Museum of Antiquity Part 27

"In this new excavation I find four earthen pipes, from eighteen and three-quarters to twenty-two and one-quarter inches long, and from six and one-half to eleven and three-quarters inches thick, laid together for conducting water, which was brought from a distance of about seven miles from the upper Thymbrius. This river is now called the Kemar, from the Greek word kamara (vault), because an aqueduct of the Roman period crosses its lower course by a large arch. This aqueduct formerly supplied Ilium with drinking water from the upper portion of the river. But the Pergamus required special aqueducts, for it lies higher than the city.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ELEGANT BROOCH OF TROY.]

"Unfortunately upon none of the articles of the Treasure of Priam are there found any inscriptions or any religious symbols except 100 idols of the Homeric 'owl-faced G.o.ddess Athene.' (Thea glaukopis Athene) which glitter upon the two diadems and the four ear-rings. These are, however, an undeniable proof that the Treasure belongs to the city and to the age of which Homer sings."

The question asked is: Has Schliemann found any inscriptions which throw the certain light of written testimony on the language, the history and social condition, the religion, science and literature of the old inhabitants of the hill, whose records form as yet no part of ancient history? Upon this point very little satisfaction can be given, yet the people of ancient Troy did have a written language. At a depth of twenty-six feet, in the royal palace, a vase with an inscription was found. One of the letters resembles the Greek P. This same letter occurs on a seal found at a depth of twenty-three feet; two other letters of this inscription occurred on one other terra-cotta, likewise found at a depth of twenty-three feet.

To Dr. Martin Haug belongs the honor of first deciphering the Trojan inscriptions on the above-mentioned vase. He, not without much research, interpreted it as a dedication "To the divine Sigo," a deity whose name was found in Sigeum. The trans.m.u.tation, however, seemed forced; and, while Haug was right in his method, his results were p.r.o.nounced at best,

"Fragments of broken words and thoughts, Yet glimpses of the true."

Prof. T. Gomperz, of Vienna, after making one correction in Haug's reading, still found it unsatisfactory, till the thought struck him of reading it from right to left round the vase, instead of from left to right, when the confused syllables flashed, as by sudden crystallization, into the pure Greek, and read: "To the divine Prince."

Another inscription was found which Prof. Max Muller read as the very name of ILION. Others were found which are not as yet interpreted.

[Ill.u.s.tration: LAMP FOUND AT TROY.]

[Page Decoration]

NINEVEH AND BABYLON.

Far away from the highways of modern commerce and the tracks of ordinary travel lay a city buried in the sandy earth of a half-desert Turkish province, with no trace of its place of sepulture. Vague tradition said it was hidden somewhere near the river Tigris; but for a long series of ages its existence in the world was a mere name--a word. That name suggested the idea of an ancient capital of fabulous splendor and magnitude; a congregation of palaces and temples, encompa.s.sed by vast walls and ramparts--of "the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly; that said in her heart, I am, and there is none beside me," and which was to become "a desolation and dry like a wilderness."

More than two thousand years had it lain in its unknown grave, when a French _savant_ and a wandering scholar sought the seat of the once powerful empire, and searching till they found the dead city, threw off its shroud of sand and ruin, and revealed once more to an astonished and curious world the temples, the palaces, and the idols; the representations of war and the chase, of the cruelties and luxuries of the ancient a.s.syrians. The Nineveh of Scripture, the Nineveh of the oldest historians; the Nineveh--twin sister of Babylon--glorying in pomp and power, all traces of which were believed to be gone; the Nineveh in which the captive tribes of Israel had labored and wept, and against which the words of prophecy had gone forth, was, after a sleep of twenty centuries, again brought to light. The proofs of ancient splendor were again beheld by living eyes, and by the skill of draftsmen and the pen of antiquarian travelers made known and preserved to the world.

In the history of Jonah's visit, Nineveh is twice described as "that great city," and again as an "exceedingly great city of three days'

journey."

The measurement a.s.signed to Nineveh by the sacred writer applies, without doubt, to its circuit, and gives a circ.u.mference of about sixty miles.

