Part 28 (1/2)
In the custo the inhabitants of conquered cities and districts to distant parts of the e them by colonists from Nineveh or fro illustration of Scripture history It has generally been inferred that there was but one carrying away, or at the h three, at least, appear to be distinctly alluded to in the Bible; the first, by Pul;[268] the second, by Tiglath-Pileser[269]; the third, by Shal that Sado towns and villages seem to have been taken as captives Such we find to have been the case with many other nations ere subdued or punished for rebellion by the assyrians The conquerors, too, as we also learn from the inscriptions, established the worshi+p of their own Gods in the conquered cities, raising altars and te priests for their service So after the fall of Saers ere placed in its cities, ”h places which the Samaritans had made”[271]
The vast number of families thus sent to dwell in distant countries, es in the physical condition, language, and religion of the people hich they were intermixed When the assyrian records are with more certainty interpreted, we may, perhaps, be able to explain y and coather fros, that the country, both in Mesopotaeneral ter with a dense population both sedentary and noes arose on all sides; and that, consequently, the soil brought forth produce for the support of this great congregation of hus All those settleation Hence the dry beds of enormous canals and countless watercourses, which are spread like a network over the face of the country Even the traveller, accustoazes onder and awe upon these gigantic works, and reflects with admiration upon the industry, the skill, and the power of those who ain turned into the eain spread over those parched and arid wastes? Upon theion and a listless race
Of the inforious system of the assyrians whichto treat in the present state of our knowledge of their contents A far more intimate acquaintance with the character than we yet possess is required before the translation of such documents can be fully relied on All we can now venture to infer is, that the assyrians worshi+pped one suprereat national deity under whose immediate and special protection they lived, and their empire existed The name of this God appears to have been asshur, as nearly as can be determined, at present, from the inscriptions
It was identified with that of the empire itself, always called ”the country of asshur;” it entered into those of both kings and private persons, and was also applied to particular cities With asshur, but apparently far inferior to hireat Gods, were associated twelve other deities, whose naiven in table No 3 Some of them may possibly be identified with the divinities of the Greek Pantheon, although it is scarcely wise to hazard conjectures which ain abandoned These twelve Gods may also have presided over the twelve months of the year, and the vast number of still inferior Gods, in one inscription, I believe, stated to be no less than 4000, over the days of the year, various phenomena and productions of nature, and the celestial bodies It is difficult to understand such a system of polytheism, unless we suppose that whilst there was but one supreme God, represented sometimes under a triune forinally s, or syenerally accepted as such even by the co was only known in a corrupted age to the priests, by whom they were turned into a mystery and a trade It es in the Scriptures, that a syste frost the Jews theenerally, if not always, typified by the winged figure in the circle[272]
The question as to the space occupied by the city of Nineveh at the ti set at rest Col
Rawlinson, founding his opinion upon the names on bricks from the several sites, believes the inclosures of Nimroud, Kouyunjik, and Khorsabad, and the small mounds of Shereef-Khan, scarcely three hbourhood, to be the remains of distinct cities He would even separate thethe forlance at the plan of the ruins will show this conjecture to be quite untenable Discoveries in bothto nearly the same period, and that Nebbi Yunus is the roups of mounds represent alone the city of Nineveh can in no way be reconciled with the accounts in Scripture and in the Greek authors, which so remarkably coincide as to its extent; a difficulty which leads Col Rawlinson to say, that all these ruins ”forroup of cities which, in the time of the prophet Jonah, were known by the common name of Nineveh” It is indeed true, that, on bricks froiven to each locality, and that those from Kouyunjik are inscribed with the name of Nineveh, whilst those from Nimroud and Khorsabad bear others which have not yet been satisfactorily deciphered These nanify a city, but which undoubtedly also applies to a fort or fortified palace Nahuates,[273] and such I believe it to have been, each fort or stronghold having a different name The most important, as it was the best defended,especially called Nineveh, gave its name to the whole city By no other supposition can we reconcile the united testireat size of Nineveh with the present remains
