasionally 
 the terrace was divided into portions at different elevations, which 
 
28 o 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. YI. 
 
 were connected by staircases or inclined planes. The terrace 
 communicated in the same way with the level ground at its base, 
 being (as is probable) sometimes ascended in a single place, 
 sometimes in several. These ascents were always on the side 
 where the palace adjoined upon the neighbouring town, and were 
 thus protected from hostile attack by the town-walls. Where the 
 palace abutted upon the walls or projected beyond them — and 
 the palace was always placed at the edge of a town, for the double 
 advantage, probably, of a clear view and of fresh air — the plat- 
 form rose perpendicularly or nearly so ; and generally a water 
 protection, a river, a moat, or a broad lake, lay at its base, thus 
 rendering attack, except on the city side, almost impossible. 
 
 The platform appears to have been, in general shape, a rect- 
 angle, or where it had different 
 elevations, to have been com- 
 posed of rectangles. The mound 
 of Khorsabad, which is of this 
 latter character, resembles a 
 gigantic T. 
 
 It must not be supposed, 
 however, that the rectangle was 
 always exact. Sometimes its outline was broken by angular 
 projections and indentations, as in the annexed plan (p. 281), 4 
 where the shaded parts represent actual discoveries. Sometimes 
 it grew to be irregular, by the addition of fresh portions, as new 
 kings arose who determined on fresh erections. This is the case 
 at Nimrud, where the platform broadens towards its lower or 
 southern end, 5 and still more at Koyunjik and Nebbi Yunus, 6 
 where the rectangular idea has been so overlaid as to have 
 almost wholly disappeared. Palaces were commonly placed 
 near one edge of the mound — more especially near the river 
 edge — probably for the better enjoyment of the prospect, and 
 of the cool air over the water. 
 
 Lower Terrace. 
 
 Upper 
 
 Terrace. 
 
 4 The plan is borrowed, by permission, ! indentation is found also in the Perse- 
 from Mr. Fergusson’s excellent work, politan platform (see p. 239). 
 
 The Palaces of Nineveh and Persepolis 5 See the plan, supra, p. 200. 
 
 Restored. Mr. Fergusson remarks that 6 See above, p. 253. 
 
 this feature of alternate projection and 
 
Chap. VI. 
 
 COURTS AND HALLS. 
 
 281 
 
 The palace itself was composed of three mam elements, 
 courts, grand halls, and small private apartments. A palace has 
 usually from two to four courts, which are either square or 
 oblong, and vary in size according to the general scale of the 
 building. In the north-west palace at Nimrud, the most ancient 
 
 of the edifices yet explored, one court only has been found, the 
 dimensions of which are 120 feet by 90. At Khorsabad, the 
 palace of Sargon has four courts. Three of them are nearly 
 square, the largest of these measuring 180 feet each way, and the 
 smallest about 120 feet ; the fourth is oblong, and must have been 
 at least 250 feet long and 150 feet wide. The palace of Senna- 
 
282 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VI. 
 
 cherib at Koyunjik, a much larger edifice than the palace of 
 Sargon, has also three courts, which are respectively 93 feet by 
 84, 124 feet by 90, and 154 feet by 125. Esar-haddon’s palace 
 at Nimrud has a court 220 feet long and 100 wide. 7 These 
 courts were all paved either with baked bricks of large size, or 
 with stone slabs, which were frequently patterned. 8 Sometimes 
 the courts were surrounded with buildings ; sometimes they 
 abutted upon the edge of the platform : in this latter case 
 they were protected by a stone parapet, which (at least in 
 places) was six feet high. 
 
 The grand halls of the Assyrian palaces constitute their most 
 remarkable feature. Each palace has commonly several. They 
 are apartments narrow for their length, measuring from three 
 to five times their own width, and thus having always some- 
 what the appearance of galleries. The scale upon which they 
 are built is, commonly, magnificent. In the palace of Asshur- 
 izir-pal at Kimrud, the earliest of the discovered edifices, the 
 great hall was 160 feet long by nearly 40 broad. In Sargon’s 
 palace at Khorsabad the size of no single room was so great ; 
 but the number of halls was remarkable, there being no fewer 
 than five of nearly equal dimensions. The largest was 116 feet 
 long, and 33 wide ; the smallest 87 feet long, and 25 wide. 
 The palace of Sennacherib at Koyunjik contained the most 
 spacious apartment yet exhumed. It was immediately inside 
 the great portal, and extended in length 180 feet, with a uniform 
 width of 40 feet. In one instance only, so far as appears, was 
 an attempt made to exceed this width. In the palace of Esar- 
 haddon, the son of Sennacherib, a hall was designed, intended 
 to surpass all former ones. Its length was to be 165 feet, and 
 its width 62 ; consequently it would have been nearly one-third 
 larger than the great hall of Sennacherib, its area exceeding 
 10,000 square feet. But the builder who had designed this 
 grand structure appears to have been unable to overcome the 
 
 7 Mr. Layard calls this court a “ hall ” 
 
 (Nineveh and Babylon , p. 654) ; but no 
 one can compare his plan of Esar-had- 
 don’s Nimrud palace (No. 3, opp. p. 655) 
 with M. Botta/s plans of Khorsabad, and 
 
 his own plans of Koyunjik, without see- 
 ing at once that the great space is really 
 an inner court. 
 
 8 See the woodcut on p. 279. 
 
Chap. VI. 
 
 CHAMBERS. 
 
 283 
 
 difficulty of carrying a roof over so vast an expanse. He was 
 therefore obliged to divide his hall by a wall down the middle , 
 which, though he broke it in an unusual way into portions, and 
 kept it at some distance from both ends of the apartment, still 
 had the actual effect of subdividing his grand room into four 
 apartments of only moderate size. The halls were paved with 
 sun-burnt brick. They were ornamented throughout by the 
 elaborate sculptures, now so familiar to us, carried generally in 
 a single, but sometimes in a double line, round the four walls 
 of the apartment. The sculptured slabs rested on the ground, 
 and clothed the walls to the height of 
 10 or 12 feet. Above, for a space 
 which we cannot positively fix, but which 
 was certainly not less than four or five 
 feet, 9 the crude brick wall was continued, 
 faced here with burnt brick enamelled 
 on the side towards the apartment, 
 pleasinglv and sometimes even bril- 
 liantly coloured. 1 The whole height of 
 the walls was probably from 1 5 to 20 feet. 
 
 By the side of the halls, or at their 
 ends, and opening into them, or some- 
 times collected together into groups, with 
 no hall near, are the smaller chambers 
 of which mention has been already made. 
 
 These chambers are in every case rect- 
 angular : in their proportions they vary from squares to narrow 
 oblongs, 90 feet by 17, 85 by 16, 80 by 15, and the like. When 
 they are square, the side is never more than about 25 feet. Thejr 
 are often as richly decorated as the halls, but sometimes aie 
 merely faced with plain slabs or plastered ; while occasionally 
 they have no facing at all, but exhibit throughout the crude 
 brick. This, however, is unusual. 
 
 The number of chambers in a palace is very large. In 
 
 Hall of Esar-haddon’s Palace, 
 Nimrud. 
 
 (After Fergusson.) 
 
 9 As much as four feet of the wall has 
 sometimes been found standing (Fer- 
 gusson’s Palaces , p. 267). 
 
 1 See the specimens of enamelled 
 bricks in Mr. Layard’s Monuments of 
 JSineveh , 1st Series, Plates 84 to 86. 
 
284 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. YI. 
 
 Sennacherib’s palace at Koyunjik, where great part of the build- 
 ing remains still unexplored, the excavated chambers amount 
 to sixty-eight — all, he it remembered, upon the ground floor. 
 The space covered by them and by their walls exceeds 40,000 
 square yards. As Mr. F ergusson observes, “ the imperial palace 
 of Sennacherib is, of all the buildings of antiquity, surpassed in 
 magnitude only by the great palace-temple of Karnak; and 
 when we consider the vastness of the mound on which it was 
 raised, and the richness of the ornaments with which it was 
 adorned, it is by no means clear that it was not as great, or at 
 least as expensive, a work as the great palace-temple at Thebes.” 2 
 Elsewhere the excavated apartments are less numerous ; but in 
 no case is it probable that a palace contained on its ground floor 
 fewer than forty or fifty chambers. 
 
 The most striking peculiarity which the ground-plans of the 
 palaces disclose is the uniform adoption throughout of straight 
 and parallel lines. No plan exhibits a curve of any kind, or 
 any angle but a right angle. Courts, chambers, and halls, are, 
 in most cases, exact rectangles; and even where any variety 
 occurs, it is only by the introduction of squared recesses or pro- 
 jections, which are moreover shallow and infrequent. "When a 
 palace has its own special platform, the lines of the building 
 are further exactly parallel with those of the mound on which 
 it is placed ; and the parallelism extends to any other detached 
 buildings that there may be anywhere upon the platform. 3 
 When a mound is occupied bv more palaces than one, sometimes 
 this law still obtains, as at Xirnrud, 4 where it seems to embrace 
 at any rate the greater number of the palaces ; sometimes, as 
 at Koyunjik, 5 the rule ceases to be observed, and the ground- 
 plan of each palace seems formed separately and independently, 
 with no reference to any neighbouring edifice. 
 
 2 Handbook of Architecture , voL i. parallel to one another and to the sides 
 
 p. 176. of the platform ; but Captain Jones’s 
 
 3 See the plan of Sargon’s palace at survey shows that the platfoim itself is 
 
 Khorsabad, supra, p. 281. irregular, so that Mr. Layard’s repre- 
 
 4 See the plan of theNimrud platform sentation appears to be inexact. 
 
 in Layard's Nineveh and Babylon , opp. 5 The walls of the palace excavated 
 p. 655. According to it, all the palaces by Mr. Loftus are not parallel with those 
 
 on the platform would have their walls { of the edifice exhumed by Mr. Layard. 
 
Chaf. VI. IRREGULARITY — WANT OF PASSAGES. 285 
 
 Apart from this feature, the buildings do not affect much. 
 regularity . 6 In courts and fapades, to a certain extent, there is 
 correspondence; but in the internal arrangements, regularity 
 is decidedly the exception. The two sides of an edifice never 
 correspond ; room never answers to room ; doorways are rarely 
 in the middle of walls ; where a room has several doorways, they 
 are seldom opposite to one another, or in situations at all cor- 
 responding. 
 
 There is a great awkwardness in the communications. Very 
 few corridors or passages exist in any of the buildings. Groups 
 of rooms, often amounting to ten or twelve, open into one an- 
 other; and we find comparatively few’ rooms to which there is 
 any access, except through some other room. Again, whole 
 sets of apartments are sometimes found, between which and the 
 rest of the palace all communication is cut off by thick walls. 
 Another peculiarity in the internal arrangements is the number 
 of doorways in the larger apartments, and their apparently 
 needless multiplication. We constantly find tw r o or even three 
 doorways leading from a court into a hall, or from one hall into 
 a second. It is difficult to see what could be gained by such 
 an arrangement. 
 
 The disposition of the various parts of a palace will probably 
 be better apprehended from an exact account of a single build- 
 ing than from any further general statements. For this pur- 
 pose it is necessary to select a specimen from among the various 
 edifices that have been disentombed by the labours of recent 
 excavators. The specimen should be, if possible, complete ; 
 it should have been accurately surveyed, and the survey should 
 have been scientifically recorded ; it should further stand single 
 and separate, that there may be no danger of confusion between 
 its remains and those of adjacent edifices. These requirements, 
 though nowhere exactly met, are very nearly met by the build- 
 ing at Khorsabad, which stands on a mound of its own, unmixed 
 with other edifices, has been most carefully examined, and most 
 excellently represented and described, and which, though not 
 
 6 Compare the observations of M. Botta, Monument de Ninive , vol. v. p. 64 . 
 
286 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. YT. 
 
 completely excavated, has been excavated with a nearer 
 approach to completeness than any other edifice in Assyria. 
 The Ivhorsabad building — which is believed to be a palace 
 built by Sargon, the son of Sennacherib — will therefore be 
 selected for minute description in this place, as the palace most 
 favourably circumstanced, and the one of which we have, on 
 the whole, the most complete and exact knowledge. 7 
 
 The situation of the town, whereof the palace of Sargon 
 formed a part, has been already described in a former part of 
 this volume. 8 The shape, it has been noted, was square, the 
 angles facing the four cardinal points. Almost exactly in the 
 centre of the north-west wall occurs the palace platform, a 
 huge mass of crude brick, from 20 to 30 feet high, shaped like 
 a T, the upper limb lying within the city walls, and the lower 
 limb (which is at a higher elevation) projecting beyond the line 
 of the walls to a distance of at least 500 feet. At present there 
 is a considerable space between the ends of the wall and the 
 palace mound; 9 but anciently it is probable that they either 
 abutted on the mound, or were separated from it merely by gate- 
 ways. The mound, or at any rate the part of it which projected 
 beyond the walls, was faced with hewn stone, 10 carried perpen- 
 dicularly from the plain to the top of the platform and even 
 beyond, so as to form a parapet protecting the edge of the 
 platform. On the more elevated portion of the mound — that 
 which projected beyond the walls — stood the palace, consisting 
 of three groups of buildings, the principal group lying towards 
 the mound’s northern angle. On the lower portion of the plat- 
 form were several detached buildings, the most remarkable being 
 a huge gateway, or propylaeum, through which the entrance 
 lay to the palace from the city. Beyond and below this, on the 
 level of the city, the first or outer portals were placed, 1 giving 
 entrance to a court in front of the lower terrace. 
 
 7 See Fergusson’s Palaces , pp. 234, 235. 
 
 8 Supra, pp. 203, 204. 
 
 9 The Khosr-Su, which runs on this 
 
 side of the Khorsabad ruins, often over- 
 flows its banks, and pours its waters 
 against the palace mound. The gaps 
 north and south of the mound may have 
 
 been caused by its violence. 
 
 10 See the woodcut, supra, p. 278. 
 
 1 These portals were discovered by M. 
 Place, M. Botta’s successor at Mosul. I 
 cannot find that any representations of 
 them have been published. 
 
AT. YI. 
 
 KHORSABAD PALACE 
 
 287 
 
 Plan of the Palace of Sargon, Khorsabad (after Fergusson). 
 
 Ill 
 
288 
 
 THE SECOND MONAKCHY. 
 
 Chap. VI. 
 
 A visitor approach- 
 ing the palace had in 
 the first place to pass 
 through these portals. 
 They were ornamented 
 with colossal human- 
 headed bulls on either 
 side, and probably 
 spanned by an arch 
 above, the archivolte 
 being covered with 
 enamelled bricks dis- 
 posed in a pattern. 
 Beceived within the 
 portals, the visitor 
 found himself in front 
 of a long wall of solid 
 stone masonry, the 
 revetement of the 
 lower terrace, which 
 rose from the outer 
 court to a height of 
 at least twenty feet. 
 Either an inclined way 
 or a flight of steps — 
 probably the latter — 
 must have led up from 
 the outer court to this 
 terrace. Here the 
 visitor found another 
 portal or propylseum 
 of a magnificent cha- 
 racter. Midway in 
 the south-east side of 
 the lower terrace, and 
 about fifty feet from 
 its edge, stood this 
 
Chap. VI. THE GREAT PORTAL. 289 
 
 grand structure, a gateway ninety feet in width, and at least 
 twenty-five in depth, having on each side three winged bulls of 
 gigantic size, two of them fifteen feet high, and the third nine- 
 teen feet. Between the two smaller bulls, which stood back to 
 back, presenting their sides to the spectator, was a colossal 
 figure strangling a lion — the Assyrian Hercules, according to 
 most writers. The larger bulls stood at right angles to these 
 figures, withdrawn within the portal, and facing the spectator. 
 The space between the bulls, which is nearly twenty feet, was 
 (it is probable) arched over. 2 Perhaps the archway led into a 
 chamber, beyond which was a second archway and an inner 
 portal, as marked in Mr. Fergusson’s plan ; but this is at pre- 
 sent uncertain. 3 
 
 Besides the great portal, the only buildings as yet discovered 
 on this lower platform, are a suite of not very extensive apart- 
 ments. They are remarkable for their ornamentation. The 
 walls are neither lined with slabs, nor yet (as is sometimes the 
 case) painted ; but the plaster of which they are composed is 
 formed into sets of half pillars or reedings, separated from one 
 another by pilasters with square sunk panels. 4 The former 
 kind of ornamentation is found also in Lower Chaldsea, and has 
 been already represented ; 5 the latter is peculiar to this build- 
 ing. It is suggested that these apartments formed the quarters 
 of the soldiers who kept watch over the royal residence. 6 
 
 About 300 feet from the outer edge of the lower terrace, the 
 upper terrace seems to have commenced. It was raised pro- 
 bably about ten feet above the lower one. The mode of access 
 has not been discovered, but is presumed to have been by a 
 flight of steps, not directly opposite the propylamm, but some- 
 what to the right, whereby entrance was given to the great 
 court, into which opened the main gateways of the palace itself. 
 The court was probably 250 feet long by 160 or 170 feet wide. 
 
 2 The widest Assyrian arch actually 
 discovered is carried across a space of 
 about 15 feet (infra, p. 301). 
 
 3 Mr. Fergusson argues for the exist- 
 ence of a chamber and a second gateway, 
 from the analogy of the Persepolitan 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 ruins (. Palaces of Nineveh , p. 246) ; hut 
 this analogy cannot be depended on. 
 
 4 Fergusson, Handbook of Architecture , 
 vol. i. p. 172. 
 
 5 Supra, p. 83. 
 
 Fergusson, Handbook , 1. s. c. 
 
 U 
 
290 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. YI. 
 
 The visitor, on mounting the steps, perhaps passed through 
 another propyheum (b in the plan) ; after which, if his business 
 was with the monarch, he crossed the full length of the court, 
 leaving a magnificent triple entrance, which is thought to have 
 led to the king’s hareem, on his left, and making his way to the 
 public gate of the palace, which fronted him when he mounted 
 the steps. The hareem portal, which he passed, resembled in 
 the main the great propylaeum of the lower platform ; but, 
 being triple, it was still more magnificent, exhibiting two other 
 entrances on either side of the main one, guarded each by a 
 single pair of winged bulls of the smaller size. Along the 
 hareem wall, from the gateway to the angle of the court, was a 
 row of sculptured bas-reliefs, ten feet in height, representing 
 
 King and attendants, Khorsabad. 
 
 the monarch with his attendant guards and officers. The fapade 
 occupying the end of the court was of inferior grandeur. Sculp- 
 tures similar to those along the hareem wall adorned it ; but its 
 centre showed only a single gateway, guarded by one pair of 
 the larger bulls, fronting the spectator, and standing each in a 
 sort of recess, the character of which will be best understood by 
 the ground-plan on the next page. J ust inside the bulls was 
 the great door of the palace, a single door made of wood — 
 apparently of mulberry 7 — opening inwards, and fastened on the 
 inside by a bolt at bottom, and also by an enormous lock. This 
 door gave entrance into a passage, 70 feet long and about 10 
 feet wide, paved with large slabs of stone, and adorned on either 
 side with inscriptions and with a double row of sculptures, repre- 
 
 1 Botta, Monument de Ninive, vol. v. p. 48. 
 
Chap. VI. 
 
 THE FIRST AND SECOND COURTS. 
 
 291 
 
 senting the arrival of tribute and gifts for the monarch. All 
 the figures here faced one way, towards the inner palace court, 
 into which the passage led. M. Botta believes that the passage 
 was uncovered; 6 while Mr. Fergusson 9 imagines that it was 
 vaulted throughout. It must in any case have been lighted 
 from above; for it would have been impossible to read the 
 inscriptions, or even to see the sculptures, merely by the light 
 admitted at the two ends. 
 
 From the passage in question — one of the few in the edifice 
 —no doorway opened out either on the right hand or on the 
 left. The visitor necessarily proceeded along its whole extent, 
 as he saw the figures proceeding in the sculptures, and, passing 
 through a second portal, found himself in the great inner court 
 
 of the palace, a square of about 150 or 160 feet, enclosed on 
 two sides— the south-east and the south-west— by buildings, on 
 the other two sides reaching to the edge of the terrace, which 
 here gave upon the open country. The buildings on the south- 
 east side, looking towards the north-west, and adjoining the 
 gateway by which he had entered, were of comparatively minor 
 importance. They consisted of a few chambers suitable for 
 officers of the court, and were approached from the court by 
 two doorways, one on either side of the passage through which 
 he had come. To his left, looking towards the north-east, were 
 the great state apartments, the principal part of the palace, 
 forming a fa<?ade, of which some idea may perhaps be formed 
 from the representation on page 293. The upper part of this 
 
 . Botta, Monument de Ninioe, vol. v. p. 69. 8 Falaees of Nineveh, p. 259. 
 
 u 2 
 
292 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. YL 
 
 representation is indeed purely conjectural ; and when we come 
 to consider the mode in which the Assyrian palaces were roofed 
 and lighted, we shall perhaps find reason to regard it as not very 
 near the truth ; but the lower part, up to the top of the sculp- 
 tures, the court itself, and the various accessaries, are correctly 
 given, and furnish the only perspective view of this part of the 
 palace which has been as yet published. 
 
 The great state apartments consisted of a suite of ten rooms. 
 Five of these were halls of large dimensions ; one was a long 
 and somewhat narrow chamber, and the remaining four were 
 square or slightly oblong apartments of minor consequence. 
 All of them were lined throughout with sculptures. The most 
 important seem to have been three halls en suite (Till. Y. and 
 
 II. in the plan), which “ are, both 
 in their external and internal 
 decorations, by far the most splen- 
 did of the whole palace.” 1 The 
 first lay just within the north-east 
 facade, and ran parallel to it. It 
 was entered by three doorways, 
 the central one ornamented exter- 
 
 King punishing prisoners, Khorsabad. .. . , . , i-in « 
 
 nally with two colossal bulls of 
 the largest size, one on either side within the entrance, and with 
 two pairs of smaller bulls, back to back, on the projecting pylons ; 
 the side ones guarded by winged genii, human or hawk-headed. 
 The length of the chamber was 116 feet 6 inches, and its breadth 
 33 feet. Its sculptures represented the monarch receiving 
 prisoners, and either personally or by deputy punishing them. 2 
 
 
 We may call it, for distinctions sake, “ the Hall of Punishment.” 
 The second hall (Y. in the plan) ran parallel with the first, 
 but did not extend along its whole length. It measured from 
 end to end about 86 feet, and from side to side 21 feet 6 inches. 
 Two doorways led into it from the first chamber, and two others 
 
 * Palaces of Sinereh, p. 261. thong attached to a ring passed through 
 
 2 In one case the monarch is in the his under lip. In another case an exe- 
 
 act of driving a spear or javelin into cutioner flays a captive (or criminal) 
 
 the head of a captive with one hand. who is fastened to a walL 
 
 while with the other he holds him by a | 
 
Chap. VI. 
 
 THE NORTH-WEST COURT, RESTORED. 
 
 293 
 
 North-West Court of Sargon’s Palace at Khorsabad, restored. (After Fergusson.) 
 

 294 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. YI. 
 
 led from it into two large apartments. One communicated with 
 a lateral hall (marked YI. in the plan), the other with the third 
 hall of the suite which is here the special object of our attention. 
 This third hall (II. in the plan) was of the same length as the 
 first, but was less wide by about three feet. It opened by three 
 doorways upon a square court, which has been called “ the 
 Temple Court,” from a building on one side of it, which will be 
 described presently. 
 
 The sculptures of the second and third halls represented in a 
 double row, separated by an inscribed space about two feet in 
 width, chiefly the wars of the monarch, his battles, sieges, recep- 
 tion of captives and of spoil, &c. The monarch himself appeared 
 at least four times, standing in his chariot, thrice in calm pro- 
 cession, and once shooting his arrows against his enemies. 
 Besides these, the upper sculptures on one side exhibited sacred 
 ceremonies. 
 
Chap. VI. 
 
 THE TEMPLE COURT. 
 
 295 
 
 Placed at right angles to this primary suite of three halls 
 were two others, one (IV. in the plan) 3 of dimensions little, if 
 at all, inferior to those of the largest (No. VIII.), the other 
 (VI. in the plan) 4 nearly of the same length, but as narrow as 
 the narrowest of the three (No. V.). Of these two lateral halls 
 the former communicated directly with No. VIII., and also by 
 a narrow passage room (III. in the plan) with No. II. The 
 other had direct communication both with No. II. and No. V., 
 but none with No. VIII. With this hall (No. VI.) three smaller 
 chambers were connected (Nos. IX. XI. and XII.) ; with the 
 other lateral hall, two only (Nos. III. and VII.). One chamber 
 attached to this block of buildings (I. in the plan) opened only 
 on the Temple Court. It has been suggested that it contained 
 a staircase ; 5 but of this there is no evidence. 
 
 The Temple Court — a square of 180 feet— was occupied by 
 buildings on three sides, and open on one only — that to the 
 north-west. The state apartments closed it in on the north- 
 east, the temple on the south-west ; on the south-east it was 
 bounded by the range of buildings called “ Priests’ Rooms ” in 
 the plan, chambers of less pretension than almost any that have 
 been excavated. The principal fa£ade here was that of the 
 state apartments, on the north-east. On this, as on the opposite 
 side of the palace, were three portals ; but the two fronts were 
 not of equal magnificence. On the side of the Temple Court 
 a single pair of bulls, facing the spectator, guarded the middle 
 portal ; the side portals exhibited only figures of genii, while 
 the spaces between the portals were occupied, not with bulls, 
 but merely with a series of human figures, resembling those in 
 the first or outer court, of which a representation has been 
 already given. Two peculiarities marked the south-east fayade. 
 In the first place, it lay in a perfectly straight line, unbroken 
 by any projection, which is very unusual in Assyrian architecture. 
 
 3 This hall opened on the north- 
 western terrace, and stood so near its 
 edge that two of its sides have fallen. 
 
 Internally it was adorned with a single 
 row of sculptures, representing the king 
 
 receiving prisoners. 
 
 4 The sculptures here were all peace- 
 able. The king occurred three times, 
 with the sacred flower in his left hand, 
 receiving presents or tribute. 
 
 5 Fergusson’s Palaces , p. 263. 
 
296 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VI. 
 
 In the second place, as if to compensate for this monotony in its 
 facial line, it was pierced by no fewer than five doorways, all of 
 considerable width, and two of them garnished with bulls, 
 namely, the second and the fourth. The bulls of the second 
 gateway were of the larger, those of the fourth were of the 
 smaller size; they stood in the usual manner, a little withdrawn 
 within the gateways and looking towards the spectator. 
 
 Of the curious building which.closed in the court on the third 
 or south-west side, which is believed to have been a temple , 6 the 
 remains are unfortunately very slight. It stood so near the 
 edge of the terrace that the greater part of it has fallen into 
 the plain. Less than half of the ground-plan is left, and only 
 a few feet of the elevation. The building may originally have 
 been a square, or it may have been an oblong, as represented in 
 the plan. It was approached from the court by a flight of stone 
 steps, probably six in number, of which four remain in place. 
 This flight of steps was placed directly opposite to the central 
 door of the south-west palace facade. From the level of the 
 court to that of the top of the steps, a height of about six feet, 
 a solid platform of crude brick was raised as a basis for the 
 temple ; and this was faced, probably throughout its whole 
 
 extent, with a solid wall ot* 
 hard black basalt, orna- 
 mented with a cornice in 
 grey limestone, of which the 
 accompanying woodcuts are 
 representations. Above this 
 the external work has dis- 
 appeared. Internally, two 
 chambers may be traced, floored with a mixture of stones and 
 chalk ; and round one of these are some fragments of bas-reliefs, 
 representing sacred subjects, cut on the same black basalt as 
 that by which the platform is cased, and sufficient to show that 
 the same style of ornamentation prevailed here as in the palace. 
 
 The principal doorway on the north-west side of the Temple 
 
 6 Botta, Monument de Ninive, vol. v. p. 53 ; Fergusson, Palaces of Nineveh, p. 292 ; 
 Layard, Nineveh and Babylon, p. 130. 
 
 Cornice of temple, Khorsabad. 
 
Chap. VI. 
 
 THE HAREEM COURT. 
 
 297 
 
 Court communicated, by a passage, with another and similai 
 doorway (d on the plan), which opened into a fourth court, the 
 smallest and least ornamented of those on the upper platform. 
 The mass of building, whereof this court occupied the centre, is 
 believed to have constituted the Jiareem or private apartments of 
 the monarch . 7 It adjoined the state apartments at its northern 
 angle, but had no direct communication with them. To enter it 
 from them the visitor had either to cross the Temple Court and 
 proceed by the passage above indicated, or else to go round by 
 the great entrance (X. in the plan) and obtain admission by the 
 grand portals on the south-west side of the outer court. These 
 latter portals, it is to be observed, are so placed as to command 
 no view into the Eareem Court, though it is opposite to them. 
 The passages by which they gave entrance into that court must 
 have formed some such angles as those marked by the dotted 
 lines in the plan, the result being that visitors, while passing 
 through the outer court, would be unable to catch any sight of 
 what was going on in the Eareem Court, even if the great doors 
 happened to be open. Those admitted so far into the palace 
 as the Temple Court were more favoured or less feared. The 
 doorway (d) on the south-east side of the Eareem Court is 
 exactly opposite the chief doorway on the north-west side ol the 
 Temple Court, and there can be no reasonable doubt that a 
 straight passage connected the two. 
 
 It is uncertain whether the Eareem Court w r as surrounded by 
 buildings on every side, or open towards the south-west. M. Botta 
 believed that it was open ; 8 and the analogy of the other courts 
 would seem, to make this probable. It is to be regretted, how- 
 ever, that this portion of the great Khorsabad ruin still remains 
 so incompletely examined. .Consisting of the private apart- 
 ments, it is naturally less rich in sculptures than other parts ; 
 and hence it has been comparatively neglected. The labour 
 would, nevertheless, be well employed which should be devoted 
 to this part of the ruin, as it would give us (what we do not now 
 possess) the complete ground-plan of an Assyrian palace. It is 
 
 7 Fergusson, Palaces of Nineveh, p. 254; Layard, Nineveh and Babylon , p. 646. 
 
 8 Monument de Ninive, vol. v. p. 42 ; and compare the plan, vol. i. pi- 6. 
 
298 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. YI. 
 
 earnestly to be hoped that future excavators will direct their 
 efforts to this easily attainable and interesting object. 
 
 The ground-plans of the palaces, and some sixteen feet of 
 their elevations, are ail that fire and time have left us of these 
 remarkable monuments. The total destruction of the upper 
 portion of every palatial building in Assyria, combined with the 
 want of any representation of the royal residences upon the bas- 
 reliefs, reduces us to mere conjecture with respect to their 
 height, to the mode in which they were roofed and lighted, and 
 even to the question whether they had or had not an upper 
 story. On these subjects various views have been put forward 
 by persons entitled to consideration ; and to these it is proposed 
 now to direct the reader’s attention. 
 
 In the first place, then, had they an upper story ? Mr. Layard 
 and Mr. Fergusson decide this question in the affirmative. 
 Mr. Layard even goes so far as to say that the fact is one which 
 “ can no longer be doubted .” 9 He rests this conclusion on two 
 grounds — first, on a belief that “ upper chambers ” are mentioned 
 in the Inscriptions, and secondly, on the discovery by himself, 
 in Sennacherib’s palace at Koyunjik, of what seemed to be an 
 inclined way, by which he supposes that the ascent was made to 
 an upper story. The former of these two arguments must be 
 set aside as wholly uncertain. The interpretation of the archi- 
 tectural inscriptions of the Assyrians is a matter of far too much 
 doubt at present to serve as a groundwork upon which theories 
 can properly be raised as to the plan of their buildings. With 
 regard to the inclined passage, it is to be observed that it did 
 not appear to what it led. It may have conducted to a gallery 
 looking into one of the great halls, or to an external balcony 
 overhanging an outer court ; or it may have been the ascent to 
 the top of a tower, whence a look-out was kept up and down the 
 river. Is it not more likely that this ascent should have been 
 made for some exceptional purpose, than that it should be the 
 only specimen left of the ordinary mode by which one half of 
 a palace was rendered accessible ? It is to be remembered that 
 
 Nineveh and Baby ion, p. 650. 
 
Chap. VI. ARGUMENTS RESPECTING AN UPPER STORY. 
 
 299 
 
 no remains of a staircase, whether of stone or of wood, have been 
 found in any of the palaces, and that there is no other instance 
 in any of them even of an inclined passage . 1 Those who think 
 the palaces had second stories, believe these stories to have been 
 reached by staircases of wood, placed in various parts of the 
 buildings, which were totally destroyed by the conflagrations in 
 which the palaces perished. But it is at least remarkable that 
 no signs have been found in any existing walls of rests for the 
 ends of beams, or of anything implying staircases. Hence 
 M. Botta, the most careful and the most scientific of recent 
 excavators, came to a very positive conclusion that the Khor- 
 sabad buildings had had no second story , 8 a conclusion which it 
 would not, perhaps, be very bold to extend to Assyrian edifices 
 
 generally. 1 
 
 It has been urged by Mr. Fergusson that there must have 
 been an upper story because, otherwise, all the advantage of the 
 commanding position of the palaces, perched on their lofty plat- 
 forms, would have been lost . 3 The platform at Khorsabad was 
 protected, in the only places where its edge has been laid bare, 
 by a stone wall or parapet six feet in height. Such a parapet 
 continued along the whole of the platform would effectually 
 have shut out all prospect of the open country both from the 
 platform itself, and also from the gateways of the palace, which 
 are on the same level. Nor could there well be any view at all 
 from the ground-chambers, which had no windows, at any rate 
 within fifteen feet of the floor. To enjoy a view of anything 
 but the dead wall skirting the mound, it was necessary (Mr. 
 Fergusson thinks) to mount to a second story, which he in- 
 geniously places, not over the ground-rooms, but on the top of 
 the outer and party walls, whose structure is so massive that 
 their area falls (he observes) but little short of the area of the 
 ground- rooms themselves . 4 
 
 This reasoning is sufficiently answered, in the first place, by 
 observing that we do not know whether the Assyrians appreciated 
 
 1 The inclined passage of Asshur-bani- 
 pal’s palace at Koyunjik was not in the 
 palace, but led from the level of the city 
 up to it. 
 
 Monument de Ninive, vol. v. p. 62. 
 Palaces of Nineveh, p. 275. 
 
 Ibid. 
 
300 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VI. 
 
 tll6 advantage of a view or raised their palace platforms for any 
 such object. They may have constructed them for security only, 
 or for greater dignity and greater seclusion. They may have 
 looked chiefly to comfort, and have reared them in order to 
 receive the benefit of every breeze, and at the same time to be 
 above the elevation to which gnats and mosquitoes commonly 
 rise. 0 Or there may be a fallacy in concluding, from the very 
 slight data furnished by the excavations of M. Botta, 6 that 
 a palace platform was, in any case, skirted along its whole 
 length by a six-foot parapet. Nothing is more probable than 
 that in places the Khorsabad parapet may have been very much 
 lower than this ; and elsewhere it is not even ascertained that 
 any parapet at all edged the platform. On the whole we seem 
 to have no right to conclude, merely on account of the small 
 portions of parapet wall uncovered by M. Botta, that an upper 
 story was a necessity to the palaces. If the Assyrians valued 
 a view, they may easily have made their parapets low in places : 
 if they cared so little for it as to shut it out from all their halls 
 and terraces, they may not improbably have dispensed with the 
 advantage altogether. 
 
 The two questions of the roofing and lighting of the Assyrian 
 palaces are so closely connected together that they will most 
 conveniently be treated in combination. The first conjecture 
 published on the subject of the roofing was that of M. Flandin, 
 who suggested that the chambers generally— the great halls, at 
 any rate — had been ceiled with a brick vault. He thought that 
 the complete filling up of the apartments to the height of 
 fifteen or twenty feet was thus best explained ; and he believed 
 that there were traces of the fallen vaulting in the debris with 
 which the apartments were filled. His conjecture was combated, 
 soon after he put it forth, by M. Botta, 7 who gave it as his 
 opinion — first, that the walls of the chambers, notwithstanding 
 their great thickness, would have been unable, considering their 
 
 That this was one of the objects held 6 The parapet wall was observed at 
 in view by the Babylonians when they most in two places. (See the shaded 
 erected their Temple platforms, is con- parts, marked a a on the plan, p. 281.) 
 jectured by M. Fresnel. ( Journal Asi- ' Monument de Ninive , voL v. pp. 
 atique, Juin 1853, pp. 528-531.) , 65-67. 
 
Chap. YI. 
 
 ROOFING OF PALACES. 
 
 301 
 
 material, to sustain the weight, and (still more to bear) the 
 lateral thrust, of a vaulted roof ; and, secondly, that such a roof, 
 if it had existed at all, must have been made of baked brick or 
 stone — crude brick being too weak for the purpose — and when 
 it fell must have left ample traces of itself within the apartments, 
 whereas, in none of them, though he searched, could he find any 
 such traces. On this latter point M. Botta and M. Flandin — 
 both eye-witnesses — were at variance. M. Flandin believed that 
 he had seen such traces, not only in numerous broken fragments 
 of burnt brick strewn through all the chambers, but in occasional 
 masses of brickwork contained in some of them — actual portions, 
 as he thought, of the original vaulting. M. Botta, however, 
 observed — first, that the quantity of baked brick within the 
 chambers was quite insufficient for a vaulted roof ; and, secondly, 
 that the position of the masses of brickwork noticed by M. Flandin 
 was always towards the sides, never towards the centres of the 
 apartments ; a clear proof that they had fallen from the upper 
 part of the walls above the sculptures, and not from a ceiling 
 covering the whole room. He further observed that the 
 quantity of charred wood and charcoal within the chambers, 
 and the calcined appearance of all the slabs, were pheno- 
 mena incompatible with any other theory than that of the de- 
 struction of the palace by the conflagration of a roof mainly 
 of wood . 8 
 
 To these arguments of M. Botta may be added another from 
 the improbability of the Assyrians being sufficiently advanced in 
 architectural science to be able to construct an arch of the width 
 necessary to cover some of the chambers. The principle of the 
 arch was, indeed, as will be hereafter shown , 9 well known to the 
 Assyrians ; but hitherto we possess no proof that they were 
 capable of applying it on a large scale. The widest arch which 
 has been found in any of the buildings is that of the Khorsabad 
 town-gate uncovered by M. Place , 10 which spans a space of (at 
 most) fourteen or fifteen feet. But the great halls of the Assyrian 
 
 8 Monument de Ninive, vol. v. p. 68. Mohl pour Aout 1853, p. 150; Fer- 
 
 9 Infra, pp. 327-330. gusson, Handbook of Architecture , p. 
 
 10 Journal Asiatique , Rapport de M. 173. 
 
302 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VI. 
 
 palaces have a width of twenty-five, thirty, and even forty feet. 
 It is at any rate uncertain whether the constructive skill of their 
 architects could have grappled successfully with the difficulty of 
 throwing a vault over so wide an interval as even the least of 
 these. 
 
 M. Botta, after objecting, certainly with great force, to the 
 theory of M. Flandin, proceeded to suggest a theory of his own. 
 After carefully reviewing all the circumstances, he gave it as his 
 opinion that the Khorsabad building had been roofed throughout 
 with a flat, earth-covered roofing of wood. He observed that 
 some of the buildings on the bas-reliefs had flat roofs, that flat 
 roofs are still the fashion of the country, and that the debris 
 within the chambers were exactly such as a roof of that kind 
 would be likely, if destroyed by fire, to have produced . 1 He 
 further noticed that on the floors of the chambers in various 
 parts of the palace, there had been discovered stone rollers, 
 closely resembling those still in use at Mosul and Baghdad, for 
 keeping close-pressed and hard the earthen surface of such roofs ; 
 which rollers had, in all probability, been applied to the same 
 use by the Assyrians, and, being kept on the roofs, had fallen 
 through during the conflagration . 2 
 
 The first difficulty which presented itself here was one of 
 those regarded as most fatal to the vaulting theory, namely, the 
 width of the chambers. Where flat timber roofs prevail in the 
 East, their span seems never to exceed twenty-five feet . 3 The 
 ordinary chambers in the Assyrian palaces might, undoubtedly, 
 therefore, have been roofed in this way, by a series of horizontal 
 beams laid across them from side to side, with the ends resting 
 upon the tops of the side walls. But the great halls seemed too 
 wide to have borne such a roofing without supports. Accord- 
 ingly, M. Botta suggested that in the greater apartments a 
 single or a double row of pillars ran down the middle, reaching 
 to the roof and sustaining it . 4 His theory was afterwards warmly 
 embraced by Mr. Fergusson, who endeavoured to point out the 
 exact position of the pillars in the three great halls of Sargon at 
 
 1 Monument de Ninive, vol. v. pp. 71, 72. 2 Ibid. p. 72. 
 
 3 Fergusson, Palaces of Nineveh, p. 276. 4 Monument , &c., vol. v. p. 69. 
 
Chap. YI. 
 
 LIGHTING OF PALACES. 
 
 303 
 
 Khorsabad . 5 It seems, however, a strong and almost a fatal 
 objection to this theory, that no bases of pillars have been found 
 within the apartments, nor any marks on the brick floors of such 
 bases or of the pressure of the pillars. M. Botta states that he 
 made a careful search for bases, or for marks of pillars, on the 
 pavement of the nortli-east hall (No. VIII.) at Khorsabad, but 
 that he entirely failed to discover any. 6 This negative evidence 
 is the more noticeable as stone pillar-bases have been found in 
 wide doorw r ays, where they would have been less necessary than 
 in the chambers, as pillars in doorways could have had but little 
 weight to sustain. 
 
 M. Botta and Mr. Fergusson, who both suppose that in 
 an Assyrian palace the entire edifice was roofed in, and only the 
 courts left open to the sky, suggest two very different modes by 
 which the buildings may have been lighted. M. Botta brings light 
 in from the roof by means of wooden louvres , such as are still 
 employed for the purpose in Armenia and parts of India , 7 whereof 
 he gives the representation which is reproduced on the next page. 
 Mr. Fergusson introduces light from the sides, by supposing that 
 the roof did not rest directly on the walls, but on rows of wooden 
 pillars placed along the edge of the walls both internally towards 
 the apartments and externally towards the outer air. The only 
 
 s Palaces of Nineveh , p. 262 ; Hand- 
 book of Architecture, p. 171. 
 
 6 Monument de Ninive, p. 70. Com- 
 pare Layard, Nineveh and Babylon, pp. 
 649, 650. It must further be noted, as 
 throwing considerable doubt on the whole 
 spirit of Mr. Fergusson’s Assyrian re- 
 storations, that their essence consists in 
 giving a thoroughly columnar character, 
 both internally and externally, to Assy- 
 rian buildings, whereas one of the most 
 remarkable features in the remains is 
 the almost entire absence of the column. 
 A glance at the restoration already given 
 from Mr. Fergusson (supra, p. 293), or 
 at that, by the same ingenious gentle- 
 man, which forms the frontispiece to 
 Mr. Layard's Nineveh and Babylon, will 
 show the striking difference, and (as it 
 seems to me) the want of harmony in 
 his restorations between the basement 
 story of a palace, which is all that we 
 can reconstruct with any certainty, and 
 
 the entire remainder of the edifice. Mr. 
 Fergusson supports his view that the 
 column was really thus prominent in 
 Assyrian buildings by the analogy of 
 Susa and Persepolis ; but the columnar 
 edifices at those places are on an entirely 
 different plan from that of an Assyrian 
 palace. Those buildings had no solid 
 walls at all (Loftus, Chaldcea and Susiana, 
 pp. 374, 375), but lay entirely open to 
 the air ; they were mere groves of pillars 
 supporting a flat roof — convenient sum- 
 mer residences. The evidence of the 
 remains seems to be that there was a 
 strong contrast between Assyrian and 
 Persian architecture, the latter depend- 
 ing almost wholly on the column, and 
 elaborating it as much as possible ; the 
 former scarcely allowing the column at 
 all, and leaving it almost in its primitive 
 condition of a mere post. (See below, 
 p. 310.) 
 
 7 Fergusson, Palaces of Nineveh, p. 269. 
 
304 
 
 THE SECOND MONAKCHY. 
 
 Chap. YI. 
 
 ground for this supposition, which is of a very startling character, 
 seems to be the occurrence in a single bas-relief, representing a city 
 in Armenia, of what is regarded as a similar arrangement. But 
 it must be noted that the lower portion of the building, repre- 
 sented opposite, bears no resemblance at all to the same part of 
 an Assyrian palace, since in it perpendicular lines prevail, whereas, 
 in the Assyrian palaces, the lower lines were almost wholly 
 horizontal ; and that it is not even certain that the upper por- 
 
 tion, where the pillars occur, is an arrangement for admitting 
 light, since it may be merely an ornamentation. 
 
 The difficulties attaching to every theory of roofing and 
 lighting which places the whole of an Assyrian palace under 
 covert, has led some to suggest that the system actually adopted 
 in the larger apartments was that hypsethral one which is gene- 
 rally believed to have prevailed in the Greek temples, 8 , and 
 
 8 Mr. Fergusson disallows the hypse- 
 thral system even here ( True Principles 
 of Beauty , p. 381) ; but later writers do 
 not seem converted by his arguments. 
 (See the article on Templum in Smith’s 
 
 Dictionary of Greek and Roman Anti- 
 quities , p. 1105, 2nd edition; and cojn- 
 pare Mr. Falkener’s Daedalus, Introduc- 
 tion, pp. 18-20.) 
 
Chai>. YI. 
 
 LIGHTING OF PALACES. 
 
 305 
 
 which was undoubtedly followed in the ordinary Roman house. 
 Mr. Layard was the first to put forward the view that the larger 
 halls, at any rate, were 
 uncovered, a project- 
 ing ledge, sufficiently 
 wide to afford shelter 
 and shade, being car- 
 ried round the four 
 sides of the apart- 
 ment, while the centre 
 remained open to the 
 sky . 9 The objections 
 taken to this view are 
 — first, that far too 
 much heat and light 
 would thereby have 
 been admitted into 
 the palace ; secondly, 
 that in the rainy sea- 
 son far too much rain 
 would have come in 
 for comfort ; and, 
 thirdly, that the pave- 
 ment of the halls, 
 being mere sun-dried 
 brick, would, under 
 such circumstances, 
 have been turned into 
 mud . 1 If these ob- 
 jections are not re- 
 moved, they would 
 be, at any rate,greatly 
 lessened by supposing 
 thirds or three-fourths of the apartment, and the opening to 
 
 Armenian buildings (from Koyunjik). 
 
 the roofing to have extended' to two- 
 
 9 Nineveh and its Remains , vol. i. p. 
 259. Compare Nineveh and Babylon , p. 
 647 ; and see also the restoration of an 
 Assyrian interior in his Monuments of 
 
 YOL. I. 
 
 Nineveh, 1st series, PI. 2, from which the 
 illustration overleaf is taken. 
 
 1 Fergusson, Palaces of Nineveh , p. 270. 
 
 X 
 
Cfiap. VI. 
 
 PALACES LIGHTED FKOM THE POOFS. 
 
 307 
 
 have been comparatively narrow. We may also suppose that 
 on very bright and on very rainy days carpets or other awnings 
 were stretched across the opening, which turnished a tolerable 
 defence against the weather. 
 
 On the whole, our choice seems to lie— so far as the great 
 halls are concerned — between this theory of the mode in which 
 they were roofed and lighted, and a supposition from which 
 archaeologists have hitherto shrunk, namely, that they were 
 actually spanned from side to side by beams. II we remember 
 that the Assyrians did not content themselves with the woods 
 produced in their own country, but habitually cut timber in the 
 forests of distant regions, as for instance of Amanus, Hermon, 
 and Lebanon, which they conveyed to Nineveh, we shall perhaps 
 not think it impossible that they may have been able to ac- 
 complish the feat of roofing in this simple fashion even chambers 
 of thirteen or fourteen yards in width. Mr. Layard observes 
 that rooms of almost equal width with the Assyrian halls are 
 to this day covered in with beams laid horizontally from side 
 to side in many parts of Mesopotamia, although the only timber 
 used is that furnished by the indigenous palms and poplars. 2 
 May not more have been accomplished in this way by the 
 Assyrian architects, who had at their disposal the lofty firs and 
 cedars of the above-mentioned regions ? 
 
 If the halls were roofed in this way, they may have been 
 lighted by louvres ; 3 or the upper portion of the walls, which is 
 now destroyed, may have been pierced by windows, which are 
 of frequent occurrence, and seem generally to be somewhat high 
 placed, in the representations of buildings upon the sculptures. 
 (See overleaf.) 
 
 It might have been expected that the difficulties with respect 
 to Assyrian roofing and lighting which have necessitated this 
 long discussion, would have received illustration, or even 
 solution from the forms of buildings which occur so frequently 
 on the bas-reliefs. But this is not found to be the actual result. 
 The forms are rarely Assyrian, since they occur commonly 
 
 x 2 
 
 2 Nineveh and its Remains, vol. ii. pp. 259, 260. 
 
 3 Such as that represented above, p. 304. 
 
3°8 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. YI, 
 
 in the sculptures which represent the foreign campaigns of 
 the kings ; and they have the appearance of being to a great 
 extent conventional, being nearly the same, whatever country 
 
 Assyrian castle (Nimrud obelisk). 
 
 is the object of attack. In 
 the few cases where there is 
 ground for regarding the 
 building as native and not 
 foreign, it is never palatial, 
 but belongs either to sacred 
 or to domestic architecture. 
 Thus the monumental repre- 
 sentations of Assyrian build- 
 
 ings which have come down to us, throw little or no light on the 
 construction of their palaces. As, however, they have an 
 interest of their own, and will serve to illustrate in some degree 
 
 the domestic and sacred ar- 
 chitecture of the people, some 
 of the most remarkable of 
 them will be here introduced. 
 
 The representation No. I. 
 is from a slab at Khorsabad. 
 It is placed on the summit of 
 a hill, and is regarded by 
 M. Botta as an altar. No. II. 
 is from the same slab. It 
 
 No. I.— Assyrian altar (?), from a bas-relief, glands at the foot of the hill 
 Khorsabad. crQwned by No . L lt bas 
 
 been called a “fishing pavilion;” 4 but it is most probably a 
 small temple, since it bears a good deal of resemblance to other 
 representations which are undoubted temples, as (particularly) 
 to No. V. (p. 310). No. III., which is from Lord Aberdeen’s black 
 stone, is certainly a temple, since it is accompanied by a priest, a 
 sacred tree, and an ox for sacrifice. 5 The representation No. IV. 
 is also thought to be a temple. It is of earlier date than any of 
 
 4 Fergusson, Handbook of Architecture , 
 
 p. 179. 
 
 5 See the representation in Mr. Fer- 
 
 gusson’s Palaces of Nineveh Restored , p. 
 298. This black stone is of the time of 
 Esar-h addon. 
 
Chap. VI. 
 
 ASSYRIAN TEMPLES. 
 
 309 
 
 the others, being taken from a slab belonging to the North-west 
 Palace at Nimrud, and is remarkable in many ways. First, the 
 
 want of symmetry is curious, and unusual. Irregular as are the 
 palaces of the Assyrian kings, there is for the most part no 
 want of regularity in their sacred build- U f 77 
 
 ings. The two specimens here adduced ^ j 1 1111 ? 
 
 (No. II. and No. III.) are proof of this ; 
 and such remains of actual temples as 
 exist are in accordance with the sculptures 
 in this particular. The right-hand aisle 
 in No. IV., having nothing correspondent 
 to it on the other side, is thus an anomaly 
 in Assyrian sacred architecture. The _____ 
 patterning of the pillars with chevrons is No. III. — Assyrian temple, 
 also remarkable; and their capitals are from ^ 0 t 
 altogether unique.' No. Y. is a tern- 
 
 pie of a more elaborate character. It is from the sculptures 
 
 6 On this point, see below, pp. 333, 334. 
 
3io 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. YI. 
 
 of Asshur-bani-pal, the son of Esar-haddon, and possesses 
 several features of great interest. The body of the temple 
 is a columnar structure, exhibiting at either corner a broad 
 
 pilaster surmounted by a 
 capital composed of two sets 
 of volutes placed one over 
 the other. Between the two 
 pilasters are two pillars rest- 
 ing upon very extraordinary 
 rounded bases, and crowned 
 by capitals not unlike the 
 Corinthian. We might have 
 supposed the bases mere 
 figments of the sculptor, but 
 No. IY. — Assyrian temple (Nimrud). for an independent evidence 
 
 of the actual employment by 
 the Assyrians of rounded pillar-bases. Mr. Layard discovered 
 at Koyunjik a set of “ circular pedestals,” whereof he gives the 
 
 representation which is figured on the next page. They appeared 
 to form part of a double line of similar objects, extending from 
 the edge of the platform to an entrance of the palace, and pro- 
 bably (as Mr. Layard suggests) supported the wooden pillars of a 
 
Chai\ VI. 
 
 PILLAR BASES. 
 
 3* 1 
 
 covered way by which the palace was approached on this side. 
 Above the pillars the temple (No. Y.) exhibits a heavy cornice or 
 entablature projecting considerably, and finished at the top with 
 a row of gradines. (CompareNo.il.) At one side of this mam 
 building is a small chapel 
 or oratory, also finished 
 with gradines, against the 
 wall of which is a repre- 
 sentation of a king, stand- 
 ing in a species of frame 
 arched at the top. A 
 road leads straight up to 
 this royal tablet, and in 
 this road within a little 
 distance of the king stands 
 an altar. The temple 
 occupies the top of a 
 mound, which is covered Circular p iii a r-base, Koyunjik (after Layard). 
 with trees of two different 
 
 kinds, and watered by rivulets. On the right is a “ hanging 
 garden,” artificially elevated to the level of the temple by 
 means of masonry supported on an arcade, the arch here used 
 being not the round arch but a pointed one. No. VI. (overleaf) 
 is unfortunately very imperfect, the entire upper portion having 
 been lost. Even, however, in its present mutilated state it 
 represents bj far the most magnificent building that has yet 
 been found upon the bas-reliefs. The fa9ade, as it now stands, 
 exhibits four broad pilasters and four pillars, alternating in 
 pairs, excepting that, as in the smaller temples, pilasters occupy 
 both corners. In two cases, the base of the pilaster is carved 
 into the figure of a winged bull, closely resembling the bulls 
 which commonly guarded the outer gates of palaces. In the 
 other two the base is plain— a piece of negligence, probably, on 
 the part of the artist. The four pillars all exhibit a rounded 
 base, nearly though not quite similar to that of the pillars in 
 No. Y. ; and this rounded base in every case rests upon the 
 back of a walking lion. We might perhaps have imagined that 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 No. VI.— Basement portion of an Assyrian temple (North Palace, Koyunjik). 
 
Chap. VI. 
 
 r ILL AES SUEPOETED ON ANIMALS. 
 
 313 
 
 this was a mere fanciful or mythological device of the artist’s, 
 on a par with the representations at Bavian, where figures, 
 supposed to be Assyrian deities, stand upon the backs of 
 animals resembling dogs . * * 7 
 But one of M. Place’s ar- 
 chitectural discoveries seems 
 to make it possible, or even 
 probable, that a real feature 
 in, Assyrian building is here 
 represented. M. Place found j 
 the arch of the town gate- 
 way, which he exhumed at 
 Khorsabad, to spring from 
 the backs of the two bulls 
 which guarded it on either 
 side . 8 Thus the lions at the 
 base of the pillars may be 
 real architectural forms, as 
 well as the winged bulls 
 which support the pilasters. 
 
 The lion was undoubtedly a 
 sacred animal, emblematic 
 of divine power, and specially 
 assigned to Nergal, the As- 
 syrian Mars, the god at once 
 of war and of hunting. His 
 introduction on the exteriors of buildings was common in Asia 
 Minor ; but no other example occurs of his being made to sup- 
 port a pillar, excepting in the so-called Byzantine architecture 
 of Northern Italy. 
 
 No. Vila, (overleaf) introduces us to another kind of 
 Assyrian temple, or perhaps it should rather be said to another 
 feature of Assyrian temples — common to them with Babylonian 
 
 Porch of the Cathedral, Trent. 
 
 7 See Layard’s Monuments of Nineveh , 
 2nd series, PI. 51 ; and compare Nineveh 
 and Babylon , p. 208. A similar treat- 
 ment of divine figures is common upon 
 the Cylinders. (See Cullimore’s Cylinders , 
 Nos. 19, 20, 30, 55, 96, &c.) It is found 
 
 likewise in Cappadocia. (See Van Len- 
 
 nep’s Travels in Little Known parts of 
 
 Asia Minor , vol. ii. p. 118. 
 
 8 Journal Asiatique, Aout 1853, p. 
 150; Fergusson, Handbook of Architec- 
 ture , vol. i. p. 173. 
 
3 14 THE SECOND MONARCHY. Chap. VI. 
 
 No. VII a . — Tower of a temple, Koyunjik (after Layard). 
 
 example before us, which is from a bas-relief found at Koyunjik, 
 distinctly exhibits four stages, of which the topmost, owing to 
 the destruction of the upper portion of the tablet, is imperfect. 
 
 It is not unlikely that in this 
 
 
 instance there was above the 
 fourth a fifth stage, consisting 
 of a shrine like that which at 
 Babylon crowned the great 
 temple of Belus . 9 The complete 
 elevation would then have been 
 nearly as in No. YII b. 
 
 The following features are 
 worthy of remark in this temple. 
 The basement story is panelled with indented rectangular 
 
 nap 
 
 No. VII 6. — Tower of temple (restored.) 
 
 — the tower or ziggurat. This appears to have ’been always 
 built in stages, which probably varied in number — never, 
 however, so far as appears, exceeding seven. The sculptured 
 
 Herod, i. 181. 
 
Chap. YI. TEMPLE TOWERS OR ZIGGURATS. 3 1 5 
 
 recesses, as was the case at Nimrud , 1 and at the Birs ; 2 the 
 remainder are plain, as are most of the stages in the Birs 
 temple. Up to the second of these squared recesses on either 
 side there runs what seems to be a road or path, which sweeps 
 away down the hill whereon the temple stands in a bold curve,* 
 each path closely matching the other. The whole building is 
 perfectly symmetrical, except that the panelling is not quite 
 uniform in width nor arranged quite regularly. On the second 
 
 Tower of Great Temple at Nimrud (after Layard). 
 
 stage, exactly in the middle, there is evidently a doorway, and 
 on either side of it a shallow buttress or pilaster. In the centre 
 of the third story, exactly over the doorway of the second, is a 
 squared niche. In front of the temple, but not exactly opposite 
 its centre, may be seen the propylma, consisting of a squared 
 doorway placed under a battlemented wall, between two towers 
 also battlemented. It is curious that the paths do not lead to 
 the propylsea, but seem to curve round the hill. 
 
 Bemains of ziggurats similar to this have been discovered at 
 Khorsabad, at Nimrud, and at Kileh-Sherghat. The conical 
 
 1 See the illustration, overleaf. 
 
 2 Journal of the Asiatic Society , vol. xvii. p. 13. 
 
Basement of the same, West side (also after Layard). 
 
Chap. VI. 
 
 TEMPLE TOWERS. 
 
 317 
 
 mound at Ivhorsabad explored by M. Place was found to contain 
 a tower in seven stages ; 3 that of Nimrud, which is so striking 
 an object from the plain, 4 and which was carefully examined by 
 Mr. Layard, presented no positive proof of more than a single 
 stage ; but, from its conical shape, and from the general analogy 
 of such towers, it is believed to have had several stages. Mr. 
 Layard makes their number five, and crowns the fifth with a 
 circular tower terminating in a heavy cornice ; 5 but for this 
 last there is no authority at all, and the actual number of the 
 stages is wholly uncertain. The base of this ziggurat was a 
 square, 167 feet 6 inches each way, composed of a solid mass of 
 sun-dried brick, faced at bottom to the height of twenty feet 
 with a wall of hewn stones, more than eight feet and a half in 
 thickness. The outer stones were bevelled at the edges, and on 
 the two most conspicuous sides the wall was ornamented with a 
 series of shallow recesses (see opposite page), arranged without 
 very much attention to regularity. The other two sides, one of 
 which abutted on and was concealed by the palace mound, 
 while the other faced towards the city, were perfectly plain. 
 At the top of the stone masonry was a row of gradines, such as 
 are often represented in the sculptures as crowning an edifice. 6 
 Above the stone masonry the tower was continued at nearly the 
 same width, the casing of stone being simply replaced by one of 
 burnt brick of inferior thickness. It is supposed that the upper 
 stages were constructed in the same way. As the actual present 
 height of the ruin is 140 feet, and the upper stages have so 
 entirely crumbled away, it can scarcely be supposed that the 
 original height fell much short of 200 feet. 7 
 
 The most curious of the discoveries made during the exami- 
 nation of this building, was the existence in its interior of a 
 species of chamber or gallery, the true object of which still 
 remains wholly unexplained. This gallery was 100 feet long, 
 12 feet high, and no more than six feet broad. It was arched or 
 
 3 Fergusson, Handbook of Architecture , 
 p. 172. I have been unable to obtain 
 any detailed account of this building. 
 
 4 Supra, p. 202. 
 
 5 Nineveh and Babylon , plan opp. p. 
 
 123 ; Monuments of Nineveh , 2nd series, 
 frontispiece. (See the woodcut, p. 315.) 
 
 6 See woodcut No. V. on p. 310. 
 
 7 Layard, Nineveh and Babylon, p. 129 ; 
 
 comp. Diod. Sic. ii. 7. 
 
3 1 3 THE SECOND MOXAKCHY. Ckaf. VI. 
 
 vaulted at top, both the side walls and the vaulting being of 
 sun-dried brick. Its position Vas exactly half-way between the 
 
 tower’s northern and 
 southern faces, and with 
 these it ran parallel, its 
 height in the tower 
 being such that its floor 
 was exactly on a level 
 with the top of the 
 stone masonry, which 
 again was level with 
 the terrace or platform, 
 whereupon the Nimrud 
 palaces stood. There 
 
 Ground Plan of Nimrud Tower. was nQ ^ race 0 f an y way 
 
 by which the gallery was intended to be entered ; its walls showed 
 no signs of inscription, sculpture, or other ornament ; and 
 absolutely nothing was found in it. Mr. Layard, prepossessed 
 with an opinion derived from several confused notices in the 
 classical writers , 8 believed the tower to be a sepulchral monu- 
 ment, and the gallery to be the tomb in which was originally 
 deposited “ the embalmed body of the king.” 9 To account for 
 the complete disappearance, not only of the body, but of all the 
 ornaments and vessels found commonly in the Mesopotamian 
 tomb$ he suggested that the gallery had been rifled in times 
 long anterior to his visit ; and he thought that he found traces, 
 both internally and externally, of the tunnel by which it had 
 
 8 Xenophon and Ctesias both noticed j 
 this remarkable edifice. (Anab. iii. 4, 
 §9.) Xenophon calls it a “ pyramid,” ! 
 but shows that it more resembled a tower 
 by saying that its height (200 ft.) was 
 double its width at the base, which he 
 estimates at 100 ft. He gives no account 
 of the purpose for which it was intended. : 
 Ctesias, who enormously exaggerates its 
 size, making it 10 stadia wide and 9 
 stadia (more than a mile !) high, was 
 the first to give it a sepulchral character. | 
 
 He said that it was built by Semiramis ' 
 over the body of her husband, Ninus. | 
 
 He placed it, however, if we may believe 
 Diodorus (ii. 7), at Nineveh, and upon 
 the Euphrates ! Next to these writers, 
 Amyntas, one of the historians of Alex- 
 ander, noticed the edifice. He called it 
 the tomb of Sardanapalus ; and, like 
 Ctesias, placed it at Nineveh (ap. Athen. 
 Deipn. xii. 4, § 11). Ovid no doubt in- 
 tended the same building by his “ busta 
 Nini,” which, however, according to him, 
 lay in the vicinity of Babylon (. Mcia - 
 morph, iv. 88). 
 
 9 Nineveh and Babylon , p. 128. 
 
Chap. YI. 
 
 GROUND PLANS OP TEMPLES. 
 
 319 
 
 been entered. But certainly, if this long and narrow vault was 
 intended to receive a body, it is most extraordinarily shaped for 
 the purpose. What other sepulchral chamber is there any- 
 where of so enormous a length? Without pretending to say 
 what the real object of the gallery was , 1 we may feel tolerably 
 sure that it was not a tomb. The building which contained it 
 
 Ground Plans of Temples, Nimrud (after Layard). 
 
 was a temple-tower, and it is not likely that the religious 
 feelings of the Assyrians would have allowed the application 
 of a religious edifice to so utilitarian a purpose. 
 
 Besides the ziggurat or tower, which may commonly have 
 been surmounted by a chapel or shrine, an Assyrian temple 
 had always a number of basement chambers, in one of which 
 
 1 It may perhaps have had a religious bearing ; and similar galleries may perhaps 
 exist under all temple-towers. 
 
320 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. YI. 
 
 was the principal shrine of the god. This was a square or 
 slightly oblong recess at the end of an oblong apartment, raised 
 somewhat above its level ; it was paved (sometimes, if not 
 always) with a single slab, the weight of which must occasion- 
 ally have been as much as thirty tons . 2 One or two small 
 closets opened out from the shrine, in which it is likely that 
 the priests kept the sacerdotal garments and the sacrificial 
 utensils . 3 Sometimes the cell of the temple, or chamber into 
 which the shrine opened, was reached through another apart- 
 ment, corresponding to the Greek pronaos. In such a case, 
 care seems to have been taken so to arrange the outer and 
 inner doorways of the vestibule, that persons passing by the 
 outer doorway should not be able to catch a sight of the shrine . 4 * 
 Where there was no vestibule, the entrance into the cell or 
 body of the temple seems to have been placed at the side, 
 instead of at the end, probably with the same object . 3 Besides 
 these main parts of a temple, a certain number of chambers are 
 always found, which appear to have been priests’ apartments. 
 
 The ornamentation of temples, to judge by the few specimens 
 which remain, was very similar to that of palaces. The great 
 gateways were guarded by colossal bulls (?) or lions (see oppo- 
 site), accompanied by the usual sacred figures, and sometimes 
 covered with inscriptions. The entrances and some portions of 
 the chambers were ornamented with the customary sculptured 
 slabs, representing here none but religious subjects. No great 
 proportion of the interior, however, was covered in this way, the 
 walls being in general only plastered and then painted with 
 figures or patterns. Externally, enamelled bricks were used as 
 a decoration wherever sculptured slabs did not hide the crude 
 brick . 6 
 
 Much the same doubts and difficulties beset the subjects of 
 
 2 The single slab which filled the re- 
 
 cess (/ in ground-plan, No. I.) in the 
 
 greater of the two Nimrud temples, was 
 21 ft. long, 16 ft. 7 in. broad, and 1 ft. 
 
 1 in. thick. It contained thus 375 cubic 
 
 feet of stone, and must have weighed 
 nearly, if not quite, 30 tons. (See Layard’s 
 
 Nineveh and Babylon, p. 352.) 
 
 3 Ibid. p. 357. 
 
 * Note the position of the doorways, 
 6 and d, in ground-plan No. I. 
 
 5 See ground-plan No. II., entrance b. 
 
 0 Layard, Nineveh and Babylon, p. 359. 
 
Chap. VI. 
 
 TEMPLE ENTRANCE. 
 
 32 
 
 VOL. I, 
 
 Y 
 
 Entrance to smaller temple, Nimrud (after Layard). 
 
322 
 
 THE SECOND MONAKCHY. 
 
 Chap. VI. 
 
 the roofing and lighting of the temples as those which have 
 been discussed already in connection with the palaces. Though 
 the span of the temple-chambers is less than that of the great 
 palace halls, still it is considerable, sometimes exceeding thirty 
 feet . 7 No effort seems made to keep the temple-chambers 
 narrow, for their width is sometimes as much as two-thirds of 
 their length. Perhaps, therefore, they were hypaethral, like 
 the temples of the Greeks. All that seems to be certain is 
 that what roofing they had was of w T ood , 8 which at Nimrud. was 
 cedar, brought probably from the mountains of Syria. 
 
 Of the domestic architecture of the Assyrians we possess 
 absolutely no specimen. Excavation has been hitherto confined 
 to the most elevated portions of the mounds which mark the 
 sites of cities, where it was likely that remains of the greatest 
 interest would be found. Palaces, temples, and the great gates 
 which gave entrance to towns, have in this way seen the 
 light; but the humbler buildings, the ordinary dwellings of 
 the people, remain buried beneath the soil, unexplored and 
 even unsought for. In this entire default of any actual speci- 
 
 7 The chamber marked e in ground-plan No. I. (p. 319) was 47 ft. long by 
 
 31 ft. wide. (Layard, Nineveh and Babylon , p 352.) 8 Ibid. p. 357. 
 
Chap. VI. 
 
 DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE. 
 
