Discoveries among the Ruins of Nineveh and Babylon

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Part 1 of 2

CHAPTER XXVI. RESULTS OF THE DISCOVERIES TO CHRONOLOGY AND HISTORY.—NAMES OF ASSYRIAN KINGS IN THE INSCRIPTIONS.—A DATE FIXED.—THE NAME OF JEHU.—THE OBELISK KING.—THE EARLIER KINGS.—SARDANAPALUS.—HIS SUCCESSORS.—PUL, OR TIGLATH PILESER.—SARGON.—SENNACHERIR.—ESSARHADDON.—THE LAST ASSYRIAN KINGS.—TABLES OF PROPER NAMES IN THE ASSYRIAN INSCRIPTIONS.—ANTIQUITY OF NINEVEH.—OF THE NAME OF ASSYRIA.—ILLUSTRATIONS OF SCRIPTURE.—STATE OF JUDÆA AND ASSYRIA COMPARED.—POLITICAL CONDITION OF THE EMPIRE.—ASSYRIAN COLONIES.—PROSPERITY OF THE COUNTRY.—RELIGION.—EXTENT OF NINEVEH.—ASSYRIAN ARCHITECTURE.—COMPARED WITH JEWISH.—PALACE OF KOUYUNJIK RESTORED.—PLATFORM AT NIMROUD RESTORED.—THE ASSYRIAN FORTIFIED INCLOSURES.—DESCRIPTION OF KOUYUNJIK.—CONCLUSION.

Although ten years have barely elapsed since the first discovery of ruins on the site of the great city of Nineveh, a mass of information, scarcely to be overrated for its importance and interest, has already been added to our previous knowledge of the early history and comparative geography of the East. When in 1849 I published the narrative of my first researches in Assyria, the numerous inscriptions recovered from the remains of the buried palaces were still almost a sealed book; for although an interpretation of some had been hazarded, it was rather upon mere conjecture than upon any well-established philological basis. I then, however, expressed my belief, that ere long their contents would be known with almost certainty, and that they would be found to furnish a history, previously almost unknown, of one of the earliest and most powerful empires of the ancient world. Since[Pg 492] that time the labors of English scholars, and especially of Col. Rawlinson and Dr. Hincks, and of M. de Saulcy, and other eminent investigators on the Continent, have nearly led to the fulfilment of those anticipations; and my present work would be incomplete were I not to give a general sketch of the results of their investigations, as well as of my own researches.

I will not detain the reader by any account of the various processes adopted in deciphering, and of the steps gradually made in the investigation; nor will I recapitulate the curious corroborative evidence which has led in many instances to the verification of the interpretations. Such details, philologically of the highest interest, and very creditable to the sagacity and learning of those pursuing this difficult inquiry, will be found in the several treatises published by the investigators themselves. The results, however, are still very incomplete. It is, indeed, a matter of astonishment that, considering the time which has elapsed since the discovery of the monuments, so much progress has been already made. But there is every prospect of our being able, ere long, to ascertain the general contents of almost every Assyrian record. The Babylonian column of the Bisutun inscription, that invaluable key to the various branches of cuneiform writing, has at length been published by Col. Rawlinson, and will enable others to carry on the investigation upon sure grounds.

I will proceed, therefore, to give a slight sketch of the contents of the inscriptions as far as they have been examined. The earliest king of whose reign we have any detailed account was the builder of the north-west palace at Nimroud, the most ancient edifice hitherto discovered in Assyria. His records, however, with other inscriptions, furnish the names of five, if not seven, of his [Pg 493]predecessors, some of whom, there is reason to believe, erected palaces at Nineveh, and originally founded those which were only rebuilt by subsequent monarchs. It is consequently important to ascertain the period of the accession of this early Assyrian king, and we apparently have the means of fixing it with sufficient accuracy. His son, we know, built the centre palace at Nimroud, and raised the obelisk, now in the British Museum, inscribing upon it the principal events of his reign. He was a great conqueror, and subdued many distant nations. The names of the subject kings who paid him tribute are duly recorded on the obelisk, in some instances with sculptured representations of the various objects sent. Amongst those kings was one whose name reads “Jehu, the son of Khumri (Omri),” and who has been identified by Dr. Hincks and Col. Rawlinson with Jehu, king of Israel. This monarch was certainly not the son, although one of the successors of Omri, but the term “son of” appears to have been used throughout the East in those days, as it still is, to denote connection generally, either by descent or by succession. Thus we find in Scripture the same person called “the son of Nimshi,” and “the son of Jehoshaphat, the son of Nimshi.”[248] An identification connected with this word Khumri or Omri is one of the most interesting instances of corroborative evidence that can be adduced of the accuracy of the interpretations of the cuneiform character. It was observed that the name of a city resembling Samaria was connected, and that in inscriptions containing very different texts, with one reading Beth Khumri or Omri.[249] This fact was unexplained[Pg 494] until Col. Rawlinson perceived that the names were, in fact, applied to the same place, or one to the district, and the other to the town. Samaria having been built by Omri, nothing is more probable than that—in accordance with a common Eastern custom—it should have been called, after its founder, Beth Khumri, or the house of Omri. As a further proof of the identity of the Jehu mentioned on the obelisk with the king of Israel, Dr. Hincks, to whom we owe this important discovery, has found on the same monument the name of Hazael, whom Elijah was ordered by the Almighty to anoint king of Syria.[250]

