History of Egypt, Chaldea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria in the Light of Recent Discovery Part 16

* For the texts and translations of these doc.u.ments, see Budge and King, Annals of the Kings of a.s.syria, pp. iff.

Shortly before these excavations in a.s.syria were set on foot an indication was obtained from an early Babylonian text that the history of a.s.syria as a dependent state or province of Babylon must be pushed back to a far more remote period than had hitherto been supposed. In one of Hammurabi's letters to Sin-idinnam, governor of the city of Larsam, to which reference has already been made, directions are given for the despatch to the king of "two hundred and forty men of 'the King's Company' under the command of Nannar-iddina... who have left the country of Ashur and the district of s.h.i.+tullum." From this most interesting reference it followed that the country to the north of Babylonia was known as a.s.syria at the time of the kings of the First Dynasty of Babylon, and the fact that Babylonian troops were stationed there by Hammurabi proved that the country formed an integral part of the Babylonian empire.

These conclusions were soon after strikingly confirmed by two pa.s.sages in the introductory sections of Hammurabi's code of laws which was discovered at Susa. Here Hammurabi records that he "restored his (i.e.

the G.o.d Ashur's) protecting image unto the city of Ashur," and a few lines farther on he describes himself as the king "who hath made the names of Ishtar glorious in the city of Nineveh in the temple of E-mish-mish." That Ashur should be referred to at this period is what we might expect, inasmuch as it was known to have been the earliest capital of a.s.syria; more striking is the reference to Nineveh, proving as it does that it was a flouris.h.i.+ng city in Hammurabi's time and that the temple of Ishtar there had already been long established. It is true that Gudea, the Sumerian patesi of s.h.i.+rpurla, records that he rebuilt the temple of the G.o.ddess Ninni (Ishtar) at a place called Nina. Now Nina may very probably be identified with Nineveh, but many writers have taken it to be a place in Southern Babylonia and possibly a district of s.h.i.+rpurla itself. No such uncertainty attaches to Hammurabi's reference to Nineveh, which is undoubtedly the a.s.syrian city of that name.

Although no account has yet been published of the recent excavations carried out at Nineveh by the British Museum, they fully corroborate the inference drawn with regard to the great age of the city. The series of trenches which were cut deep into the lower strata of Kuyunjik revealed numerous traces of very early habitations on the mound.

Neither in Hammurabi's letters, nor upon the stele inscribed with his code of laws, is any reference made to the contemporary governor or ruler of a.s.syria, but on a contract tablet preserved in the Pennsylvania Museum a name has been recovered which will probably be identified with that of the ruler of a.s.syria in Hammurabi's reign. In legal and commercial doc.u.ments of the period of the First Dynasty of Babylon the contracting parties frequently swore by the names of two G.o.ds (usually Shamash and Marduk) and also that of the reigning king. Now it has been found by Dr. Banke that on this doc.u.ment in the Pennsylvania Museum the contracting parties swear by the name of Hammurabi and also by that of Shams.h.i.+-Adad. As only G.o.ds and kings are mentioned in the oath formulas of this period, it follows that Shams.h.i.+-Adad was a king, or at any rate a patesi or ishshakku. Now from its form the name Shams.h.i.+-Adad must be that of an a.s.syrian, not that of a Babylonian, and, since he is a.s.sociated in the oath formula with Hammurabi, it is legitimate to conclude that he governed a.s.syria in the time of Hammurabi as a dependency of Babylon. An early a.s.syrian ishshakku of this name, who was the son of Ishme-Dagan, is mentioned by Tiglath-Pileser I, but he cannot be identified with the ruler of the time of Hammurabi, since, according to Tiglath-Pileser, he ruled too late, about 1800 B.C.

A brick-inscription of another Shams.h.i.+-Adad, however, the son of Igur-kapkapu, is preserved in the British Museum, and it is probable that we may identify him with Hammurabi's a.s.syrian viceroy. Erishum and his son Ikunum, whose inscriptions are also preserved in the British Museum, should certainly be a.s.signed to an early period of a.s.syrian history.