 323 
 
 men of an ordinary Assyrian house, we naturally turn to the 
 sculptured representations which are so abundant and represent 
 so many different sorts of scenes. Even here, however, we 
 obtain but little light. The bulk of the slabs exhibit the wars 
 of the kings in foreign countries, and thus place before us 
 foreign rather than Assyrian architecture. The processional 
 slabs, which are another large class, contain rarely any building 
 at all, and, where they furnish one, exhibit to us a temple 
 rather than a house. The hunting scenes, representing wilds 
 far from the dwellings of man, afford us, as might be expected, 
 no help. Assyrian buildings, other than temples, are thus 
 most rarely placed before us. In one case, indeed, we have an 
 Assyrian city, which a foreign enemy is passing; but the only 
 
 Village near Aleppo (after Layard). 
 
 edifices represented are the walls and towers of the exterior, 
 and the temple (No. YI. p. 312) whose columns rest upon 
 lions. In one other we seem to have an unfortified Assyrian 
 village ; 9 and from this single specimen we are forced to form 
 our ideas of the ordinary character of Assyrian houses. 
 
 It is observable here, in the first place, that the houses have 
 no windows, and are, therefore, probably lighted from the 
 roof ; next, that the roofs are very curious, since, although flat 
 in some instances, they consist more often either of hemi- 
 spherical domes, such as are still so common in the East, or of 
 steep and high cones, such as are but seldom seen anywhere. 
 Mr. Layard finds a parallel for these last in certain villages of 
 Northern Syria, where all the houses have conical roofs, built 
 
 9 Layard, Monuments of Nineveh , PI. 1 7. 
 in the woodcut, p. 322. 
 
 A portion of this village is represented 
 
 Y 2 
 
324 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. YI. 
 
 of mud, which present a very singular appearance . 1 Both the 
 domes and the cones of the Assyrian example have evidently 
 an opening at the top, which may have admitted as much light 
 into the houses as was thought necessary. The doors are of 
 two kinds, square at the top, and arched; they are placed 
 commonly towards the sides of the houses. The houses them- 
 selves seem to stand separate, though in close juxtaposition. 
 
 The only other buildings of the Assyrians which appear to 
 require some notice are the fortified enceintes of their towns. 
 The simplest of these consisted of a single battlemented wall, 
 carried in lines nearly or quite straight along the four sides 
 of the place, pierced with gates and guarded at the angles, at 
 the gates, and at intervals along the curtain, with projecting 
 towers, raised not very much higher than the walls, and (appa- 
 rently) square in shape. In the sculptures we sometimes find 
 
 X/Wj 
 
 A/VWvj 
 
 
 
 
 
 A*VV 
 
 iA/SA/V\ 
 
 
 vwsaV 
 
 — , 
 
 Aaaaa/ 
 
 fVfWY| 
 
 
 % 
 
 
 
 
 V 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Assyrian battlemented wall. 
 
 the battlemented wall repeated twice or thrice in lines placed 
 one above the other, the intention being to represent the 
 defence of a city by two or three walls, such as we have seen 
 existed on one side of Nineveh . 2 
 
 The walls were often, if not always, guarded by moats. 
 Internally they were, in every case, constructed of crude brick ; 
 while externally it was common to face them with hewn stone, 
 either from top to bottom, or at any rate to a certain height. 
 At Khorsabad the stone revetement of one portion at least of 
 the wall was complete ; at Nimrud (Calah) and at Nineveh 
 itself, it was partial, being carried at the former of those places 
 only to the height of twenty feet . 3 The masonry at Khorsabad 
 
 1 Layard, Nineveh and Babylon, p. 112. 2 Supra, pp. 259-261. 
 
 The representation is of a village in the 3 Supra, p. 258, note *. 
 
 neighbourhood of Aleppo. 
 
Chap. VI. 
 
 FORTIFIED ENCEINTES. 
 
 325 
 
 was of three kinds. That of the palace mound, which formed 
 a portion of the outer defence, was composed entirely of blocks 
 of stone, square-hewn and of great size, the length of the 
 blocks varying from two to three yards, while the width was 
 one yard, and the height from five to six feet. The masonry 
 was laid somewhat curiously. The blocks (A A) were placed 
 alternately long-wise and end-wise against the crude brick (B), 
 so as not merely to lie against it, but to penetrate it with their 
 
 ends in many places . 4 Care was also taken to make the angles 
 especially strong, as will be seen by the accompanying section. 
 
 The rest of the defences at Khorsabad were of an inferior 
 character. The wall of the town had a width of about forty-five 
 feet, and its basement, to the height of three feet, was con- 
 structed of stone; but the blocks were neither so large, nor 
 were they hewn with the same care, as those of the palace 
 platform. The angles, indeed, were of squared stone ; but even 
 there the blocks measured no more than three feet in length 
 
 4 M. Botta says : “ Cette muraille 
 etait construite en blocs de pierre cal- 
 caire tres-dure, venant des montagnes 
 voisines : ces blocs ont la forme de 
 paralle'lopipedes rectangles d’une coupe 
 reguliere, et sont disposes par assises, de 
 maniere a presenter alternativement au 
 dehors leur face la plus large et une de 
 leurs extre'mites ; c’est-a-dire que tous 
 etant poses de champ, l’un tapisse le 
 massif, puis un et quelquefois deux 
 
 autres continuent l’assise par leurs ex- 
 tremites, la meme alternative se repetant 
 dans toute la longueur de celle-ci. II en 
 resulte qu’etant tous de meme longueur, 
 ceux qui presentent une extremite au 
 dehors depassent a l’interieur la ligne 
 des autres, et s’encastrent dans le massif 
 de briques. Cette disposition avait pour 
 but de lier solidement l’amas terreux 
 interieur au revetement exterieur.” (Mo- 
 nument de Mnive, vol. v. p. 31.) 
 
326 THE SECOND MONAKCHY. Chap, VI. 
 
 and a foot in height; the rest of the masonry consisted of 
 small polygonal stones, merely smoothed on their outer face, 
 and roughly fitting together in a manner recalling the Cyclo- 
 pian walls of Greece and Italy . 5 They were not united by any 
 cement. Above the stone basement was a massive structure 
 of crude brick, without any facing either of burnt brick or of 
 stone. 
 
 The third kind of masonry at Khorsabad was found outside 
 the main wall, and may have formed either part of the lining 
 of the moat or a portion of a tower, which may have projected 
 in advance of the wall at this point. It was entirely of stone. 
 The lowest course was formed of small and very irregular 
 polygonal blocks roughly fitted together ; above this came two 
 courses of carefully squared stones more than a foot long, but 
 less than six inches in width, which were placed end-wise, one 
 
 5 M. Botta makes this comparison 
 ( Monument de JS inive , 1 . s. c.). His re- 
 presentation, however, differs in two 
 main points from the ordinary Cyclopian 
 
 style: 1. the horizontal course seems to 
 be maintained throughout ; and 2. the 
 stones do not fit into each other at all 
 closely or with any exactness. 
 
Chap. VI. 
 
 MASONRY. 
 
 327 
 
 over the other, care being taken that the joints of the upper 
 tier should never coincide exactly with those of the lower. 
 Above these was a third course of hewn stones, somewhat 
 smaller than the others, which were laid in the ordinary 
 manner. Here the construction, as discovered, terminated ; but 
 it was evident, from the debris of hewn stones at the foot of 
 the wall, that originally the courses had been continued to a 
 much greater height . 6 
 
 In this description of the buildings raised by the Assyrians it 
 has been noticed more than once that they were not ignorant 
 of the use of the arch . 7 The old notion that the round arch 
 was a discovery of the Roman, and the pointed of the Gothic 
 architecture, has gradually faded away with our ever-increasing 
 knowledge of the actual state of the ancient world ; 8 and anti- 
 quarians were not, perhaps, very much surprised to learn, by 
 
 6 Botta, Monument de JSinive, vol. v. 
 p. 31. 
 
 7 Supra, pp. 301, 311, &c. 
 
 8 The earliest arches seem to be those 
 of Egypt, which mount at least to the 
 15th century before our era. (Wilkin- 
 son, Ancient Egyptians, 1st series, iii. p. 
 
 317 ; Faikener, Daedalus , App. p. 288.) 
 The Babylonian arches mentioned above 
 (p. 82) cannot be much later than b.c. 
 1300. The earliest known Assyrian 
 arches would belong to about the 9th 
 century b.c. 
 
328 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. YI. 
 
 the discoveries of Mr. Layard, that the Assyrians knew and 
 used both kinds of arch in their constructions. Some interest, 
 . however, will probably 
 
 be felt to attach to 
 the two questions, how 
 they formed their 
 arches, and to what 
 uses they applied them. 
 
 All the Assyrian 
 arches hitherto dis- 
 covered are of brick. 
 The round arches are 
 both of the crude and 
 of the kiln-dried ma- 
 terial, and are formed, 
 in each case, of bricks 
 made expressly for 
 vaulting, slightly con- 
 vex at top and slightly 
 concave at bottom, 
 with one broader and 
 one narrower end. The 
 arcbes are of the sim- 
 plest kind, being ex- 
 actly semicircular, and 
 rising from plain per- 
 pendicular jambs. The greatest width which any such arch 
 has been hitherto found to span is about fifteen feet . 9 
 
 The only pointed arch actually discovered is of burnt brick. 
 The bricks are of the ordinary shape, and not intended for 
 vaulting. They are laid side by side up to a certain point, 
 being bent into a slight arch by the interposition between them 
 of thin wedges of mortar. The two sides of the arch having 
 been in this way carried up to a point where the lower ex- 
 tremities of the two innermost bricks nearly touched, while a 
 
 Arched drain, North-West Palace, Nimrud 
 (after Layard). 
 
 Fergusson, Handbook of Architecture, vol. i. p. 173. 
 
Chap. VI. 
 
 USE OF THE ARCH. 
 
 329 
 
 considerable space remained between their upper extremities, 
 instead of a key-stone, or key-brick fitting the aperture, ordi- 
 nary bricks were placed in it longitudinally, and so the space 
 was filled in. 1 
 
 Arched drain, South-East Palace, Nimrud (after Layard). 
 
 Another mode of constructing a pointed arch seems to be 
 intended in a bas-relief, whereof a representation has been 
 already given. 2 The masonry of the arcade in No. Y. (p. 310) 
 runs (it will be seen) in horizontal lines up to the very edge of 
 the arch, thus suggesting a construction common in many of 
 the early Greek arches, where the stones are so cut away that 
 an arched opening is formed, though the real constructive 
 principle of the arch has no place in such specimens. 3 
 
 1 Layard, Nineveh and Babi/Ion, p. 163. 
 
 2 Supra, p. 310. 
 
 3 See Smith’s Dictionary of Greek and 
 
 Roman Antiquities, p. 125, 2nd edition ; 
 and Mr. Falkener’s Dcedalns, App. p. 288. 
 Compare the representation overleaf. 
 
330 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VI. 
 
 With regard to the uses whereto the Assyrians applied the 
 arch, it would certainly seem, from the evidence which we 
 
 possess, that they neither em- 
 ployed it as a great decorative 
 feature, nor yet as a main prin- 
 ciple of construction. So far as 
 appears, their chief use of it was 
 for doorways and gateways. Not 
 only are the town gates of Khor- 
 sabad found to have been arched 
 over, but in the representations 
 of edifices, whether native or 
 foreign, upon the bas-reliefs, the 
 arch for doors is commoner than 
 the square top. It is most pro- 
 bable that the great palace gate- 
 ways were thus covered in, while 
 it is certain that some of the interior doorways in palaces had 
 rounded tops. 4 Besides this use of the arch for doors and gates, 
 the Assyrians are known to have employed it for drains, aque- 
 ducts, and narrow chambers or galleries. 
 
 It has been suggested that the Assyrians applied the two 
 kinds of arches to different purposes, “ thereby showing more 
 science and discrimination than we do in our architectural 
 works ; ” that “ they used the pointed arch for underground 
 work, where they feared great superincumbent pressure on the 
 apex, and the round arch above ground, where that was not to 
 be dreaded.” 5 But this ingenious theory is scarcely borne out 
 by the facts. The round arch is employed underground in two 
 instances at Nimrud, 6 besides occurring in the basement story 
 of the great tower, 7 where the superincumbent weight must 
 have been enormous. And the pointed arch is used above 
 ground for the aqueduct and hanging garden in the bas-relief 
 (p. 310), where the pressure, though considerable, would not 
 
 False arch (Greek). 
 
 4 Infra, p. 335. [ 6 Layard, Nineveh and Babylon, pp. 162 
 
 5 Fergus son, Handbook of Architecture, | and 165. 
 
 p. 252. | 7 Supra, p. 318. 
 
Ohap. YI. 
 
 PATTERNED BRICKS. 
 
 33 
 
 have been very extraordinary. It would seem, therefore, to 
 be doubtful whether the Assyrians were really guided by any 
 constructive principle in their preference of one form of the 
 arch over the other. 
 
 In describing generally the construction of the palaces and 
 other chief buildings of the Assyrians, it has been necessary, 
 occasionally to refer to their ornamentation ; but the subject is 
 far from exhausted, and will now claim, for a short space, our 
 special attention. Beyond a doubt the chief adornment, both 
 of palaces and temples, consisted of the colossal bulls and lions 
 guarding the great gateways, together with the sculptured slabs 
 wherewith the walls, both internal and external, were ordinarily 
 covered to the height of twelve or sometimes even of fifteen 
 feet. These slabs and carved figures will necessarily be consi- 
 dered in connexion with Assyrian sculpture, of which they form 
 the most important part. It will, therefore, only be noted at 
 present that the extent of wall covered with the slabs was, in 
 the Khorsabad palace, at least 4000 feet, 8 or nearly four-fifths of 
 a mile, while in each of the Koyunjik palaces the sculptures 
 extended to considerably more than that distance. 
 
 The ornamentation of the walls above the slabs, both inter- 
 nally and externally, was by means of bricks painted on the 
 
 
 Assyrian patterns (Nimrud). 
 
 exposed side and covered with an enamel. The colours are for 
 the most part somewhat pale, but occasionally they possess 
 some brilliancy. Predominant among the tints are a pale blue, 
 
 8 Fergusson, Palaces of Nineveh, p. 265. 
 
332 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VI. 
 
 an olive green, and a dull yellow. White is also largely used ; 
 brown and black are not infrequent ; red is comparatively rare . 9 
 The subjects represented are either such scenes as occur upon 
 
 laaaaaaa <1<1<1<Z<1<1<J<1<J<1<1<1 
 
 o o (5 
 
 Assyrian patterns (Nimrud). 
 
 the sculptured slabs, or else mere patterns, scrolls, honey- 
 suckles, chevrons, gradines, guilloches, &c. In the scenes some 
 attempt seems to be made at representing objects in their 
 
 9 See Botta’s Monument de Ninive, vol. ii. Plates 155 and 156 ; Layard’s Monuments 
 of Nineveh, 1st series, Plates 84, 86, and 87 ; 2nd series, Plates 53, 54, and 55. 
 
Chap. VI. 
 
 BASES AND CAPITALS OF COLUMNS. 
 
 333 * 
 
 natural colours. The size of the figures is small; and it is 
 difficult to imagine that any great effect could have been 
 produced on the beholder by such minute drawings placed at 
 such a height from the ground. Probably the most effective 
 ornamentation of this kind was by means of patterns, which are 
 often graceful and striking (see opposite page). 
 
 It has been observed that, so far as the evidence at present 
 goes, the use of the column in Assyrian architecture would 
 
 No. I. 
 
 Pillar bases. 
 
 No. II. 
 
 seem to have been very rare indeed . 1 In palaces we have no 
 grounds for thinking that they were employed at all excepting 
 
 in certain of the interior doorways, which, being of unusual 
 breadth, seem to have been divided into three distinct portals by 
 means of two pillars placed towards the sides of the opening . 2 * * * 
 
 1 Supra, p. 303, note 6 . Mr. Fox 
 
 Talbot supposes that he has found a 
 
 mention of columns in a description given 
 
 of one of his palaces by Sennacherib. 
 
 ( Assyrian Texts Translated , p. 8.) But 
 
 the technical terms in the Assyrian 
 architectural descriptions are of such 
 
 doubtful meaning that no theory can at 
 present be rested upon them. 
 
 2 Layard, Nineveh and Babylon , p. 103 ; 
 Nineveh and its Remains , vol. i. Plan II. 
 opp. p. 34, and p. 376. Columns may 
 also have been used to support a covered 
 passage across a court. (Supra, p. 311.) 
 
334 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. YI. 
 
 No. IY. 
 Ibex capital. 
 
 The bases of these pillars were of stone, and have been found 
 in situ ; their shafts and capitals had disappeared, and can only 
 be supplied by conjecture. In the temples, 
 as we have seen, the use of the column was 
 more frequent. Its dimensions greatly varied. 
 Ordinarily it was too short and thick for 
 beauty , 3 while occasionally it had the opposite 
 defect, being too tall and slender . 4 Its base 
 was sometimes quite plain, sometimes diver- 
 sified by a few mouldings, sometimes curiously 
 and rather clumsily rounded (as in No. II. 
 above). The shaft was occasionally patterned . 5 
 The capital, in one instance (No. I.), approaches 
 to the Corinthian ; in another (No. II.) it re- 
 minds us of the Ionic ; but the volutes are 
 double, and the upper ones are surmounted by 
 an awkward-looking abacus. A third (No. III.) 
 is very peculiar, and to some extent explains the origin of the 
 second. It consists of two pairs of ibex horns, placed one over 
 the other. With this may be compared another (No. IV.), the 
 most remarkable of all, where we have first a single pair of 
 ibex horns, and then, at the summit, a complete figure of an 
 ibex, very graphically portrayed. 
 
 The beauty of Assyrian patterning has been already noticed. 
 Patterned work is found not only on the enamelled bricks, but 
 on stone pavement slabs, and around arched doorways leading 
 from one chamber to another, where the patterns are carved 
 with great care and delicacy upon the alabaster. The accom- 
 panying specimen of a doorway, which is taken from an unpub- 
 lished drawing by Mr. Boutcher, is very rich and elegant, though 
 it exhibits none but the very commonest of the Assyrian pat- 
 terns. A carving of a more elaborate type, and one presenting 
 even greater delicacy of workmanship, has been given in an 
 earlier portion of this chapter 6 as an example of a patterned 
 pavement slab. Slabs of this kind have been found in many 
 
 3 See above, p. 310, woodcut No. V. 4 Ibid., woodcut No. IV. 5 Ibid. 
 
 6 Page 279. 
 
Chai\ VI. 
 
 ORNAMENTATION. 
 
 335 
 
 of the palaces, and well deserve the attention of modern 
 designers. 
 
 When the architecture of the Assyrians is compared with 
 that of other nations possessing about the same degree of 
 civilisation, the impression that it leaves is perhaps somewhat 
 disappointing. Vast labour and skill, exquisite finish, the most 
 extraordinary elaboration, were bestowed on edifices so essen- 
 
 tially fragile and perishable that no care could have preserved 
 them for many centuries. Sun-dried brick, a material but little 
 superior to the natural clay of which it was composed, consti- 
 tuted everywhere the actual fabric, which was then covered 
 thinly and just screened from view by a facing, seldom more 
 than a few inches in depth, of a more enduring and handsomer 
 substance. The tendency of the platform mounds, as soon as 
 
336 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VI. 
 
 formed, must have been to settle down, to bulge at the sides 
 and become uneven at the top, to burst their stone or brick 
 facings and precipitate them into the ditch below, at the same 
 time disarranging and breaking up the brick pavements which 
 covered their surface. The weight of the buildings raised upon 
 the mounds must have tended to hasten these catastrophes, 
 while the unsteadiness of their foundations and the character 
 of their composition must have soon had the effect of throwing 
 the buildings themselves into disorder, of loosening the slabs 
 from the walls, causing the enamelled bricks to start from their 
 places, the colossal bulls and lions to lean over, and the roofs 
 to become shattered and fall in. The fact that the earlier 
 palaces were to a great extent dismantled by the later kings is 
 perhaps to be attributed, not so much to a barbarous resolve 
 that they would destroy the memorials of a former and a hostile 
 dynasty, as to the circumstance that the more ancient buildings 
 had fallen into decay and ceased to be habitable. The rapid 
 succession of palaces, the fact that, at any rate from Sargon 
 downwards, each monarch raises a residence, or residences, for 
 himself, is yet more indicative of the rapid deterioration and 
 dilapidation (so to speak) of the great edifices. Probably a 
 palace began to show unmistakable symptoms of decay and to 
 become an unpleasant residence at the end of some twenty-five 
 or thirty years from the date of its completion ; effective repairs 
 were, by the very nature of the case, almost impossible ; and it 
 was at once easier and more to the credit of the monarch 
 that he should raise a fresh platform and build himself a fresh 
 dwelling than that he should devote his efforts to keeping in 
 a comfortable condition the • crumbling habitation of his pre- 
 decessor. 
 
 It is surprising that, under these circumstances, a new style 
 of architecture did not arise. The Assyrians were not, like the 
 Babylonians, compelled by the nature of the country in which 
 they lived to use brick as their chief building material. M. 
 Botta expresses his astonishment at the preference of brick to 
 stone exhibited by the builders of Khorsabad, when the neigh- 
 bourhood abounds in rocky hills capable of furnishing an inex- 
 
Chap. YI. CURIOUS PREFERENCE OF BRICK TO STONE. 337 
 
 haustible supply of the better material. 7 The limestone range 
 of the Jebel Maklub is but a few miles distant, and many 
 outlying rocky elevations might have been worked with still 
 greater facility. Even at Nineveh itself, and at Calah or Nimrud, 
 though the hills were further removed, stone was, in reality, 
 plentiful. The cliffs a little above Eoyunjik are composed of 
 a “ hard sandstone,” 8 and a part of the moat of the town is 
 carried through “ compact silicious conglomerate.” 9 The town 
 is, in fact, situated on “a spur of rock” thrown off from the 
 Jebel Maklub, 1 which terminates at the edge of the ravine 
 whereby Nineveh was protected on the south. Calah, too, was 
 built on a number of “rocky undulations,” 2 and its western 
 wall skirts the edge of “conglomerate” cliffs, which have been 
 scarped by the hand of man. 3 A very tolerable stone was thus 
 procurable on the actual sites of these ancient cities ; and if a 
 better material had been wanted, it might have been obtained 
 in any quantity, and of whatever quality was desired, from the 
 Zagros range and its outlying rocky barriers. Transport could 
 scarcely have caused much difficulty, as the blocks might have 
 been brought from the quarries where they were hewn to the 
 sites selected for the cities by w r ater-carriage, — a mode of trans- 
 port well known to the Assyrians, as is made evident to us by 
 the bas-reliefs. (See the woodcut overleaf.) 
 
 If the best possible building material was thus plentiful in 
 Assyria, and its conveyance thus easy to manage, to what are 
 we to ascribe the decided preference shown for so inferior a 
 substance as brick? No considerable difficulty can have been 
 
 7 Monument de Ninive , vol. v. p. 64 : 
 “La maniere de batir les edifices est 
 d’autant plus singuliere, qu’a Niniye 
 (Khorsabad) au moins la pierre etait 
 tres-abondante et de bonne qualite, et 
 que rien ne forfait les habitans a se 
 servir de briques.” And again, p. 65 : 
 “ L’abondance des roches, soit calcaires, 
 soit gypseuses, pouvait leur fournir d’ex- 
 cellents materiaux aussi solides que fa- 
 ciles a travailler.” 
 
 8 Journal of Asiatic Society , vol. xv. 
 p. 317. 
 
 9 Ibid. p. 311. (See above, p. 259.) 
 YOL. I. 
 
 1 Ibid. pp. 317 and 323. 
 
 2 Ibid. p. 347. 
 
 3 Ibid. p. 346. It is very remarkable 
 that Mr. Layard should so entirely have 
 ignored these features of the geology of 
 Assyria in his account of the Assyrian 
 architecture. {Nineveh and its Remains 
 vol. ii. ch. ii. pp. 250-275.) It would be 
 concluded from his account by a reader 
 not otherwise informed on the subject, 
 that no stone but the delicate alabaster 
 used for the bas-reliefs was accessible to 
 the Assyrian architects. 
 
 Z 
 
338 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VI. 
 
 experienced in quarrying the stone of the country, which is 
 seldom very hard, and which was, in fact, cut by the Assyrians, 
 whenever they had any sufficient motive for removing or mak- 
 ing use of it . * * 4 One answer only can be reasonably given to 
 the question. The Assyrians had learnt a certain style of 
 architecture in the alluvial Babylonia, and having brought 
 it with them into a country far less fitted for it, maintained it 
 from habit, notwithstanding its unsuitableness . 5 In some few 
 
 respects, indeed, they made a slight change. The abundance 
 of stone in the country induced them to substitute it in several 
 places where in Babylonia it was necessary to use burnt brick, 
 as in the facings of platforms and of temples, in dams across 
 streams, in pavements sometimes, and universally in the orna- 
 mentation of the lower portions of palace and temple walls. 
 
 4 At Nimrud the western cliff is 
 “ artificially scarped ” to make it a se- 
 cure defence. ( Journal of As. Soc. vol. 
 xv. p. 346.) At Negoub the rock is tun- 
 nelled for some distance, and for a longer 
 space “ chiselled through a hard sand- 
 stone and surface-conglomerate to a 
 depth perhaps of forty feet.” (Ibid. p. 
 311.) At Nineveh the moat is carried 
 “ for upwards of two miles, with a 
 breadth of 200 feet, through a peculiarly 
 hard and compact silicious conglome- 
 
 r rate.” (Ibid. p. 320.) A very hard ba- 
 
 salt was used in the palace temple at 
 
 Khorsabad. (Supra, p. 296.) 
 
 5 M. Botta winds up his remarks on 
 the strangeness of the Assyrian archi- 
 tecture occurring where it does, by sug- 
 gesting “ que les monumens de Ninive 
 sont posterieurs a ceux de Babylone, et 
 que c’est dans ce dernier pays qu’il faut 
 chercher l’origine de l’art Assyrien ” 
 (p. 65). 
 
Chap. VI. 
 
 ASSYRIAN STATUES. 
 
 339 
 
 But otherwise they remained faithful to their architectural tra- 
 ditions, and raised in the comparatively hilly Assyria the exact 
 type of building which nature and necessity had led them to 
 invent and use in the flat and stoneless alluvium where they 
 had had their primitive abode. As platforms were required 
 both for security and for comfort in the lower region, they re- 
 tained them, instead of choosing natural elevations, in the 
 upper one. As clay was the only possible material in the one 
 place, clay was still employed, notwithstanding the abundance 
 of stone, in the other. Being 
 devoid of any great inventive 
 genius, the Assyrians found it 
 easier to maintain and slightly 
 modify a system with which 
 they had been familiar in their 
 original country than to devise 
 a new one more adapted to the 
 land of their adoption. 
 
 Next to the architecture of 
 the Assyrians, their mimetic art 
 seems to deserve attention. 
 
 Though the representations in 
 the works of Layard and Botta, 
 combined with the presence of 
 so many specimens in the great 
 National Museums of London and Paris, have produced a 
 general familiarity with the subject, still, as a connected view 
 of it in its several stages and branches is up to the present 
 time a desideratum in our literature, 1 it may not be superfluous 
 here to attempt a brief account of the different classes into 
 which their productions in this kind of art fall, and the different 
 eras and styles under which they naturally range themselves. 
 
 nr isrmiui r, 
 
 f Jii[i^T)\waanw?ivcw^'ftisa 
 iia^uiu>MifWTrfe;wsw*^ii'rw 
 
 'j ^ i 
 
 N i uiiiu raraiwps son // ' 
 
 Assyrian statue (Ivileh-Sherghat). 
 
 1 Mr. Eergusson, who has treated of 
 tfye architecture of the Assyrians with 
 so much knowledge and ingenuity, says 
 but little on the subject of their sculp- 
 ture. Mr. Layard’s review of the sub- 
 ject in his first work (Book ii. ch. ii.) is 
 
 the best which at present exists ; but it 
 is of necessity incomplete, owing to the 
 early period in the history of Assyrian 
 discovery at which it was composed. 
 Its views are also occasionally open to 
 dispute. 
 
 z 2 
 
349 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VI. 
 
 Assyrian mimetic art consists of statues, bas-reliefs, metal- 
 castings, carvings in ivory, statuettes in clay, enamellings on 
 brick,, and intaglios on stones and gems. 
 
 Assyrian statues are comparatively rare, and, when they 
 occur, are among the least satisfactory of this people’s pro- 
 ductions. They are coarse, clumsy, 
 purely formal in their design, and 
 generally characterised by an undue 
 flatness, or want of breadth in the 
 side view, as if they were only in- 
 tended to be seen directly in front. 
 Sometimes, however, this defect is 
 not apparent. A sitting statue in 
 black basalt, of the size of life, repre- 
 senting an early king, which Mr. 
 Layard discovered atKileh-Sherghat , 2 
 and which is now in the British 
 Museum, may be instanced as quite 
 free from this disproportion. It is 
 very observable, however, in another 
 of the royal statues recently reco- 
 vered , 3 as it is also in the monolith 
 bulls and lions universally. Other- 
 wise, the proportions of the figures 
 are commonly correct. They bear a 
 resemblance to the archaic Greek, 
 especially to that form of it which 
 we find in the sculptures from Bran- 
 chidse. They have just the same 
 rudeness, heaviness, and stiff formality. 
 It is difficult to judge of their exe- 
 cution, as they have mostly suffered 
 great injury from the hand of man, 
 or from the weather; hut the royal statue here represented, 
 which is in better preservation than any other Assyrian work 
 
 2 See Lavard, Nineveh and its Itemains, vol. ii. pp. 51, 52. 
 
 2 Layard, Nineveh and Babylon, p. 361. This statue is also in the British Museum. 
 
 Statue of Sardanapalus I. 
 (from Nimrud). 
 
Chap. VI. 
 
 CLAY STATUETTES. 
 
 341 
 
 “ in the round ” that has come down to us, exhibits a rather high 
 finish.* It is smaller than life, being about three and a half 
 feet high : the features are majestic, and well marked ; the hair 
 and beard are elaborately curled ; the arms and hands are well 
 shaped, and finished with care. The dress is fringed elabo- 
 rately, and descends to the ground, concealing all the lower 
 part of the figure. The only statues recovered besides these 
 are two of the god Nebo, brought from Nimrud , 4 a mutilated 
 one of Ishtar, or Astarte, found at Koyunjik, and a tolerably 
 perfect one of Sargon, which was discovered at Idalium, in the 
 island of Cyprus . 5 
 
 Clay statuettes of the god Nebo (?). 
 
 The clay statuettes of the Assyrians possess even less artistic 
 merit than their statues. They are chiefly images of gods or 
 genii, and have most commonly something grotesque in their 
 appearance. Among the most usual are figures which represent 
 either Mylitta (Beltis), or Ishtar . 6 They are made in a fine 
 terra cotta, which has turned of a pale red in baking, and are 
 coloured with a cretaceous coating, so as greatly to resemble 
 Greek pottery . 7 Another type is that of an old man, bearded, 
 and with hands clasped, which we may perhaps identify with 
 
 4 One of these is figured above, p. 141. 
 
 The actual statues are both in the British 
 
 Museum. 
 
 5 This statue is in the Berlin Museum. 
 
 6 See above, p. 140. 
 
 7 Birch, Ancient Pottery , vol. i. p. 124. 
 
342 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VI. 
 
 Nebo, the Assyrian Mercury, since his statues in the British 
 Museum have a somewhat similar character. Other foriUs are 
 the fish-god Nin, or Nin-ip ; and the deities, not yet identified, 
 which were found by M. Botta under the pavement-bricks 
 at Khorsabad. These 
 specimens have the 
 formal character of 
 the statues, and are 
 even more rudely 
 shaped. Other ex- 
 amples, which carry 
 the grotesque to an 
 excess, appear to have 
 been designed with 
 greater spirit and 
 freedom. Animal and 
 hum an forms are som e- 
 times intermixed in 
 them ; and while it 
 cannot be denied that 
 they are rude and 
 coarse, it must be al- 
 lowed on the other 
 hand, that they pos- 
 sess plenty of vigour. 
 
 M. Botta has engraved 
 several specimens , 8 in- 
 cluding two which have the hind legs and tail of a bull, with a 
 human neck and arms, the head bearing the usual horned cap. 
 
 Small figures of animals in terra cotta have also been found. 
 They consist chiefly of dogs and ducks. A representation of 
 each has been given in the chapter on the productions of 
 Assyria . 9 The dogs discovered are made of a coarse clay, and 
 seem to have been originally painted . 10 They are not wanting 
 
 Clay statuette of 
 the Fish-god. 
 
 Clay statuette from Khorsabad 
 (after Botta). 
 
 8 Monument de Ninive , vol. ii. plates 
 152 to 155. 
 
 9 Supra, p. 234 (No. I.) and p. 235. 
 
 10 According to Mr. Birch, the colours 
 
 used were “blue, red, and black,” and they 
 were “ laid on in a paste ” ( Ancient Pot- 
 tery, vol. i. p. 125). At present the traces 
 of colour on the dogs are very faint. 
 
Chap. VI. 
 
 BAS-RELIEFS. 
 
 343 
 
 in spirit ; but it detracts from their merit that the limbs are 
 merely in relief, the whole space below the belly of the animal 
 being filled up with a mass of clay for the sake of greater 
 strength. The ducks are of a fine yellow material, and repre- 
 sent the bird asleep, with its head lying along its back. 
 
 Of all the Assyrian works of art which have come down to 
 us by far the most important are the bas-reliefs. It is here 
 especially, if not solely, that we can trace progress in style; 
 and it is here alone that we see the real artistic genius of the 
 people. What sculpture in its full form, or in the slightly 
 modified form of very high relief, was to the Greeks, what 
 painting has been to modern European nations since the time 
 of Cimabue, that low relief was to the Assyrians — the practical 
 mode in which artistic power found vent among them. They 
 used it for almost every purpose to which mimetic art is appli- 
 cable ; to express their religious feelings and ideas, to glorify 
 their kings, to hand down to posterity the nation’s history and 
 its deeds of prowess, to depict home scenes and domestic occu- 
 pations, to represent landscape and architecture, to imitate 
 animal and vegetable forms, even to illustrate the mechanical 
 methods which they employed in the construction of those vast 
 architectural works, of which the reliefs were the principal 
 ornamentation. It is not too much to say that we know the 
 Assyrians, not merely artistically, but historically and ethno- 
 logically, chiefly through their bas-reliefs, which seem to repre- 
 sent to us almost the entire life of the people. 
 
 The reliefs may be divided under five principal heads : — 1. 
 War scenes, including battles, sieges, devastations of an enemy’s 
 country, naval expeditions, and triumphant returns from foreign 
 war, with the trophies and fruits of victory ; 2. Eeligious 
 scenes, either mythical or real; 3. Processions, generally of 
 tribute-bearers, bringing the produce of their several countries 
 to the Great King ; 4. Hunting and sporting scenes, including 
 the chase of savage animals, and of animals sought for food, the 
 spreading of nets, the shooting of birds, and the like ; and 5. Scenes 
 of ordinary life, as those representing the transport and erection 
 of colossal bulls, landscapes, temples, interiors, gardens, &c. 
 
344 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. YI. 
 
 The earliest art is that of the most ancient palaces at Nimrucl. 
 It belongs to the latter part of the tenth century before our 
 era ; the time of Asa in Judaea, of Omri and Ahab in Samaria, 
 and of the Sheshonks in Egypt. It is characterised by much 
 spirit and variety in the design, by strength and firmness, com- 
 bined with a good deal of heaviness, in the execution, by an 
 entire contempt for perspective, and by the rigid preservation 
 in almost every case, both human and animal, of the exact 
 profile both of figure and face. 1 Of the illustrations already 
 given in the present volume a considerable number belong to 
 this period. The heads on page 237, and the figures on page 
 242, represent the ordinary appearance of the men, 2 while animal 
 
 forms of the time will be found in the lion on page 220, the 
 ibex on page 221, the gazelle on page 224, the horse on page 
 232, and the horse and wild bull on page 227. It will be seen 
 upon reference that the animal are very much superior to the 
 human forms, a characteristic which is not, however, peculiar 
 to the style of this period, but belongs to all Assyrian art, from 
 its earliest to its latest stage. A favourable specimen of the 
 style will be found in the lion hunt which Mr. Layard has 
 
 1 The only exceptions are believed to fig. 7.) 
 
 be a few instances of lions’ heads, and 2 The woodcut on page 242 is also 
 one human head on the ornamentation a good specimen of the defective per- 
 of dresses at Nimrud. (See Layard’s spective ot the Assyrian artists. 
 Monuments , 1st Series, Plates 9 and 50, I 
 
 Lion-hunt, from Nimrud. 
 
Chap. VI. CHARACTER OF THE EARLIEST BAS-RELIEFS. 345 
 
 engraved in his ‘Monuments,’ 3 and of which lie himself ob- 
 serves, that it is “ one of the finest specimens hitherto discovered 
 of Assyrian sculpture.” 4 The composition is at once simple 
 and effective. The king forms the principal object nearly in. 
 the centre of the picture, and by the superior height of his 
 conical head-dress, and the position of the two arrows which he 
 holds in the hand that draws the bowstring, dominates over the 
 entire composition. As he turns round to shoot down at the 
 lion which assails him from behind, his body is naturally and 
 gracefully bent, while his charioteer, being engaged in urging 
 his horses forward, leans naturally in the opposite direction, 
 thus contrasting with the main figure and balancing it. The 
 lion immediately behind the chariot is outlined with great spirit 
 and freedom ; his head is masterly ; the fillings up of the body, 
 however, have too much conventionality. As he rises to attack 
 the monarch, he conducts the eye up to the main figure, while 
 at the same time by this attitude his principal lines form a 
 pleasing contrast to the predominant perpendicular and hori- 
 zontal lines of the general composition. The dead lion in front 
 of the chariot balances the living one behind it, and, with its 
 crouching attitude, and drooping head and tail, contrasts admir- 
 ably with the upreared form of its fellow. Two attendants, 
 armed with sword and shield, following behind the living lion, 
 serve to balance the horses drawing the chariot, without ren- 
 dering the composition too symmetrical. The horses themselves 
 are the weakest part of the picture ; the fore-legs are stiff and 
 too slight, and the heads possess little spirit. 
 
 It is seldom that designs of this early period can boast nearly 
 so much merit. The religious and processional pieces are stiff 
 in the extreme ; 5 the battle scenes are overcrowded and con- 
 fused ; 6 the hunting scenes are superior to these, 7 but in general 
 
 3 Monuments of Nineveh, 1st Series, 
 
 PI. 10. 
 
 4 Ibid. p. 3. 
 
 5 See ibid. Plates 12, 23, 24, &c. 
 
 6 See particularly, in the same work, 
 Plates 13, 14, 19, 28, and 29. 
 
 1 The hunt of the wild bull (Plate 1 1), 
 a pendant to the hunt of the lion above 
 
 described, resembles it in many respects, 
 but on the whole is decidedly inferior. 
 Several hunting scenes, possessing con- 
 siderable merit, are represented on the 
 embroidery of dresses. (See PI. 44, fig. 
 6 ; PI. 48, figs. 4 and 6 ; PI. 49, figs. 3 
 and 4 ; and PI. 50, fig. 1.) 
 
34-6 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VI. 
 
 they too fall far below the level of the above-described com- 
 position. 
 
 The best drawing of this period is found in the figures forming 
 the patterns or embroidery of dresses. The gazelle, of which 
 
 a representation has been given (page 224), the ibex (page 221), 
 the horse (page 232), and the horseman hunting the wild bull 
 (page 227), are from ornamental work of this kind. They are 
 
Chap. VI. CHARACTER OF THE EARLIEST BAS-RELIEFS. 347 
 
 favourable specimens perhaps ; but, still, they are representa- 
 tives of a considerable class. Some examples even exceed these 
 in the freedom of their 
 outline, and the vigorous 
 action which they depict, 
 as, for instance, the man 
 seizing a wild bull by the 
 horn and fore-leg, which 
 is figured page 346. In 
 general, however, there is 
 a tendency in these early 
 drawings to the grotesque. 
 
 Lions and bulls appear 
 inabsurd attitudes ; hawk- Death of a wild bul1 ( Nimrud )- 
 
 headed figures in petticoats threaten human-headed lions with 
 a mace or a strap, sometimes holding them by a paw, some- 
 times grasping them 
 round the middle of the 
 tail ; priests hold up 
 ibexes at arm’s length 
 by one of their hind- 
 legs, so that their heads 
 trail upon the ground ; 
 griffins claw after ante- 
 lopes, or antelopes toy 
 with winged lions; even 
 in the hunting scenes, 
 
 which are less simply 
 
 ludicrous, there seems to 
 be an occasional striving 
 after strange and laughable attitudes, as when a stricken bull 
 tumbles upon his head, with his tail tossed straight in the air, 
 or when a lion receives his death-wound with arms outspread, 
 and mouth widely agape. 
 
 The second period of Assyrian mimetic art extends from the 
 latter part of the eighth to nearly the middle of the seventh 
 century before our era ; or, more exactly, from about b.c. 721, to 
 
 King killing a lion (Nimrud). 
 
348 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VI. 
 
 B.c. 667. It belongs to the reigns of the three consecutive kings 
 — Sargon, Sennacherib, and Esar-haddon, who were contem- 
 porary with Hezekiah and Manasseh in Judaea, and with the Sa- 
 bacos (Shebeks) and Tirhakah (Tehrak) in Egypt. The sources 
 which chiefly illustrate this period are the magnificent series of 
 engravings published by MM. Flandin and Botta, 1 together with 
 the originals of a certain portion of them in the Louvre ; the 
 engravings in Mr. Layard’s first folio work, from pi. 68 to pi. 83 ; 
 those in his second folio work from pi. 7 to 44, and from pi. 50 
 to 56 ; the originals of many of these in the British Museum ; 
 several monuments procured for the British Museum by Mr. 
 Loftus; and a series of unpublished drawings by Mr. Boutcher 
 in the same great national collection. 2 
 
 The most obvious characteristic of this period, when we 
 compare it with the preceding one, is the advance which the 
 
 artists have made in their vegetable forms, and the pre-Ba- 
 phaelite accuracy which they affect in all the accessories of 
 their representations. In the bas-reliefs of the first period we 
 have, for the most part, no backgrounds. Figures alone occupy 
 
 1 Monument de Ninive, Paris, 1849. 
 The descriptive letter - press is by M. 
 
 Botta. The drawings were executed by 
 M. Flandin, and engraved by MM. Sellier, 
 
 Peronard, Oury, and others. 
 
 2 These drawings have been kindly 
 placed at my disposal by Mr. Vaux, of 
 the Antiquities’ Department. 
 
Ciiap. VI. 
 
 BAS-HELIEFS OF THE SECOND PERIOD. 
 
 349 
 
 the slabs, or figures and buildings. In some few instances 
 water is represented in a very rude fashion ; 3 and once or twice 
 only do we meet with 
 trees, 4 which, when 
 they occur, are of the 
 poorest and strangest 
 character (see page 
 348). In the second 
 period, on the con- 
 trary, back - grounds 
 are the rule, and slabs 
 without them form the 
 exception. The vege- 
 table forms are abund- 
 ant and varied, though 
 still somewhat too con- 
 ventional. Date-palms, 
 firs, and vines are de- 
 lineated with skill and 
 spirit ; other varieties 
 are more difficult to 
 recognise. The cha- 
 racter of the countries 
 through which armies 
 march is almost always 
 given 5 — their streams, 
 lakes, and rivers, their 
 hills and mountains, 
 their trees, and in the 
 case of marshy dis- 
 tricts, their tall reeds. 
 
 At the same time, ani- 
 mals in the wild state are freely introduced without their having 
 any bearing on the general subject of the picture. The water 
 
 3 See Mr. Layard’s Monuments , 1st 
 Series, Plates 15, 16, 33, and 39 b. 
 
 4 Ibid. Plates 13, 14, and 33. 
 
 5 This is particularly the case in the 
 
 sculptures of Sennacherib. In those of 
 Sargon, backgrounds are still rather the 
 exception than the rule. 
 
350 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. YI. 
 
 teems with, fish, ancl, where the sea is represented, with crabs, 
 turtle, star-fish, sea serpents, and other monsters . 6 The woods 
 are alive with birds ; wild swine and stags people the marshes . 7 
 Nature is evidently more and more studied ; and the artist 
 takes a delight in adorning the scenes of violence, which he 
 is forced to depict, with quiet touches of a gentle character — 
 rustics fishing or irrigating their grounds, fish disporting them- 
 selves, birds flying from tree to tree, or watching the callow 
 young which look up to them from the nest for protection . 8 
 
 In regard to human forms, no great advance marks this 
 period. A larger variety in their attitudes is indeed to be traced, 
 
 Groom and horses, Khorsabad (after Layard). 
 
 and a greater energy and life appears in most of the figures; 
 but there is still much the same heaviness of outline, the same 
 over-muscularity, and the same general clumsiness and want of 
 grace. Animal forms show a much more considerable improve- 
 ment. Horses are excellently portrayed, the attitudes being 
 varied, and the heads especially delineated with great spirit (see 
 
 8 Botta, Monument de Ninive, vol. i. 
 Plates 32 to 34 ; Layard, Monuments of 
 Nineveh, 1st Series, PI. 71. 
 
 " See the representations on pages 40 
 and 225. 
 
 8 Mon. of Nineveh , 2nd Series, PI. 40. 
 
Chap. VI. 
 
 EXCELLENCE OF THE ANIMAL FORMS. 
 
 351 
 
 opposite). Mules and camels are well expressed , 9 but have 
 scarcely the vigour of the horses. Horned cattle, as oxen, both 
 with and without humps, 
 goats, and sheep are very 
 skilfully treated, being repre- 
 sented with much character, 
 in natural yet varied atti- 
 tudes, and often admirably 
 grouped. 
 
 The composition during 
 this period is more compli- 
 cated and more ambitious \ V 
 than during the preceding ^ 
 one; but it may be ques- 
 
 : A Assyrian oxen (Koyunjik). 
 
 tioned whether it is so enec- 
 
 tive. No single scene of the time can compare for grandeur 
 with the lion-hunt above described . 10 The battles and sieges 
 
 are spirited, bnt want unity ; the hunting-scenes are compara- 
 tively tame ; 11 the representations of the transport of colossal 
 
 9 See above, pp. 230, 233. 
 
 10 Pages 344, 345. 
 
 11 No lion-hunt nor bull-hunt has been 
 
 found in the sculptures of this time. 
 The chase seems confined to hares, ga- 
 zelles, and birds. 
 
352 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VI. 
 
 bulls possess more interest than artistic merit. On tbe other 
 hand, the manipulation is decidedly superior ; the relief is 
 higher, the outline is more flowing, the finish of the features 
 
 more delicate. What is lost in grandeur of composition is, on 
 the whole, more than made up by variety, naturalness, improved 
 handling, and higher finish. 
 
 The highest perfection of Assyrian art is in the third period, 
 which extends from b.c. 667 to about b.c. 640. It synchronises 
 with the reign of Asshur-bani-pal, the son of Esar-haddon, who 
 appears to have been contemporary with Gyges in Lydia, 1 and 
 with Psammetichus in Egypt. The characteristics of the time 
 are a less conventional type in the vegetable forms, a wonderful 
 freedom, spirit, and variety in the forms of animals, extreme 
 minuteness and finish in the human figures, and a delicacy in 
 the handling considerably beyond that of even the second or 
 middle period. The sources illustrative of this stage of the art 
 consist of the plates in Mr. Layard’s ‘ Second Series of Monu- 
 ments/ from pi. 45 to 49, the originals of these in the British 
 Museum, the noble series of slabs obtained by Mr. Loftus from 
 the northern palace of Koyunjik, and of the drawings made 
 from them 2 and from other slabs, which were in a more da- 
 maged condition, by Mr. Boutcher, who accompanied Mr. Loftus 
 in the capacity of artist. 
 
 Vegetable forms are, on the whole, somewhat rare. The 
 artists have relinquished the design of representing scenes with 
 
 1 See below, chapter ix. There is reason 
 to believe that the Eusebian date for 
 Gyges (b.c. 698 to b.c. 662) is more cor- 
 rect than the Herodotean — b.c. 724 to 
 B.c. 686. 
 
 2 These drawings, which are in the 
 British Museum, having been taken 
 
 when the slabs were freshly exhumed, 
 often preserve features which have dis- 
 appeared during the transport of the 
 originals and their preparation for exhi- 
 bition. By the kindness of Mr. Vaux, 
 the free use of the drawings has been 
 allowed to the author of the present work. 
 
Chap. VI. 
 
 BAS-RELIEFS OF THE THIRD PERIOD. 
 
 353 
 
 perfect truthfulness, and have recurred as a general rule, to the 
 plain backgrounds of the first period. This is particularly the 
 case in the hunting-scenes, which are seldom accompanied by 
 any landscape whatsoever. In processional and military scenes 
 
 Vine trained on a fir (?), from the North Palace, Koyunjik. 
 
 landscape is introduced, but sparingly ; the forms, for the most 
 part, resembling those of the second period . 3 Now and then, 
 
 3 See the illustration (No. V.) on page 310, which belongs to this time; and 
 compare the trees with those represented, supra, p. 349. 
 
 VOL. I. 2 A 
 
354 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VI. 
 
 however, in such scenes the landscape has been made the object 
 of special attention, becoming the prominent part, while the 
 human figures are accessories. It is here that an advance in 
 art is particularly discernible. In one set of slabs a garden 
 seems to be represented. Vines are trained upon trees, which 
 may be either firs or cypresses, winding elegantly around their 
 stems, and on either side letting fall their pendant branches 
 laden with fruit. Leaves, branches, and tendrils are delineated 
 
 with equal truth and finish, 
 a most pleasing and grace- 
 ful effect being thereby pro- 
 duced. Irregularly among 
 the trees occur groups of 
 lilies, some in bud, some 
 in full blow, all natural, 
 graceful, and spirited. 
 
 It is difficult to do justice 
 to the animal delineation 
 of this period, without re- 
 producing before the eye 
 of the reader the entire 
 series of reliefs and draw- 
 ings which belong to it. 
 It is the infinite variety in 
 the attitudes, even more 
 than the truth and natural- 
 ness of any particular spe- 
 cimens, that impresses us 
 as we contemplate the 
 
 Lilies, from the North Palace, Koyunjik. 
 
 series. Lions, wild asses, dogs, deer, wild goats, horses are 
 represented in profusion ; and we scarcely find a single form 
 which is repeated. Some specimens have been already given, 
 as the hunted stag and hind on page 224, and the startled wild 
 ass on page 223, Others will occur among the illustrations of 
 the next chapter. For the present it may suffice to draw atten- 
 tion to the spirit of the two falling asses in the subjoined wood- 
 cut (No. I.), and of the crouching lion in the woodcut No. II. 
 (opposite) ; to the life-like force of both ass and hounds in the 
 
Chap. VI. 
 
 VEGETABLE AND ANIMAL FORMS. 
 
 355 
 
 representation No. III. (overleaf), and here particularly to 
 the bold drawing of one of 
 the dog’s heads in full, instead 
 of in profile — a novelty now 
 first occurring in the bas-reliefs. 
 
 As instances of still bolder 
 attempts at unusual attitudes, 
 and at the same time of a cer- 
 tain amount of fore-shortening, 
 two further illustrations are 
 appended. The sorely-wounded 
 lion in the first (p. 357) turns 
 his head piteously towards the 
 cruel shaft, while he totters 
 to his falL his limbs failing 
 him, and his eyes beginning 
 to close. The more slightly- 
 stricken king of beasts in the 
 second (p. 358), urged to fury 
 by the smart of his wound, 
 rushes at the chariot whence 
 the shaft was sped, and in his 
 mad agony springs upon a 
 wheel, clutches it with his two 
 fore-paws, and frantically grinds 
 it between his teeth. Assyrian 
 art, so far as it is as yet known, 
 has no finer specimen of ani- 
 mal drawing than this head, 
 which may challenge comparison with anything of the kind 
 that either classic or modern art has produced. 
 
 No. II. Lion about to spring, from the North Palace, Koyunjik. 
 
 2a2 
 
 No. I. Death of two wild asses, from the North Palace, Koyunjik. 
 
356 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. YI. 
 
 As a specimen at once of animal vigour and of the delicacy 
 and finish of the workmanship in the human forms of the time, 
 a bas-relief of the king receiving the spring of a lion, and shoot- 
 ino* an arrow into his mouth, while a second lion advances at a 
 
 rapid pace a little behind 
 the first, may be adduced 
 (see page 359). The bold- 
 ness of the composition, 
 7 ? which represents the first 
 lion actually in mid-air, is 
 ~ remarkable ; the drawing of 
 | the brute’s fore-paws, ex- 
 ^ panded to seize his intended 
 o prey, is life-like and very 
 
 0 spirited, while the head is 
 c massive and full of vigour. 
 £ There is something noble 
 
 in the calmness of the mo- 
 ! narch contrasted with the 
 comparative eagerness of the 
 § attendant, who stretches for- 
 * ward with shield and spear 
 
 1 to protect his master from 
 | destruction, if the arrow 
 'g fails. The head of the king 
 g is, unfortunately, injured ; 
 ^ but the remainder of the 
 g figure is perfect ; and here, 
 j| in the elaborate ornamenta- 
 tion of the whole dress, we 
 have an example of the 
 careful finish of the time — 
 a finish which is so light 
 
 and delicate that it does not interfere with the general effect, 
 being scarcely visible at a few yards distance. 
 
 The faults which still remain in this best period of Assyrian 
 art are heaviness and stiffness of outline in the human forms , 
 
Chap. VI. 
 
 SPIRIT OF THE ANIMAL FORMS. 
 
 357 
 
 a want of expression in the faces, and of variety and animation 
 in the attitudes; and an almost complete disregard of per- 
 spective. If the worst of these faults are anywhere overcome it 
 would seem to be in the land lion-hunt, from which the noble 
 head represented below is taken ; 4 and in the river-hunt of the 
 same beast, found on a slab too much injured to be removed, 
 of which a representation is given on page 361. From what 
 appears to have remained of the four figures towards the prow 
 of the boat, we may conclude that there was a good deal of 
 animation here. The drawing must certainly have been less 
 stiff than usual ; and if there is not much variety in the atti- 
 
 No. I. Wounded lion, about to fall, from the North Palace, Koyunjik. 
 
 tudes of the three spearmen in front, at any rate those attitudes 
 contrast well, both with the stillness of the unengaged attend- 
 ants in the rear, and with the animated but very different 
 attitude of the king. 
 
 Before the subject of Assyrian sculpture is dismissed, it is 
 necessary to touch the question, whether the Assyrians applied 
 colour to statuary, and if so, in what way and to what extent. 
 Did they, like the Egyptians, 1 cover the whole surface of the 
 stone with a layer of stucco, and then paint the sculptured parts 
 
 4 See page 358. A representation of 
 the whole scene would have been given, 
 had this work been on a larger scale ; 
 but it is impossible to do justice to the 
 highly-finished sculptures of this time 
 within the limits of an ordinary octavo. 
 
 The scene itself may be studied in the 
 British Museum. It occupies a portion 
 of the eastern wall in the underground 
 Assyrian apartment. 
 
 1 See Wilkinson’s Ancient Egyptians , 
 1st Series, vol. iii. p. 300. 
 
358 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. YI. 
 
 with strong colours — red, blue, yellow, w 7 hite, and black ? Or 
 did they, like the Greeks , 2 apply paint to certain portions of 
 
 
 
 
 2 See Wilkinson’s Ancient Egyptians , I what further than Wilkinson ; hut still 
 1st Series, vol. iii. p. 299. Wornum, in maintains that the Greeks did not colour 
 Smith’s Dictionary of Greek and Roman the flesh of statues. 
 
 Antiquities (ad voc. Pictura), goes some- 
 
 No. II. Wounded lion biting a chariot-wheel, from the North Palace, Koyunji! 
 
Chap. VI. 
 
 SPIRIT OF THE ANIMAL FORMS. 
 
 359 
 
 their sculptures only, as the hair, eyes, beard, and draperies ? 
 Or, finally, did they simply leave the stone in its natural condi- 
 tion, like the Italians and the modern sculptors generally ? 
 
 King shooting a lion on the spring, from the North Palace, Koyunjik. 
 
360 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VI. 
 
 The present appearance of the sculptures is most in accord- 
 ance with the last of these three theories, or at any rate with 
 that theory very slightly modified by the second. The slabs 
 now offer only the faintest and most occasional traces of colour. 
 The evidence, however, of the original explorers is distinct, that 
 at the time of discovery these traces were very much more 
 abundant. Mr. Layard observed colour at Nimrud on the hair, 
 beard, and eyes of the figures, on the sandals and the bows, on 
 the tongues of the eagle-headed mythological emblems, on a 
 garland round the head of a winged priest (?), and on the repre- 
 sentation of fire in the bas-relief of a siege . 3 At Khorsabad, 
 MM. Botta and Flandin found paint on the fringes of draperies, 
 on fillets, on the mitre of the king, on the flowers carried by 
 the winged figures, on bows and spear-shafts, on the harness of 
 the horses, on the chariots, on the sandals, on the birds, and 
 sometimes on the trees . 4 The torches used to fire cities, and the 
 flames of the cities themselves were invariably coloured red. 
 M. Flandin also believed that he could detect, in some in- 
 stances, a faint trace of yellow ochre on the flesh and on the 
 background of bas-reliefs, whence he concluded that this tint 
 was spread over every part not otherwise coloured . 5 
 
 It is evident, therefore, that the theory of an absence of 
 colour, or of a very rare use of it, must be set aside. Indeed, 
 as it is certain that the upper portions of the palace-walls, both 
 inside and outside, were patterned with coloured bricks, cover- 
 ing the whole space above the slabs, it must be allowed to be 
 extremely improbable that at a particular line colour would sud- 
 denly and totally cease. The laws of decorative harmony forbid 
 such abrupt transitions ; and to these laws all nations with any 
 taste instinctively and unwittingly conform. The Assyrian 
 reliefs were therefore, we may be sure, to some extent coloured. 
 The real question is, to what extent — in the Egyptian or in the 
 classical style ? 
 
 3 Nineveh and its Remains , vol. ii. p. 
 306. 
 
 4 See M. Botta’s Monument de Ninive , 
 
 Plates 12, 14, 43, 53, 61, 62, 63, &c. 
 Compare the general statement, vol. v. 
 
 p. 178. 
 
 5 See his Voyage arch€olog\que a Ninive , * 
 
 in the Revue des Deux Mondes , for July, 
 1845, p. 106. 
 
Lion-hunt in a river, from the North Palace, Koyunjik (ab. b .c. 660 ). 
 
362 
 
 THE SECOND MONAKCHY. 
 
 Chap. Vi- 
 
 lli Mr. Layard’s First Series of ‘Monuments/ a preference 
 was expressed for what may be called the Egyptian theory. In 
 the Frontispiece of that work, and in the second Plate, containing 
 the restoration of a palace interior, the entire bas-reliefs were 
 represented as strongly coloured. A jet-black was assigned to 
 the hair and beards of men and of all human-headed figures, to 
 the manes and tails of horses, to vultures, eagle-heads, and the 
 like; a coarse red-brown to winged lions, to human flesh, to 
 horses’ bodies, and to various ornaments ; a deep yellow to com- 
 mon lions, to chariot-wheels, quivers, fringes, belts, sandals and 
 other portions of human apparel; white to robes, helmets, 
 shields, tunics, towns, trees, &c. ; and a dull blue to some of the 
 feathers of winged lions and genii, and to large portions of the 
 ground from which the sculptures stood out. This conception 
 of Assyrian colouring, framed confessedly on the assumption of 
 a close analogy between the ornamentation of Assyria and that 
 °f Egypt , 6 was at once accepted by the unlearned, and naturally 
 enough was adopted by most of those who sought to popularise 
 the new knowledge among their countrymen. Hence the strange 
 travesties of Assyrian art which have been seen in so-called 
 “ Assyrian Courts,” where all the delicacy of the real sculpture 
 has disappeared, and the spectator has been revolted by grim 
 figures of bulls and lions, from which a thick layer of coarse 
 paint has taken away all dignity, and by reliefs which, from the 
 same cause, have lost all spirit and refinement. 
 
 It is sufficient objection to the theory here treated of, that it 
 has no solid basis of fact to rest upon. Colour has only been 
 found on portions of the bas-reliefs, as on the hair and beards 
 of men, on head-ornaments, to a small extent on draperies, on 
 the harness of horses, on sandals, weapons, birds, flowers, and 
 the like. Neither the flesh of men, nor the bodies of animals, 
 nor the draperies generally, nor the backgrounds (except perhaps 
 at Khorsabad '), present the slightest appearance of having been 
 
 6 Monuments of Nineveh , 1st Series, 
 Description of the Plates, p. 1. 
 
 7 The opinion of M. Flandin, that an 
 ochre tint covered the flesh and the 
 backgrounds at Khorsabad, seems to 
 
 have been derived from a particular in- 
 stance, where, according to M. Botta, the 
 colouring was accidental, and dated from 
 a time subsequent to the ruin of the palace 
 (Monument de N inice, vol. v. p. 179 ). 
 
Chap. VI. 
 
 COLOURING OF THE BAS-RELIEFS. 
 
 363 
 
 touched by paint. It is inconceivable that, if these portions of 
 the sculptures were universally, or even ordinarily, coloured, the 
 colour should have so entirely disappeared in every instance. 
 It is moreover inconceivable that the sculptor, if he knew his 
 work was about to be concealed beneath a coating of paint, 
 should have cared to give it the delicate elaboration which is 
 found at any rate in the later examples. All leads to the con- 
 clusion that in Assyrian as in classical sculpture, colour was 
 sparingly applied, being confined to such parts as the hair, eyes, 
 and beards of men, to the fringes of dresses, to horse-trappings, 
 and other accessory parts of the representations. In this way 
 the lower part of the walls was made to harmonise sufficiently 
 with the upper portion, which was wholly coloured, but chiefly 
 with pale hues. At the same time a greater distinctness was 
 given to the scenes represented upon the sculptured slabs, the 
 colour being judiciously applied to disentangle human from ani- 
 mal figures, dress from flesh, or human figures from one another. 
 
 The colours actually found upon the bas-relief are four only — 
 red, blue, black, and white . 1 The red is a good bright tint, far 
 exceeding in brilliancy that of Egypt. On the sculptures of 
 Khorsabad it approaches to vermilion, while on those of Nimrud 
 it inclines to a crimson or lake tint . 2 It is found alternating 
 with the natural stone on the royal parasol and mitre ; 3 with 
 blue on the crests of helmets , 4 the trappings of horses , 5 on 
 flowers , 6 sandals , 7 and on fillets ; 8 and besides, it occurs, un- 
 accompanied by any other colour, on the stems and branches of 
 trees , 9 on the claws of birds , 10 the shafts of spears and arrows , 11 
 
 1 “ On the sculptures I have only 
 found black, white, red, and blue,” says 
 
 Mr. Layard (. Nineveh and its Remains, 
 vol. ii. p. 310) ; “ and these colours alone 
 
 were used in the painted ornaments of 
 
 the upper chambers at Nimrud. At 
 
 Khorsabad, green and yellow continually 
 occurred on the bas-reliefs ; at Koyunjik, 
 there were no traces whatever of colour.” 
 
 But, in opposition to the statement in 
 
 italics, M. Botta, the explorer of Khor- 
 
 sabad, observes, “ Nous n’avons trouve 
 
 a Khorsabad sur les sculptures d’autres 
 
 couleurs que le rouge, le bleu, et le noir.” 
 
 (Monument, vol. v. p. 178.) The green 
 
 and yellow were confined to the ena- 
 melled bricks. 
 
 2 Layard, Nineveh and its Remains , 
 
 vol. ii. p. 311. 
 
 3 Botta, Monument de Ninive , Plates 12, 
 63, and 113. 
 
 4 Ibid. Plate 61. 
 
 5 Ibid. Plates 53, 62, 63, &c. 
 
 6 Ibid. Plates 43 and 113. 
 
 7 Ibid. Plate 14. 
 
 8 Ibid. Plate 43. 
 
 9 Ibid. Plates 110, 113, and 114. 
 
 10 Ibid. Plates 110 and 114. 
 
 11 Ibid. Plates 61 and 65. 
 
364 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VI. 
 
 on bows,' belts , 2 fillets,* quivers , 4 maces , 6 reins , 6 sandals , 7 
 flowers , 8 and the fringe of dresses . 9 It is uncertain whence the 
 colouring matter was derived ; perhaps the substance used was 
 the suboxide of copper, with which the Assyrians are known to 
 have coloured their red glass . 10 
 
 The blue of the Assyrian monuments is an oxide of copper , 1 11 
 sometimes containing also a trace of lead . 12 Besides occurring 
 in combination with red in the cases already mentioned, it was 
 employed to colour the foliage of trees , 13 the plumage of birds , 14 
 the heads of arrows , 15 and sometimes quivers 16 and sandals . 17 
 
 White occurs very rarely indeed upon the sculptures. At 
 Khorsabad it was not found at all; at Nimrud it was confined 
 to the inner part of the eye on either side of the pupil , 18 and m 
 this position it occurred only on the colossal lions and bulls, and 
 a very few other figures. On bricks and pottery it was frequent, 
 and there it is found to have been derived from tin ; 19 but it is 
 uncertain whether the white of the sculptures was not derived 
 from a commoner material . 20 
 
 Black is applied in the sculptures chiefly to the hair, beards, 
 and eyebrows of men . 21 It was also used to colour the eyeballs, 
 not only of men, but also of the colossal lions and bulls . 22 Some- 
 times, when the eyeball was thus marked, a line of black was 
 further carried round the inner edge of both the upper and the 
 lower eyelid . 23 In one place black bars have been introduced to 
 ornament an antelope’s horns . 24 On the older sculptures black 
 
 1 Botta, Monument de Ninive, Plates 
 6 1 and 62. 
 
 2 Ibid. Plates 62, 65, and 114. 
 
 3 Ibid. Plates 12, 14, 62, and 65. 
 
 4 Ibid. Plate 63. 
 
 5 Ibid. Plate 114. 
 
 6 Ibid. Plate 53. 
 
 7 Ibid. Plate 81. 
 
 8 Ibid. Plates 74 and 75. 
 
 9 Ibid. Plate 63. 
 
 10 See Dr. Percy’s note in Mr. Layard’s 
 Nineveh and Babylon , p. 672. 
 
 11 Layard, Nineveh and its Remains , 
 vol. ii. p. 310. Birch, Ancient Pottery, 
 vol. i. p. 127. 
 
 12 Ibid. p. 149. 
 
 13 Botta, Monument , Plates 110, 113, 
 and 114. 
 
 14 Ibid. Plates 110 and 114. 
 
 15 Ibid. Plate 61. 
 
 10 Ibid. Plate 62. 17 Ibid. Plate 14. 
 
 18 Layard, Nineveh and its Remains , 
 vol. ii. p. 312, note. 
 
 19 Birch, Ancient Pottery , vol. i. p. 127. 
 
 20 Mr. Layard conjectures that it was 
 obtained, as it is in the country to this 
 day, by burning the alabaster or gypsum. 
 (. Nineveh and its Remains , vol. ii. p. 311.) 
 
 21 Ibid. p. 312. For instances, see 
 Layard’s Monuments , 1st Series, Plate 92 ; 
 Botta, Monument, Plates 12 and 43. 
 
 22 Nineveh and its Remains, vol. ii. p. 
 313. 
 
 23 Monuments of Nineveh, 1st Series, 
 Plate 92. 
 
 24 Botta, Monwnent, Plate 43. 
 
Chap. VI. 
 
 ORNAMENTAL METALLURGY. 
 
 365 
 
 was also the common colour for sandals, which however were 
 then edged with red . 1 The composition of the black is uncertain. 
 Browns upon the enamelled bricks are found to have been 
 
 Bronze lion, from Nimrud. 
 
 derived from iron ; 2 but Mr. Layard believes the black upon the 
 sculptures to have been, like the Egyptian, a bone black mixed 
 with a little gum . 3 
 
 Fragments of bronze ornaments of the throne, from Nimrud (after Layard). 
 
 The ornamental metallurgy of the Assyrians deserves attention 
 next to their sculpture. It is of three kinds, consisting, in the 
 
 1 Nineveh and its Remains , vol. ii. p. 312, note. 
 
 3 Nineveh and its Remains , vol. ii. p. 311. 
 
 2 Birch, 1. s. c. 
 
3 66 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chai\ YI. 
 
 first place, of entire figures, or parts of figures, cast in a solid 
 shape ; secondly, of castings in a low relief ; and thirdly, of em- 
 bossed work wrought mainly with the hammer, but finished by 
 a sparing use of the graving-tool. 
 
 The solid castings are comparatively rare, and represent none 
 but animal forms. Lions, which seem to have been used as 
 weights, occur most frequently . 4 None are of any great size ; 
 nor have we any evidence that the Assyrians could cast large 
 masses of metal. They seem to have used castings, not (as the 
 
 Bronze casting, from the throne, Nimrud (after Layard). 
 