Supposing, therefore, these names to be correctly identified,—and our Assyrian chronology for this period rests as yet, it must be admitted, almost entirely upon this supposition,—we can fix an approximate date for the reign of the obelisk king. Jehu ascended the throne about 885 b. c.; the accession of the Assyrian monarch must, consequently, be placed somewhere between that time and the commencement of the ninth century b. c., and that of his father in the latter part of the tenth.[251]

In his records the builder of the north-west palace mentions, amongst his predecessors, a king whose name is identical with the one from whom, according to the inscriptions at Bavian, were taken certain idols of Assyria 418 years before the first or second year of the reign of Sennacherib. According to Dr. Hincks, Sennacherib ascended the throne in 703 b. c. We have, therefore, 1121 b. c. for the date of the reign of this early king.

There are still two kings mentioned by name in the inscriptions from the north-west palace at Nimroud, as ancestors of its builder, who have not yet been [Pg 495]satisfactorily placed. It is probable that the earliest reigned somewhere about the middle of the twelfth century b. c. Colonel Rawlinson calls him the founder of Nineveh; but there is no proof whatever, as far as I am aware, in support of this conjecture. It is possible, however, that he may have been the first of a dynasty which extended the bounds of the Assyrian empire, and was founded, according to Herodotus, about five centuries before the Median invasion, or in the twelfth century b. c.; but there appears to be evidence to show that a city bearing the name of Nineveh stood on the banks of the Tigris long before that period.[252]

The second king, whose name is unplaced, appears to be mentioned in the inscriptions as the original founder of the north-west palace at Nimroud. According to the views just expressed, he must have reigned about the end of the twelfth century b. c.

The father and grandfather of the builder of the north-west palace are mentioned in nearly every inscription from that edifice. Their names, according to Colonel Rawlinson, are Adrammelech and Anáku-Merodach. They must have reigned in the middle of the tenth century b. c. We have no records of either of them.

The first king of whom we have any connected historical chronicle was the builder of the well-known edifice at Nimroud from which were obtained the most perfect and interesting bas-reliefs brought to this country. In my former work I stated that Colonel Rawlinson believed his name to be Ninus, and had identified him with that ancient king, according to Greek history, the founder of the Assyrian empire. He has since given up this reading,[Pg 496] and has suggested that of Assardanbal, agreeing with the historic Sardanapalus. Dr. Hincks, however, assigning a different value to the middle character (the name being usually written with three), reads Ashurakhbal. It is certain that the first monogram stands both for the name of the country of Assyria and for that of its protecting deity. We might consequently assume, even were other proof wanting, that it should be read Assur or Ashur.

I have elsewhere given a description of the various great monumental records of this king, with extracts from their contents. He appears to have carried his arms to the west of Nineveh across Syria to the Mediterranean Sea, to the south into Chaldæa, probably beyond Babylon (the name of this city does not, however, as far as I am aware, occur in the inscriptions), and to the north into Asia Minor and Armenia.

Of his son, whose name Colonel Rawlinson reads Temenbar and Divanubara, and Dr. Hincks Divanubar, we have full and important historical annals, including the principal events of thirty-one years of his reign. They are engraved upon the black obelisk, and upon the backs of the bulls in the centre of the mound of Nimroud. This king, like his father, was a great conqueror. He waged war, either in person or by his generals, in Syria, Armenia, Babylonia, Chaldæa, Media, and Persia.

The two royal names next in order occur on the pavement slabs of the upper chambers, on the west face of the mound of Nimroud.[253] They may belong to the son and grandson, and immediate successors, of the obelisk king. The two names, however, have not been satisfactorily deciphered. Colonel Rawlinson reads them Shamas-Adar[Pg 497] and Adrammelech II.; Dr. Hincks only ventures to suggest Shamsiyav for the first.

On the Assyrian tablet from the tunnel of Negoub[254], are apparently two royal names, which may be placed next in order. They are merely mentioned as those of ancestors or predecessors of the king who caused the record to be engraved. Dr. Hincks reads them Baldasi and Ashurkish. As the inscription is much mutilated, some doubt may exist as to the correctness of its interpretation.