None of the historical books of the Old Testament give any details respecting Nineveh. The prophets, however, make frequent incidental allusion to its magnificence, to the "fenced place," the "stronghold,"

the "valiant men and chariots," the "silver and gold," the "pleasant furniture," "carved lintels and cedar work." Zephaniah, who wrote about twenty-four years before the fall of Nineveh, says of it:

"This is the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly; That said in her heart, 'I am, and there is none beside me.'"

The ruins of Nineveh were virtually unknown to the ancient cla.s.sical writers, though we gather from all of them that it was one of the oldest, most powerful and most splendid cities in the world; that it perished utterly many hundred years before the Christian Era; and that after its fall Babylon became the capital of the a.s.syrian empire, which finally grew still greater and mightier. On examining their details, we find names confounded, incidents transposed, and chronology by turns confused, extended or inverted. Difficulties of another and more peculiar kind beset this path of inquiry, of which it will suffice to instance one ill.u.s.tration--proper names, those fixed points in history around which the achievements or sufferings of its heroes cl.u.s.ter, are constantly s.h.i.+fting in the a.s.syrian nomenclature; both men and G.o.ds being designated, not by a word composed of certain fixed sounds or signs, but by all the various expressions equivalent to it in meaning, whether consisting of a synonym or a phrase. Hence we find that the names furnished by cla.s.sic authors generally have little or no a.n.a.logy with the a.s.syrian, as the Greeks generally construed the proper names of other countries according to the genius of their own language, and not unfrequently translated the original name into it. Herodotus, however, though he mentions but one a.s.syrian king, gives his true name, Sennacherib.

The immense mounds of brick and rubbish which marked the presumed sites of Babylon and Nineveh had been used as quarries by the inhabitants of the surrounding country, from time immemorial, without disclosing to other eyes than those of the wild occupier of the soil the monuments they must have served to support or cover. Though carefully explored by Niebuhr and Claudius James Rich, no other traces of buildings than a few portions of walls, of which they could not understand the plan, had been presented; if, however, the investigations of these travelers produced few immediate results, the first-named certainly has the merit of being the first to break the ground, and by his intelligence, to have awakened the enterprise of others. Rich, who was the East India Company's resident at Baghdad, employed his leisure in the investigation of the antiquities of a.s.syria. He gave his first attention to Babylon, on which he wrote a paper, originally published in Germany--his countrymen apparently taking less interest in such matters than did the scholars of Vienna.

In a note to a second memoir on Babylon, printed in London in 1818, we find Nineveh thus alluded to by Rich. He says: "Opposite the town of Mosul is an enclosure of rectangular form, corresponding with the cardinal points of the compa.s.s; the eastern and western sides being the longest, the latter facing the river. The area, which is now cultivated, and offers no vestiges of building, is too small to have contained a town larger than Mosul, but it may be supposed to answer to the palace of Nineveh. The boundary, which may be perfectly traced all round, now looks like an embankment of earth or rubbish, of small elevation; and has attached to it, and in its line, at several places, mounds of greater size and solidity. The first of these forms the southwest angle, and on it is built the village of Nebbi Younis, the prophet's tomb (described and delineated by Niebuhr as Nurica), where they show the tomb of the prophet Jonah, much revered by the Mohammedans. The next, and largest of all, is the one which may be supposed to be the monument of Ninus. It is situated near the centre of the western face of the enclosure, and is joined like the others by the boundary wall;--the natives call it Kouyunjik Tepe. Its form is that of a truncated pyramid, with regular steep sides and a flat top; it is composed, as I ascertained from some excavations, of stones and earth, the latter predominating sufficiently to admit of the summit being cultivated by the inhabitants of the village of Kouyunjik, which is built on it at the northeast extremity. The only means I had, at the time I visited it, of ascertaining its dimensions, was by a cord which I procured from Mosul. This gave 178 feet for the greatest height, 1,850 feet for the length of the summit east and west, and 1,147 for its breadth north and south.