 Greeks and the moderns) for the greater works of art, but only 
 for the smaller. The forms of the few casts which have come 
 down to us are good, and are free from the narrowness which 
 characterises the representations in stone . 5 
 
 Castings in a low relief formed the ornamentation of thrones, 
 stools , 6 and sometimes probably of chariots . 1 They consisted of 
 
 4 Mr. Layard discovered sixteen of 
 these lions in one place. ( Nineveh and 
 its Remains, vol. i. p. 128.) They had 
 all rings affixed to their backs, which 
 
 seemed to show the purpose for which 
 they were intended. The largest of these 
 
 lions was about a foot in length. 
 
 5 Supra, p. 339. 
 
 6 See Layard’s Nineveh and its Re- 
 mains , vol. ii. p. 301 ; Botta, Monument , 
 Plate 19. 
 
 1 Botta, Plate 17. It is uncertain 
 whether the ornaments in this case, and 
 in those referred to in the last note, were 
 
Chap. YI. 
 
 EMBOSSED WORK. 
 
 367 
 
 animal and human figures, winged deities, griffins, and the like. 
 The castings were chiefly in open work, and were attached to 
 
 the furniture which they ornamented by means of small nails. 
 They have no peculiar merit, being merely repetitions of the 
 
 ^ Bronze head, part of throne, showing 
 
 Bronze bull’s head from throne bitumen inside (after Layard). 
 
 (after Layard). 
 
 forms with which we are familiar from their occurrence on 
 embroidered dresses and on the cylinders. 
 
 The embossed work of the Assyrians is the most curious and 
 
 cast or embossed, since we have only the 
 representations, not the originals them- 
 selves. The throne ornaments, however, 
 
 were actually found (Layard, Nin. and 
 Bab. pp. 198-200). They were castings 
 in bronze. 
 
368 THE SECOND MONARCHY. Chap. VI. 
 
 the most artistic portion of their metallurgy. Sometimes it 
 consisted of mere heads and feet of animals, hammered into 
 shape upon a model composed of clay mixed with bitumen. 
 
 End of a sword-sheath. 
 
 (N.-W. Palace, Nimrud.) 
 
 Sometimes it extended to entire figures, as (probably) in the 
 case of the lions clasping each other, so common at the ends 
 
 of sword - sheaths (see above), the 
 human figures which ornament the 
 sides of chairs or stools, and the like . 2 
 Occasionally it was of a less solid, 
 but at the same time of a more 
 elaborate character. In a palace in- 
 habited by Sargon at N imrud, and in 
 close juxtaposition with a monument 
 certainly of his time , 3 were discovered 
 
 Engraved scarab in centre of cup. by Ml\ Lavard a number of dishes, 
 (N.-W. Palace, Nimrud.) ? , : . . . . _ ’ 
 
 plates, and bowls, embossed with great 
 taste and skill, which are among the most elegant specimens of 
 Assyrian art discovered during the recent researches. Upon 
 
 
 Stool or chair (Khorsabad). 
 
 2 Here again we cannot he certain j fabrics, like sword-sheaths, the former 
 
 whether the sculptures represent em- | seems more probable, 
 bossed work or castings. In delicate j 3 Layard, ft 'in. and Bab. p. 196. 
 
Chap. VI. 
 
 ASSYRIAN ART, NATIVE OR FOREIGN ? 
 
 369 
 
 these were represented sometimes hunting-scenes, sometimes 
 combats between griffins and lions, or between men and lions, 
 sometimes landscapes with trees and figures of animals, some- 
 times mere rows of animals following one another. One or 
 two representations from these bowls have been already 
 given." They usually contain a star or scarab in the centre, 
 beyond which is a series of bands or borders, patterned, most 
 commonly with figures. It is impossible to give an adequate 
 idea of the delicacy and spirit of the drawings, or of the variety 
 and elegance of the other patterns, in a work of moderate 
 dimensions like the present. Mr. Layard, in his Second Series 
 of ‘ Monuments,’ has done justice to the subject by pictorial repre- 
 sentation , 4 5 while in his ‘Nineveh and Babylon ’ he has described 
 the more important of the vessels separately . 6 7 The curious student 
 will do well to consult these two works, after which he may 
 examine with advantage the originals in the British Museum. 
 
 One of the most remarkable features observable in this whole 
 series of monuments, is its semi-Egyptian character. The 
 occurrence of the scarab has been 
 just noticed. It appears on the 
 bowls frequently, as do sphinxes 
 of an Egyptian type ; while some- 
 times heads and head-dresses 
 purely Egyptian are found, as 
 
 the subjoined,’ which are well- Egyptian head-dresses on bronze dishes, 
 known forms, and have nothing from Nimru d. 
 
 Assyrian about them ; and in one or two instances we even 
 meet with hieroglyphics , 8 the onJc (or symbol of life), (q) 
 the ibis, &c. These facts may seem at first sight to raise a \f 
 
 4 Supra, pp. 223 and 225. 
 
 Plates 57 to 67. The drawings by 
 Mr. Prentice, now in the British Museum, 
 are still more beautiful than these plates, 
 since they show the wonderful colouring 
 of the bronzes at the time of their arrival. 
 
 6 Pages 185-190. 
 
 7 Mr. Layard calls No. I. a head of 
 Athor (Am. and Bab. p. 187); but there 
 are no sufficient grounds for the iden- 
 tification. The head resembles the or- 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 dinary mummy type. The head-dress 
 No. II. is the well-known double crown, 
 worn both by kings and gods, represent- 
 ing the sovereignty over both the Upper 
 and the Lower country. (Wilkinson, 
 Ancient Egyptians , vol. iii. p. 354.) 
 
 8 Layard, Monuments, 2nd Series, 
 Plate 61, b ; Nin. and Bab. p. 187. On 
 the ank or onk, see Wilkinson, vol. v n 
 283. 
 
 2 B 
 
370 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. YI. 
 
 great question — namely, whether, after all, the art of the Assyrians 
 was really of home growth, or was not rather imported from the 
 Egyptians, either directly or by way of Phoenicia. Such a view 
 has been sometimes taken ; but the most cursory study of the 
 Assyrian remains, in chronological order , is sufficient to disprove 
 the theory, since it will at once show that the earliest specimens 
 of Assyrian art are the most un-Egyptian in character. No 
 doubt there are certain analogies even here, as the preference 
 for the profile, the stiffness and formality, the ignorance or 
 disregard of perspective, and the like ; but the analogies are 
 exactly such as would be tolerably sure to occur in the early 
 efforts of any two races not very dissimilar to one another, while 
 the little resemblances, which alone prove connexion, are entirely 
 wanting. These do not appear until we come to monuments 
 which belong to the time of Sargon. when direct connexion 
 between Egypt and Assyria seems to have begun, and Egyptian 
 captives are known to have been transported into Mesopotamia 
 in large numbers . 9 It has been suggested that the entire series 
 of Nimrud vessels is Phoenician, and that they were either 
 carried off as spoil from Tyre and other Phoenician towns, or 
 else were the workmanship of Phoenician captives removed into 
 Assyria from their own country. The Sidonians and their 
 kindred were, it is remarked, the most renowned workers in 
 metal of the ancient world, and their intermediate position 
 between Egypt and Assyria, may, it is suggested, have been the 
 cause of the existence among them of a mixed art, half 
 Assyrian, half Egyptian . 1 The theory is plausible; but upon 
 the whole it seems more consonant with all the facts 2 to regard 
 the series in question as in reality Assyrian, modified from the 
 ordinary style by an influence derived from Egypt. Either 
 
 9 Isaiah xx. 4. 
 
 1 Layard, Nineveh and Babylon , p. 192. 
 
 2 It is urged that Phoenician charac- 
 ters appear on one of the plates (ibid. p. 
 188), that the scarab which occurs on 
 so many of them (supra, woodcut on 
 p. 368) is 11 more of a Phoenician than 
 an Egyptian form” (ib. p. 186), and that 
 some silver bowls of the same character, | 
 
 found in Cyprus, are almost certainly 
 Phoenician (ib. p. 192, note). But these 
 last may well be Assyrian, since some 
 Assyrian remains have certainly been 
 brought from the island ; and the other 
 points are too doubtful and too minute 
 to set against the strong Assyrian cha- 
 racter of the great bulk of the ornaments 
 and figures. 
 
Chap. VI. 
 
 METALS USED. 
 
 37 
 
 Ear-ring. 
 (N.-W. Palace, ' 
 Nimrud.) 
 
 Egyptian artificers— captives probably— may have wrought the 
 bowls after Assyrian models, and have acci- 
 dentally varied the common forms, more or less, 
 in the direction which was natural to them 
 from old habits; or Assyrian artificers, ac- 
 quainted with the art of Egypt, and anxious 
 to improve their own from it, may have con- 
 sciously adopted certain details from the rival 
 country. The workmanship, subjects, and mode 
 of treatment, are all, it is granted, “ more As- 
 syrian than Egyptian ,” 3 the Assyrian character 
 being decidedly more marked than in the case 
 of the ivories which will be presently considered ; 
 yet even in that case the legitimate conclusion 
 seems to be that the specimens are to be re- 
 garded as native Assyrian, but as produced 
 abnormally, under a strong foreign influence. 
 
 The usual material of the Assyrian orna- 
 mental metallurgy is bronze, composed of one 
 part of tin to ten of copper , 4 which are exactly 
 the proportions considered to be best by the 
 Greeks and Romans, and still in ordinarv use 
 at the present day. In some instances, where 
 more than common strength was required, as 
 in the legs of tripods and tables, the bi ■onze 
 was ingeniously cast over an inner structure of 
 iron . 5 This practice was unknown to modern 
 metallurgists until the discovery of the Assyrian 
 specimens, from which it has been successfully 
 imitated . 6 
 
 We may presume that, besides bronze, the 
 Assyrians used, to a certain extent, silver and 
 gold as materials for ornamental metal-w Ol’k. Assyrian ear-rings. 
 The ear-rings, bracelets, and armlets worn by the <. Khorsabad )- 
 kings and the great officers of state were probably of the more 
 
 3 Nineveh and Babylon , p. 192. 4 Ibid. p. 191. 
 
 6 Ibid. p. 191, note. 
 
 1 Ibid. p. 178. 
 
 2 B 2 
 
372 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VI. 
 
 valuable metal, while the similar ornaments worn by those of 
 minor rank may have been of silver. One solitary specimen 
 only of either class has been found ; 7 but Mr. Layard dis- 
 covered several moulds, with tasteful designs for ear-rings, 
 both at Nimrud and at Koyunjik ; 8 and the sculptures show 
 that both in these and the other personal ornaments a good deal 
 of artistic excellence was exhibited. The ear-rings are frequent 
 
 Bronze cubes inlaid with gold. (Original size.) After Layard. 
 
 in the form of a cross, and are sometimes delicately chased. 
 The armlets and bracelets generally terminate in the heads of 
 rams or bulls, which seem to have been rendered with spirit 
 and taste. 
 
 By one or two instances it appears that the Assyrians knew 
 
 how to inlay one metal 
 with another. The spe- 
 cimens discovered are 
 scarcely of an artistic 
 Egyptian scarab (from Wilkinson). character, being merely 
 
 winged scarabsei outlined 
 in gold on a bronze ground . 9 The work, however, is delicate, 
 and the form very much more true to nature than that which 
 prevailed in Egypt. 
 
 The ivories of the Assyrians are inferior both to their metal 
 castings and to their bas-reliefs. They consist almost entirely 
 
 7 Mr. Layard found a gold ear-ring 
 
 adorned with pearls, together with a 
 
 number of purely Assyrian relics, at 
 
 Koyunjik ( Nineveh and Babylon , p. 595). 
 Ho has figured it, p. 597. 
 
 8 Ibid. pp. 595, 596. 9 Ibid. p. 196. 
 
Chap. VI. 
 
 IVORIES. 
 
 373 
 
 of a single series, discovered by Mr. Layard in a chamber of the 
 North-West Palace at Nimrud, in the near vicinity of slabs on 
 which was engraved the name of Sargon . 10 The most remark- 
 able point connected with them is the thoroughly Egyptian 
 character of the greater num- 
 ber, which, at first sight, have 
 almost the appearance of being 
 importations from the valley 
 of the Nile. Egyptian profiles, 
 head-dresses, fashions of dress- Fl . agment of ivory poneli from Nimrud . 
 ing the hair, ornaments, atti- 
 tudes, meet us at every turn ; while sometimes we find the 
 representations of Egyptian gods, and in two cases hiero- 
 glyphics within cartouches (see overleaf). A few specimens 
 only are of a distinctly Assyrian type, as a fragment of a 
 
 Fragment of a lion in ivory (Nimrud). 
 
 panel, figured by Mr. Layard , 1 and one or two others, in 
 which the guilloche border appears . 2 These carvings are 
 usually mere low reliefs, occupying small panels or tablets, 
 
 10 Nineveh and its Remains , vol. ii. pp. 
 8-10 and p. 205. For other discoveries 
 of ivory objects, see Nineveh and Babylon , 
 
 pp. 179, 195, and 362. 
 
 1 Monuments, 1st Series, Plate 89, fig. 8. 
 
 2 Ibid. Plate 90, figs. 17 and 22. 
 
THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. YI. 
 
 Figures and cartouche with hieroglyphics, on an ivory panel, North-West Palace, Nimrud (after Layard). 
 
Chap. VI. 
 
 IVORIES. 
 
 375 
 
 which were mortised or glued to the woodwork of furniture. 
 They were sometimes .inlaid in parts with blue glass, or with 
 blue and green pastes let into the ivory, 
 and at the same time decorated with gild- 
 ing. Now and then the relief is tolerably 
 high, and presents fragments of forms 
 which seem to have had some artistic 
 merit. The best of these is the fore part 
 of a lion walking among reeds (p. 373), 
 which presents analogies with the early 
 art of Asia Minor. One or two stags’ 
 heads have likewise been found, designed 
 and wrought with much spirit and delicacy. 
 
 It is remarked that several of the speci- Fragment^f^stag in ivory 
 mens show not only a considerable ac- 
 quaintance with art, but also an intimate knowledge of the 
 method of working in ivory. 3 One head of a lion was “ of sin- 
 gular beauty ; ” but unfortunately it fell to pieces at the very 
 moment of discovery. 
 
 It is possible that some of the objects here described may be 
 actual specimens of Egyptian art, sent to Sargon as tribute or 
 presents, or else carried off as plunder in his Egyptian expe- 
 dition. The appearance, however, which even the most Egyp- 
 tian of them present, on a close examination, is rather that ©f 
 Asssyrian works imitated from Egyptian models than of genuine 
 Egyptian productions. For instance, in the tablet figured on 
 the page opposite, where we see hieroglyphics within a cartouche, 
 the onk or symbol of life, 4 the solar disk, the double ostrich- 
 plume, the long hair-dress called namms, and the tam or kukujpha 
 sceptre 5 — all unmistakeable Egyptian features — we observe a 
 style of drapery which is quite unknown in Egypt, while in 
 several respects it is Assyrian, or at least Mesopotamian. It is 
 scanty, like that of all Assyrian robed figures ; striped, like the 
 draperies of the Chaldseans and Babylonians ; fringed with a 
 
 3 Nineveh and its Remains, vol. ii. p. 10. 
 
 4 See above, p. 369. The symbol occurs 
 
 at the foot of the chairs. 
 
 5 See Mr. Birch’s description in Mr. 
 Layard’s Nineveh and its Remains , vol. ii. 
 p. 11, note. 
 
3 /<? 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VI. 
 
 broad fringe elaborately coloured, as Assyrian fringes are known 
 to have been ; 6 and it lias large hanging sleeves also fringed, a 
 fashion which appears once or twice upon the Nimrud sculp- 
 tures . 7 But if this specimen, notwithstanding its numerous and 
 
 striking Egyptian features, is rightly regarded as Mesopotamian, 
 it would seem to follow that the rest of the series must still 
 more decidedly be assigned to native genius. 
 
 The enamelled bricks of the Assyrians are among the most 
 interesting remains of their art. It is from these bricks alone 
 that we are able to judge at all fully of their knowledge and 
 ideas with respect to colour ; and it is from them also chiefly 
 that an analysis has been made of the colouring materials 
 employed by the Assyrian artists. The bricks may be divided 
 into two classes— those which are merely patterned, and those 
 which contain designs representing men and animals. The 
 patterned bricks have nothing about them which is very 
 remarkable. They present the usual guilloches, rosettes, bands, 
 
 6 See above, p. 364. 
 
 7 Layard, Monuments of Nineveh , 1st Series, Plate 62. The hanging sleeve is 
 however, worn only on one arm. 
 
Chap. VI. 
 
 ENAMELLED BRICKS. 
 
 377 
 
 scrolls, &c., such as are found in the painted chambers and in 
 the ornaments on dresses, varied with geometrical figures, as 
 circles, hexagons, octagons, and the like ; and sometimes with 
 a sort of arcade-work, which is curious, if not very beautiful . 8 
 The colours chiefly used in the patterns are pale green, pale 
 yellow, dark brown, and white. Now and then an intense blue 
 and a bright red occur, generally together ; 9 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 same preference appears, even more strikingly, in the 
 bricks on which designs are represented. There the tints 
 almost exclusively used 
 are pale yellow, pale 
 greenish blue, olive- 
 green, white, and a 
 brownish black. It is 
 suggested that the co- 
 lours have faded , 1 but of 
 this there is no evidence. 
 
 The Assyrians, when they 
 used the primitive hues, 
 seem, except in the case 
 of red, to have employed subdued tints of them, and red 
 they appear to have introduced very sparingly . 2 Olive-green 
 they affected for grounds, and they occasionally used other 
 half tints. A pale orange and a delicate lilac or pale purple 
 were found at Khorsabad , 3 while brown (as already observed) is 
 far' more common on the bricks than black. Thus the general 
 tone of their colouring is quiet, not to say sombre. There is no 
 striving after brilliant effects. The Assyrian artist seeks to 
 
 Arcade work, on enamelled brick (Nimrud). 
 
 8 See Mr. Layard’s Monuments , 1st 
 Series, Plates 84, 86, and 87. 
 
 9 Ibid. Plate 84, figs. 9 and 12. 
 
 1 Nineveh and Babylon, p. 166. 
 
 2 There is a curious contrast between 
 the bricks and the sculptures in this 
 respect. In the sculptures there is no 
 yellow, but abundance of red. It is a 
 reasonable conjecture of Mr. Layard’s, 
 that in these “some of the red tints 
 
 which remain were originally laid on to 
 receive gilding.” {Nineveh and its Re- 
 mains , vol. ii. p. 313, note.) 
 
 3 Monument de Ninive , Plate 155, figs. 
 3, 5, and 9. Mr. Layard says he found 
 purple and violet on some of the Nimrud 
 bricks {Nineveh and its Remains, vol. ii. 
 p. 310); but he does not represent these 
 colours. 
 
378 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY.. 
 
 Chap. VI. 
 
 please by tlie elegance of his forms and the harmony of his hues, 
 not to startle by a display of bright and strongly-contrasted 
 colours. 
 
 The tints used in a single composition vary from three to five, 
 which latter number they seem never to exceed. The following 
 are the combinations of five hues which occur : — Brown, green, 
 blue, dark yellow, and pale yellow ; 4 orange, lilac, white, yellow, 
 and olive-green . 5 Combinations of four hues are much more 
 common: e.g. red, white, yellow, and black ; 6 deep yellow, 
 brown black, white, and pale yellow ; 7 lilac, yellow, white, and 
 green ; 8 yellow, blue, white, and brown ; 9 and yellow, blue, 
 white, and olive-green . 10 Sometimes the tints are as few as 
 three, the ground in these cases being generally of a hue used 
 also in the figures. Thus w'e have yellow, blue, and white on a 
 blue ground , 11 and again the same colours on a yellow ground . 12 
 We have also the simple combinations of white and yellow on a 
 blue ground , 13 and of white and yellow on an olive-green 
 ground . 14 
 
 In every case there is a great harmony in the colouring. We 
 find no harsh contrasts. Either the tones are all subdued, or if 
 any are intense and positive, then all (or almost all) are so. 
 Intense red occurs in two fragments of patterned bricks found 
 by Mr. Layard . 15 It is balanced by intense blue, and accompanied 
 in each case by a full brown and a clear white, while in one 
 case 16 it is further accompanied by a pale green, which has a 
 very good effect. A similar red appears on a design figured by 
 M. Botta . 17 Its accompaniments are white, black, and a full 
 yellow. Where lilac occurs, it is balanced by its comjjlementary 
 colour, yellow , 18 or by yellow and orange , 19 and further accorn- 
 
 4 Layard, Monuments , 1st Series, Plate 
 84, fig. 2. 
 
 5 Botta, Monument de Ninive , Plate 
 
 155, fig. 3. 6 Ibid. fig. 2. 
 
 7 Layard, Monuments , 2nd Series, Plate 
 
 55, fig. 6. i 
 
 8 Botta, Monument de Ninive , Plate I 
 155, figs. 5 and 9. 
 
 9 Layard, Monuments , 2nd Series, Plate 
 53, fig. 6. 
 
 10 Ibid. Plate 53, figs. 3 and 4 ; Plate 
 
 54, figs. 12, 13, and 14. 
 
 11 Ibid. Plate 53, figs. 2 and 5 ; and 
 Plate 54, fig. 9. 
 
 12 Ibid. Plate 53, fig. 1. 
 
 13 Ibid. Plate 54, fig. 7. 
 
 14 Ibid. Plate 54, fig. 8. 
 
 15 Ibid. 1st Series, Plate 84, figs. 9 
 
 and 12. 16 f'jg, 9, 
 
 17 Monument de Ninive , vol. ii. Plate 
 155, fig. 2. 
 
 18 Ibid. figs. 5 and 9. 19 Ibid. fig. 3. 
 
Chap. VI. 
 
 DRAWING AND SIZE OF DESIGNS. 
 
 379 
 
 panied by white. It is noticeable also that bright hues are not 
 placed one against the other, but are separated by narrow bands 
 of white, or brown and white. This use of white gives a great 
 delicacy and refinement to the colouring, which is saved by it, 
 even where the hues are the strongest, from being coarse or 
 vulgar. 
 
 The drawing of the designs resembles that of the sculptures, 
 except that the figures are generally slimmer and less muscular. 
 The chief peculiarity is the strength of the outline, which is 
 
 Human figure, on enamelled brick Ram’s head, on enamelled brick 
 
 (from Nimrud). (from Nimrud). 
 
 almost always coloured differently from the object drawn, either 
 white, black, yellow, or brown. Generally it is of an uniform 
 thickness (as in No. I.) ; sometimes, though rarely, it has that 
 variety which characterises good drawing (as in No. II.). Occa- 
 sionally there is a curious combination of the two styles, as in 
 the specimen overleaf — the most interesting yet discovered — 
 where the dresses of the two main figures are coarsely outlined 
 in yellow, while the remainder of the design is very lightly 
 sketched in a brownish black. 
 
 The size of the designs varies considerably. Ordinarily the 
 figures are small, each brick containing several ; but sometimes 
 
380 
 
 THE SECOND MONAECHY. 
 
 Chap. VI. 
 
 a scale has been adopted of such a size that portions of the same 
 figure must have been on different bricks. A foot and leg, 
 brought by Mr. Layard from Nimrud, must have belonged to a 
 man a foot high ; 1 while part of a human face discovered in the 
 same locality, is said to indicate, for the form to which it 
 belonged, a height of three feet . 2 Such a size as this is, how- 
 ever, very unusual. 
 
 It is scarcely necessary to state that the designs on the bricks 
 are entirely destitute of chiaroscuro. The browns and blacks, 
 like the blues, yellows, and reds, are simply used to express 
 local colour. They are employed for hair, eyes, eyebrows, and 
 sometimes for bows and sandals. The other colours are applied 
 
 1 Birch, Ancient Pottery , vol. i. p. 127. The fragment is figured in Mr. Layard’s 
 
 Monuments , 1st Series, Plate 84, fig. 2. 2 Birchj p . 1 29. 
 
Chap. VI. 
 
 COLOURING. 
 
 33i 
 
 as follows: — Yellow is used for flesh, for shafts of weapons, for 
 horse-trappings, sometimes for horses, for chariots, cups, ear- 
 rings, bracelets, fringes, for wing-feathers, occasionally for 
 helmets, and almost always for the hoofs of horses; blue is used 
 for shields, for horses, for some parts of horse-trappings, armour, 
 and dresses, for fish, and for feathers ; white is employed for the 
 inner part of the eye, for the linen shirt worn by men, for the 
 markings on fish and feathers, tor horses, for buildings , 3 for 
 patterns on dresses, for rams’ heads, and for portions of the tiara 
 of the king. Olive-green seems to occur only as a ground; red 
 only in some parts of the royal tiara ; orange and lilac only in 
 the wings of winged monsters . 4 It is doubtful how far we may 
 trust the colours on the bricks as accurately or approximately 
 resembling the real local hues. In some cases the intention 
 evidently is to be true to nature, as in the eyes and hair of men, 
 in the representations of flesh, fish, shields, bows, buildings, &c. 
 The yellow of horses may represent cream-colour, and the blue 
 may stand for grey, as distinct from white, which seems to have 
 been correctly rendered . 5 The scarlet and white of the king’s 
 tiara is likely to be true. When, however, we find eyeballs and 
 eyebrows white, while the inner part of the eye is yellow , 6 the 
 blade of swords yellow , 7 and horses’ hoofs blue, 8 - we seem to have 
 proof that, sometimes at any rate, local colour was intentionally 
 neglected; the artist limiting himself to certain hues, and being 
 therefore obliged to render some objects untruly. Thus we 
 must not conclude from the colours of dresses and horse-trap- 
 pings on the bricks— which are three only, yellow, blue, and 
 white — that the Assyrians used no other hues than these, even 
 for the robes of their kings . 9 It is far more probable that they 
 employed a variety of tints in their apparel, but did not attempt 
 to render that variety on the ordinary painted bricks . 1 
 
 3 Buildings are white, but the battle- 
 ments and some courses in the stone are 
 touched with yellow. A door in one is 
 coloured blue. (Layard, Monuments , 2nd 
 Series, Plate 53, fig. 5.) 
 
 4 The authorities for these statements 
 are Layard’s Monuments , 1st Series, 
 Plates 84 and 87 ; 2nd Series, Plates 53, 
 54, and 55 ; and Botta’s Monument de 
 Ninive, Plate 155. 
 
 5 See the two fore legs of a horse in a 
 fragment figured by Mr. Layard, Monu- 
 ments, 2nd Series, Plate 54, fig. 14. 
 
 6 Ibid. fig. 7. 7 Ibid. fig. 12. 
 
 8 Ibid. fig. 14. 
 
 9 Yellow, white, and a pale blue or 
 green, are the only colours on the dress 
 of the king figured opposite. 
 
 1 M. Botta’s fragment (figured Plate 
 155, fig. 2) is a unique specimen. Had 
 
382 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VI. 
 
 The pigments used by the Assyrians seem to have derived 
 their tints entirely from minerals. The opaque white is found 
 to be oxide of tin ; the yellow is the antimoniate of lead, or 
 Naples yellow, with a slight admixture of tin ; the blue is oxide 
 of copper, without any cobalt; the green is also from copper; 
 the brown is from iron ; and the red is a suboxide of copper.* 
 The bricks were slightly baked before being painted ; they were 
 then taken from the kiln, painted and enamelled on one side 
 only, the flux and glazes used being composed of silicate of soda 
 aided by oxide of lead ; 3 thus prepared, they were again sub- 
 mitted to the action of fire, care being taken to place the painted 
 
 Impression of ancient Assyrian cylinder, in serpentine. 
 
 side upwards , 4 and having been thoroughly baked were then 
 ready for use. 
 
 The Assyrian intaglios on stones and gems are commonly of a 
 rude description ; but occasionally they exhibit a good deal of 
 delicacy, and sometimes even of grace. They are cut upon 
 serpentine, jasper, chalcedony, cornelian, agate, sienite, quartz, 
 loadstone, amazon-stone, and lapis-lazuli . 5 The usual form of 
 
 it contained the robes of the king as 
 well as his head-dress, we should pro- 
 bably have learnt the real hues of the 
 royal garments. 
 
 2 Birch, Ancient Pottery , vol. i. p. 128 ; 
 Layard, Nineveh and Babylon , p. 166, note. 
 
 3 Birch, 1. s. c. ; Layard, Nineveh and 
 Babylon , p. 672. 
 
 4 This is evidenced by the bricks 
 themselves, where we can often see that 
 the melted enamel has run over and 
 trickled down the sides. (See Birch 
 Ancient Pottery, vol. i. 128.) 
 
 5 King’s Ancient Gems , pp. 127-129; 
 
 Layard’s Nineveh and Babylon, pp. 602- 
 604. ^ 
 
Chap. VI. 
 
 INTAGLIOS. 
 
 383 
 
 Assyrian seals. 
 
 the stone is cylindrical ; the sides, however, being either slightly 
 convex or slightly concave, most frequently the latter. The 
 cylinder is always perforated in the direction of its axis. 
 Besides this ordinary form, a few gems, shaped like the Greek, 
 that is, either round or oval, 
 have been found ; and nu- 
 merous impressions from 
 such gems on sealing-clay 
 shew that they must have 
 been tolerably common . 6 
 The subjects which occur 
 are mostly the same as 
 those on the sculptures — 
 warriors pursuing their foes, 
 hunters in full chase, the 
 king slaying a lion, winged 
 bulls before the sacred tree, 
 acts of worship and other 
 religious or mythological 
 scenes. There appears to 
 have been a gradual im- 
 provement in the workman- 
 ship from the earliest period 
 to the time of Sennacherib, 
 when the art culminates. 
 
 A cylinder found in the 
 ruins of Sennacherib’s palace 
 at Koyunjik, which is be- 
 lieved with reason to have 
 been his signet , 7 is scarcely 
 surpassed in delicacy of exe- 
 cution by any intaglio of 
 
 the Greeks. The design has a good deal of the usual stiffness, 
 though even here something may be said for the ibex or wild- 
 goat, which stands upon the lotus flower to the left ; but the 
 
 Assyrian cylinder, with the Fish-God. 
 
 Royal cylinder of Sennacherib. 
 
 6 See Mr. Layard’s Monuments of Nineveh, 2nd Series, Plate 69, No. 1 to 32. 
 
 7 Layard, Nineveh and Babylon, p. 160 ; King, Ancient Gems , p. 129. 
 
3§4 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. YI. 
 
 special excellence of the gem is in the fineness and minuteness 
 of its execution. The intaglio is not very deep ; but all the 
 details are beautifully sharp and distinct, while they are on so 
 small a scale that it requires a magnifying glass to distinguish 
 them. The material of the cylinder is translucent green felspar, 
 or amazon stone, one of the hardest substances known to the 
 lapidary . 8 
 
 The fictile art of the Assyrians in its higher branches, as 
 employed for directly artistic purposes, has been already con- 
 sidered ; but a few pages may be now devoted to the humbler 
 divisions of the subject, where the useful preponderates over the 
 ornamental. The pottery of Assyria bears a general resem- 
 blance in shape, form, and use, to that of Egypt ; but still it 
 has certain specific differences. According to Mr. Birch, it is, 
 generally speaking, “finer in its paste, brighter in its colour^ 
 employed in thinner masses, and for purposes not known in 
 Egypt .” 9 Abundant and excellent clay is furnished by the 
 valley of the Tigris, more especially by those parts of it which 
 are subject to the annual inundation. The chief employment of 
 this material by the Assyrians was for bricks, which were either 
 simply dried in the sun, or exposed to the action of fire in a kiln. 
 In this latter case they seem to have been uniformly slack- 
 baked; they are light for their size, and are o£ a pale-red 
 colour . 1 The clay of which the bricks were composed was mixed 
 with stubble or vegetable fibre, for the purpose of holding it 
 together— a practice common to the Assyrians with the Egyp- 
 tians 2 and the Babylonians . 3 This fibre still appears in the sun- 
 dried bricks, but has been destroyed by the heat of the kiln in 
 the case of the baked bricks, leaving behind it, however, in the 
 clay traces of the stalks or stems. The size and shape of the 
 bricks vary. They are most commonly square, or nearly so; 
 but occasionally the shape more resembles that of the ancient 
 Egyptian and modern English brick , 4 the width being about 
 
 8 King, Introduction, p. xxxvi. 
 
 9 Ancient Pottery , vol. i. p. 105. 
 
 1 Ibid. p. 108. 
 
 2 Wilkinson, in the author’s Herodotus , 
 vol. ii. p. 215; Birch, Ancient Pottery , 
 
 vol. i. pp. 12, 13. Hence the complaints 
 of the Israelites when they received “ no 
 stiraw for their bricks” (Ex. v. 7-18). 
 
 3 Birch, p. 132. 
 
 4 Ibid. p. 13, and p. 109. 
 
Chap. VI. 
 
 BRICKS— POTTERY. 
 
 385 
 
 half the length, and the thickness half or two-thirds of the width. 
 The greatest size to which the square bricks attain is a length 
 and width of about two feet . 5 From this maximum they descend 
 by manifold gradations to a minimum of one foot. The oblong 
 bricks are smaller ; they seldom much exceed a foot in length, 
 and in width vary from six to seven and a half inches. What- 
 ever the shape and size of the bricks, their thickness is nearly 
 uniform, the thinnest being as much as three inches in thick- 
 ness, and the thickest not more than four inches or four and a 
 half. Each brick was made in a wooden frame or mould . 7 Most 
 of the baked bricks were inscribed, not however like the 
 Chaldaean , 8 the Egyptian , 9 and the Babylonian , 10 with an inscrip- 
 tion in a small square or oval depression near the centre of one 
 of the broad faces, but with one which either covered the whole 
 of one such face, or else ran along the edge. It is uncertain 
 whether the inscription was stamped upon the bricks by a single 
 impression, or whether it was inscribed by the potter with a 
 triangular style. Mr. Birch thinks the former was the means 
 used, “ as the trouble of writing upon each brick would have 
 been endless. ,, 1 Mr. Layard, however, is of a different opinion . 2 
 
 In speaking of the Assyrian writing, some mention has been 
 made of the terra-cotta cylinders and tablets, which in Assyria 
 replaced the parchment and papyrus of other nations, being the 
 most ordinary writing material in use through the country . 3 
 The purity and fineness of the material thus employed is very 
 remarkable, as well as its strength, of which advantage was 
 taken to make the cylinders hollow, and thus at once to render 
 them cheaper and more portable. The terra-cotta of the 
 cylinders and tablets is sometimes unglazed; sometimes the 
 natural surface has been covered with a “ vitreous silicious glaze 
 or white coating .” 4 The colour varies, beiug sometimes a bright 
 polished brown, sometimes a pale yellow, sometimes pink, and 
 
 5 Twenty-two inches, according to 
 Mr. Birch (p. 109). 
 
 6 The longest are 14J inches. (See 
 Ancient Pottery , vol. i. p. 108.) 
 
 7 Ibid. p. 107. 8 Supra, p. 71. 
 
 9 Birch, Ancient Pottery , vol. i. pp. 
 
 15-18 ; Wilkinson, Ancient Egyptians , 
 
 1st Series, vol. ii. p. 97. 
 
 10 Birch, p. 134; Layard , Nineveh and 
 its Remains, vol. ii. p. 187. 
 
 1 Birch, p. 109. 2 Layard, 1. s. c. 
 
 3 Supra, pp. 263-266. 
 
 | 4 Birch, Ancient Pottery , vol. i. p. 113. 
 
386 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VI. 
 
 sometimes a very dark tint, nearly black . 5 The most usual 
 colour however for cylinders is pale yellow, and for tablets light 
 
 red or pink. There is no doubt that in both these cases the 
 characters were impressed separately 
 by the hand, a small metal style or 
 rod being used for the purpose. 
 
 Terra-cotta vessels, glazed and un- 
 glazed, were in common, use among 
 the Assyrians, for drinking and other 
 domestic purposes. They comprised 
 vases, lamps, jugs, amphorae, saucers, 
 jars, Ac. The material of the vessels 
 is fine, though generally rather yellow 
 in tone . 6 The shapes present no great 
 novelty, being for the most part such 
 as are found both in the old Chaldaean 
 tombs , 7 and in ordinary Roman sepul- 
 chres . 8 Among the most elegant are 
 the funereal (?) urns discovered by 
 
 Funereal urn, from Khorsabad. M ftt Rhorsabad, which are egg- 
 
 shaped, with a small opening at top, a short and very scanty 
 
 5 Birch, Ancient Pottery , vol. i. p. 115. 6 Ibid. p. 120. 7 Supra, pp. 91, 92. 
 
 8 Birch P. 121. 
 
Chap. VI. 
 
 POTTERY. 
 
 387 
 
 pedestal, and two raised rings, one rather delicately chased, by 
 way of ornament. Another graceful form is that of the large 
 
 Nestorian and Arab workmen, with jar discovered at Nimrud. 
 
 jars uncovered at Nimrud (see above), of which Mr. Layard 
 gives a representation . 1 Still more taste- 
 ful are some of the examples which occur 
 upon the bas-reliefs, and seemingly repre- 
 sent earthen vases. Among these may 
 be particularised a lustral ewer resting in 
 a stand supported by bulls’ feet, which 
 appears in front of a temple at Khorsabad , 2 
 and a wine vase (see overleaf) of ample dimensions, which 
 
 Lustral ewer, from a bas- 
 relief, Khorsabad. 
 
 1 Nin. and Bab. p. 574. 
 
 2 See Botta’s Monument de Ninive , vol. ii. Plates 141 and 162. 
 
 2 C 2 
 
3 88 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VI. 
 
 is found in a banquet scene at the same place . 3 Some of the 
 
 lamps are also graceful enough, i 
 out of which were developed the 
 
 md seem to be the prototypes 
 more elaborate productions of 
 the Greeks. Others are more 
 simple, being without orna- 
 ment of any kind, and nearly 
 resembling a modern teapot 
 (see No. IV.). The glazed 
 pottery is, for the most part, 
 tastefully coloured. An am- 
 phora, with twisted arms, 
 found at Nimrud (see oppo- 
 site), is of two colours, a 
 warm yellow, and a cold 
 bluish green. The green 
 predominates in the upper, 
 _ the yellow in the under por- 
 tion ; but there is a certain 
 amount of blending or mot- 
 
 tling in the mid-region, which has a very pleasant effect. A 
 similarly mottled character is presented by two other amphorae 
 from the same place, where the general hue is a yellow which 
 
 No. I. 
 
 No. III. 
 
 See Botta’s Monument de Ninive, vol. ii. Plate 76 ; and see vol. v. p. 130. 
 
Chap. VI. 
 
 POTTERY— GLASS-WARE. 
 
 389 
 
 varies in intensity, and the mottling is with a violet blue. In 
 some cases the colours are not blended, but sharply defined by 
 lines, as in a curious spouted 
 cup figured by Mr. Layard, and 
 in several fragmentary speci- 
 mens . 4 5 Painted patterns are 
 not uncommon upon the glazed 
 pottery, though upon the un- 
 glazed they are scarcely ever 
 found. The most usual colours 
 are blue, yellow, and white; 
 brown, purple, and lilac have 
 been met with occasionally. 
 
 These colours are thought to 
 be derived chiefly from metallic 
 oxides, over which was laid as a 
 
 glazing a vitreous silicated sub- 
 
 l , 1 1 . Amphora, with twisted arms (Nimrud). 
 
 stance. On the whole porcelain 
 
 of this fine kind is rare in the Assyrian remains, and must be 
 regarded as a material that was precious and used by few. 
 
 Assyrian glass is among the most beautiful of the objects 
 which have been exhumed. M. Botta compared it to certain 
 
 fabrics of Venice and Bohemia , 6 into which a number of different 
 colours are artificially introduced. But a careful analysis has 
 shown that the lovely prismatic hues which delight us in the 
 Assyrian specimens, varying under different lights with all the 
 
 4 See Layard’s Monuments, 1st Series, Plate 85. 
 
 5 Birch, Ancient Pottery , vol. i. p. 130. 6 Monument de Ninive, vol. v. p. 173. 
 
390 
 
 THE SECOND MONAKCHY. 
 
 Chap. VI. 
 
 delicacy and brilliancy of the opal, are due, not to art, but to 
 the wonder-working hand of time, which, as it destroys the 
 fabric, compassionately invests it with additional grace and 
 beauty. Assyrian glass was either transparent, or stained with 
 a single uniform colour . 7 It was composed in the usual way, 
 by a mixture of sand or silex with alkalis, and, like the 
 Egyptian , 8 appears to have been first rudely fashioned into 
 shape by the blow-pipe. It was then more carefully shaped, 
 and, where necessary, hollowed out by a turning machine, the 
 
 marks of which are sometimes still 
 visible . 9 The principal specimens 
 which have been discovered are small 
 bottles and bowls, the former not 
 more than three or four inches high, 
 the latter from four to five inches in 
 diameter. The vessels are occasion- 
 ally inscribed with the name of a king, 
 as is the case in the famous vase of 
 Sargon found by Mr. Layard at Nim- 
 rud which is here figured. This is the 
 earliest known specimen of transparent 
 glass, which is not found in Egypt until 
 the time of the Psammetichi. The Assyrians used also opaque 
 glass, which they coloured, sometimes red, with the suboxide 
 of copper, sometimes white, sometimes of other hues. They 
 seem not to have been able to form masses of glass of any 
 considerable size; and thus the employment of the material 
 must have been limited to a few ornamental, rather than useful, 
 purposes. A curious specimen is that of a pipe or tube, honey- 
 combed externally, which Mr. Layard exhumed at Koyunjik, 
 and of which the cut on next page is a rough representation. 
 
 An object found at Nimrud, in close connection with several 
 
 7 An elaborate account of the process 
 
 whereby the Assyrian glass has become 
 partially decomposed, and of the effects 
 
 produced by the decomposition, will be 
 found in Mr. Layard’s Nineveh and 
 Babylon , Appendix, pp. 674-676, con- 
 
 tributed to that work by Sir David 
 Brewster. 
 
 8 Wilkinson, Ancient Egyptians, 1st 
 Series, vol. iii. pp. 88, 89. 
 
 0 Layard, Nineveh and Babylon , p. 197. 
 
Chap. VI. 
 
 GLASS-WAKE. 
 
 391 
 
 glass vessels, 1 is of a character sufficiently similar to render its 
 introduction in this place not inappropriate. This is a lens 
 composed of rock crystal, about an inch 
 and a half in diameter, and nearly an 
 inch thick, having one plane and one 
 convex surface, and somewhat rudely 
 shaped and polished, which, however, 
 gives a tolerably distinct focus at the 
 distance of 4J inches from the plane 
 side, and which may have been used 
 either as a magnifying glass or to con- 
 centrate the rays of the sun. The form 
 is slightly oval, the longest diameter 
 being 1 T % inch, the shortest 1 T % inch. 
 
 The thickness is not uniform, but 
 greater on one side than on the other. 
 
 The plane surface is ill-polished and 
 scratched, the convex one, not polished 
 on a concave spherical disc, but fa- 
 shioned on a lapidary’s wheel, or by 
 some method equally rude. 2 As a 
 burning glass the lens has no great 
 power; but it magnifies fairly, and “ 
 
 may have been of great use to those ( after Layard). 
 
 who inscribed, or to those who sought to decipher, the royal 
 memoirs. 3 It is the only object of the kind that has been found 
 among the remains of antiquity, though it cannot be doubted 
 that lenses were known and were used as burning-glasses by 
 the Greeks. 4 
 
 Some examples have been already given illustrating the 
 tasteful ornamentation of Assyrian furniture. It consisted, so 
 far as we know, of tables, chairs, couches, high stools, footstools, 
 
 1 Layard, Nineveh and Babylon , p. 197. 
 
 2 See the description furnished to Mr. 
 Layard by Sir David Brewster. (. Nineveh 
 and Babylon, p. 197, note.) 
 
 3 Vide supra, p. 263. 
 
 4 This is evident from Aristophanes 
 (Nub. 746-749), where Strepsiades pro- 1 
 
 poses to obliterate his debts from the 
 waxen tablets on which they are in- 
 scribed by means of “ that transparent 
 stone wherewith fires are lighted.” (t^u 
 \1Q0v tt]u diacfyavrj, a <p* rj s ib irvp cui-rouct.) 
 Compare also Theophrast. De Igne , 73. 
 
392 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VI. 
 
 and stands with shelves to hold the articles needed for domestic 
 purposes. As the objects themselves have in all cases ceased 
 
 No. 1. 
 
 No. 2. 
 
 to 
 
 No. I. 
 
 -i 
 
 exist, leaving behind them only a few fragments, it is 
 
 necessary to have recourse to 
 the bas-reliefs for such notices 
 as may be thence derived of 
 their construction and cha- 
 racter. In these representa- 
 tions the most ordinary form 
 of table is one in which the 
 principle of our campstools 
 seems to be adopted, the legs 
 crossing each other as in the 
 woodcuts above. Only two 
 legs are represented, but we 
 must undoubtedly regard 
 these two as concealing two 
 others of the same kind at 
 the opposite end of the table. 
 The legs ordinarily terminate 
 in the feet of animals, some- 
 times of bulls, but more com- 
 monly of horses. Sometimes 
 between the two legs we see 
 a species of central pillar, 
 which, however, is not traceable 
 below the point where the legs 
 cross one another. The pillar itself is either twisted or plain 
 
 No. n. Assyrian tables, from bas-reliefs 
 (Koyunjik). 
 
 No. III. Table, ornamented with rams’ 
 heads (Koyunjik). 
 
Chap. VI. ASSYRIAN TABLES— THRONES AND CHAIRS. 
 
 393 
 
 (see No. 3, on last page). Another form of table, less often 
 met with, but simpler, closely resembles the common table of 
 
 Three-legged table (Koyunjik). 
 
 the moderns. It has merely the necessary flat top, with per- 
 pendicular legs at the corners. The skill of the cabinet-makers 
 enabled them to dispense in most 
 instances with cross-bars (see No. 
 
 I.), which are, however, some- 
 times seen (see No. II., No. III., 
 and No. IV.), uniting the legs of 
 this kind of tables. The corners 
 are often ornamented with lions’ 
 or rams’ heads, and the feet are 
 frequently in imitation of some 
 animal form (see No. III. and 
 No. IV.). Occasionally we find a 
 representation of a three-legged 
 table, as the above specimen, which 
 is from a relief at Koyunjik. The 
 height of tables appears to have 
 been greater than with ourselves ; 
 the lowest reach nearly to a man’s 
 middle ; the highest are level 
 with the upper part of the chest. 
 
 Assyrian thrones and chairs 
 were very elaborate. The throne 
 of Sennacherib exhibited on its 
 sides and arms three rows of Sennacherib on his throne (Koyunjik). 
 
 carved figures, one above another, supporting the bars with 
 
394 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VI. 
 
 their hands. The bars, the arms, and the back, were patterned. 
 The legs ended in a pine-shaped ornament, very common in 
 
 Assyrian furniture. Over 
 the back was thrown an em- 
 broidered cloth, fringed at 
 the end, which hung down 
 nearly to the floor. A throne 
 of Sargon’s was adorned on 
 its sides with three human 
 figures, apparently repre- 
 sentations of the king, below 
 which was the war-horse of 
 the monarch, caparisoned as 
 for battle . 5 Another throne 
 of the same monarch’s had 
 two large and four small 
 
 Arm-chair or throne (Khorsabad). Ag^eS of men at the side, 
 
 while the back was sup- 
 ported on either side by a human figure of superior dimensions . 6 
 The use of chairs with high backs, like these, was apparently 
 
 confined to the monarchs. 
 Persons of less exalted rank 
 were content to sit on seats 
 
 chairs, with a low back level 
 with the arms . 7 
 
 Seats of this kind, whether 
 thrones or chairs, were no 
 doubt constructed mainly 
 of wood. The ornamental 
 work may, however, have 
 been of bronze, either cast 
 into the necessary shape, or 
 The animal heads at the 
 
 Assyrian ornamented seat (Khorsabad). 
 
 it by the hammer. 
 
 wrought into 
 
 5 Botta, Monument de Ninive, vol. i. 
 Plate 17. 
 
 6 Ibid. Plate 18. 
 
 7 In the series from which this repre- 
 
 sentation is taken the figures appear 
 seated in such a way as would imply 
 that the actual seat was level with the 
 dotted line a b. 
 
Chap. VI. 
 
 ASSYRIAN COUCHES AND FOOTSTOOLS. 
 
 395 
 
 ends of arms seem to have fallen under the latter description . 8 
 In some cases, ivory was among the materials used : it has been 
 found in the legs of a throne at Koyunjik , 9 and may not impro- 
 bably have entered into the ornamentation of the best furniture 
 very much more generally. 
 
 The couches which we find represented upon the sculptures 
 are of a simple character. The 
 body is flat, not curved; the 
 legs are commonly plain, and 
 fastened to each other by a 
 cross-bar, sometimes terminat- 
 ing in the favourite pine-shaped 
 ornament. One end only is 
 raised, and this usually curves Assyrian couch, from a bas-relief, 
 inward nearly in a semicircle. 
 
 The couches are decidedly lower than the Egyptian ; 10 and do 
 not, like them, require a stool or steps in order to ascend them. 
 
 Stools, however, are used with the chairs or thrones of which 
 mention was made above — lofty seats, where such a support for 
 the sitter’s feet was imperatively required. They are sometimes 
 
 No. I. 
 
 No. II. 
 
 No. III. 
 
 Assyrian footstools (Koyunjik). 
 
 plain at the sides, and merely cut en chevron at the base ; some- 
 times highly ornamented, terminating in lions’ feet supported 
 on cones, in the same 1 (or in volutes) supported on balls, and 
 otherwise adorned with volutes, lion castings, and the like. 
 The most elaborate specimen is the stool (No. III.) which 
 supports the feet of Asshur-bani-pal’s queen on a relief brought 
 from the North Palace at Koyunjik, and now in the National 
 
 Series, vol. ii. p. 201. 
 
 1 See the woodcut on p. 393. 
 
 8 Layard, Nineveh end Babylon, p. 199. 
 
 9 Ibid. p. 198. 
 
 10 Wilkinson, Ancient Egyptians , 1st 
 
396 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. YI. 
 
 Collection. Here tlie upper corners exhibit the favourite gra- 
 dines, guarding and keeping in place an embroidered cushion ; 
 the legs are ornamented with rosettes and with horizontal 
 mouldings ; they are connected together by two bars, the lower 
 one adorned with a number of double volutes, and the upper 
 one with two lions standing back to back ; the stool stands 
 on balls, surmounted first by a double moulding, and then by 
 volutes. 
 
 Stands with shelves often terminate, like other articles of 
 furniture, in animals’ feet, most com- 
 monly lions’, as in the accompany- 
 ing specimens. 
 
 Of the embroidered robes and dra- 
 peries of the Assyrians, as of their 
 furniture, we can judge only by the 
 representations made of them upon 
 the bas-reliefs. The delicate texture 
 of such fabrics has prevented them 
 from descending to our day even in 
 the most tattered condition ; and the 
 ancient testimonies on the subject are for the most part too remote 
 from the times of the Assyrians to be of much value . 2 Ezekiel’s 
 notice 3 is the only one which comes within such a period of 
 Assyria’s fall as to make it an important testimony, and even from 
 this we cannot gather much that goes beyond the evidence of the 
 sculptures. The sculptures show us that robes and draperies 
 
 2 The Greek and Roman ideas on the 
 subject of the Assyrian dress were pro- 
 bably derived from Ctesias, at least 
 mainly. He seems to have ascribed to 
 Sardanapalus, and even to Semiramis, 
 garments of great magnificence and of 
 delicate fabric. (See Diod. Sic. ii. 6, § 6, 
 23, § 1, and 27, § 3.) But he did not, so 
 far as we know, distinctly speak of these 
 garments as embroidered. It remained 
 for the later Roman poets to determine 
 that the colour of the robes was purple, 
 and that their ornamentation was the 
 work of the needle. 
 
 “ Perfusam murice vestem 
 Assyria signatur acw.” 
 
 Claudian xliv. 86, 87. 
 
 These rare Assyrian garments were said 
 to have been adopted by the Modes, and 
 afterwards by the Persians. (Diod. Sic. 
 ii. 6, § 6.) They were probably of silk, 
 which was produced largely in Assyria 
 (Plin. H. N.x i. 22), whence it was car- 
 ried to Rome and worn both by men 
 and women (ib. xi. 23). 
 
 3 Ezek. xxvii. 23, 24 : “ Haran and 
 Canneh and Eden, the merchants of 
 Sheba, Asshur, and Chilmad, were thy 
 merchants. These were thy merchants 
 in all sorts of things, in blue clothes and 
 broidered work an d * n chests of 
 
 rich apparel, bound with cords and made 
 of cedar, among thy merchandise.” 
 
Chap. VI. 
 
 ASSYRIAN DRAPERIES. 
 
 397 
 
 of all kinds were almost always more or less patterned; and 
 this patterning, which is generally of an extremely elaborate 
 kind, it is reasonable to conclude was the work of the needle. 
 Sometimes the ornamentation is confined to certain portions of 
 garments, as to the ends of sleeves and the bottoms of robes or 
 tunics ; at others it is extended over the whole dress. This is 
 more particularly the case with the garments of the kings, 
 which are of a magnificence difficult to describe, or to represent 
 within a narrow compass. One or two specimens, however, 
 may be given almost at random, indicating different styles of 
 
 ornamentation usual in the royal apparel. Other examples 
 will be seen in the many illustrations throughout this volume 
 where the king is represented . 4 It is remarkable that the 
 earliest representations exhibit the most elaborate types of all, 
 after which a reaction seems to set in — simplicity is affected — 
 which, however, is gradually trenched upon, until at last a 
 magnificence is reached little short of that which prevailed in 
 the age of the first monuments. The draperies of Assliur- 
 izir-pal in the north-west palace at Nimrud, are at once 
 
 Royal embroidered dresses (Nimrud). 
 
 4 As on pp. 290, 292, 393, &c. of this volume. 
 
398 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VI. 
 
 more minutely laboured and more tasteful than those of any 
 later time. Besides elegant but unmeaning patterns, they 
 exhibit human and animal forms, sacred trees, sphinxes, 
 griffins, winged horses, and occasionally bull-hunts and lion- 
 hunts. The upper part of this king’s dress is in one instance 
 almost covered with figures, which range themselves round 
 a circular breast ornament, whereof the cut opposite is a repre- 
 sentation. Elsewhere his apparel is less superb, and indeed 
 it presents almost every degree of richness, from the wonderful 
 embroidery of the robe just mentioned to absolute plainness, in 
 
 the celebrated picture of the lion-hunt . 5 With Sargon, the 
 next king who has left many monuments, the case is remark- 
 ably different. Sargon is represented always in the same dress 
 — a long fringed robe, embroidered simply with rosettes, which 
 are spread somewhat scantily over its whole surface. Senna- 
 cherib’s apparel is nearly of the same kind, or, if anything, 
 richer, though sometimes the rosettes are omitted . 6 His grand- 
 son, Asshur-bani-pal, also affects the rosette ornament, but 
 reverts alike to the taste and the elaboration of the early 
 kings. He wears a breast ornament containing human figures, 
 
 5 Supra, p. 344. j omission may be from mere carelessness 
 
 6 See Layard, Mowtments, 1st Series, in the artist. 
 
 Plate 77 ; 2nd Series, Plate 42. The | 
 
Chap. VI. 
 
 ASSYRIAN DRAPERIES. 
 
 399 
 
 around which are ranged a number of minute and elaborate 
 patterns. 
 
 To this account of the arts, mimetic and other, in which the 
 Assyrians appear to have excelled, it might be expected that 
 
400 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. YT. 
 
 it seems best to omit it, or to touch it only in the lightest and 
 most cursory manner. When the numerous tablets now in the 
 British Museum shall have been deciphered, studied, and trans- 
 lated, it will probably be found that they contain a tolerably 
 full indication of what Assyrian science really was ; and it 
 will then be seen how far it was real and valuable, in what 
 respects mistaken and illusory. At present this mine is almost 
 unworked, nothing more having been ascertained than that 
 the subjects whereof the tables treat are various, and their 
 apparent value very different. Comparative philology seems 
 to have been largely studied, and the works upon it exhibit 
 great care and diligence. Chronology is evidently much valued, 
 and very exact records are kept whereby the lapse of time can 
 even now be accurately measured. Geography and history 
 have each an important place in Assyrian learning; while 
 astronomy and mythology occupy at least as great a share of 
 attention. The astronomical observations recorded are thought 
 to be frequently inaccurate, as might be expected when there 
 were no instruments, or none of any great value. Mythology 
 is a very favourite subject, and appears to be treated most 
 fully ; but hitherto cuneiform scholars have scarcely penetrated 
 below the surface of the mythological tablets, baffled by the 
 obscurity of the subject and the difficulty of the dialect in 
 which they are written . 7 
 
 On one point alone, belonging to the domain of science, 
 do the Assyrian representations of their life enable us to 
 comprehend, at least to some extent, their attainments. The 
 degree of knowledge which this people possessed on the subject 
 of practical mechanics is illustrated with tolerable fulness in 
 the bas-reliefs, more especially in the important series dis- 
 covered at Koyunjik, where the transport of the colossal bulls 
 from the quarry to the palace gateways is represented in the 
 most elaborate detail . 8 The very fact that they were able to 
 
 7 The mythological tablets are always 
 in the Akkad or old Chaldsean language, 
 and in very few instances are furnished 
 even with a gloss or explanation in As- 
 syrian. (See Sir H. Rawlinson’s Essay 
 
 “ On the Religion of the Babylonians 
 
 and Assyrians ” in the author’s Hero- 
 dotus, vol. i. p. 585, note 2 .) 
 
 8 This series is excellently represented 
 in Mr. Layard’s Monuments , 2nd Series, 
 Plates 10 to 17. 
 
Chap. VI. 
 
 EXTENT OF ASSYKIAN SCIENCE. 
 
 401 
 
 transport masses of stone, many tons in weight, over a con- 
 siderable space of ground, and to place them on the summit 
 of artificial platforms from thirty to eighty (or ninety) feet 
 high, would alone indicate considerable mechanical knowledge. 
 The further fact, now made clear from the bas-reliefs, that they 
 wrought all the elaborate carving of the colossi before they 
 proceeded to raise them or put them in place , 9 is an additional 
 argument of their skill, since it shows that they had no fear 
 of any accident happening in the transport. It appears from 
 the representations that they placed their colossus in a standing 
 posture, not on a truck or waggon of any kind, but on a huge 
 wooden sledge, shaped nearly like a boat, casing it with an 
 openwork of spars or beams, which crossed each other at right 
 angles, and were made perfectly tight by means of wedges . 1 
 To avert the great danger of the mass toppling over sideways, 
 ropes were attached to the top of the casing, at the point 
 where the beams crossed one another, and were held taut by 
 two parties of labourers, one on either side of the statue. 
 Besides these, wooden forks or props were applied on either side 
 to the second set of horizontal cross-beams, held also by men, 
 whose business it would be to resist the least inclination of the 
 huge stone to lean to one side more than to the other. The 
 front of the sledge on which the colossus stood was curved 
 gently upwards, to facilitate its sliding along the ground, and 
 to enable it to rise with readiness upon the rollers, which were 
 continually placed before it by labourers just in front, while 
 others following behind gathered them up when the bulky mass 
 had passed over them. The motive power was applied in front 
 by four gangs of men who held on to four large cables, at 
 which they pulled by means of small ropes or straps fastened 
 to them, and passed under one shoulder and over the other, 
 an arrangement which enabled them to pull by weight 
 
 9 Mr. Layard first imagined that the 
 contrary was the case ( [Nineveh and its 
 Remains , vol. ii. p. 318) ; but his Ko- 
 yunjik discoveries convinced him of his 
 error (. Nineveh and Babylon , pp. 105, 106). 
 
 1 The nineteenth century could make 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 no improvement upon this. Mr. Layard 
 tells us that 11 precisely the same frame- 
 work was used for moving the great 
 sculptures now in the British Museum.” 
 {Nineveh and Babylon , p. 112, note.) 
 
 2 D 
 
Assyrians moving a human-headed bull, partly restored from a bas-relief at Koyunjik (after Layard). 
 
Chap. VI. 
 
 ASSYRIAN MECHANICAL SCIENCE. 
 
 403 
 
 as much as by muscular strength, as the annexed figure will 
 plainly show. The cables appear to have been of great strength, 
 and are fastened carefully to four 
 strong projecting pins: two near 
 the front, two at the back part of 
 the sledge, by a knot so tied that it 
 would be sure not to slip. Finally, 
 as in spite of the rollers, whose use 
 in diminishing friction, and so fa- 
 cilitating progress, was evidently 
 well understood, and in spite of the 
 amount of force applied in front, it 
 would have been difficult to give 
 the first impetus to so great a mass, 
 a lever was skilfully applied behind to raise the hind part of the 
 sledge slightly, and so propel it forward, while to secure a sound 
 and firm fulcrum, wedges of wood 
 were inserted between the lever and 
 the ground. The greater power of a 
 lever at a distance from the fulcrum 
 being known, ropes were attached « 
 to its upper end, which could not 
 otherwise have been reached, and 
 the lever was worked by means of 
 
 f^ em * Attachment of rope to sledge, on 
 
 We have thus unimpeachable ^ for 
 
 evidence as to the mode whereby 
 
 the conveyance of huge blocks of stone along level ground 
 was effected. But it may be further asked, how were the 
 blocks raised up to the elevation at which we find them 
 placed ? Upon this point there is no direct evidence ; but the 
 probability is that they were drawn up inclined ways, sloping 
 gently from the natural ground to the top of the platforms. 
 The Assyrians were familiar with inclined ways , 2 which they 
 used almost always in their attacks on walled places, and which 
 
 2 The “ banks ” of Scripture (2 Kings xix. 32 ; Is. xxvii. 33). 
 
 2 d 2 
 
404 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. YI. 
 
 in. many cases they constructed either of brick or stone . 3 The 
 Egyptians certainly employed them for the elevation of large 
 
 blocks ; 4 and probably in 
 the earlier times most 
 nations who affected mas- 
 sive architecture had re- 
 course to the same simple 
 but uneconomical plan . 5 
 The crane and pulley 
 were applied to this pur- 
 pose later. In the As- 
 syrian sculptures we find 
 no application of either 
 to building, and no in- 
 stance at all of the two 
 in combination. Still each 
 appears on the bas-reliefs 
 separately — the crane em- 
 ployed for drawing water 
 from the rivers and spread- 
 ing it over the lands , 6 the 
 pulley for lowering and 
 
 raisins: the bucket in 
 
 © 
 
 wells. 
 
 We must conclude from these facts that the Assyrians had 
 made considerable advances in mechanical knowledge, and were, 
 in fact, acquainted, more or less, with most of the contrivances 
 whereby heavy weights have commonly been moved and raised 
 among the civilized nations of Europe. We have also evidence 
 of their skill in the mechanical processes of shaping pottery 
 
 Part of a bas-relief, showing a pulley and a 
 warrior cutting a bucket from the rope 
 (after Layard). 
 
 a See Mr. Layard’s Monuments , 2nd 
 Series, Plates 18 and 21. 
 
 4 The great stones of which the pyra- 
 mids were built were certainly raised 
 from the alluvial plain to the rocky 
 platform on which they stand in this 
 way. (Herod, ii. 124; compare Wil- 
 kinson in the author s Herodotus, vol. ii. 
 p. 200, note 6 .) Diodorus declares that 
 the pyramids themselves were built by 
 
 the help of mounds (i. 62, § 6). This, 
 however, is improbable. 
 
 5 It is the most reasonable supposition 
 that the cross-stones at Stonehenge, and 
 the cromlech stones so common in Ireland, 
 were placed in the positions where we 
 now find them by means of inclined 
 planes afterwards cleared away. 
 
 6 See the representation, p. 215. 
 
Chap. VI. 
 
 EXTENT OF ASSYKIAN SCIENCE. 
 
 405 
 
 and glass, of casting and embossing metals, and of cutting 
 intaglios upon hard stones . 7 Thus it was not merely in the 
 ruder and coarser, but likewise in the more delicate processes, 
 that they excelled. The secrets of metallurgy, of dyeing, 
 enamelling, inlaying, glass-blowing, as well as most of the ordi- 
 nary manufacturing processes, were known to them. In all the 
 common arts and appliances of life, they must be pronounced 
 at least on a par with the Egyptians, while in taste they 
 greatly exceeded, not that nation only, but all the Orientals. 
 Their “high art” is no doubt much inferior to that of Greece ; 
 but it has real merit, and is most remarkable, considering the 
 time when it was produced. It has grandeur, dignity, boldness, 
 strength, and sometimes even freedom and delicacy ; it is honest 
 and painstaking, unsparing of labour, and always anxious for 
 truth. Above all, it is not lifeless and stationary, like the art 
 of the Egyptians and the Chinese, but progressive and aiming 
 at improvement . 8 To judge by the advance over previous 
 works which we observe in the sculptures of the son of Esar- 
 haddon, it would seem that if Assyria had not been assailed by 
 barbaric enemies about his time, she might have anticipated by 
 above a century the finished excellence of the Greeks. 
 
 7 It must be remembered that the 
 
 Assyrians cut not merely the softer ma- 
 terials, as serpentine and alabaster, but 
 the gems known technically as “ hard 
 stones” — agate, jasper, quartz, sienite, ! 
 
 amazon stone, and the like. (See King’s 
 Ancient Gems , p. 127.) 
 
 8 See the summary on this subject in 
 the author’s Herodotus, vol. i. ; Essay vii 
 § 42. 
 
40 6 
 
 THE SECOND MONAECHY. 
 
 Chap. VII. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 
 
 “ Whose arrows are sharp, and all their hows hent ; their horses’ hoofs 
 shall he counted like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind.” — Isaiah v. 28. 
 
 In reviewing, so far as our materials permit, the manners and 
 customs of the Assyrians, it will be convenient to consider sepa- 
 rately their warlike and their peaceful usages. The sculptures 
 furnish very full illustration of the former, while on the latter 
 they throw light far more sparingly. 
 
 The Assyrians fought in chariots, on horseback, and on foot. 
 Like most ancient nations, as the Egyptians , 1 the Greeks in the 
 heroic times , 2 the Canaanites , 3 the Syrians , 4 the Jews and 
 Israelites , 5 the Persians , 6 the Gauls , 7 the Britons , 8 and many 
 others , 9 the Assyrians preferred the chariot as most honourable, 
 and probably as most safe. The king invariably went out to 
 war in a chariot, and always fought from it, excepting at the 
 siege of a town, when he occasionally dismounted and shot his 
 arrows on foot. The chief state-officers and other personages of 
 high rank followed the same practice. Inferior persons served 
 either as cavalry, or as foot-soldiers. 
 
 The Assyrian war-chariot is thought to have been made of 
 wood . 10 Like the Greek and the Egyptian, it appears to have 
 been mounted from behind, where it was completely open, or 
 
 1 Gen. xli. 43 ; Ex. xiv. 7-28 ; 2 K. 
 xviii. 24 ; Jer. xlvi. 9 ; &c. Compare 
 Wilkinson, Ancient Egyptians, 1st Series, 
 vol. i. pp. 335 et seqq. 
 
 2 Horn. II. iii. 29 ; iv. 366, &c. Hes. 
 Scut. Here. 306-309 ; yEsch. Sept. c. Th. 
 138, 191, &c. 
 
 3 Josh. xvii. 18 ; Judg. i. 19 and iv. 3. 
 
 4 2 Sam. x. 18 ; 2 K. vi. 14, 15. 
 
 5 1 Sam. viii. 11, 12; 1 K. iv. 26 ; x. 
 
 26 ; xvi. 9 ; xxii. 34, &c. 
 
 ® Herod, vii. 40 ; iEsch. Pers. 86 ; 
 
 Xen. Anab. i. 8, § 10 ; Arr. Exp. Alex. 
 
 ii. 11 ; iii. 11. 
 
 7 Caes. De Bell. Gall. iv. 33. 
 
 8 Tacit. Agric. § 12, and § 35. 
 
 9 As the Philistines (1 Sam. xiii. 5), 
 the Hittites (1 K. x. 29 ; 2 K. vii. 6), 
 the Susianians or Elamites (Is. xxii. 6), 
 the Lydians (iEsch. Pers. 45-48), the 
 wild African tribes near Cyrene (Herod, 
 iv. 189 ; vii. 86), and the Indians of the 
 Punjab region (ibid. ; and Arrian, Exp. 
 Alex. v. 15). 
 
 10 Layard, Nineveh and its Remains , 
 vol. ii. p. 349. 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 WAR CUSTOMS— CHARIOTS. 
 
 407 
 
 closed only by means of a shield, which (as it seems) could be 
 hung across the aperture. It was completely panelled at the 
 sides, and often highly ornamented, as will be seen from the 
 various illustrations given in this chapter. The wheels were 
 two in number, and were 
 placed far back, at or very 
 near the extreme end of 
 the body, so that the weight 
 pressed considerably upon 
 the pole, as was the case 
 also in Egypt . 11 They had 
 remarkably broad felloes, 
 thin and delicate spokes, 
 and small or moderate- 
 sized axles. The number of the spokes was either six or eight. 
 The felloes appear to have been formed of three distinct circles 
 of wood, the middle one being the thinnest, and the outer one 
 
 Assyrian war-chariot (Koyunjik). 
 