It is very doubtful whether these fortified inclosures contained s beside the royal palaces, and such temples and public edifices as were attached to them At Nimroud, excavations were made in various parts of the inclosed space, and it was carefully examined with a view to ascertain whether any foundations or remains of houses still existed None were discovered except at the south-eastern corner, where the height of the earth above the usual level at once showed the existence of ruins In most parts of the inclosure, the natural soil seelomerate rock is almost denuded of earth
Such is also the case opposite Mosul The res appear to exist within the inclosure; but in the greater part there are no indications whatever of ancient edifices, and the conglo soil
At Khorsabad, the greater part of the inclosed space is socountry, that it is covered with a marsh formed by the small river Khauser, which flows near the ruins Within the walls, which are scarcely more than a mile square, can only be traced the re below the platform, and above two hundred yards from the ascent to the palace[274], but they are at once perceived by well-defined inequalities in the soil
If the walls for the inclosures of Khorsabad and other assyrian ruins were the outer defences of a city, abruptly facing the open country, it is difficult to account for the fact of the palace having been built in the sa part of thely fortified, and even the view over the surrounding country, the chief object of such a position, must have been shut out
After several careful excavations of the ruins and of the spaces inclosed by the ramparts of earth, I as with their dependent buildings, and parks or paradises, fortified like the palace-tee, and a place of refuge for the inhabitants in case of invasion They may have been called by different nareat city known to the Jews and to the Greeks as Nineveh I will not pretend to say that the whole of this vast space was thickly inhabited or built upon As I have elsewhere observed, we e of Eastern cities by those of Europe[275] In Asia, gardens and orchards, containing suburbs and even distinct villages, collected round a walled city are all included by the natives under one general name Such is the case with Isfahan and Damascus, and such I believe it to have been with ancient Nineveh
A few remarks are necessary on the additional information afforded by recent discoveries as to the architecture and architectural decorations, external and internal, of the assyrian palaces The inscriptions on their walls, especially on those of Kouyunjik and Khorsabad, appear to contain ieneral plan and mode of construction, but even as to the materials employed for their different parts, and for the objects of sculpture and ornaments placed in they between the records of the Jewish and the assyrian kings To the history of their monarchs and of their nation, the Hebrew chroniclers have added a full account of the building and adornments of the temple and palaces of Solomon In both cases, from the use of technical words, we can scarcely hope to understand, with any degree of certainty, all the details It is impossible to comprehend, by the help of the descriptions alone, the plan or appearance of the te unacquainted with the exactof various Hebrew architectural terms, but also from the difficulty experienced even in ordinary cases, of restoring from mere description an edifice of any kind In the assyrian inscriptions we labor, of course, under still greater disadvantages The language in which they are written is as yet but very ih we eneral raphs, yet e co to architecture, even with a very intiue, we could scarcely hope to ascertain their precise signification On the other hand, the eneral plan of the assyrian palaces are still preserved, whilst of the great edifices of the Jews, not a fraguide us The architecture of the one people, however, may be illustrated by that of the other With the help of the sacred books, and of the ruins of the palaces of Nineveh, together with that of cotemporary and later re in the East, we s of both nations
Before suggesting a general restoration of the royal edifices of Nineveh, I shall endeavor to point out the analogies which appear to exist between their actual remains and what is recorded of the temple and palaces of Solomon In the first place, as Sennacherib in his inscriptions declares hi sent the bearers of burdens and the hewers into the reat stones, costly stones, and hewed stones[276], to lay the foundations, which were probably artificial platforh constructed of more solid e of stoneSolomon himself, at Baalbec The enor in that structure, and of those still seen in the quarries, so, has excited the wonder of modern travellers The di[277], twenty broad, and thirty high, were reat edifices explored in assyria
