Part 15 (1/2)

From the banks of the Arantu I departed. Between the countries of _Saraban_ and _Tapan_ (?) I occupied the country. By the seash.o.r.e I encamped. To the city of _Ariboua_ (?), a princ.i.p.al city of Lubarna, the Sharutinian, I returned.... (undeciphered pa.s.sage). _I caused some men of a.s.syria to dwell in his palace_ (?). Whilst I was in Ariboua the cities of Lukuta I took. I slew many of their men. I overthrew and burned their cities. Their _fighting men_ (or ? the deserters from my army) I laid hold of. On stakes over against their city I impaled them.[151] At that time the countries that are upon Lebanon I took possession of, to the great sea of the country of Akkari (the Mediterranean). On the great sea _I put_ my servants (?). Sacrifices to the G.o.ds I offered. The tribute of the kings of the people who dwelt near the sea, of the Tyrians, the Sidonians, the Kubalians, the _Mahalatai_ (?), the Ma...ai, the Kha..., and the Akkarians (all nations to the north of Tyre), and of the city of Arvad, which is in the middle of the sea--silver and gold pieces, rings (?) of copper, _ingots_ (?) of copper, two kinds of _clothing_ (?) (perhaps the dyed cloth of Tyre, or embroideries such as are frequently mentioned in the Bible), great '_yagouti_' and small '_pagouti_' (meaning not determined), some wooden objects, apparently of cedar, and _pearls_ (?), from the rivers at or between the sea.[152] I went to the mountain of Kamana (the Cama.n.u.s, in the north of Syria). I sacrificed to the G.o.ds. I made _bridges_ (or beams), and _pillars_ (?). From Kamana I brought them to Bithkara, for my own house, for the temple of San, for the temple of the sun. I went to the forests and cut them down, and made _bridges_ (?) (or roofs or beams) of the wood, for Ishtar, mistress of the city of Nineveh, my protectress.”[153]

The chief events of the reign of this king are briefly alluded to in the standard and other inscriptions discovered in the north-west palace at Nimroud; but in the records just described we have a minuteness of geographical detail, which enables us to trace the course of his expeditions with great certainty.

Standing one day on a distant part of the mound, I smelt the sweet smell of burning cedar. The Arab workmen, excavating in the small temple, had dug out a beam, and, the weather being cold, had at once made a fire to warm themselves. The wood was cedar; probably one of the very beams mentioned in the inscription as brought from the forests of Lebanon by the king who built the edifice. After a lapse of nearly three thousand years, it had retained its original fragrance. It is likely that the whole superstructure, as well as the roof and floor of the building, like those of the temple and palace of Solomon, were of this precious material.

In these ruins was also found a ma.s.s of lead melted by the fire, for embedded in it was the iron head of a hatchet. Amongst the various small objects collected were figures of winged deities, &c., of clay, colored in the ma.s.s with a blue derived from copper; eyes, beards, hair, and ornaments in enamel, probably belonging to figures of wood, metal, or ivory, resembling the cryselaphantine statues of the Greeks; eyes of black marble inlaid with ivory, with the eye-b.a.l.l.s of a bright blue enamel, belonging to similar statues; and arms, legs, and other parts of figures in charred wood.

Fragments of porcelain (?), parts of a cup or vase, with carvings in low relief, several inscribed fragments of agate, lapis-lazuli, cornelian, and other precious materials, beads, cylinders, and one or two clay tablets with inscriptions and impressions of seals, complete the list of small objects discovered in this temple.

About one hundred feet to the east of the building last described, and on the very edge of the artificial platform, I discovered a second temple.

Its princ.i.p.al entrance faced the south, and was on the same level as the north-west palace. This gateway was formed by two colossal lions with extended jaws, gathered up lips and nostrils, flowing manes, and ruffs of bristly hair. The heads, though to a certain extent conventional in form, were designed with that vigor so remarkably displayed by the a.s.syrian sculptor in the delineation of animals. The limbs conveyed the idea of strength and power, the veins and muscles were accurately portrayed, and the outline of the body was not deficient in grace and truth. But the front of the animal, which was in full, was narrow and cramped, and unequal in dignity to the side. The sculptor has given five legs to the animal for the same reason that he gave them to the sphinxes, that they might offer a complete front and side view.

This gateway, about eight feet wide, was paved with one inscribed slab.

The height of the lions was about eight feet, and their length thirteen.

An inscription was carved across them. In front of them, in the corners formed by walls projecting at right angles with the entrance, were two altars, hollow at the top, and ornamented with gradines resembling the battlements of a castle. The exterior walls appeared to have been adorned with enamelled bricks, many of which still remained.

Unfortunately, one of these lions had been too much injured by fire to bear removal. The other, although cracked in several places when discovered, and consequently moved in pieces, has been preserved, and is now in the British Museum.

The Lion portal led into a chamber 57 feet by 25. At one end was a recess similar to that in the opposite temple, and also paved with one great alabaster slab, inscribed on both sides. This monolith, 19-1/2 ft. by 12 ft., was likewise broken into several pieces, and had been injured in parts by fire.

The inscription on the upper side, divided into two columns, and containing 230 lines, was nearly the same as that on the king in the frame and on the monolith in the other temple. It was also a record of the wars and campaigns of the early Nimroud king.