 No. I. Chariot-wheel of the early period. No. II. Chariot-wheel of the middle period. 
 
 far the thickest of the three. Sometimes these circles were fast- 
 ened together externally by bands of metal, hatchet-shaped. In 
 one or two instances we find the outermost circle divided by 
 cross-bars, as if it had been composed of four different pieces. 
 
 11 Wilkinson, Ancient Egyptians , 1st 
 Series, vol. i. p. 343. In the Greek and 
 Roman chariots, on the contrary, the 
 
 axle-tree was placed about midway in 
 the body. 
 
408 
 
 THE SECOND MONAKCHY. 
 
 Chap. YII. 
 
 Occasionally there is a fourth circle, which seems to represent a 
 metal tire outside the felloe, whereby it was guarded from 
 
 injury. This tire is either plain or ornamented. 
 
 The wheels were attached 
 to an axle-tree, about which 
 they revolved, in the usual 
 manner. The body was placed 
 directly upon the axle-tree 
 and upon the pole, without 
 the intervention of any springs. 
 The pole started from the 
 middle of the axle-tree, and, 
 passing below the floor of the 
 body in a horizontal direction, 
 thence commonly curved up- 
 wards till it had risen to 
 about half the height of the body, when it was again horizontal 
 for a while, once more curving upwards at the end. It usually 
 terminated in an ornament, which was sometimes the head of an 
 
 Ornamented ends of chariot-poles (Nimrud and Koyunjik). 
 
 animal— a bull, a horse, or a duck— sometimes a more elaborate 
 and complicated work of art. Now and then the pole continued 
 level with the bottom of the body till it had reached its full 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 WAR-CHARIOTS. 
 
 409 
 
 projection, and then rose suddenly to the height of the top of 
 the chariot. It was often strengthened by one or more thin 
 bars, probably of metal, which united it to the upper part of 
 the chariot-front . 12 
 
 Chariots were drawn either by two or three, never by four, 
 horses. They seem to have had but a single pole . 1 Where 
 three horses were used, one must therefore have been attached 
 merely by a rope or thong, like the side horses of the Greeks , 2 
 and can scarcely have been of much service for drawing the 
 vehicle. He seems rightly regarded as a supernumerary, in- 
 tended to take the place of one of the others, should either be dis- 
 abled by a wound or accident . 3 It is not easy to determine from 
 the sculptures how the two draught horses were attached to the 
 pole. Where chariots are represented without horses, we find 
 indeed that they have always a cross-bar or yoke ; 4 but where 
 horses are represented in the act of drawing a chariot, the cross- 
 bar commonly disappears altogether. It would seem that the 
 Assyrian artists, despairing of their ability to represent the yoke 
 properly when it was presented to the eye endwise, preferred, 
 for the most part, suppressing it wholly to rendering it in an 
 unsatisfactory manner. Probably a yoke did really in every case 
 pass over the shoulders of the two draught horses, and was 
 fastened by straps to the collar which is always seen round 
 their necks. 
 
 These yokes, or cross-bars, were of various kinds. Sometimes 
 
 12 See the representations of entire cha- 
 riots given below, pp. 411, 412, and 413. 
 
 1 This was the case also with the 
 Greek chariots. The chariots of the 
 Lydians, according to iEschylus ( Pers . 
 45-47), had two and even three poles 
 ( d'ippvp.d t € kcu Tpippvfj.a TeA.17). In the 
 Assyrian sculptures there is one repre- 
 sentation of what seems to be a chariot 
 with two poles (Layard, Monuments of 
 Nineveti, 2nd Series, PI. 24) ; but perhaps 
 the intention was to represent two cha- 
 riots, one partially concealing the other. 
 
 z Zeipaioi, or cretpacpopoi, “ rope- 
 hearers,” from creipd, “ a cord or rope.” 
 (See Soph. Electr. 722 ; Eurip. Iph. A. 
 223 ; Here . F. 446 ; Schol. ad Aristoph. 
 
 Nub. 1302 ; Isid. Orig. xviii. 35, &c. : 
 and compare the article on Currus, in 
 Smith’s Dictionary of Greek and Roman 
 Antiquities , p. 379, 2nd edition.) 
 
 3 Layard, Nineveh and its Remains , 
 vol. ii. p. 350. 
 
 4 Generally the yoke is exhibited with 
 great clearness, being drawn in full, at 
 right angles to the pole, or nearly so, 
 despite the laws of perspective. Some- 
 times, however, as in Sennacherib’s cha- 
 riot (figured below, p. 413, No. II.), we 
 find in the place where we should expect 
 the yoke a mere circle marked out upon 
 the pole, which represents probably one 
 end of the yoke, or possibly the hole 
 through which it passed. 
 
4io 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VII. 
 
 they appear to have consisted of a mere slight circular bar, 
 probably of metal, which passed through the pole , 5 sometimes of 
 a thicker spar, through which the pole itself passed. In this 
 
 latter case the extre- 
 mities were occasion- 
 ally adorned with 
 heads of animals. The 
 most common kind of 
 yoke exhibits a double 
 curve, so as to re- 
 semble a species of 
 bow unstrung. Now 
 and then a specimen 
 is found very curiously 
 complicated, being formed of a bar curved strongly at either 
 end, and exhibiting along its course four other distinct curva- 
 tures having opposite to them apertures resembling eyes, with 
 an upper and a lower eyelid. It has been suggested that this 
 
 End of pole, with cross-bar, after Botta (Khorsabad). 
 
 yoke belonged to a 
 four - horse chariot, 
 and that to each of 
 the four eyes {a a a a) 
 there was a steed at- 
 tached ; 6 but, as no 
 representation of a 
 four- horse chariot has 
 been found, this sug- 
 gestion must be re- 
 , . garded as inadmis- 
 
 End of pole, with curved yoke (Koyunjik). 
 
 sible. I he probability 
 
 seems to be that this yoke, like the others, was for two horses, 
 on whose necks it rested at the points marked b b, the aper- 
 tures (c c c c) lying thus on either side of the animals’ necks, 
 and furnishing the means whereby the yoke was fastened to the 
 
 5 See the pole ending in a horse’s head I 6 Botta, Monument de Ninive, vol. v. 
 on p. 408, and compare that to which re- | p. 90. 
 
 ference is made in the last note. | 
 
Chap. VII. WAR-CHARIOTS. 4 11 
 
 collar. It is just possible that we have in the sculptures of the 
 later period a representation of the extremities (d d ) of this 
 
 a chariot is necessarily attended by his charioteer ; and, where 
 he is a king, or a personage of high importance, he is accom- 
 panied by a second attendant, who in battle-scenes always bears 
 a shield, with which he guards the person of his master. Some- 
 
 a a a a 
 
 End of pole, with elaborate cross-bar or yoke (Khorsabad). 
 
 kind of yoke, since in them a curious curve appears sometimes 
 on the necks of chariot-horses, just above the upper end of the 
 collar . 7 
 
 Assyrian chariots are exceedingly short ; but, apparently, 
 they must have been of a considerable width. They contain 
 two persons at the least ; and this number is often increased to 
 three, and sometimes even to four. The warrior who fights from 
 
 Assyrian chariot containing four warriors (Koyunjik). 
 
 7 See below, and compare the representation of Sargon’s chariot, p. 294. 
 
412 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. YH. 
 
 times, though rarely, four persons are seen in a chariot — the 
 king or chief, the charioteer, and two guards, who protect the 
 monarch on either side with circular shields or targes . 8 The 
 charioteer is always stationed by the side of the warrior, not (as 
 frequently with the Greeks 9 ) behind him. The guards stand 
 behind, and, owing to the shortness of the chariot, must have 
 experienced some difficulty in keeping their places. They are 
 evidently forced to lean backwards from want of room, and 
 would probably have often fallen out, had they not grasped with 
 one hand a rope or strap firmly fixed to the front of the 
 vehicle . 10 
 
 There are two principal types of chariots in the Assyrian 
 sculptures, which may be distinguished as the earlier and the 
 
 No. I. Assyrian war-chariot of the early period (Nimrud). 
 
 later . 11 The earlier are comparatively low and short. The 
 wheels are six-spoked, and of small diameter. The body is 
 plain, or only ornamented by a border, and is rounded in front, 
 like the Egyptian 1 and the classical chariots . 2 Two quivers are 
 
 8 Botta, Monument de Ninive, voL ii. 
 PI. 92. 
 
 9 Dictionary of Antiquities, yol. i. pp. 
 101, 379, &c. 
 
 10 See Mr. Layard’s Monuments, 1st 
 Series, PL 22. 
 
 11 The earlier belong to the time of 
 Asshur-izir-pal ab. b.c. 900 ; the later 
 to the times of Sargon, Sennacherib, 
 and Asshur-bani-pal (Esarhaddon's son), 
 
 about b.c. 720-660. Sometimes, but 
 very rarely, a chariot of the old type 
 is met with in the second period. (See 
 Layard, Monuments of Nineveh , 2nd 
 Series, PI. 24.) 
 
 1 W'ilkinson, Ancient Egyptians, 1st 
 Series, vol. i. p. 345. 
 
 2 Smith’s Dictionary of Antiquities , 
 pp. 378, 379, 2nd ed. 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 WAR-CPIARIOTS. 
 
 413 
 
 suspended diagonally at the side of the body , 3 while a rest for 
 a spear, commonly fashioned into the shape of a human head,- 
 occupies the upper corner at the back. From the front of the 
 body to the further end of the pole, which is generally patterned 
 and terminates in the head and neck of a bull or a duck, ex- 
 tends an ornamented structure, thought to have been of linen or 
 silk stitched upon a framework of wood , 4 which is very conspi- 
 cuous in the representations. A shield commonly hangs behind 
 these chariots, perhaps closing the entrance ; and a standard is 
 sometimes fixed in them towards the front, connected with the 
 end of the pole by a rope or bar . 5 
 
 The later chariots are loftier and altogether larger than the 
 
 earlier. The wheel is eight-spoked, and reaches as high as the 
 shoulders of the horses, which implies a diameter of about five 
 feet. The body rises a foot, or rather more, above this ; and the 
 riders thus from their elevated position command the whole 
 battle-field. The body is not rounded, but made square in 
 
 3 See the Woodcut No. I., and com- 
 pare p. 344. Each quiver held also a 
 small axe or hatchet. The arrangement 
 of the quivers resembles that usual in 
 Egypt (Wilkinson, vol. i. p. 346). 
 
 4 Layard, Nineveh and its Remains , 
 
 vol. ii. p. 350. Another conjecture is 
 that the ornament in question is really a 
 flap of leather, which extended horizon- 
 
 tally from the horses’ shoulders to the 
 chariot-rim, and served the purpose of 
 the modern splash-board. The artists, 
 unskilled in perspective, would be obliged 
 to substitute the perpendicular for the 
 horizontal position. 
 
 5 See Layard, Monuments , 1st Series 
 Pis. 14, 22, and 27. 
 
4 X 4 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VII. 
 
 front ; it has no quivers attached to it externally, but has, in- 
 stead, a projection at one, or both, of the corners, which seems 
 to have served as an arrow-case . 6 This projection is commonly 
 patterned, as is in many cases the entire body of the chariot, 
 though sometimes the ornamentation is confined to an elegant 
 but somewhat scanty border. The poles are plain, not patterned, 
 sometimes, however, terminating in the head of a horse ; there 
 is no ornamental framework connecting them with the chariot 
 but in its stead we see a thin bar, attached to which, either 
 above or below, there is in most instances a loop, whereto we 
 may suppose that the reins were occasionally fastened . 7 No 
 shield is suspended behind these chariots; but we sometimes 
 observe an embroidered drapery hanging over the back, in a 
 way which would seem to imply that they were closed behind, 
 at any rate by a cross-bar. 
 
 The trappings of the chariot-horses belonging to the two 
 periods are not very different. They consist principally of a 
 headstall, a collar, a breast-ornament, and a sort of huge tassel 
 pendant at the horse’s side. The headstall was formed com- 
 
 6 Layard, Nineveh and its Remains , 
 vol. ii. p. 352. The feathers of the arrows 
 are sometimes distinctly visible. (See 
 the woodcut on preceding page.) 
 
 7 If the white obelisk from Koyunjik 
 now in the British Museum is rightly 
 ascribed to Asshur-izir-pal, the father of 
 the Black-Obelisk king, it would appear 
 that the change from the older to the | 
 
 later chariot began in his time. The 
 vehicles on that monument are of a 
 transition character. They have the thin 
 bar with the loop, and have in most in- 
 stances wheels with eight spokes; but 
 their proportions are like those of the 
 early chariots, and they have the two 
 transverse quivers. 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 TRAPPINGS OF CHARIOT-HORSES. 
 
 415 
 
 monly of three straps: one was attached to the bit at either 
 end, and passed behind the ears oyer the neck ; another, which 
 was joined to this above, encircled the smallest part of the 
 neck ; while a third, crossing the first at right angles, was car- 
 ried round the forehead and the cheek-bones . 8 At the point 
 where the first and second joined, or a little in front of this, 
 rose frequently a waving plume, or a crest composed of three 
 huge tassels, one above another ; while at the intersection of 
 the second and third was placed a rosette 9 or other suitable 
 ornament. The first strap was divided where it approached the 
 bit into two or three smaller straps, which were attached to the 
 bit in different places. A fourth strap sometimes passed across 
 the nose from the point where the first strap subdivided. All 
 the stiaps were frequently patterned; the bit was sometimes 
 shaped into an animal form ; 10 and streamers occasionally floated 
 from the nodding plume or crest which crowned the heads of 
 the war-steeds. 
 
 The collar is ordinarily represented as a mere broad band 
 passing round the neck, not at the withers (as with ourselves), 
 but considerably higher up, almost midway between the withers 
 and the cheek-bone. Sometimes it is of uniform width , 11 while 
 often it narrows greatly as it approaches the back of the neck. 
 It is generally patterned, and appears to have been a mere flat 
 leathern band. It is impossible to say in what exact way the 
 pole was attached to it, though in the later sculptures we have 
 elaborate representations of the fastening. The earlier sculp- 
 tures seem to append to the collar one or more patterned straps, 
 which, passing round the horse’s belly immediately behind the 
 fore legs, served to keep it in place, while at the same time they 
 were probably regarded as ornamental; but under the later 
 kings these belly-bands were either reduced to a single strap, 
 or else dispensed with altogether. 
 
 416. 
 
 8 See the woodcuts on pp. 407 and 
 
 rud (Nineveh and Babylon, p. 177). 
 
 9 Rosettes in ivory, mother of pearl, 
 and bronze, which may have belonged 
 to the harness of horses, were found in 
 great abundance by Mr. Layard at Nim- 
 
 10 See the representation which forms 
 the ornamented head of a chariot-pole, 
 supra, p. 408. 
 
 11 This is especially the case in the 
 sculptures of the early period. 
 
4i 6 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. TO 
 
 The breast-ornament consists commonly of a fringe, more or 
 less complicated. The simplest form, which is that of the most 
 ancient times, exhibits a patterned strap with a single row of long 
 
 tassels pendant from 
 it, as in the annexed 
 representation. At a 
 later date we find a 
 double, and even a 
 triple row of tassels . 1 
 
 The pendant side- 
 ornament is a very 
 
 Assyrian chariot of the early period (Nimrud). Conspicuous portion of 
 
 the trappings. It is 
 attached to the collar either by a long straight strap, or by a 
 circular band which falls on either side of the neck. The upper 
 extremity is often shaped into the form of an animal’s head, below 
 
 which comes most 
 commonly a circle 
 or disk, ornamented 
 with a rosette, a Mal- 
 tese cross, a winged 
 bull, or other sacred 
 emblem, while below 
 the circle hang huge 
 tassels in a single row 
 or smaller ones ar- 
 ranged in several rows. 
 In the sculptures of 
 Chariot-horse protected by clothing (Koyunjik). Sargon at KllOrsabad, 
 
 the tassels of both the 
 breast and side ornaments were coloured, the tints being in 
 most cases alternately red and blue . 2 
 
 Occasionally the chariot-horses were covered from the ears 
 almost to the tail with rich cloths, magnificently embroidered 
 
 1 Supra, p. 294. In one case the rows of tassels amount to seven (Layard, Monu- 
 ments , 2nd Series, PL 42). 
 
 2 See p. 363. 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 TRAPPINGS OF CHARIOT-HORSES. 
 
 417 
 
 over their whole surface . 3 These cloths encircled the neck, 
 which they closely fitted, and, falling on either side of the body, 
 were then kept in place by means of a broad strap round the 
 rump and a girth under the belly . 4 
 
 A simpler style of clothing chariot-horses is found towards 
 the close of the later period, where we observe, below the collar, 
 
 Head of a chariot-horse, showing collar with bells attached (Ivoyunjik). 
 
 a sort of triple breast-plate, and over the rest of the body a 
 plain cloth, square cut, with flaps descending at the arms and 
 quarters, which is secured in its place by three narrow straps 
 fastened on externally . 5 The earlier kind of clothing has the 
 
 3 See Mr. Layard’s Monuments , 1st 
 Series, PI. 28 ; or his Nineveh and its Re- 
 mains. , vol. ii. opp. p. 350. 
 
 4 Mr. Layard speaks of three straps, 
 one of which “ passed round the breast ” 
 {Nineveh and its Remains, vol. ii. p. 355) ; 
 but the breast-strap, to which he alludes, 
 has no connexion with the clothes, and 
 
 YOL. 1. 
 
 occurs equally on unclothed horses of the 
 early period. (See the representation on 
 p. 416.) 
 
 5 The third strap here is on the back, 
 just above the quarters. It is difficult 
 to see how it could have been of any 
 service. 
 
 2 E 
 
418 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. YII. 
 
 appearance of being for ornament ; but tbis looks as if it was 
 meant solely for protection. 
 
 Besides the trappings already noticed, the Assyrian chariot- 
 horses had frequently strings of beads suspended round their 
 necks, between the ears and the collar ; they had also, not un- 
 frequently, tassels or bells attached to different parts of the 
 headstall ; and finally they had, in the later period, most com- 
 monly, a curious ornament upon the forehead, which covered 
 
 almost the whole space be- 
 tween the ears and the eyes, 
 and was composed of a num- 
 ber of minute bosses, coloured, 
 like the tassels of the breast 
 ornament , 6 alternately red 
 and blue. 
 
 Each horse appears to have 
 been driven by two reins 7 — 
 one attached to either end of 
 the bit in the ordinary man- 
 ner, and each passed through 
 a ring or loop in the harness, 
 whereby the rein was kept down and a stronger purchase secured 
 to the driver. The shape of the bit within the mouth, if we may 
 
 6 Supra, p. 416. For representations 
 of the ornament in question, see supra, 
 p. 294, and infra, p. 425. 
 
 7 Yet sometimes, where there are three 
 horses, we find eight reins (Layard, 
 Monuments , 1st Series, Pis. 13 and 14) ; 
 and often, where there are but two 
 horses, we see six reins. (See above, p. 
 294 ; and compare Layard, Monuments , 
 1st Series, Plates 72 and 80 ; 2nd 
 Series, Plates 23, 24, 29, 42, &c.) I 
 have sometimes doubted whether the 
 Assyrians of the later period did not 
 really drive three horses, while the 
 artists economised their labour by only 
 representing two. It is to be noticed 
 that over the two heads there are very 
 often represented three plumes (Botta, 
 Monument, Pis. 53, 58, 65, &c. ; Layard, 
 Monuments, 1st Series, PI. 72), and that 
 the practice of economy by the artists 
 
 is indubitable. For instance, they often 
 show but one, and rarely more than two, 
 of the six reins between the necks and 
 mouths of the chariot-horses, where all 
 six would have been visible; and they 
 sometimes even suppress the second, horse 
 in a chariot (supra, p. 416 ; Layard, Mo- 
 numents, 2nd Series, Pis. 29, 42, and 47). 
 It is, however, on the whole, perhaps 
 most probable that the three plumes 
 and the six reins are traditional, and 
 held their place in drawings when they 
 had gone out of use in reality. Other- 
 wise we should probably have had some 
 distinct evidence of the continued use 
 of the third horse. 
 
 Note that when Sennacherib’s horses 
 are being taken from his chariot to cross 
 a river ( Monuments , 2nd Series, PI. 41), 
 they are clearly but two in number, and 
 employ but two grooms. 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 BITS OF CHARIOT-HORSES. 
 
 419 
 
 judge by the single instance of an actual bit which remains to 
 us, bore a near resemblance to the modern snaffle. Externally 
 
 the bit was large, and in most cases clums\ 
 extending across the whole side of the 
 horses face, commonly resembling a 
 double axe-head, or a hammer. Occa- 
 sionally the shape was varied, the hatchet 
 or hammer being replaced by forms 
 similar to those annexed, or by the figure 
 of a horse at full gallop . 8 The rein 
 seems, in the early times, to have been 
 attached about midway in the cross- 
 bar , 9 while afterwards it became usual to 
 attach it near the lower end . 10 This 
 latter arrangement was probably found 
 to increase the power of the driver. 
 
 The use of the bearing-rein, which 
 prevailed in Egypt , 11 was unknown to 
 the Assyrians, or disapproved by them. 
 The driving-reins were separate, not 
 stitched or buckled together, and were 
 held in the two hands separately. The 
 right hand grasped the reins, whatever 
 their number, which were attached at 
 the horses’ right cheeks, while the left 
 hand performed the same office with the 
 
 -a sort of cross-bar 
 
 8 Supra, p. 408. 9 As in figs. 2, 3, and 5, above. 19 As in 
 
 11 Wilkinson, vol. i. p. 351. 
 
 lgs. 1 and 4, above. 
 
 2 e 2 
 
420 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. YII. 
 
 remaining reins. The charioteer urged his horses onward with 
 a powerful whip, haying a short handle, and a thick plaited or 
 twisted lash, attached like the lash of a modern horsewhip, 
 sometimes with, sometimes without, a loop, and often subdivided 
 at the end into two or three tails. 
 
 Chariot-horses were trained to three paces, a walk, a trot, and 
 a gallop. In battle-pieces they are commonly represented at 
 
 full speed, in marches trotting, in processions walking in a 
 stately manner. Their manes were frequently hogged , 12 though 
 more commonly they lay on the neck, falling (apparently) upon 
 
 Mode of tying horses’ tails (Koyunjik). around it about midway. Some- 
 times, more especially in the 
 later sculptures, the lower half of the tail is plaited and tied up 
 into a loop or bunch , 2 according to the fashion which prevails in 
 the present day through most parts of Turkey and Persia. 
 
 See Layard’s Monuments , 1st Series, Pis. 14, 23, &c. 
 
 2 See the woodcuts, pp. 411 and 416. 
 
 Driving-whips of Assyrian charioteers, from the Sculptures. 
 
 either side indifferently. Oc- 
 casionally a portion only was 
 hogged, while the greater part 
 remained in its natural con- 
 dition . 1 The tail was uncut, 
 and generally almost swept the 
 ground, but was confined by a 
 string or riband tied tightly 
 
 12 
 
 Layard, PI. 72. 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 ARMS OF THE CHARIOT WARRIORS. 
 
 421 
 
 The warrior who fought from a chariot was sometimes merely 
 dressed in a tunic, confined at the waist by a belt ; sometimes, 
 however, he wore a coat of mail, very like the Egyptian , 3 con- 
 sisting of a sort of shirt covered with small plates or scales of 
 metal. This shirt reached at least as low as the knees, beneath 
 which the chariot itself was sufficient protection. It had short 
 sleeves, which covered the shoulder and upper part of the arm, 
 but left the elbow and fore-arm quite undefended . 4 The chief 
 weapon of the warrior was the bow, which is always seen in his 
 hands, usually with the arrow upon the string ; he wears, besides, 
 a short sword, suspended at his left side by a strap, and he has 
 commonly a spear within his reach ; but we never see him using 
 either of these weapons. He either discharges his arrows against 
 the foe from the standing-board of his chariot, or, commanding 
 the charioteer to halt, descends, and, advancing a few steps 
 before his horses’ heads, takes a surer and more deadly aim from 
 terra firma. In this case his attendant defends him from mis- 
 siles by extending in front of him a shield, which he holds in 
 his left hand, while at the same time he makes ready to repel 
 any close assailant by means of a spear or sword grasped firmly 
 in his right. The warrior’s face and arms are always bare ; 
 sometimes the entire head is undefended , 5 though more com- 
 monly it has the protection of a helmet. This, however, is 
 without a vizor, and does not often so much as cover the ears. 
 In some few instances only is it furnished with flaps or lappets ; 
 which, where they exist, seem to be made of metal scales, and, 
 falling over the shoulders, entirely conceal the ears, the back of 
 the head, the neck, and even the chin . 6 
 
 The position occupied by chariots in the military system of 
 Assyria is indicated in several passages of Scripture, and dis- 
 tinctly noticed by many of the classical writers. When Isaiah 
 began to warn his countrymen of the miseries in store for them 
 
 3 On the subject of Egyptian scale- 
 armour, see Wilkinson in the author’s 
 Herodotus , vol. ii. p. 79 ; and compare 
 the same writer’s Ancient Egyptians , 1st 
 Series, vol. i. p. 332. 
 
 4 See Layard, Monuments , 1st Series, 
 
 Pis. 18, 20, and 28. 
 
 5 Layard, Monuments , Pis. 11, 27, &c. 
 The attendants who accompany the 
 monarch have their heads uncovered as 
 a general rule. 
 
 6 Ibid. Pis. 18 and 28. See woodcut, 
 infra, p. 441. 
 
422 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VII. 
 
 at the hands of the new enemy which first attacked Judsea in 
 his day, he described them as a' people “ whose arrows were 
 sharp, and all their bows bent, whose horses' hoofs should be 
 counted like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind .” 7 When 
 in after days he was commissioned to raise their drooping 
 courage by assuring them that they would escape Sennacherib, 
 who had angered God by his pride, he noticed, as one special 
 provocation of Jehovah, that monarch’s confidence in “the mul- 
 titude of his chariots .” 8 Nahum again, having to denounce the 
 approaching downfall of the haughty nation, declares that God is 
 “ against her, and will burn her chariots in the smoke .” 9 In 
 the fabulous account which Ctesias gave of the origin of Assyrian 
 greatness, the war-chariots of Ninus were represented as 
 amounting to nearly eleven thousand , 10 while those of his wife 
 and successor, Semiramis, were estimated at the extravagant 
 number of a hundred thousand ! 11 Ctesias further stated that 
 the Assyrian chariots, even at this early period, were armed with 
 scythes, a statement contradicted by Xenophon, who ascribes 
 this invention to the Persians , 12 and one which receives no con- 
 firmation from the monuments. Amid all this exaggeration and 
 inventiveness one may still trace a knowledge of the fact that 
 war-chariots were highly esteemed by the Assyrians from a very 
 ancient date, while, from other notices we may gather that they 
 continued to be reckoned an important arm of the military 
 service to the very end of the Empire . 1 
 
 Next to the war-chariots of the Assyrians we must place their 
 cavalry, which seems to have been of scarcely less importance 
 in their wars. Ctesias, who amid all his exaggerations shows 
 glimpses of some real knowledge of the ancient condition of the 
 Assyrian people, makes the number of the horsemen in their 
 
 7 Is. y. 28. 
 
 8 Ibid, xxxvii. 24. Compare 2 K. xix. 
 23. 
 
 9 Nahum ii. 13. The mention of cha- 
 riots in verse 4 may bear on this point. 
 More probably, however, the chariots 
 intended both in that verse and in iii. 2, 
 arc those of Assyria’s enemies. 
 
 10 Diod. Sic. ii. 5, § 4. 
 
 | 11 Ibid. ii. 17, § 1. Compare Suidas 
 
 ad voc. ’Sey-lpa/iis. 
 
 12 De Inst. Cyr. vi. 1, § 30. 
 
 1 Teutamus was said to have sent 200 
 chariots with Memnon to Troy (Diod. 
 Sic. ii. 22, § 2). The same number is 
 assigned by Xenophon to the Assyrian 
 adversary of Cyrus ( De Inst. Cyr. ii. 1, 
 §5). 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 THE CAVALRY. 
 
 423 
 
 armies always greatly exceed that of the chariots. 2 The writer 
 of the Book of Judith gives Holofernes 12,000 horse-archers, 3 
 and Ezekiel seems to speak of all the “ desirable young men” as 
 “ horsemen riding upon horses.” 4 The sculptures show on the 
 whole a considerable excess of cavalry over chariots, though the 
 preponderance is not uniformly exhibited throughout the dif- 
 ferent periods. 
 
 During the time of the Upper dynasty, cavalry appear to have 
 been but little used. Tiglath-pileser I. in the whole of his long 
 Inscription has not a single mention of them, though he speaks 
 of his chariots continually. In the sculptures of Asshur-izir-pal, 
 the father of the Black-Obelisk king, while chariots abound, 
 horsemen occur only in rare instances. Afterwards, under 
 Sargon and Sennacherib, we notice a great change in this 
 respect. The chariot comes to be almost confined to the king, 
 while horsemen are frequent in the battle scenes. 
 
 In the first period the horses’ trappings consisted of a head- 
 stall, a collar, and one or more strings of beads. The headstall 
 was somewhat heavy, closely resembling that of the chariot- 
 horses of the time, representations of which have been already 
 given. 5 It had the same heavy axe-shaped bit, the same 
 arrangement of straps, and nearly the same ornamentation. 
 The only marked difference was the omission of the crest or 
 plume, with its occasional accompaniment of streamers. The 
 collar was very peculiar. It consisted of a broad flap, probably 
 of leather, shaped almost like a half-moon, which was placed on 
 the neck about halfway between the ears and the withers, and 
 thence depended over the breast, where it was broadened out 
 and ornamented by large drooping tassels. Occasionally the 
 collar was plain, 6 but more often it was elaborately patterned. 
 Sometimes pomegranates hung from it, alternating with the 
 tassels. 7 
 
 The cavalry soldiers of this period ride without any saddle. 8 
 
 2 Ap. Diod. Sic. ii. 5, § 4, and 17, § 1. 
 
 3 Judith ii. 15. 
 
 4 Ezek. xxiii. 6 and 23. 
 
 5 Supra, pp. 407, 411, 414, &c. Com- 
 
 pare p. 231. 
 
 6 See above, p. 231. 
 
 7 Layard, Monuments , 1st Series, PI. 32. 
 
 8 For a representation, see Nineoeh and 
 its Remains , vol. ii. p. 357. Saddles are 
 not absolutely unknown, for on the horse 
 
424 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VII. 
 
 Their legs and feet are bare, and their seat is very remarkable. 
 Instead of allowing their legs to hang naturally down the horses’ 
 sides, they draw them up till their knees are on a level with 
 their chargers’ hacks, the object (apparently) being to obtain a 
 firm seat by pressing the base of the horse’s neck between the 
 two knees. The naked legs seem to indicate that it was found 
 necessary to obtain the fullest and freest play of the muscles to 
 escape the inconveniences of a fall. 
 
 The chief weapon of the cavalry at this time is the bow. 
 Sword and shield indeed are worn, but in no instance do we see 
 them used. Cavalry soldiers are either archers or mere attend- 
 ants who are without weapons of offence. One of these latter 
 accompanies each horse-archer in battle, for the purpose of hold- 
 ing and guiding his steed while he discharges his arrows. The 
 attendant wears a skull-cap and a plain tunic ; the archer has 
 an embroidered tunic, a belt to which his sword is attached, and 
 one of the ordinary pointed helmets. 
 
 In the second period the cavalry consists in part of archers, in 
 part of spearmen. Unarmed attendants are no longer found, 
 both spearmen and archers appearing to be able to manage their 
 own horses. Saddles have now come into common use : they 
 consist of a simple cloth, or flap of leather, which is either cut 
 square, or shaped somewhat like the saddle-cloths of our own 
 cavalry . 9 A single girth beneath the belly is their ordinary 
 fastening ; but sometimes they are further secured by means of 
 a strap or band passed round the breast, and a few instances 
 occur of a second strap passed round the quarters. The breast- 
 strap is generally of a highly ornamented character. The head- 
 stall of this period is not unlike the earlier one, from which it 
 differs chiefly in having a crest, and also a forehead ornament 
 composed of a number of small bosses. It has likewise corn- 
 
 which a mounted attendant leads for the 
 king behind his chariot, we see in every 
 instance a square-cut cloth, fringed and 
 patterned. (Layard, Monuments , 1st Se- 
 ries, Pis. 11, 21, 32, and 49, 1.) But no 
 other horse ' besides the king’s is thus 
 caparisoned. 
 
 9 The square shape (supra, p. 232) is, 
 
 apparently, reserved for the monarch 
 and his immediate attendants. Ordinary 
 soldiers have the cloth which runs out to 
 a point (infra, pp. 425, 426). Sometimes, 
 even during this period, there is no 
 saddle. (Layard, Monuments , 1st Series, 
 PI. 64 ; Botta, Monument , vol. ii. Pis. 87, 
 88, 94, 99, &c.) 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 THE CAVALRY. 
 
 425 
 
 monly a strap across the nose, but none under the cheek-bones. 
 It is often richly ornamented, particularly with rosettes, bells, 
 and tassels . 10 
 
 The old pendant collar is replaced by one encircling the neck 
 about halfway up, or is sometimes dispensed with altogether. 
 Where it occurs, it is generally of uniform width, and is orna- 
 
 mented with rosettes or tassels. No conjecture has been formed 
 of any use which either form of collar could serve ; and the 
 probability is that they were intended solely for ornament. 
 
 A great change is observable in the sculptures of the second 
 period with respect to the dress of the riders. The cavalry 
 soldier is now completely clothed , 11 with the exception of his 
 
 10 See the “ Head of an Assyrian 
 Horse,” on p. 231, and the “Groom and 
 Horses,” p. 350. 
 
 11 A few instances occur where the 
 legs are still naked, more especially in 
 Sargon’s sculptures (Layard, Monuments , 
 
426 
 
 THE SECOND MONAKCHY. 
 
 Chap. VII. 
 
 two arms, which are bare from a little below the shoulder. He 
 wears most commonly a tunic which fits him closely about the 
 body, but below the waist expands into a loose kilt or petticoat, 
 very much longer behind than in front, which 
 is sometimes patterned, and always terminates 
 in a fringe. Round his waist he has a broad 
 belt ; and another, of inferior width, from 
 which a sword hangs, passes over his left 
 shoulder . 1 His legs are encased in a close- 
 fitting pantaloon or trouser, over which he 
 wears a laced boot or greave, which generally 
 reaches nearly to the knee, though sometimes 
 it only covers about half the calf. This cos- 
 tume, which is first found in the time of Sargon, 
 and continues to the reign of Asshur-bani-pal, Esarhaddon’s son, 
 may properly be regarded as the regular cavalry uniform under 
 
 the monarchs of the Lower Empire. In Sennacherib’s reign there 
 is found in conjunction with it another costume, which is un- 
 known to the earlier sculptures. This consists of a dress closely 
 
 1st Series, PI. 64 ; Botta, Monument , vol. 
 ii. Pis. 87, 142). But the rule is as stated 
 in the text. 
 
 1 Sometimes this belt passes over the 
 
 right shoulder ; sometimes it is omitted 
 altogether, and the spearman or archer 
 has no sword. 
 
Chap. VIL 
 
 THE CAVALRY. 
 
 427 
 
 fitting the whole body, composed apparently of a coat of mail, 
 leather or felt breeches, and a high greave or jack-boot. The 
 wearers of this costume are spearmen or archers indifferently. 
 The former carry a long weapon, which has generally a rather 
 small head, and is grasped low down the shaft. The bow of the 
 latter is either round-arched or angular, and seems to be not more 
 than four feet in length; the arrows measure less than three 
 feet, and are slung in a quiver at the archer’s back. Both 
 spearmen and archers commonly carry swords, which are hung 
 on the left side, in a diagonal, or sometimes nearly in a hori- 
 zontal, position. In some few cases the spearman is also an 
 archer, and carries his bow on his 
 right arm, apparently as a reserve 
 in case he should break or lose 
 his spear . 2 
 
 The seat of the horseman is 
 far more graceful in the second 
 than in the first period ; his limbs 
 appear to move freely, and his 
 mastery over his horse is such 
 that be needs no attendant. The 
 spearman holds the bridle in his 
 left hand ; the archer boldly lays 
 it upon the neck of his steed, 
 who is trained either to continue his charge, or to stand firm, 
 while a steady aim is taken. 
 
 In the sculptures of the son and successor of Esarhaddon, the 
 horses of the cavalry carry not unfrequently, in addition to the 
 ordinary saddle or pad, a large cloth nearly similar to that worn 
 sometimes by chariot-horses, of which a representation has been 
 already given . 3 It is cut square with two drooping lappets, and 
 covers the greater part of the body. Occasionally it is united 
 to a sort of breastplate which protects the neck, descending 
 about halfway down the chest. The material may be supposed 
 to have been thick felt or leather, either of which would have 
 been a considerable protection against weapons. 
 
 2 See the woodcut on p. 425. 
 
 3 Supra, p. 416. 
 
428 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VII. 
 
 While the cavalry and the chariots were regarded as the most 
 important portions of the military force, and were the favourite 
 services with the rich and powerful, there is still abundant 
 reason to believe that Assyrian armies, like most others, 4 con- 
 sisted mainly of foot. Ctesias gives Ninus 1,700,000 footmen 
 to 210,000 horsemen, and 10,600 chariots. 5 Xenophon con- 
 trasts the multitude of the Assyrian infantry with the com- 
 paratively scanty numbers of the other two services. 6 Herodotus 
 makes the Assyrians serve in the army of Xerxes on foot only. 7 
 The author of the book of Judith assigns to Holofernes an 
 infantry force ten times as numerous as his cavalry. 8 The 
 Assyrian monuments entirely bear out the general truth 
 involved in all these assertions, showing us, as they do, at least 
 ten Assyrian warriors on foot for each one mounted on horse- 
 back, and at least a hundred for each one who rides in a chariot. 
 However terrible to the foes of the Assyrians may have been 
 the shock of their chariots and the impetuosity of their horse- 
 men, it was probably to the solidity of the infantry, 1 to their 
 valour, equipment, and discipline, that the empire was mainly 
 indebted for its long series of victories. 
 
 In the time of the earliest sculptures, all the Assyrian foot- 
 soldiers seem to have worn nearly the same costume. This 
 consisted of a short tunic, not quite reaching to the knees, con- 
 fined round the waist by a broad belt, fringed, and generally 
 
 4 In settled empires the cavalry rarely 
 amounts to one-fifth of the infantry force. 
 In early Rome the proportion seems to 
 have been one-tenth (Mommsen, History 
 of Rome , vol. i. p. 97, E. T.) ; in the im- 
 perial legion it was little more than a 
 twentieth. Among the Persians it was 
 even less than this, being only one- 
 twenty-fifth at Arbela (Arr. Exp. Al. 
 iii. 8). Alexander the Great, who laid 
 great stress on the cavalry service, made 
 the proportion in his armies one-sixth, 
 or a little more (ibid. i. 11 ; iii. 12, &c.). 
 It is only when races are in the nomadic 
 condition that the relation of the two 
 
 arms is inverted. The hordes of Genghis 
 
 consisted almost entirely of cavalry, and 
 
 the Scythians attacked by Darius had 
 
 not a footman among them. (Herod. 
 
 iv. 46.) 5 Ap. Diod. Sic. ii. 5, § 4. 
 
 6 De Tnst. Cyr. ii. 1, § 5. 
 
 7 Herod, vii. 84-87. 
 
 8 Judith ii. 5. 
 
 1 The prophet Isaiah, while seizing 
 such salient points as the “ horses’ hoofs 
 that are counted like flint,” and the 
 chariot “ wheels, that are like a whirl- 
 wind,” to give force to his description, 
 assigns its due place to the Assyrian 
 infantry, of which he says : “ They shall 
 come with speed, swiftly ; 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.” (Is. v. 27, 28.) 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 THE INFANTRY. 
 
 429 
 
 Ordinary sandal of the 
 first period. 
 
 opening in front, together with a pointed helmet, probably of 
 metal. The arms, legs, neck, and even the feet, were ordinarily 
 bare, although these last had sometimes the protection of a very 
 simple sandal. Swordsmen used a small 
 straight sword or dagger which they wore 
 at their left side in an ornamented sheath, 
 and a shield which was either convex and 
 probably of metal, or oblong-square and 
 composed of wicker-work . 2 Spearmen had 
 shields of a similar shape and construction, 
 and carried in their right hands a short 
 pike or javelin, certainly not exceeding five 
 feet in length. Sometimes, but not always, 
 they carried, besides the pike, a short sword. 
 
 Archers had rounded bows about four feet 
 in length and arrows a little more than 
 three feet long. Their quivers, which were 
 often highly ornamented, hung at their backs, either over the 
 
 Foot spearman of the first period, 
 with wicker shield (Nimrud). 
 
 Foot archer, with attendant — first 
 period (Nimrud). 
 
 their left sides by a cross-belt, and often carried maces, probably 
 of bronze or iron, which bore a rosette or other ornament at one 
 
 2 Round shields or targes are also 
 sometimes worn by swordsmen at this 
 time (Layard’s Monuments , 1st Series, 
 
 PI. 29) ; but they are comparatively 
 uncommon. 
 
430 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VII. 
 
 end, and a ring or strap at the other. The tunics of archers 
 were sometimes elaborately embroidered ; 3 and on the whole 
 they seem to have been regarded as the flower of the foot- 
 soldiery. Generally they are represented in pairs, the two being 
 in most cases armed and equipped alike ; but, occasionally, one 
 of the pair acts as guard while the other takes his aim. In this 
 case both kneel on one knee, and the guard, advancing his lono f 
 wicker shield, protects both himself and his comrade from mis- 
 siles, while he has at the same time his sword drawn to repel all 
 hand-to-hand assailants. 
 
 In the early part of the second period, which synchronises 
 with the reign of Sargon, the difference in the costumes of the 
 
 foot-soldiers becomes much more 
 marked. The Assyrian infantry now 
 consists of two great classes, archers 
 and spearmen . 4 The archers are 
 either light-armed or heayy-armed, 
 and of the latter there are two 
 clearly distinct varieties. The light- 
 armed have no helmet, but wear ou 
 their heads a mere fillet or band, 
 which is either plain or patterned. 
 Except for a cross-belt which sup- 
 ports the quiver, they are wholly 
 naked t0 . the middle. Their only 
 garment is a tunic of the scantiest 
 dimensions, beginning at the waist, round which it is fastened 
 by a broad belt or girdle, and descending little more than halfway 
 down the thigh. In its make it sometimes closely resembles the 
 tunic of the first period , 5 but more often it has the peculiar- 
 pendant ornament, which has been compared to the Scotch 
 phillibeg , 6 and which will be here given that name. It is often 
 patterned with squares and gradines. The light-armed archer 
 
 a Layard, Monuments, 1st Series, PI. 26. : 
 4 Swordsmen scarcely appear as a 
 class. They occur only in twos and 
 threes at the sieges, where they exactly 
 resemble the swordsmen of the first 
 
 period. 
 
 5 See Botta, Monument de Ninive, vol. 
 i. PI. 61. 
 
 6 Layard, Nineveh and its Remains , 
 vol. ii. p. 336. 
 
.Chap. VII. 
 
 THE INFANTKY. 
 
 431 
 
 lias usually bare feet ; occasionally, however, lie wears the slight 
 sandal of this period, which is little more than a cap for the heel 
 held in place by two or three strings passed across the instep. 
 There is nothing remarkable in his arms, which resemble those 
 of the preceding period ; but it may be observed that, while 
 shooting, he frequently holds two arrows in his right hand besides 
 that which is upon the string. He shoots either kneeling or stand- 
 ing, generally the latter. His ordinary position is in the van of 
 battle, though sometimes a portion of the heavy-armed troops 
 precede him . 7 He has no shield, and is not protected by an 
 attendant , 8 thus running more risk than any of the rest of the 
 army. 
 
 The more simply equipped of the heavy archers are clothed 
 in a coat of mail, which reaches from their neck to their middle, 
 and partially covers the arms. 
 
 Below this they wear a fringed 
 tunic reaching to the knees, and 
 confined at the waist by a broad 
 belt of the ordinary character. 
 
 Their feet have in most instances 
 the protection of a sandal, and 
 they wear on their heads the 
 common or pointed helmet. 
 
 They usually discharge their 
 arrows kneeling on the left knee, 
 with the right foot advanced 
 before them. During this ope- 
 
 ration they are protected by an Foot archer of the intcrme diate 
 
 ment, with attendant. 
 Sargon.) 
 
 equip- 
 (Time of 
 
 attendant, who is sometimes 
 dressed like themselves, some- 
 times merely clad in a tunic, without a coat of mail. Like them, 
 he w T ears a pointed helmet ; and while in one hand he carries a 
 spear, with the other he holds forward a shield, which is either 
 of a round form — apparently, of metal embossed with figures 9 — 
 
 7 Botta, Pis. 95 and 98. 
 
 8 One instance only of such protection 
 
 is to be found in M. Botta’s work. (See 
 
 vol. i. PI. 62.) 
 
 9 See the woodcuts, infra, p. 447. 
 
432 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VII. 
 
 or oblong-square in shape, and evidently made of wickerwork. 
 Archers of this class are the least common, and scarcely ever 
 occur unless in combination with some of the class which has 
 the heaviest equipment. 
 
 The principal characteristic of the third or most heavily 
 armed class of archers is the long robe, richly fringed, which 
 descends nearly to their feet, thus completely protecting all the 
 lower part of their person. Above this they wear a coat of mail 
 exactly resembling that of archers of the intermediate class, 
 which is sometimes crossed by a belt ornamented with cross- 
 bars. Their head is covered by 
 the usual pointed helmet, and 
 their feet are always, or nearly 
 always, protected by sandals. 
 They are occasionally repre- 
 sented without either sword or 
 quiver , 10 but more usually they 
 have a short sword at their left 
 side, which appears to have been 
 passed through their coat of 
 mail, between the armour plates, 
 and in a few instances they 
 have also quivers at their backs . 1 
 Where these are lacking, they 
 
 Foot archer of the heavy equipment, with ~ pnera ll v either oarrv two extra 
 attendant. (Time of Sargon.) generally euner carry iwo extra 
 
 arrows in their right hand , 2 
 or have the same number borne for them by an attend- 
 ant . 3 They are never seen unattended: sometimes they have 
 one, sometimes two attendants , 4 who accompany them, and 
 guard them from attack. One of these almost always bears the 
 long wicker shield, called by the Greeks <yeppov, b which he rests 
 firmly upon the ground in front of himself and comrade. The 
 
 10 See the woodcut above. 
 
 1 Botta, Monument de Ninive , vol. i. 
 PI. 60. 
 
 2 Ibid. vol. i. PI. 77. 
 
 3 Ibid. vol. i. PI. 62 ; vol. ii. PI. 99. 
 
 * Two attendants are comparatively 
 uncommon, hut they will be seen in 
 
 M. Botta’s work, Pis. 55, 60, and 95 ; 
 possibly also in PI. 99. 
 
 5 Herod, ix. 62 ; Xen. Anab. i. 8, § 9. 
 Sometimes the yeppov is straight, some- 
 times it curves backwards towards the 
 top. (See below, p. 445.) 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 THE INFANTRY. 
 
 433 
 
 other, where there is a second, stands a little in the rear, and 
 guards the archer’s head with a round shield or targe. Both 
 attendants are dressed in a short tunic, a phillibeg, a belt, and a 
 pointed helmet. Generally they wear also a coat of mail and 
 sandals, like those of the archer. They carry swords at their 
 left sides, and the principal attendant, except when he bears 
 the archer’s arrows, guards him from attack by holding in 
 advance a short spear. The archers of this class never kneel, 
 but always discharge their arrows standing. They seem to be 
 regarded as the most important 
 of the foot-soldiers, their services 
 being more particularly valuable 
 in the siege of fortified places. 
 
 The spearmen of this period 
 are scarcely better armed than 
 the second or intermediate class 
 of archers. Except in very rare 
 instances they have no coat of 
 mail, and their tunic, which is 
 either plain or covered with small 
 squares, barely reaches to 
 knee. The most noticeable point 
 about them is their helmet, which 
 is never the common pointed or 
 conical one, but is always sur- Foot spearman^f the time of Sargon 
 
 mounted by a crest of one kind or 
 
 another . 6 A further very frequent peculiarity is the arrangement 
 of their cross-belts, which meet on the back and breast, and are 
 ornamented at the points of junction with a circular disk, probably 
 of metal. The shield of the spearmen is also circular, and is 
 formed — generally, if not always — of Avicker-work, with (occa- 
 sionally) a central boss of wood or metal. In most cases their 
 legs are wholly bare ; but sometimes they have sandals, while 
 in one or two instances 7 they wear a low boot or greave laced 
 
 6 On the variety in the orests of Assyrian helmets, see below, page 442. 
 
 7 Botta, Monument , vol. ii. Pis. 90 and 93. 
 
 2 F 
 
 YOL. I. 
 
434 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VII. 
 
 in front and resembling that of the cavalry . 8 The spear with 
 which they are armed varies in length, from about four to six 
 feet. It is grasped near the lower extremity, at which a weight 
 
 Shield of a spearman (Khorsabad). Greave of a spearman (Khorsabad). 
 
 was sometimes attached, in order the better to preserve the 
 balance. Besides this weapon they have the ordinary short 
 
 Spear, with weight at the lower end (Khorsabad). 
 
 sword. The spearmen play an important part in the Assyrian 
 wars, particularly at sieges, where they always form the strength 
 of the storming party. 
 
 Some important changes seem to have been made under Sen- 
 nacherib in the equipment and organisation of the infantry 
 force. These consisted chiefly in the establishment of a greater 
 number of distinct corps differently armed, and in an improved 
 equipment of the more important of them. Sennacherib ap- 
 pears to have been the first to institute a corps of slingers, who 
 at any rate make their earliest appearance in his sculptures. 
 They were a kind of soldier well known to the Egyptians ; 9 and 
 Sennacherib’s acquaintance with the Egyptian warfare may 
 have led to their introduction among the troops of Assyria. 
 The slinger in most countries where his services were employed 
 was lightly clad, and reckoned almost as a supernumerary. It 
 
 8 Vide supra, page 426. 
 
 9 See 'Wilkinson’s Ancient Egyptians , 
 1st Series, vol. i. p. 316. A slinger is 
 represented among the enemies of the 
 
 Assyrians in one of the earliest sculp- 
 tures. (Layard, Monuments , 1st Series. 
 PI. 29.) 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 THE INFANTRY. 
 
 435 
 
 Sling 
 
 (Koyunjik). 
 
 is remarkable that in Assyria he is, at first, completely armed 
 according to Assyrian ideas of completeness, having a helmet, 
 a coat of mail to the waist, a tunic to the knees, a 
 close-fitting trouser, and a short boot or greave. 
 
 The weapon which distinguishes him appears to 
 have consisted of two pieces of rope or string , 1 
 attached to a short leathern strap which received 
 the stone. Previous to making his throw, the slinger 
 seems to have whirled the weapon around his head 
 two or three times, in order to obtain an increased 
 impetus — a practice which was also known to the 
 Egyptians and the Romans . 2 With regard to am- 
 munition, it does not clearly appear how the Assyrian slinger 
 was supplied. He has no bag like the Hebrew slinger , 3 no sinus 
 like the Roman . 4 Frequently 
 
 we see him simply provided 
 with a single extra stone which 
 he carries in his left hand. 
 Sometimes, besides this re- 
 serve, he has a small heap of 
 stones at his feet ; but whether 
 he has collected them from the 
 field, or has brought them with 
 him and deposited them where 
 they lie, is not apparent. 
 
 Sennacherib’s archers fall 
 into four classes, two of which 
 may be called heavy-armed 
 and two light-armed. None 
 
 Foot archer of the heavy equipment, 
 with attendant. (Time of Sennacherib.) 
 
 of them exactly resemble the archers of Sargon. The most 
 
 1 Sometimes the twist of the string is I 
 very clearly discernible, as represented j 
 above in the woodcut. 
 
 2 For the Roman usage see the well- 
 known lines of Yirgil, — 
 
 “ Stridentem fundarn, positis Mezentius hastis, 
 Ipse ter adducta dream caput egit habena.” 
 
 — JEn. ix. 586, 587. 
 For the Egyptian, consult Wilkinson, 
 Ancient Egyptians , 1st Series, vol. i. p. 316. I 
 
 3 “ And David took his staff in his 
 
 hand, and chose him five smooth stones 
 out of the brook, and put them in a 
 shepherd’s bag which he had, even in a 
 scrip, and his sling was in his hand,” 
 &c. (1 Sam. xvii. 40.) 
 
 4 See a representation in Smith’s Dic- 
 tionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities , 
 s. v. Funda. 
 
 2 f 2 
 
436 THE SECOND MONAKCHY. Chap. VII. 
 
 heavily equipped wears a tunic, a coat of mail reaching to the 
 waist, a pointed helmet, a close-fitting trouser, and a short boot 
 or greave. He is accompanied by an attendant (or sometimes 
 by two attendants 5 ) similarly attired, and fights behind a large 
 wicker shield or gerrhon. A modification of this costume is 
 worn by the second class, 
 the archers of which have 
 bare legs, a tunic which 
 seems to open at the side, 
 and a phillibeg. They fight 
 without the protection of a 
 shield, generally in pairs, 
 who shoot together. 
 
 Foot archers of the second class. Belts and head-dress of a foot archer of the 
 (Time of Sennacherib.) third class. (Time of Sennacherib.) 
 
 The better equipped of the light-armed archers of this period 
 have a costume which is very striking. Their head-dress con- 
 sists of a broad fillet, elaborately patterned, from which there 
 often depends on either side of the head a large lappet, also 
 richly ornamented, generally of an oblong-square shape, and 
 terminating in a fringe. Below this they wear a closely-fitting 
 tunic, as short as that worn by the light-armed archers of Sar- 
 
 5 See Layard’s Monuments , 2nd Series, PI. 20. 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 THE INFANTEY. 
 
 437 
 
 Mode of carrying the quiver, 
 of Sennacherib.) 
 
 (Time 
 
 gon , 6 sometimes patterned, like that, with squares and gradines, 
 sometimes absolutely plain. The upper part of this tunic is 
 crossed by two belts of very unusual breadth, which pass re- 
 spectively over the right and the 
 left shoulder. There is also a 
 third broad belt round the waist ; 
 and both this and the transverse 
 belts are adorned with elegant 
 patterns. The phillibeg depends 
 from the girdle, and is seen in 
 its full extent, hanging either in 
 front or on the right side. The 
 arms are naked from the shoulder, 
 and the legs from considerably 
 above the knee, the feet alone being protected by a scanty 
 sandal . 7 The ordinary short sword is worn at the side, and a 
 quiver is carried at the back ; 
 the latter is sometimes kept in 
 place by means of a horizontal 
 strap which passes over it and 
 round the body. 
 
 The archers of the lightest 
 equipment wear nothing but a 
 fillet, with or without lappets,, 
 upon the head, and a striped 
 tunic , 8 longer behind than in front, 
 which extends from the neck to 
 the knees, and is confined at the 
 waist by a girdle. Their arms, 
 legs, and feet are bare ; they have 
 seldom any sword ; and their 
 quiver seems to be suspended only by a single horizontal strap, 
 like that represented in the upper woodcut. They do not appear 
 
 Foot archers of the lightest equip- 
 ment. (Time of Sennacherib.) 
 
 6 See above, page 430. 
 
 7 Sometimes the feet also are bare. 
 (Layard, Monuments , 2nd Series, PI. 20.) 
 
 8 This tunic is very incorrectly repre- 
 sented by Mr. Layard’s artist in PI. 20 
 
 of the 2nd Series of Monuments. He 
 has omitted almost all the stripes, and 
 has only in one instance sufficiently 
 marked the fall of the tunic behind. 
 
43§ 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VII. 
 
 very often upon the monuments: when seen, they are inter- 
 spersed among archers and soldiers of other classes. 
 
 Sennacherib’s foot spearmen are of two classes only. The 
 better armed have pointed helmets, with lappets protecting the 
 ears, a coat of mail descending to the waist and also covering 
 all the upper part of the arms, a tunic 
 opening at the side, a phillibeg, close- 
 fitting trousers, and greaves of the ordi- 
 nary character. They carry a large con- 
 vex shield, apparently of metal, which 
 covers them almost from head to foot, 
 and a spear somewhat less than their own 
 height . 9 Commonly they have a short 
 sword at their right side. Their shield 
 is often ornamented with rows of bosses 
 towards the centre and around the edge. 
 It is ordinarily carried in front ; 1 but 
 when the warrior is merely upon the 
 march, he often bears it slung at his 
 back, as in the accompanying representa- 
 Foot spearman of the time tion. There is reason to suspect that 
 of Sennacherib. spearmen of this description consti- 
 
 tuted the royal body-guard. They are comparatively few in 
 number, and are usually seen in close proximity to the monarch, 
 or in positions which imply trust, as in the care of prisoners and 
 of the spoil. They never make the attacks in sieges, and are 
 rarely observed to be engaged in battle. W here several of them 
 are seen together, it is almost always in attendance upon the 
 king, whom they constantly precede upon his journeys . 2 
 
 The inferior spearmen of Sennacherib are armed nearly like 
 those of Sargon . 3 They have crested helmets, plain tunics con- 
 fined at the waist by a broad girdle, cross-belts ornamented with 
 circular disks where they meet in the centre of the breast, and, 
 
 9 The spear in the accompanying re- 
 presentation is somewhat longer, and the 
 shield somewhat shorter, than usual. 
 
 1 See the representation in Mr. Lay- 
 ard’s Nineveh and its Remains , vol. ii. 
 
 p. 345. 
 
 2 See Layard, Monuments, 1st Series, 
 Pis. 72 and 80 ; 2nd Series, Pis. 29, 42, 
 and 43. 
 
 3 Supra, p. 433. 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 THE INFANTRY. 
 
 439 
 
 most commonly, round wicker shields. The chief points where- 
 in they differ from Sargon’s spearmen are the following : they 
 usually (though not universally) wear 
 trousers and greaves; they have sleeves 
 to their tunics, which descend nearly to 
 the elbow ; and they carry sometimes, 
 instead of the round shield, a long con- 
 vex one arched at the top. Where they 
 have not this defence, but the far com- 
 moner targe, it is always of larger di- 
 mensions than the targe of Sargon, and is 
 generally surrounded by a rim. Some- 
 times it appears to be of metal; but more 
 often it is of wickerwork, either of the 
 plain construction common in Sargon’s 
 time, or of one considerably more elabo- 
 rate. 
 
 Among the foot soldiers of Sennacherib 
 we seem to find a corps of pioneers . 4 They 
 wear the same dress as the better equipped 
 of the spearmen, but carry in their hands, 
 instead of a spear, a double-headed axe 
 or hatchet, wherewith they clear the ground for the passage 
 and movements of the army. They work in pairs, one pulling 
 at the tree by its branches while the other attacks the stem 
 with his weapon. 
 
 After Sennacherib’s time we find but few alterations in the 
 equipment of the foot soldiers. Esarhaddon has left us no 
 sculptures, and in those of his son and successor, Asshur-bani- 
 pal, the costumes of Sennacherib are for the most part repro- 
 duced almost exactly. The chief difference is that there are 
 not at this time quite so many varieties of equipment, both 
 archers and spearmen being alike divided into two classes only, 
 light-armed and heavy-armed. The light-armed archers corre- 
 spond to. Sennacherib’s bowmen of the third class . 5 They have 
 
 • m 
 
 Wicker shield of spearmen, 
 (Time of Sennacherib.) 
 
 Wicker shield or targe. 
 (Time of Sennacherib.) 
 
 4 See Layard’s Monuments , 1st Series, PI. 76. 
 
 5 Supra, p. 436. 
 
440 THE SECOND MONARCHY. Chap. VII. 
 
 the fillet, the plain tunic, the cross-belts, the broad girdle, and 
 the phillibeg. They differ only in having no lappets over the 
 ears and no sandals. The heavy-armed archers resemble the 
 first class 6 of Sennacherib exactly, except that they are not 
 seen shooting from behind the gerrhon. 
 
 In the case of the spearmen, the only novelty consists in the 
 shields. The spearmen of the heavier equip- 
 ment, though sometimes they carry the old 
 convex oval shield, more often have one which 
 is made straight at the bottom, and rounded 
 only at top. The spearmen of the lighter 
 equipment have likewise commonly a shield of 
 this shape, but it is of wickerwork instead of 
 metal, like that borne occasionally by the 
 light-armed spearmen of Sennacherib . 7 
 Metal shield of the Besides spearmen and archers, w r e see among 
 
 latest period. * _ . , . , , . 
 
 the foot soldiers of Asshur-bam-pai, slmgers, 
 mace-bearers, and men armed with battle-axes. For the slingers 
 Sennacherib’s heavy equipment 8 has been discarded ; and they 
 wear nothing but a plain tunic, with a girdle 
 and cross-belts. The mace-bearers and men 
 with axes have the exact dress of Assliur- 
 bani-pal’s heavy-armed spearmen, and may 
 possibly be spearmen who have broken or lost 
 their weapons. It makes, however, against 
 this view, that they have no shields, which 
 spearmen always carry. Perhaps, therefore, we 
 must conclude that towards the close of the 
 empire, besides spearmen, slingers, and archers, 
 there were distinct corps of mace-bearers 9 and 
 axe-bearers. 
 
 AsTur-bini-HO The arms used by the Assyrians have been 
 mentioned, and to a certain extent described, 
 in the foregoing remarks upon the various classes of their soldiers. 
 
 6 Supra, p. 435. 
 
 7 A representation of this shield is 
 
 given on the last page. 8 Supra, p. 435. 
 
 9 According to Herodotus, the Assy- 
 rians in the army of Xerxes “ carried 
 lances, daggers, and wooden clubs knotted 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 ARMS — HELMETS. 
 
 441 
 
 Some further details may, however, be now added on their 
 character and on the variety observable in them. 
 
 The common Assyrian pointed helmet has been sufficiently 
 described already, and has received abundant illustration both 
 in the present and in former chapters. It was at first regarded 
 as Scythic in character ; but Mr. Layard long 
 ago observed 1 that the resemblance which it 
 bears to the Scythian cap is too slight to prove 
 any connexion. That cap appears, whether we 
 follow the foreign or the native representations 
 of it , 2 to have been of felt, whereas the Assyrian 
 pointed helmet was made of metal ; it was 
 much taller than the Assyrian head-dress, and pointed helmet, with 
 
 . . • i x curtain of scales 
 
 it was less upright. (Nimrud). 
 
 The pointed helmet admitted of but few 
 varieties. In its simplest form it was a plain conical casque, 
 with one or two rings round the base, and generally with a 
 half-disk in front di- 
 rectly over the fore- 
 head. Sometimes, 
 however, there was 
 appended to it a fall- 
 ing curtain covered 
 with metal scales, 
 whereby the chin, 
 neck, ears, and back 
 of the head were pro- 
 tected. More often 
 it had, in lieu of this 
 effectual but cum- Iron h e i me t (from Koyunjik). 
 
 brous guard, a mere 
 
 lappet or cheek-piece, consisting of a plate of metal, attached to 
 the rim, which descended over the ears in the form of a half-oval 
 
 with iron ” (J>6ira\a j^vAcov rervA u/xeua 
 o’ld'hpcp. Herod, vii. 63). It is possible 
 that this may be a sort of periphrasis for 
 maces, which were not in use among the 
 Greeks of his day. 
 
 1 Nineveh and its Remains, vol. ii.p. 341. 
 
 2 For foreign representations, see the 
 author’s Herodotus, vol. iv. p. 65 ; and 
 for a native one, see the same work, 
 vol. iii. p. 69. 
 
442 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VI r. 
 
 or semi-circle. If we may judge by the remains actually found, 
 the chief material of the helmet was iron ; 3 copper was used 
 only for the rings and the half-disk in front, which were inlaid 
 into the harder metal. 
 
 As if to compensate themselves for the uniformity to which 
 they submitted in this instance, the Assyrians indulged in a 
 great variety of crested helmets. We cannot positively say 
 that they invented the crest; 4 but they certainly dealt with it 
 
 Assyrian crested helmets, from the bas-reliefs. 
 
 in the free spirit which is usually seen where a custom is of 
 home growth and not a foreign importation. They used either 
 a plain metal crest, or one surmounted by tufts of hair ; and 
 they either simply curved the crest forwards over the front of 
 
 3 Nineveh and its Remains , vol. ii. p. 
 339. In later times, if we may believe 
 Herodotus, the material of the Assyrian 
 helmets was bronze. (Herod, vii. 63.) 
 
 4 The statement of Herodotus (i. 171) 
 that crests were invented by the Carians 
 is not worth very much ; but it at least 
 indicates his belief that the crest was 
 adopted by the Greeks from the Asiatics. 
 The first distinct evidence we have of 
 
 them is in the Egyptian representations 
 of the Shairetana , about b.c. 1200. Homer 
 ascribes them to the Greeks in the time 
 of the Trojan War, which was perhaps 
 earlier than this ; and they must at any 
 rate have been common in Greece in his 
 own age, which was probably the 9th 
 century b.c. We cannot prove that they 
 were known to the Assyrians much before 
 b.c. 700. 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 COATS OF MAIL. 
 
 443 
 
 Scale (Egyptian). 
 
 the helmet, or extended it and carried it backwards also. In 
 this latter case they generally marie the curve a complete semi- 
 circle, while occasionally they were content with a small seg- 
 ment, less even than a quarter of a circle . 5 They also varied 
 considerably the shape of the lappet over the ear, and the depth 
 of the helmet behind and before the lappet. 
 
 Assyrian coats of mail were of three sizes, and of two dif- 
 ferent constructions. In the earlier times they were worn long, 
 descending either to the feet or to the 
 knees; and at this period they seem to 
 have been composed simply of successive 
 rows of similar iron scales sewn on to a 
 shirt of linen or felt. Under the later 
 monarchs the coat of mail reached no 
 lower than the waist, and it was composed 
 of alternate bands of dissimilar arrange- 
 ment and perhaps of different material. 
 
 Mr. Layard suggests that at this time the 
 scales, which were larger than before, were 
 « fastened to bands of iron or copper .” 6 But it is perhaps more 
 probable that scales of the old character alternated in rows 
 with scales of a new shape and smaller ( 
 
 dimensions. The old scales were oblong, ^ joLXAJJJ 
 squared at one end and rounded at the <<<<<< < STjC 
 other, very much resembling the Egyptian. 1 1 ' ' 1 1 r 
 
 They were from two to three inches, or 
 more, in length, and were placed side by 
 side, so that their greater length corre- 
 sponded with the height of the wearer. 
 
 The new scales seem to have been not 
 more than an inch long ; they appear to have been pointed at 
 one end, and to have been laid horizontally, each a little over- 
 lapping its fellow . 7 It was probably found that this construction, 
 while possessing quite as much strength as the other, was moie 
 favourable to facility of movement. 
 
 5 See Fig. 5, which is taken from the Khorsabad sculptures. 
 
 6 See Nineveh and its liem iins , vol. ii. p. 336. 7 See above, p. 431. 
 
 Arrangement of scales in 
 Assyrian scale-armour 
 of the second period 
 (Khorsabad). 
 
444 
 
 THE SECOND MONAKCHY. 
 
 Chaf. VII. 
 
 Eemains of armour belonging to the second period have been 
 discovered in the Assyrian ruins . 8 The scales are frequently 
 embossed over their whole surface with groups of figures and 
 fanciful ornaments. The small scales of the first period have 
 no such elaborate ornamentation, being simply embossed in the 
 centre with a single straight line, which is of copper inlaid into 
 the iron . 9 
 
 The Assyrian coat of mail, like the Egyptian , 10 had com- 
 monly a short sleeve, extending about half 
 way down to the elbow. This was either 
 composed of scales set similarly to those 
 of the rest of the cuirass , 1 or of two, three, 
 or more rows placed at right angles to the 
 others. The greater part of the arm was 
 left without any protection. 
 
 A remarkable variety existed in the form 
 and construction of the Assyrian shields. 
 The most imposing kind is that which has 
 been termed the gerrhon , from its apparent 
 resemblance to the Persian shield mentioned under that name by 
 Herodotus . 2 This was a structure in wickerwork, which equalled 
 or exceeded the warrior in height, and which was broad enough 
 to give shelter to two or even three men. In shape it was either 
 an oblong square, or such a square with a projection at top, w 7 hich 
 stood out at right angles to the body of the shield ; or, lastly, 
 and most usually, it curved inwards from a certain height, gra- 
 dually narrowing at the same time and finally ending in a 
 point. Of course a shield of this vast size, even although 
 formed of a light material, was too heavy to be very readily 
 carried upon the arm. The plan adopted was to rest it upon 
 the ground, on which it was generally held steady by a warrior 
 armed with sword or spear, while his comrade, whose w r eapon 
 
 Sleeve of a coat of mail — 
 scale-armour of the first 
 period (Nimrud). 
 