The recent excavations at Sherghat are already yielding the names of other early a.s.syrian viceroys, and, although the texts of the inscriptions in which their names occur have not yet been published, we may briefly enumerate the more important of the discoveries that have been made. Last year a small cone or cylinder was found which, though it bears only a few lines of inscription, restores the names of no less than seven early a.s.syrian viceroys whose existence was not previously known. The cone was inscribed by As.h.i.+r-rim-nisheshu, who gives his own genealogy and records the restoration of the wall of the city of Ashur, which he states had been rebuilt by certain of his predecessors on the throne. The princ.i.p.al portion of the inscription reads as follows: "As.h.i.+r-rim-nisheshu, the viceroy of the G.o.d As.h.i.+r, the son of As.h.i.+r-nirari, the viceroy of the G.o.d As.h.i.+r, the son of As.h.i.+r-rabi, the viceroy. The city wall which Kikia, Ikunum, Shar-kenkate-As.h.i.+r, and As.h.i.+r-nirari, the son of Ishme-Dagan, my forefathers, had built, was fallen, and for the preservation of my life... I rebuilt it." Perhaps no inscription has yet been recovered in either a.s.syria or Babylonia which contained so much new information packed into so small a s.p.a.ce. Of the names of the early viceroys mentioned in it only one was previously known, i.e. the name of Ikunum, the son of Erishum, is found in a late copy of a votive text preserved in the British Museum. Thus from these few lines the names of three rulers in direct succession have been recovered, viz., As.h.i.+r-rabi, As.h.i.+r-nirari, and Ashur-rim-nisheshu, and also those of four earlier rulers, viz., Kikia, Shar-kenkate-As.h.i.+r, Ishme-Dagan, and his son As.h.i.+r-nirari. Another interesting point about the inscription is the spelling of the name of the national G.o.d of the a.s.syrians. In the later periods it is always written _Ashur_, but at this early time we see that the second vowel is changed and that at first the name was written _As.h.i.+r_, a form that was already known from the Cappadocian cuneiform inscriptions. The form As.h.i.+r is a good participial construction and signifies "the Beneficent," "the Merciful One."

Another interesting find, which was also made last year, consists of four stone tablets, each engraved with the same building-inscription of Shalmaneser I, a king who reigned over a.s.syria about 1300 B.C. In recording his rebuilding of E-kharsag-kurkura, the temple of the G.o.d Ashur in the city of Ashur, he gives a brief summary of the temple's history with details as to the length of time which elapsed between the different periods during which it had been previously restored. The temple was burned in Shalmaneser's time, and, when recording this fact and the putting out of the fire, he summarizes the temple's history in a long parenthesis, as will be seen from the following translation of the extract: "When E-kharsag-kurkura, the temple of Ashur, my lord, which Ushpia (variant _Aushpia_), the priest of Ashur, my forefather, had built aforetime,--and it fell into decay and Erishu, my forefather, the priest of Ashur, rebuilt it; 159 years pa.s.sed by after the reign of Erishu, and that temple fell into decay, and Shams.h.i.+-Adad, the priest of Ashur, rebuilt it; (during) 580 years that temple which Shams.h.i.+-Adad, the priest of Ashur, had built, grew h.o.a.ry and old--(when) fire broke out in the midst thereof..., at that time I drenched that temple (with water) in (all) its circuit."

From this extract it will be seen that Shalmaneser gives us, in Ushpia or Aushpia, the name of a very early a.s.syrian viceroy, who in his belief was the founder of the great temple of the G.o.d Ashur. He also tells us that 159 years separated Erishu from a viceroy named Shams.h.i.+-Adad, and that 580 years separated Shams.h.i.+-Adad from his own time. When these inscriptions were first found they were hailed with considerable satisfaction by historians, as they gave what seemed to be valuable information for settling the chronology of the early patesis. But confidence in the accuracy of Shalmaneser's reckoning was somewhat shaken a few months afterwards by the discovery of a prism of Esarhaddon, who gave in it a history of the same temple, but ascribed totally different figures for the periods separating the reigns of Erishu and Shams.h.i.+-Adad, and the temple's destruction by fire.

