Part 6 (1/2)

The greater part of these seals are assyrian, but with theyptian, Phoenician, and doubtful symbols and characters

Sometimes the same seal is impressed more than once on the same piece of clay The assyrian devices are of various kinds; the er into the body of a rampant lion This appears to have been the royal, and, indeed, the national, seal or signet It is frequently encircled by a short inscription, which has not yet been deciphered, or by a siroup, e, as well as of his sacred character, is found on assyrian cylinders, ge these i, attended by a priest, in act of adoration before a deity standing on a lion, and surrounded by seven stars: above the God's head, on one seal, is a scorpion 2 The king, followed by an attendant bearing a parasol, and preceded by a ra, probably the for froure

4 The king, with an eunuch or priest before him; a flower, or ornauilloche border (a device of very frequent occurrence, and probably astrono before a God Behind him are a bull, and the sacred astronomical emblems 8 An ear of corn, surrounded by a fancy border 9

An object reseer, with flowers attached to the handle; perhaps a sacrificial knife 10 The head of a bull and a trident, two sacred symbols of frequent occurrence on assyrian monuments 11 A crescent in the midst of apriests and various sacred animals, stars, &c

The seals n and skilful execution represent horse a stag The ilios No assyrian or Babylonian relics yet discovered, equal them in delicacy of work on gereat perfection ah these impressions

There are three seals apparently Phoenician; two of theest any interpretation A few have doubtful symbols upon thelyphical signs

Of the purely Egyptian seals there are four One has two cartouches placed on the syold, and each surmounted by a tall plu, but not the slightest trace re been yptian ovals, the rudest form of the scarabaeus, are of this shape On the second seal is the figure of the Egyptian God Harpocrates, seated on a lotus floith his finger placed upon his mouth; an attitude in which he is represented on an ivory froyptian

But the yptian seals are two ih i, so as to be perfectly legible It is one well known to Egyptian scholars, as that of the second Sabaco the aethiopian, of the twenty-fifth dynasty On the same piece of clay is i a priest net

There can be no doubt whatever as to the identity of the cartouche Sabaco reigned in Egypt at the end of the seventh century before Christ, the exact time at which Sennacherib came to the throne He is probably the Soreceived a into a league with the Egyptians, called down the vengeance of Shalreat captivity of the people of Samaria Shalmaneser we know to have been an iyptian king, as defeated by the assyrians near Lachish, was the immediate successor of Sabaco II

It would seeyptians and one of the assyrian nets of the two kings, thus found together, were attached to the treaty, which was deposited adom Whilst the document itself, written upon parchular proof of the alliance, if not actual , of the two monarchs is still preserved amidst the remains of the state papers of the assyrian e one of the most remarkable instances of confirard it as verifying the correctness of the interpretation of the cuneiform character, or as an illustration of Scripture history

Little doubt, I trust, can now exist in the minds of my readers as to the identification of the builder of the palace of Kouyunjik, with the Sennacherib of Scripture Had the naht reasonably have questioned the correctness of the reading, especially as the signs or rams, hich it is written, are admitted to have no phonetic power But when characters, whose alphabetic values have been determined from a perfectly distinct source, such as the Babylonian coluual inscriptions, furnish us with names in the records attributed to Sennacherib, written almost identically as in the Hebrew version of the Bible, such as Hezekiah, Jerusale in one and the sa, moreover, confirmed by synchronisms, and illustrated by sculptured representations of the events, the identification must be admitted to be complete

The palace of Khorsabad, as I have already observed, was built by the father of Sennacherib The edifice in the south-west corner of Nimroud was raised by the son, as we learn from the inscription on the back of the bulls discovered in that building The na is admitted to be Essarhaddon, and there are events, as it will hereafter be seen, mentioned in his records, which further tend to identify him with the Essarhaddon of Scripture, who, after the murder of his father Sennacherib, succeeded to the throne