This mound has revealed the grandest and most stupendous remains of ancient Neneveh. Within the boundaries of ancient walls there are many mounds and elevations. All of them are artificial and are caused by the remains of the ancient structures. Mound Nimroud is about four miles in circ.u.mference at its base, on the top of which is a great pyramid mound 777 feet in circ.u.mference and 144-1/2 feet high.

M. Botta distinctly traced the walls of an enclosure forming nearly a perfect square, two sides of which are 5,750 feet, the other 5,400, or rather more than a mile each way, all the four angles being right angles, which face the cardinal points. M. Botta commenced researches in the mound of Kouyunjik in 1842, and, meeting with little success, he abandoned his excavations in the following year.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PALACE OF SENNACHERIB.

_Discovered in a mound 1850 feet long, 1145 feet wide, and 178 feet high._]

Layard, in 1846, opened some trenches in the southern face of the mound, but, at that time, without any important results. At a subsequent period he made some inquiries respecting the bas-relief described by Rich, and the spot where it was discovered having been pointed out to him in the northern group of ruins, he opened trenches, but, not finding any traces of sculptures, discontinued his operations.

Upon completing his labors at Nimroud, in 1847, Layard determined on making some farther researches at Kouyunjik. He commenced at the southwestern corner, and not only discovered the remains of a palace, which had been destroyed by fire, but, within the short s.p.a.ce of a month, had explored nine of its chambers. All the chambers were long and narrow, and the walls lined with bas-reliefs of larger size than most of those he had found at Nimroud. The slabs were not divided by bands of inscription, but were covered with figures scattered promiscuously over the entire surface, all the details being carefully and delicately executed. The winged human-headed bulls at the entrances resembled those found at Khorsabad and Persepolis in the forms of the head-dress, and feathered cap; and the costumes of the figures in general were also like those found at Khorsabad. The period of the palace was conjectured to be between those of Khorsabad and Nimroud. After Mr. Layard had left Mosul, Mr. Ross continued the excavations, and discovered several additional bas-reliefs--an entrance, which had been formed of four sphinxes, and a very large square slab, which he conjectured to be a dais or altar, like that found at Nimroud.

Here he found a chamber lined with sculptured slabs, divided, like those of Khorsabad and Nimroud, by bands of inscription. He also found, at the foot of the mound, a monument about three feet high, and rounded at the top, containing a figure with a long cuneiform inscription, and above it various sacred emblems. When discovered it was supported by brickwork, and near it was a sarcophagus in baked clay.

On the departure of Mr. Ross from Mosul the excavations were placed under the charge of Mr. Ra.s.sam, the English consul, with power to employ a small body of men, so as not to entirely abandon possession of the spot.

Layard says: "During a short period several discoveries of the greatest interest and importance were made, both at Kouyunjik and Nimroud. I will first describe the results of the excavations in the ruins opposite Mosul.

"Shortly before my departure for Europe, in 1848, the forepart of a human-headed bull of colossal dimensions had been uncovered on the east side of the Kouyunjik Palace. This sculpture then appeared to form one side of an entrance or doorway. The excavations had, however, been abandoned before any attempt could be made to ascertain the fact.

On my return a tunnel, nearly 100 feet in length, was opened at right angles to the winged bull, but without coming upon any other remains but a pavement of square limestone slabs, which continued as far as the excavation was carried.

"On uncovering the bull, which was still partly buried in the rubbish, it was found that adjoining it were other sculptures, and that it formed part of an exterior facade. The upper half of the slab had been destroyed; upon the lower was part of the figure of the a.s.syrian Hercules strangling the lion, similar to that discovered between the bulls in the propylaea of Khorsabad, and now in the Louvre. The hinder part of the lion was still preserved. The legs, feet, and drapery of the G.o.d were in the boldest relief, and designed with great truth and vigor. Beyond this figure, in the same line, was a second bull. Then came a wide portal, guarded by a pair of winged bulls twenty feet long, and probably, when entire, more than twenty feet high, and two gigantic winged figures in low relief. Flanking them were two smaller figures, one above the other. Beyond this entrance the facade was continued by a group similar to that on the opposite side by a smaller entrance into the palace and by a wall of sculptured slabs; then all traces of building and sculpture ceased near the edge of a water-worn ravine.