 8 Layard, Nineveh and its Eemains , 
 vol. ii. p. 336, and note. 
 
 9 Ibid. vol. i. p. 340 ; and vol. ii. p. 
 335. 
 
 10 Wilkinson, Ancient Egyptians , 1st 
 Series, vol. i. p. 331. In the Egyptian 
 
 corselet the plates of the sleeves were not 
 set at right angles to those of the body. 
 
 1 As in the representation given on 
 p. 431. 
 
 2 Herod, vii. 61 ; ix. 61 and 99. Com- 
 pare Xen. Inst. Cyr. i. 2, § 9, &c. 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 SHIELDS. 
 
 445 
 
 was the bow, discharged Ins arrows from behind its shelter. Its 
 proper place was in sieges, where the roof-like structure at the 
 top was especially useful in warding off the stones and other 
 missiles which the besieged threw down upon their assailants. 
 We sometimes see it employed by single soldiers, who lean the 
 
 point against the wall * 3 of the place, and, ensconcing themselves 
 beneath the penthouse thus improvised, proceed to carry on the 
 most critical operations of the siege in almost complete security. 
 
 Modifications of this shield, reducing it to a smaller and more 
 portable size, were common in the earlier times, when among 
 the shields most usually borne we find one of wickerwork, 
 oblong-square in shape, and either perfectly flat, or else curving 
 slightly inwards both at top and at bottom . 4 This shield was 
 commonly about half the height of a man, or a little more ; it 
 
 3 See the woodcut, p. 446. The 
 Egyptians supported their large shields 
 with a crutch sometimes. (Wilkinson, 
 in the author’s Herodotus , vol. iv. pp. 80, 
 
 81.) We have no evidence that the 
 
 Assyrians did the same. 
 
 4 See the woodcuts on pp. '429 and 
 431. 
 
446 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. YII. 
 
 was often used as a protection for two , 5 but must have been 
 scanty for that purpose. 
 
 Round shields were commoner in Assyria than any others. 
 
 They were used by most of those who 
 fought in chariots, by the early monarchs’ 
 personal attendants, by the cross-belted 
 spearmen, and by many of the spearmen 
 who guarded archers. In the most an- 
 cient times they seem to have been 
 universally made of solid metal, and con- 
 sequently they were small, perhaps not 
 often exceeding two feet, or two feet and 
 a half, in diameter . 6 They were managed 
 by means of a very simple handle, placed 
 in the middle of the shield at the back, 
 and fastened to it by studs or nails, which 
 was not passed over the arm but grasped 
 
 Soldier undermining a wall, , , . . . . m1 . , , . j 
 
 sheltered by gerrhm. by the hand . 7 I he rim was bent inwards, 
 
 so as to form a deep groove all round the 
 edge. The material of which these shields were composed was 
 in some cases certainly bronze ; 8 in others it may have been 
 iron ; in a few silver, or even gold . 9 Some metal shields were 
 perfectly plain ; others exhibited a number of concentric rings ; 10 
 others again were inlaid or embossed with tasteful and elaborate 
 patterns. 
 
 Among the later Assyrians the round metal shield seems to 
 have been almost entirely disused, its place being supplied by 
 a wicker buckler of the same shape, with a rim round the edge 
 made of solid wood or of metal, and sometimes with a boss in 
 
 5 Layard, Monuments, 1st Series, Pis. 
 17. 19, 20. 
 
 6 The bronze shields found by Mr. 
 Layard at Nimrud, one of which is re- 
 presented in his Nineveh and Babylon 
 (p. 193), had a diameter of feet. If 
 we may trust the sculptures, a smaller 
 size was more common. 
 
 7 See woodcut, p. 439. The Greeks 
 
 passed their arm through the bar at 
 
 the centre of the shield, and grasped a 
 
 leathern thong near the rim with their 
 hand. (See the author’s Herodotus, vol. 
 i. p. 306.) 
 
 8 Layard, Nineveh and Babylon, p. 194. 
 
 9 Shields of gold were taken from the 
 servants of Hadadezer, king of Zobah 
 (2 Sam. viii. 7), by David. Solomon 
 made 800 such shields (1 K. x. 17). 
 Croesus dedicated a golden shield at the 
 temple of Amphiaraiis (Herod, i. 52). 
 
 10 Supra, p. 411. 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 SHIELDS. 
 
 447 
 
 the centre . 11 The weight of the metal shields must have been 
 considerable ; and this both limited their size and made it diffi- 
 
 Round shields or targes, patterned (Khorsabad). 
 
 cult to move them with rapidity. With the change of material 
 we perceive a decided increase of magnitude ; the diameter of 
 the wicker buckler being often fully half the warrior’s height, 
 or not much short of three feet. 
 
 Convex shields, generally of an oblong form, were also in 
 common use during the later 
 period, and one kind is found 
 in the very earliest sculptures. 
 
 This is of small dimensions and 
 of a clumsy make . 12 Its curve 
 is slight, and it is generally 
 ornamented with a perpendicu- 
 lar row of spikes or teeth, in 
 the centre of which we often see 
 the head of a lion. 
 
 The convex shields of later 
 date were very much larger than 
 these. They were sometimes 
 square at bottom and rounded at top, in which case they were 
 either made of wickerwork, or (apparently) of metal . 13 These 
 latter had generally a boss in the centre, and both this and the 
 
 Convex shields with teeth (Nimrud). 
 
 11 For representations of round wicker its simplest form is given on p. 429. 
 
 bucklers, see pp. 434 and 439. 13 See above, pp. 439 and 440. 
 
 12 A representation of this shield in 
 
44 $ 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VII. 
 
 edge of the shield were often ornamented with a row of rosettes 
 or rings. Shields of this shape were from four to five feet in 
 height, and protected the warrior from the head to the knee. 
 
 On a march they were often worn upon the back, like the 
 convex shield of the Egyptians, which they greatly resembled. 
 
 The more ordinary con- 
 vex shield was of an oval 
 form, like the convex 
 shield of the Greeks , 1 but 
 larger and with a more 
 prominent centre. In its 
 greater diameter it must 
 often have exceeded five 
 feet, though no doubt some- 
 times it was smaller. It 
 was generally ornamented 
 with narrow bands round 
 the edge and round the boss at the centre ; the space between 
 the bands being frequently patterned, with rings or otherwise. 
 Like the other form of convex shield, it could be slung at the 
 
 Assyrian convex shield, resembling the Greek 
 (Koyunjjik). 
 
 1 For a representation of the Greek shield, see Smith’s Dictionary of Greek and 
 Roman Antiquities , ad voc. Clipeus. 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 JAVELINS AND BOWS. 
 
 449 
 
 back , 2 and was so carried on marches, on crossing rivers , 3 and 
 other similar occasions. 
 
 The offensive arms certainly used by the Assyrians were the 
 bow, the spear, the sword, the mace, the 
 sling, the axe or hatchet, and the dagger. 
 
 They may also have occasionally made use 
 of the javelin, which is sometimes seen 
 among the arrows of a quiver. But the 
 actual employment of this weapon in war 
 has not yet been found upon the bas-reliefs. 
 
 If faithfully represented, it must have been 
 very short, scarcely, if at all, exceeding three 
 
 , , 4 Quiver, with arrows and 
 
 javelin (Nimrud). 
 
 Assyrian bows were of two kinds, curved 
 and angular. Compared with the Egyptian , 5 and with the bows 
 used by the archers of the middle ages, they were short, the 
 greatest length of the strung bow being about four feet. They 
 seem to have been made of a single piece of wood, which in the 
 angular bow was nearly of the same thick- 
 ness throughout, but in the curved one 
 tapered gradually towards the two ex- 
 tremities. At either end was a small knob 
 or button, in the later times often carved 
 into the representation of a duck’s head. 
 
 Close above this was a notch or groove, 
 whereby the string was held in place. The 
 mode ol stringing was one still frequently (Khorsabad). 
 practised in the East. The bowman stooped, 
 and placing his right knee against the middle of the bow on 
 its inner side, pressed it downwards, at the same time drawing 
 the two ends of the bow upwards with his two hands. A com- 
 rade stood by, and, when the ends were brought sufficiently near, 
 slipped the string over the knob into the groove, where it 
 
 2 See the woodcut on p. 438. 
 
 3 Layard, Monuments of Nineveh , 2nd 
 Series, PI. 41. Compare infra, p. 464. 
 
 4 The Roman pilum , which is com- 
 monly called a javelin, exceeded six feet. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 1 The Greek ypocrcpos, or dart, was nearly 
 four feet. 
 
 5 See Wilkinson, Ancient Egyptians , 
 1st Series, vol. i. pp. 304, 305. 
 
 2 G 
 
450 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. YII. 
 
 necessarily remained. The bend of the bow, thus strung, was 
 slight When full drawn, however, it took the shape of a half- 
 
 stringing the bow (Koyunjik). 
 
 moon, which shows that it must have possessed great elasticity. 
 The bow was known to be full drawn when the head of the arrow 
 touched the archer’s left hand. 
 
 Assyrian curved bow. 
 
 The Assyrian angular bow was of smaller size than the curved 
 one. It was not often carried unless as a reserve by those who 
 also possessed the larger and better weapon. 
 
 Assyrian angular bow. 
 
 Bows were but seldom unstrung. When not in use, they were 
 carried strung, the archer either holding them by the middle 
 with his left hand, or putting his arm through them, and letting 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 BOWS — QUIVERS. 
 
 451 
 
 them rest upon his shoulder , 6 or finally carrying them at his 
 back in a bow-case. The bow-case was a portion of the quiver, 
 as frequently with the Greeks , 7 and held 
 only the lower half of the bow, the 
 upper portion projecting from it. 
 
 Quivers were carried by foot and 
 horse archers at their backs, in a dia- 
 gonal position, so that the arrows could 
 readily be drawn from them over the 
 right shoulder. They were commonly 
 slung in this position by a strap of their 
 own, attached to two rings, one near 
 the top and the other near the bottom 
 
 1 . 1 - 1,1 1 t i Mode of carrying the bow in a 
 
 of tllG CJ111 V6r, WIllCil til 6 9X0x161* Slipped bow-case (Koyunjik). 
 
 over his left arm and his head. Some- 
 times, however, this strap seems to have been wanting, and 
 the quiver was either thrust through one of the cross-belts, or 
 
 attached by a strap which passed horizontally round the body 
 a little above the girdle . 8 The archers who rode in chariots 
 carried their quivers at the chariot’s side, in the manner which 
 has been already described and illustrated . 9 
 
 6 Mr. Layard says that the warrior 
 
 carried the bow upon his shoulders, 
 
 “ having first passed his head through 
 
 it.” (Nin. and its Remains , vol. ii. p. 342.) 
 This may have been the case sometimes, 
 but generally both ends of the bow are 
 
 seen on the same side of the head. 
 
 7 See Dictionary of Greek and Roman 
 Antiquities , p. 126, 2nd edition. 
 
 8 See the woodcut, p. 437. 
 
 9 Supra, pp. 412 and 414. 
 
 2 G 2 
 
45 : 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. YII. 
 
 The ornamentation of quivers was generally elaborate. Ro- 
 settes and bands constituted their most usual adornment ; but 
 
 sometimes these gave place to de- 
 signs of a more artistic character, 
 as wild bulls, griffins, and other 
 mythic figures. Several examples 
 of a rich type have been already 
 given in the representations of cha- 
 riots , 10 but none exhibit this pecu- 
 liarity. One further specimen of a 
 chariot quiver is therefore appended, 
 which is among the most tasteful 
 hitherto discovered. 
 
 The quivers of the foot and horse 
 archers were less richly adorned 
 than those of the bowmen who rode 
 in chariots, but still they were in 
 almost every case more or less pat- 
 terned. The rosette and the band 
 Quiver, with rich ornamentation here too constituted the chief re- 
 (Nimrud). source of the artist, who, however, 
 
 often introduced with good effect 
 other well-known ornaments, as the 
 guilloche, the boss and cross, the 
 zigzag, &c. 
 
 Sometimes the quiver had an 
 ornamented rod attached to it, which 
 projected beyond the arrows and 
 terminated in a pomegranate blos- 
 som or other similar carving. To 
 this rod were attached the rings 
 which received the quiver strap, a 
 triple tassel hanging from them at the 
 Quivers of the ordinary character. Q f attachment. The strap -was 
 
 probably of leather, and appears to have been twisted or plaited. 
 
 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 1) 
 
 ft 
 \ - 
 
 I 
 
 10 Supra, pp. 412, 414, and 416. 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 QUIVERS. 
 
 453 
 
 It is uncertain whether the material of the quivers was wood 
 or metal. As, however, no remains of quivers have been dis- 
 covered in any of the ruins, while helmets, shields, daggers, 
 spear-heads, and arrow-heads have been found in tolerable abun- 
 dance, we may perhaps assume that they were of the more 
 fragile substance, which would account for their destruction. 
 
 In this case their ornamentation may have been either by 
 carving or painting , 1 the bosses and rosettes being perhaps in 
 some cases of metal, mother-of-pearl, or 
 ivory. Ornaments of this kind were 
 discovered by hundreds at Nimrud in a 
 chamber which contained arms of many 
 descriptions . 2 Quivers have in some 
 cases a curious rounded head, which 
 seems to have been a lid or cap used 
 for covering the arrows . 3 They have 
 also, occasionally, instead of this, a kind 
 of bag 4 at their top, which falls back- Assyri (Koyunjik> qU1VerS 
 wards and is ornamented with tassels. 
 
 Both these constructions, however, are exceptional, a very large 
 majority of the quivers being open and having the feathered 
 ends of the arrows projecting from them. 
 
 this position. The quiver, of which it 
 was the top, must also have been round. 
 
 4 Possibly this bag may be the upper 
 part of a bow-case attached to the quiver, 
 which, being made of a flexible material, 
 fell back when the bow was removed. 
 Such a construction was common in 
 Egypt. (Wilkinson, Ancient Egyptians, 
 1st Series, vol. i. pp. 345-347.) 
 
 1 In the Khorsabad sculptures the 
 quivers not unfrequently showed traces 
 of paint. The colour was sometimes red, 
 sometimes blue. (See pp. 363, 364.) 
 
 2 Layard, Nineveh and Babylon , p. 177. 
 
 3 The lid was probably attached to the 
 back of the quiver by a hinge, and was 
 made so that it could stand open. The 
 Assvrian artists generally represent it in 
 
454 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VII. 
 
 There is nothing remarkable in the Assyrian arrows except 
 their perfect finish and completeness in all that constitutes the 
 excellence of such a weapon. The shaft was thin and straight, 
 and was probably of reed, or of some light and tough wood . 5 
 The head was of metal , 6 either of bronze or iron, and was 
 generally diamond-shaped, like a miniature spear-head. It was 
 flattish, and for greater strength had commonly a strongly 
 raised line down the centre. The lower end was hollowed, and 
 the shaft was inserted into it. The notching and feathering 
 
 o o 
 
 Bronze arrow-heads (Nimrud and Koyunjik). 
 
 of the shaft were carefully attended to. It is doubtful whether 
 three feathers were used, as by ourselves and by the Egyptians , 7 
 or two only, as by many nations. The fact that we never see 
 more than two feathers upon the monuments cannot be con- 
 
 5 Mr. Layard’s conjecture that the 
 numerous iron rods which he discovered 
 at Nimrud were “ shafts of arrows ” 
 ( Nineveh and Babylon , p. 194) does not 
 seem to me very happy. The burnishing 
 of arrows mentioned in Scripture almost 
 certainly alludes to the points. There is 
 no evidence that such clumsy and incon- 
 venient things as metal shafts were ever 
 used by any nation. 
 
 6 A few stone arrow-heads have been 
 found in the Assyrian ruins. They are 
 
 pear-shaped and of fine flint, chipped 
 
 into form. The metal arrow-heads are 
 in a few instances barbed. 
 
 7 Wilkinson, vol. i. p. 309. 
 
 Flint arrow-head (Nimrud). 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 ARROWS. 
 
 455 
 
 sidered decisive, since the Assyrian artists, from their small 
 knowledge of perspective, would have been unable to represent 
 all three feathers. So far as we can judge from the representa- 
 tions, it would seem that the feathers were glued to the wood 
 
 Assyrian arrow. 
 
 exactly as they are with ourselves. The notch was somewhat 
 large, projecting beyond the line of the shaft — a construction 
 rendered necessary by the thickness of the bowstring, which -was 
 seldom less than that of the arrow itself. 
 
 The mode of drawing the bow was peculiar. It was drawn 
 neither to the ear, nor to the breast, but to the shoulder. In 
 the older sculptures the hand that draws it is represented in a 
 curiously cramped and unnatural position , 8 which can scarcely 
 be supposed to be true 
 to nature. But in 
 the later bas-reliefs 
 greater accuracy 
 seems to have been 
 attained, and there we 
 probably see the ex- 
 act mode in which 
 the shooting was ac- 
 tually managed. The 
 arrow was taken be- 
 low the feathers by the thumb and fore-finger of the right hand, 
 the fore-finger bent down upon it in the way represented in the 
 accompanying woodcut, and the notch being then placed upon 
 the string, the arrow was drawn backwards by the thumb and 
 fore-finger only, the remaining three fingers taking no part in 
 the operation. The bow was grasped by the left hand between 
 the fingers and the muscle of the thumb, the thumb itself being- 
 raised, and the arrow made to pass between it and the bow, by 
 which means it was kept in place and prevented from slipping. 
 
 Mode of drawing the how (Koyunjik). 
 
 Supra, p. 429. 
 
456 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VII. 
 
 The arrow was then drawn till the cold metal head touched the 
 fore-finger of the left hand, upon which the right hand quitted 
 its hold, and the shaft sped on its way. To save the left arm 
 
 from being bruised or cut by the bowstring, a guard, often simply 
 yet effectively ornamented, was placed upon it, at one end 
 passing round the thumb and at the other round the arm a 
 little above the elbow. 
 
 The Assyrians had two kinds of spears, one a comparatively 
 short weapon, varying from five to six feet in length, with 
 which they armed a portion of their foot soldiers, the other a 
 weapon nine or ten feet long, which was carried by most of 
 
 their cavalry . 1 The shaft seems in both cases to have been 
 of wood, and the head was certainly of metal, either bronze 
 or iron . 2 It was most usually diamond- shaped, but sometimes 
 the side angles were rounded off, and the contour became that 
 of an elongated pear. In other instances, the jambs of the 
 spear-head were exceedingly short, and the point long and 
 tapering. The upper end of the shaft w r as sometimes weighted , 3 
 
 1 See above, pp. 425 and 426. and Bab. p. 194.) 
 
 2 Both bronze and iron spear-heads 3 See the illustration on p. 434. 
 
 were found at Nimrud. (Layard, Nin. 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 SPEARS — SWORDS. 
 
 457 
 
 and it was often carved into some ornamental form, as a fir-cone 
 or a pomegranate blossom, while in the earlier times it was 
 further occasionally adorned with streamers. The spear of the 
 
 Spear-heads, from the Sculptures. 
 
 Ornamented ends of spear-shafts 
 (Nimrud). 
 
 Assyrians seems never to have been thrown, like that of 
 the Greeks, but was only used to thrust with, as a pike. 
 
 The common sword of the Assyrians was a short straight 
 weapon, like the sword of the Egyptians, or the acinaces of the 
 Persians . 4 5 It was worn at the left 
 side, generally slung by a belt of 
 its own which was passed over the 
 right shoulder, but sometimes thrust 
 
 through the girdle or (apparently) , 
 
 through the armour. It had a short (Khorsabad). 
 
 rounded handle, more or less orna- 
 mented, but without any cross-bar or guard , 6 and a short blade 
 which tapered gradually from the handle to the point. The 
 swordsman commonly thrust with his weapon, but he could cut 
 
 4 Representations of the Persian aci- 
 naces will be given in a future volume. 
 The reader may likewise consult the 
 author’s Herodotus , vol. iv. pp. 52, 53. 
 
 5 Botta, Monument de Ninive , vol. ii. 
 PI. 99. 
 
 6 Mr. Layard says (Nineveh and its 
 Remains , vol. ii. p. 298) that the swords 
 
 had often a cross-bar made of two lions’ 
 heads, with part of the neck and 
 shoulders. But a careful examination of 
 the monuments, or even of Mr. Layard’s 
 own drawings, will (I think) convince 
 any one that the ornament in question 
 is part of the sheath. It is never seen 
 on a drawn sword. 
 
458 
 
 THE SECOND MONAKCHY. 
 
 Chap. YU. 
 
 with it likewise, for it was with this arm that the. Assyrian 
 warrior was wont to decapitate his fallen enemy. The sheath of 
 
 Sheathed sword (Koyunjik). 
 
 the sword was almost always tastefully designed, and sometimes 
 
 possessed artistic excellence of a 
 high order. The favourite ter- 
 
 minal ornament consisted of two 
 lions clasping one another, with 
 their heads averted and their mouths 
 agape. Above this, patterns in ex- 
 
 Ornamented handle of longer sword cellent taste Usually adorned the 
 (Nimrud). . J 
 
 scabbard, which moreover exhibited 
 occasionally groups of figures, sacred trees, and other mytho- 
 logical objects. 
 
 Instead of the short sword, the earlier warriors had a weapon 
 of a considerable length. This was invariably slung at the side 
 by a cross-belt passing over the shoulder. In its ornamentation 
 it closely resembled the later short sword, but its hilt was 
 longer and more tasteful. 
 
 One or two instances occur where the sword of an Assyrian 
 warrior is represented as curved slightly. The sheath in these 
 cases is plain, and terminates in a button. 
 
 Assyrian curved sword (Khorsabad). 
 
 The Assyrian mace was a short thin weapon, and must either 
 have been made of a very tough wood, or — and this is more 
 probable — of metal. It had an ornamented head, which was 
 sometimes very beautifully modelled, and generally a strap or 
 string at the lower end, by which it could be grasped with 
 
Chap. VIL 
 
 MACES AND BATTLE-AXES. 
 
 459 
 
 Head of royal mace (Khorsabad). 
 
 
 greater firmness. Foot archers frequently carried it in battle, 
 especially those who were in close attendance upon the king s 
 person. It seems, however, not 
 to have been often used as a 
 warlike weapon until the time of 
 the latest sculptures, when we see 
 it wielded, generally with both 
 hands, by a certain number of 
 the combatants . 7 In peace it 
 was very commonly borne by the 
 royal attendants, and it seems also 
 to have been among the weapons 
 used by the monarch himself, for 
 whom it is constantly carried by 
 one of those who wait most closely 
 upon his person. 
 
 The battle-axe was a weapon 
 but rarely employed by the As- 
 syrians. It is only in the very 
 latest sculptures and in a very 
 few instances that we find axes 
 represented as used by the warriors 
 for any other purpose besides the ^ ^ 
 
 felling of trees. Where they are 
 seen in use against the enemy, 
 the handle is short, the head 
 somewhat large, and the weapon 
 wielded with one hand. Battle- 
 axes had heads of two kinds. 
 
 Some were made with two blades, 
 
 like the Upennis of the Romans, Assyrian battle . axes (Koyunjik) . 
 and the labra of the Lydians and 
 
 Carians ; 8 others more nearly resembled the weapons used by 
 
 14 
 
 Maces, from the Sculptures. 
 
 
 7 See Layard’s Monuments , 2nd Series, 
 
 PI. 46. 
 
 8 See Fellows’ Lycia , p. 75, and PI. 35, 
 Figs. 4 and 5. A two-headed axe is 
 likewise represented in some very early 
 sculptures, supposed to be Scythic, found 
 
 by M. Texier in Cappadocia. 
 
 Scythian battle-axe. 
 
460 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. YII. 
 
 our own knights in the middle ages, haying a single blade, 
 and a mere ornamental point on the other side of the haft. 
 
 The dagger was worn by the Assyrian kings at almost all 
 times in their girdles, and was further often assigned to the 
 
 Ornamented handles of daggers (Nimrud). Handle of dagger, with chain 
 
 (Nimrud). 
 
 mythic winged beings, hawk-headed or human-headed, which 
 occur so frequently in the sculptures; but it seems to have 
 been very seldom carried by subjects . 9 It had commonly a 
 straight handle, slightly concave, and very richly chased, ex- 
 hibiting the usual Assyrian patterns, rosettes, chevrons, guil- 
 loches, pine-cones, and the like. Sometimes, however, it was 
 still more artistically shaped, being cast into the form of a 
 horse’s head and neck. In this case there was occasionally a 
 chain attached at one end to the horse’s chin, and at the other 
 to the bottom of his neck, which, passing outside the hand, 
 would give it a firmer hold on the weapon. The sheaths of 
 daggers seem generally to have been plain, or nearly so, but 
 occasionally they terminated in the head of an animal, from 
 whose mouth depended a tassel. 
 
 Though the Assyrian troops were not marshalled by the aid 
 of standards, like the Homan and the Egyptian, yet still a kind 
 
 9 I distinguish between the dagger 
 and the short sword. The place of the 
 former is on the right side ; and it is 
 worn invariably in the girdle. The 
 place of the latter is by the left hip, and 
 it hangs almost always from a cross-belt. 
 When Mr. Layard says that “ the dagger 
 appears to have been carried by all, both 
 in time of peace and war ” ( Nineveh and 
 its Remains , vol. ii. p. 342), he must be 
 
 understood as not making this distinc- 
 tion. 
 
 The only place, so far as I know, 
 where a subject carries a dagger, is on 
 the slab represented by Mr. Layard in 
 his 1st Series of Monuments, PI. 23, 
 where it is borne by one of the royal 
 attendants. In PI. 31, the hunter who 
 bears two daggers in his girdle is un- 
 doubtedly the monarch himself. 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 STANDARDS — MILITARY ORGANISATION . 
 
 461 
 
 of standard is occasionally to be recognised in the bas-reliefs. 
 This consists of a pole of no great height, fixed upright at the 
 front of a chariot, between the cha- 
 rioteer and the warrior, and carrying 
 at the top a circular frame, within 
 which are artistic representations of 
 gods or sacred animals. Two bulls, 
 back to back, either trotting or run- 
 ning at speed, are a favourite device. 
 
 Above them sometimes stands a 
 figure in a horned cap, shooting his 
 
 arrows against the enemy. Occa- Sheaths of daggers (Nimrud). 
 sionally only one bull is represented, 
 and the archer shoots standing upon 
 the bull’s back . 10 Below the circular 
 framework are minor ornaments, as 
 lions’ and bulls’ heads, or streamers 
 adorned with tassels . 11 
 
 We do not obtain much informa- 
 tion from the monuments with re- 
 spect to the military organisation or 
 the tactics of the Assyrians. It is 
 clear, however, that they had ad- 
 vanced beyond the first period in 
 military matters, when men fight in 
 a confused mass of mingled horse, 
 foot, and chariots, heavy-armed and 
 light-armed, spearmen, archers, and 
 slingers, each standing and moving 
 as mere chance may determine. It 
 is even certain that they had ad- 
 vanced beyond the second period, 
 when the phalanx order of battle is adopted, the confused mass 
 being replaced by a single serried body presenting its best armed 
 
 Assyrian standard (Khorsabad). 
 
 10 See Mr. Layard’s Monuments , 1st 11 Monuments , 1st Series, Pis. 14 and 
 Series, PL 14. Compare Nineveh and its 27. 
 
 Remains , vol. ii. p. 347. 
 
462 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VII. 
 
 troops to the enemy and keeping in the rear, to add their 
 weight to the charge, the weaker and more imperfectly pro- 
 tected. It was not really left for Cyaxares the Mede to “ be 
 the first to organise an Asiatic army — to divide the troops into 
 companies and form distinct bodies of the spearmen, the archers, 
 and the cavalry.” 1 The Assyrian troops were organised in this 
 way, at least from the time of Sennacherib, on whose sculptures 
 we find, in the first place, bodies of cavalry on the march 
 unaccompanied by infantry ; 2 secondly, engagements where 
 cavalry only are acting against the enemy ; 3 thirdly, long lines 
 of spearmen on foot marching in double file, and sometimes 
 divided into companies ; 4 and fourthly, archers drawn up 
 together, but similarly divided into companies, each distin- 
 guished by its own uniform. 5 We also meet with a corps of 
 pioneers, wearing a uniform and armed only with a hatchet, 6 
 and wdth bodies of slingers, wdio are all armed and clothed 
 alike. 7 If, in the battles and the sieges of this time, the troops 
 seem to be to a great extent confused together, we may account 
 for it, partly by the inability of the Assyrian artists to represent 
 bodies of troops in perspective, 8 partly by their not aiming at an 
 actual, but rather at a typical representation of events, 9 and 
 partly also by their fondness for representing, not the prepara- 
 tion for battle or its first shock, but the rout and flight of the 
 enemy and their own hasty pursuit of them. 
 
 The wars of the Assyrians, like those of ancient Rome, con- 
 sisted of annual inroads into the territories of their neighbours, 
 
 1 Herod, i. 103 : IIpcDTos cAo^tce Kara 
 
 TeAeo tovs 4v rrj ’Airly, Kal tt pwros 
 di4ra^e * Kacrrovs elt/ai, tovs re 
 
 alxp.o<popovs Kal tovs imreas, Kal tovs 
 To£o(p6povs' Trpb tov 8e ava/j.l£ ?) v iravTa 
 o/uolus avaire<pvpg.4va. 
 
 2 Layard, Monuments of Nineveh , 1st 
 Series, Pis. 80 and 81. 
 
 3 Ibid. 2nd Series, Pis. 37 and 38. 
 
 4 Ibid. 1st Series, PI. 69. 
 
 5 Ibid. 2nd Series, PI. 20. 
 
 6 Ibid. 1st Series, PL 76. 
 
 7 Ibid. 2nd Series, Pis. 20 and 21. 
 
 8 The Assyrians in their battle-scenes 
 
 never represent a long row of men in 
 perspective. Their powers in this respect 
 
 are limited to two men, or at the utmost 
 three. Where a longer row is attempted, 
 each is nearly on the head of the other, 
 and all are represented as of the same 
 size. 
 
 9 E.g. the Assyrian representation of . 
 a siege is a sort of history of the siege. 
 The various parts of the attack and 
 defence, together with the surrender and 
 the carrying away of the captives, are 
 all represented in one scene. It is not 
 improbable that each of the different 
 corps who took part in the various 
 attacks is represented by a few men. 
 Hence an apparent confusion. 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 MODE OF WARFARE. 
 
 463 
 
 repeated year after year, till the enemy was exhausted, sued for 
 peace, and admitted the suzerainty of the more powerful nation. 
 The king in person usually led forth his army, in spring or early 
 summer, when the mountain passes were opened, and, crossing 
 his own borders, invaded some one or other of the adjacent 
 countries. The monarch himself invariably rode forth in his 
 chariot, arrayed in his regal robes, and with the tiara upon his 
 head ; he was accompanied by numerous attendants, and gene- 
 rally preceded and followed by the spearmen of the Royal 
 Guard, and a detachment of horse-archers. Conspicuous among 
 the attendants were the charioteer who managed the reins, and 
 the parasol-bearer, commonly a eunuch, who, standing in the 
 chariot behind the monarch, held the emblem of sovereignty 
 over his head. A bow-bearer, a quiver-bearer, and a mace- 
 bearer were usually also in attendance, walking before or behind 
 the chariot of the king, who, however, did not often depend for 
 arms wholly upon them, but carried a bow in his left hand, and 
 one or more arrows in his right, while he had a further store of 
 the latter either in or outside his chariot. Two or three led 
 horses were always at hand, to furnish a means of escape in any 
 difficulty. The army, marshalled in its several corps, in part 
 preceded the royal cortege, in part followed at a little distance 
 behind it . 10 On entering the enemy’s country, if a wooded tract 
 presented itself, the corps of pioneers was thrown out in advance, 
 and cleared away the obstructions. When a river was reached 
 too deep to be forded, the horses were detached from the royal 
 and other chariots by grooms and attendants; the chariots 
 themselves were embarked upon boats and rowed across the 
 stream ; while the horses, attached by ropes to a post near the 
 stern of the boat, swam after it. The horses of the cavalry were 
 similarly drawn across by their riders. The troops, both cavalry 
 and infantry, and the attendants, a very numerous body, swam 
 the stream, generally upon inflated skins , 11 which they placed 
 
 10 Compare the Persian practice (He- 
 rod. vii. 40 ; Q. Curt. iii. 3). 
 
 11 It is very seldom that we find a 
 swimmer represented as bold enough to 
 
 dispense with the support of a skin. 
 Instances, however, do occur. (See 
 Layard, Monuments , 1st Series, Pis. 16 
 and 33.) 
 
464 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VII. 
 
 Soldier swimming a river (Koyunjik). 
 
 under them, holding the neck in their left hand, and sometimes 
 increasing the inflation as they went by applying the orifice at 
 
 the top of the neck to their 
 mouths. AVe have no di- 
 rect evidence as to the 
 mode in which the baggage 
 of an army, which must 
 have been very consider- 
 able, was conveyed, either 
 along the general line of 
 route, or when it was ne- 
 cessary to cross a river. 
 We may conjecture that 
 in the latter case it was 
 probably placed upon rafts 
 supported on inflated skins, such as those which conveyed stones 
 from distant quarries to be used in the Assyrian buildings . 1 In 
 the former, we may perhaps assume that the conveyance was 
 chiefly by beasts of burthen, camels and asses, as the author of 
 the Book of Judith imagined . 2 Carts may have been used to 
 some extent; since they were certainly employed to convey 
 back to Assyria the spoil of the conquered nations . 3 
 
 It does not appear whether the army generally was provided 
 with tents or not. Possibly the bulk of the soldiers may have 
 bivouacked in the open field, unless when they were able to 
 obtain shelter in towns or villages taken from the enemy. 
 Tents, however, were certainly provided for the monarch and 
 his suite. Like the tents of the Bomans, these appear to have 
 been commonly pitched within a fortified enclosure, which was 
 of an oval shape . 4 * * * They were disposed in rows, and were all 
 
 1 See the representation, p. 338. 
 
 2 Judith ii. 17 : “ And he took camels 
 
 and asses for their carriages, a very great 
 
 number ; and sheep, and oxen, and goats, 
 
 without number, for their provision.” 
 
 I have given elsewhere my reasons 
 
 ( Herodotus , vol. i. p. 245, note 8 , 1st edi- 
 
 tion) for regarding the Book of Judith 
 as a post- Alexandrine work, and there- 
 fore as no real authority on Assyrian 
 
 history or customs. But the writer had 
 a good acquaintance with Oriental man- 
 ners in general, which are and always 
 have been remarkably wide-spread and 
 permanent. He may. therefore, fairly be 
 used to fill out a sketch of Assyria. 
 
 3 See pp. 234 and 243. 
 
 4 Mr. Layard was at first inclined to 
 regard these enclosures as “ castles,” or 
 “ walled cities” ( Monuments , 1st Series, 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 CAMPS AND TENTS. 
 
 465 
 
 Royal tent (Koyunjik). 
 
 nearly similar in construction and form, the royal tent being 
 perhaps distinguished from the others by a certain amount of 
 ornamentation, and by a slight 
 superiority of size. The ma- 
 terial used for the covering was 
 probably felt . 5 All the tents 
 were made open to the sky in 
 the centre, but closed in at 
 either extremity with a curious 
 semicircular top. The two tops 
 were of unequal size. Inter- 
 nally, either both of them, or 
 at any rate the larger ones, 
 were supported by a central 
 pole, which threw out branches 
 in different directions resemb- 
 ling the branches of a tree or 
 the spokes of a parasol. Some- 
 times the walls of the tent had 
 likewise the support of poles, 
 which were kept in place by 
 ropes passed obliquely from 
 the top of each to the ground 
 in front of them, and then 
 firmly secured by pegs. Each 
 tent had a door, square-headed, 
 which was placed at the side, 
 near the end which had the 
 smaller covering. The furni- 
 ture of tents consisted of tables, 
 couches, footstools, and domestic 
 
 Ordinary tent (Koyunjik). 
 
 Interior of tent (Koyunjik). 
 
 utensils of various kinds. 
 
 Pis. 63 and 77 ; 2nd Series, Pis. 24, 36, 
 and 50). But in his latest work ( Nineveh 
 and Babylon , p. 230) he takes the view 
 adopted in the text, that they are really 
 “ fortified camps and not cities.” No 
 one will hesitate to admit this conclu- 
 sion who compares with the enclosures 
 the actual plan of a walled city (Badaca) 
 in PI. 49 of Mr. Layard’s Monuments , 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 2nd Series. 
 
 3 Felt was used by the Scythians for 
 their tent-coverings (Herod, iv. 73, 75) ; as 
 it is by the Calmucks at the present day. 
 It is one of the simplest of manufactures, 
 and would readily take the rounded form, 
 which is so remarkable in the roofs of the 
 Assyrian tents. 
 
 2 H 
 
466 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. YII. 
 
 Within the fortified enclosure, but outside the tents, were the 
 chariot and horses of the monarch, an altar where sacrifice 
 could be made, and a number of animals suitable for food, as 
 oxen, sheep, and goats . 6 
 
 It appears that occasionally the advance of the troops was 
 along a road . 7 Ordinarily, however, they found no such con- 
 venience, but had to press forward through woods and over 
 mountains as they best could. Whatever the obstructions, the 
 chariot of the monarch was in some way or other conveyed 
 across them, though it is difficult to suppose that he could have 
 always remained, as he is represented, seated in it. Probably 
 
 King walking in a mountainous country — chariot following supported by men 
 (from an Obelisk in the British Museum). 
 
 he occasionally dismounted and made use of one of the led 
 horses, by which he was always accompanied, while sometimes 
 he even condescended to proceed on foot . 8 The use of palan- 
 quins or litters seems not to have been known to the Assyrians, 
 though it was undoubtedly very ancient in Asia ; but the king 
 
 6 These are often represented in the 
 bas-reliefs. (See Layard, Monuments , 
 2nd Series, Pis. 24 and 36. Compare 
 the passage from Judith above quoted, 
 p. 464, note 2 .) 
 
 7 A road seems to be intended in the 
 bas-relief of which Mr. Layard has given 
 a representation in his Monuments of 
 
 Nineveh , 1st Series, PI. 81. According 
 to the rendering of Sir H. Rawlinson, 
 
 Tiglath-Pileser I. calls himself “ the 
 opener of the roads of the countries.” 
 (Inscription, p. 30, § ix.) 
 
 8 The probabilities of the case alone 
 would justify these conclusions, which 
 are further supported by the Inscriptions 
 ( Inscription of Tiglath-Pileser I. p. 30, 
 § viii. ; Journal of Asiatic Society, vol. 
 xix. pp. 139, 140, &c.), and by at least one 
 I bas-relief (see the above representation). 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 BATTLES. 
 
 467 
 
 was sometimes carried on men s shoulders, seated on liis tin one, 
 in the way that we see the enthroned gods borne in many of the 
 sculptures . 9 
 
 The first object in entering a country was to fight, if possible, 
 a pitched battle with the inhabitants. The Assyrians were 
 always confident of victory in such an encounter, being better 
 armed, better disciplined, and perhaps of stronger frames than 
 any of their neighbours . 10 There is no evidence to show how 
 their armies were drawn up, or how the troops were handled in 
 an engagement ; but it would seem that in most cases, after a 
 longer or a shorter resistance, the enemy broke and fled, some- 
 times throwing away his arms, at other times fighting as he 
 retired, always vigorously pursued both by horse and foot, and 
 sometimes driven headlong into a river . 1 Quarter was not 
 very often given in a battle. The barbarous practice of re- 
 warding those who carried back to camp the heads of foemen 
 prevailed ; and this led to the massacre in many cases even 
 of the wounded, the disarmed, and the unresisting, though 
 occasionally quarter was given, more especially to generals and 
 other leading personages whom it was of importance to take 
 alive. Even while the engagement continued, it would seem 
 that soldiers might quit the ranks, decapitate a fallen foe, 
 and carry off his head to the rear, without incurring any 
 reproof ; 2 and it is certain that, so soon. as the engagement 
 was over, the whole army turned to beheading the fallen, using 
 for this purpose the short sword, which almost every warrior 
 carried at his left side. A few, unable to obtain heads, were 
 forced to be content with gathering the spoils of the slam and 
 of the fled, especially their arms, such as quivers, bows, helmets, 
 and the like ; while their more fortunate comrades, proceeding 
 
 9 Layard, Monuments , 1st Series, PI. 65. 
 Mr. Fox Talbot supposes palanquins to 
 be mentioned more than once in an 
 inscription of Sennacherib ( Journal of 
 Asiatic Society , vol. xix. pp. 152, 153, 
 
 173, &c.) ; but Sir H. Rawlinson does not 
 
 allow this translation. 
 
 10 See p. 239. 
 
 1 Layard, Monuments , 2nd Series, 
 PI. 46. 
 
 2 See particularly Layard’s Monuments , 
 1st Series, PI. 70. 
 
 2 h 2 
 
468 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VII. 
 
 to an appointed spot in the rear , 3 exhibited the tokens of their 
 valour, or of their good luck, to the royal scribes, who took an 
 exact account of the amount of the spoil, and of the number of 
 the enemy killed. 
 
 When the enemy could no longer resist in the open field, he 
 usually fled to his strongholds. Almost all the nations with 
 whom the Assyrians waged their wars possessed fortified cities, 
 or castles, which seem to have been places constructed with a 
 good deal of skill, and possessed of no inconsiderable strength. 
 
 Fortified place, belonging to an enemy of the Assyrians (Nimrud). 
 
 According to the representations of the sculptures, they were all 
 nearly similar in character, the defences consisting of high 
 battlemented walls, pierced with loopholes or windows towards 
 their upper part, and flanked at intervals along their whole 
 course by towers. Often they possessed two or more enceintes, 
 which in the bas-reliefs are represented one above the other ; 
 and in these cases the outermost circuit was sometimes a mere 
 plain continuous wall, as in the above woodcut. They were 
 entered by large gateways, most commonly arched, and closed 
 
 3 Sometimes a tent Mas set apart for the purpose, and the heads Mere piled in 
 one corner of it. (Layard, Monuments , 2nd Series, PI. 45.) 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 SIEGES. 
 
 469 
 
 Gateway of castle (Koyunjik). 
 
 by two huge gates or doors, which completely filled up the 
 aperture. Occasionally, however, the gateways were square- 
 headed, as in the subjoined illustra- 
 tion, where there occurs, moreover, 
 a very curious ornamentation of the 
 battlements . 4 
 
 These fortified places the Assyrians 
 attacked in three principal ways. 
 
 Sometimes they endeavoured to take 
 them by escalade, advancing for this 
 purpose a number of long ladders 
 against different parts of the walls, 
 thus distracting the enemy’s attention 
 and seeking to find a w r eak point. 
 
 Up the ladders proceeded companies of 
 spearmen and archers in combination, 
 the spearmen invariably taking the lead, since their large shields 
 afforded them a protection, which archers advancing in file up a 
 ladder could not have. Meanwhile from below a constant dis- 
 charge was kept up by bowmen and slingers, the former of whom 
 were generally protected by the gerrhon , or high wicker shield, 
 held in front of them by a comrade. The besieged endeavoured 
 to dislodge and break the ladders, which are often represented 
 in fragments ; 5 or, failing in this attempt, sought by hurling 
 down large stones, and by discharges from their bows and slings, 
 to precipitate and destroy their assailants. If finally they were 
 unable by these means to keep the Assyrians from reaching the 
 topmost round of the ladders, they had recourse to their spears, 
 and man to man, spear to spear, and shield to shield, they still 
 struggled to defend themselves. The Assyrians always repre- 
 sent the sieges which they conduct as terminating successfully ; 
 but we may be tolerably sure that in many instances the invader 
 
 4 Mr. Layard regards this ornamenta- 
 tion as produced by a suspension from 
 the battlements of the shields of the 
 garrison, and suggests that it illustrates 
 the passage in Ezekiel with respect to' 
 Tyre : The men of Arvad with thine 
 
 army were upon thy walls round about, 
 
 and the Gammadims were in thy towers ; 
 they hanged their shields upon thy walls 
 round about” ( Nineveh and its Remains , 
 
 vol. ii. p. 388.) 
 
 5 Layard, Monuments , 2nd Series, PI. 
 
 21 . 
 
470 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VII. 
 
 was beaten back, and forced to relinquish his prey, or to try 
 fresh methods of obtaining it. 
 
 If the escalade failed, or if it was thought unadvisable to 
 attempt it, the plan most commonly adopted was to try the 
 effect of the battering-ram. The Assyrian armies were abun- 
 
 Battering-rams. 
 
 dantly supplied with these engines, of which we see as many as 
 seven engaged in a single siege . 6 They were variously designed 
 and arranged. Some had a head shaped like the point of a 
 spear ; 7 others, one more resembling the end of a blunderbuss . 8 
 All of them were covered with a framework, which was of ozier, 
 wood, felt or skins, for the better protection of those who worked 
 the implement ; but some appear to have been stationary, having 
 
 6 Layard, Monuments , 2nd Series, PI. 21. ' As Nos. I., n., and HI., alwne. 
 
 8 As No. IV., above. 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 BATTEKING-EAMS. 
 
 471 
 
 their framework resting on the ground itself , 9 while others were 
 moveable, being provided with wheels, which in the early times 
 were six , 10 but in the later times four only. Again, sometimes, 
 combined with the ram and its framework was a moveable tower, 
 containing soldiers, who at once fought the enemy on a level, 
 and protected the engine from their attacks. Fire was the 
 weapon usually turned against the ram, torches, burning tow, or 
 other inflammable substances being cast from the walls upon its 
 framework, which, wherever it was of ozier or of wood, could be 
 easily set alight and consumed. To prevent this result, the 
 workers of the ram were sometimes provided with a supply of 
 water, which they could direct through leathern or metal pipes 
 against the combustibles . 1 At other times they sought to pro- 
 tect themselves by suspending from a pole in front of their 
 engine a curtain of cloth, leather, or some other non-inflammable 
 substance . 2 
 
 Another mode of meeting the attacks of the battering-ram 
 was by catching the point with a chain suspended by its two 
 ends from the walls, and then, when the ram was worked, 
 diverting the stroke, by drawing the head upwards . 3 To oppose 
 this device, the besiegers provided some of their number with 
 strong metal hooks, and stationed them below the ram, where 
 they watched for the descent of the chain. As soon as ever it 
 caught the head of the ram, they inserted their hooks into its 
 links, and then hanging upon it with their whole weight, pre- 
 vented its interference with the stroke. 
 
 Battering-rams were frequently used against the walls from 
 the natural ground at their foot. Sometimes, however, the 
 besiegers raised vast mounds against the ramparts, and advanced 
 
 9 See Mr. Layard’s Monuments , 1st 
 Series, PI. 19. 
 
 10 Ibid. PI. 17. 1 Ibid. PI. 19. 
 
 2 In the bas-relief represented by Mr. 
 Layard in his 2nd Series of Monuments, 
 PI. 21, where an enormous number of 
 torches are seen in the air, every bat- 
 tering-ram is thus protected. A man, 
 sheltered under the framework of the 
 ram, holds the pole which supports the 
 curtain. (See the ram, No. II., in the 
 
 woodcut on the preceding page.) May 
 not the TTfjoKaAvfjL/xaTa of the Plataeans 
 have been curtains of this description? 
 They were made of “ skins and raw 
 hides” (Thucyd. ii. 75). 
 
 3 Instead of chains, the Greeks used 
 nooses (^po%ot)? made of rope probably, 
 for this purpose. (See Thucyd. ii. 76, 
 where avtKAoov seems to mean “ drew 
 upwards,” and compare Livy, xxxvi. 23, 
 and Dio Cassius, 1080, 11.) 
 
472 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VII. 
 
 their engines up these, thus bringing them on a level with the 
 upper and weaker portions of the defences. Of this nature pro- 
 bably were the mounds spoken of in Scripture as employed by 
 the Babylonians 4 and Egyptians , 5 as well as the Assyrians , 6 in 
 their sieges of cities. The intention was not so much to pile up the 
 
 mounds till they were on a 
 level with the top of the 
 walls as to work the batter- 
 ing-ram with greater advan- 
 tage from them. A similar 
 use was made of mounds by 
 the Peloponnesian Greeks, 
 who nearly succeeded in 
 taking Platsea in this way . 7 
 The mounds were not always 
 composed entirely of earth ; 
 the upper portion was often 
 made of several layers of 
 stone or brick, arranged in 
 regular order, so as to form 
 a sort of paved road, up 
 which the rams might be 
 dragged with no great diffi- 
 culty. Trees, too, were 
 sometimes cut down and 
 built into the mound . 8 
 
 Besides battering-rams, 
 the Assyrians appear to 
 have been acquainted with 
 an engine resembling the 
 catapult, or rather the balista 9 of the Homans. This engine, 
 
 4 Jer. vi. 6, xxxii. 24, xxxiii. 4, &c. 
 
 5 Ezek. xvii. 17. 
 
 6 2 Kings xix. 32 ; Is. xxxvii. 33. The 
 Jews themselves were acquainted with 
 this mode of siege as early as the time 
 of David. (2 Sam. xx. 15.) 
 
 7 Thucyd. ii. 76. 
 
 8 See the above woodcut, and com- 
 
 pare Mr. Layard’s Monuments , 2nd 
 
 Series, PI. 18. So Thucydides speaks 
 of the Peloponnesian mound as com- 
 posed of earth, stones, and wood. (’E (p6- 
 povv 8e 4s avrb Kal \lOovs Kal 
 
 y-pu. Thucyd. ii. 75.) 
 
 9 The term “ catapult ” was properly 
 applied to the engine which threw darts; 
 that which threw stones was called 
 balista. 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 THE BALIST A— MINING. 
 
 473 
 
 which was of great height, and threw stones of a large size, was 
 protected, like the ram, by a framework, apparently of wood, 
 covered with canvas, felt, or hides. The stones thrown from 
 the engine were of irregular shape, and it was able to discharge 
 several at the same time. The besiegers worked it from a mound 
 or inclined plane, which enabled them to send their missiles to 
 the top of the ramparts . 10 It had to be brought very close to 
 the walls in order to be effective-a position which gave the 
 besieged an opportunity of assailing it by fire. Perhaps it was 
 this liability which caused the infrequent use of the engine in 
 question, which is rare upon the earlier, and absent from the 
 
 later, sculptures. , . . 
 
 The third mode of attack employed by the Assyrians in 
 their sieges of fortified places was the mine. While the 
 engines were in full play, and the troops drawn up around 
 the place assailed the de- 
 fenders of the walls with 
 their slings and bows, war- 
 riors singly, or in twos and 
 threes, advanced stealthily 
 to the foot of the ramparts, 
 and either with their swords 
 and the points of their 
 spears, or with implements 
 better suited for the pur- 
 pose, such as crowbars and \ 
 pickaxes, attacked the foun- 
 dations of the walls, endea- Crowbar - 
 vouring to remove the stones one by one, and so to force an 
 entrance. While thus employed, the assailant commonly either 
 held his shield above him as a protection, or was guarded by 
 the shield of a comrade ; 11 or, finally, if he carried the curved 
 gerrhon, leant it against the wall, and then placed himself under 
 its shelter . 12 Sometimes, however, he dispensed with the pro- 
 
 10 According to Diodorus, balistce 
 were chiefly used to break down the 
 battlements which crowned the walls 
 and the towers. (Diod. Sic. xvii. 42, 
 
 45 ; xx. 48, 88.) 
 
 11 Layard, Monuments of Nineveh , 1st 
 Series, PI. 66. 
 
 12 See the woodcut, supra, p. 446. 
 
474 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VII. 
 
 tection of a shield altogether, and, trusting to his helmet and 
 coat of mail, which covered him at all vital points, pursued his 
 labour without paying any attention to the weapons aimed at 
 him by the enemy . 13 
 
 Occasionally the efforts of the besiegers were directed against 
 the gates, which they endeavoured to break 
 open with axes, or to set on fire by an appli- 
 cation of the torch. F rom this latter circum- 
 stance we may gather that the gates were 
 ordinarily of wood, not, like those of Babylon 14 
 and Veii , 15 of brass. In the hot climate of 
 Southern Asia wood becomes so dry by ex- 
 posure to the sun that the most solid doors 
 may readily be ignited and consumed . 1 
 
 When at last the city or castle was by some 
 of these means reduced, and the garrison con- 
 sented to surrender itself, the work of de- 
 molition, already begun, was completed. 
 Generally the place was set on fire; some- 
 times workmen provided with pickaxes and 
 other tools mounted upon the ramparts and 
 towers, hurled down the battlements, broke 
 Implement used in the breaches in the walls, or even levelled the 
 destruction of cities whole building. Vengeance was further taken 
 by the destruction of the valuable trees in the 
 vicinity, more especially the highly prized date-palms, which 
 were cut with hatchets half through their stems at the distance 
 of about two feet from the ground, and then pulled or pushed 
 down. Other trees were either treated similarly, or denuded 
 of their branches . 2 Occasionally the destruction was of a less 
 wanton and vengeful character. Timber-trees were cut down 
 for transport to Assyria, where they were used in the construc- 
 
 13 Layard, Monuments , 1st Series, 
 
 PI. 19. 
 
 14 Herod, i. 179; Diod. Sic. ii. 8, § 7. 
 
 15 Plutarch, Vit. Camill. 12. 
 
 1 In the Affghan war one of the gates 
 of the city of Candahar was ignited 
 
 from the outside by the Affghanees, and 
 was entirely consumed in less than an 
 hour. 
 
 2 See Mr. Layard’s Monuments , 2nd 
 Series, PI. 40. 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 TREATMENT OF CAPTURED CITIES. 
 
 475 
 
 tion of the royal palaces ; 3 and fruit-trees were occasionally 
 
 taken up by the roots, 
 removed carefully, and 
 planted in the gardens 
 and orchards of the con- 
 querors . 4 Meanwhile 
 there was a general plun- 
 dering of the captured 
 place. The temples were 
 entered, and the images 
 of the gods, together with 
 the sacred vessels, which 
 were often of gold and 
 silver , 5 were seized and 
 carried off in triumph . 6 
 This was not mere cu- 
 pidity. It was regarded 
 
 Soldiers destroying date-palms (Koyunjik). 
 
 as of the utmost importance to show that the gods of the 
 Assyrians were superior to those of other countries, who were 
 powerless to protect either their votaries 
 or even themselves from the irresistible 
 might of the servants of Asshur. The 
 ordinary practice was to convey the images 
 of the foreign gods from the temples of 
 the captured places to Assyria, and there 
 to offer them at the shrines of the prin- 
 cipal Assyrian deities . 7 Hence the special 
 force of the proud question—- Where are 
 the gods of Hamath and of Arpad ? Where 
 are the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena, and 
 I va h ? ” 8 Where are they but carried cap- 
 tive to Assyria, prisoners and slaves in the temples of those 
 deities whose power they ventured to resist ? 
 
 Soldier carrying off spoil 
 from a temple (Khorsabad). 
 
 3 Fox Talbot, Assyrian Texts, pp. 8, 
 17, &c. 
 
 4 So at least Sir Henry Rawlinson 
 
 understands a passage in the Tiglath- 
 
 Pileser Inscription, col. vii. U. 17-27, 
 
 pp. 58-60. 
 
 5 Inscription of Tiglath-Pileser I. p. 28. 
 
 6 Layard, Monuments , 1st Series, PI. 
 65 ; 2nd Series, PI. 30, &c. 
 
 i Inscription of Tiglath-Pileser I. p. 
 40; Assyrian Texts , p. 17. 
 
 8 2 Kings xviii. 34. 
 
4/6 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VII. 
 
 The houses of the city were also commonly plundered, and 
 everything of value in them was carried off. Long files of 
 men, each bearing some article of furniture out of the gate of a 
 captured town, are frequent upon the bas-reliefs, where we like- 
 wise often observe in the train of a returning army carts laden 
 with household stuff of every kind, alternating with long strings 
 of captives. All the spoil seems to have been first brought bv 
 the individual plunderers to one place, where it was carefully 
 
 sorted and counted in the presence 
 and under the superintendence of 
 royal scribes, who took an exact 
 inventory of the whole before it was 
 carried away by its captors. Scales 
 were used to determine the weight 
 of articles made of the precious 
 metals , 9 which might otherwise have 
 been subjected to clipping. We 
 may conclude from these practices 
 that a certain proportion of the value 
 of all private spoil was either due 
 Scribes taking account of the spoil the ro jal treasury, or required 
 (Khorsabad). to be paid to the gods in acknow- 
 
 ledgement of their aid and protection. Besides the private 
 spoil, there was a portion which was from the first set apart 
 exclusively for the monarch. This consisted especially of the 
 public treasure of the captured city, the gold and silver, whether 
 in bullion, plate, or ornaments, from the palace of its prince, 
 and the idols, and probably the other valuables, from the 
 temples. 
 
 The inhabitants of a captured place were usually treated with 
 more or less of severity. Those regarded as most responsible 
 for the resistance or the rebellion were seized ; generally their 
 hands were manacled either before them or behind their backs, 
 while sometimes fetters were attached to their feet , 1 and even 
 
 9 See Mr. Layard’s Nineveh and its British Museum. 
 
 Remains, vol. ii. p. 377, and compare a 1 See Mr. Layard's Nineveh and its 
 representation on the broken black Remains, voL ii. p. 376. 
 obelisk of Asshur-izir-pal, now in the i 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 MODES OF EXECUTION. 
 
 477 
 
 rin-s passed through their lips , 2 and in this abject guise they 
 were brought into the presence of the Assyrian lung. Seated 
 on his throne in his fortified camp without the place, and 
 surrounded by his attendants, he received them one by one, 
 and instantly pronounced their doom. On some he proud y 
 placed his foot , 3 * some he pardoned, a few he ordered for execu- 
 tion, many he sentenced to be torn from their homes and 
 
 carried into slavery. , . 
 
 Various modes of execution seem to have been employed in 
 the case of condemned captives. One of them was impalement 
 This has always been, and still remains, a common mode ot 
 punishment in the East; but the manner of impaling which 
 the Assyrians adopted was peculiar. They pointed a stake at 
 one end, and, having fixed the other end firmly into the ground, 
 placed their criminal with the pit of his stomach upon t e 
 point, and made it enter his body just below the breastbone. 
 This method of impaling must have destroyed life tolerably soon, 
 and have thus been a far less cruel 
 punishment than the crucifixion of the 
 Romans. We do not observe it very 
 often in the Assyrian sculptures, nor 
 do we ever see it applied to more than 
 a few individuals . 5 It was probably 
 reserved for those who were considered 
 the worst criminals . 6 
 
 Another very common mode of 
 executing captives was by beating in 
 their skulls with a mace. In this case 
 
 flip victim commonly knelt ; his two ... . 
 
 me VIC iiiii. l ULLAIHU J , executing a prisoner (Koyunjik). 
 
 hands were placed before him upon a 
 
 block or cushion ; behind him stood two executioners, one ol 
 
 Mace-bearer, with attendant, 
 
 2 See p. 243, where a representation 
 of captives thus treated is given. 
 
 3 For a representation of this practice 
 see Mr. Layard’s Monuments , 1st Series, 
 PI. 82. The Persian monarchs treated 
 
 captives in the same way, as we see by 
 
 the rock sculpture at Behistun. The 
 
 practice has always prevailed in the 
 
 East. See Josh. x. 24 ; Ps. viii. 6 ; cx. 1 ; 
 Lament, iii. 34, &c. 
 
 4 For a representation, see p. 242. 
 
 5 One king, the great Asshur-izir-pal, 
 seems to have employed impalement on 
 a large scale. (See his long Inscription, 
 British Museum Series, Pis. 17 to 26.) 
 
 6 Assyrian Texts, p. 28. 
 
4 7 7 8 THE SECOND MONARCHY. Chap. Yn. 
 
 whom held him by a cord round his neck, while the other, 
 seizing his back hair in one hand, struck him a furious blow 
 upon the head with a mace which he held in the other . 7 It 
 must have been rarely, if ever, that a second blow was needed. 
 
 Decapitation was less frequently practised. The expression 
 indeed, “ I cut off their heads,” is common in the Inscriptions ; 8 
 but in most instances it evidently refers to the practice, already 
 noticed , 9 of collecting the heads of those who had fallen in 
 
 battle. Still there are in- 
 stances, both in the Inscrip- 
 tions 1 and in the sculptures , 2 
 of what appears to have been 
 a formal execution of cap- 
 tives by beheading. In these 
 cases the criminal, it would 
 seem, stood upright, or bend- 
 ing a little forwards, and, the 
 executioner, taking him by a 
 lock of hair with his left 
 hand, struck his head from 
 his shoulders with a short 
 sword, which he held in his 
 right. 
 
 It is uncertain whether a punishment even more barbarous 
 than these was not occasionally resorted to. In two or three 
 bas-reliefs executioners are represented in the act of flaying 
 prisoners with a knife. The bodies are extended upon the 
 ground or against a wall, to which they are fastened by means 
 of four pegs attached by strings or thongs to the two wrists and 
 the two ankles. The executioner leans over the victim, and 
 with his knife detaches the skin from the flesh . 3 One would 
 trust that this operation was not performed until life was 
 
 Swordsman decapitating a prisoner 
 (Koyunjik). 
 
 7 Another mode of executing with 1 
 the mace is represented in Mr. Layard’s 
 Nineveh and Babylcn , p. 458. 
 
 8 See the Inscription of Tiglath-Pi- 
 
 les'r I. pp. 24 and 50 ; Assyrian Texts , 
 pp. 11, 30, &c. 9 Supra, p. 467. 
 
 1 Assyrian Texts, 1. s. c. 
 
 2 See particularly the slab in the 
 British Museum, entitled “ Execution of 
 the King of Susiana.” 
 
 3 For a representation see Mr. Layard’s 
 Nineveh and Babylon , p. 457. 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 TREATMENT OF CAPTIVES. 
 
 479 
 
 extinct. We know that it was the practice of the Persians , 4 
 and even of the barbarous Scythians , 5 to flay the corpses, and 
 not the living forms, of criminals and of enemies; we may 
 hope, therefore, that the Assyrians removed the skin from the 
 dead, to use it as a trophy or as a warning , 6 and did not inflict 
 so cruel a torture on the living. 
 
 Sometimes the punishment awarded to a prisoner was mutila- 
 tion instead of death. Cutting off the ears close to the head, 
 blinding the eyes with burning-irons, cutting off the nose, and 
 plucking out the. tongue by the roots, have been in all ages 
 favourite Oriental punishments . 7 We have distinct evidence 
 that some at least of these cruelties were practised by the 
 Assyrians. Asshur-izir-pal tells us in his great Inscription that 
 he often cut off the noses and the ears of prisoners; while 
 a slab of Assliur-bani-pal, the son of Esarhaddon, shows a 
 captive in the hands of the torturers, one of whom holds his 
 head firm and fast, while another thrusts his hand into his 
 mouth for the purpose of tearing out the tongue . 8 
 
 The captives carried away by the conquerors consisted of 
 men, women, and children. The men were formed into bands, 
 under the conduct of officers, who urged them forward on their 
 way by blows, with small regard to their sufferings. Commonly 
 they were conveyed to the capital, where they were employed 
 by the monarehs in the lower or higher departments of labour, 
 according to their capacities. The skilled workmen were in 
 request to assist in the ornamentation of shrines and palaces, 
 while the great mass of the unskilled were made use of to 
 quarry and drag stone, to raise mounds, make bricks, and the 
 
 4 Herod, v. 25 : 'Ziffdp.v’nv fiaaiAevs 
 Ka/m.l3varis, (rcpd£as diredeipe irciaav 
 rfyv dvQpo)irt]'ir)v. And again, a little 
 further on : rbv dironreivas cnreSeipe, 
 “ flayed after he had slain.” 
 
 5 Herod, iv. 64 : IIoAAol 8e avdpwv 
 exOp&v Ta? Settees X*P as v e K p <a v 
 £ 6 v t w v dirodetpayres, avrolcri bvv£i 
 KaXvirrpas rcav (paper pea v iroievvrai. 
 
 6 The Scythians used the skins of 
 
 their enemies as trophies. When Cam- 
 
 byses had Sisamnes flayed, it was to 
 cover with his skin the seat of justice, 
 
 on which his son had succeeded him, 
 and so to deter the son from imitating 
 the corruption of his father. 
 
 7 See Herod, iii. 69, 154; vii. 18; 
 Xen. Anab. i. 9, § 13; Amm. Marc, 
 xxvii. 12; Procop. De Bell. Pers. i. 11 ; 
 Jerem. xxxix. 7, &c. ; and compare Bris- 
 
 | son, De Regn. Pers. ii. pp. 334, 335. 
 
 8 The whole slab is engraved by Mr. 
 Layard in his Monuments , 2nd Series, 
 PI. 47. A portion of it is also given in 
 his Nineveh and Babylon , p. 458. 
 
480 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. YII. 
 
 like . 9 Sometimes, instead of being thus employed in task- 
 work in or near the capital, the captives were simply settled in 
 new regions, where it was thought that they would maintain 
 the Assyrian power against native malcontents . 10 Thus Esar- 
 haddon planted Babylonians, Susanchites, Dehavites, Elamites, 
 and others in Samaria , 11 while Sargon settled his Samaritan 
 captives in Gauzanitis and in “ the cities of the Medes.” 12 
 The women and children carried off by the conquerors were 
 treated with more tenderness than the men. Sometimes on foot, 
 
 but often mounted on mules , 13 or seated in carts drawn by bullocks 
 or asses , 14 they followed in the train of their new masters, not 
 always perhaps unwilling to exchange the monotony of domestic 
 life at home for the excitement of a new and unknown condition 
 in a fresh country. We seldom see them exhibiting anv sioms 
 of grief. The women and children are together, and the 
 mothers lavish on their little ones the usual caresses and kind 
 offices, taking them in their laps, giving them the breast, 
 carrying them upon their shoulders, or else leading them by 
 the hand. At intervals they were allowed to stop and rest; 
 and it was not even the practice to deprive them of such portion 
 of their household stuff as they might have contrived to secure 
 
 9 See Tiglath-Pileser Inscription , col. 
 vi. 1. 85 ; Assyrian Texts , pp. 2, 7, &c. 
 
 10 Ibid. p. 4. 
 
 11 Ezra, iv. 2 and 9. 
 
 12 2 Kings, xviii. 11. 13 See p. 233. 
 
 14 See pp. 234 and 243. 
 
Ciiap. VII. 
 
 SPOILS OF WAR. 
 
 481 
 
 before quitting their homes. This they commonly bore in a 
 bag or sack which was either held in the hand or thrown over 
 one shoulder. When they reached Assyria, it would seem that 
 they were commonly assigned as wives to the soldiers of the 
 Assyrian army. 15 
 
 Together with their captives the Assyrians carried off vast 
 quantities of the domesticated animals, such as oxen, sheep, 
 goats, horses, asses, camels, and mules. The numbers men- 
 tioned in the Inscriptions are sometimes almost incredible. 
 Sennacherib, for instance, says that in one foray he bore off 
 from the tribes on the Euphrates “ 7200 horses and mares, 
 5230 camels, 11,000 mules, 120,000 oxen, and 800,000 sheep ” ! 1 
 Other kings omit particulars, but speak of the captured animals 
 which they led away as being “ too numerous to be counted,” 
 or “ countless as the stars of heaven.” 2 The Assyrian sculptors 
 are limited by the nature of their art to comparatively small 
 numbers, but they show us horses, ' camels, and mules, in the 
 train of a returning army, 3 together with groups of the other 
 animals, 4 indicative of the vast flocks and herds continually 
 mentioned in the Inscriptions. 
 
 Occasionally the monarchs were not content with bringing 
 home domesticated animals only, but took the trouble to 
 transport from distant regions into Assyria wild beasts of 
 various kinds. Tiglath-Pileser I. informs us in general terms 
 that, besides carrying off the droves of the horses, cattle, and 
 asses that he obtained from the subjugated countries, he “ took 
 away and drove off the herds of the wild goats and the ibexes, 
 the wild sheep and the wild cattle ; ” 5 and another monarch 
 mentions that in one expedition he carried off from the middle 
 Euphrates a drove of forty wild cattle, and also a flock of 
 twenty ostriches. 6 The object seems to have been to stock 
 Assyria with a variety and an abundance of animals of chace. 
 
 15 Assyrian Texts , p. 19 and note. 
 
 1 See the author’s Herodotus , vol. i. 
 p. 493, note 1 . 
 
 2 Assyrian Texts, p. 11; Tiglath-Pi- 
 leser Inscription, p. 44, &c. 
 
 3 Layard, Monuments , 1st Series, Pis. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 61, 74, 75 ; 2nd Series, Pis. 33, 34, &c. 
 
 4 For representations of such groups, 
 see pp. 351, 352. 
 
 5 Inscription , p. 58. 
 
 6 Assyrian Texts , p. 25. 
 
 2 i 
 
482 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VII. 
 