Solomon's own palace, however, appears to have been considerably larger, and to have s of Nineveh, for it was one hundred cubits long, fifty broad, and thirty high ”The porch before the temple,” twenty cubits by ten,[278] may have been a propylaeum, such as was discovered at Khorsabad in front of the palace The chaly s only seven cubits broad, ”for without, _in the wall_ of the house, he made numerous rests round about, that _the beams_ should not be fastened in the walls of the house” The words in italics are inserted in our version to ood the sense, and , which may be, that these chaht be supported without the use of pillars, a reason already suggested for the narrowness of the greater number of chambers in the assyrian palaces These se central chae rooms at Nimroud, Khorsabad, and Kouyunjik The oracle itself enty cubits square, smaller far in dih_--an important fact, illustrative of assyrian architecture, for as the building was thirty cubits in height, the oraclechambers, but must have had an upper structure of ten cubits[279] Within it were the two cherubis each five cubits long, ”and he carved all the house around with carved figures of cherubim and palm trees, and open flowers, within and without” The cherubiures, uniting the hus of an eagle[280]
If for the palm trees we substitute the sacred tree of the Nineveh sculptures, and for the open flowers the assyrian tulip-shaped orna each other--we find that the oracle of the teeneral form and in its ornaments, with some of the chambers of Nied hus, like those of the cherubim, ”touched one another in the ures were in some cases nearly the same, namely, fifteen feet square The doors were also carved with cherubim and palm trees, and open flowers, and thus, with the other parts of the building, corresponded with those of the assyrian palaces On the walls at Nineveh the only addition appears to have been the introduction of the hu, which were an aboranates and lilies of Solomon's temple must have been nearly identical with the usual assyrian ornaranate frequently takes the place of the tulip and the cone
But the description given by Josephus of the interior of one of Solousson in support of his ingenious arguments, even more completely corresponds with, and illustrates the chambers in the palaces of Nineveh ”Solomon built some of these (houses) with stones of ten cubits, and _wainscoted the walls with other stones that were sawed_, and were of great value, such as were dug out of the bowels of the earth, for ornaement of the curious workmanshi+p of these stones was in three rows; but the fourth was pre-eminent for the beauty of its sculpture, for on it were represented trees, and all sorts of plants, with the shadows caused by their branches and the leaves that hung down from them These trees and plants covered the stone that was beneath theht so wonderfully thin and subtile, that they appeared almost in motion; but the rest of the wall, up to the roof, was plastered over, and, as it were, wrought over with various colors and pictures”[282]
To coy between the two edifices, it would appear that Solo the tereat palace at Kouyunjik[283]
The ceiling, roof, and beams of the temple were of cedar wood The discoveries in the ruins at Nimroud show that the same precious as used in the assyrian edifices; and the king of Nineveh, as we learn from the inscriptions, employed men, precisely as Solomon had done, to cut it in Mount Lebanon Fir was also es, and probably in those of assyria[284]
In the proposed restoration of the palace at Kouyunjik fro does not face the cardinal points of the compass I will, however, assume, for convenience sake, that it stands due north and south To the west, therefore, it iris; and on that side was one of its principal facades The edifice e of the platform, the foot of which was at that time washed by the river If, therefore, there were any access to the palace on the river front, it ht of steps, or an inclined way leading down to the water's edge, and there reat stairs parallel to the baseh frorand entrance to the palace on this side, it is highly probable that some such approach once existed, no remains whatever of it have been discovered The western facade, like the eastern, was formed by five pairs of hu three distinct gateways
The principal approach to the palace appears, however, to have been on the eastern side, where the great bulls bearing the annals of Sennacherib still stand In the frontispiece I have been able, by the assistance of Mr Fergusson, to give a restoration of this hts of steps, appear to have led up to it from the foot of the platfore squared stones, are still seen in the ravines, which are but the ancient ascents, deepened by the winter rains of centuries Frorand entrance direct access could be had to all the principal halls and chambers in the palace; that on the western face, as appears froht rooms