Esarhaddon agrees with Shalmaneser in ascribing the founding of the temple to Ushpia, but he states that only 126 years (instead of 159 years) separated Erishu (whom he spells Irishu), the son of Ilu-shumma, from Shams.h.i.+-Adad, the son of Bel-kabi; and he adds that 434 years (instead of 580 years) elapsed between Shams.h.i.+-Adad's restoration of the temple and the time when it was burned down. As Shalmaneser I lived over six hundred years earlier than Esarhaddon, he was obviously in a better position to ascertain the periods at which the events recorded took place, but the discrepancy between the figures he gives and those of Esarhaddon is disconcerting. It shows that a.s.syrian scribes could make bad mistakes in their reckoning, and it serves to cast discredit on the absolute accuracy of the chronological notices contained in other late a.s.syrian inscriptions. So far from helping to settle the unsolved problems of a.s.syrian chronology, these two recent finds at Sherghat have introduced fresh confusion, and a.s.syrian chronology for the earlier periods is once more cast into the melting pot.

In addition to the recovery of the names of hitherto unknown early rulers of a.s.syria, the recent excavations at Sherghat have enabled us to ascertain the true reading of the name of Shalmaneser I's grandfather, who reigned a considerable time after a.s.syria had gained her independence. The name of this king has. .h.i.therto been read as Pudi-ilu, but it is now shown that the signs composing the first part of the name are not to be taken phonetically, but as ideographs, the true reading of the name being Arik-den-ilu, the signification of which is "Long (i.e. far-reaching) is the judgment of G.o.d." Arik-den-ilu was a great conqueror, as were his immediate descendants, all of whom extended the territory of a.s.syria. By strengthening the country and increasing her resources they enabled Arik-den-ilu 's great-grandson, Tukulti-Ninib I, to achieve the conquest of Babylon itself. Concerning Tukulti-Ninib's reign and achievements an interesting inscription has recently been discovered. This is now preserved in the British Museum, and before describing it we may briefly refer to another phase of the excavations at Sherghat.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 396.jpg Stone Object Bearing a Votive Inscription of Arik-den-ilu.]

An early independent King of a.s.syria, who reigned about B.C.

1350. Photograph by Messrs. Mansell & Co.

The mounds of Sherghat rise a considerable height above the level of the plain, and are to a great extent of natural and not of artificial formation. In fact, the existence of a group of high natural mounds at this point on the bank of the Tigris must have led to its selection by the early a.s.syrians as the site on which to build their first stronghold. The mounds were already so high, from their natural formation, that there was no need for the later a.s.syrian kings to increase their height artificially (as they raised the chief palace-mound at Nineveh), and the remains of the a.s.syrian buildings of the early period are thus only covered by a few feet of debris and not by ma.s.ses of unburnt brick and artificially piled up soil. This fact has considerably facilitated the systematic uncovering of the princ.i.p.al mound that is now being carried out by Dr. Andrae.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 397.jpg ENTRANCE INTO ONE OF THE GALLERIES OR TUNNELS CUT INTO THE PRINc.i.p.aL MOUND AT SHERGHAT.]

Work has. .h.i.therto been confined to the northwest corner of the mound around the ziggurat, or temple tower, and already considerable traces of a.s.syrian buildings have been laid bare in this portion of the site. The city wall on the northern side has been uncovered, as well as quays with steps leading down to the water along the river front. Part of the great temple of the G.o.d Ashur has been excavated, though a considerable portion of it must be still covered by the modern Turkish fort at the extreme northern point of the mounds; also part of a palace erected by Ashur-nasir-pal has been identified. In fact, the work at Sherghat promises to add considerably to our knowledge of ancient a.s.syrian architecture.

