Part 5 (2/2)
Generally, however, the prescriptions are not so elaborate as this. They are more usually of this nature: 'For low spirits, slice the root of the destiny tree, the root of the _susum_ tree, two or three other vegetable compounds, and the tongue of a dog. Drink the mixture either in water or in palm-wine.'
Even medical science, however, was invaded by superst.i.tion. In place of trying the doctor's prescription, a patient often had the choice allowed him of having recourse to charms and exorcisms. Thus the medical work itself permits him to 'place an incantation on the big toe of the left foot and cause it to remain' there, the incantation being as follows: 'O wind, my mother, wind, wind, the handmaid of the G.o.ds art thou; O wind among the storm-birds; yea, the water dost thou make stream down, and with the G.o.ds thy brothers liftest up the glory of thy wisdom.' At other times a witch or sorceress was called in, and told to 'bind a cord twice seven times, binding it on the sick man's neck and on his feet like fetters, and while he lies in his bed to pour pure water over him.'
Instead of the knotted cord verses from a sacred book might be employed, just as phylacteries were, and still are, among the Jews. Thus we read: 'In the night-time let a verse from a good tablet be placed on the head of the sick man in bed.' The word translated 'verse' is _masal_, the Hebrew _mashal_, which literally signifies a 'proverb' or 'parable.' It is curious to find the witch by the side of the wizard in Babylonia. 'The wise woman,' however, was held in great repute there, and just as the witches of Europe were supposed to fly through the air on a broomstick so it was believed that the witches of Babylonia could perform the same feat with the help of a wooden staff.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
CHAPTER V.
MANNERS AND CUSTOMS; TRADE AND GOVERNMENT.
The monuments of a.s.syria do not give us the same a.s.sistance as those of Egypt in learning about the manners and customs of its inhabitants. We find there no tombs whose pictured walls set before us the daily life and doings of the people. We have to acquire our knowledge from the bas-reliefs of the royal palaces, which represent to us rather the pomp of the court and the conquest of foreign nations than scenes taken from ordinary a.s.syrian life. It is only incidentally that the manners and customs of the lower cla.s.ses are depicted. It is true that we can learn a good deal from the contract-tablets and other kinds of what may be called the private literature of Babylonia and a.s.syria. At present, however, but a small portion of these has been examined, and a literature can never paint so fully and distinctly the manners and customs of the day as the picture or sculpture on the wall. It is only in times comparatively modern that the novelist has sought to give a faithful portrait of the life of the peasant and artisan.
The dress of the upper cla.s.ses in a.s.syria did not differ essentially from that of the well-to-do Oriental of to-day. In time of peace the king was dressed in a robe which reached to the ankles, bound round the waist with a broad belt, while a mantle was thrown over his shoulders, and a tiara or fillet was worn on his head. The tiara sometimes resembled the triple tiara of the Pope, sometimes was of cone-like shape, and the fillet was furnished with two long bandelettes which fell down behind. The robe and mantle were alike richly embroidered and edged with fringes. The arms were left bare, except in so far as they could be covered by the mantle, and a heavy pair of bracelets encircled each, the workmans.h.i.+p of the jewelry being similar to that of the chain which was worn round the neck. The feet were shod with sandals which had a raised part behind to protect the heels, and they were fastened to the feet by a ring through which the great toe pa.s.sed, and a latchet over the instep. Sandals of precisely the same character are still used in Mesopotamia. The monarch's dress in war was similar to that used in time of peace, except that he carried a belt for daggers, while a fringed ap.r.o.n took the place of the mantle. Boots laced in front were also sometimes subst.i.tuted for the sandals.