The next king of whom we have any actual records appears to have rebuilt or added to the palace in the centre of the mound of Nimroud. The edifice was destroyed by a subsequent monarch, who carried away its sculptures to decorate a palace of his own. All the remains found amongst its ruins, with the exception of the great bulls and the obelisk, belong to a king whose name occurs on a pavement-slab discovered in the south-west palace. The walls and chambers of this building were, it will be remembered, decorated with bas-reliefs brought from elsewhere. By comparing the inscriptions upon them, and upon a pavement-slab of the same period, with the sculptures in the ruins of the centre palace, we find that they all belong to the same king, and we are able to identify him through a most important discovery, for which we are also indebted to Dr. Hincks. In an inscription on a bas-relief representing part of a line of war-chariots, he has detected the name of Menahem, the king of Israel, amongst those of other monarchs paying tribute to the king of Assyria, in the eighth year of his reign.[255] This Assyrian king, must, consequently, have been either[Pg 498] the immediate predecessor of Pul, Pul himself, or Tiglath Pileser, the name on the pavement-slab not having yet been deciphered.[256]

The bas-reliefs adorning his palace, like those at Khorsabad, appear to have been accompanied by a complete series of his annals. Unfortunately only fragments of them remain. His first campaign seems to have been in Chaldæa, and during his reign he carried his arms into the remotest parts of Armenia, and across the Euphrates into Syria as far as Tyre and Sidon. There is a passage in one of his inscriptions still unpublished, which reads, “as far as the river Oukarish,” that might lead us to believe that his conquests were even extended to the central provinces of Asia and to the Oxus. His annals contain very ample lists of conquered towns and tribes. Amongst the former are Harran and Ur. He rebuilt many cities, and placed his subjects to dwell in them.

The next monarch, whose name is found on Assyrian monuments, was the builder of the palace of Khorsabad, now so well known from M. Botta’s excavations and the engravings of its sculptures published by the French government. His name, though read with slight variations by different interpreters, is admitted by all to be that of Sargon, the Assyrian king mentioned by Isaiah. The names of his father and grandfather are said to have been found on a clay tablet discovered at Kouyunjik, but they do not appear to have been monarchs of Assyria. The ruins of Khorsabad furnish us with the most detailed and ample annals of his reign. Unfortunately an inscription,[Pg 499] containing an account of a campaign against Samaria in his first or second year, has been almost entirely destroyed. But, in one still preserved, 27,280 Israelites are described as having been carried into captivity by him from Samaria and the several districts or provincial towns dependent upon that city. Sargon, like his predecessors, was a great warrior. He even extended his conquests beyond Syria to the islands of the Mediterranean Sea, and a tablet set up by him has been found in Cyprus. He warred also in Babylonia, Susiana, Armenia, and Media, and apparently received tribute from the kings of Egypt.

Colonel Rawlinson believed that the names “Tiglath Pileser” and “Shalmaneser,” were found on the monuments of Khorsabad as epithets of Sargon, and that they were applied in the Old Testament to the same king. He has now changed his opinion with regard to the first, and Dr. Hincks contends that the second is not a name of this king, but of his predecessor,—of whom, however, it must be observed, we have hitherto been unable to trace any mention on the monuments, unless, as that scholar suggests, he is alluded to in an inscription of Sargon from Khorsabad.

From the reign of Sargon we have a complete list of kings to the fall of the empire, or to a period not far distant from that event. He was succeeded by Sennacherib, whose annals have been given in a former part of this volume. His name was identified, as I have before stated, by Dr. Hincks, and this great discovery furnished the first satisfactory starting-point, from which the various events recorded in the inscriptions have been linked with Scripture history. Colonel Rawlinson places the accession of Sennacherib to the throne in 716, Dr. Hincks in 703, which appears to be more in accordance with the canon of Ptolemy. The events of his reign, as recorded[Pg 500] in the inscriptions on the walls of his palace, are mostly related or alluded to in sacred and profane history. I have already described his wars in Judæa, and have compared his own account with that contained in Holy Writ. His second campaign in Babylonia is mentioned in a fragment of Polyhistor, preserved by Eusebius, in which the name given to Sennacherib’s son, and the general history of the war appear to be nearly the same as those on the monuments. The fragment is highly interesting as corroborating the accuracy of the interpretation of the inscriptions. I was not aware of its existence when the translation given in the sixth chapter of this volume was printed. “After the reign of the brother of Sennacherib, Acises reigned over the Babylonians, and when he had governed for the space of thirty days he was slain by Merodach Baladan, who held the empire by force during six months; and he was slain and succeeded by a person named Elibus (Belib). But in the third year of his (Elibus) reign Sennacherib, king of the Assyrians, levied an army against the Babylonians; and in a battle, in which they were engaged, routed and took him prisoner with his adherents, and commanded them to be carried into the land of the Assyrians. Having taken upon himself the government of the Babylonians, he appointed his son, Asordanius, their king, and he himself retired again into Assyria.” This son, however, was not Essarhaddon, his successor on the throne of Assyria. The two names are distinguished by a distinct orthography in the cuneiform inscriptions. Sennacherib raised monuments and caused tablets recording his victories to be carved in many countries which he visited and subdued. His image and inscriptions at the mouth of the Nahr-el-Kelb in Syria are well known. During my journey to Europe I found one of his tablets near the village of Hasana (or Hasan[Pg 501] Agha), chiefly remarkable from being at the foot of Gebel Judi, the mountain upon which, according to a widespread Eastern tradition, the ark of Noah rested after the deluge.[257]