 The foes of the Assyrians would sometimes, when hard 
 pressed, desert the dry land, and betake themselves to the 
 marshes, or cross the sea to islands where they trusted that 
 they might be secure from attack. Not unfrequently they 
 obtained their object by such a retreat, for the Assyrians were 
 not a maritime people. Sometimes, however, they were pursued. 
 The Assyrians would penetrate into the marshes by means of 
 reed boats, probably not very different from the terradas at 
 present in use among the Arabs of the Mesopotamian marsh 
 districts . 7 Such boats are represented upon the bas-reliefs as 
 capable of holding from three to five armed men . 8 On these 
 the Assyrian foot-soldiers would embark, taking with them a 
 single boatman to each boat, who propelled the vessel much as 
 a Venetian gondolier propels his gondola, i. e., with a single 
 long oar or paddle, which he pushed from him standing at the 
 stern. They would then in these boats attack the vessels of 
 the enemy, which are always represented as smaller than theirs, 
 run them down or board them, kill their crews or force them 
 into the water, or perhaps allow them to surrender. Meanwhile 
 the Assyrian cavalry was stationed round the marsh among the 
 tall reeds which thickly clothed its edge, ready to seize or slay 
 such of the fugitives as might escape from the foot. 
 
 When the refuge sought was an island, if it lay near the 
 shore, the Assyrians would sometimes employ the natives of the 
 adjacent coast to transport beams of wood and other materials 
 by means of their boats, in order to form a sort of bridge or 
 mole reaching from the mainland to the isle whereto their foes 
 had fled . 9 Such a design was entertained, or at least professed, 
 by Xerxes after the destruction of his fleet in the battle of 
 Salamis , 10 and it was successfully executed by Alexander the 
 Great, who took in this way the new or island Tyre . 11 From a 
 
 7 For a description of these terradas , 
 
 see Mr. Layard’s Nineveh and Babylon , 
 
 p. 552, and compare Loftus, Chaldcea and 
 
 Busiana , p. 92. The larger terradas are 
 of teak, but the smaller “consist of a 
 
 very narrow framework of rushes 
 covered with bitumen.” These last seem 
 to be the exact counterpart of the boats 
 represented in the sculptures. (See Mr. 
 
 Layard’s Monuments , 2nd Series, Pis. 
 25, 27, and 28.) 
 
 8 Layard, ibid. 1. s. c. 
 
 9 Botta, Monument de Ninive , vol. i. 
 Pis. 31 to 35. 
 
 10 Herod, viii. p. 97 ; Ctes. Exc. Pers. 
 § 26; Strab. ix. 1, § 13. 
 
 11 Arrian, Exp. Alex. ii. 1. 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 NAVAL EXPEDITIONS. 
 
 433 
 
 series of reliefs discovered at Khorsabad we may conclude that 
 more than two hundred years before the earlier of these two 
 occasions, the Assyrians had conceived the idea and even suc- 
 ceeded in carrying out the plan , 12 of reducing islands near the 
 coast by moles. 
 
 Unlike the Chaldaeans, whose “ cry was in their ships,” 13 the 
 Assyrians seem very rarely to have adventured themselves 
 upon the deep. If their enemies fled to islands which could 
 not be reached by moles, or to lands across the sea, in almost 
 every instance they escaped. Such escapes are represented 
 upon the sculptures , 14 where we see the Assyrians taking a 
 maritime town at one end, while at the other the natives are 
 embarking their women and children, and putting to sea, without 
 any pursuit being made after them. In none of the bas-reliefs 
 do we observe any seagoing vessels with Assyrians on board; 
 and history tells us of but two or three expeditions by sea in 
 which they took part. One of these was an expedition by 
 Sennacherib against the coasts of the Persian Gulf, to which his 
 Chaldaean enemies had fled. On this occasion he brought 
 shipwrights from Phoenicia to Assyria, and made them build 
 him ships there, which were then launched upon the Tigris, 
 and conveyed down to the sea. With a fleet thus constructed, 
 and probably manned, by Phoenicians, Sennacherib crossed to 
 the opposite coast, defeated the refugees, and, embarking his 
 prisoners on board, returned in triumph to the mainland . 15 
 Another expedition was that of Shalmaneser IV. against the 
 island Tyre . 16 Assyrians are said to have been personally 
 engaged in it ; but here again we are told that they embarked 
 in ships furnished to them by the Phoenicians, and manned 
 chiefly by Phoenician sailors. 
 
 12 Unless they had been successful, 
 they would not, we may be sure, have 
 made the construction of the mole the 
 subject of a set of bas-reliefs. 
 
 13 Isaiah xliii. 14. 
 
 14 See the description in Mr. Layard's 
 Monuments , 1st Series, p. 16, and com- 
 pare Nineceh and its Remains , vol. ii. 
 p. 384. 
 
 lo Journal of the Asiatic Society , vol. 
 xix. p. 154. 
 
 16 Menander ap. Joseph. Ant. Jud. 
 ix. 14, § 2. It has been thought that 
 Sargon attacked Cyprus. (Oppert, In- 
 scriptions des Sargonides , p. 19.) But 
 his monument found at Idalium does 
 not prove that he carried his arms there. 
 By the inscription it appears that the 
 tablet was carved at Babylon , and con- 
 veyed thence to Cyprus by Cyprian en- 
 voys. 
 
 2 i 2 
 
484 
 
 THE SECOND MONAKCHY. 
 
 Chap. VII. 
 
 When a country was regarded as subjugated, the Assyrian 
 monarch commonly marked the establishment of his sovereignty 
 by erecting a memorial in some conspicuous or important situa- 
 tion within the territory conquered, as an enduring sign of his 
 having taken possession. These memorials were either engraved 
 on the natural rock or on solid blocks of stone cut into the form 
 of a broad low stele. They contained a figure of the king, 
 usually enclosed in an arched frame, and an inscription of 
 greater or less length, setting forth his name, his titles, and 
 some of his exploits. More than thirty such memorials are 
 mentioned in the extant Inscriptions, and the researches of 
 recent times have recovered some ten or twelve of them. 1 - They 
 uniformly represent the king in his sacerdotal robes, with the 
 sacred collar round his neck, and the emblems of the gods 
 above his head, raising the right hand in the act of adoration, 
 as if he were giving thanks to Asshur and his guardian deities 
 on account of his successes. 
 
 It is now time to pass from the military customs of the 
 Assyrians to a consideration of their habits and usages in time 
 of peace, so far as they are made known to us either by his- 
 torical records or by the pictorial evidence of the bas-reliefs. 
 And here it may be convenient to treat separately of the public 
 life of the king and court, and of the private life of the 
 people. 
 
 In Assyria, as in most Oriental countries, the key- stone of 
 the social arch, the central point of the system, round which all 
 else revolved, and on which all else depended, was the monarch. 
 “ L’etat, c’est moi ” might have been said with more truth by 
 an Assyrian prince than even by the “ Grand Monarque ” whose 
 dictum it is reported to have been. Alike in the historical 
 
 1 To this class belong the rock sculp- 
 tures, five or six in number, at the Nahr- 
 el-Kelb. There is another of the same 
 character at Bavian, a third at Egil, 
 on the main Tigris stream above Diar- 
 bekr, and there are two others at the 
 sources of the eastern Tigris, or river of 
 Supnat. Two block memorials have 
 
 been found at Kurkh, 20 miles below 
 Diarbekr, recording the exploits of 
 Asshur-izir-pal, and his son, Shalma- 
 neser II. They were discovered by Mr. 
 John Taylor in 1862, and are now in 
 the British Museum. The Egil and 
 Supnat tablets were also discovered by 
 Mr. Taylor. 
 
Chap. YII. 
 
 ORDINARY COSTUME OF THE KING. 
 
 485 
 
 notices, and in the sculptures, we have the person of the king 
 presented to us with consistent prominence, and it is con- 
 sequently with him that we most naturally commence the 
 present portion of our inquiry. 
 
 The ordinary dress of the monarch in time of peace was a 
 long flowing robe, reaching to the ankles, ^elaborately patterned 
 and fringed, over which was worn, first, a broad belt, and then 
 a species of open mantle, or chasuble, very curiously contrived. 
 This consisted mainly of two large flaps, both of which were 
 commonly rounded, though sometimes one of them was square 
 at bottom . 2 These fell over the robe in front and behind, 
 leaving the sides open, and so exposing the under dress to 
 view. The two flaps must have been sewn together at the 
 
 places marked with the dotted lines a b and c d , 3 the space 
 from a- to c being left open, and the mantle passed by that 
 means over the head. At d g there was commonly a short 
 sleeve ( h ), which covered the upper part of the left arm, but 
 the right arm was left free, the mantle falling on either side of 
 it. Sometimes, besides the flaps, the mantle seems to have had 
 two pointed wings attached to the shoulders (cl f b and c eh in 
 the woodcut), which were made to fall over in front. Occa- 
 sionally there was worn above the chasuble a broad diagonal 
 
 2 Layard, Monuments , 1st Series, PI. 
 34. The squared flap is always that 
 which is worn behind. 
 
 3 The account and the representation 
 of this complicated garment are taken 
 
 mainly from the work of M.Botta ( Monu- 
 ment de Ninice, vol. v. p. 84). But the 
 author has slightly modified both M. 
 Botta's theory and his illustration. 
 
486 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. YII. 
 
 Lelt, ornamented with, a deep fringe, and sometimes there 
 depended at the back of the dress a species of large hood . 4 
 
 The special royal head-dress was 
 a tall mitre or tiara, which at first 
 took the shape of the head, but 
 rose above it to a certain height in 
 a gracefully curved line, when it 
 was covered in with a top, flat, like 
 that of a hat, but having a projection 
 towards the centre, which rose up 
 into a sort of apex or peak, not 
 however pointed, but either rounded 
 or squared off. The tiara was gene- 
 rally ornamented with a succession 
 of bands, between which were com- 
 monly patterns more or less elabo- 
 rate. Ordinarily the lowest band, 
 instead of running parallel with 
 the others, rose with a gentle curve 
 towards the front, allowing room 
 for a large rosette over the fore- 
 head, and for other similar ornaments. If we niay trust the 
 representations on the enamelled bricks, supported as they are 
 to some extent by the tinted reliefs, we may say that the 
 tiara was of three colours, red, yellow, and white . 5 The red 
 and white alternated in broad bands ; the ornaments upon them 
 were yellow, being probably either embroidered on the material 
 of the head-dress in threads of gold, or composed of thin gold 
 plates which may have been sewn on. The general material 
 of the tiara is likely to have been cloth or felt ; it can scarcely 
 have been metal, if the deep crimson tint of the bricks and the 
 reliefs is true. 
 
 In the early sculptures the tiara is more depressed than in 
 the later, and it is also less richly ornamented. It has seldom 
 more than two bands, viz. a narrow one at top, and at bottom a 
 
 King in his robes. 
 
 4 See Mr. Layard’s Nineveh and its Remains, vol. ii. opp. p. 7. 
 
 0 See Botta’s Monument , vol. i. PI. 12, and vol. ii. PI. 155. 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 ORDINARY COSTUME OF THE KING. 
 
 487 
 
 broader curved one, rising towards the front. To this last are 
 attached two long strings or lappets, which fall behind the 
 monarch’s back to a level with his elbow. 
 
 Tiara of the later period 
 (Koyunjikj. 
 
 Tiara of the earlier period 
 (Nimrud). 
 
 Another head-dress which the monarch sometimes wore was a 
 sort of band or fillet. This was either elevated in front and 
 ornamented with a single rosette, 
 like the lowest band of the tiara, 
 or else of uniform width and 
 patterned along its whole course . 6 
 In either case there depended 
 from it, on each side of the back 
 hair, a long riband or streamer, 
 fringed at the end, and some- 
 times ornamented with a delicate 
 
 Fillet worn by the king (Nimrud,,. 
 
 pattern. 
 
 The monarch’s feet were protected by sandals or shoes. In 
 the early sculptures sandals only appear in use, shoes being 
 unknown 1 (as it would seem) until the time of Sennacherib. 
 
 6 See the woodcut on p. 507. 
 
 1 Shoes were not absolutely unknown 
 to the Assyrians, even in the earliest 
 period, since they are represented on 
 the feet of foreign tribute-bearers as 
 
 early as the Black-Obelisk king. Boots 
 are also represented in this monarch’s 
 sculptures. But Assyrians wear neither 
 till the reign of Sennacherib. 
 
488 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. Vn. 
 
 The sandals worn were of two kinds. The simplest sort had a 
 very thin sole and a small cap for the heel, made apparently of 
 
 a number of strips of leather 2 sewn 
 together. It was held in place by a 
 
 loop over the great toe, attached to 
 
 Royal sandal of Sargon). fhe fore part of the sole, and by a 
 
 string which was laced backwards and 
 forwards across the instep, and then tied in a bow. 
 
 The other kind of sandal had a very different sort of sole ; it 
 was of considerable thickness, especially at the heel, from which 
 it gradually tapered to the toe. Attached to this was an upper 
 
 leather which protected the heel and 
 the whole of the side of the foot, but 
 left the toes and the instep exposed. 
 
 Royal sandal (time of A loop fastened to the sole 3 received 
 Asshur-izir-pal ) . t he great to e, and at the point wW 
 
 the loop was inserted two straps were also made fast, which 
 were then carried on either side the great toe to the top 
 of the foot, where they crossed each other, and, passing twice 
 through rings attached to the edge of the upper leather, 
 were finally fastened, probably by a buckle, at the top of the 
 instep. 
 
 The shoe worn by the later kings was of a coarse and clumsy 
 make, very much rounded at the toe, patterned 
 I with rosettes, crescents, and the like, and 
 (apparently) laced in front. In this respect it 
 — differed from the shoe of the queen, which 
 
 E °Sennache ( rib)? ° f " iU be represented presently , 4 and also from 
 the shoes worn by the tribute-bearers. 
 
 The accessory portions of the royal costume were chiefly 
 belts, necklaces, armlets, bracelets, and ear-rings. Besides the 
 
 2 At Khorsabad these strips were 
 
 sometimes coloured alternately red and 
 blue. More often the entire sandal had 
 
 a reddish tint. M. Botta observes that 
 a sandal shaped exactly like this is worn 
 to the present day in the Mount Sinjar, 
 and in other parts of Mesopotamia. 
 ( Monument , vol. v. p. 85.) 
 
 3 This loop has been regarded as a 
 mere twist of the strap round the great 
 toe ; but I find it sometimes clearly re- 
 presented as springing from the sole. 
 Thus only would it add much to the 
 hold of the foot on the sandal. 
 
 4 Infra, p. 493. 
 
Chap. VII. ORDINARY COSTUME OF THE KING. 
 
 489 
 
 belt round the waist, in which two or three highly ornamented 
 daggers were frequently thrust, and the broad fringed cross-belt, 
 of "which mention was made above , 5 the Assyrian monarch wore 
 a narrow cross-belt passing across his right shoulder, from which 
 his sword hung at his left side. This belt was sometimes patterned 
 with rosettes. It was worn over the front flap of the chasuble, 
 but under the back flap, and was crossed at right angles by the 
 broad fringed belt, which was passed over the right arm and 
 head so as to fall across the left shoulder. 
 
 The royal necklaces were of two kinds. Some consisted 
 merely of one or more strings 
 of long lozenge-shaped beads 
 slightly chased and connected 
 by small links, ribbed perpen- 
 dicularly. The other kind was 
 a band or collar, perhaps of gold, on which were hung a number 
 of sacred emblems : as the crescent or emblem of the Moon- 
 God, Sin ; the four-rayed disk, the em- 
 blem of the Sun-God, Shamas ; the six- 
 rayed or eight-rayed disk, the emblem 
 
 of Gula, the Sun-Goddess; the horned ^ 
 
 cap, perhaps the emblem of the king s 
 guardian genius ; and the double or triple (Iiimrud) . 
 
 bolt, which was the emblem of Vul, the 
 
 god of the atmosphere. This sacred collar was a part of the 
 king’s civil and not merely of his sacerdotal dress ; as appears 
 from the fact that it was sometimes worn when the king was 
 merely receiving prisoners . 6 
 
 The monarch wore a variety of armlets. The most common 
 was a plain bar of a single twist, the ends of which slightly 
 overlapped each other. A more elegant kind was similar to 
 this, except that the bar terminated in animal heads carefully 
 wrought, among which the heads of rams, horses, and ducks were 
 the most common. A third sort has the appearance of being 
 composed of a number of long strings or wires, confined at inter- 
 
 5 See p. 485. 
 
 6 See Mr. Layard, Monuments , 1st Series, PI. 82. 
 
490 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. YII. 
 
 vals of less than an inch by cross bands at right angles to the 
 wires. This sort was carried round the arm twice, and even then 
 
 its ends overlapped considerably. 
 It is probable that all the arm- 
 lets were of metal, and that the 
 appearance of the last was given 
 to it by the workman in imitation 
 of an earlier and ruder armlet of 
 worsted or leather. 
 
 The bracelets of the king, like 
 his armlets, were sometimes mere 
 bars of metal, quite plain and 
 without ornament. More often, 
 however, they were ribbed and 
 adorned with a large rosette at 
 the centre. Sometimes, instead of one simple rosette, we see 
 three double rosettes, between which project small points, 
 
 Royal bracelets Royal bracelet 
 
 (Khorsabad and Koyunjik). (Khorsabad). 
 
 shaped like the head of a spear. Occasionally these double 
 rosettes appear to be set on the surface of a broad bar, which 
 is chased so as to represent brickwork. In no case can we see 
 how the bracelets were fastened ; perhaps they were elastic and 
 were slipped over the hand . 7 
 
 Specimens of royal ear-rings have been already given in an 
 earlier chapter of this volume . 8 The most ordinary form in the 
 more ancient times was a long drop, which was sometimes deli- 
 
 Royal armlets (Khorsabad). 
 
 more often they were left open, like the 
 Assyrian armlets, and merely clung to 
 the arm. 8 P. 371. 
 
 7 Roman bracelets were sometimes 
 
 fastened with catches. (See Dictionary 
 of Antiquities, p. 136, 2nd ed.) But 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 WAR DRESS OF THE KING. 
 
 49 1 
 
 Royal ear-rings (Nimrud). 
 
 cately chased . 9 Another common kind was an incomplete Maltese 
 cross, one arm of the four being left out because it would have 
 interfered with the ear. In later times 
 there was a good deal of variety in 
 the details; but the drop and the 
 cross were always favourite features. 
 
 * When the monarch went out to 
 the hunt or to the battle, he laid aside 
 such ornaments as encumbered him, 
 reserving however his ear-rings, bracelets, and armlets, and then, 
 stripping off his upper dress or chasuble, appeared in the under 
 robe which has been already described . 10 This robe was con- 
 fined at the waist by a broad cinc- 
 ture or girdle, outside of which 
 was worn a narrowish belt wherein 
 daggers were often thrust. In early 
 times this cincture seems to have 
 been fastened by a riband with 
 long streaming ends, which are 
 very conspicuous in the Nimrud 
 sculptures. At the same period 
 the monarch often wore, when he 
 hunted or went out to battle, a 
 garment which might have been 
 called an apron, if it had not been 
 worn behind instead of in front. 
 
 This was generally patterned and 
 fringed very richly, besides being 
 ornamented with one or more 
 long pendant tassels. 
 
 The sacerdotal dress of the king, or that which he commonly 
 wore when engaged in the rites of his religion, differed consider- 
 ably from his ordinary costume. His inner garment, indeed, 
 seems to have been the usual long gown with a fringe descend- 
 
 Early king in his war-costume 
 ^Nimrud,. 
 
 9 See the woodcut nearest the top of 
 p. 371. 
 
 10 Supra, p. 485. This change of dress 
 is almost universal in the earliest and 
 
 in the latest sculptures. In the inter- 
 mediate period, however, the time of 
 Sargon and Sennacherib, the monarch 
 goes out to war in his chasuble. 
 
492 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VII. 
 
 ing to the ankles ; but this was almost entirely concealed under 
 an ample outer robe, which was closely wrapped round the form 
 and kept in place by a girdle. A deep fringe, arranged in two 
 rows, one above the other, and carried round the robe in curved 
 sweeps at an angle with the horizontal line, is the most striking 
 feature of this dress, which is also remarkable for the manner in 
 which it confines and conceals the left arm, while the right ^ 
 left free and exposed to view. A representation of a king thus 
 apparelled will be found in an earlier part of this work , 1 taken 
 from a statue now in the British Museum. It is peculiar in 
 having the head uncovered, and in the form of the implement 
 borne in the right hand. It is also incomplete as a representa- 
 tion, from the fact that all the front of the breast is occupied by 
 an inscription. Other examples 2 show that the tiara was com- 
 monly worn as a part of the sacerdotal costume ; that the sacred 
 collar 3 adorned the breast, necklaces the neck, and bracelets the 
 two arms; while in the belt, which was generally to some extent 
 knotted, were borne two or three daggers. The mace seems to 
 have been a necessary appendage to the costume, and was 
 always grasped just below its head by the left hand. 
 
 We have but one representation of an Assyrian queen. 
 Despite the well-known stories of Semiramis and her manifold 
 exploits, it would seem that the Assyrians secluded their females 
 with as rigid and watchful a jealousy as modern Turks or 
 Persians. The care taken with respect to the direction of the 
 passages in the royal hareem has been noticed already . 4 It 
 is quite in accordance with the spirit thus indicated, and 
 with the general tenor of Oriental habits, that neither in 
 inscriptions 5 nor in sculptured representations do the Assy- 
 rians allow their women to make more than a most rare and 
 
 1 See p. 340. 
 
 2 Particularly the slab engraved by 
 Mr. Layard in his Monuments , 1st Series, 
 PI. 25, with which compare the figure in 
 an arched frame represented in the same 
 author’s Nineveh and Babylon , opp. p. 
 351. 
 
 3 For a representation of the sacred 
 
 collar, see above, p. 489. 
 
 4 See p. 297. 
 
 5 Mention of an Assyrian woman 
 has been found as yet in only two in- 
 scriptions, one being that on the dupli- 
 cate statues of Nebo now in the British 
 
 j Museum, and the other being a tablet- 
 | inscription belonging to the reign of the 
 last known king. 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 COSTUME OF THE QUEEN. 
 
 493 
 
 occasional appearance. Fortunately for us, their jealousy was 
 sometimes relaxed to a certain extent; and in one scene, 
 recovered from the debris of an Assyrian palace,' 5 we are enabled 
 to contemplate at once the domestic life of the monarch and the 
 attire and even the features of his consort. 
 
 King, queen, and attendants (Koyunjik). 
 
 It appears that in the private apartments, while the king, like 
 the Komans and the modern Orientals, reclined upon a couch, 
 leaning his weight partly upon his left elbow, 6 7 and having his 
 right arm free and disposable, her majesty the queen sat in a 
 chair of state by the couch’s side, near its foot and facing her 
 lord. Two eunuchs provided with large fans were in attendance 
 upon the monarch, and the same number waited upon the 
 queen, standing behind her chair. Her majesty, whose hair was 
 arranged nearly like that of her royal consort, wore upon her 
 head a band or fillet having something of the appearance of a 
 crown of towers, such as encircles the brow of Cybele on Greek 
 coins and statues. Her dress was a long-sleeved gown reach- 
 ing from the neck to the feet, flounced and trimmed at 
 
 6 The scene is from the palace of 
 Esar-haddon’s son (Asshur-bani-pal) at 
 Koyunjik. It is now in the National 
 Collection. 
 
 7 Horat. Od. I. xxviii. 8— “Et cubito 
 remanete presso.” See also Sat. I. iv. 39. 
 The Roman fashion has been thus de- 
 scribed (and the description would evi- 
 
 dently suit the Assyrians just as well) 
 — “They lay with the upper part of the 
 body resting on the left arm, the head 
 a little raised, the back supported by 
 cushions, and the limbs stretched out at 
 full length, or a little bent.” (Lipsius, 
 Antiq. Led. iii.) 
 
494 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VII. 
 
 the bottom in an elaborate way, and elsewhere patterned with 
 rosettes, over which she wore a fringed tunic or frock descending 
 
 half-way between the knees and 
 the feet. In addition to these 
 two garments, she wore upon 
 her back and shoulders a light 
 cloak or cape, patterned (like 
 the rest of her dress) with ro- 
 settes and edged with a deep 
 fringe. Her feet were encased 
 in shoes of a clumsy make, also 
 patterned. Her ornaments, be- 
 sides the crown upon her head, 
 were ear-rings, a necklace, and 
 bracelets. Her chair was cush- 
 ioned, and adorned with a dra- 
 pery which hung over the back. 
 Her feet rested on a handsome 
 footstool, also cushioned. 
 
 Enlarged flgureof thequeen (Koyunjik). Qa ^ ^ from ^ 
 
 description is taken the royal pair seem to be refreshing them- 
 selves with wine. Each supports on the thumb and fingers of 
 the right hand a saucer or shallow drinking-cup, probably of 
 some precious metal, which they raise to their lips simul- 
 taneously, as if they were pledging one another. The scene of 
 the entertainment is the palace-garden ; for trees grow on either 
 side of the main figures, while over their heads a vine hangs 
 its festoons and its rich clusters. By the side of the royal 
 couch, and in front of the queen, is a table covered with a 
 table-cloth, on which are a small box or casket, a species of 
 shallow bowl which may have held incense or perfume of some 
 kind, and a third article frequently seen in close proximity to 
 the king, but of whose use it is impossible to form a conjecture. 
 At the couch’s head stands another curious article, a sort of 
 tall vase surmounted by a sugarloaf, which probably presents 
 an altar. The king bears in his left hand the lotus or sacred 
 flower, while the queen holds in hers what looks like a modern 
 
Chap. Y1I. 
 
 THE ROYAL ATTENDANTS. 
 
 495 
 
 fan. All the lower part of the monarch’s person is concealed 
 beneath a coverlet, which is plain, except that it has tassels at 
 the corners and an embroidered border. 
 
 The officers in close attendance upon the monarch varied 
 according to his employment. In war he was accompanied by 
 his charioteer, his shield-bearer or shield-bearers, his groom, his 
 
 quiver-bearer, his mace-bearer, and sometimes by his parasol- 
 bearer. In peace the parasol-bearer is always represented as in 
 attendance, except in hunting expeditions, or where he is re- 
 
496 
 
 THE SECOND MONABCHY. 
 
 Chap. VII- 
 
 placed by a fan-bearer. The parasol, which exactly resembled 
 that still in use throughout the East, was reserved exclusively 
 for the monarch. It had a tall and thick pole, which the bearer 
 grasped with both his hands, and in the early times a somewhat 
 small circular top. Under the later kings the size of the head 
 was considerably enlarged, and, at the same time, a curtain or 
 flap was attached, which, falling from the edge of the parasol, 
 more effectually protected the monarch from the sun’s rays. 
 The head of the parasol was fringed with tassels, and the upper 
 extremity of the pole commonly terminated in a flower or 
 other ornament. In the later time both the head and the 
 curtain which depended from it were richly patterned. If we 
 may trust the remains of colour upon the Khorsabad sculptures, 
 the tints preferred were red and white, which alternated in bands 
 upon the parasol as upon the royal tiara. 
 
 There was nothing very remarkable in the dress or quality of 
 the royal attendants. Except the groom, the charioteer, and the 
 shield-bearers, they were in the early times almost invariably 
 eunuchs ; but the later kings seem to have preferred eunuchs 
 for the offices of parasol-bearer and fan-bearer only. The dress 
 of the eunuchs is most commonly a long fringed gown, reaching 
 from the neck to the feet, with very short sleeves, and a broad 
 belt or girdle confining the gown at the waist. Sometimes they 
 have a cross-belt also ; and occasionally both this and the girdle 
 round the waist are richly fringed . 1 The eunuchs commonly 
 wear ear-rings, and sometimes armlets and bracelets ; in a few 
 instances they have their necks adorned with necklaces, and 
 their long dresses elaborately patterned . 2 Their heads are 
 either bare , 3 or at most encircled with a fillet. 
 
 A peculiar physiognomy is assigned to this class of persons — 
 the forehead low, the nose small and rounded, the lips full, the 
 chin large and double, the cheeks bloated. They are generally 
 
 1 See p. 290 and p. 292. M. Botta I 2 See Mr. Layard’s Monuments , 1st 
 supposes that both fringes were attached Series, PL 5. 
 
 to the cross-belt ( Monument de Ninive , | 3 See the illustration in p. 237, and 
 
 vol. v. p. 86); but in that case the compare below, pp. 498, 502, 506, and 
 lower of the two would scarcely have j 507. 
 terminated, as it does, horizontally. 
 
Chap. YII. 
 
 ROYAL ATTENDANTS. 
 
 497 
 
 represented as shorter and stouter than the other Assyrians. 
 Though placed in confidential situations about the person of 
 the monarch, they seem not to have held very high <5r im- 
 
 Heads of Eunuchs (Nimrud). 
 
 portant offices. The royal Yizier is never a eunuch, and 
 eunuchs are rarely seen among the soldiers ; they are scribes, 
 cooks, musicians, perhaps priests ; 4 they are grooms-in-waiting, 
 huntsmen, parasol-bearers, and fan-bearers; but it cannot be 
 said with truth that they had the same power in Assyria which 
 they have commonly possessed in the more degraded of the 
 Oriental monarchies. It is perhaps a sound interpretation of 
 the name Eabsaris in Scripture to understand it as titular, not 
 appellative, 5 and to translate it “ the Chief Eunuch ” or “ the 
 Master of the Eunuchs;” and if so, we have an instance of 
 the employment by one Assyrian king of a person of this class 
 on an embassy to a petty sovereign ; but the sculptures are far 
 from bearing out the notion that eunuchs held the same high 
 position in the Assyrian court as they have since held generally 
 in the East, 6 where they have not only continually filled the 
 
 4 This point will be considered in the 
 chapter on the Religion of the Assyrians. 
 
 5 See Smith’s Biblical Dictionary , vol. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 i. p. 590. 
 
 6 This is Mr. Layard’s view. ( Nineveh 
 and its Remains, vol. ii. p. 325.) 
 
 2 K 
 
498. 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VII. 
 
 highest offices of state, but have even attained to sovereign 
 power. On the contrary, their special charge seems rather to 
 have been the menial offices about the person of the monarch, 
 which imply confidence in the fidelity of those to whom they 
 are intrusted, but not submission to their influence in the con- 
 duct of state affairs. And it is worthy of notice that, instead 
 of becoming more influential as time went on, they appear to 
 have become less so ; in the later sculptures the royal attend- 
 ants are far less generally eunuchs than in the earlier ones ; 7 and 
 the difference is most marked in the more important offices . 8 
 It is not quite certain that the Chief Eunuch is represented 
 
 upon the sculptures. Perhaps we 
 may recognise him in an attendant, 
 who commonly bears a fan, but 
 whose special badge of office is a 
 long fringed scarf or band, which 
 hangs down below his middle both 
 before him and behind him, being 
 passed over the left shoulder. This 
 officer appears, in one bas-relief, 
 alone in front of the king ; in another, 
 he stands on the right hand of the 
 Vizier, level with him, facing the 
 king as he drinks; in a third, he 
 receives prisoners after a battle; 
 while in another part of the same 
 sculpture he is in the king’s camp 
 preparing the table for his master’s 
 supper. There is always a good 
 deal of ornamentation about his 
 dress, which otherwise nearly re- 
 The Chief Eunuch (p)-Nimrud. sem bl e s that of the inferior royal 
 
 attendants, consisting of a long fringed gown or robe, a girdle 
 
 7 See especially the slabs of Asshur- 
 bani-pal (Layard, Monuments, 2nd Series, 
 Pis. 47 to 49), where less than half the 
 royal attendants are eunuchs. 
 
 8 From the time of Sennacherib down- 
 wards the king’s quiver-bearer and mace- 
 
 bearer, two attendants very close to his 
 person, cease to be eunuchs. The last chief 
 eunuch recorded as holding the office of 
 eponym belongs to the reign of Tiglath- 
 Pileser II. 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 THE VIZIER. 
 
 499 
 
 fringed or plain, a cross-belt generally fringed, and the scarf 
 already described. His head and feet are generally bare, though 
 sometimes the latter are protected by sandals . 9 He is found 
 only upon the sculptures of the early period. 
 
 Among the officers who have free access to the royal person, 
 there is one who stands out with such marked prominence from 
 the rest that he has been properly recognised as the Grand 
 Vizier or prime minister 10 — at once the chief counsellor of the 
 monarch, and the man whose special business it was to signify 
 and execute his will. The dress of the Grand Vizier is more 
 rich than that of any other person except the monarch ; 11 and 
 there are certain portions of his apparel which he and the king 
 have alone the privilege of wearing. These are, principally, 
 the tassel led apron and the fringed band depending from the 
 fillet, the former of which is found 
 in the early period only , 12 while the 
 latter belongs to no particular 
 time, but throughout the whole 
 series of sculptures is the distinc- 
 tive mark of royal or quasi-roval 
 authority. To these two may be 
 added the long ribbon or scarf, 
 with double streamers at the ends, 
 which depended from, and perhaps 
 fastened, the belt 13 — a royal orna- 
 ment worn also by the vizier in at 
 
 least one representation . 14 
 
 The chief garment of the Vizier Head-dress of the Vizier (Khorsabad) 
 
 is always a ^ong fringed robe, reaching from the neck to the 
 
 9 See below, p. 502. 
 
 10 Layard’s Nineveh and its Remains , 
 vol. ii. p. 327. M. Botta suggests that 
 this prominent officer is “un Mage” 
 (Monument, vol. v. p. 86); but he ap- 
 pears in scenes which have no religious 
 character. 
 
 11 Sometimes, where the king and the 
 vizier appear together, the robe of the 
 vizier is even richer in its ornamenta- 
 tion than that of the monarch. (See j 
 
 Layard, Monuments , 1st Series, PI. 23.) 
 
 12 Layard, Monuments , 1st Series, FIs. 
 12 and 23. There is one bas-relief where 
 the tasselled apron is worn, not only by 
 the Vizier, but also by the Chief Eu- 
 nuch and other principal attendants* 
 See below, p. 502. 
 
 13 See above, p. 491, and compare the 
 illustration opposite. 
 
 14 Layard, Monuments , 1st Series, FI. 
 
 2 k 2 
 
5 °o 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VII. 
 
 feet. This is generally trimmed with embroidery at the top, 
 round the sleeves, and round the bottom. It is either seen 
 to be confined by a broad belt round the waist, or else is covered 
 from the waist to the knees by two falls of a heavy and deep 
 fringe. In this latter case a broad cross-belt is worn over the 
 left shoulder, and the upper fall of fringe hangs from the cross- 
 belt. A fillet is worn upon the head, which is often highly 
 
 Costume of the Vizier. 
 (Time of Sennacherib.) 
 
 Costume of the Vizier. 
 (Time of Asshur-izir-pal.) 
 
 ornamented. 1 The feet are sometimes bare, but more often are 
 protected by sandals, or (as in the accompanying representation) 
 by embroidered shoes. Ear-rings adorn the ears; bracelets, 
 sometimes accompanied by armlets, the arms. A sword is 
 generally worn at the left side. 
 
 The Yizier is ordinarily represented in one of two attitudes. 
 Either he stands with his two hands joined in front of him, the 
 
 1 See the woodcut on preceding page. 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 ROYAL FAN-BEARERS. 
 
 501 
 
 right hand in the left, and the fingers, not elapsed, but left 
 loose — the ordinary attitude of passive and respectful attention, 
 in which officers who carry nothing await the orders of the 
 king — or he has the right arm raised, the elbow bent, and 
 the right hand brought to a level with his mouth, while the 
 left hand rests upon the hilt of the sword worn at his left side. 
 In this latter case it may be presumed that we have the attitude 
 of conversation, as in the former we have that of attentive 
 listening. Where the Vizier assumes this energetic posture, 
 he is commonly either introducing prisoners or bringing in 
 spoil to the king. When he is quiescent, he stands before the 
 throne to receive the king’s orders, or witnesses the ceremony 
 with which it was usual to conclude a successful hunting expe- 
 dition. 
 
 The pre-eminent rank and dignity of this officer is shown, not 
 only by his participation in the insignia of royal authority , 2 but 
 also and very clearly by the fact, that, when he is present, no 
 one ever intervenes between him and the king. He has the 
 undisputed right of precedence, so that he is evidently the first 
 subject of the crown. He, and he alone, is seen addressing the 
 monarch. He does not always accompany the king on his 
 military expeditions ; but, when he attends them, he still 
 maintains his position , 3 having a dignity greater than that of 
 any general, and so taking the entire direction of the prisoners 
 and of the spoil. 
 
 The royal fan-bearers were two in number. They were 
 invariably eunuchs. Their ordinary position was behind the 
 monarch, on whom they attended alike in the retirement of 
 private life, and in religious and civil ceremonies. On some 
 occasions however one of the two was privileged to leave his 
 station behind the king’s chair or throne, and, advancing in 
 front, to perform certain functions before the face of his master. 
 He handed his master the sacred cup and waited to receive it 
 back , 4 at the same time diligently discharging the ordinary 
 duties of his office by keeping up a current of air and chasing 
 
 2 Supra, p. 499. _ 
 
 3 See Mr. Layard’s Monuments, 1st Series, Pis. 63 and < 7 : 2nd Series, PI. ~3. 
 
 4 Monuments , 1st Series, PI. 12. 
 
502 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chat*. YII. 
 
 away those plagues of the East— the flies. The fan-bearer thus 
 privileged wears always the long tasselled scarf, which seems to 
 have been a badge of office, and may not improbably mark him 
 for the Chief Eunuch . 5 In the absence of the Vizier, or some- 
 times in subordination to him , 6 he introduced tribute-bearers to 
 the king, reading out their names and titles from a scroll or 
 tablet which he held in his left hand. 
 
 Tribute-bearers presented by the Chief Eunuch (Nimrud obelisk). 
 
 The fan carried by these attendants seems in most instances 
 to have been made of feathers. It had a shortish handle, which 
 was generally more or less ornamented, and frequently termi- 
 nated in the head of a ram or other animal. The feathers were 
 sometimes of great length, and bent gracefully by their own 
 weight, as they were pointed slantingly towards the monarch. 
 Occasionally a comparatively short fan was used, and the 
 feathers were replaced by a sort of brush, which may have been 
 made of horse-hair, or possibly of some vegetable fibre . 7 
 
 The other attendants on the monarch require no special 
 notice. With regard to their number, however, it may be 
 observed that, although the sculptures generally do not repre- 
 sent them as very numerous, there is reason to believe that 
 
 5 Supra, p. 498. 
 
 6 See the Black Obelisk, First Side 
 
 ( Monuments of Nineveh , 1st Series, PI. 
 53), where the king is faced by the 
 vizier in the topmost compartment, and 
 immediately below by this official, repre- 
 
 sented as in the woodcut above. 
 
 7 The short brush-fan belongs to the 
 earlier, the long feather fan to the later, 
 period. (See the woodcuts on p. 493, 
 above, and p. 515.) 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 COURT CEREMONIAL. 
 
 503 
 
 they amounted to several hundreds. The enormous size of the 
 palaces can scarcely be otherwise accounted for: and in one 
 sculpture of an ex- 
 ceptional character, 
 where the artist 
 seems to have aimed 
 at representing his 
 subject in full, we 
 can count above 
 seventy attendants 
 present with the 
 monarch at one 
 time . 8 Of these less 
 than one-half are 
 eunuchs; and these 
 wear the long robe 
 with the fringed 
 belt and cross-belt. 
 
 The other attend- 
 ants wear in many 
 cases the same costume ; sometimes, however, they are dressed 
 in a tunic and greaves, like the soldiers . 9 
 
 There can be no doubt that the court ceremonial of the 
 Assyrians was stately and imposing. The monarch seems 
 indeed not to have affected that privacy and seclusion which 
 forms a predominant feature of the ceremonial observed in 
 most Oriental monarchies . 10 He showed himself very freely to 
 his subjects on many occasions. He superintended in person 
 the accomplishment of his great works . 11 In war and in the 
 chase he rode in an open chariot, never using a litter, though 
 
 Fans or fly-flappers (Nimrud and Koyunjik). 
 
 8 Monuments of Nineveh , 2nd Series, 
 
 Pis. 47 to 49. 
 
 9 Still they do not seem to be soldiers. 
 They carry neither spears, shields, nor 
 bows, and they stand with the hands 
 joined — an attitude peculiar to the royal 
 attendants. 
 
 10 Herodotus ascribed the invention 
 of this practice to De'ioces, his first 
 
 Median king (i. 99). Diodorus believed 
 
 that it had prevailed in Assyria at a 
 much earlier date (ii. 21). But in this 
 he was certainly mistaken. On its 
 general prevalence in the East, see Bris- 
 son, De Reg. Pers. Princ. i. p. 23 ; and 
 compare Gibbon, Decline and Fall , ch. 
 xiii. (vol. ii. p. 95, Smith’s edition). 
 
 11 Layard, Monuments of Nineveh , 2nd 
 Series, Pis. 12 and 15. 
 
504 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VII. 
 
 litters were not unknown to the Assyrians . 12 In his expeditions 
 he would often descend from his chariot, and march or fight on 
 foot like the meanest of his subjects. But though thus fami- 
 liarizing the multitude with his features and appearance, he 
 was far from allowing familiarity of address. Both in peace 
 and war he was attended by various officers of state, and no one 
 had speech of him except through them. It would even seem 
 as if two persons only were entitled to open a conversation with 
 him — the Yizier and the Chief Eunuch. When he received 
 them, he generally placed himself upon his throne, sitting, 
 while they stood to address him. It is strongly indicative of 
 the haughty pride of these sovereigns that they carried with 
 them in their distant expeditions the cumbrous thrones 1 whereon 
 they were wont to sit when they dispensed justice or received 
 homage. On these thrones they sat, in or near their fortified 
 camps, when the battle or the siege was ended, and thus sitting 
 they received in state the spoil and the prisoners. Behind 
 them on such occasions were the two fan-bearers, while near at 
 hand were guards, scribes, grooms, and other attendants. In 
 their palace halls undoubtedly the ceremonial used was stricter, 
 grander, and more imposing. The sculptures, however, furnish 
 no direct evidence on this point, for there is nothing to mark 
 the scene of the great processional pieces. 
 
 In the pseudo-history of Ctesias the Assyrian kings were 
 represented as voluptuaries of the extremest kind, who passed 
 their "whole lives within the palace, in the company of their 
 concubines and their eunuchs, indulging themselves in per- 
 petual ease, pleasure, and luxury . 2 We have already seen how 
 the warlike character of so many monarchs gives the lie to these 
 statements, so far as they tax the Assyrian kings with sloth and 
 idleness . 3 It remains to examine the charge of over-addiction 
 
 12 See below, p. 588. 
 
 1 For representations of these thrones 
 see pp. 393, 394. Sargons throne is 
 represented as carried by two attend- 
 ants on his triumphant return from 
 an expedition. (Botta, Monument de 
 Ninive , vol. i. PI. 18.) Sennacherib 
 sits on his throne to receive captives j 
 
 outside the walls of a town supposed to 
 be Lachish. (Layard, Nineveh and Baby- 
 lon, pp. 150-152.) Instances of kings 
 sitting on their thrones inside their 
 fortified camps will be found in Mr. 
 Layard’s Monuments, 1st Series, Pis. 63 
 and 77. 2 Diod. Sic. ii. 21, 23. 
 
 3 See above, pp. 462-484. 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 PRIVATE LIFE OF THE KING. 
 
 505 
 
 to sensual delights, especially to those of the lowest and grossest 
 description. Now it is at least remarkable that, so far as we 
 have any real evidence, the Assyrian kings appear as mono- 
 gamists. In the inscription on the god Nebo, the artist dedi- 
 cates his statue “ to his lord Yul-lush (?) and his lady, Sammu- 
 ramit .” 4 In the solitary sculptured representation of the 
 private life of the king , 5 he is seen in the company of one 
 female only. Even in the very narrative of Ctesias, Ninus has 
 but one wife, Semiramis ; 6 and Sardanapalus, notwithstanding 
 his many concubines, has but five children, three sons and two 
 daughters . 7 It is not intended to press these arguments to an 
 extreme, or to assume, on the strength of them, that the Assy- 
 rian monarchs were really faithful to one woman. They may 
 have had — nay, it is probable that they had — a certain number 
 of concubines; but there is really not the least ground for 
 believing that they carried concubinage to an excess, or over- 
 stepped in this respect the practice of the best Eastern sove- 
 reigns. At any rate they were not the voluptuaries which 
 Ctesias represented them. A considerable portion of their lives 
 was passed in the toils and dangers of war ; and their peaceful 
 hours, instead of being devoted to sloth and luxury in the 
 retirement of the palace, were chiefly employed, as we shall 
 presently see, in active and manly exercises in the field, which 
 involved much exertion and no small personal peril. 
 
 The favourite occupation of the king in peace was the chase 
 of the lion. In the early times he usually started on a hunting 
 expedition in his chariot, dressed as when he went out to w 7 ar, 
 and attended by his charioteer, some swordsmen, and a groom 
 holding a led horse. He carried a bow and arrows, a sword, 
 one or tw r o daggers, and a spear, which last stood in a rest made 
 for it at the back of the chariot . 8 Two quivers, each containing 
 an axe and an abundant supply of arrows, hung from the chariot 
 
 4 See the author’s Herodotus , vol. i. p. 
 382, note 2 , 2nd ed. 
 
 5 Supra, p. 493. M. Lenormant ap- 
 
 pears to have mistaken the eunuchs who 
 
 are in attendance, playing on instru- 
 
 ments or fanning the king, for the other 
 
 members of his hareem ( Manuel , vol. ii. 
 
 p. 122). 
 
 6 Diod. Sic. ii. 4, § 1 ; 7, § 1. 
 
 7 Ibid. ii. 26, § 8. 
 
 8 See p. 344. 
 
50 6 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. YII. 
 
 transversely across its right side, while a shield armed with teeth 
 was suspended behind. When a lion was found, the king pur- 
 sued it in his chariot, letting fly his arrows as he went, and 
 especially seeking to pierce the animal about the heart and 
 head. Sometimes he transfixed the beast with three or four 
 
 shafts before it succumbed. Oc- 
 casionally the lion attacked him 
 in his chariot, and was met with 
 spear and shield , 9 or with a 
 fresh arrow, according to the 
 exigencies of the moment, or the 
 monarch’s preference for one or 
 the other weapon. On rare oc- 
 casions the monarch descended 
 to the ground, and fought afoot. 
 
 King killing a lion (Nimrud). He would then engage the lion 
 
 in close combat with no other 
 weapon but a short sword, which he strove to plunge, and often 
 plunged, into its heart. 
 
 King, with attendants, spearing a lion (Koyunjik). 
 
 In the later times, though the chariot was still employed to 
 some extent in the lion-hunts, it appears to have been far more 
 
 9 See p. 347. 
 
Chap. YII. 
 
 LION-HUNTING. 
 
 507 
 
 usual for the king to enjoy the sport on foot. He carried a 
 straight sword, which seems to have been a formidable weapon ; 
 it was strong, very broad, and two leet or a little more in 
 length. Two attendants waited closely upon the monarch, one of 
 whom carried a bow and arrows, while the other was commonly 
 provided with one or two spears. From these attendants the 
 king took the bow or a spear at pleasure, usually commencing 
 the attack with his arrows, and finally despatching the spent 
 
 animal with sword or spear, as he deemed best. Sometimes, 
 but not very often, the spearman in attendance carried also a 
 shield, and held both spear and shield in advance of his master 
 to protect him from the animal’s spring . 10 Generally the 
 monarch faced the danger with no such protection, and received 
 the brute on his sword or thrust him through with Ins pike. 
 Perhaps the sculptures exaggerate the danger which he affronted 
 at such moments ; but we can hardly suppose that there was 
 not a good deal of peril incurred in these hand-to-hand con- 
 tests . 11 
 
 10 See the illustration, p. 359. 
 
 11 In an inscription appended to one 
 of his sculptures, Asshur-bani-pal says 
 
 — “ I, Asshur-bani-pal, king of the na- 
 tions, king of Assyria, in my great 
 courage fighting on foot with a lion, 
 
5° 8 THE SECOND MONAECHY. Chap. VII. 
 
 Two modes of hunting the king of beasts were followed at 
 this time. Either he was sought in his native haunts, which 
 were then, as now, the reedy coverts by the side of the canals 
 and great streams ; or he was procured beforehand, conveyed 
 to the hunting-ground, and there turned out before the hunters. 
 In the former case the monarch took the field accompanied by his 
 huntsmen and beaters on horse and foot, these last often holding 
 dogs in leash, which, apparently, were used only to discover and 
 arouse the game, but were not slipped at it when started. No 
 doubt the hunt was sometimes entirely on the land, the monarch 
 accompanying his beaters along one or other of the two banks of 
 a canal or stream. But a different plan is known to have been 
 adopted on some occasions. Disposing his beaters to the right 
 and left upon both banks, the monarch with a small band of 
 attendants would take ship, and, while his huntsmen sought to 
 start the game on either side, he would have himself rowed 
 along so as just to keep pace with them, and would find his 
 sport in attacking such lions as took the water. The monarch’s 
 place on these occasions was the middle of the boat. Before him 
 and behind him were guards armed with spears, who were thus 
 ready to protect their master, whether the beast attacked him in 
 front or rear. The monarch used a round bow, like that com- 
 monly carried in war, and aimed either at the heart or at the head. 
 I he spearmen presented their weapons at the same time, while 
 the sides of the boat were also sufficiently high above the water 
 to afford a considerable protection against the animal’s spring. 
 An attendant immediately behind the monarch held additional 
 arrows ready for him ; and after piercing the noble brute with 
 three or four of these weapons, the monarch had commonly the 
 satisfaction of seeing him sink down and expire. The carcase 
 was then taken from the water : the fore and hind legs were 
 lashed together with string, and the beast was suspended from 
 the hinder part of the boat, where he hung over the water just 
 out of the sweep of the oars . 12 
 
 terrible for his size, seized him by the life.” (Fox Talbot in Journal of the 
 ear, and in the name of Asshur and Asiatic Society , vol. xix. p. 272.) 
 
 Ishtar, Goddess of war. with the spear 12 See the woodcut, p. 361. 
 that was in my hand I terminated his , 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 LION-HUNTING. 
 
 509 
 
 At other times, when it was felt that the natural chase of 
 the animal might afford little or no sport, the Assyrians (as 
 above stated) called art to their assistance, and, having obtained 
 a supply of lions from a distance, brought them in traps or 
 cages to the hunting-ground, and there turned them out before 
 the monarch. The walls of the cage were made of thick spars 
 of wood, with interstices between them, through which the lion 
 could both see and be seen : probably the top was entirely 
 covered with boards, and upon these was raised a sort of low 
 hut or sentry-box, just large enough to contain a man, who, 
 
 Lion let out of trap (Koyunjik). 
 
 when the proper moment arrived, peeped forth from his con- 
 cealment and cautiously raised the front of the trap, which 
 was a kind of drop-door working in a groove. The trap being 
 thus opened, the lion stole out, looking somewhat ashamed of 
 his confinement, but doubtless anxious to vent his spleen on 
 the first convenient object. The king, prepared for his attack, 
 saluted him, as he left his cage, with an arrow, and, as he 
 advanced, with others, which sometimes stretched him dead 
 upon the plain, sometimes merely disabled him, while now and 
 then they only goaded him to fury. In this case he would 
 spring at the royal chariot, clutch some part of it, and in his 
 
5io 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VII. 
 
 agony grind it between bis teeth , 1 or endeavour to reach the 
 inmates of the car from behind . 2 If the king had descended 
 from the car to the plain, the infuriated beast might make his 
 spring at the royal person, in which case it must have required 
 a stout heart to stand unmoved, and aim a fresh arrow at a vital 
 part while the creature was in mid-air, especially if (as we some- 
 times see represented) a second lion was following close upon 
 the first and would have to be received within a few seconds . 3 
 It would seem that the lions on some occasions were not to be 
 goaded into making an attack, but simply endeavoured to escape 
 
 by flight. To prevent this, troops were drawn up in a double 
 line of spearmen and archers round the space within which the 
 lions were let loose, the large shields of the front or spear- 
 man line forming a sort of wall, and the spears a chevaux de 
 f rise , through which it was almost impossible for the beasts to 
 break. In front of the soldiers attendants held hounds in 
 leashes, which either by their baying and struggling frightened 
 
 > See the illustration, p. 358. I 3 As in the slab of Asshur-bani-pal, 
 
 2 Such attempts are common both in j from which the representation is taken 
 the earlier and the later sculptures. (See on p. 359. 
 pp. 344 and 347.) 
 
Chap. VII. LION-HUNTING. -> 
 
 the animals back, or perhaps assisted to despatch them . 4 The 
 king meanwhile plied his bow, and covered the plain with 
 carcases, often striking a single beast with five or six shafts. 
 
 The number of lions destroyed at these royal battues is very 
 surprising. In one representation 5 no fewer than eighteen are 
 seen upon the field, of which eleven are dead and five seriously 
 wounded. The introduction of trapped beasts would seem to 
 imply that the game, which under the earlier monarchs had 
 been exceedingly abundant , 6 failed comparatively under the latei 
 ones, who therefore imported it from a distance. It is evident 
 however that this scarcity was not allowed to curtail the royal 
 amusement. To gratify the monarch, hunters sought remote 
 and savage districts, where the beast was still plentiful, and, 
 trapping their prey, conveyed it many hundreds of miles to 
 yield a momentary pleasure to the royal sportsman. 
 
 It is instructive to contrast with the boldness shown in the 
 lion-hunts of this remote period the feelings and conduct of 
 the present inhabitants of the region. The Arabs, by w horn it 
 is in the main possessed, are a warlike race, accustomed from 
 infancy to arms and inured to combat. “ Their hand is against 
 every man, and every man’s hand is against them. Tet they 
 tremble if a lion is but known to be near , 7 and can only with 
 the utmost difficulty be persuaded by an European to take any 
 part in the chase of so dangerous an animal . 8 
 
 The lioness, no less than the lion, appears as a beast of chase 
 upon the sculptures. It seems that in modern times she is 
 quite as much feared as her consort. Indeed, w T hen she has laid 
 
 4 No instance, however, is found of a 
 hound engaged with a lion. 
 
 3 See the Great Lion Hunt of Asshur- 
 hani-pal in the basement room, British 
 Museum. 
 
 6 Tiglath-Pileser I. relates that in his 
 various journeys he killed 800 lions. 
 (. Inscription , p. 56.) 
 
 7 Supra, p. 39 ; compare Loftus, 
 Chaldcea and Susiana , pp. 243, 244, &c. 
 
 8 Loftus, p. 261. Mr. Layard, how- 
 ever, relates that the Maidan Arabs 
 have a plan on the strength of which 
 they venture to attack lions, even singly. 
 
 “ A man, having bound his right arm 
 with strips of tamarisk, and holding in 
 his hand a strong piece of the same wood, 
 about a foot or more in length, hardened 
 in the fire and sharpened at both ends, 
 will advance boldly into the animal’s 
 lair. When the lion springs upon him, 
 he forces the wood into the animal’s 
 extended jaws, which will then be held 
 open whilst he can despatch the as- 
 tonished beast at his leisure with the 
 pistol which he holds in his left hand.” 
 (Nineveh and Babylon , p. 567.) 
 
512 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VII. 
 
 up cubs, she is even thought to be actually the more dangerous 
 of the two . 9 
 
 Next to the chase 
 of the lion and 
 lioness, the early 
 Assyrian monarchs 
 delighted in that of 
 the wild bull. It is 
 not quite certain 
 what exact species 
 of animal is sought 
 to be expressed by 
 the representations upon the sculptures; but on the whole it 
 is perhaps most probable that the Aurochs or European bison 
 ( Bos urus of naturalists) is the beast intended . 10 At any rate 
 it was an animal of such strength and courage that, according 
 to the Assyrian belief, it ventured to contend with the lion. 
 
 Wounded lioness (Koyunjik). 
 
 The Assyrian monarchs chased the wild bull in their chariots 
 without dogs, but with the assistance of horsemen, who turned 
 
 9 Loftus, pp. 259-262. 
 
 10 The Aurochs is still found in the 
 Caucasus. Its fore-parts are covered by 
 a sort of frizzled wool or hair, which 
 “ forms a beard or small mane upon the 
 throat” ( Encycl . Brit, ad voc. Mam- 
 malia, vol. xiv. p. 215). Such a mane 
 is often represented upon the sculptures. 
 (Layard, Monuments , 1st Series, Pis. 32, 
 46, &c.) Its horns are placed low, and 
 
 are very thick. Its shoulders are heavy 
 and of great depth. In height it mea- 
 sures six feet at the shoulder, and is 
 between ten and eleven feet in length 
 from the nose to the insertion of the 
 tail. All these characteristics seem to 
 me to agree well with the sculptured 
 bulls of the Assyrians, which are far 
 less like the wild buffalo (i?o$ bubalus). 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 BULL-HUNTING. 
 
 513 
 
 the animals when they fled, and brought them within the 
 monarch’s reach . 11 The king then aimed his arrows at them, 
 and the attendant horsemen, who were provided with bows, 
 seem to have been permitted to do the same. The bull seldom 
 fell until he had received a number of wounds ; and we some- 
 times see as many as five arrows still fixed in the body of one 
 that has succumbed . 12 It would seem that the bull, when 
 pushed, would, like the lion, make a rush at the king’s chariot, 
 in which case the monarch seized him by one of the horns and 
 gave him the coup de grace with his sword. 
 
 The special zest with which this animal was pursued 1 may 
 have arisen in part from its scarcity. The Aurochs is wild 
 arid shy ; it dislikes the neighbourhood of man, and has retired 
 before him till it is now found only in the forests of Lithuania, 
 Carpathia, and the Caucasus. It seems nearly certain that, in 
 the time of the later kings, the species of wild cattle previously 
 hunted, whatever it was, had disappeared from Assyria alto- 
 gether; at least this is the only probable account that can 
 be given of its non-occurrence in the later sculptures, more 
 
 11 See Mr. Layard’s Monuments , 1st 
 Series, PI. 48, fig. 6. 
 
 12 Ibid. PI. 11. 
 
 1 The pursuit of the wild bull is repre- 
 sented with more frequency and in 
 greater detail upon the early sculptures 
 than even that of the lion. In the 
 Nimrud series we see the bull pursued j 
 by chariots, horsemen, and footmen, 
 both separately and together. We observe 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 i him prancing among reeds, reposing, 
 
 | fighting with the lion, charging the 
 king’s chariot, wounded and falling, 
 fallen, and lastly laid out in state for 
 the final religious ceremony. No such 
 1 elaborate series illustrates the chase of 
 the rival animal. (See Mr. Layard's 
 Monuments , 1st Series, Pis. 11, 12, 32, 
 43, 44, 45, 46, 48, and 49.) 
 
 2 L 
 
5i4 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. YH, 
 
 especially in those of Asshur-bani-pal, the son of Esar-haddon, 
 which seem intended to represent the chase under every aspect 
 known at the time. We might therefore presume it to have 
 been, even in the early period, already a somewhat rare animal. 
 And so we find in the Inscriptions that the animal, or animals, 
 which appear to represent wild cattle , 2 were only met with in 
 outlying districts of the empire — on the borders of Syria and 
 in the country about Harran — and then in such small numbers 3 
 as to imply that even there they were not very abundant. 
 
 When the chase of the nobler animals — the lion and the wild 
 bull — had been conducted to a successful issue, the hunters 
 returned in a grand procession to the capital, carrying with 
 them as trophies of their prowess the bodies of the slain. These 
 were borne aloft on the shoulders of men, three or four being 
 required to carry each beast. Having been brought to an 
 appointed spot, they were arranged side by side upon the ground, 
 the heads of all pointing the same way; and the monarch, 
 attended by several of his principal officers, as the Vizier, the 
 Chief Eunuch, the fan-bearers, the bow and mace bearers, and 
 also by a number of musicians, came to the place, and solemnly 
 poured a libation over the prostrate forms, first however (as it 
 would seem) raising the cup to his own lips . 4 It is probable 
 that this ceremony had to some extent a religious character. 
 
 2 There are two animals mentioned 
 
 in the Tiglath-Pileser Inscription which 
 have been thought to represent wild 
 cattle. These are hunted respectively in 
 the Hittite country, i.e. Northern Syria, 
 and in the neighbourhood of Harran. 
 (Inscription, pp. 54 and 56, 1st column.) 
 Sir H. Rawlinson translates, in the two 
 places, “ wild bulls ” and “ wild buffa- 
 loes.” Dr. Hincks agrees in the former 
 rendering, while in the latter passage 
 he suggests “elephants.” But elephants 
 seem not to he able to exist in the wild 
 state more than a very few degrees out- 
 side the tropics. 
 
 The Assyrian word in the first of the 
 two passages is read as “ Rim,” and 
 the animal should therefore be identical 
 with the DiO or DH of Holy Scrip- 
 ture. Although the Arabs give the 
 name of Raim to a large antelope, and a 
 
 similar use of that term seems to have 
 been known in Egypt (Layard, Nineveh 
 and its Remains , vol. ii. p. 429), yet the 
 Hebrew term “ Rim ” appears, from a 
 comparison of the passages in which it 
 occurs, almost certainly to mean an 
 animal of the ox kind. (See especially 
 Is. xxxiv. 17, where it is joined with 
 the domestic bull, and Job xxxix. 9-12, 
 where the questions derive their force 
 from an implied comparison with that 
 animal.) 
 
 3 Four “ Rims ” only are mentioned 
 as slain. Of the other animal ten were 
 slain and four taken. Of lions on the 
 same expedition Tiglath-Pileser slew a 
 hundred and twenty. 
 
 4 This appears from the sculpture 
 represented by Mr. Layard in his Monu- 
 ments , 1st Series, PI. 12, where the cere- 
 mony is performed over a bull. 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 CHASE OF THE WILD ASS. 
 
 515 
 
 The Assyrian monarchs commonly ascribe the success of their 
 hunting* expeditions to the gods Nin (or Ninip) and Nergal ; 5 
 and we may well understand that a triumphant return would be 
 accompanied by a thank-offering to the great protectors under 
 whose auspices success had been achieved. 
 
 Besides the wild bull and the lion, the Assyrians are known 
 to have hunted the following animals — the onager or wild ass, 
 the stag, the ibex or wild goat, the gazelle, and the hare. 
 
 The chase of the wild ass was conducted in various ways. 
 The animal was most commonly pursued with dogs. The large 
 and powerful hounds of the Assyrians, of which a certain use 
 was made even in the chase of the lion , 6 have been already 
 noticed ; but it may be desirable in this place to give a fuller 
 account of them. They were of a type approaching to that of 
 our mastiff, being smooth paired, strong limbed, with a some- 
 what heavy head and neck, small pointed but drooping ears , 7 
 and a long tail which was bushy and a little inclined to curl. 
 They seem to have been very broad across the chest, and alto- 
 gether better developed as to their fore than as to their hind 
 parts, though even their hind legs were tolerably strong and 
 sinewy. They must have been exceedingly bold, if they really 
 faced the hunted lion ; and their pace must have been consider- 
 able, if they were found of service in chasing the wild ass. 
 
 5 See above, pp. 132 and 136. 
 
 6 Supra, pp. 508 and 510. 
 
 " The ear is commonly represented as 
 
 drooping, but some specimens indicate 
 that it could be erected at pleasure. (See 
 p. 234, No. I.) 
 
 2 L 2 
 
5 16 THE SECOND MONARCHY. Chap. YU. 
 
 The hunters are represented as finding the wild asses in 
 herds, among which are seen a certain number of foals. The 
 king and his chief attendants pursue the game on horseback, 
 armed with bows and arrows, and discharging their arrows as 
 
 they go. Hounds also — not now held in leash, but free join 
 in the hunt, pressing on the game, and generally singling out 
 some one individual from the herd, either a young colt, or some- 
 times a full-grown animal. The horsemen, occasionally, brought 
 down the asses with their shafts ; when their archery failed of 
 success, the chase depended on the hounds, which are represented 
 as running even the full-grown animal to a stand, and then 
 
 regarded as almost impossible to take , 8 we may perhaps con- 
 
 s Layard, Nineveh and Babylon , p. 270, note. 
 
Chap. VII. CATCHING THE WILD ASS. 5 1 / 
 
 elude that the animals thus ran down by the hounds were 
 such as the hunters had previously wounded ; 9 for it can 
 scarcely be supposed that such heavily-made dogs as the 
 Assyrian could really have caught an unwounded and full-grown 
 
 wild ass. 
 
 Instead of shooting the wild ass, or hunting 'him to the 
 death with hounds, an endeavour was sometimes made to take 
 him alive. A species of noose seems to have been made by 
 means of two ropes interlaced, which were passed— how, we 
 cannot say— round the neck of the animal, and held him in 
 
 such a way that all his struggles to release himself were vain. 
 This mode of capture recalls the use of the lasso by the South 
 Americans, and the employment of nooses by various nations, 
 
 Yet it must be confessed that in the representations no trace of a wound is to be 
 
5i8 
 
 THE SECOND MONAECHY. 
 
 Chap. VII. 
 
 not merely in hunting, but in warfare . 1 It is doubtful, how- 
 ever, if the Assyrian practice approached at all closely to any 
 of these. The noose, if it may be so called, was of a very 
 peculiar kind. It was not formed by means of a slip-knot at 
 the end of a single cord, but resulted from the interlacing of 
 two ropes one with the other. There is great difficulty in 
 understanding how the ropes were got into their position. Cer- 
 tainly no single throw could have placed them round the neck 
 of the animal in the manner represented, nor could the capture 
 have been effected, according to all appearance, by a single 
 hunter. Two persons, at least, must have been required to com- 
 bine their efforts, one before and one behind the creature which 
 it was designed to capture. 
 
 Deer, which have always abounded in Assyria , 2 were either 
 hunted with dogs, or driven by beaters into nets, or sometimes 
 shot with arrows by sportsmen. The woodcut on this page 
 represents a dog in chase of a hind, and shows that the hounds 
 
 1 See Herod, vii. 85, and the author’s 
 
 note ad loc. vol. iv. p. 75. Compare 
 Pausan. i. 21, § 8 ; Suidas ad voc. cetpd, 
 and Sir G. Wilkinson’s Ancient Egyp- 
 
 tians , 1st Series, vol. iii. p. 15. 
 
 2 See above, p. 225 ; and compare 
 Layard’s Nineveh and its Remains , vol. ii. 
 p. 431. 
 
Chap. YII. 
 
 CHASE OF THE DEER. 
 
 519 
 
 which the Assyrians used for this purpose were of the same 
 breed as those employed in the hunt of the lion and ol the 
 wild ass . 3 In the woodcut below we have a stricken stag, which 
 may, perhaps, have been also hard pressed by hounds, in the 
 
 Hunted stag taking the water (Koyunjik). 
 
 act of leaping from rocky ground into water. It is interesting 
 to find this habit of the stag, with which the modern English 
 sportsman is so familiar, not merely existing in Assyria, but 
 noticed by Assyrian sculptors, at the distance of more than 
 twenty-five centuries from our own time. 
 
 When deer were to be taken by nets, the sportsman began 
 by setting in an upright position, with the help of numerous 
 poles and pegs, a long, low net, like the SUtvov of the Greeks . 4 
 
 3 Supra, pp. 510, 516, and 517.^ 
 
 4 For representations of the Siktvov 
 see Dr. Smith’s Dictionary of Greek and 
 Roman Antiquities , p. 989, 2nd ed. ; and 
 for descriptions of its use cf. Virg. JEn. 
 iv. 121 ; Eurip. Bacch. 821-832; -iElian. 
 
 Hist. An. xii. 46 ; Oppian. Cyneget. iv 
 120, &c. Nets of a similar construction 
 were used for the same purpose by the 
 Egyptians. (Wilkinson, Ancient Egyp- 
 tians , 1st Series, vol. iii. pp. 4-7.) 
 
520 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VII. 
 
 This was carried round in a curved line of considerable length, 
 so as to enclose an ample space on every side excepting one, 
 which was left open for the deer to enter. The meshes of the 
 net were large and not very regular. They were carefully 
 
 secured by knots at all the angles. The net was bordered both 
 at top and at bottom by a rope of much greater strength and 
 thickness than that which formed the network ; and this was 
 fastened to the ground at the two extremities by pegs of supe- 
 rior size. The general height of the net was about that of a 
 
 No. n. Portion of net, showing the arrangement of the meshes and the pe°-s 
 (Koyunjik). 
 
 man, but the two ends were sloped gently to the ground. 
 Beaters, probably accompanied by dogs, roused the game in 
 the coverts, which was then driven by shouts and barkings 
 towards the place where the net was set. If it once entered 
 within the two extremities of the net (a b in woodcut Xo. I.), 
 its destruction was certain; for the beaters, following on its 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 CHASE OF THE IBEX. 
 
 521 
 
 traces, occupied the space by which it had entered, and the net 
 itself was not sufficiently visible for the deer to rise at it and 
 clear it by a leap. 
 
 In the chase of the ibex or wild goat, horsemen were em- 
 ployed to discover the animals, which were generally found in 
 herds, and to drive them towards the sportsman, who waited in 
 
 ambush until the game appeared within bowshot . 5 An arrow 
 was then let fly at the nearest or the choicest animal, which 
 often fell at the first 
 discharge. The sport 
 was tame compared 
 with many other 
 kinds, and was pro- 
 bably not much af- 
 fected by the higher 
 orders. 
 