"Thus, part of the facade of the southeast side of the palace, forming apparently the grand entrance to the edifice, had been discovered. Ten colossal bulls, with six human figures of gigantic proportions, altogether 180 feet in length, were here grouped together. Although the bas-reliefs to the right of the entrance had apparently been purposely destroyed with a sharp instrument, enough remained to allow me to trace their subject. They had represented the conquest of a district, probably part of Babylonia, watered by a broad river and wooded with palms, spearmen on foot in combat with a.s.syrian hors.e.m.e.n, castles besieged, long lines of prisoners, and beasts of burden carrying away the spoil. Amongst various animals brought as tribute to the conquerors could be distinguished a lion led by a chain. There were no remains whatever of the superstructure which once rose above the colossi, guarding this magnificent entrance.

"Although the upper part of the winged bulls was destroyed, fortunately the lower part, and, consequently, the inscriptions, had been more or less preserved. To this fact we owe the recovery of some of the most precious records of the ancient world.

"On the two great bulls forming the center entrance was one continuous inscription, injured in parts, but still so far preserved as to be legible almost throughout. It contained 152 lines. On the four bulls of the facade were two inscriptions, one inscription being carried over each pair, and the two being precisely of the same import. These two different inscriptions complete the annals of six years of the reign of Sennacherib, and contain numerous particulars connected with the religion of the a.s.syrians, their G.o.ds, their temples, and the erection of their palaces. We gather from them that, in the third year of his reign, Sennacherib turned his arms against Merodach-Baladan, king of Babylon, whom he entirely defeated, capturing his cities and a large amount of spoil. The fourth year appears to have been chiefly taken up with expeditions against the inhabitants of the mountainous regions to the north and east of a.s.syria. In the fifth he crossed the Euphrates into Syria, the inhabitants of which country are called by their familiar Biblical name of Hitt.i.tes. He first took possession of Phnicia, which was abandoned by its King Luliya (the Eululaeus of the Greeks). He then restored to his throne Padiya, or Padi, king of Ekron, and a tributary of a.s.syria, who had been deposed by his subjects and given over to Hezekiah, king of Jerusalem. The king of Ethiopia and Egypt sent a powerful army to the a.s.sistance of the people of Ekron, but it was entirely defeated by Sennacherib, who afterwards marched against Hezekiah, probably to punish him for having imprisoned Padiya. The inscriptions record this expedition, according to the translation of the late Dr. Hincks, in the following term:--'Hezekiah, king of Judah, who had not submitted to my authority, forty-six of his princ.i.p.al cities, and fortresses and villages depending upon them, of which I took no account, I captured and carried away their spoil. I _shut up_ (?) himself within Jerusalem, his capital city. The fortified towns, and the rest of his towns, which I spoiled, I severed from his country, and gave to the kings of Ascalon, Ekron, and Gaza, so as to make his country small. In addition to the former tribute imposed upon their countries, I added a tribute, the nature of which I fixed.' The next pa.s.sage is somewhat illegible, but the substance of it appears to be, that he took from Hezekiah the treasure he had collected in Jerusalem, thirty talents of gold and eight hundred talents of silver, the treasures of his palace, besides his sons and his daughters, and his male and female servants or slaves, and brought them all to Nineveh. This city itself, however, he does not pretend to have taken.

"The translation of this pa.s.sage by Sir H. Rawlinson varies in some particulars from that given in the text. It is as follows: 'Because Hezekiah, king of Judah, would not submit to my yoke I came up against him, and by force of arms, and by the might of my power I took forty-six of his fenced cities; and of the smaller towns which were scattered about I took and plundered a countless number. And from these places I captured and carried off, as spoil, 200,150 people, old and young, male and female, together with horses and mares, a.s.ses and camels, oxen and sheep, a countless mult.i.tude. And Hezekiah himself I shut up in Jerusalem, his capital city, like a bird in a cage, building towers around the city to hem him in, and raising banks of earth against the gates, so as to prevent escape. * * * * Then upon this Hezekiah there fell the fear of the power of my arms, and he sent out to me the chiefs and the elders of Jerusalem with thirty talents of gold and eight hundred talents of silver, and divers treasures, a rich and immense booty. * * * * All these things were brought to me at Nineveh, the seat of my government, Hezekiah having sent them by way of tribute, and as a token of his submission to my power.'