Essarhaddon, his son, was his successor, as we know from the Bible. He built the south-west palace at Nimroud, and an edifice whose ruins are now covered by the mound of the tomb of Jonah opposite Mosul. Like his father he was a great warrior, and he styles himself in his inscriptions “King of Egypt, conqueror of Æthiopia.” It was probably this king who carried Manasseh, king of Jerusalem, captive to Babylon.[258]

The name of the son and successor of Essarhaddon was the same as that of the builder of the north-west palace at Nimroud. His father had erected a dwelling for him in the suburbs or on the outskirts of Nineveh. His principal campaign appears to have been in Susiana or Elam. As the great number of the inscribed tablets found in the ruins of the palace of Sennacherib, at Kouyunjik, are of his time, many of them bearing his name, we may hope to obtain some record of the principal events of his reign.

His son built the south-east palace on the mound of Nimroud, probably over the remains of an earlier edifice. Bricks from its ruins give his name, which has not yet been deciphered, and those of his father and grandfather. We know nothing of his history from cotemporaneous records. He was one of the last, if not the last, king of the second dynasty; and may, indeed, as I have already suggested, have been that monarch, Sardanapalus, or Saracus, who was conquered by the combined armies of the Medes and Babylonians under Cyaxares in b. c. 606, and[Pg 502] who made of his palace, his wealth, and his wives one great funeral pile.[259]

For convenience of reference I give a table of the royal names, according to the versions of Dr. Hincks and Col. Rawlinson, the principal monuments on which they are found, and the approximate date of the reigns of the several kings. In a second table will be found the most important proper and geographical names in the Assyrian inscriptions which have been identified with those in the Bible. A third table contains the names of the thirteen great gods of Assyria, according to the version of Dr. Hincks.

TABLE I.—Names of Assyrian Kings in the Inscriptions from Nineveh.

Conjectural reading. / Where found. / Approximate Date of reign.

1. Derceto (R[260])
Divanurish (H) Pavement Slab, (B. M. Series, p. 70, l. 25) 1250 B. C.

2. Divanukha (R) Standard Inscription, Nimroud, &c. 1200 B. C.

3. Anakbar-beth-hira (R)
Shimish-bal-Bithkhira (H) Slabs from Temples in North of Mound of
Nimroud; Bavian tablets, &c. 1130 B. C.

Mardokempad (?) (R)
Mesessimordacus (?) (R) A cylinder from Shereef-Khan
[Pg 503]
4. Adrammelech I. (R) Standard Inscription, Bricks, &c., from N. W.
Palace, Nimroud 1000 B. C.

5. Anaku Merodak (R)
Shimish Bar (H)
(Son of preceding) Idem 960 B. C.

6. Sardanapalus I. (R)
Ashurakhbal (H)
(Son of preceding) Standard Inscription, Bricks, &c., from N. W.
Palace, Nimroud, Abou Maria, &c., &c. 930 B. C.

7. Divanubara (R)
Divanubar (H)
(Son of preceding) Centre Palace, Nimroud; Obelisk; Bricks;
Kalah-Sherghat; Baashiekha 900 B. C.

8. Shamas Adar (R)
Shamsiyav (H) Pavement Slab, Upper Chambers, Nimroud 870 B. C.

9. Adrammelech II. (R) Idem 840 B. C.

10. Baldasi (?) (H) Slab from the tunnel of Negoub

11. Ashurkish (?) (H) Idem

12. ? Pul or Tiglath-Pileser Pavement Slab, and Slabs built into the S. W.
Palace, Nimroud 750 B. C.

13. Sargon Khorsabad; Nimroud; Karamless, &c., &c. 722 B. C.

14. Sennacherib
(Son of preceding) Kouyunjik, &c. 703 B. C.

15. Essarhaddon
(Son of preceding) S. W. Palace, Nimroud; Nebbi Yunus;
Shereef-Khan 690 B. C.?

16. Sardanapalus III. (R)
Ashurakhbal (H)
(Son of preceding) Kouyunjik; Shereef-Khan

17. (Son of preceding) S. E. Edifice, Nimroud

18. Shamishakhadon (?) (H) Black Stone, in possession of Lord Aberdeen[/quote

TABLE II.—Names of Kings, Countries, Cities, &c., mentioned in the Old Testament, which occur in the A Inscriptions.