The inscription of Tukulti-Ninib I, which was referred to above as having been recently acquired by the trustees of the British Museum, affords valuable information for the reconstruction of the history of a.s.syria during the first half of the thirteenth century B.C.* It is seen from the facts summarized that for our knowledge of the earlier history of the country we have to depend to a large extent on short brick-inscriptions and votive texts supplemented by historical references in inscriptions of the later period. The only historical inscription of any length belonging to the early a.s.syrian period, which had been published up to a year ago, was the famous memorial slab containing an inscription of Adad-nirari I, which was acquired by the late Mr. George Smith some thirty years ago. Although purchased in Mosul, the slab had been found by the natives in the mounds at Sherghat, for the text engraved upon it in archaic a.s.syrian characters records the restoration of a part of the temple of the G.o.d Ashur in the ancient city of Ashur, the first capital of the a.s.syrians, now marked by the mounds of Sherghat, which have already been described. The object of Adad-nirari in causing the memorial slab to be inscribed was to record the restoration of the portion of the temple which he had rebuilt, but the most important part of the inscription was contained in the introductory phrases with which the text opens. They recorded the conquests achieved not only by Adad-nirari but by his father Arik-den-ilu, his grandfather Bel-nirari, and his great-grandfather Ashur-uballit. They thus enabled the historian to trace the gradual extension and consolidation of the a.s.syrian empire during a critical period in its early history.

* For the text and translation of the inscription, see King, Studies it Eastern History, i (1904).

The recently recovered memorial slab of Tukulti-Ninib I is similar to that of his grandfather Adad-nirari I, and ranks in importance with it for the light it throws on the early struggles of a.s.syria. Tukulti-Ninib 's slab, like that of Adad-nirari, was a foundation memorial intended to record certain building operations carried out by order of the king.

The building so commemorated was not the restoration of a portion of a temple, but the founding of a new city, in which the king erected no less than eight temples dedicated to various deities, while he also records that he built a palace therein for his own habitation, that he protected the city by a strongly fortified wall, and that he cut a ca.n.a.l from the Tigris by which he ensured a continuous supply of fresh water.

These were the facts which the memorial was primarily intended to record, but, like the text of Adad-nirari I, the most interesting events for the historian are those referred to in the introductory portions of the inscription. Before giving details concerning the founding of the new city, named Kar-Tukulti-Mnib, "the Fortress of Tukulti-Mnib,"

the king supplies an account of the military expeditions which he had conducted during the course of his reign up to the time when the foundation memorial was inscribed. These introductory paragraphs record how the king gradually conquered the peoples to the north and northeast of a.s.syria, and how he finally undertook a successful campaign against Babylon, during which he captured the city and completely subjugated both Northern and Southern Babylonia. Tukulti-Mnib's reign thus marks an epoch in the history of his country.

We have already seen how, during the early ages of her history, a.s.syria had been merely a subject province of the Babylonian empire. Her rulers had been viceroys owing allegiance to their overlords in Babylon, under whose orders they administered the country, while garrisons of Babylonian soldiers, and troops commanded by Babylonian officers, served to keep the country in a state of subjection. Gradually, however, the country began to feel her feet and long for independence. The conquest of Babylon by the kings of the Country of the Sea afforded her the opportunity of throwing off the Babylonian yoke. In the fifteenth century the a.s.syrian kings were powerful enough to have independent relations with the kings of Egypt, and, during the two centuries which preceded Tukulti-Mnib's reign.

a.s.syria's relations with Babylon were the cause of constant friction due to the northern kingdom's growth in power and influence. The frontier between the two countries was constantly in dispute, and, though sometimes rectified by treaty, the claims of a.s.syria often led to war between the two countries. The general result of these conflicts was that a.s.syria gradually extended her authority farther southwards, and encroached upon territory which had previously been Babylonian. The successes gained by Ashur-uballit, Bel-nirari, and Adad-nirari I against the contemporary Babylonian kings had all resulted in the cession of fresh territory to a.s.syria and in an increase of her international importance. Up to the time of Tukulti-Mnib no a.s.syrian king had actually seated himself upon the Babylonian throne. This feat was achieved by Tukulti-Mnib, and his reign thus marks an important step in the gradual advance of a.s.syria to the position which she later occupied as the predominant power in Western Asia.