 The chase of the 
 
 gazelle is not shown n Ibex transfixed with arrow— falling. 
 
 on the sculptures. In 
 
 modern times they are taken by the greyhound and the falcon, 
 separately or in conjunction, the two being often trained to 
 hunt together . 1 They are somewhat difficult to run down with 
 
 5 On the slab from which the ibexes 
 represented above are taken, the king 
 and an attendant are seen crouching as 
 the herd approaches, in such a way as 
 to make it evident that the intention 
 
 was to represent them as lying in am- 
 bush. 
 
 1 See Mr. Layard’s Nineveh and Baby- 
 lon, pp. 481-483. 
 
522 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. YII. 
 
 dogs only, except immediately after they have drunk water in 
 hot weather . 2 That the Assyrians sometimes captured them, 
 
 appears by a hunting- 
 scene which Mr. Layard 
 discovered at Khorsabad, 
 where an attendant is re- 
 presented carrying a ga- 
 zelle on his shoulders, 
 and holding a hare in his 
 right hand . 3 As gazelles 
 are very abundant both 
 in the Sinjar country and 
 in the district’ between 
 
 Sportsman carrying a gazelle (Khorsabad). Tigris and the ZagrOS 
 
 range , 4 we may suppose 
 that the Assyrians sometimes came upon them unawares, and 
 transfixed them with their arrows before they could make 
 their escape. They may also have taken them in nets, as they 
 were accustomed to take deer ; 5 but we have no evidence that 
 they did so. 
 
 The hare is seen very commonly in the hands of those who 
 attend upon the huntsmen . 6 It is always represented as very 
 small in proportion to the size of the men, whence we may 
 perhaps conclude that the full-grown animal was less esteemed 
 than the leveret. As the huntsmen in these representations 
 have neither nets nor dogs, but seem to obtain their game solely 
 by the bow, we must presume that they were expert enough to 
 strike the hare as it ran. 
 
 There is no difficulty in making such a supposition as this, 
 since the Assyrians have left us an evidence of their skill as 
 marksmen, which implies even greater dexterity. The game 
 which they principally sought in the districts where they occa- 
 
 2 See Mr. Layard’s Nineceh and Baby- 
 lon , p. 482, note. 
 
 3 Monuments of Nineveh , 2nd Series, 
 PI. 32. The slab itself is in the British 
 Museum. 
 
 4 Nineveh and Babylon , pp. 130, 268, 
 &c. 
 
 5 Supra, p. 520. 
 
 6 Botta, Monument de Ninive , vol. ii. 
 Pis. 108, 110, and 111 ; Layard, Monu- 
 ments, , 2nd Series, PI. 32. The hare is 
 always carried by the hind legs, exactly 
 as we carry it See the representation 
 on p. 226 of this volume. 
 
Chap. YII. 
 
 HARE-HUNTING. 
 
 523 
 
 sionally killed the hare and the gazelle seems to have been the 
 partridge; and this game they had to bring down when upon 
 the wing. We see the sportsmen in the sculptures aiming their 
 arrows at the birds as they mount into 
 the air, and in one instance we observe 
 one of the birds in the act of falling 
 to the ground, transfixed by a well- 
 aimed shaft . 7 Such skill is not un- 
 common among savage hunting tribes, 
 whose existence depends on the dex- 
 terity with which they employ their 
 weapons ; but it is rarely that a people 
 which has passed out of this stage and 
 hunts for sport rather than subsistence, 
 retains its old expertness. 
 
 Hunting the hare with dogs was pro- 
 bably not very common, as it is only in 
 a single instance that the Assyrian re- 
 mains exhibit a, trace of it. On one of the bronze dishes dis- 
 covered by Mr. Layard at Nimrud may be seen 8 a series ot 
 alternate dogs and hares, which shows that coursing was not 
 unknown to the Assyrians. The dog is of a kind not seen 
 elsewhere in the remains of Assyrian art. The head bears a 
 resemblance to that of the wolf ; but the form generally is that 
 
 Sportsman shooting 
 (Khorsabad). 
 
 Greyhound and hare, from a bronze bowl (Nimrud). 
 
 of a coarse greyhound, the legs and neck long, the body slim, 
 and the tail curled at the end ; offering thus a strong contrast 
 to the ordinary Assyrian hound, which has been already repre- 
 sented more than once . 9 
 
 7 Botta, PI. 111. This bird has been 
 already figured. (See p. 228.) 
 
 8 The dish is in the British Museum. A 
 
 representation of it is given by Mr. Layard 
 in his Monuments, 2nd Series, PI. 64. 
 
 9 Supra, pp. 510, 516, 517, and 518. 
 
524 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VII. 
 
 Nets may sometimes have been employed for the capture of 
 small game, such as hares and rabbits, since we occasionally see 
 beaters or other attendants carrying upon poles, which they hold 
 over their shoulders, nets of dimensions far too small for them 
 to have been used in the deer-hunts, with balls of string and 
 pegs wherewith to extend them. The nets in this case are 
 
 Nets, pegs, and balls of string (Koyunjik). 
 
 squared at the ends, and seem to have been about eight or 
 nine feet long, and less than a foot in height. They have 
 large mesnes, and, like the deer-nets, are bordered both at top 
 and bottom with a strong cord, to which the net-work is attached. 
 Like the classical ivoSia, they were probably placed across the 
 runs of the animals, which, being baffled by them and turned 
 from their accustomed tracks, would grow bewildered and fall 
 an easy prey to the hunters. Or, possibly, several of them may 
 have been joined together, and a considerable space may then 
 have been enclosed, within which the game may have been 
 driven by the beaters. 
 
 The chase of these three weak and timid animals, the gazelle, 
 the hare, and the partridge, was not regarded as worthy of the 
 monarch. When the king is represented as present, he takes 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 FISHING. 
 
 525 
 
 no part in it, but merely drives in his chariot through the woods 
 where the sportsmen are amusing themselves . 1 Persons, how- 
 ever, of a good position, as appears from their dress and the 
 number of their attendants, indulged in the sport, more espe- 
 cially eunuchs, who were probably those of the royal house- 
 hold. It is not unlikely that the special object was to supply 
 the royal table with game . 2 
 
 The Assyrians do not seem to have had much skill as fisliei- 
 men. They were unacquainted with the rod, and fished by 
 
 means of a simple line thrown into the water, one end of which 
 was held in the hand. No float was used, and the bait must 
 consequently have sunk to the bottom, unless prevented from 
 so doing by the force of the stream. This method of fishing 
 
 1 Botta, Pis. 108 to 114. These sculp- 
 tures were all in one room, and form 
 a series from which two slabs only are 
 missing. 
 
 2 Hares and partridges were among 
 the delicacies with which Sennacherib s 
 
 servants were in the habit of furnishing 
 his table, as we may gather from the 
 procession of attendants represented at 
 Koyunjik in the inclined passage. (See 
 Layard, Monuments, 2nd Series, P1.9, and 
 compare Nineveh and Babylon , p. 338.) 
 
526 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chai>. YIT. 
 
 was likewise known and practised in Egypt , 3 where, however, 
 it was far more common to angle with a rod . 4 Though Assyrian 
 fish-hooks have not been found, there can be no doubt that that 
 invention was one with which they were acquainted, as were 
 both the Egyptians 5 and the early Chaldseans . 6 
 
 Fishing was carried on both in rivers and in stews or ponds. 
 The angler sometimes stood or squatted upon the bank; at 
 
 No. H. Man fishing (Koyunjik), 
 
 other times, not content with commanding the mere edge of 
 the water, he plunged in, and is seen mid-stream, astride upon 
 an inflated skin, quietly pursuing his avocation. Occasionally 
 he improved his position by mounting upon a raft, and, seated 
 at the stern, with his back to the rower, threw out his line and 
 
 3 Wilkinson, Ancient Egyptians , 1st Series, vol. iii, p. 53, PI. 342. 
 
 4 Ibid. pp. 52-54. 5 Ibid. p. 54. 6 See above, p. 99. 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 BEAR AND OSTRICH HUNTING. 
 
 527 
 
 drew the fisli from the water . 7 Now and then the fisherman 
 was provided with a plaited basket, made of rushes or flags, 
 which was fastened round his neck with a string, and hung at 
 his back, ready to receive the produce of his exertions. 
 
 It does not appear that angling was practised by the Assy- 
 rians in the way that the monuments show it to have been 
 practised in Egypt, as an amusement of the rich . 8 The fisher- 
 men are always poorly clothed, and seem to have belonged to 
 the class which worked for its living. It is remarkable that ^e 
 
 do not anywhere in the sculptures see nets used for fishing ; 
 but perhaps we ought not to conclude from this that they were 
 never so employed in Assyria . 9 The Assyrian sculptors repre- 
 sented only occasionally the scenes of common everyday life ; 
 and we are seldom justified in drawing a negative conclusion as 
 to the peaceful habits of the people on any point from the mere 
 fact that the bas-reliefs contain no positive evidence on the 
 subject. 
 
 A few other animals were probably, but not certainly, chased 
 by the Assyrians, as especially the ostrich and the bear. The 
 gigantic bird, which remained in Mesopotamia as late as the 
 
 7 See the woodcut in Mr. Layard’s 
 Nineveh and Babylon , p. 231. 
 
 8 Wilkinson, p. 52, PI. 341. Com- 
 pare his remarks, pp. 53 and 54. 
 
 9 The use of nets for fishing seems to 
 have been a very early invention. So- 
 
 phocles joins it with ship-building, 
 ploughing, trap-making, and horse- 
 breaking. ( Antig . 347.) Solomon cer- 
 tainly knew of the practice (Eccl. ix. 
 12), as did Homer ( Odyss. xxii. 384-386). 
 It was of great antiquity in Egypt. 
 
528 
 
 THE SECOND MONAECHY. 
 
 Chap. VII. 
 
 time of Xenophon , 10 was well known to the Assyrian artist^, 
 who could scarcely have represented it with so much success , 1 
 
 unless its habits had been ob- 
 served and described by hunters . 2 
 The bear is much less frequent 
 upon the remains than the os- 
 trich ; but its occurrence and the 
 truthfulness of its delineation 
 where it occurs, indicate a fami- 
 liarity which may no doubt be 
 due to other causes, but is pro- 
 bably traceable to the intimate 
 knowledge acquired by those 
 who hunted it. 
 
 Of the other amusements and occupations of the Assyrians 
 our knowledge is comparatively scanty ; but some pages may 
 be here devoted to their music, their navigation, their com- 
 merce, and their agriculture. On the first and second of these 
 a good deal of light is thrown by the monuments, while some 
 interesting facts with respect to the third and fourth may 
 be gathered both from this source and also from ancient 
 writers. 
 
 That the Babylonians, the neighbours of the Assyrians, and, 
 in a certain sense, the inheritors of their empire, had a passion 
 for music, and delighted in a great variety of musical instru- 
 ments, has long been known and admitted. The repeated men- 
 tion by Daniel, in his third chapter, of the “ cornet, flute, harp, 
 sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all kinds of music ” 3 — or, at 
 any rate, of a number of instruments for which those terms were 
 once thought the best English equivalents — has familiarised us 
 with the fact, that in Babylonia, as early as the sixth century 
 B.C., musical instruments of many different kinds were in use. 
 It is also apparent from the Book of Psalms, that a variety of 
 instruments were employed by the Jews . 4 And we know that in 
 
 Bear standing, from a bronze bowl 
 (Nimrud). 
 
 10 Xen. Anab. i. 5, § 2. 
 
 1 See the woodcuts on p. 228. 
 
 2 The chase of the ostrich seems to be 
 mentioned in the inscriptions of Asshur- 
 
 izir-pal. See below, ch. ix. 
 
 3 Verses 5, 7, 10, and 15. 
 
 4 See especially Ps. cl., where the 
 trumpet, psaltery, harp, timbrel, pipe(?,, 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS. 
 
 529 
 
 Egypt as many as thirteen or fourteen different kinds were 
 common . 5 In Assyria, if there was not so much variety as this, 
 there were at any rate eight or nine quite different sorts, some 
 stringed, some wind, some merely instruments of percussion. 
 In the early sculptures, indeed, only two or three musical 
 instruments are represented. One is a kind of harp, held 
 between the left arm and the side, and played with one hand 
 by means of a quill or plectrum. Another is a lyre, played by 
 the hand; while a third 
 is apparently a cymbal. 
 
 But in the later times we 
 see — besides these instru- 
 ments — a harp of a differ- 
 ent make played with both 
 hands, two or three kinds 
 of lyre, the double pipe, 
 the guitar or cithern, the 
 tambourine, a nameless 
 instrument, and more than 
 one kind of drum. 
 
 The harp of the early 
 ages was a triangular in- 
 strument, consisting of a 
 horizontal board which 
 seems to have been about 
 three feet in length, an 
 upright bar inserted into 
 one end of the board, com- 
 monly surmounted by an 
 imitation of the human 
 hand, and a number of 
 strings which crossed dia- 
 gonally from the board to the bar, and, passing through the 
 
 Ancient Assyrian harp and harper (Nimrud). 
 
 organ (?), and cymbal are all mentioned 
 together. Compare Ps. xxxiii. 2 ; xcii. 
 3 ; xcviii. 5, 6, &c. 
 
 5 Wilkinson, Ancient Egyptians , 1st 
 Series, vol. ii. pp. 253-327. The instru- 
 ments enumerated are the darabooka 
 
 drum, cymbals, cylindrical maces, the 
 trumpet, the long drum, the harp, the 
 lyre, the guitar, the flute, the single and 
 double pipe, the tambourine, and the 
 sistrum. 
 
 2 M 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
530 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VII. 
 
 latter, hung down some way, terminating in tassels of no great 
 size. The strings were eight, nine, or ten in number, and (appa- 
 rently) were made fast to the board, hut could be tightened or 
 relaxed by means of a row of pegs inserted into the upright bar, 
 round which the strings were probably wound. No difference is 
 
 Later Assyrian harps and harpers (Koyunjik). 
 
 apparent in the thickness of the strings; and it would seem 
 therefore that variety of tone was produced solely by difference of 
 length. It is thought that this instrument must have been sus- 
 pended round the player’s neck . 6 It was carried at the left side, 
 
 0 Layard, Nineveh and its Remains , vol. ii. p. 412. The conjecture is probable, 
 though no means of suspension are seen on the sculptures. 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 HARPS AND LYRES. 
 
 531 
 
 and was played (as already observed) with a quill or plectrum 
 held in the right hand, while the left hand seems to have been 
 employed in pressing the strings so as to modify the tone, or 
 stop the vibrations, of the notes. The performers on this kind 
 of harp, and indeed all other Assyrian musicians, are universally 
 represented as standing while they play. 
 
 The harp of later times was constructed, held, and played 
 differently. It was still triangular , 7 or nearly so ; but the frame 
 now consisted of a rounded and evidently hollow 1 sounding- 
 board, to which the strings were attached with the help of pegs, 
 and a plain bar whereto they were made fast below, and from 
 which their ends depended like a fringe. The number of strings 
 was greater than in the earlier harp, being sometimes as many 
 as seventeen. The instrument was carried in such a way that 
 the strings were perpendicular and the bar horizontal, while the 
 sounding-board projected forwards at an angle above the player’s 
 head. It was played by the naked hand without a plectrum ; 
 and both hands seem to have found their employment in pulling 
 the strings. 
 
 Three varieties of the lyre are seen in the Assyrian sculptures. 
 One of them is triangular, or nearly so, 
 and has only four strings, which, being 
 carried from one side of the triangle to 
 the other, parallel to the base, are neces- 
 sarily of very unequal length. Its frame 
 is apparently of wood, very simple, and 
 entirely devoid of ornament. This sort 
 of lyre has been found only in the latest Triangular lyre (Koyunjik). 
 
 sculptures . 2 
 
 Another variety nearly resembles in its general shape the 
 
 7 The Egyptians had a triangular | 
 harp (Wilkinson, p. 280), which is not 
 unlike the Assyrian. And St. Jerome | 
 says that the Hebrew harp (“Till 3) re- 
 sembled the Greek delta , which is an 
 argument that it also was of this shape. 
 
 1 The board is commonly pierced with 
 two or more holes, like the sounding- 
 board of a guitar. 
 
 2 The above representation is from a 
 slab discovered by Mr. Loftus in the 
 palace of Asshur-bani-pal, the son of 
 Esar-haddon. It is the only instance 
 of a triangular lyre in the sculptures, 
 unless the lyres of the so-called Jewish 
 captives in the British Museum are 
 ! intended to be triangular, which is un- 
 certain. See below, p. 540. 
 
 2 m 2 
 
532 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. YII. 
 
 lyre of the Egyptians . 3 It has a large square bottom or sound- 
 ing-board , 4 which is held, like the Egyptian, under the left 
 
 elbow, two straight arms only 
 slightly diverging, and a plain 
 cross-bar at top. The number of 
 strings visible in the least imper- 
 fect representation is eight ; but, 
 judging by the width of the in- 
 strument, we may fairly assume 
 that the full complement was nine 
 or ten. The strings run from the 
 cross-bar to the sounding-board, 
 and must have been of a uniform 
 length. This lyre was played 
 by both hands, and for greater 
 security was attached by a band 
 passing round the player’s neck. 
 
 The third sort of lyre was 
 larger than either of the others, 
 and considerably more elaborate. 
 It had probably a sounding-board 
 at bottom, like the lyre just de- 
 scribed, though this, being carried 
 under the left elbow, is concealed 
 
 Lyre with ten strings (Khorsabad). the representations. Hence 
 
 there branched out two curved 
 arms, more or less ornamented, which w r ere of very unequal 
 length ; and these were joined together by a cross-bar, also 
 curved, and projecting considerably beyond the end of the 
 longer of the two arms. Owing to the inequality of the arms, 
 the cross-bar sloped at an angle to the base, and the strings, 
 which passed from the one to the other, consequently differed 
 in length. The number of the strings in this lyre seems to have 
 been either five or seven. 
 
 3 Wilkinson, vol. ii. p. 291, Woodcut 
 No. 217. 
 
 * In some of the classical lyres the 
 two arms were joined at the base, and 
 
 there was no tortoise or^other sounding- 
 board below them. (Bianchini, De trib. 
 gen. instrument. Tab. iv.) 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 GUITAR AND DOUBLE PIPE. 
 
 533 
 
 The Assyrian guitar is remarkable for the small size of the 
 hollow body or sounding- 
 board, and the great propor- 
 tionate length of the neck 
 or handle. There is nothing 
 to show what was the number 
 of the strings, nor whether 
 they were stretched by pegs 
 and elevated by means of a 
 bridge. Both hands seem to 
 be employed in playing the 
 instrument, which is held 
 across the chest in a sloping 
 direction, and was probably 
 kept in place by a riband or 
 strap passed round the back . 5 
 
 It is curious that in the 
 Assyrian remains, while the 
 double pipe is common, we 
 find no instance at all either 
 of the flute or of the single 
 pipe. All three were em- 
 ployed in Egypt, and occur 
 on the monuments of that 
 country frequently ; 6 and 
 though among the Greeks 
 and Romans the double pipe 
 was more common than the 
 single one, yet the single 
 pipe was well known, and 
 its employment was not un- 
 usual. The Greeks regarded 
 the pipe as altogether Asia- 
 tic, and ascribed its inven- 
 tion to Marsyas the Phry- 
 gian , 7 or to Olympus, his L y res > with five and seven strings (Koyunjik). 
 
 5 Such a strap is occasionally seen in 6 Wilkinson, pp. 307-312; and com- 
 
 the Egyptian representations. (Wilkin- pare pp. 232-237. 
 
 son, p. 302, Woodcut No. 223.) 7 Athen. DeipnosopJi. iv. 25. 
 
534 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. YII. 
 
 disciple . 8 We may conclude from this that they at any rate 
 learnt the invention from Asia ; and in their decided preference 
 of the double over the single pipe we may not improbably 
 have a trace of the influence w T hich Assyria exercised over 
 Asiatic, and thus even over Greek, music. 
 
 Guitar or tamboura (Koyunjik). 
 
 Player on the double pipe (Koyunjik). 
 
 The Assyrian double pipe was short, probably not exceeding- 
 ten or twelve inches in length . 9 It is uncertain whether it was 
 really a single instrument consisting of two tubes united by a 
 common mouth-piece, or whether it was not composed of two 
 quite separate pipes, as was the case with the double pipes of the 
 Greeks and Homans. 
 
 8 Plutarch. De Musica, p. 1135, F. 
 
 9 The Egyptian pipes seem to have 
 varied from seven to fifteen or eighteen 
 inches. (Wilkmson, p. 308.) The clas- 
 
 sical were probably even longer. In 
 Phoenicia a very short pipe Mas used, 
 M’hich M-as called gingrus, (A then. Deipn. 
 iv. p. 174, F.) 
 
Chap. YII. 
 
 TAMBOURINES AND CYMBALS. 
 
 535 
 
 The two pipes constituting a pair seem in Assyria to have 
 been always of the same length, not, like the Roman right 
 and “ left pipes,” of unequal length, and so of different pitches . 10 
 They were held and played, like the classical, one with either 
 hand of the performer. There can be little doubt that they 
 were in reality quite straight, though sometimes they have been 
 awkwardly represented as crooked by the artist. 
 
 Tambourine player, and other musicians (Koyunjik). 
 
 The tambourine of the Assyrians was round, like that in com- 
 mon use at the present day, not square, like the ordinary 
 Egyptian . 11 It seems to have consisted simply of a skin 
 stretched on a circular frame, and to have been destitute alto- 
 gether of the metal rings or balls which produce the jingling 
 sound of the modern instrument. It was held at bottom by the 
 left hand in a perpendicular position, and was struck at the side 
 with the fingers of the right. 
 
 10 See Pliny, H. N. xvi. 36, 
 
 n Wilkinson, pp. 235, 240, and 329. 
 
536 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. YII. 
 
 Assyrian cymbals closely resembled those in common use 
 throughout the East at the present day . 12 They consisted of 
 
 two hemispheres of metal, pro- 
 bably of bronze, running off to 
 a point, which was elongated 
 into a bar or handle. The 
 player grasped a cymbal in each 
 hand, and either clashed them 
 together horizontally, or else, 
 holding one cup-wise in his left, 
 brought the other down upon it 
 perpendicularly with his right. 
 
 Two drums are represented 
 on the Assyrian sculptures. One 
 is a small instrument resem- 
 bling the tubbul now frequently 
 used by Eastern dancing-girls . 13 
 The other is of larger size, like 
 the tubbul at top, but descending gradually in the shape of an 
 inverted cone, and terminating almost in a point at bottom. 
 Both were carried in front, against the stomach of the player, 
 attached, apparently, to his girdle ; and both were played in 
 the same way, namely, with the fingers of the open hands on 
 the top . 14 
 
 A few instruments carried by musicians are of an anomalous 
 appearance, and do not admit of identification with any known 
 species. One, which is borne by a musician in a processional 
 scene belonging to the time of Sennacherib, resembles in shape 
 a bag turned upside down. By the manner in which it is held, 
 we may conjecture that it was a sort of rattle — a hollow square 
 box of wood or metal, containing stones or other hard substances 
 which produced a jingling noise when shaken. But the purpose 
 
 Eunuch playing on the cymbals 
 (Koyunjik). 
 
 12 They are probably identical with 
 the “high-sounding cymbals” 
 
 Win) of Scripture. The “ loud cym- 
 bals ” ( were merely cas- 
 
 tanets. 
 
 13 Layard, Nineveh and Babylon , p. 
 455 . 
 
 14 For representations of these drums, 
 see opposite. 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 DRUMS AND DULCIMERS. 
 
 537 
 
 of the semicircular bow which hangs from the box is difficult to 
 explain, unless we suppose that it was merely a handle by which 
 to carry the instrument when not in use. Rattles of different 
 kinds are found among the musical instruments of Egypt ; 1 and 
 one of them consists of a box with a long handle attached to it. 
 
 Assyrian tubbuls, or drums (Koyunjik). 
 
 The jingling noise produced by such instruments may have cor- 
 responded to the sound now emitted by the side rings of the 
 tambourine. 
 
 Another curious-looking instrument occurs in a proces- 
 sional scene of the time of Asshur-bani-pal, which has been 
 compared to the modem santour, a sort of dulcimer . 2 It con- 
 sisted (apparently) of a number of strings, certainly not fewer 
 
 i Wilkinson, vol. ii. pp. 238, 322-327, &c. 2 Layard, Nine veh and Babylon , p. 454. 
 
53 ^ 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VII. 
 
 than ten, stretched over a hollow case or sounding-board. The 
 musician seems to have struck the strings with a small bar 
 
 trumpet. It is carried by one of the supervisors of the works 
 in a scene representing the conveyance of a colossal bull to 
 its destination. In shape it no doubt resembles the modern 
 speaking-trumpet, but it is almost equally near to the tuba or 
 military trumpet of the Greeks and Komans. This will ap- 
 pear sufficiently on a comparison of the two representations 
 opposite, one of which is taken from Mr. Layard’s representation 
 of Sennacherib’s slab , 3 while the other is from a sculpture on 
 the column of Trajan. As we have no mention of the speaking- 
 trumpet in any ancient writer, as the shape of the object under 
 consideration is that of a known ancient instrument of music, 
 
 3 See Monuments of Nineveh , 2nd Series, PI. 15. The original slab is in the 
 British Museum, but in so bad a condition that the trumpet is now scarcely visible. 
 
 or hammer held in his 
 right hand, while, at the 
 same time he made some 
 use of his left hand in 
 pressing them so as to 
 produce the right note. It 
 is clear that this instru- 
 ment must have been sus- 
 pended round the neck, 
 though the Assyrian artist 
 has omitted to represent 
 the belt which kept it in 
 place. 
 
 In addition to all these 
 various instruments, it is 
 possible that the Assyri- 
 ans may have made use 
 
 Musician playing the dulcimer (Koyunjik). 
 
 of a sort of horn. An 
 object is represented on 
 a slab of Sennacherib’s 
 which is certainly either 
 a horn or a speaking- 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 BANDS OF MUSIC. 
 
 539 
 
 and as an ordinary horn would have been of great use in giving 
 signals to workmen engaged as the labourers are upon the 
 sculpture, it seems best to 
 
 No. I. Roman trumpet (Column of Trajan). 
 
 No. II. Assyrian trumpet (Layard). 
 
 regard the object in ques- 
 tion as such a horn — an 
 instrument of great power, 
 but of little compass — more 
 suitable therefore for sig- 
 nal-giving than for con- 
 certs . 4 
 
 Passing now from the in- 
 struments of the Assyrians 
 to the general features and 
 
 character of their music, No nI Portion of an Assyrian trumpet, 
 we may observe, in the first 
 
 place, that while it is fair to suppose them acquainted with 
 each form of the triple symphony , 5 there is only evidence that 
 they knew of two forms out of the three viz. the harmony 
 of instruments, and that of instruments and voices in com- 
 bination. Of these two they seem greatly to have preferred 
 the concert of instruments without voices ; indeed, one instance 
 alone shows that they were not wholly ignorant of the more 
 complex harmony . 6 Even this leaves it doubtful whether they 
 themselves practised if, for the singers and musicians repre- 
 sented as uniting their efforts are not Assyrians, hut Susianians, 
 who come out to greet their conquerors, and do honour to the 
 new sovereign who has been imposed on them, with singing, 
 
 playing, and dancing. . , 
 
 Assyrian bands were variously composed. The simplest 
 consisted of two harpers. A band of this limited number seems 
 
 4 The trumpet was employed by the 
 Greeks and Romans, and also by the 
 Jews, chiefly for signals. (See Diet, of 
 Gr. and Rom. Antiq. ad voc. TUBA, and 
 Biblical Dictionary , ad voc. CORNET.) 
 
 5 See Rollin, Ancient History , vol. u. 
 
 P 254 * 
 
 6 See Nineveh and Babylon , p. 455. It 
 may perhaps be thought that the scene 
 where the king is represented as pouring | 
 
 a libation over four dead lions (supra, 
 p. 515; furnishes a second instance of 
 the combination of vocal with instru- 
 mental music. But a comparison of 
 that scene with parallel representations 
 on a larger scale in the Nimrud series 
 convinces me that it is merely by a 
 neglect of the artist that the two musi- 
 cians are given only one harp. 
 
540 
 
 THE SECOXD MONAECHY. 
 
 Chap. Yn. 
 
 to have been an established part of the religious creemonial 
 on the return of the monarch from the chase, when a libation 
 ^as poured over the dead game. The instrument in use on 
 these qccasions was the antique harp, which was played, not 
 with the hand, but with the plectrum. A similar band appears 
 
 on one occasion in a triumphal return from a military expedition 
 belonging to the time of Sennacherib . 7 
 
 Id several instances we find bands of three musicians. In 
 one case all three play the lyre. The musicians here are cer- 
 tainly captives, whom the Assyrians have borne off from their 
 
 7 Layard, Monuments of Nineveh, 1st Series, PI. 73. 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 BANDS OF MUSIC. 
 
 54 
 
 own country. It has been thought that their physiognomy is 
 Jewish , 8 and that the lyre which they bear in their hands may 
 represent that kind of “harp” which the children of the later 
 Captivity hung up upon the willows when they wept by the 
 rivers of Babylon . 9 There are no sufficient grounds, however, 
 for this identification. The lyre may be pronounced foreign, 
 since it is unlike any other specimen; but its ornamentation 
 with an animal head is sufficient to show that it is not Jewish . 10 
 And the Jewish hinnor was rather a harp than a lyre, and 
 had certainly more than four strings . 11 Still, the employment 
 of captives as musicians is interesting, though we cannot say 
 that the captives are Jews. It shows us that the Assyrians, like 
 the later Babylonians , 12 were in the habit of “ requiring ” music 
 from their prisoners, who, when transported into a “ strange land,” 
 had to entertain their masters with their native melodies. 
 
 Another band of three exhibits to us a harper, a player on 
 the lyre, and a player on the double pipe . 13 A third shows a 
 harper, a player on the lyre, and a musician whose instrument 
 is uncertain. In this latter case it is quite possible that there 
 may originally have been more musicians than three, for the 
 sculpture is imperfect, terminating in the middle of a figure . 14 
 
 Bands of four performers are about as common as bands of 
 three. On an obelisk belonging to the time of Asshur-izir-pal 
 we see a band composed of two cymbal-players and two per- 
 formers on the lyre. A slab of Sennacherib’s exhibits four 
 harpers arranged in two pairs, all playing with the plectrum 
 on the antique harp . 1 Another of the same date, which is in- 
 
 8 The authorities at our National Col- 
 lection at one time entitled the bas- 
 relief in question “ Jewish captives 
 playing on lyres.” 
 
 9 Ps. cxxxvii. 1, 2. 
 
 10 It is well known that the Jews 
 regard the second com- 
 mandment as forbid- 
 ding all artistic re- 
 presentation of natural 
 objects. 
 
 11 The authorities 
 vary between ten 
 strings and forty-seven. 
 
 LyrG (Smith's Biblical Dic- 
 
 tionary , vol. i. p. 758.) Hebrew coins, 
 however, represent lyres with as few 
 strings as three. 
 
 12 Ps. cxxxvii. 3, 4. 
 
 13 I am acquainted with this sculpture 
 only through one of Mr. Boutcher's ad- 
 mirable drawings in the British Museum 
 Collection. 
 
 14 This is also the case in a sculpture, 
 where two musicians play the lyre, and 
 a third had probably the same instru- 
 ment. (See Botta, Monument de Ninive , 
 vol. i. PI. 67.) 
 
 1 Both this and the obelisk sculpture 
 are now in the British Museum. 
 
542 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VII. 
 
 complete, shows us a tambourine- 
 player, a cymbal-player, a player 
 on the nondescript instrument 
 which has been called a sort of 
 rattle, and another whose instru- 
 ment cannot be distinguished. In 
 a sculpture of a later period, which 
 is represented above , 2 we see a 
 band of four, composed of a tam- 
 bourine-player, two players on two 
 different sorts of lyres, and a cym- 
 bal-player. 
 
 It is not often that we find 
 representations of bands contain- 
 ing more than four performers. 
 On the sculptures hitherto dis- 
 covered there seem to be only 
 three instances where this num- 
 ber was exceeded. A bas-relief of 
 Sennacherib’s showed five players, 
 of whom two had tambourines; 
 two, harps of the antique pattern ; 
 and one, cymbals . 3 Another, be- 
 longing to the time of his grand- 
 son, exhibited a band of seven, 
 three of whom played upon harps 
 of the later fashion, two on the 
 double pipe, one on the guitar, and 
 one on the long drum with the 
 conical bottom . 4 Finally, we have 
 the remarkable scene represented 
 on this page, a work of the same 
 date, where no fewer than twenty- 
 
 2 Supra, p. 535. 
 
 3 This sculpture is also known to me only 
 through Mr. Boutcher's representation of it. 
 
 4 A portion of this bas-relief, containing 
 two musicians only, is exhibited in the Mu- 
 seum, and has been represented above, page 
 493. Mr. Boutcher’s drawing, made on the 
 spot, shows that there were actually on the 
 relief as discovered at least five other musi- 
 cians. 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 TIME-KEEPERS. 
 
 543 
 
 six performers are seen uniting their efforts. Of these eleven 
 are players on instruments, while the remaining fifteen are 
 vocalists. The instruments consist of seven harps, two double 
 pipes, a small drum or tubbul, and the curious instrument which 
 has been compared to the modern santour. ihe players are 
 all men, six out of the eleven being eunuchs. The singers con- 
 sist of six women and nine children of various ages, the latter 
 of whom seem to accompany their singing, as the Hebrews and 
 Egyptians sometimes did , 5 with clapping of the hands. Three 
 out of the first four musicians are represented with one leg 
 raised, as if dancing to the measure . 6 
 
 Bands in Assyria had sometimes, 
 though not always, time-keepers or 
 leaders, who took the direction of the 
 performance. These were commonly 
 eunuchs, as indeed were the greater 
 number of the musicians. They held 
 in one hand a double rod or wand, 
 with which most probably they made 
 their signals, and stood side by side 
 facing the performers. 
 
 The Assyrians seem to have em- 
 ployed music chiefly for festive and 
 religious purposes. The favourite in- 
 strument in the religious ceremonies 
 was the antique harp, which continued 
 in use as a sacred instrument from the 
 earliest to the latest times . 7 On festive 
 occasions the lyre was preferred, or a 
 mixed band with a variety of instru- 
 ments. In the quiet of domestic life Time-keepers (Koyunjik). 
 the monarch and his sultana were en- 
 tertained with concerted music played bj a large number of 
 performers; while in processions and pageants, whether of a 
 
 5 Ps. xlvii. 1 ; Herod, ii. 60 ; Wilkin- 
 son, Ancient Egyptians , 1st Series, vol. 
 ii. p. 326. 
 
 6 See the representations on pages 530 
 
 and 538. 
 
 7 See Monuments of Nineveh, 1st Series, 
 Pis. 12 and 17, and compare the wood- 
 cut, supra, p. 515. 
 
544 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VII. 
 
 civil or of a military character, bands were also very generally 
 employed, consisting of two, three, four, five, or possibly more , 8 
 musicians. Cymbals, the tambourine, and the instrument which 
 has been above regarded as a sort of rattle, were peculiar to 
 these processional occasions : the harp, the lyre, and the double 
 pipe had likewise a place in them. 
 
 In actual war, it would appear that music was employed very 
 sparingly, if at all, by the Assyrians. No musicians are ever 
 represented in the battle-scenes ; nor are the troops accom- 
 panied by any when upon the march. Musicians are only seen 
 conjoined with troops in one or two marching processions, 
 apparently of a triumphal character. It may consequently be 
 doubted whether the Assyrian armies, when they went out on 
 their expeditions, were attended, like the Egyptian and Roman 
 armies , 9 by military bands. Possibly, the musicians in the pro- 
 cessional scenes alluded to belong to the court rather than to 
 the camp, and merely take part as civilians in a pageant, wherein 
 a share is also assigned to the soldiery. 
 
 In proceeding, as already proposed , 10 to speak of the naviga- 
 tion of the Assyrians, it must be at once premised that it is not 
 as mariners, but only as fresh- water sailors, that they come 
 within the category of navigators at all. Originally an inland 
 people, they had no power, in the earlier ages of their history, 
 to engage in any but the secondary and inferior kind of navi- 
 gation ; and it would seem that, by the time when they suc- 
 ceeded in opening to themselves through their conquests a way 
 to the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean, their habits had 
 become so fixed in this respect that they no longer admitted of 
 change. There is satisfactory evidence which shows that they 
 left the navigation of the two seas at the two extremities of 
 their empire to the subject nations — the Phoenicians and the 
 Babylonians , 11 contenting themselves with the profits without 
 
 8 The fragmentary character of the 
 sculptures renders it often doubtful 
 whether the actual number of the per- 
 formers may not have considerably ex- 
 ceeded the number at present visible. 
 
 9 Wilkinson, vol. ii. pp. 260, 261 ; 
 
 Liv. i. 43 ; Sueton. Vit. Jul. § 32 ; Amm . 
 Marc. xxiv. 4; &c. 
 
 10 Supra, p. 528. 
 
 11 The evidence is not merely nega- 
 tive. It is positively stated by Hero- 
 dotus that in the time of Assyrian 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 NAVIGATION. 
 
 545 
 
 sharing the dangers of marine voyages, while their own atten- 
 tion was concentrated upon their two great rivers— the Tigris 
 and the Euphrates, which formed the natural line of communi- 
 cation between the seas in question. 
 
 The navigation of these streams was important to the 
 Assyrians in two ways. In the first place it was a military 
 necessity that they should be able, readily and without delay , 
 to effect the passage of both of them, and also of their tribu- 
 taries, which were frequently too deep to be forded . 12 Now from 
 very early times it was probably found tolerably easy to pass 
 an army over a great river by swimming, more especially with 
 the aid of inflated skins, which would be soon employed for 
 the purpose. But the materiel of the army — the provisions, the 
 chariots, and the siege machines — was not so readily transported, 
 and indeed could only be conveyed across deep rivers by means 
 of bridges, rafts, or boats. On the great streams of the Tigris 
 and Euphrates, with their enormous spring floods, no bridge, in 
 the ordinary sense of the word, is possible . 13 Bridges of boats 
 are still the only ones that exist on either river below the point 
 at which they issue from the gorges of the mountains . 14 And 
 these would be comparatively late inventions, long subsequent 
 to the employment of single ferry boats. Probably the earliest 
 contrivance for transporting the chariots, the stores, and the 
 engines across a river was a raft, composed hastily of the trees 
 and bushes growing in the neighbourhood of the stream, and 
 rendered capable of sustaining a considerable weight by the 
 attachment to it of a number of inflated skins. A representation 
 of such a raft, taken from a slab of Sennacherib, has been 
 
 ascendancy the carrying trade of the 
 eastern Mediterranean was in the hands 
 of the Phoenicians (Herod, i. 1) ; and 
 Isaiah (xliii. 14) implies that the Chal- 
 daeans of his time retained the trade of 
 the Persian Gulf. 
 
 12 Herod, v. 52 ; and supra, pp. 185 
 and 188. 
 
 13 If even the Araxes (Aras) might 
 be truly said in Virgil’s time to “ abhor 
 a bridge ” (“ pontem indignatus Araxes,” 
 Virg. JEn. viii. 728), much more would 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 these two mightiest streams of Western 
 Asia have in the early ages defied the 
 art of bridge-building. 
 
 14 The lowest bridge over the Tigris 
 is that at Diarbekr, a stone structure 
 of ten arches; the lowest on the Eu- 
 phrates is, I believe, that at Eghin. Mr. 
 Berrington, a recent traveller in the 
 East, informs me that there is a ruined 
 bridge, which once crossed the Tigris, a 
 little below Jezireh. 
 
546 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. YII. 
 
 already given. 1 Bafts of this kind are still largely employed 
 in the navigation of the Mesopotamian streams, 2 and, being 
 extremely simple in their construction, may reasonably be 
 supposed to have been employed by the Assyrians from the 
 very foundation of their empire. 
 
 To these rafts would naturally have succeeded boats of one 
 kind or another. As early as the time of Tiglath-Pileser L (ab. 
 
 B.c. 1120) we find a mention 
 of boats as employed in the 
 passage of the Euphrates. 3 
 These would probably be of 
 the kind described by Hero- 
 dotus, 4 and represented on 
 one of the most ancient bas- 
 reliefs — round structures, like 
 the Welsh coracles, made of 
 wickerwork and covered with 
 skins, smeared over with a coating of bitumen. Boats of this 
 construction were made of a considerable size. The one above 
 represented contains a chariot and is navigated by two men. 
 In the later sculptures the number of navigators is raised to 
 four, and the boats carry a heavy load of stone or other material. 5 
 The mode of propulsion is curious and very unusual. The 
 rowers sit at the stem and stern, facing each other, and, while 
 those at the stem pull, those at the stern must have pushed, as 
 Herodotus tells us that they did. 6 The make of the oars is 
 also singular. In the earlier sculptures they are short poles 
 terminating in a head, shaped like a small axe or hammer; 7 
 
 Assyrian coracle (Nimrud). 
 
 1 See p. 338. 
 
 2 Layard, Nineveh and its Remains , 
 vol. ii. pp. 96-98 ; Nineveh and Babylon , 
 p. 465 ; Loft us, Chaldcea and Susiana , 
 p. 4. 
 
 3 Inscription of Tiglath-Pileser /., pp. 
 
 46, 47. Sir H. Rawlinson translates the 
 
 passage — “ The men of their armies, who 
 
 had fled before the face of the valiant i 
 servants of my lord Asshur, crossed | 
 
 over the Euphrates ; in boats covered | 
 
 j with bitumen skins I crossed the Euphrates 
 after them.” Mr. Fox Talbot renders 
 the last clause — “I crossed the river 
 after them in my boats formed of skins.” 
 
 4 Herod, i. 194. 
 
 5 Monuments of Nineveh, 2nd Series, 
 PI. 12. 
 
 6 Herod. 1. s. c. : 'O per earn e\Kei to 
 •n\r\KTpov, o Se e£o> udeei. 
 
 7 Monuments, 1st Series, Pis. 15 and 
 16. See also the last woodcut. 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 BOATS AND OAKS. 
 
 547 
 
 in the later, below this axe-like appendage, they have a sort 
 of curved blade, which is, however, not solid, but perforated, 
 so as to form a mere framework, which seems to require 
 
 Besides these round boats, which correspond closely with the 
 kufas in use upon the Tigris and Euphrates at the present 
 day , 8 the Assyrians employed for the passage of rivers, even in 
 very early times, a vessel of a more scientific construction. The 
 early bas-reliefs exhibit to us, together with the kufa, a second 
 and much larger vessel, manned with a crew of seven men — a 
 helmsman and six rowers, three upon either side 9 — and capable 
 of conveying across a broad stream two chariots at a time , 10 or 
 a chariot and two or three passengers. This vessel appears to 
 have been made of planks. It was long, and comparatively 
 narrow. It had a flattish bottom, and was rounded off towards 
 the stem and stern, much as boats are rounded off towards the 
 bows at the present day. It did not possess either mast or sail, 
 but was propelled wholly by oars, which were of the same shape 
 
 as those used anciently by 
 
 the rowers in the round "" y 
 
 boats. In the steersman’s „ ...... 
 
 hand is seen an oar of a 
 
 different kind. It is much longer than the rowing oars, and 
 terminates in an oval blade, which would have given it consi- 
 derable power in the water. The helmsman steered with both 
 hands ; and it seems that his oar was lashed to an upright post 
 near the stern of the vessel . 11 
 
 8 Chesney, Euphrates Expedition , vol. 
 ii. p. 640; Ker Porter, Travels , vol. ii. 
 p. 260 ; Layard, Nineveh and its Remains , 
 
 vol. ii. p. 381. 
 
 9 Layard, Monuments, 1st Series, PI. 
 
 15. Only three of the rowers are visible ; 
 
 but it is, I think, certain that there 
 
 must have been three others corre- 
 sponding to them on the other side of 
 the vessel. Por a representation of this 
 j kind of boat, see below, p. 549, No. I. 
 
 10 Ibid. PI. 16. 
 
 11 Layard, Nineveh and its Remains , 
 
 j vol. ii. p. 382. 
 
 2 n 2 
 
548 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VII. 
 
 It is evident that before armies could look habitually to being 
 transported across the Mesopotamian streams, wherever they 
 might happen to strike them in their expeditions, by boats of 
 these two kinds, either ferries must have been established at 
 convenient intervals upon them, or traffic along their courses 
 by means of boats must have been pretty regular. An Assyrian 
 army did not carry its boats with it, as a modern army does its 
 pontoons. Boats were commonly found in sufficient numbers 
 on the streams themselves when an army needed them, and 
 were impressed, or hired, to convey the troops across. And 
 thus we see that the ’actual navigation of the streams had 
 another object besides the military one of transport from bank 
 to bank. Bivers are Nature’s roads ; and we may be sure that 
 the country had not been long settled before a water communi- 
 cation began to be established between towns upon the river- 
 courses, and commodities began to be transported by means of 
 them. The very position of the chief towns upon the banks of 
 the streams was probably connected with this sort of transport, 
 the rivers furnishing the means by which large quantities of 
 building material could be conveniently concentrated at a 
 given spot, and by which supplies could afterwards be regularly 
 received from a distance. We see in the Assyrian sculptures 
 the conveyance of stones, planks, &c., along the rivers , 12 as well 
 as the passage of chariots, horses , 13 and persons across them. 
 Bafts and round boats were most commonly used for this pur- 
 pose. When a mass of unusual size, as a huge paving-stone, 
 or a colossal bull or lion, had to be moved, a long, low, flat- 
 bottomed boat was employed, which the mass sometimes more 
 than covered . 14 In this case, as there was no room for rowers, 
 trackers were engaged, who dragged the vessel along by means 
 of ropes, which were fastened either to the boat itself or to its 
 burthen. 
 
 During the later period of the monarchy various improve- 
 ments took place in Assyrian boat-building. The Phoenician 
 
 12 Monuments , 2nd Series, Pis. 10, 12, j Babylon , p. 232, and compare above, 
 
 and 13. p. 229. 
 
 13 For the transport of horses in boats, 14 Monuments, 2nd Series, PI. 10. 
 
 see a woodcut in Layard’s Nineveh and 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 GALLEYS. 
 
 549 
 
 and Cyprian expeditions of the later kings made the Assyrians 
 well acquainted with the ships of hrst-rate nautical nations ; and 
 they seem to have immediately profited by this acquaintance, in 
 order to improve the appearance and the quality of their own 
 river boats. The clumsy and inelegant long-boat of the earlier 
 times was replaced, even for ordinary traffic, by a light and 
 graceful fabric, which was evidently a copy from Phoenician 
 models. Modifications, which would seem trifling, if described, 
 
 adopted for their boats the inventions, with which their inter- 
 course with Phoenicia had rendered them perfectly familiar , 3 of 
 masts, and sails. This is probably to be explained from the 
 
 1 For other examples of the boats of 
 this time, see pp. 229 and 309. 
 
 2 See p. 361 for a representation of 
 such a bireme. 
 
 3 Masts and sails will be found in 
 representations of Phoenician vessels 
 
 (Layard, Monuments , 1st Series, PI. 71), 
 which belong to the time of Sennacherib. 
 Masts without sails appear in the sculp- 
 tures of Sargon. (Botta, Monument , 
 vol. i. Pis. 31 to 35.) 
 
550 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. YII. 
 
 extreme rapidity of the Mesopotamian 
 
 rivers, on which sailing 
 boats are still un- 
 common. The un- 
 failing strength of 
 rowers was needed 
 in order to meet and 
 stem the force of the 
 currents, and this 
 strength being pro- 
 vided in abundance, 
 it was not thought 
 
 Phoenician bireme (Koyunjik). 
 
 out by the addition of a second motive power 
 
 necessary to hus- 
 band it or eke it 
 . Again, the boats, 
 being intended only for peaceful purposes, were unprovided with 
 beaks, another invention well known to the Assyrians, and fre- 
 quently introduced into their sculptures in the representations 
 of Phoenician vessels. 
 
 In the Assyrian biremes the oars of the lower tier were 
 worked through holes in the vessel’s sides . 4 
 This arrangement would, of course, at 
 once supply a fulcrum and keep the oars 
 in their places. But it is not so easy to 
 see how the oar of a common row-boat, 
 or the uppermost tier of a bireme, ob- 
 tained their purchase on the vessel, and 
 were prevented from slipping along its side. 
 Assyrian vessels had no rulloeks, and in 
 genera] the oars are represented as simply 
 rested without any support on the upper 
 edge of the bulwark. But this can scarcely 
 have been the real practice ; and one or 
 two representations, where a support is 
 provided, may be fairly regarded as show- 
 ing what the practice actually was. In 
 the figure of a kufa, or round boat, already given , 5 it will be 
 
 Oar kept in place by pegs 
 (Koyunjik). 
 
 4 See the representation, p. 361. 
 
 5 Supra, p. 546. 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 COMMERCE. 
 
 SSi 
 
 seen that one oar is worked by means of a thong, like the 
 Tpoiros or t poirmrvp of the Greeks, which is attached to a ring 
 in the bulwark. In another bas-relief , 6 7 several of the oars of 
 similar boats are represented as kept in place by means of two 
 pegs fixed into the top of the bulwark and inclined at an angle 
 to one another. Probably one or other of these two methods of 
 steadying the oar was in reality adopted in every instance. 
 
 With regard to Assyrian commerce, it must at the outset be 
 remarked 'that direct notices in ancient writers of any real 
 authority are scanty in the extreme. The Prophet Nahum says 
 indeed, in a broad and general way ;> of Nineveh— “ Thou hast 
 multiplied thy merchants above the stars of heaven , and 
 Ezekiel tells us more particularly that Assyrian merchants, 
 along with others, traded with Tyre “'in blue clothes, and 
 broidered work, and in chests of rich apparel .” 8 But, except 
 these two, there seem to be no notices of Assyrian trade in any 
 contemporary or jwm'-contemporary author. Herodotus, writing 
 nearly two hundred years after the empire had come to an end, 
 mentions casually that “ Assyrian wares” had in very ancient 
 times been conveyed by the Phoenicians to Greece, and there 
 sold to the inhabitants . 9 He speaks also of a river traffic in his 
 own day between Armenia and Babylon along the course of the 
 Euphrates , 10 a fact which indirectly throws light upon the habits 
 of earlier ages. Diodorus, following Ctesias, declares that a 
 number of cities were established from very ancient times on 
 the banks of both the Tigris and the Euphrates, to serve as 
 marts for trade to the merchants who imported into Assyria the 
 commodities of Media and Parsetacene . 11 Among the most 
 important of these marts, as we learn from Strabo, were 
 
 6 Layard, Monuments , 2nd Series, Pis. I 
 12, 13. The entire bas-relief, of which 
 Mr. Layard has represented parts, may 
 be seen in the British Museum. 
 
 7 Nahum iii. 16. 
 
 8 Ezek. xxvii. 23, 24: “ Haran and 
 Canneh and Eden, the merchants of 
 Sheba, Asshur, and Chilmad, were thy 
 merchants. These were thy merchants in 
 
 all sorts of things [or, excellent things], in 
 
 blue clothes [or, foldings], and broidered 
 
 work, and in chests of rich apparel, 
 
 bound with cords, and made of cedar, 
 among thy merchandise.” In Ezek. 
 xxvii. 6, the Asshurites 
 are said to have made the Tyrians 
 “ benches of ivory ; ” but it is doubtful 
 if the Assyrians are intended. (Com- 
 pare Gen. xxv. 3.) 
 
 9 Herod, i. 1. 
 
 10 Ibid. i. 194. (Compare 185.) 
 
 11 Diod. Sic. ii. 11. 
 
552 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VII. 
 
 liphsach or Thapsacus on the Euphrates, and Opis upon the 
 Tigris . 12 
 
 It is from notices thus scanty, partial, and incidental, eked 
 out by probability, and further helped by a certain number of 
 important /acts with respect to the commodities actually used 
 in the country, whereof evidence has been furnished to us by 
 the recent discoveries, that we have to form our estimate of the 
 ancient commerce of the Assyrians. The Inscriptions throw’ 
 little or no light upon the subject. They record the march of 
 armies against foreign enemies, and their triumphant return 
 laden with plunder and tribute, sometimes showing incidentally 
 what products of a country were most in request among the 
 Assyrians ; but they contain no accounts of the journeys of 
 merchants, or of the commodities which entered or quitted the 
 country in the common course of trade. 
 
 The favourable situation of Assyria for trade has often 
 attracted remark . 1 Lying on the middle courses of two great 
 navigable streams, it was readily approached by water both 
 from the north-west and from the south-east. The communica- 
 tion between the Mediterranean and the Southern or Indian 
 Ocean naturally— almost necessarily— followed this route. If 
 Europe wanted the wares and products of India, or if India 
 required the commodities of Europe, by far the shortest and 
 easiest course was the line from the eastern Mediterranean 
 across Northern Syria, and thence by one or other of the two 
 great streams to the innermost recess of the Persian Gulf. The 
 route by the Nile, the canal of Neco, and the Red Sea, was 
 decidedly inferior, more especially on account of the dangerous 
 navigation of that sea, but also because it was circuitous, and 
 involved a voyage in the open ocean of at least twice the length 
 of the other . 2 
 
 Again, Assyria lay almost necessarily on the line of land 
 
 12 Strab. xvi. 3, § 4, and 1, § 9. 
 
 1 Heeren, Asiatic Nations, vol. ii. pp. 
 194-H8, E. T. ; Layard, Nineveh and its 
 Remains, vol. ii. p. 414 ; Vance Smith, 
 Prophecies relating to Nineveh, pp. 62, 
 63. 
 
 2 The distance from the Straits of 
 Bab el Mandeb to the western mouth of 
 the Indus is more than double that 
 from the Has Musendom to the same 
 point. The one is 800, the other 1800 
 miles. 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 LINES OF LAND TRAFFIC. 
 
 553 
 
 communication between the north-east and the south-west. 
 The lofty Armenian mountain-chains Niphates and the other 
 parallel ranges— towards the north, and the great Arabian 
 Desert towards the south, offered difficulties to companies of 
 land-traders which they were unwilling to face, and naturally 
 led them to select routes intermediate between these two obstacles^ 
 which could not fail to pass through some part or other of the 
 Mesopotamian region. 
 
 The established lines of land trade between Assyria and her 
 neighbours were probably very numerous, but the most import- 
 ant must have been some five or six. One almost certainly led 
 from the Urumiyeh basin over the Ksli-shin pass (lat. 3/ , long. 
 45° nearly), descending on Rowandiz, and thence following the 
 course of” the Greater Zab to Herir, whence it crossed the plain 
 to Nineveh. At the summit of the Keli-shin pass is a pillar of 
 dark blue stone, six feet in height, two in breadth, and one in 
 depth, let into a basement block of the same material, and 
 covered with a cuneiform inscription in the Scythic character. 3 
 At a short distance to the westward on the same route is another 
 similar pillar. 4 The date of the inscriptions falls within the 
 most flourishing time of the Assyrian empire, 5 and their erection 
 is a strong argument in favour of the use of this route (which is 
 one of the very few possible modes of crossing the Zagros range) 
 in the time when that empire was in full vigour. 
 
 Another line of land traffic probably passed over the same 
 mountain-range considerably further to the south. It united 
 Assyria with Media, leading from the Northern Ecbatana 
 (Takht-i-Suleiman) by the Banneh pass 6 to Sule'imaniyeh, and 
 thence by Kerkuk and Altun-Kiupri to Arbela and Nineveh. 
 
 There may have been also a route up the valley of the Lesser 
 Zab, by Koi-Sinjah and over the great Kandil range into 
 Lajihan. There are said to be Assyrian remains near Koi- 
 
 3 See the Journal of the Geographical | 
 Society , vol. x. p. 21. 
 
 4 Ibid. p. 22. ! 
 
 5 About b.c. 700. The inscriptions i 
 are in the early Scythic Armenian, and | 
 
 belong to a king called Minna , who 
 
 reigned at "V an towards the end of the 
 eighth century b.c. 
 
 6 This pass is the lowest and easiest 
 in the whole chain, and would therefore 
 almost certainly have come into use at 
 a very early date. 
 
554 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. YII. 
 
 Sinjah , 7 at a place called the Bihisht and Jehennen (“ the 
 Heaven and Hell ”) of Nimrud, but no account has been given 
 of them by any European traveller. 
 
 Westward there were probably two chief lines of trade with 
 Syria and the adjacent countries. One passed along the foot 
 of the Sinjar range by Sidikan ( Arbari) on the Kliabour to Tiph- 
 v sach (or Thapsacus) on the Euphrates, where it crossed the 
 Great Biver. Thence it bent southwards, and passing through 
 Tadinor, was directed upon Phoenicia most likely by way of 
 Damascus . 8 Another took a more northern line by the Mons 
 Masius to Harran and Seruj, crossing the Euphrates at Bir, 
 and thence communicating both with Upper Syria and with 
 Asia Minor. The former of these two routes is marked as a line 
 of traffic by the foreign objects discovered in such abundance 
 at Arban , 9 by the name Tiphsacb, which means “ passage ,” 10 
 and by the admitted object of Solomon in building Tadmor . 11 
 The other rests on less direct evidence; but there are indi- 
 cations of it in the trade of Harran with Tyre which is men- 
 tioned by Ezekiel , 12 and in the Assyrian remains near Seruj , 13 
 which is on the route from Harran to the Bir ford way. 
 
 Towards the north, probably the route most used was that 
 which is thought by many to be the line followed by Xenophon , 1 
 first up the valley of the Tigris to Til or Tilleh, and then along 
 the Bitlis Chai to the lake of Van' and the adjacent country. 
 Another route may have led from Nineveh to Nisibis, thence 
 through the Jebel Tur to Diarbekr, and from Diarbekr up the 
 Western Tigris to Arghana, Kharput, Malatiyeh, and Asia 
 Minor. Assyrian remains have been found at various points 
 
 7 This statement is made on the au- 
 thority of Sir H. Rawlinson. 
 
 8 See the article on Damascus in Dr. 
 Smith's Biblical Dictionary , vol. i. p. 383. 
 
 9 Layard, Nineveh and Babylon , pp. 
 280-282. 
 
 10 Tiphsach is formed from nos 
 
 “to pass over” (whence our word 
 “ Paschal ”), by the addition of the 
 prosthetic n. 
 
 11 That Solomon built Tadmor for 
 commercial purposes has been generally 
 
 seen and allowed. (Cf. Ewald, Geschichte 
 d. Volkes Israel , vol. iii. p. 344, 2nd ed. ; 
 Kitto, Biblical Cyclopaedia, vol. ii. p. 816 ; 
 Milman, History of the Je>cs, vol. i. p. 
 266.) 12 Ezek. xxvii. 23. 
 
 13 See above, p. 197. 
 
 1 Layard, Nineceh and Babylon, p. 49 
 and Map ; Ainsworth’s Travels in the 
 Track, &c., pp. 141-171. Mr. Ainsworth, 
 however, takes the Ten Thousand along 
 the route from Sert to Mush, leaving 
 the Van Lake considerably to the east. 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 IMPORTS. 
 
 555 
 
 along this latter line , 2 while the former is almost certain to have 
 connected the Assyrian with the Armenian capital . 3 
 
 Armenian productions would, however, reach Nineveh and 
 the other great central cities mainly by the Tigris, down which 
 they could easily have been floated from Tilleh or even from 
 Diarbekr. Similarly, Babylonian and Susianian productions, 
 together with the commodities which either or both of those 
 countries imported by sea, would find their way into Assyria up 
 the courses of the two streams, which were navigated by vessels 
 capable of stemming the force of the current, at least as high as 
 Opis and Tbapsacus . 4 * 
 
 We may now proceed to inquire what were the commodities 
 which Assyria, either certainly or probably, imported by these 
 various lines of land and water communication. Those of which 
 we seem to have some indication in the existing remains are 
 gold, tin, ivory, lead, stones of various kinds, cedar-wood, pearls, 
 and engraved seals. 
 
 Many articles in gold have been recovered at the various 
 Assyrian sites where excavations have been made ; and indi- 
 cations have been found of the employment of this precious 
 metal in the ornamentation of palaces and of furniture. The 
 actual quantity discovered has, indeed, been small ; but this 
 may be accounted for without calling in question the reality 
 of that extraordinary wealth in the precious metals which is 
 ascribed by all antiquity to Assyria . 6 This wealth no doubt 
 flowed in, to a considerable extent, from the plunder of con- 
 quered nations and the tribute paid by dependant monarchs. 
 But the quantity obtained in this way would hardly have 
 sufficed to maintain the luxury of the court and at the same 
 
 2 Chiefly by Mr. Consul Taylor, whose 
 discoveries in this region will be again 
 noticed in the Historical chapter. 
 
 3 There were perhaps two other 
 northern routes intermediate between 
 these : one leading up the Supnat or 
 river of Sophene — the eastern branch 
 
 of the true Tigris, and crossing the 
 Euphrates at Palou, where there is an 
 
 inscription in the Scythic Armenian; 
 
 and the other, described by Procopius 
 
 {Be JEdific. ii. 4), which crossed the 
 mountains between Redwan and Mush. 
 
 4 Strab. xvi. 1, § 9, and 3, § 3. 
 
 5 Layard, Nineveh and its Remains , 
 vol. i. pp. 30, 134 ; vol. ii. pp. 263, 264 ; 
 Nineveh and Babylon , p. 652. 
 
 6 Diod. Sic. ii. 27, 28 ; A then. Beipn. 
 xii. 37 ; Phoenix Coloph. ap. Athen. xii. 
 40; Plin. H. N. xxxiii. 15 ; Nahum ii. 
 9, &c. 
 
556 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VII. 
 
 time to accumulate, so that when Nineveh was taken there 
 was “ none end ” of the store . 7 It has been suggested 8 that 
 “ mines of gold were probably once worked within the Assyrian 
 dominions, although no gold is now known to be produced 
 anywhere within her limits. But perhaps it is more probable 
 that, like Judaea 9 and Phoenicia , 10 she obtained her gold in a 
 great measure from commerce, taking it either from the 
 Phoenicians, who derived it both from Arabia 11 and from the 
 West African coast , 12 or else from the Babylonians, who may 
 have imported it by sea from India . 13 
 
 I in, which has not been found in a pure state in the remains 
 of the Assyrians, but which enters regularly as an element into 
 their bronze, where it forms from one-tenth to one-seventh of 
 the mass , 14 was also, probably, an importation. Tin is a compa- 
 ratively rare metal. Abundant enough in certain places, it is 
 not diffused at all widely over the earth’s surface. Neither 
 Assyria itself nor any of the neighbouring countries are known 
 to have ever produced this mineral. Phoenicia certainly im- 
 ported it, directly or indirectly, from Cornwall and the Scilly 
 Isles, which therefore became first known in ancient geography 
 as the Cassiterides or “Tin Islands .” 15 It is a reasonable sup- 
 position that the tin, wherewith the Assyrians hardened their 
 bronze, was obtained by their merchants from the Phoenicians 16 
 in exchange for textile fabrics and (it may be) other commo- 
 dities. If so, we may believe that in many instances the pro- 
 
 7 The whole passage in Nahum runs 
 thus — “ Take ye the spoil of silver , take 
 the spoil of gold: for there is none end 
 of the store, the abundance of every 
 precious thing.” 
 
 8 Layard, Nineveh and its Remains , 
 
 vol. ii. p. 416. 
 
 9 1 Kings ix. 28, x. 11 ; Job xxii. 24. 
 
 10 Ezek. xxvii. 22. 
 
 11 The “merchants of Sheba” who 
 “ occupied ” in the fairs of Tyre with 
 “chief of all spices, and with all 
 precious stones and gold ” (Ezek. 1. c.), 
 were undoubtedly Arabians — i.e. Sa- 
 bseans of Yemen. (Heeren, Asiatic Na- 
 tions, vol. ii. p. 98, E. T. ; Poole in Smith’s 
 Biblical Dictionary , vol. i. p. 94, ad voc. 
 
 Arabia.) 
 
 12 Through the Carthaginians, their 
 colonists, who were the actual traders 
 in this quarter. (See Herod, iv. 196.) 
 
 13 Supra, p. 101. 
 
 14 See the results of Dr. Percy's 
 analysis of Assyrian bronzes in Mr. 
 Layard’s Nineveh and Babylon, Appendix, 
 pp. 670-672. 
 
 15 Compare Herod, iii. 115; Posidon. 
 Fr. 48 ; Polyb. iii. 57, § 3 ; Diod. Sic. 
 v. 22 and 38: Strab. iii. p. 197; Plin. 
 H. A. iv. 22; Timeeus ap. Plin. iv. 16 ; 
 Pomp. Mel. iii. 6 ; Solin. 26. According 
 to Diodorus and Strabo, the Phoenicians 
 likewise obtained tin from Spain. 
 
 16 Layard, Nineveh and Babylon, p. 191. 
 
Chap. YII. 
 
 IMPORTS. 
 
 557 
 
 duce of our own tin mines, which left our shores more than 
 twenty-five centuries ago, has, after twice travelling a distance 
 of many thousand miles, returned to seek a final rest in its 
 native country. 
 
 Ivory was used by the Assyrians extensively in their furni- 
 ture , 17 and was probably supplied by them to the Phoenicians 
 and the Greeks. It was no doubt sometimes brought to them 
 by subject nations as tribute ; 18 but this source of supply is not 
 sufficient to account, at once for the consumption in Assyria 
 itself, and for the exports from Assyria to foreign countries . 19 
 A regular trade for ivory seems to have been carried on from 
 very early times between India and Dedan (. Bahrein ?) in the 
 Persian Gulf . 20 The “ travelling companies of the Dedanim ,” 1 
 who conveyed this precious merchandise from their own country 
 to Phoenicia, passed probably along the course of the Euphrates, 
 and left a portion of their wares in the marts upon that stream, 
 which may have been thence conveyed to the great Assyrian 
 cities. Or the same people may have traded directly with 
 Assyria by the route of the Tigris. Again, it is quite con- 
 ceivable — indeed, it is probable — that there was a land traffic 
 between Assyria and Western India by the way of Cabul, Herat, 
 the Caspian Gates, and Media. Of this route we have a trace 
 in the land animals engraved upon the well-known Black 
 Obelisk, where the combination of the small-eared or Indian 
 elephant and the rhinoceros with the two-humped Bactrian 
 camel , 2 sufficiently marks the line by which the productions of 
 India, occasionally at any rate, reached Assyria. The animals 
 themselves were, we may be sure, very rarely transported. 
 
 17 Supra, pp. 372-375. The classical 
 writers were acquainted with this fact. 
 Dionysius Periegetes says that Semi- 
 ramis built a temple to Belus, 
 
 Xpverco. mS’ e\e<f>av ti, kcll apyvpco acncr)cra<Ta 
 H ‘ (1. 1008). 
 
 And Pestus Avienus declares of the 
 same building, 
 
 “Domus lndo dente nitescit.” (1. 931). 
 
 18 See Sir H. Rawlinson’s Commentary 
 on the Cuneiform Inscriptions of Babylonia 
 
 and Assyria , p. 48. 
 
 19 On this subject see Mr. Birch’s 
 Memoir in the Transactions of the Royal 
 Society of Literature , New Series, vol. 
 iii. p. 174. 
 
 20 See Heeren, Asiatic Nations , vol. ii. 
 p. 245, E. T. ; Poole in Smith’s Biblical 
 Dictionary , ad voc. Dedan. 
 
 1 Isaiah xxi. 13. Compare Ezek. 
 xxvii. 15. 
 
 2 See the illustration, supra, p. 230. 
 
558 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VII. 
 
 Indeed, it is not till the very close of the Persian empire that 
 we find elephants possessed — and even then in scanty numbers 
 —by the Western Asiatic monarclis . 3 But the more portable 
 products of the Indus region, elephants’ tusks, gold, and per- 
 haps shawls and muslins, are likely to have passed to the west 
 by this route with far greater frequency. 
 
 The Assyrians were connoisseurs in hard stones and gems, 
 which they seem to have imported from all quarters. The 
 lapis lazuli, which is found frequently among the remains as 
 the material of seals, combs, rings, jars, and other small objects, 
 probably came from Bactria or the adjacent regions, whence 
 alone it is procurable at the present day . 4 The cornelian used 
 for cylinders may have come from Babylonia, which, according 
 to Pliny , 5 furnished it of the best quality in the more ancient 
 times. The agates or onyxes may have been imported from 
 Susiana, where they were found in the bed of the Choaspes 
 (Kerhhah), or they may possibly have been brought from 
 India . 6 Other varieties are likely to have been furnished by 
 Armenia, which is rich in stones ; and hence too was probably 
 obtained the shamir, or emery-stone , 7 by means of which the 
 Assyrians were enabled to engrave all the other hard substances 
 known to them. 
 