Jehu,
Omri,
Menahem,
Hezekiah,
Hazael,
Merodach Baladan,
Pharoah,
Sargon,
Sennacherib,
Essarhaddon,
Dagon,
Nebo,
Judæa,
Jerusalem,
Samaria,
Ashdod,
Lachish,
Damascus,
Hamath, Hittites (the),
Tyre,
Sidon,
Gaza,
Ekron,
Askelon,
Arvad,
Gubal (the people of),
Lebanon,
Egypt,
Euphrates,
Carchemish,
Hebar or Chebar (river),
Harran,
Ur,
Gozan (the people of),
Mesopotamia,
Children of Eden,
Tigris, Nineveh,
Babylon,
Elam,
Shushan,
Media,
Persia,
Yavan,
Ararat,
Hagarenes,
Nabathæans,
Aramæans,
Chaldæans,
Meshek,
Tubal,
Assyria,
Assyrians,
Pethor,
Telassar.

TABLE III.—Names of Thirteen Great Gods of Assyria, as they occur on the upright tablet of the King, discovered at Nimroud.

1. Asshur, the King of the Circle of the Great Gods.

2. Anu, the Lord of the Mountains, or of Foreign Countries.

3.(?) [Not yet deciphered.]

4. San.

5. Merodach (? Mars).

6. Yav (? Jupiter).

7. Bar.

8. Nebo (? Mercury).

9. (?) Mylit (or Gula), called the Consort of Bel and the Mother of the Great Gods (? Venus).

10. (?) Dagon.

11. Bel (? Saturn) Father of the Gods.

12. Shamash (the Sun).

13. Ishtar (the Moon).

[Pg 505]Although no mention appears to be made in the Assyrian inscriptions of kings who reigned before the twelfth century b. c., this is by no means a proof that the empire, and its capital Nineveh, did not exist long before that time. I cannot agree with those who would limit the foundation of both to that period. The supposition seems to me quite at variance with the testimony of sacred and profane history. The existence of the name of Nineveh on monuments of the eighteenth Egyptian dynasty is still considered almost certain by Egyptian scholars. I have in my former work quoted an instance of it on a tablet of the time of Thothmes III., or of the beginning of the fourteenth century b. c.[261] Mr. Birch has since pointed out to me three interesting cartouches copied by Dr. Lepsius in Egypt, which completely remove any doubt as to the name of Assyria having been also known as early as the eighteenth dynasty. They occur at the foot of one of the columns of Soleb, and are of the age of Amenophis III., or about the middle of the fourteenth century before Christ. The three figures, with their arms bound behind, represent Asiatic captives, as is proved by their peculiar features and head-dress, a knotted fillet round the temples, corresponding with that seen in the Nineveh sculptures. Each cartouche contains the name of the country from which the prisoner was brought. The first is Patana, or Padan-Aram; the second is written A-su-ru, or Assyria; and the third, Ka-ru-ka-mishi, Carchemish. On another column are Saenkar (? Shinar or Sinjar); Naharaina, or Mesopotamia; and the Khita, or Hittites. The mention in succession of these Asiatic nations, contiguous one to the other, proves the correctness of the reading of the word Assyria,[Pg 506] which might have been doubted had the name of that country stood alone.

Mr. Birch has detected a still earlier notice of Assyria in the statistical tablet of Karnak. The king of that country is there stated to have sent to Thothmes III., in his fortieth year, a tribute of fifty pounds nine ounces of some article called chesbit, supposed to be a stone for coloring blue. It would appear, therefore, that in the fifteenth century a kingdom, known by the name of Assyria, with Nineveh for its capital, had been established on the borders of the Tigris. Supposing the date now assigned by Col. Rawlinson to the monuments at Nimroud to be correct, no sculptures or relics have yet been found which we can safely attribute to that period; future researches and a more complete examination of the ancient sites may, however, hereafter lead to the discovery of earlier remains.

As I have thus given a general sketch of the contents of the inscriptions, it may not be out of place to make a few observations upon the nature of the Assyrian records, and their importance to the study of Scripture and profane history. In the first place, the care with which the events of each king’s reign were chronicled is worthy of remark. They were usually written in the form of regular annals, and in some cases, as on the great monoliths at Nimroud, the royal progress during a campaign appears to have been described almost day by day. We are thus furnished with an interesting illustration of the historical books of the Jews. There is, however, this marked difference between them, that whilst the Assyrian records are nothing but a dry narrative, or rather register, of military campaigns, spoliations, and cruelties, events of little importance but to those immediately concerned in them, the historical books of the[Pg 507] Old Testament, apart from the deeds of war and blood which they chronicle, contain the most interesting of private episodes, and the most sublime of moral lessons. It need scarcely be added, that this distinction is precisely what we might have expected to find between them, and that the Christian will not fail to give to it a due weight.