Before undertaking his campaign against Babylon, Tukulti-Mnib secured himself against attack from other quarters, and his newly discovered memorial inscription supplies considerable information concerning the steps he took to achieve this object. In his inscription the king does not number his military expeditions, and, with the exception of the first one, he does not state the period of his reign in which they were undertaken. The results of his campaigns are summarized in four paragraphs of the text, and it is probable that they are not described in chronological order, but are arranged rather according to the geographical position of the districts which he invaded and subdued.

Tukulti-Ninib records that his first campaign took place at the beginning of his sovereignty, in the first year of his reign, and it was directed against the tribes and peoples inhabiting the territory on the east of a.s.syria. Of the tribes which he overran and conquered on this occasion the most important was the Kuti, who probably dwelt in the districts to the east of the Lower Zab. They were a turbulent race and they had already been conquered by Arik-den-ilu and Adad-nirari I, but on neither occasion had they been completely subdued, and they had soon regained their independence. Their subjugation by Tukulti-Ninib was a necessary preliminary to any conquest in the south, and we can well understand why it was undertaken by the king at the beginning of his reign. Other conquests which were also made in the same region were the Uk.u.mani and the lands of Elkhu-nia, Sharnida, and Mekhri, mountainous districts which probably lay to the north of the Lower Zab. The country of Mekhri took its name from the mekhru-tree, a kind of pine or fir, which grew there in abundance upon the mountainsides, and was highly esteemed by the a.s.syrian kings as affording excellent wood for building purposes. At a later period Ashur-nasir-pal invaded the country in the course of his campaigns and brought back beams of mekhru-wood, which he used in the construction of the temple dedicated to the G.o.ddess Ishtar in Nineveh.

The second group of tribes and districts enumerated by Tukulti-Ninib as having been subdued in his early years, before his conquest of Babylon, all lay probably to the northwest of a.s.syria. The most powerful among these peoples were the Shubari, who, like the Kuti on the eastern border of a.s.syria, had already been conquered by Adad-nirari I, but had regained their independence and were once more threatening the border on this side. The third group of his conquests consisted of the districts ruled over by forty kings of the lands of Na'iri, which was a general term for the mountainous districts to the north of a.s.syria, including territory to the west of Lake Van and extending eastwards to the districts around Lake Urmi. The forty kings in this region whom Tukulti-Ninib boasts of having subdued were little more than chieftains of the mountain tribes, each one possessing authority over a few villages scattered among the hills and valleys. But the men of Na'iri were a warlike and hardy race, and, if left long in undisturbed possession of their native fastnesses, they were tempted to make raids into the fertile plains of a.s.syria. It was therefore only politic for Tukulti-Ninib to traverse their country with fire and sword, and, by exacting heavy tribute, to keep the fear of a.s.syrian power before their eyes. From the king's records we thus learn that he subdued and crippled the semi-independent races living on his borders to the north, to the northwest, and to the east. On the west was the desert, from which region he need fear no organized attack when he concentrated his army elsewhere, for his permanent garrisons were strong enough to repel and punish any incursion of nomadic tribes. He was thus in a position to try conclusions with his hereditary foe in the south, without any fear of leaving his land open to invasion in his absence.

The campaign against Babylon was the most important one undertaken by Tukulti-Ninib, and its successful issue was the crowning point of his military career. The king relates that the great G.o.ds Ashur, Bel, and Shamash, and the G.o.ddess Ishtar, the queen of heaven and earth, marched at the head of his warriors when he set out upon the expedition. After crossing the border and penetrating into Babylonian territory he seems to have had some difficulty in forcing Bitiliashu, the Ka.s.site king who then occupied the throne of Babylon, to a decisive engagement. But by a skilful disposition of his forces he succeeded in hemming him in, so that the Babylonian army was compelled to engage in a pitched battle.