The upper cla.s.ses, and more especially the officials about court, wore a costume similar to that of the king, only of course, less rich and costly. In all cases they were distinguished by the long fringed sleeveless robe which descended to the ankles. The dress of the soldiers and of the common people generally was quite different. It consisted only of the tunic, over which in all probability the long robe of the wealthy was worn, and which did not quite reach the knees. Sometimes a sort of jacket was put on above it, and, in a few instances, a simple kilt seems to take its place. The kilt was frequently worn under the tunic, which was fastened round the waist by a girdle or sword-belt. The arms, legs, and feet, were bare. Some of the soldiers, however, wore sandals, and others, more particularly the cavalry, wore boots, which were laced in front, and came half way up the leg. The upper part of the legs was occasionally protected by drawers of leather or chain-armour, and we even find tunics made of the same materials. Helmets were also employed, but the common soldier usually covered his head with a simple skull-cap.
The dress of the women consisted of a long tunic and mantle, and a fillet for confining the hair.
The king and his officers rode in chariots even when on a campaign. In crossing mountains the chariots often had to be carried on the shoulders of men or animals, their wheels being sometimes first taken off for the purpose. The chariot was large enough to contain not only the king but an umbrella-bearer and a charioteer as well. The latter held the reins in both hands, each rein being single and fastened to either side of a snaffle-like bit. When in the field the royal chariot was followed by a bow-bearer and a quiver-bearer, as well as by led horses, intended to a.s.sist the monarch to escape, should the fortune of battle turn against him. The chariot was drawn by two horses, a third horse being usually attached to it by a thong in order to take the place of one of the other two if an accident occurred.
[Ill.u.s.tration: a.s.sYRIAN KING IN HIS CHARIOT.]
Beside the chariots the army was accompanied by a corps of cavalry. In the time of the first a.s.syrian Empire the cavalry-soldier rode on the bare back of the horse, with his knees crouched up in front of him; subsequently saddles were introduced, though not stirrups.
The cavalry was divided into two corps-the heavy and the light-armed.
The latter were armed only with the bow and arrow and a guard for the wrist, and were chiefly employed in skirmis.h.i.+ng. Most of the archers, however, belonged to the infantry. The a.s.syrians were particularly skilled in the use of the bow, and their superiority in war was probably in great measure due to it. Besides the bow they employed the spear, the short dagger or dirk, and the sword, which was of two kinds. The ordinary kind was long and straight, the less usual kind being curved, like a scimetar. For defence, round s.h.i.+elds, of no great size, were carried.
Only the king and the chief n.o.bles were allowed the luxury of a tent.
The common soldier had to sleep on the ground, wrapped up in a blanket or plaid. The tent was probably of felt, and had an opening in the centre through which the smoke of a fire might escape. Not only, however, was a sleeping-tent carried for the king, a cooking-tent was carried also. So also was the royal chair, called a _nimedu_, on which the monarch sat when stationary in camp. The chair may be seen in the bas-relief, now in the British Museum, which represents Sennacherib sitting upon it in front of the captured town of Lachish. Above is a short inscription which tells us that 'Sennacherib, the king of legions, the king of a.s.syria, sat on an upright throne, and the spoil of the city of Lachish pa.s.sed before him.'
There were various means for a.s.saulting a hostile town. Sometimes scaling-ladders were used, sometimes the walls were undermined with crowbars and pickaxes; sometimes a battering-ram was employed armed with one or two spear-like projections; sometimes fire was applied to the enemy's gates. Other engines are mentioned in the inscriptions, but as they have not been found depicted on the monuments it is difficult to identify them.
[Ill.u.s.tration: SIEGE OF A CITY.]
The barbarities which followed the capture of a town would be almost incredible, were they not a subject of boast in the inscriptions which record them. a.s.sur-natsir-pal's cruelties were especially revolting.
Pyramids of human heads marked the path of the conqueror; boys and girls were burned alive or reserved for a worse fate; men were impaled, flayed alive, blinded, or deprived of their hands and feet, of their ears and noses, while the women and children were carried into slavery, the captured city plundered and reduced to ashes, and the trees in its neighbourhood cut down. During the second a.s.syrian Empire warfare was a little more humane, but the most horrible tortures were still exercised upon the vanquished. How deeply-seated was the thirst for blood and vengeance on an enemy is exemplified in a bas-relief which represents a.s.sur-bani-pal and his queen feasting in their garden while the head of the conquered Elamite king hangs from a tree above.