The monuments of Nineveh, as well as the testimony of history, tend to prove that the Assyrian monarch was a thorough Eastern despot, unchecked by popular opinion, and having complete power over the lives and property of his subjects—rather adored as a god than feared as a man, and yet himself claiming that authority and general obedience in virtue of his reverence for the national deities and the national religion. It was only when the gods themselves seemed to interpose that any check was placed upon the royal pride and lust; and it is probable that when Jonah entered Nineveh crying to the people to repent, the king, believing him to be a special minister from the supreme deity of the nation, “arose from his throne, and laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.”[262] The Hebrew state, on the contrary, was, to a certain extent, a limited monarchy. The Jewish kings were amenable to, and even guided by, the opinion of their subjects. The prophets boldly upbraided and threatened them; their warnings and menaces were usually received with respect and fear. “Good is the word of the Lord which thou hast spoken,” exclaimed[Pg 508] Hezekiah to Isaiah, when the prophet reproved him for his pride, and foretold the captivity of his sons and the destruction of his kingdom;[263] a prophecy which none would have dared utter in the presence of the Assyrian king, except, as it would appear by the story of Jonah, he were a stranger. It can scarcely, therefore, be expected that any history other than bare chronicles of the victories and triumphs of the kings, omitting all allusion to their reverses and defeats, could be found in Assyria, even were portable rolls or books still to exist, as in Egypt, beneath the ruins.

It is remarkable that the Assyrian records should, on the whole, be so free from the exaggerated forms of expression, and the magniloquent royal titles, which are found in Egyptian documents of the same nature, and even in those of modern Eastern sovereigns. I have already pointed out the internal evidence of their truthfulness so far as they go. We are further led to place confidence in the statements contained in the inscriptions by the very minuteness with which they even give the amount of the spoil; the two registrars, “the scribes of the host,” as they are called in the Bible,[264] being seen in almost every bas-relief, writing down the various objects brought to them by the victorious warriors,—the heads of the slain, the prisoners, the cattle, the sheep,[265] the furniture, and the vessels of metal.

[Pg 509]The next reflection arising from an examination of the Assyrian records relates to the political condition and constitution of the empire, which appear to have been of a very peculiar nature. The king, we may infer, exercised but little direct authority beyond the immediate districts around Nineveh. The Assyrian dominions, as far as we can yet learn from the inscriptions, did not extend much further than the central provinces of Asia Minor and Armenia to the north, not reaching to the Black Sea, though probably to the Caspian. To the east they included the western provinces of Persia; to the south, Susiana, Babylonia, and the northern part of Arabia. To the west the Assyrians may have penetrated into Lycia, and perhaps Lydia; and Syria was considered within the territories of the great king; Egypt and Meroe (Æthiopia) were the farthest limits reached by the Assyrian armies. According to Greek history, however, a much greater extent must be assigned to Assyrian influence, if not to the actual Assyrian empire, and we may hereafter find that such was in fact the case. I am here merely referring to the evidence afforded by actual records as far as they have been deciphered.

The empire appears to have been at all times a kind of confederation formed by many tributary states, whose kings were so far independent, that they were only bound to furnish troops to the supreme lord in time of war, and to pay him yearly a certain tribute. Hence we find successive Assyrian kings fighting with exactly the same nations and tribes, some of which were scarcely more than four or five days’ march from the gates of Nineveh.

The Jewish tribes, as it had long been suspected by biblical scholars, can now be proved to have held their dependent position upon the Assyrian king, from a very early period, indeed, long before the time inferred by any[Pg 510] passage in Scripture. Whenever an expedition against the kings of Judah or Israel is mentioned in the Assyrian records, it is stated to have been undertaken on the ground that they had not paid their customary tribute.[266]

The political state of the Jewish kingdom under Solomon appears to have been very nearly the same as that of the Assyrian empire. The inscriptions in this instance again furnish us with an interesting illustration of the Bible. The scriptural account of the power of the Hebrew king resembles, almost word for word, some of the paragraphs in the great inscriptions at Nimroud. “Solomon reigned over the kingdoms from the river unto the land of the Philistines, and unto the border of Egypt: they brought presents, and served Solomon all the days of his life.... He had dominion over all the region on this side the river, from Tipsah even unto the Azzah, over all the kings on this side the river.”[267]