The result of the fighting was a complete victory for the a.s.syrian arms.

Many of the Babylonian warriors fell fighting, and Bitiliashu himself was captured by the a.s.syrian soldiers in the midst of the battle.

Tukulti-Ninib boasts that he trampled his lordly neck beneath his feet, and on his return to a.s.syria he carried his captive back in fetters to present him with the spoils of the campaign before Ashur, the national G.o.d of the a.s.syrians.

Before returning to a.s.syria, however, Tukulti-Ninib marched with his army throughout the length and breadth of Babylonia, and achieved the subjugation of the whole of the Sumer and Akkad. He destroyed the fortifications of Babylon to ensure that they should not again be used against himself, and all the inhabitants who did not at once submit to his decrees he put co the sword. He then appointed his own officers to rule the country and established his own system of administration, adding to his previous t.i.tle of "King of a.s.syria," those of "King of Karduniash (i. e. Babylonia)" and "King of Sumer and Akkad." It was probably from this period that he also adopted the t.i.tle of "King of the Poor Quarters of the World." As a mark of the complete subjugation of their ancient foe, Tukulti-Ninib and his army carried back with them to a.s.syria not only the captive Babylonian king, but also the statue of Marduk, the national G.o.d of Babylon. This they removed from B-sagila, his sumptuous temple in Babylon, and they looted the sacred treasures from the treasure-chambers, and carried them off together with the spoil of the city.

Tukulti-Ninib no doubt left a sufficient proportion of his army in Babylon to garrison the city and support the governors and officials into whose charge he committed the administration of the land, but he himself returned to a.s.syria with the rich spoil of the campaign, and it was probably as a use for this large increase of wealth and material that he decided to found another city which should bear his own name and perpetuate it for future ages. The king records that he undertook this task at the bidding of Bel (i.e. the G.o.d Ashur), who commanded that he should found a new city and build a dwelling-place for him therein.

In accordance with the desire of Ashur and the G.o.ds, which was thus conveyed to him, the king founded the city of Kar-Tukulti-Ninib, and he erected therein temples dedicated not only to Ashur, but also to the G.o.ds Adad, and Sha-mash, and Ninib, and Nusku, and Nergal, and Imina-bi, and the G.o.ddess Ishtar. The spoils from Babylon and the temple treasures from E-sagila were doubtless used for the decoration of these temples and the adornment of their shrines, and the king endowed the temples and appointed regular offerings, which he ordained should be their property for ever. He also built a sumptuous palace for his own abode when he stayed in the city, which he constructed on a mound or terrace of earth, faced with brick, and piled high above the level of the city. Finally, he completed its fortification by the erection of a ma.s.sive wall around it, and the completion of this wall was the occasion on which his memorial tablet was inscribed.

The memorial tablet was buried and bricked up within the actual structure of the wall, in order that in future ages it might be read by those who found it, and so it might preserve his name and fame. After finis.h.i.+ng the account of his building operations in the new city and recording the completion of the city wall from its foundation to its coping stone, the king makes an appeal to any future ruler who should find it, in the following words: "In the days that are to come, when this wall shall have grown old and shall have fallen into ruins, may a future prince repair the damaged parts thereof, and may he anoint my memorial tablet with oil, and may he offer sacrifices and restore it unto its place, and then Ashur will hearken unto his prayers. But whosoever shall destroy this wall, or shall remove my memorial tablet or my name that is inscribed thereon, or shall leave Kar-Tukulti-Ninib, the city of my dominion, desolate, or shall destroy it, may the lord Ashur overthrow his kingdom, and may he break his weapons, and may he cause his warriors to be defeated, and may he diminish his boundaries, and may he ordain that his rule shall be cut off, and on his days may he bring sorrow, and his years may he make evil, and may he blot out his name and his seed from the land!"