Ithe grand entrance, that in the rubbish at the foot of one of them were found four cylinders and several beads, with a scorpion in lapis lazuli, all apparently once strung together On one cylinder of translucent green felspar, called anet, or a in an arched frame as on the rock tablets at Bavian, and at the Nahr-el-Kelb in Syria

The intaglio of this beautiful gem is not deep but sharp and distinct, and the details are so lass is almost required to perceive thereen felspar, is a cuneiform inscription, which has not yet been deciphered, but which does not appear to contain any royal name On two cylinders of onyx, also found at Kouyunjik, and now in the British Museum, are, however, the name and titles of Sennacherib

CHAPTER VII

ROAD OPENED FOR REMOVAL OF WINGED LIONS--DISCOVERY OF VAULTED DRAIN--OF OTHER ARCHES--OF PAINTED BRICKS--ATTACK OF THE TAI ON THE VILLAGE OF NIMROUD--VISIT TO THE HOWAR--DESCRIPTION OF THE ENCAMPMENT OF THE TAI--THE PLAIN OF SHOMAMOK--SHEIKH FARAS--WALI BEY--RETURN TO NIMROUD

The gigantic human-headed lions, first discovered in the north-west palace at Ni been carefully covered up with earth previous to my departure in 1848, they had been preserved from exposure to the effects of the weather, and to wanton injury on the part of the Arabs The Trustees of the British Museu to add these fine sculptures to the national collection, I was directed to reh the ruins, for their transport to the edge of the mound, was in the first place necessary, and it was commenced early in December They would thus be ready for embarkation as soon as the waters of the river were sufficiently high to bear a raft so heavily laden, over the rapids and shallows between Ni to the level of the pavement or artificial platfore mass of earth and rubbish had to be taken away to the depth of fifteen or twenty feet During the progress of the e found soments of ivory similar to those already placed in the British Museum; and two ate of the palace No reate, were discovered in the ruins, and it is uncertain whether these rings were fixed in stone or wood[66]

In the south-eastern corner of the mound tunnels carried beneath the ruined edifice, which is of the seventh century B C, showed the re A _vaulted_ drain, about five feet in width, was also discovered The arch was turned with large kiln-burnt bricks, and rested upon side walls of the sa square, and not expressly , a space was left above the centre of the arch, which was filled up by bricks, laid longitudinally

Although this may not be a perfect arch, we have seen froh mound at the north-west corner, that the assyrians ell acquainted at an early period with its true principle Other exa away from the sides of the deep trench opened in the north-west palace for the re the former excavations, left uncovered the entrance to a vaulted drain or passage, built of sun-dried bricks Beneath was a small watercourse, inclosed by square pieces of alabaster A third arch, equally perfect in character, was found beneath the ruins of the south-east edifice A tunnel had been opened almost on a level with the plain, and carried far into the southern face of the mound, but without the discovery of any other re than this solitary brick arch

In the south-east corner of the quadrangle, for this quarter of the city of Nineveh, or the park attached to the royal residence, the level of the soil is considerably higher than in any other part of the inclosed space This sudden inequality evidently indicates the site of so abruptly, and al one of the corners of the walls, is a lofty, irregular mound, which is known to the Arabs by the name of the Tel of Athur, the Lieutenant of Ni but earth, unments of stone

Remains of walls and a pavement of baked bricks were, however, discovered in the lower part of the platform The bricks had evidently been taken fro, for upon theures and patterns, of the same character as those on the sculptured walls of the palaces Their painted faces were placed doards, as if purposely to conceal thens upon thements were collected, and are now in the British Museuht as the enaround a pale blue and olive green The only other color used is a dull yellow Thespeciether by their necks, the end of the rope being held by the foremost prisoner, whose hands are free, whilst the others have their arms bound behind They probably formed part of a line of captives led by an assyrian warrior They are beardless, and have bald heads, to which is attached a single feather[68] Two of the white shi+rts open in front, like the shi+rt of the round

2 Similar captives followed by an assyrian soldier The armour of the warrior is that of the later period, the scales and greaves are painted blue and yellow, and the tunic blue The ground blue