In the custom, frequently alluded to in the inscriptions, of removing the inhabitants of conquered cities and districts to distant parts of the empire, and of replacing them by colonists from Nineveh or from other subdued countries, we have another interesting illustration of Scripture history. It has generally been inferred that there was but one carrying away, or at the most two, of the people of Samaria, although three, at least, appear to be distinctly alluded to in the Bible; the first, by Pul;[268][Pg 511] the second, by Tiglath-Pileser[269]; the third, by Shalmaneser.[270] It was not until the time of the last king that Samaria was destroyed as an independent kingdom. On former occasions only the inhabitants of the surrounding towns and villages seem to have been taken as captives. Such we find to have been the case with many other nations who were subdued or punished for rebellion by the Assyrians. The conquerors, too, as we also learn from the inscriptions, established the worship of their own gods in the conquered cities, raising altars and temples, and appointing priests for their service. So after the fall of Samaria, the strangers who were placed in its cities, “made gods of their own and put them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made.”[271]

The vast number of families thus sent to dwell in distant countries, must have wrought great changes in the physical condition, language, and religion of the people with which they were intermixed. When the Assyrian records are with more certainty interpreted, we may, perhaps, be able to explain many of the anomalies of ancient Eastern philology and comparative geography.

We further gather from the records of the campaigns of the Assyrian kings, that the country, both in Mesopotamia and to the west of the Euphrates, now included in the general term of “the Desert,” was at that remote period, teeming with a dense population both sedentary and nomade; that cities, towns, and villages arose on all sides; and that, consequently, the soil brought forth produce for the support of this great congregation of human beings. All those settlements depended almost exclusively upon artificial irrigation. Hence the dry beds of enormous[Pg 512] canals and countless watercourses, which are spread like a network over the face of the country. Even the traveller, accustomed to the triumphs of modern science and civilization, gazes with wonder and awe upon these gigantic works, and reflects with admiration upon the industry, the skill, and the power of those who made them. And may not the waters be again turned into the empty channels, and may not life be again spread over those parched and arid wastes? Upon them no other curse has alighted than that of a false religion and a listless race.

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Part 2 of 2

Of the information as to the religious system of the Assyrians which may be derived from the inscriptions, I am still unwilling to 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 worshipped one supreme God, as the great 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 him in the celestial hierarchy, although called the great gods, were associated twelve other deities, whose names I have given 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 must ere long be again 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[Pg 513] 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 form, all the so-called inferior gods were originally mere names for events and outward things, or symbols and myths. Although at one time generally accepted as such even by the common people, their true meaning was only known in a corrupted age to the priests, by whom they were turned into a mystery and a trade. It may, indeed, be inferred from many passages in the Scriptures, that a system of theology not far differing from the Assyrian prevailed at times amongst the Jews themselves. Asshur is generally, 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 time of its greatest prosperity is still far from being 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 miles from Kouyunjik, as well as others in the immediate neighbourhood, to be the remains of distinct cities. He would even separate the mound of Nebbi Yunus from Kouyunjik, identifying the former with Nineveh, and making the latter a mere suburb. A glance at the plan of the ruins will show this conjecture to be quite untenable. Discoveries in both mounds prove that they belong to nearly the same period, and that Nebbi Yunus is the more recent of the two. The supposition that any of these groups of mounds represent alone the city of Nineveh can[Pg 514] 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 “formed one of that group 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 from different mounds, distinct names appear to be given 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 names are preceded by a determinative monogram assumed to signify a city, but which undoubtedly also applies to a fort or fortified palace. Nahum describes Nineveh as a city of many strongholds and gates,[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, may at one time have been the palace at Kouyunjik, which being especially called Nineveh, gave its name to the whole city. By no other supposition can we reconcile the united testimony of ancient writers as to the great size of Nineveh with the present remains.

It is very doubtful whether these fortified inclosures contained many buildings 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[Pg 515] soil seems never to have been disturbed, and in some places the conglomerate rock is almost denuded of earth.

Such is also the case opposite Mosul. The remains of one or two buildings appear to exist within the inclosure; but in the greater part there are no indications whatever of ancient edifices, and the conglomerate rock is, as at Nimroud, on a level with the surrounding soil.