 That cedar-wood was imported into Assyria is sufficiently 
 indicated by the fact that, although no cedars grew in the 
 country, the beams in the palaces were frequently of this 
 
 3 Darius Codomannus had but fifteen I 
 elephants at Arbela. (Arrian, Exp. 
 Alex. iii. 8.) 
 
 4 The best mines are those near Fyza- 
 bad, east of Balkh, on the upper Jihun 
 river (Fraser’s Kliorasan , pp. 105, 106). 
 The other localities where the stone is 
 found are the region about Lake Baikal, i 
 and some parts of Thibet and China. 
 (See Encycl. Britann. ad voc. Mine- 
 ralogy.) 
 
 5 Plin. H. N. x.\xvii. 7. 
 
 6 According to Ctesias the onyxes 
 used for seals by the Babylonians and 
 
 Assyrians were chiefly derived from 
 India. (Ctes. Ind. § 5.) Dionysius Perie- 
 getes speaks of agates as abundant in 
 
 the bed of the Choaspes (Perieq. 11. 1075- 
 1077). 
 
 7 See Theophrast. Be Lapid. p. 397 ; 
 Plin. H. N. xxxvi. 7 and 22. That the 
 Naxian stone of the Greeks and Romans 
 was emery is proved by Mr. King 
 ( Ancient Gems, p. 473), who believes it 
 to have been first used by, and to have 
 derived its name of “emery” from, 
 
 | the Assyrians. The Semitic shamir or 
 I sh’mir (TD&J>) became the Greek <rpvpis, 
 
 | Latin smyris or smiris, Italian smcriglio, 
 
 I French esmeril or timer il, and our 
 “emery.” It seems to be certain that 
 the Assyrian gems could not have been 
 engraved without emery. 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 IMPORTS. 
 
 559 
 
 material . 8 It may not, however, have been exactly an article 
 of commerce, since the kings appear to have cut it, after tlieii 
 successful expeditions into Syria, and to have carried it off 
 from Lebanon and Amanus as part of the plunder of the 
 country . 9 
 
 Pearls, which have been found in Assyrian ear-rings , 10 must 
 have been procured from the Persian Gulf, one of the few 
 places frequented by the shell-fish which produces them. The 
 pearl fisheries in these parts were pointed out to Nearchus, the 
 admiral of Alexander , 11 and bad no doubt been made to yield 
 their treasures to the natives of the coasts and islands from a 
 remote antiquity. The familiarity of the author of the Book of 
 Job with pearls 12 is to be ascribed to the ancient trade in them 
 throughout the regions adjoining the Gulf, which could not 
 fail to bring them at an early date to the knowledge of the 
 Hebrews. 
 
 Engraved stones, generally in the shape of scarabs, seem to 
 have been largely imported from Egypt into Assyria, where 
 they were probably used either as amulets or as seals, dhey 
 have been found in the greatest plenty at Arban“ on the lower 
 Khabour, the ancient Sidikan or Shadikanni, which lies nearly 
 at the extreme west of the Assyrian territory ; but many 
 specimens have likewise been obtained from ineveli and other 
 of the central Assyrian cities . 14 
 
 If we were to indulge in conjecture, we might add to this list 
 of Assyrian importations at least an equal number of com- 
 modities which, though they have not been found in the ancient 
 remains, may be fairly regarded, on grounds of probability, as 
 objects of trade between Assyria and her neighbours. Frank- 
 incense, which was burnt in such lavish profusion in the great 
 temple at Babylon , 15 was probably offered in considerable 
 quantities upon Assyrian altars, and could only have been 
 
 Nineveh and Babylon , p. 357. 
 
 9 Supra, p. 475. 
 
 10 Layard, Nineveh and Babylon , p. 
 
 8 Supra, p. 307. Compare Layard, 
 
 12 “No mention shall be made of 
 coral or of pearls : for the price of wis- 
 dom is above rubies ’ (Job xxviii. 18). 
 
 13 Layard, Nineveh and Babylon , pp. 
 
 595. 
 
 11 Arrian, Indica , p. 174. 
 
 281, 282. 
 
 14 Ibid. p. 280. 15 Herod, i. 183. 
 
560 
 
 THE SECOND MONAKCHY. 
 
 Chap. YII. 
 
 obtained from Arabia . 16 Cinnamon, which was used by the 
 Jews from the time of the Exodus , 17 and which was early 
 imported into Greece by the Phoenicians , 1 who received it from 
 the Arabians , 2 can scarcely have been unknown in Assyria 
 when the Hebrews were familiar with it. This precious spice 
 must have reached the Arabians from Ceylon or Malabar, the 
 most accessible of the countries producing it . 3 Muslins, shawls, 
 and other tissues are likely to have come by the same route as 
 the cinnamon ; and these may possibly have been among the 
 “blue clothes and broidered work and rich apparel,” which 
 the merchants of Asshur carried to Tyre in “chests, bound 
 with cords and made of cedar- wood .” 4 Dyes, such as the 
 Indian lacca , 5 raw cotton, ebony and other woods, may have 
 come by the same line of trade ; while horses and mules are 
 likely to have been imported from Armenia , 6 and slaves from 
 the country between Armenia and the Halys river . 7 
 
 If from the imports of Assyria we pass to her exports, we 
 leave a region of uncertain light to enter upon one of almost 
 total darkness. That the “ wares of Assyria ” were among the 
 commodities which the Phoenicians imported into Greece at a 
 very early period, we have the testimony of Herodotus ; 8 but 
 he leaves us wholly without information as to the nature of the 
 wares themselves. Ho other classical writer of real authority 
 touches the subject; and any conclusions that we may form 
 upon it must be derived from one of two sources, either general 
 probability, or the single passage in a sacred author which 
 
 16 Herod, iii. 107 : ’Ey 8e ravT-rj [ rrj I 
 ’ApajSn?] XifravwTos ian gov vrj x ca P^ v 
 iraaeuv (pvogevos. Virg. Georg, ii. 117: 
 
 “ Solis est thurea virga Sabseis.” 
 
 17 Ex. xxx. 23. 
 
 1 Herod, iii. 111. 2 Ibid. 
 
 3 Herodotus thought that cinnamon 
 was a product of Arabia (iii. 107). But 
 in this he was probably mistaken. (See 
 Pliny, H. N. xii. 19.) No true cinnamon 
 seems to grow nearer Europe than Ceylon 
 and Malabar. 
 
 4 Ezek. xxvii. 24. The conjecture is 
 made by Vincent ( Periplus , vol. i. p. 62). 
 
 5 See Heeren ( Asiatic Nations , vol. ii. 
 
 p. 208, E. T.). 
 
 6 Ezekiel tells us that Armenia (Togar- 
 mah) traded with Phoenicia in “ horses, 
 horsemen, and mules ” — or, more cor- 
 rectly, in “ carriage-horses, riding- 
 horses, and mules” (Hitzig, Comment. 
 ad voc.). In such articles Assyria would 
 be likely to be at least as good a cus- 
 tomer as Phoenicia. 
 
 7 Tubal and Meshech (the Tibareni 
 and Moschi) “ traded the persons of 
 men” in the market of Tyre (Ez. xxvii. 
 13). Their position in Assyrian times 
 was between Armenia and the Halys. 
 
 8 Herod, i. 1 : bopria ’Af rcvpia. 
 
Chap. VII. EXPORTS. 5& 1 
 
 gives ns a certain amount of authentic information . 9 From the 
 passage in question, which has been already quoted at length , 10 
 we learn that the chief of the Assyrian exports to Phoenicia 
 were textile fabrics, apparently of great value, since they were 
 most carefully packed in chests of cedar-wood secured by cords. 
 These fabrics may have been “ blue cloaks ,” 11 or “ em- 
 broidery ,” 12 or “rich dresses” of any kind , 13 for all these are 
 mentioned by Ezekiel ; but we cannot say definitely which 
 Assyria traded in, since the merchants of various other countries 
 are joined in the passage with hers. Judging by the monu- 
 ments, we should conclude that at least a portion of the 
 embroidered work was from her looms and workshops ; for, as 
 has been already shown, the embroidery of the Assyrians was 
 of the most delicate and elaborate description . 14 She is also 
 likely to have traded in rich apparel of all kinds, both such 
 as she manufactured at home and such as she imported from 
 the far East by the lines of traffic which have been pointed 
 out. Some of her own fabrics may possibly have been of 
 silk, which in Eoman times was a principal Assyrian ex- 
 port . 15 Whether she exported her other peculiar productions, 
 her transparent and coloured glass, her exquisite metal bowls, 
 plates, and dishes, her beautifully carved ivories, we cannot 
 say. They have not hitherto been found in any place be- 
 yond her dominion , 16 so that it would rather seem that she 
 produced them only for home consumption. Some ancient 
 notices appear to imply a belief on the part of the Greeks 
 and Romans that she produced and exported various spices. 
 Horace speaks of Assyrian nard , 17 Virgil of Assyrian amo- 
 
 n Ezek. xxvii. 23, 24. 
 
 10 Supra, p. 551, note 8 . 
 
 11 Neither the “clothes” of the Au- 
 thorised Version, which is the rendering 
 in the text, nor the “ foldings ” of the 
 margin, seems to give the true meaning. 
 
 Gdlom (Dibi) is from “ to wrap 
 
 together,” and means “ that in which a 
 man wraps himself,” “ a cloak.” Buxtorf 
 translates by “pallium.” {Lex. ad voc.) 
 
 12 JRikmah (nD|Tf) is the word used, 
 
 from U to embroider.” 
 
 13 The rare word D'D-IIS is explained 
 by R. Salomon as “ a general name for 
 beautiful garments in Arabic.” So Kim- 
 chi. (See Buxtorf ad voc.) 
 
 14 Pp. 397, 398. 
 
 15 Pliny, H. N. xi. 22 and 23. 
 
 16 The silver bowls found in Cyprus 
 are no exception, for Cyprus must be 
 regarded as within the dominions of 
 Assyria. .(See p. 370, note 2 .) 
 
 17 Hor. Od. ii. 11, 16: “Assyriaque 
 nardo.” 
 
 2 O 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
562 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. YII. 
 
 mum, ls Tibullus of Assyrian odours generally . 19 iEschylus has 
 an allusion of the same kind in his Agamemnon . 20 Euripides 21 
 and Theocritus , 22 who mention respectively Syrian myrrh and 
 Syrian frankincense, probably use the word “ Syrian ” for 
 “ Assyrian .” 23 The belief thus implied is not, however, borne 
 out by inquiry. Neither the spikenard ( Nardostachys Jata- 
 mansi), nor the amomum ( Amomum Cardamomum), nor the 
 myrrh tree (Balsamodendron Myrrha), nor the frankincense 
 tree ( Boswellia thurifera), nor any other actual spice , 24 is pro- 
 duced within the limits of Assyria, which must always have 
 imported its own spices from abroad, and can only have supplied 
 them to other countries as a carrier. In this capacity she may 
 very probably, even in the time of her early greatness, have 
 conveyed on to the coast of Syria the spicy products of Arabia 
 and India, and thus have created an impression, which after- 
 wards remained as a tradition, that she was a great spice-pro- 
 ducer as well as a spice-seller. 
 
 In the same way, as a carrier, Assyria may have exported 
 many other commodities. She may have traded with the 
 Phoenicians, not only in her own products, but in the goods 
 which she received from the south and east, from Bactria, 
 India, and the Persian Gulf — such as lapis - lazuli, pearls, 
 cinnamon, muslins, shawls, ivory, ebony, cotton. On the other 
 hand, she may have conveyed to India, or at least to Babylon, 
 the productions which the Phoenicians brought to Tyre and 
 Sidon from the various countries bordering upon the Medi- 
 terranean Sea and even the Atlantic Ocean — as tin, hides, 
 pottery, oil, wine, linen. On this point, however, we have at 
 
 18 Virg. Eel. iv. 25 : 
 
 “ Assyrium vulgb nascetur amomum.” 
 
 19 Tibull. Eleg. i. 3, 7 : 
 
 “Non soror, Assyrios cineri quae dedat 
 odores.” 
 
 20 iEschyl. Agam. 1. 1285 : 
 
 Ov "Xvpiov aykai(Tfj.a. Swp.curu’ A. eye is. 
 
 21 Eurip. Bacch. 1. 144: 
 
 2vpias kiftavov kottvos. 
 
 22 Theocr. Idyll, xv. 114: 
 
 2vpiu> Se fjLvpu> xpvarei’ aAdj3a<rrp«. 
 
 23 On the indifferent use of the terms 
 
 “Syrian” and “Assyrian” by the 
 Greeks, see the author’s Herodotus , vol. 
 iv. p. 51, 2nd edition. 
 
 24 There are many spicy shrubs and 
 plants in Assyria, such as those noticed 
 by Xenophon ( Anab . i. 5, § 1) ; but, I 
 believe, none of the plants which pro- 
 duce the spices of commerce. (See Mr. 
 Ainsworth’s Researches in Assyria, &c., 
 p. 34.) Strabo, however, it must be 
 admitted, distinctly asserts that amomum 
 was produced in Mesopotamia Proper 
 (xvi. p. 1010). 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 AGKICULTUKE. 
 
 563 
 
 present no evidence at all ; and, as it is not the proper office of 
 an historian to indulge at any length in mere conjecture, the 
 consideration of the commercial dealings of the Assyrians may 
 be here brought to a close. 
 
 On the agriculture of the Assyrians a very few remarks will 
 be offered. It has been already explained that the extent of 
 cultivation depended entirely on the conveyance of water . 1 
 There is good reason to believe that the Assyrians found a way 
 to spread water over almost the whole of their territory. Either 
 by the system of kanats or subterranean aqueducts, which has 
 prevailed in the East from very early times , 2 or by an elaborate 
 network of canals, the fertilising fluid was conveyed to nearly 
 every part of Mesopotamia, which shows by its innumerable 
 mounds, in regions which are now deserts, how large a popu- 
 lation it was made to sustain under the wise management of 
 the great Assyrian monarchs . 3 Huge dams seem to have been 
 thrown across the Tigris in various places, one of which (the 
 Awai) still remains , 4 seriously impeding the navigation. It is 
 formed of large masses of squared stones, united together by 
 cramps of iron. Such artificial barriers were intended, not (as 
 Strabo believed 5 ) for the protection of the towns upon the 
 river from a hostile fleet, but to raise the level of the stream 
 in order that its water might flow off into canals on one bank 
 or the other, whence they could be spread by means of minor 
 channels over large tracts of territory. The canals themselves 
 
 1 See pp. 214, 215. 
 
 2 Herodotus indicates some knowledge 
 of the system when he relates that Cam- 
 byses’ army, in its passage across the 
 desert between Syria and Egypt, was in 
 part supplied with water by means of 
 pipes derived from a distant river which 
 conducted the fluid into cisterns (iii. 9). 
 
 Polybius says that the plan was widely 
 adopted by the Persians in the time of 
 their empire (x. 28, § 3). Strabo says 
 that the pipes and reservoirs (c rvpi-yyes 
 and vdpeia ) of Western Asia were popu- 
 larly ascribed to Semiramis (xvi. 1, § 2). 
 
 3 Layard, Nineveh and its Remains , 
 vol. i. p. 314 ; Nineveh and Babylon, pp. 
 
 241-246. 
 
 4 Layard, Nineveh and its Remains, 
 
 vol. i. p. 8. In his Nineveh and Babylon, 
 Mr. Layard throws some doubt upon the 
 real purpose of this w'ork, which he in- 
 clines to regard as the wall of a town, 
 rather than a dam for purposes of irri- 
 gation (p. 466). But Captain Jones 
 thinks the work was certainly a “ great 
 dam.” ( Journal of the Asiatic Society , 
 | vol. xv. p. 343.) 
 
 5 Strab. xvi. I, § 9. This seems to 
 have been the conjecture of the Greeks 
 who accompanied Alexander. They 
 found the dams impede their own ships, 
 and could not see that they served any 
 other purpose, since the irrigation 
 system had gone to ruin as the Persian 
 Empire declined. ^See Arrian, Exp. 
 Alex. vii. 7.) 
 
 2 0 2 
 
564 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap, YIL 
 
 have in most cases been gradually filled up. In one instance, 
 however, owing either to the peculiar nature of the soil or to 
 some unexplained cause, we are still able to trace the course 
 of an Assyrian work of this class, and to observe the manner 
 and principles of its construction. 
 
 In the tract of land lying between the lower course of the 
 Great Zab Eiver and the Tigris, in which was situated the im- 
 portant town of Calah (now Nimrud), a tract which is partly 
 alluvial, but more generally of secondary formation, hard gravel, 
 sandstone, or conglomerate, are the remains of a canal un- 
 doubtedly Assyrian , 6 which was carried for a distance of more 
 than five-and-twenty miles from a point on the Khazr or Ghazr 
 Su, a tributary of the Zab, to the south-eastern corner of the 
 Nimrud ruins. Originally the canal seems to have been derived 
 from the Zab itself, the water of which was drawn off, on its 
 northern bank, through a short tunnel — the modern Negoub — 
 and then conducted along a cutting, first by the side of the 
 Zab, and afterwards in a tortuous course across the undulating 
 plain, into the ravine formed by the Shor-Derreh torrent. The 
 Zab, when this part of the work was constructed, ran deep 
 along its northern bank, and sending a portion of its waters 
 into the tunnel maintained a constant stream in the canal. 
 But after a while the river abandoned its north bank for the 
 opposite shore ; and, water ceasing to flow through the Negoub 
 tunnel, it became necessary to obtain it in some other way. 
 Accordingly the canal was extended northwards, partly by 
 cutting and partly by tunnelling, to the Ghazr Su at about two 
 miles above its mouth, and a permanent supply was thenceforth 
 obtained from that stream . 7 The work may have been intended 
 in part to supply Calah with mountain-water ; 8 but the remains 
 
 6 The Assyrian inscription found by 
 Mr. Layard in the tunnel at Negoub, of 
 which he copied a portion imperfectly 
 before its destruction ( Nineveh and its 
 Remains , vol. i. p. 80 sufficiently proves 
 this. 
 
 7 See the Journal of the Asiatic Society , 
 
 vol. xv. pp. 310, 311. 
 
 8 Captain Jones regards this as its 
 
 sole object {Asiatic Society’s Journal , 
 
 1. s. c.) ; but Mr. Layard is probably 
 right in his view that irrigation was 
 at least one purpose which the canal 
 was ‘intended to subserve {Nineveh and 
 its Remains, vol. i. p. 81). Several canals 
 for irrigation seem to have been made 
 by Sennacherib ( Nineveh and Babylon, 
 p. 212). 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 CANALS. 
 
 565 
 
 of dams and sluices along its course 9 sufficiently show that it 
 was a canal for irrigation also. From it water was probably 
 derived to fertilise the whole triangle lying south of Nimrud 
 between the two streams, a tract containing nearly thirty 
 square miles of territory, mostly very fertile, and with careful 
 cultivation well capable of supporting the almost metropolitan 
 city on which it abutted. 
 
 In Assyria it must have been seldom that the Babylonian 
 system of irrigation could have been found applicable, and the 
 water simply derived from the rivers by side-cuts, leading it off 
 from the natural channel . 10 There is but little of Assyria 
 
 9 These are “ ingeniously formed from 
 the original rock left standing in the 
 centre.” (Jones, ut supra.) 
 
 10 Irrigation of this simple kind is 
 
 applicable to parts of Eastern Assyria, 
 between the Tigris and the mountains. 
 (See Layard, Nineveh and Babylon , p. 
 224 .) 
 
566 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. YII. 
 
 which is flat and alluvial ; the land generally undulates, and 
 most of it stands at a considerable height above the various 
 streams. The water therefore requires to be raised from the 
 level of the rivers to that of the lands before it can be spread 
 over them, and for this purpose hydraulic machinery of one 
 kind or another is requisite. In cases where the kanat or 
 subterranean conduit was employed, the Assyrians probably 
 (like the ancient and the modern Persians 11 ) sank wells at 
 intervals, and raised the water from them by means of a bucket 
 and rope, the latter working over a pulley . 12 Where they 
 could obtain a bank of a convenient height overhanging a 
 river, they made use of the hand-swipe , 13 and with its aid 
 lifted the water into a tank or reservoir, whence they could 
 distribute it over their fields. In some instances, it would 
 seem, they brought water to the tops of hills by means of 
 aqueducts, and then constructing a number of small channels, 
 let the fluid trickle down them among their trees and crops . 14 
 They may have occasionally, like the modern Arabs , 15 em- 
 ployed the labour of an animal to raise the fluid; but the 
 monuments do not furnish us with any evidence of their use of 
 this method. Neither do we find any trace of water-wheels, 
 such as are employed upon the Orontes and other swift rivers, 
 whereby a stream can itself be made to raise water for the land 
 along its banks . 1 # 
 
 According to Herodotus, the kinds of grain cultivated in 
 Assyria in his time were wheat, barley, sesame, and millet . 2 
 As these still constitute at the present day the principal 
 agricultural products of the country , 3 we may conclude that 
 
 11 For the ancient practice see Polyb. 
 1. s. c. ; for the modern compare Mal- 
 colm, History of Persia , vol. i. p. 14 ; 
 Chesney, Euphrates Expedition , vol. ii. 
 p. 657. 
 
 12 See the representation on p. 404. 
 
 33 See Layard’s Monuments , 2nd Series, 
 
 PI. 15 ; and compare above, p. 215. 
 
 14 An instance of this mode of irriga- 
 tion appears on a slab of the Lower 
 Empire, part of which is represented on 
 p. 310. 
 
 13 Layard, Nineveh and its Remains , 
 
 vol. i. pp. 353, 354. 
 
 1 Stanley, Sinai and Palestine , p. 400. 
 Abulfeda says that the Orontes acquired 
 its name of El Asi, “ the rebel,” from 
 its refusal to water the lands unless 
 compelled by water-wheels (Tabl. Syr. 
 pp. 149, 150, ed. Kohler). The wheels 
 upon the Rhone below Geneva will be 
 familiar to most readers. 
 
 2 Herod, i. 193. 
 
 3 Layard, Nineveh and its Remains , 
 vol. ii. p. 423. 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS. 
 
 567 
 
 they were in all probability 
 the Empire. The plough 
 used, if we may judge by 
 the single representation 
 of it which has come down 
 to us , 4 was of a rude 
 and primitive construc- 
 tion — a construction, how- 
 ever, which will bear com- 
 parison with that of the 
 implements to this day in 
 use through modern Tur- 
 key and Persia . 5 Of other 
 agricultural implements 
 we have no specimens at 
 all, unless the square in- 
 strument with a small 
 circle or wheel at each 
 corner, which appears on 
 
 the chief species cultivated under 
 
 a 
 
 No. I. Assyrian drill-plough (from Lord 
 Aberdeen’s Black Stone;. 
 
 No. II. Modern Turkish plough. 
 
 the same monument as the No . in. Modem Arab plough, 
 
 plough, may be regarded 
 
 as intended for some farming purpose. _ 
 
 Besides grain, it seems certain that the Assyrians cultivated 
 the vine. The vine will grow well in many parts of Assyria ; 6 
 and the monuments represent vines, with a great deal of truth ) 
 not merely as growing in the countries to which the Assyrians 
 made their expeditions, but as cultivated along the sides of 
 the rivers near Nineveh , 7 and in the gardens belonging to the 
 
 4 Mr. Layard calls this plough Baby- I 
 Ionian rather than Assyrian (ib. p. 422). j 
 But the black stone on which it is en- j 
 graved is a monument of Esarhaddon. | 
 
 5 See Fellows’s Asia Minor , P-71; | 
 
 and compare his Lycia, p. 174. See 
 also C. Niebuhr’s Description de l Arabte, 
 opp p 137. The chief point in which 
 the ’Assyrian plough, as above repre- 
 sented, differs from the ordinary models, 
 is in the existence of an apparatus (a 6) 
 for drilling the seed. It is evident that 
 
 the bowl a was filled with grain, which 
 ran down the pipe b, and entered the 
 ground immediately after the plough- 
 share, at the point c, 
 
 6 See p. 218, note \ To the places 
 
 there mentioned, I may add the vicinity 
 of Bavian, on the authority of the MS. 
 notes communicated to me by Mr. Ber- 
 rington. . . 
 
 7 Layard, Monuments , 2nd Series. 
 Pis. 14, 15, and 17. 
 
568 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. YII. 
 
 palaces of the kings . 8 In the former case they appear to grow 
 without any support, and are seen in orchards intermixed with 
 other fruit-trees, as pomegranates and figs. In the latter they 
 are trained upon tall trees resembling firs, round whose stems 
 they twine themselves, and from which their rich clusters droop. 
 Sometimes the long lithe boughs pass across from tree to tree, 
 forming a canopy under which the monarch and his consort sip 
 their wine . 9 
 
 Before concluding this chapter a few remarks will be added 
 upon the ordinary private life of the Assyrians, so far as the 
 monuments reveal it to us. Under this head will be included 
 their diess, their food, their houses, furniture, utensils, carriages, 
 &c., their various kinds of labour, and the' implements of labour 
 which were known to them. 
 
 The ordinary dress of the common people in Assyria was a 
 mere plain tunic, or shirt, reaching from the neck to a little 
 above the knee, with very short sleeves, and confined round the 
 waist by a broad belt or girdle . 10 Nothing was worn either upon 
 the head or upon the feet. The thick hair, carried in large 
 waves from the forehead to the back of the head, and then 
 carefully arranged in three, four, or five rows of stiff curls, was 
 regarded as a sufficient protection both from sun and rain. ’ No 
 head-covering was ever worn, except by soldiers, and by certain 
 officials, as the king, priests, and musicians. Sometimes, if the 
 hair was very luxuriant, it was confined by a band or fillet, 
 which was generally tied behind the back of the head. The 
 beard was worn long, and arranged with great care, the elabora- 
 tion being pretty nearly the same in the case of the king and of 
 the common labourer. Labourers of a rank a little above the 
 lowest wore sandals, indulged in a fringed tunic, and occasionally 
 in a phillibeg ; while a still higher class had the fringed tunic 
 and phillibeg, together with the close-fitting trouser and boot 
 worn by soldiers. 11 . These last are frequently eunuchs, who pro- 
 
 * ® ee a J bove > P- S53> I supra, pp. 526 and 527. 
 
 J Spp thP rpnrAconfofiAn ~ 11 t , ^ 
 
 9 See the representation given above, 
 p. 493. 
 
 10 See, for instance, the fishermen, 
 
 Layard, Monuments , 2nd Series, PI. 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 DRESS OF THE UPPER CLASSES. 
 
 569 
 
 bably belonged to a corps of eunuch labourers in the employ of 
 the king. 
 
 Persons of the humbler labouring class wear no ornament, 
 neither armlet, bracelet, nor ear-rings. Armlets and bracelets 
 mark high rank, and indeed are rarely found unless the wearer 
 is either an officer of the court, or at any rate a personage of some 
 consideration. Ear-rings seem to have descended lower. They 
 are worn by the attendants on sportsmen, by musicians, by 
 cavalry soldiers, and even occasionally by foot soldiers. In this 
 last case they are seldom more than a simple ring, which may 
 have been of bronze or of bone. In other cases the ring mostly 
 supports a long pendant . 12 
 
 Men of rank appear to have worn commonly a long fringed 
 robe reaching nearly to the feet . 13 The sleeves were short, only 
 just covering the shoulder. Down to the waist, the dress closely 
 fitted the form, resembling, so far, a modern jersey ; below this 
 there was a slight expansion, but still the scantiness of the robe 
 is very remarkable. It had no folds, and must have greatly 
 interfered with the free play of the 
 limbs, rendering rapid movements 
 almost impossible. A belt or girdle 
 confined it at the waist, which was 
 always patterned, sometimes elabo- 
 rately. If a sword was carried, as was frequently the case, it was 
 suspended, nearly in a horizontal position, by a belt over the 
 left shoulder, to which it was attached by a 
 ring, or rings, in the sheath . 1 There is often 
 great elegance in these cross-belts, which look 
 as if they were embroidered with pearls or 
 beads. Fillets, ear-rings, armlets, and (in 
 most instances) bracelets were also worn by Assyrians of the 
 upper classes. The armlets are commonly simple bands, twisted 
 round the arm once or twice, and often overlapping at the ends, 
 which are plain, not ornamented. The bracelets are of slighter 
 
 Ornamental belt or girdle 
 (Koyunjik). 
 
 Ornamental cross- 
 belt (Khorsabad). 
 
 12 For specimens of ear-rings, see 
 p. 371. 
 
 13 This robe closely resembled the 
 under-garment of the monarch. See 
 
 above, p. 491. 
 
 1 Botta, Monument de Ninive , vol. ii. 
 Pis. Ill to 114; Layard, Monuments , 
 2nd Series, Pi. 32. 
 
570 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. YU. 
 
 construction ; their ends do not meet ; they would seem to have 
 been of thin metal, and sufficiently elastic to be slipped over 
 the hand on to the w r rist, which they then fitted closely. 
 Generally they were quite plain ; but sometimes, like the royal 
 bracelets, they bore in their centre a rosette . 2 Sandals, or in 
 the later times shoes, completed the ordinary costume of the 
 Assyrian “ gentleman.” 
 
 Armlets of Assyrian grandees (Khorsabad). 
 
 Sometimes both the girdle round the waist, and the cross- 
 belt, which was often worn without a sword, were deeply fringed, 
 the two fringes falling one over the other, and covering the 
 whole body from the chest to the knee . 3 Sometimes, but more 
 rarely, the long robe was discarded, and the Assyrian of some 
 rank wore the short tunic, which was then, however, always 
 fringed, and commonly ornamented with a phillibeg . 4 
 
 Certain peculiar head-dresses and peculiar modes of arranging 
 the hair deserve special attention from their singularity. They 
 belong in general to musicians, priests, and other official per- 
 sonages, and may perhaps have been badges of office. For 
 instance, musicians sometimes wear on their heads a tall stiff 
 cap shaped like a fish’s tail ; 5 at other times their head-dress is 
 a sort of tiara of feathers . 6 Their hair is generally arranged in 
 the ordinary Assyrian fashion ; but sometimes it is worn com- 
 paratively short, and terminates in a double row of crisp curls . 7 
 
 2 Botta, Pis. 12 and 14. cap occur in the British Museum sculp- 
 
 3 Ibid. Pis. 60 to 66, 110. . tures. Both are from Sennacherib’s 
 
 4 Layard, Monuments , 2nd Series, PI. palace at Koyunjik. 
 
 32; Botta, Pis. 108, 109, and 1L1. 6 See the illustration on page 533. 
 
 5 See Woodcut, No. I., on the next 7 Botta, vol. i. PI. 67. See above, p. 
 page. Two instances of this remarkable ! 532. 
 
Chap. YU. 
 
 CUKIOUS HEAD-DRESSES. 
 
 571 
 
 Priests have head-dresses shaped like truncated cones . 8 A 
 cook, in one instance , 9 wears a cap not unlike the tiara of the 
 
 N °- 
 
 monarch, except that it is plain, and is not surmounted by an 
 apex or peak. A harper has the head covered with a close- 
 fitting cap, encircled with a row of large 
 beads or pearls, from which a lappet de- 
 pends behind, similarly ornamented . 10 A 
 colossal figure in a doorway, apparently a 
 man, though possibly representing a god, 
 has the hair arranged in six monstrous 
 curls, the lowest three resting upon the 
 
 shoulder . 11 HHSS mill. 
 
 Women of the better sort seem to have 1 
 
 been dressed in sleeved gowns, less scanty 
 than those of the men, and either stupe , the hair (Koyunjik). 
 or else patterned and fringed. Outside 
 
 this they sometimes wore a short cloak of the same pattern as 
 the gown, open in front and falling over the arms, which it 
 covered nearly to the elbows. Their hair was either arranged 
 over the whole of the head in short crisp curls, or earned back 
 
 8 Layard, 2nd Series, Pis. 24 and 50. 
 
 9 Ibid. 1st Series, PI. 30. 
 
 10 This curious head-dress occurs on 
 a slab from the palace of Asshur-bam- 
 
 pal at Koyunjik, which is now in the 
 
 British Museum. . 
 
 11 Mr. Layard has a representation ot 
 this figure : Monuments , 2nd Series, PI. 6. 
 
572 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VII. 
 
 in waves to the ears, and then in part twisted into long pen- 
 dent ringlets, in part curled, like that of the men, in three or 
 
 four rows at the back of the 
 neck. A girdle was probably 
 worn round the waist, such 
 as we see in the represen- 
 tations of goddesses , 12 while 
 a fringed cross-belt passed 
 diagonally across the breast, 
 being carried under the right 
 arm and over the left shoul- 
 der. The feet seem to have 
 been naked, or at best pro- 
 tected by a sandal. The 
 head was sometimes encir- 
 cled with a fillet. 
 
 Women thus appareled 
 are either represented as 
 sitting in chairs and drink- 
 ing from a shallow cup, or 
 else as gathering grapes, 
 which, instead of growing 
 naturally, hang upon branches that issue from a winged circle. 
 The circle would seem to be emblematic of the divine power 
 which bestows the fruits of the earth upon man. 
 
 The lower class of Assyrian women are not represented upon 
 the sculptures. We may perhaps presume that they did not 
 dress very differently from the female captives so frequent on 
 the bas-reliefs, whose ordinary costume is a short gown not 
 covering the ankles, and an outer garment somewhat resembling 
 the chasuble of the king . 13 The head of these women is often 
 covered with a hood : where the hair appears, it usually descends 
 in a single long curl. The feet are in every case naked. 
 
 The ornaments worn by women appear to have been nearly 
 the same as those assumed by men. They consisted principally 
 
 Female seated. ("From an ivory in the 
 British Museum.) 
 
 12 Layard, Monuments , 1st Series, PI. 65. 13 See the illustration, supra, p. 480. 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 ORNAMENTS WORN BY WOMEN. 
 
 573 
 
 of ear-rings, necklaces, and bracelets. Ear-rings have been 
 found in gold and in bronze, some with and some without places 
 for jewels. One gold ear-ring still held its adornment of pearls . 14 
 Bracelets were sometimes of glass, and were slipped over the 
 hand. Necklaces seem commonly to have been ol beads, strung 
 
 together. A necklace in the British Museum is composed of 
 glass beads of a light blue colour, square in shape and flat, with 
 horizontal flutings . 15 Glass finger-rings have also been found, 
 
 which were probably worn by women. 
 
 We have a few remains of Assyrian toilet articles. A 
 bronze disk, about five inches in diameter, with a long handle 
 attached, is thought to have been a mirror. In its general 
 shape it resembles both the Egyptian and the classical mir- 
 
 14 Layard, Nineveh and Babylon , p. 595. 
 
 15 See the woodcut overleaf. 
 
574 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VII. 
 
 rors ; 16 but, unlike them, it is perfectly plain, even the handle being 
 a mere flat bar . 17 We have also a few combs. One of these 
 
 is of iron, about three and 
 a half inches long, by two 
 inches broad in the mid- 
 dle. It is double, like a 
 modern small-tooth comb, 
 but does not present 
 the feature, common in 
 Egypt , 18 of a difference 
 in the size of the teeth on 
 the two sides. The very 
 ancient use of this toilet 
 article in Mesopotamia is 
 
 Necklace of flat beads (British Museum). • j j r .1 n , 
 
 v J evidenced by the fact, 
 
 already noticed , 19 that it was one of the original hieroglyphs, 
 whence the later letters were derived. Another comb is of 
 lapis-lazuli, and has only a single row of teeth. The small vases 
 of alabaster or fine clay, and the small glass bottles which have 
 been discovered in tolerable abundance , 20 were also in all pro- 
 bability intended chiefly for the toilet. They would hold the 
 perfumed unguents which the Assyrians, like other Orientals , 21 
 were doubtless in the habit of using, and the dyes wherewith 
 they sought to increase the beauty of the countenance . 22 
 
 No doubt the luxury of the Assyrian women in these and 
 other respects was great and excessive. They are not likely to 
 have fallen short of their Jewish sisters either in the refine- 
 ments or in the corruptions of civilisation. When then we hear 
 of “the tinkling ornaments” of the Jewish women in Isaiah’s 
 
 16 See Wilkinson’s Ancient Egyptians , 
 1st Series, vol. iii. pp. 585, 586 ; and 
 Smith’s Dictionary of Antiquities , ad voc. 
 Speculum, p. 1053, 2nd col. 
 
 17 A handle of a mirror found by Mr. 
 Layard at Nimrud was slightly orna- 
 mented ( Monuments , 1st Series, PI. 96, 
 fig. 11). 
 
 18 Wilkinson, 1st Series, vol. iii. p. 
 
 380. 19 Supra, p. 65. 
 
 20 Supra, p. 390. 
 
 21 As the Persians (Plin. H. N. xiii. 
 1), the Egyptians (Juv. xv. 50), the 
 Parthians ( Plin. H. N. xiii. 2), the 
 Syrians (Athen. Deipn. xii. 35 ; Hor. 
 ii. 7, 1. 8), and the Jews (Eccl. ix. 8 ; 
 Luke vii. 46, &c.). 
 
 22 Diod. Sic. ii. 23, § 1. In some of 
 the bas-reliefs both the upper and the 
 under eyelids are painted black. See 
 above, p. 364 ; and compare Layard ’s 
 Monuments , 1st Series, PI. 92. 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 LUXURY OF THE ASSYRIAN LADIES. 
 
 575 
 
 time, “their combs, and round tires like the moon,” their 
 “ chains and bracelets and mufflers” their “ bonnets, and orna- 
 ments of the legs, and head-bands, 
 and tablets, and ear-rings,” their 
 “rings and nose-jewels,” their 
 “ changeable suits of apparel, and 
 mantles, and wimples, and crisp- 
 ing-pins,” their “ glasses, and fine 
 linen, and hoods, and veils,” their 
 “ sweet smells, and girdles, and 
 well-set hair, and stomachers,” 1 
 we may be sure that in Assyria 
 too these various refinements, or 
 others similar to them, were in 
 use, and consequently that the 
 art of the toilet was tolerably 
 well advanced under the second 
 great Asiatic Empire. That the 
 monuments contain little evi- 
 
 Metal mirror (British Museum). 
 
 dence on the point need not cause any surprise ; since it is the 
 
 Iron comb 
 (British Museum). 
 
 Fragment of comb in lapis-lazuli 
 (British Museum). 
 
 natural consequence of the spirit of jealous reserve, common to 
 the Oriental nations, which makes them rarely either represent 
 
 1 Isaiah iii. 18-24. It is not to be I how doubtful many of them are. But 
 supposed that the words of the original there is no reason to question that they 
 in this passage are throughout correctly all represent different articles of the 
 translated. Indeed the margin shows | dress or toilet of women. 
 
5/6 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VII. 
 
 women in their mimetic art or speak of them in their public 
 documents . 2 
 
 If various kinds of grain were cultivated in Assyria, such as 
 wheat, barley, sesame, and millet , 3 we may assume that the 
 food of the inhabitants, like that of other agricultural nations, 
 consisted in part of bread. Sesame was no doubt used, as it is 
 at the present day, principally for making oil ; 4 while wheat, 
 barley, and millet were employed for food, and were made into 
 cakes or loaves. The grain used, whatever it was, would be 
 ground between two stones , 5 according to the universal Oriental 
 practice even at the present day . 6 It would then be moistened 
 with water, kneaded in a dish or bowl, and either rolled into 
 thin cakes, or pressed by the hand into small balls or loaves . 7 
 Bread and cakes made in this way still form the chief food of 
 the Arabs of these parts, who retain the habits of antiquity. 
 Wheaten bread is generally eaten by preference ; 8 but the 
 poorer sort are compelled to be content with the coarse millet , 9 
 or durra, flour, which is made into cakes, and then eaten with 
 milk, butter, oil, or the fat of animals. 
 
 Dates, the principal support of the inhabitants of Chaldsea, or 
 Babylonia, both in ancient and in modern times , 10 were no 
 doubt also an article of food in Assyria, though scarcely to any 
 great extent. The date-palm does not bear well above the 
 alluvium, and such fruit as it produces in the upper country is 
 very little esteemed . 11 Olives were certainly cultivated under 
 
 2 See above, page 492. 
 
 3 See supra, p. 216, note s , and p. 566. 
 
 4 Niebuhr, Voyage en Arabie , p. 295 ; 
 Layard, Nineveh and its Remains , vol. ii. 
 p. 423. For the ancient practice, com- 
 pare Herod, i. 193, and Strab. xvi. 1, 
 
 § 14. 
 
 5 “Come down, sit in the dust, O 
 virgin daughter of Babylon, sit on the 
 ground .... Take the millstones, and 
 grind meal.” (Is. xlvii. 1, 2.) 
 
 6 Layard, Nin. and Bab. pp. 285-287; 
 
 Niebuhr, Description de 1' Arabie, p. 45, 
 
 &c. 
 
 ' I doubt whether there is any repre- j 
 
 sentation of bread in the sculptures, j 
 
 | The circular object on the table in the 
 banquet-scene given below (p. 580) 
 might represent a loaf, but it is more 
 probably a sacred emblem. The Arab 
 | practice, which probably corresponds 
 with the most ancient mode of preparing 
 i bread, is as given in the text. See 
 Layard, 1. s. c., and compare the article 
 on Bread, in Dr. Smith's Biblical Dic- 
 tionary. 
 
 8 Layard, p. 289. 
 
 9 Niebuhr, Description , §c., p. 45 ; 
 Layard, Nineveh and its Remains , vol. i. 
 p. 360. 
 
 10 See above, p. 107. 
 
 11 Plin. H. N. xiii. 4. 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 FOOD OF THE PEOPLE. 
 
 5 77 
 
 the Empire , 12 and the oil extracted from them was in great 
 request. Honey was abundant, and wine plentiful. Senna- 
 cherib called his land “ a land of corn and 
 wine, a land of bread and vineyards, a land 
 of oil olive and of honey 13 anl the pro- 
 ducts here enumerated were probably those 
 which formed the chief sustenance of the 
 bulk of the people. 
 
 Meat, which is never eaten to any great 
 extent in the East , 14 was probably beyond 
 the means of most persons. Soldiers, how- 
 ever, upon an expedition were able to 
 obtain this dainty at the expense of others ; 
 and accordingly we find that on such occa- 
 sions they freely indulged in it. We see 
 them, after their victories, killing and cut- 
 ting up sheep and oxen , 15 and then roasting 
 the joints, which are not unlike our own, on the embers of a 
 wood-fire . 16 In the representations of entrenched camps we are 
 shown the mode in which ani- 
 mals were prepared for the 
 royal dinner. They were placed 
 upon their backs on a high 
 table, with their heads hanging 
 over its edge ; one man held 
 them steady in this position, 
 while another, taking hold of 
 the neck, cut the throat a 
 
 little below the chin . 11 The Killing the sheep (Koyunjik). 
 
 blood dripped into a bowl or 
 
 basin placed beneath the head on the ground. The animal 
 
 Assyrian joints. 
 
 1. Shoulder. 2. Loin. 
 3. Leg. 
 
 12 2 Kings xviii. 32. “ A land of 
 
 oil olive.” When Herodotus denies the 
 cultivation of the olive in his day 
 (i. 193), as also that of the fig and the 
 grape, he must refer to the low alluvial 
 country, which is more properly Baby- 
 lonia than Assyria. 
 
 13 2 Kings, 1. s. c. 
 
 14 “ On mange peu de viande dans 
 
 YOL. I. 
 
 les pays chauds, ou on les croit mal- 
 saines.” (Niebuhr, p. 46.) “The com- 
 mon Bedouin can rarely get meat.” 
 (Layard, Nin. and Bah. p. 289.) 
 
 15 Layard, Monuments, 1st Series, Pis. 
 75 and 76 ; 2nd Series, PI. 36. 
 
 16 Ibid. 2nd Series, Pis. 35 and 36. 
 
 17 Ibid. PI. 36. 
 
 2 P 
 
578 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. YII. 
 
 Cooking meat in caldron (Koyunjik). 
 
 was then, no doubt, paunched, after which it was placed — 
 either whole, or in joints — in a huge pot or caldron, and, 
 
 a fire being lighted under- 
 neath, it was boiled to such 
 a point as suited the taste of 
 the king. While the boiling 
 progressed, some portions 
 were perhaps fried on the 
 fire below. Mutton appears 
 to have been the favourite 
 meat in the camp. At the 
 court there would be a supply 
 of venison, antelope’s flesh, 
 hares, partridges, and other 
 game, varied perhaps occa- 
 sionally with such delicacies 
 as the flesh of the wild ox 
 and the onager. 
 
 Fish must have been an 
 article of food in Assyria, or 
 the monuments would not 
 have presented us with so 
 many instances of fishermen . 18 Locusts were also eaten, and 
 were accounted a delicacy, as is proved by their occurrence 
 among the choice dainties of a banquet, which the royal atten- 
 dants are represented in one bas-relief as bringing into the palace 
 of the king . 19 Fruits, as was natural in so hot a climate, were 
 highly prized ; among those of most repute were pomegranates, 
 grapes, citrons , 20 and, apparently, pineapples . 21 
 
 There is reason to believe that the Assyrians drank wine very 
 
 18 See above, pp. 525, 526, and 527. 
 
 19 Layard, Monuments , 2nd Series, ; 
 Pis. 8 and 9 ; Aim. and Bab. p. 338. I 
 Mr. Layard notes that “ the locust has 
 ever been an article of food in the East, 1 
 and is still sold in the markets of many j 
 towns in Arabia.” He quotes Burck- 
 hardt ( Notes on the Bedouins , p. 269) 
 with respect to the way they are pre- 
 pared. A recent traveller, who tasted 
 
 them fried, observes that they are “ like 
 what one would suppose fried shrimps.” 
 and “ by no means bad.” (See Yule’s 
 Mission to the Court of Aca, p. 114.) 
 
 20 Plin. //. A. xii. 3. 
 
 21 The representation is so exact that 
 I can scarcely doubt the pineapple 
 
 | being intended. Mr. Layard expresses 
 I himself on the point with some hesita- 
 ^ tion. ( Nin . and Bab • p. 338.) 
 
CiiAr. VII. 
 
 ARRANGEMENT OF BANQUETS. 
 
 579 
 
 Assyrian fruits. (From the Monuments.) 
 
 freely. The vine was cultivated extensively, in the neighbour- 
 hood of Nineveh and elsewhere ; 1 and though there is no doubt 
 that grapes were 
 eaten, both raw 
 and dried, still 
 the main purpose 
 of the vineyards 
 was unquestion- 
 ably the production of wine. Assyria was “ a land of corn and 
 wine,” emphatically and before all else . 2 Great banquets seem 
 to have been frequent at the court , 3 as at the courts of Babylon and 
 Persia , 4 * in which drinking was practised on a large scale. The 
 Ninevites generally are reproached as drunkards by Nahum . 0 
 In the banquet-scenes of the sculptures, it is drinking and not 
 eating that is represented. Attendants dip the wine-cups into 
 a huge bowl or vase, which stands on the ground and reaches 
 as high as a man’s chest , 6 and carry them full of liquor to the 
 guests, who straightway fall to a carouse. 
 
 The arrangement of the banquets is curious. The guests, 
 who are in one instance some forty or fifty in number , 7 instead 
 of being received at a common table, are divided into messes of 
 four, who sit together, two and two, facing each other, each 
 mess having its own table and its own attendant. The guests 
 are all clothed in the long tasseled gown, over which they wear 
 the deeply fringed belt and cross-belt. They have sandals on 
 their feet, and on their arms armlets and bracelets. They sit 
 on high stools, from which their legs dangle; but in no case 
 have they footstools, which would apparently have been a great 
 convenience. Most of the guests are bearded men, but inter- 
 mixed with them we see a few eunuchs . 8 Every guest holds in 
 
 1 Supra, p. 567. 2 2 Kings xviii. 32. I 
 
 3 Diod. Sic. ii. 20 ; Botta, Monument , | 
 
 Pis. 51 to 67, and 107 to 114. 
 
 4 Dan. v. 1; Esther i. 3; Ilerod, ix. I 
 110 . 
 
 * Nahum, i. 10. “While they are i 
 drunken as drunkards, they shall be 
 devoured, as stubble fully dry.” 
 
 6 This vase is represented p. 388. 
 
 7 Forty guests were still to be traced 
 
 at the time of M. Botta’s discoveries, 
 while many slabs were even then so 
 injured that their subject could not be 
 made out. Along the line of wall occu- 
 pied by the banqueting scene, there was 
 ample room for twenty more guests. 
 
 8 In M. Flandin’s drawings this does 
 not appear; but M. Botta is confident 
 that it was so in the sculptures them- 
 selves ( Monument , vol. v. p. 131). 
 
 2 r 2 
 
580 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VII. 
 
 his right hand a wine-cup of a most elegant shape, the lower 
 part modelled into the form of a lion’s head, from which the 
 
 Drinking scene (Kborsabad). 
 
 cup itself rises in a graceful curve. They all raise their cups 
 to a level with their heads, and look as if they were either 
 pledging each other, or else one and all drinking 
 the same toast. Both the stools and the tables 
 are handsome, and tastefully, though not very 
 richly, ornamented. Each table is overspread 
 with a table-cloth, which hangs down on either 
 side opposite the guests, but does not cover the 
 ends of the table, which are thus fully exposed 
 to view. In their general make the tables 
 exactly resemble that used in a banquet-scene 
 by a king of a later date , 9 but their ornamenta- 
 tion is much less elaborate. On each of them 
 appears to have been placed the enigmatical article of which 
 mention has been already made as a strange object generally 
 
 Ornamental wine- 
 cup (Khorsabad). 
 
 * See the representation, p. 493. 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 FESTAL MUSIC AND FLOWERS. 
 
 5 8i 
 
 accompanying the king . 10 Alongside of it we see in most instances 
 a sort of rude crescent . 11 These objects have probably, both of 
 them, a sacred import, the crescent being the emblem of Sin, 
 the Moon-God , 12 while the nameless article had some unknown 
 religious use or meaning. 
 
 In the great banqueting scene at Khorsabad, from which the 
 above description is chiefly taken, it is shown that the Assyrians, 
 like the Egyptians and the Greeks 
 in the heroic times , 13 had the enter- 
 tainment of music at their grand 
 feasts and drinking bouts. At one 
 end of the long series of figures repre- 
 senting guests and attendants was a 
 band of performers, at least three 
 in number, two of whom certainly 
 played upon the lyre . 14 The lyres 
 were ten-stringed, of a square shape, 
 and hung round the player’s neck by 
 a string or riband. 
 
 The Assyrians also resembled the 
 Greeks and Romans 15 in introducing 
 flowers into their feasts. We have 
 no evidence that they wore garlands, 
 or crowned themselves with chaplets 
 of flowers, or scattered roses over 
 their rooms; but still they appre- 
 ciated the delightful adornment Attendant bringing flowers to a 
 c banquet (Koyunjik). 
 
 which flowers furnish. In the long 
 
 train of attendants represented at Koyunjik as bringing the 
 
 10 Supra, p. 494. j compare Horn. Od. i. 150-155; Athen. 
 
 11 M. Botta speaks as if the objects : Deipn. xiv. 6, &c. 
 
 had been different on the different tables I 14 One of these has been already 
 (Monument, \ ol. v. p. 131); but M. Flan- j represented, supra, p. 532. The figure 
 din’s drawings show scarcely any variety. J of the third musician was so much 
 The condition of the slabs was very injured that his instrument could not 
 
 bad, and the objects on the tables could be made out. There was room for two or 
 
 scarcely ever be distinctly made out. three more performers. (Botta, PI. 67.) 
 
 12 See supra, p. 124, and vol. ii. p. 18. 15 Athen Deipn. xv. 10; Hor. Od. iii. 
 
 13 For the Egyptian practice, see j 19, 1. 22, i. 37, l 15, Ov. Fast. v. 337, 
 Wilkinson’s Ancient Egyptians^ 1st Series, ! &c. 
 
 vol. ii. p. 222 ; for that of the Greeks, 
 
582 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VII. 
 
 materials of a banquet into the palace of the king, a considerable 
 number bear vases of flowers. These were probably placed on 
 stands, like those which are often seen supporting jars , 16 and 
 dispersed about the apartment in which the feast was held, but 
 not put upon the tables. 
 
 We have no knowledge of the ordinary houses of the Assyrians 
 other than that which we derive from the single representation 
 which the sculptures furnish of a village certainly Assyrian . 17 
 It appears from this specimen that the houses were small, 
 isolated from one another, and either flat-roofed, or else covered 
 in with a dome or a high cone. They had no windows, but 
 must have been lighted from the top, where, in some of the 
 roofs, an aperture is discernible. The doorway was generally 
 placed towards one end of the house ; it was sometimes arched, 
 but more often square-headed. 
 
 The doors in Assyrian houses were either single, as commonly 
 with ourselves, or folding (fores or mlvse), as with the Greeks 
 and Romans, and with the modern Fi ench and Italians. F olding- 
 doors were the most common in palaces . 1 They were not hung 
 upon hinges, like modern doors, but, like those of the classical 
 nations , 2 turned upon pivots. At Ehorsabad the pavement 
 slabs in the doorways showed everywhere the holes in which 
 these pivots had worked, while in no instance did the wall at 
 the side present any trace of the insertion of a hinge . 3 Hinges, 
 however, in the proper sense of the term, were not unknown to 
 the Assyrians ; for two massive bronze sockets found at Nimrud, 
 which weighed more than six pounds each, 
 and had a diameter of about five inches , 4 
 must have been designed to receive the 
 hinges of a door or gate, hung exactly as 
 Socket of hinge (Nimrud). gates are now hung among ourselves. The 
 
 folding-doors were fastened by bolts, which were shot into the 
 pavement at the point where the two doors met ; but in the case 
 
 16 See pp. 367 and 336. 
 
 17 See p. 322, where this village is re- 
 presented. 
 
 1 See Botta, Monument de Ninke, vols. 
 i. and ii. jassim. 
 
 2 Diet, of Greek and Roman Antiqui- 
 ties, ad voc. Cardo. 
 
 3 Botta, vol. v. p. 45. 
 
 4 Layard, JNinevt k and Babylon , p. 
 1G3. 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 ASSYRIAN FURNITURE. 
 
 583 
 
 of single doors a lock seems to have been used, which was placed 
 about four feet from the ground, and projected from the door 
 itself, so that a recess had to be made in the wall behind the 
 door, to receive the lock when the door stood open . 5 The bolt 
 of the lock was of an oblong square shape, and was shot into the 
 
 Assyrians seated on stools 
 (Koyunjik). ' 
 
 wall against which the door closed . 6 
 
 The ordinary character of Assyrian furniture did not greatly 
 differ from the furniture of modern times. That of the poorer 
 classes was for the most part extremely plain, consisting pro- 
 bably of such tables, couches, and low stools as we see in the 
 representations, which are so fre- 
 quent, of the interiors of soldiers’ 
 tents . 7 In these the tables are 
 generally of the cross-legged kind ; 
 the couches follow the pattern given 
 in a previous page of this volume , 8 
 except that the legs do not end in 
 pine-shaped ornaments ; and the 
 stools are either square blocks, or merely cut en chevron . 9 There 
 are no chairs. The low stools evidently form the ordinary seats 
 of the people, on which they sit to 
 converse or to rest themselves. The 
 couches seem to have been the beds 
 whereon the soldiers slept, and it 
 may be doubted if the Assyrians 
 knew of any other. In the case of 
 the monarch we have seen that the 
 bedding consisted of a mattress, a 
 large round pillow or cushion, and 
 a coverlet ; 10 but in these simple 
 couches of the poor we observe only 
 a mattress, the upper part of which 
 
 . , 1 n.. 1 , .1 Making the bed (Koyunjik). 
 
 is slightly raised and fitted into the 
 
 curvature of the arm, so as to make a substitute for a pillow. 
 
 5 Botta, Monument , vol. ii. PI. 136 ; 
 and vol. v. p. 48. 
 
 6 Ibid. vol. ii. PI. 123. 
 
 7 Supra, p. 465. Further examples 
 will be found in Mr. Layard’s Monu- 
 
 ments , 1st Series, PI. 77; 2nd Series, 
 Pis. 24, 36, and 50 ; and in M. Botta’s 
 Monument, PI. 146. 8 Page 395. 
 
 9 See the footstool, No. I., on the same 
 page. 10 Supra, p. 495. 
 
 K 
 
584 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VII. 
 
 Perhaps, however, the day-labourer may have enjoyed on a 
 couch of this simple character slumbers sounder and more 
 refreshing than Sardanapalus amid his comparative luxury. 
 
 The household utensils seen in combination with these simple 
 articles of furniture are few and somewhat rudely shaped. A 
 jug with a long neck, an angular handle, and a pointed bottom, 
 
 is common : it usually hangs 
 from a nail or hook inserted 
 into the tent-pole. Yases 
 and bowls of a simple form 
 occur, but are less frequent. 
 The men are seen with 
 knives in their hands, and 
 appear sometimes to be 
 preparing food for their 
 meals ; 11 but the form of the 
 knife is marked very indis- 
 tinctly. Some of the house- 
 hold articles represented 
 have a strange and unusual 
 appearance. One is a sort of 
 6. Board for playing short ladder, but, with semi- 
 circular projections at the 
 bottom, the use of which is not apparent; another may be a 
 board at which some game was played ; 12 while a third is quite 
 inexplicable. 
 
 Prom actual discoveries of the utensils themselves, we know 
 
 Domestic utensils. 
 
 2. Jug. 3. Bowl. 4 and 5. ITn- 
 
 1. Vase, 
 
 known implements, 
 a game (?). 
 
 Dish handles (Nimrud). 
 
 that the Assyrians used dishes of stone, alabaster, and bronze. 
 They had also bronze cups, bowls, and plates, often elaborately 
 
 11 Layard, Monuments , 1st Series, 
 PI. 77 ; 2nd Series, Pis. 24 and 36. 
 
 12 Compare the Egyptian boards, as 
 
 represented in the author’s Bet'odotus , 
 vol. ii. pp. 276, 277, 2nd ed. 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 THE “HANGING GARDENS.” 
 
 585 
 
 patterned. 13 The dishes were commonly made with a handle at 
 the side, either fixed or moveable, by which, when not in use, 
 they could be carried or hung on pegs. Caldrons of bronze 
 were also common : they varied from five feet to 
 eighteen inches in height, and Irom two feet and a 
 half to six feet in diameter. 14 Jugs, funnels, ladles, 
 and jars have been found in the same metal ; one of 
 the funnels is shaped nearly like a modern wine- 
 strainer. 15 
 
 The Assyrians made use of bronze bells with iron 
 tongues, 1 and, to render the sound of these more 
 pleasing, they increased the proportion of the tin to the 
 copper, raising it from ten to fourteen per cent. r lhe 
 bells were always of small size, never (so far as ap- 
 pears) exceeding three inches and a quarter in height, 
 and two inches and a quarter in diameter. It is B ^ e r ^ le 
 uncertain whether they were used, as modern bells, to 
 summon attendants, or only attached, as we see them on the 
 sculptures, 2 to the collars and headstalls of horses. 
 
 Some houses, but probably not very many, had gardens 
 attached to them. The Assyrian taste in gar- 0Tv 
 dening was like that of the French. Trees of a 
 similar character, or tall trees alternating with 
 short ones, were planted in straight rows at an 
 equal distance from one another, while straight 
 paths and walks, meeting each other at right angles, 
 traversed the grounds. 3 Water was abundantly 
 supplied by means of canals drawn off from a 
 neighbouring river, or was brought by an aqueduct 
 from a distance. 4 A national taste of a peculiar 
 kind, artificial and extravagant to a degree, caused ^ 
 the Assyrians to add to the cultivation of the Hanging garden 
 natural ground the monstrous invention of “ Hang- u ^ lk) ' 
 
 ino- Gardens : ” an invention introduced into Babylonia at a 
 
 o 
 
 13 See above, p. 368. 
 
 14 Layard, Nineveh and Babylon , pp. 
 
 177-180. 
 
 15 Ibid. p. 181. 
 
 1 Ibid. p. 177. Compare also pp. 191 
 
 and 671. 
 
 2 Supra, pp. 416 and 417. 
 
 3 See the representation of a garden, 
 p. 229. 
 
 4 Compare p. 310. 
 
586 
 
 THE SECOND MONAKCHY. 
 
 Chap. VH. 
 
 comparatively late date, but known in Assyria as early as the 
 time of Sennacherib . 5 A fi hanging garden ” was sometimes 
 combined with an aqueduct, the banks of the stream which the 
 aqueduct bore being planted with trees of different kinds . 6 
 At other times it occupied the roof of a building, probably raised 
 for the purpose, and was supported upon a number of pillars. 
 
 The employments of the Assyrians, which receive some illus- 
 tration from the monuments, are, besides war and hunting — 
 subjects already discussed at length — chiefly building, boating, 
 and agriculture. Of agricultural labourers, there occur two 
 or three only, introduced bv the artist into a slab of Senna- 
 cherib’s which represents the transport of a winged bull . 7 They 
 are dressed in the ordinary short tunic and belt, and are em- 
 ployed in drawing water from a river by the help of hand- 
 swipes for the purpose of irrigating their lands . 8 Boatmen are 
 far more common. They are seen employed in the conveyance 
 of masses of stone , 9 and of other materials for building , 10 ferrying 
 men and horses across a river , 11 guiding their boat while a 
 fisherman plies his craft from it , 12 assisting soldiers to pursue 
 the enemy , 13 and the like. They wear the short tunic and belt, 
 and sometimes have their hair encircled with a fillet. Of 
 
 labourers, em- 
 ployed in work 
 connected with 
 building, the ex- 
 amples are nu- 
 merous. In the 
 long series of 
 slabs represent- 
 , , _ x ingthe construc- 
 
 Assvrians drawing a hand-cart (Kovunjik). . 
 
 tion of some of 
 
 Sennacherib’s great works , 14 although the bulk of those employed 
 
 8 Layard, Ninereh and Babyhn, pp. 
 
 232, 233. 6 See p. 310. 
 
 7 Layard, Monuments , 2nd Series, PI. 
 
 15. 
 
 8 A representation of a labourer thus 
 
 employed, taken from the slab in ques- 
 
 tion, has been already given, p. 215. 
 
 9 See p. 338. 
 
 10 Layard, Monuments , 2nd Series, PI. 
 12 . 
 
 11 Nin. and Bah. p. 232. 
 
 12 Ibid. p. 231. 
 
 13 Monuments , 2nd Series, PI. 27. 
 
 14 Ibid. Pis. 10 to 17. 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 IMPLEMENTS OF LABOUR. 
 
 587 
 
 as labourers appear to be foreign captives, there are a certain 
 number of the duties— duties less purely mechanical than the 
 others— which are devolved on Assyrians. Assyrians load the 
 hand-carts, and sometimes even draw them, convey the imple- 
 ments-pickaxes, saws, shovels, hatchets, beams, forks, coils of 
 r 0 pe— place the rollers, arrange the lever and work it, keep the 
 carved masses of stone steady as they are moved along to their 
 proper places, urge on the gangs of forced labourers with sticks, 
 and finally direct the whole of the proceedings by signals, which 
 they give with their voice or with a long horn. Thus, however 
 ample the command of naked human strength enjoyed by the 
 Assyrian king, who had always at his absolute disposal the labour 
 of many thousand captives, still there was in every great work 
 much which could only be intrusted to Assyrians, who appear 
 to have been employed largely in the grand constructions of 
 
 their monarchs. 
 
 The implements of labour have a considerable resemblance 
 to those in present use among ourselves. The saws were two- 
 handed; but as the handle 
 
 was in the same line with 
 the blade, instead of being 
 set at right angles to it, 
 they must have been 
 somewhat awkward to use. 
 The shovels were heart- 
 shaped, like those which 
 Sir C. Fellows noticed in 
 Asia Minor . 15 The pick- 
 axes had a single instead 
 of a double head, while 
 
 Assyrian implements. (From the Monuments.) 
 
 the hatchets were double-headed, 
 
 though here probably the second head was a mere knob intended 
 to increase the force of the blow. The hand-carts were small 
 and of very simple construction : they were made open in 
 front and behind, but had a slight framework at the sides. They 
 had a pole, rising a little in front, and were generally drawn 
 
 15 Journal written during an Excursion in Asia Minor, p. 72 . 
 
588 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. YII. 
 
 by two men. The wheels were commonly four-spoked. When 
 the load had been placed on the cart, it seems to have been in 
 general secured by two bands or ropes, which were passed over 
 it diagonally, so as to cross each other at the top. 
 
 Carts drawn by animals were no doubt used in the country ; 
 but they are not found except in the scenes representing the 
 triumphant returns of armies, where it is more probable that 
 the vehicles are foreign than Assyrian. They have poles — not 
 shafts — and are drawn by two animals, either oxen, mules, or 
 asses. The wheels have generally a large number of spokes — 
 sometimes as many as eleven. Representations of these carts 
 will be found in earlier pages . 16 
 
 The Assyrians appear to have made occasional use of covered 
 carriages. Several vehicles of this kind are represented on an 
 obelisk in the British Museum. They have a high and clumsy 
 
 body, which shows no win- 
 dow, and is placed on 
 four disproportionately 
 low wheels, which raise it 
 only about a foot from the 
 ground. In front of this 
 body is a small driving- 
 place, enclosed in trellis- 
 work, inside which the 
 
 Assyrian close carriage or litter. (From an . 
 
 obelisk in the British Museum.) Coachman stands to drive. 
 
 Each of these vehicles is 
 drawn by two horses. It is probable that they were used to 
 convey the ladies of the court ; and they w 7 ere therefore care- 
 fully closed, in order that no curious glance of passers-by might 
 rest upon the charming inmates. The carpentum, in which the 
 Roman matrons rode at the great public festivals, was similarly 
 closed, both in front and behind, as is evident from the repre- 
 sentations which we have of it on medals and tombs. 
 
 Except in the case of these covered vehicles, and of the 
 chariots used in war and hunting, horses (as already observed ’) 
 
 Pp. 234 and 243. 
 
 Supra, p. 233, note T . 
 
Chap. VII. 
 
 MANAGEMENT OF HORSES 
 
 589 
 
 were not employed for draught. The Assyrians appear to have 
 regarded them as too noble for this purpose, unless where the 
 monarch and those near to him were concerned, for whose needs 
 nothing was too precious. On the military expeditions the 
 horses were carefully fed 
 and tended. Portable man- 
 ners were taken with the 
 army for their conveni- 
 ence ; and their food, which 
 was probably barley, was 
 brought to them by grooms 
 in sieves or shallow boxes, Groom feeding horses (Koyunjik). 
 
 whence no doubt it was 
 
 transferred to the mangers. They appear to have been allowed 
 to go loose in the camp, without being either hobbled or 
 picketed . 2 Care was 
 taken to keep their 
 coats clean and glossy 
 by the use of the cur- 
 rycomb, which was 
 probably of iron . 3 
 
 Halters of two 
 kinds were employed. 
 
 Sometimes they con- 
 sisted of a mere sim- 
 ple noose, which was 
 placed in the horse’s 
 mouth, and then 
 drawn tight round the chin . 4 More often (as in the above 
 woodcut) the rope was attached to a headstall, not unlike that 
 of an ordinary bridle, but simpler, and probably of a cheaper 
 material. Leading reins, fastened to the bit of an ordinary 
 bridle, were also common . 5 
 
 2 See Layard, Monuments , 1st Series, 
 PI. 63 ; 2nd Series, Pis. 24 and 36. 
 
 3 No currycomb has been found ; but 
 
 an iron comb, brought from Koyunjik, 
 
 is now in the British Museum. (See 
 
 above, p. 575.) 
 
 4 Layard, Monuments , 2nd Series, Pis. 
 7 and 47. 
 
 5 Ibid. Pis. 19, 24, 29, &c. 
 
590 
 
 THE SECOND MONARCHY. 
 
 Chap. VII. 
 
 Such are the principal points connected with the peaceful 
 customs of the Assyrians, on which the monuments recently 
 discovered throw a tolerable amount of light Much still 
 remains in obscurity. It is not possible as yet, without drawing 
 laro-elv on the imagination, to portray in any completeness the 
 private life even of the Assyrian nobles, much less that of 
 the common people. All that can be done is to gather up the 
 fragments which time has spared ; to arrange them in something 
 like order, and present them faithfully to the general reader, 
 who, it is hoped, will feel a certain degree of interest in them 
 severally, as matters of archaeology, and who will probably 
 further find that he obtains from them in combination a fair 
 notion of the general character and condition of the race, of 
 its mingled barbarism and civilisation, knowledge and igno- 
 rance, art and rudeness, luxury and simplicity of habits. The 
 novelist and even the essayist may commendably eke out the 
 scantiness of facts by a free indulgence in the wide field of 
 supposition and conjecture ; but the historian is not entitled to 
 stray into this enchanted ground. He must be content to 
 remain within the tame and narrow circle of established fact. 
 Where his materials are abundant, he is entitled to draw graphic 
 sketches of the general condition of a people ; but where they 
 are scanty, as in the present instance, he must be content to 
 forego such pleasant pictures, in which the colouring and the 
 filling-up would necessarily be derived, not from authentic data, 
 but from his own fancy. 
 
 END OF VOL. I. 
 
 LONDON: PRINTED BT WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, 8TAMT0RD 8TRELT, 
 AND CHARING CROSS. 
 
 0