Part 4 (1/2)
[Ill.u.s.tration: Head-dress of Captives employed by a.s.syrians in moving Bull (Kouyunjik).]
The huge stone having been landed, and carved by the a.s.syrian sculptor into the form of a colossal human-headed bull, is to be moved from the bank of the river to the site it is meant to occupy permanently in the palace-temple. This process is represented on the walls of the great hall. From these bas-reliefs, as well as from discoveries to be hereafter mentioned, it is therefore evident that the a.s.syrians sculptured their gigantic figures before, and not after, the slabs had been raised in the edifice, although all the details and the finis.h.i.+ng touches were not put in, as it will be seen, until they had been finally placed.[37] I am still, however, of opinion, that the smaller bas-reliefs were entirely executed after the slabs had been attached to the walls.
In the first bas-relief I shall describe, the colossal bull rests horizontally on a sledge similar in form to the boat containing the rough block from the quarry, but either in the carving the stone has been greatly reduced in size, or the sledge is much larger than the boat, as it considerably exceeds the sculpture in length. The bull faces the spectator, and the human head rests on the fore-part of the sledge, which is curved upwards and strengthened by a thick beam, apparently running completely through from side to side. The upper part, or deck, is otherwise nearly horizontal; the under, or keel, being slightly curved throughout. Props, probably of wood, are placed under different parts of the sculpture to secure an equal pressure. The sledge was dragged by cables, and impelled by levers. The cables are four in number; two fastened to strong projecting pins in front, and two to similar pins behind. They are pulled by small ropes pa.s.sing over the shoulders of the men, as in the bas-reliefs already described.
On the bull itself are four persons, probably the superintending officers.
The first is kneeling, and appears to be clapping his hands, probably beating time, to regulate the motions of the workmen, who unless they applied their strength at one and the same moment would be unable to move so large a weight. Behind him stands a second officer with outstretched arm, evidently giving the word of command. The next holds to his mouth, either a speaking-trumpet, or an instrument of music. If the former, it proves that the a.s.syrians were acquainted with a means of conveying sound, presumed to be of modern invention. In form it undoubtedly resembles the modern speaking-trumpet, and in no bas-relief hitherto discovered does a similar object occur as an instrument of music. The fourth officer, also standing, carries a mace, and is probably stationed behind to give directions to those who work the levers. The sledge bearing the sculpture is followed by men with coils of ropes and various implements, and drawing carts laden with cables and beams.
A subject similar to that just described is represented in another series of bas-reliefs, with even fuller details. The bull is placed in the same manner on the sledge, which is also moved by cables and levers. It is accompanied by workmen with saws, hatchets, pick-axes, shovels, ropes, and props, and by carts carrying cables and beams. Upon it are three officers directing the operations, one holding the trumpet in his hands, and in front walk four other overseers. Above the sledge and the workmen are rows of trees, and a river on which are circular boats resembling in shape the ”kufas,” now used on the lower part of the Tigris, and probably, like them, built of reeds and ozier twigs, covered with square pieces of hide.
They are heavily laden with beams and implements required for moving the bulls.
On a fallen slab, forming part of the same general series, is the king standing in a richly decorated chariot, the pole of which, curved upwards at the end, and ornamented with the head of a horse, is raised by eunuchs. From the peculiar form of this chariot and the absence of a yoke, it would seem to have been intended purposely for such occasions as that represented in the bas-relief, and to have been a kind of moveable throne drawn by men and not by horses. Behind the monarch, who holds a kind of flower, or ornament in the shape of the fruit of the pine, in one hand, stand two eunuchs, one raising a parasol to shade him from the sun, the other cooling him with a fan. He appears to have been superintending the transport of one of the colossal sculptures, and his chariot is preceded and followed by his body-guard armed with maces.
The next series of bas-reliefs represents the building of the artificial platforms on which the palaces were erected, and the a.s.syrians moving to their summit the colossal bulls. The king is again seen in his chariot drawn by eunuchs, whilst an attendant raises the royal parasol above his head. He overlooks the operations from that part of the mound to which the sledge is being dragged, and before him stands his body-guard, a long line of alternate spearmen and archers, resting their arms and s.h.i.+elds upon the ground. At the bottom of the slab is represented a river, on the banks of which are seen men raising water by a simple machine, still generally used for irrigation in the East, as well as in Southern Europe, and called in Egypt a _shadoof_. It consists of a long pole, balanced on a shaft of masonry, and turning on a pivot; to one end is attached a stone, and to the other a bucket, which, after being lowered into the water and filled, is easily raised by the help of the opposite weight. Its contents are then emptied into a conduit communicating with the various watercourses running through the fields. In the neighbourhood of Mosul this mode of irrigation is now rarely used, the larger skins raised by oxen affording a better supply, and giving, it is considered, less trouble to the cultivator.[38]
It would appear that the men employed in building the artificial mound were captives and malefactors, for many of them are in chains, some singly, others bound together by an iron rod attached to rings in their girdles. The fetters, like those of modern criminals, confine the legs, and are supported by a bar fastened to the waist, or consist of simple shackles round the ankles. They wear a short tunic, and a conical cap, somewhat resembling the Phrygian bonnet, with the curved crest turned backwards, a costume very similar to that of the tribute bearers on the Nimroud obelisk. Each band of workmen is followed and urged on by task-masters armed with staves.
