Part 4 (1/2)

[Illustration: Head-dress of Captives e Bull (Kouyunjik)]

The huge stone having been landed, and carved by the assyrian 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-tereat hall From these bas-reliefs, as well as from discoveries to be hereafter mentioned, it is therefore evident that the assyrians sculptured their gigantic figures before, and not after, the slabs had been raised in the edifice, although all the details and the finishi+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 sih block froreatly reduced in size, or the sledge is er than the boat, as it considerably exceeds the sculpture in length The bull faces the spectator, and the hue, which is curved upwards and strengthened by a thick beah 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 nu pins in front, and two to si 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 tiulate the th at one and the saht Behind hiiving the word of co-trumpet, or an instrument of music If the former, it proves that the assyrians were acquainted with asound, presumed to be of modern invention In for-trumpet, and in no bas-relief hitherto discovered does a similar object occur as an instru, carries a ive directions to those ork the levers The sledge bearing the sculpture is followed bycarts 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 sae, 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 bea 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 rese in shape the ”kufas,” now used on the lower part of the Tigris, and probably, like thes, covered with square pieces of hide

They are heavily laden with bea the bulls

On a fallen slab, for 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 hi hi 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 assyrians ain seen in his chariot drawn by eunuchs, whilst an attendant raises the royal parasol above his head He overlooks the operations froed, and before hi line of alternate spearround At the bottom of the slab is represented a river, on the banks of which are seen enerally 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 ofon 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 e with the various watercourses running through the fields In the neighbourhood of Mosul this er skins raised by oxen affording a better supply, and giving, it is considered, less trouble to the cultivator[38]

It would appear that thethe artificial mound were captives and ly, others bound together by an iron rod attached to rings in their girdles The fetters, like those of s, 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, soian bonnet, with the curved crest turned backwards, a costume very similar to that of the tribute bearers on the Nied on by task-masters armed with staves

Thebeen thus built, not always, as it has been seen, with regular layers of sun-dried bricks, but frequently in parts withto its suures prepared for the palace As soest of these sculptures were full twenty feet square, and hed between forty and fifty tons, this was no easy task with such means as the assyrians possessed The only aid to th was derived from the rollers and levers

Behind thethe cables, wedges, and i bea by ropes froes is carried in the same way In the upper co froranates Beneath stands a town or village, the houses of which have doh 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 ade with the conical Roofs, near Aleppo]

This interesting series is co, it would seeer lies horizontally on the sledge, but is raised by men with ropes and forked wooden props It is kept in its erect position by beaes,[39] and is further supported by blocks of stone, or wood, piled up under the body Cables, ropes, rollers, and levers are also eantic 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, froh block to the final reure to the palace From these bas-reliefs we find that the assyrians ell acquainted with the lever and the roller, and that they ingeniously es, of different diht of the fulcrued bulls and lions now in the British Museuris, I used alyptians, had , an art now only known in its rudest state in the sath and thickness, and ropes of various di representations of siyptians, it will be found that they succeeded in reht any sculpture which has yet been discovered in assyria 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 whothe most careful research, have yet been found to indicate from whence the builders of the assyrian palaces obtained their large slabs of alabaster That they were in the ihbourhood 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 theof the colossal bulls is Sennacherib hi at Nineveh of the great palace and its adjacent temples described in the inscriptions as the work of this raphs 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 ures in some kind of wood, perhaps of olive, like ”the two cherubih,” in the te the re short inscription thus translated by Dr

Hincks:--

”Sennacherib, king of assyria, 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 iris, as these great masses of stone would have been quarried near the river for the greater convenience ofthem 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 raphs, both precisely similar, but both unfortunately much mutilated

As far as they can be restored, they have thus been interpreted by Dr

Hincks:--