By such blessings and curses Tukulti-Ninib hoped to ensure the preservation of his name and the rebuilding of his city, should it at any time be neglected and fall into decay. Curiously enough, it was in this very city that Tukulti-Ninib met his own fate less than seven years after he had founded it. At that time one of his own sons, who bore the name of Ashur-nasir-pal, conspired against his father and stirred up the n.o.bles to revolt. The insurrection was arranged when Tukulti-Ninib was absent from his capital and staying in Kar-Tukulti-Ninib, where he was probably protected by only a small bodyguard, the bulk of his veteran warriors remaining behind in garrison at Ashur. The insurgent n.o.bles, headed by Ashur-nasir-pal, fell upon the king without warning when he was pa.s.sing through the city without any suspicion of risk from a treacherous attack. The king defended himself and sought refuge in a neighbouring house, but the conspirators surrounded the building and, having forced an entrance, slew him with the sword. Thus Tukulti-Ninib perished in the city he had built and beautified with the spoils of his campaigns, where he had looked forward to pa.s.sing a peaceful and secure old age. Of the fate of the city itself we know little except that its site is marked to-day by a few mounds which rise slightly above the level of the surrounding desert. The king's memorial tablet only has survived. For some 3,200 years it rested undisturbed in the foundations of the wall of unburnt brick, where it was buried by Tukulti-Ninib on the completion of the city wall.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 408.jpg Stone Tablet. Bearing an inscription of Tukulti-Ninib I]

King of a.s.syria, about B. C. 1275.

Thence it was removed by the hands of modern Arabs, and it is now preserved in the British Museum, where the characters of the inscription may be seen to be as sharp and uninjured as on the day when the a.s.syrian graver inscribed them by order of the king.

In the account of his first campaign, which is preserved upon the memorial tablet, it is stated that the peoples conquered by Tukulti-Ninib brought their yearly tribute to the city of Ashur. This fact is of considerable interest, for it proves that Tukulti-Ninib restored the capital of a.s.syria to the city of Ashur, removing it from Calah, whither it had been transferred by his father Shalmaneser I. The city of Calah had been founded and built by Shalmaneser I in the same way that his son Tukulti-Ninib built the city of Kar-Tukulti-Ninib, and the building of both cities is striking evidence of the rapid growth of a.s.syria and her need of expansion around fresh centres prepared for administration and defence. The s.h.i.+fting of the a.s.syrian capital to Calah by Shalmaneser I was also due to the extension of a.s.syrian power in the north, in consequence of which there was need of having the capital nearer the centre of the country so enlarged. Ashur's recovery of her old position under Tukulti-Ninib I was only a temporary check to this movement northwards, and, so long as Babylon remained a conquered province of the a.s.syrian empire, obviously the need for a capital farther north than Ashur would not have been pressing.

[Ill.u.s.tration 409.jpg THE ZIGGURAT, OR TEMPLE TOWER, OF THE a.s.sYRIAN CITY OF CALAH.]

But with Tukulti-Ninib's death Babylon regained her independence and freed herself from a.s.syrian control, and the centre of the northern kingdom was once more subject to the influences which eventually resulted in the permanent transference of her capital to Nineveh. To the comparative neglect into which Ashur and Calah consequently fell, we may probably trace the extensive remains of buildings belonging to the earlier periods of a.s.syrian history which have been recovered and still remain to be found, in the mounds that mark their sites.

We have given some account of the results already achieved from the excavations carried out during the last two years at Sherghat, the site of the city of Ashur. That much remains to be done on the site of Calah, the other early capital of a.s.syria, is evident from even a cursory examination of the present condition of the mounds that mark the location of the city. These mounds are now known by the name of Nimrd and are situated on the left or eastern bank of the Tigris, a short distance above the point at which it is joined by the stream of the Upper Zab, and the great mound which still covers the remains of the ziggurat, or temple tower, can be seen from a considerable distance across the plain. During the excavations formerly carried out here for the British Museum, remains of palaces were recovered which had been built or restored by Shal-maneser I, Ashur-nasir-pal, Shalmaneser II, Tiglath-pileser III, Sargon, Esarhaddon, and Ashur-etil-ilani. After the conclusion of the diggings and the removal of many of the sculptures to England, the site was covered again with earth, in order to protect the remains of a.s.syrian buildings which were left in place. Since that time the soil has sunk and been washed away by the rains so that many of the larger sculptures are now protruding above the soil, an example of which is seen in the two winged bulls in the palace of Ashur-nasir-pal. It is improbable that the mounds of Nimrd will yield such rich results as Sherghat, but the site would probably well repay prolonged and systematic excavation.