"There can be no doubt that the campaign against the cities of Palestine, recorded in the inscriptions of Sennacherib in this palace, is that described in the Old Testament; and it is of great interest, therefore, to compare the two accounts, which will be found to agree in the princ.i.p.al incidents mentioned to a very remarkable extent. In the Second Book of Kings it is said--'Now, in the fourteenth year of king Hezekiah did Sennacherib, king of a.s.syria, come up against all the fenced cities of Judah, and took them. And Hezekiah, king of Judah, sent to the king of a.s.syria, to Lachish, saying, I have offended; return from me; that which thou puttest on me will I bear.

And the king of a.s.syria appointed unto Hezekiah three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. And Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord and in the treasures of the king's house. At that time did Hezekiah cut off [_the gold from_]

the doors of the temple of the Lord, and [_from_] the pillars which Hezekiah, king of Judah, had overlaid, and gave it to the king of a.s.syria.'"

When Mr. Layard revisited Kouyunjik in 1849, there were no vestiges of the sculptured walls discovered two years previously. The more recent trenches, however, dug under the superintendence of Mr. Ross, were still open; and the workmen employed by direction of the British Museum had run tunnels along the walls within the mound, to save the trouble of clearing away the soil, which had acc.u.mulated to a depth of thirty feet above the ruins. Under the direction of Layard, the excavations were resumed with great spirit, and before the lapse of many weeks, several chambers had been entered, and numerous bas-reliefs discovered. One hall, 124 feet by 90 feet, appears, says Layard, "to have formed a center, around which the princ.i.p.al chambers in this part of the palace were grouped. Its walls had been completely covered with the most elaborate and highly-finished sculptures.

Unfortunately, all the bas-reliefs, as well as the gigantic monsters at the entrances, had suffered more or less from the fire which had destroyed the edifice; but enough of them still remained to show the subject, and even to enable him, in many places, to restore it entirely."

Continuing his discoveries in the mound, Layard "opened no less than seventy-one halls and chambers, also pa.s.sages, whose walls, almost without an exception, had been paneled with slabs of sculptured alabaster, recording the wars, the triumphs, and the great deeds of the a.s.syrian king. By a rough calculation, about 9,880 feet, or nearly two miles of bas-reliefs, with twenty-seven portals formed by colossal winged bulls and lion sphinxes, were uncovered in that part alone of the building explored during his researches. The cut on page 435 shows some of them. The greatest length of the excavations was about 720 feet, the greatest breadth about 600 feet. The pavement of the chambers was from twenty to thirty-five feet below the surface of the mound. The measurements merely include that part of the palace actually excavated."

[Ill.u.s.tration: DISCOVERED IN THE PALACE.

EXPLANATION OF CUT.

1.} Figures from the portal of the palace of Sennacherib, having 2.} the forms of winged bulls with human heads, bearing crowns.

3. King Sennacherib on his throne. A sculpture found at Nimroud, dating from the 7th century Before Christ.

4. A king on the hunt.

5. The storming of a fortress. In the foreground are two warriors clad in armor, helmeted and heavily armed with swords and spears.

6.} Vases of gla.s.s and alabaster engraved with the word Sargon.

7.} From Nimroud.

8. Vessel of glazed earthenware--, found at Babel.

9. Bronze drinking cup ornamented with the head of an animal.

10. Lamp of earthenware.

11. Stuff woven in patterns of a.s.syrian style. From relief at Nimroud.

12. Table formed of fragments of sculptures found at Nimroud.

13.} 14.} Swords.

15.} 16. Bent sword.