The other rooms in the same building contained no inscriptions, sculptures, or other objects of interest.

In the earth above the great inscribed slab was found an interesting figure, 3 feet 4 inches high, and cut in a hard, compact limestone. It appeared to represent the king himself, attired as high priest in his sacrificial robes. In his right hand he held an instrument resembling a sickle, and in his left the sacred mace. Round his waist was the knotted girdle; and his left arm, like that of the king in the opposite temple, was partly concealed by an outer robe. His garments descended to his feet, the toes alone projecting from them. The beard and hair were elaborately curled, the features were majestic, and the general proportions of the statue not altogether incorrect, with the exception of a want of breadth in the side view peculiar to a.s.syrian works of art of this nature. It was, however, chiefly remarkable as being the only entire statue ”in the round”

of this period, hitherto discovered in the ruins of Nineveh.

On the breast is an inscription nearly in these words:--After the name and t.i.tles of the king, ”The conqueror from the upper pa.s.sage of the Tigris to Lebanon and the Great Sea, who all countries, from the rising of the sun to the going down thereof, has reduced under his authority.” The statue was, therefore, probably raised after his return from the campaign in Syria described, as we have seen, on the monoliths, and alluded to in the standard inscription.

This statue originally stood on a pedestal of reddish limestone, which, with the figure itself, was found broken into several pieces. They have been restored, and are now in the British Museum.

The two interesting buildings just described, the only undoubted remains of temples. .h.i.therto found at Nimroud, complete the discoveries at the northern extremity of the mound. They enable us, as will hereafter be seen, to restore part of the group of edifices raised on the grand platform in this quarter of Nineveh.

CHAPTER XVII.

THE SUMMER.--ENCAMPMENT AT KOUYUNJIK.--VISITORS.--MODE OF LIFE.--DEPARTURE FOR THE MOUNTAINS.--AKRA.--ROCK-TABLETS AT GUNDUK.--DISTRICT OF ZIBARI.--NAMET AGHA.--DISTRICT OF s.h.i.+RWAN--OF BARADOST--OF GHERDI--OF SHEMDINA.--MOUSA BEY.--NESTORIAN BISHOP.--CONTENT OF MAR HANANISHO.--DIZZA.--AN ALBANIAN FRIEND.--BASH-KALAH.--IZZET PASHA.--A JEWISH ENCAMPMENT.--HIGH MOUNTAIN Pa.s.s.--MAHMOUDIYAH.--FIRST VIEW OF WAN.

The difficulties and delay in crossing the Tigris, now swollen by the melting of the mountain snows, induced me to pitch my tents on the mound of Kouyunjik, and to reside there with all my party, instead of daily pa.s.sing to and fro in the rude ferry-boats to the ruins. The small European community at Mosul was increased in June by the arrival of a large party of travellers. Two English gentlemen and their wives, who pa.s.sed through on their way to Baghdad: the Hon. Mr. Walpole, who has since published an account of his adventures in the East; the Rev. Mr.

Malan, to whom I am indebted for many beautiful sketches; the Rev. Mr.

Bowen, an English clergyman, on a tour of inspection to the Eastern churches, with whom I spent many agreeable and profitable hours amongst the ruins of Nineveh and Babylon, and his companion, Mr. Sandresky, were our visitors, and were most of them my guests.

Our tents were pitched at the northern corner of Kouyunjik. The spring was now fast pa.s.sing away; the heat became daily greater; the corn was cut, and the plains and hills put on their summer clothing of dull parched yellow. ”The pasture is withered, the tender herb faileth, the green herb is no more.”[154] It was the season, too, of the sherghis, or burning winds from the south, which occasionally sweep over the face of the country, driving, in their short-lived fury, everything before them. Their coming was foretold by a sudden fall in the barometer, which rose again as soon as they had pa.s.sed.

At Nimroud the excavations had been almost stopped: at Kouyunjik they were still carried on as actively as my means would permit. I was now occupied in moving and packing sculptures from both ruins. From Nimroud the beautiful bas-relief of the king in the arched frame, described in the previous chapter, the good spirit driving out the evil principle, the fish-G.o.d, the colossal lion from the small temple, and several other interesting sculptures, were taken to the river-bank, and sent on rafts to Busrah. At Kouyunjik none of the slabs could be removed entire. I could only pack in fragments several of the bas-reliefs. The cases were dragged in carts to the Tigris, unloaded below the piers of the ancient bridge, and there placed on rafts prepared to receive them.

During the day, when not otherwise occupied, I made drawings of the bas-reliefs discovered in the subterranean pa.s.sages. My guests, choosing some convenient place underground near the parties who were at work, spread their carpets beneath the crumbling sculptures. We all went below soon after the sun had risen, and remained there, without again seeking the open air, until it was far down in the western horizon. The temperature in the dark tunnels was cool and agreeable, nearly twenty degrees of Fahrenheit lower than that in the shade above but I found it unwholesome, the sudden change in going in and out causing intermittent fever.

After the sun had set we dined outside the tents, and afterwards reclined on our carpets to enjoy the cool balmy air of an Eastern night. We slept under the open sky, making our beds in the field.