We have hitherto summarized and described the princ.i.p.al facts, with regard to the early history of Babylonia and a.s.syria and the neighbouring countries, which have been obtained from the excavations conducted recently on the sites of ancient cities. From the actual remains of the buildings that have been unearthed we have secured information with regard to the temples and palaces of ancient rulers and the plans on which they were designed. Erom the objects of daily life and of religious use which have been recovered, such as weapons of bronze and iron, and vessels of metal, stone, and clay, it is possible for the archaeologist to draw conclusions with regard to the customs of these early peoples; while from a study of their style and workmans.h.i.+p and of such examples of their sculpture as have been brought to light, he may determine the stage of artistic development at which they had arrived. The clay tablets and stone monuments that have been recovered reveal the family life of the people, their commercial undertakings, their system of legislation and land tenure, their epistolary correspondence, and the administration under which they lived, while the royal inscriptions and foundation-memorials throw light on the religious and historical events of the period in which they were inscribed.

Information on all these points has been acquired as the result of excavation, and is based on the discoveries in the ruins of early cities which have remained buried beneath the soil for some thousands of years.

But for the history of a.s.syria and of the other nations in the north there is still another source of information to which reference must now be made.

The kings of a.s.syria were not content with recording their achievements on the walls of their buildings, on stelae set up in their palaces and temples, on their tablets of annals preserved in their archive-chambers, and on their cylinders and foundation-memorials concealed within the actual structure of the buildings themselves. They have also left records graven in the living rock, and these have never been buried, but have been exposed to wind and weather from the moment they were engraved. Records of irrigation works and military operations successfully undertaken by a.s.syrian kings remain to this day on the face of the mountains to the north and east of a.s.syria. The kings of one great mountain race that had its capital at Van borrowed from the a.s.syrians this method of recording their achievements, and, adopting the a.s.syrian character, have left numerous rock-inscriptions in their own language in the mountains of Armenia and Kurdistan. In some instances the action of rain and frost has nearly if not quite obliterated the record, and a few have been defaced by the hand of man. But as the majority are engraved in panels cut on the sheer face of the rock, and are inaccessible except by means of ropes and tackle, they have escaped mutilation. The photograph reproduced will serve to show the means that must be adopted for reaching such rock-inscriptions in order to examine or copy them.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 413.jpg WORK IN PROGRESS ON ONE OF THE ROCK-INSCRIPTIONS OF SENNACHERIB]

In The Gorge Of The River Gomel, Near Bavian.

The inscription shown in the photograph is one of those cut by Sennacherib in the gorge near Bavian, through which the river Gomel flows, and can be reached only by climbing down ropes fixed to the top of the cliff. The choice of such positions by the kings who caused the inscriptions to be engraved was dictated by the desire to render it difficult to destroy them, but it has also had the effect of delaying to some extent their copying and decipherment by modern workers.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 414.jpg THE PRINc.i.p.aL ROCK SCULPTURES IN THE GORGE OF THE GOMEL]

Near Bavian In a.s.syria.

Considerable progress, however, has recently been made in identifying and copying these texts, and we may here give a short account of what has been done and of the information furnished by the inscriptions that have been examined.

Recently considerable additions have been made to our knowledge of the ancient empire of Van and of its relation to the later kings of a.s.syria by the labours of Prof Lehmann and Dr. Belck on the inscriptions which the kings of that period caused to be engraved upon the rocks among the mountains of Armenia.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 415.jpg THE ROCK AND CITADEL OF VAN.]