The mound, or artificial platform, having been thus built, not always, as it has been seen, with regular layers of sun-dried bricks, but frequently in parts with mere heaped-up earth and rubbish, the next step was to drag to its summit the colossal figures prepared for the palace. As some of the largest of these sculptures were full twenty feet square, and must have weighed between forty and fifty tons, this was no easy task with such means as the a.s.syrians possessed. The only aid to mere manual strength was derived from the rollers and levers.
Behind the monarch, on an adjoining slab, are carts bearing the cables, wedges, and implements required in moving the sculpture. A long beam or lever is slung by ropes from the shoulders of three men, and one of the great wedges is carried in the same way. In the upper compartment of this slab is a stream issuing from the foot of hills wooded with vines, fig-trees, and pomegranates. Beneath stands a town or village, the houses of which have domes and high conical roofs, probably built of mud, as in parts of northern Syria. The domes have the appearance of dish-covers with a handle, the upper part being topped by a small circular projection, perhaps intended as an aperture to admit light and air.
[Ill.u.s.tration: Village with the conical Roofs, near Aleppo.]
This interesting series is completed by a bas-relief, showing, it would seem, the final placing of the colossal bull. The figure no longer lies horizontally on the sledge, but is raised by men with ropes and forked wooden props. It is kept in its erect position by beams, held together by cross bars and wedges,[39] and is further supported by blocks of stone, or wood, piled up under the body. Cables, ropes, rollers, and levers are also employed on this occasion to move the gigantic sculpture. The captives are distinguished by the peculiar turbans before described.[40]
We have thus represented, with remarkable fidelity and spirit[41], the several processes employed to place these colossi where they still stand, from the transport down the river of the rough block to the final removal of the sculptured figure to the palace. From these bas-reliefs we find that the a.s.syrians were well acquainted with the lever and the roller, and that they ingeniously made use of the former by carrying with them wedges, of different dimensions, and probably of wood, to vary the height of the fulcrum. When moving the winged bulls and lions now in the British Museum from the ruins to the banks of the Tigris, I used almost the same means.
The a.s.syrians, like the Egyptians, had made considerable progress in rope twisting, an art now only known in its rudest state in the same part of the East. The cables appear to be of great length and thickness, and ropes of various dimensions are represented in the sculptures.
On comparing representations of similar works among the Egyptians, it will be found that they succeeded in removing ma.s.ses of stone far exceeding in weight any sculpture which has yet been discovered in a.s.syria. Yet it is a singular fact, that whilst the quarries of Egypt bear witness of themselves to the stupendous nature of the works of the ancient inhabitants of the country, and still show on their sides engraved records of those who made them, no traces whatever, notwithstanding the most careful research, have yet been found to indicate from whence the builders of the a.s.syrian palaces obtained their large slabs of alabaster. That they were in the immediate neighbourhood of Nineveh there is scarcely any reason to doubt, as strata of this material, easily accessible, abound, not only in the hills but in the plains. This very abundance may have rendered any particular quarry unnecessary, and blocks were probably taken as required from convenient spots, which have since been covered by the soil.
There can be no doubt, as will hereafter be shown, that the king represented as superintending the building of the mounds and the placing of the colossal bulls is Sennacherib himself, and that the sculptures celebrate the building at Nineveh of the great palace and its adjacent temples described in the inscriptions as the work of this monarch.
Unfortunately only fragments of the epigraphs have been preserved. From them it would appear that the transport of more than one object was represented on the walls. Besides bulls and sphynxes in stone are mentioned figures in some kind of wood, perhaps of olive, like ”the two cherubims of olive tree, each ten cubits high,” in the temple of Solomon.[42] Over the king superintending the removal of one of these colossi is the following short inscription thus translated by Dr.
Hincks:--
”Sennacherib, king of a.s.syria, the great figures of bulls, which in the land of Belad, were made for his royal palace at Nineveh, he transported _thither_.” (?)
The land of Belad, mentioned in these inscriptions, appears to have been a district in the immediate vicinity of Nineveh, and probably on the Tigris, as these great ma.s.ses of stone would have been quarried near the river for the greater convenience of moving them to the palace. The district of Belad may indeed have been that in which the city itself stood.
Over the representation of the building of the mound there were two epigraphs, both precisely similar, but both unfortunately much mutilated.
As far as they can be restored, they have thus been interpreted by Dr.
Hincks:--
”Sennacherib, king of a.s.syria. Hewn stones, _which_, as the G.o.ds[43]
willed, were found in the land of Belad, for the _walls_ (?) (or foundations, the word reads '_s.h.i.+bri_') of my palace, _I caused the inhabitants of foreign countries_ (?) and the people of the forests (Kershani), the great bulls for the gates of my palace to _drag_ (?) (or bring).”
If this inscription be rightly rendered, we have direct evidence that captives from foreign countries were employed in the great public works undertaken by the a.s.syrian kings, as we were led to infer, from the variety of costume represented in the bas-reliefs, and from the fetters on the legs of some of the workmen. The Jews themselves, after their captivity, may have been thus condemned to labor, as their forefathers had been in Egypt, in erecting the monuments of their conquerors; and we may, perhaps, recognise them amongst the builders portrayed in the sculptures.
From the long gallery, we have unfortunately only three fragments of inscriptions without the sculptured representations of the events recorded. The most perfect is interesting on more than one account.