The a.s.syrians made use of chairs, tables, and couches. A piece of sculpture from Khorsabad introduces us to a scene in which the priests of the king are seated, two on a chair on either side of a four-legged table. Their sandals are removed, as was the custom among the Greeks when eating. In the luxurious days of a.s.sur-bani-pal the couch seems to have partially taken the place of the chair, since in the scene alluded to above the king is depicted reclining, though the queen sits in a chair by his side. The number of different kinds of food mentioned in the inscriptions seems to imply that the a.s.syrians were fond of good living. The common people, it is true, lived mostly on bread, fruit, and vegetables; but the monuments show us soldiers engaged in slaughtering and cooking oxen and sheep.
Wine was the usual beverage at a banquet, and the a.s.syrians appear to have resembled the Persians in their indulgence in it. Various sorts of wine are enumerated in the inscriptions, most of which were imported from abroad. Among the most highly prized was the wine of Khilbun or Helbon, which is mentioned in Ezek. xxvii. 18, and was grown near Damascus at a village still called Halbn. Besides grape-wine, palm-wine, made from dates, was brought from Babylon, and beer, milk, cream, b.u.t.ter or ghee, and oil, were all much used. At a feast the wine was ladled out of a large vase into cups, which were then presented to the guests.
The table was ornamented with flowers, and musicians were hired to amuse the banqueters. No less than seven or eight different musical instruments were known, among them the harp, the lyre, and the tambourine. The lyre seems to have been specially employed at feasts, and the harp for the performance of sacred music. The instrumental music was at times accompanied by the voice, and bands of musicians celebrated the triumphant return of the king from war.
Polygamy was permitted-at all events to the monarch-and the palace was accordingly guarded by a whole army of eunuchs. They were generally in attendance on the sovereign, like the scribes whose offices were continually needed in both peace and war. Another attendant must not be forgotten-the servant who stood behind the king armed with a fly-flap, and was almost a necessity in hot weather. Considering the number of captives carried away every year to a.s.syria in the successful campaigns of its rulers, slaves must have been very plentiful in Nineveh. Indeed, after the Arabian campaign of a.s.sur-bani-pal we are told that a camel was sold for half a shekel of silver, and that a man was worth a correspondingly small sum.
Next to hunting men the chief employment and delight of an a.s.syrian king was to hunt wild beasts. Tiglath-Pileser I had hunted elephants in the land of the Hitt.i.tes, as the Egyptian Pharaohs had done before him; subsequently the extinction of the elephant in Western Asia caused his successors to content themselves with lesser game. The reem or wild bull and the lion became their favourite sport, smaller animals like the gazelle, the hare, and the wild a.s.s being left to their subjects to pursue. It was not until the reign of a.s.sur-bani-pal that the lion-hunt ceased to be a dangerous and exciting pastime. With Esar-haddon, however, the old race of warrior kings had come to an end, and the new king introduced a new style of sport. The lions were now caught and kept in cages, until they were turned out for a royal _battue_. As they had to be whipped into activity, neither the monarch nor his companions could have run much risk of being harmed.
The a.s.syrians were not an agricultural people like the Babylonians.
Nevertheless, the kings had their paradises or parks, and the wealthier cla.s.ses their gardens or shrubberies. The garden was planted with trees rather than with flowers or herbs, and afforded a shady retreat during the summer months. Tiglath-Pileser I had even established a sort of botanical garden, in which he tried to acclimatise some of the trees he had met with in his campaigns. He tells us of it: 'As for the cedar, the _likkarin_ tree, and the almug, from the countries I have conquered, these trees, which none of the kings my fathers that were before me had planted, I took, and in the gardens of my land I planted, and by the name of garden I called them; whatsoever in my land there was not I took, and I established the gardens of a.s.syria.' The gardens were abundantly watered from the river or ca.n.a.l, by the side of which they were usually planted. Summer-houses were built in the midst of them, and as early as the time of Sennacherib we meet with a 'hanging garden,'
grown on the roof of a building.
<script>