The charouped round three great halls It must be borne in mind, however, that the palace extended considerably to the north-east of the grand entrance, and that there may have been another hall, and similar dependent chambers in that part of the edifice Only a part of the palace has been hitherto excavated, and we are not in possession of a perfect ground-plan of it
The general arrangement of the chah the extent of the building is very reater It is also to be reradually to the level of the plain, apparently showing the remains of a succession of broad terraces, and that parts of the palace, such as the propylaea, were actually beneath the platform, and removed some distance from it in the midst of the walled inclosure At Kouyunjik, however, the whole of the royal edifice, with its dependent buildings, appears to have stood on the summit of the artificial basement[286], whose lofty perpendicular sides could only have been accessible by steps, or inclined ways No propylaea, or other edifices connected with the palace, have as yet been discovered below the platform
The inscriptions appear to refer to four distinct parts of the palace, three of which, inhabited by the women, seem subsequently to have been reduced to one It is not clear whether they were all on the ground-floor, or whether they forenious work on the restoration of the palaces of Nineveh, in which he has, with great learning and research, fully examined the subject of the architecture of the assyrians and ancient Persians, availing himself of the facts then furnished by the discoveries, endeavors to divide the Khorsabad palace, after the manner of modern Mussulman houses, into the Salamlik or apartments of the men, and the Hareests, must, of course, depend upon conjecture; but it hly probable, until fuller and more accurate translations of the inscriptions than can yet be made may furnish us with some positive data on the subject In the ruins of Kouyunjik there is nothing, as far as I am aware, to mark the distinction between the male and female apartments Of a temple no remains have as yet been found at Kouyunjik, nor is there any high conical mound as at Nimroud and Khorsabad
In all the assyrian edifices hitherto explored, we have the sareat halls are two or three narrow parallel cha one into the other Most of the into shly probable that this uniform plan was adopted with reference to the peculiar architectural arrangeusson in attributing it to thethe apartments
In my forht through an opening in the roof Although this may have been the case in some instances, yet recent discoveries now prove that the assyrian palaces hadthe fact, it is evident that other ht to the inner rooestion, that the upper part of the halls and principal cha and adht and air, appears to me to meet, to a certain extent, the difficulty It has, moreover, been borne out by subsequent discoveries, and by the representation of a large building, apparently a palace, on one of the bas-reliefs discovered at Kouyunjik In the restoration of the exterior of the Kouyunjik palace for the frontispiece to this volume, a somewhat similar capital has been adopted in preference to that taken by Mr Fergusson froh undoubtedly like the other architectural details of those celebrated ruins, assyrian in character, are not authorised by any known assyrian remains
A row of pillars, or of alternate pillars and masonry, would answer the purpose intended, if they opened into a well-lighted hall Yet inner chambers, such as are found in the ruins of Kouyunjik, must have remained in almost entire darkness And it is not ie froht is considered essential to secure a cool temperature The sculptures and decorations in thereat halls were probably in some cases entirely open to the air, like the court-yards of the modern houses of Mosul, whose walls are still adorned with sculptured alabaster When they were covered in the roof was borne by enormous pillars of wood or brickwork, and rose so far above the surrounding part of the building, that light was admitted by colu It is most probable that there were two or three stories of cha into them, either by columns or by s Such appears to have been the case in Soloreat inner sanctuary was surrounded by small rooms, ”over these rooms were other rooms, and others above them, equal both in their ht equal to the _lower part_ of the house, for the upper had no buildings about it” We have also an illustration of this arrangement of chambers in the reat central hall, called an Iwan, rises to the top of the building, and has s by s into it, whilst the inner chaht than that which reaches theh the door Sometimes these side chaested may have been the case in the Nineveh palaces, then a projecting roof of ork protects the carved and painted walls fros were also suspended above the s and entrances, to ward off the rays of the sun