At Khorsabad, the greater part of the inclosed space is so much below the surrounding country, 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 remains of one or two buildings, and of a propylæum, standing 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 forming 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 same line, and actually forming part of them. All access to it must have been strongly 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 am still inclined to the opinion that they were royal dwellings with their dependent buildings, and parks or paradises, fortified like the palace-temples of Egypt, capable of standing a prolonged siege, and a place of refuge for[Pg 516] the inhabitants in case of invasion. They may have been called by different names, but they were all included within the area of that great 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 must not judge 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 [Pg 517]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 important and even minute details, not only as to their general 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 them. This fact furnishes another remarkable analogy 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 temple of Solomon. This arises not only from our being unacquainted with the exact meaning of 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 imperfectly known, and although we may be able to explain with some confidence the general meaning of the historical paragraphs, yet when we come to technical words relating to architecture, even with a very intimate acquaintance with the Assyrian tongue, we could scarcely hope to ascertain their precise signification. On the other hand, the materials, and the general plan of the Assyrian palaces are still preserved, whilst of the great edifices of the Jews, not a fragment of masonry, nor the smallest remains are left to guide us. The [Pg 518]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 remains, as well as from customs still existing in the East, we may, to a certain extent, restore the principal buildings 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 himself to have done, the Jewish king sent the bearers of burdens and the hewers into the mountains to bring great stones, costly stones, and hewed stones[276], to lay the foundations, which were probably artificial platforms, resembling the Assyrian mounds, though constructed of more solid materials. We have the remains of such a terrace or stage of stone masonry, perhaps built by king Solomon himself, at Baalbec. The enormous size of some of the hewn stones existing in that structure, and of those still seen in the quarries, some being more than sixty feet long, has excited the wonder of modern travellers. The dimensions of the temple of Jerusalem, threescore cubits long[277], twenty broad, and thirty high, were much smaller than those of the great edifices explored in Assyria. Solomon’s own palace, however, appears to have been considerably larger, and to have more nearly approached in its proportions those of the kings 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[Pg 519] propylæum, such as was discovered at Khorsabad in front of the palace. The chambers, with the exception of the oracle, were exceedingly small, the largest being 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 make good the sense, and may consequently not convey the exact meaning, which may be, that these chambers were thus narrow that the beams might 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 smaller rooms appear to have been built round a large central chamber, called the oracle, the whole arrangement thus corresponding with the halls and surrounding rooms at Nimroud, Khorsabad, and Kouyunjik. The oracle itself was twenty cubits square, smaller far in dimensions than the Nineveh halls; but it was twenty cubits high—an important fact, illustrative of Assyrian architecture, for as the building was thirty cubits in height, the oracle must not only have been much loftier than the adjoining chambers, but must have had an upper structure of ten cubits.[279] Within it were the two cherubim of olive wood ten cubits high, with wings 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 cherubim have been described by Biblical commentators as mythic figures, uniting the human head with the body of a lion, or an[Pg 520] ox, and the wings 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 ornament—objects most probably very nearly resembling each other—we find that the oracle of the temple was almost identical, in general form and in its ornaments, with some of the chambers of Nimroud and Khorsabad. In the Assyrian halls, too, the winged human-headed bulls were on the side of the wall, and their wings, like those of the cherubim, “touched one another in the midst of the house.”[281] The dimensions of these figures 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 human form and the image of the king, which were an abomination to the Jews. The pomegranates and lilies of Solomon’s temple must have been nearly identical with the usual Assyrian ornament, in which, and particularly at Khorsabad, the pomegranate frequently takes the place of the tulip and the cone.

But the description given by Josephus of the interior of one of Solomon’s houses, already quoted by Mr. Fergusson 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 ornaments of temples, &c. The arrangement of the curious[Pg 521] workmanship 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 them, and their leaves were wrought 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 complete the analogy between the two edifices, it would appear that Solomon was seven years building the temple, and Sennacherib about the same time building his great 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 wood was 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 employed in the Jewish buildings, and probably in those of Assyria.[284]

In the proposed restoration of the palace at Kouyunjik from the existing remains, the building 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 immediately overlooked the Tigris; and on that side was one of its principal façades. The edifice must have risen on the very edge of[Pg 522] 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 must necessarily have been by a flight of steps, or an inclined way leading down to the water’s edge, and there might have been great stairs parallel to the basement wall as at Persepolis. Although from the fact of there having been a grand 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 façade, like the eastern, was formed by five pairs of human-headed bulls, and numerous colossal figures[285], forming 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 magnificent façade and entrance. Inclined ways, or broad flights of steps, appear to have led up to it from the foot of the platform, and the remains of them, consisting of huge squared stones, are still seen in the ravines, which are but the ancient ascents, deepened by the winter rains of centuries. From this grand entrance direct access could be had to all the principal halls and chambers in the palace; that on the western face, as appears from the ruins, only opened into a set of eight rooms.

The chambers hitherto explored appear to have been grouped 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[Pg 523] been hitherto excavated, and we are not in possession of a perfect ground-plan of it.

The general arrangement of the chambers at Kouyunjik is similar to that of Khorsabad, though the extent of the building is very much greater. It is also to be remarked that the Khorsabad mound falls gradually 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 propylæa, 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 propylæa, 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 formed different stories. Mr. Fergusson, in his ingenious 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 Harem or those of the women. The division he suggests, must, of course, depend upon conjecture; but it may, I think, be considered as highly probable, until fuller and more accurate translations of the[Pg 524] 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 same general interior plan. On the four sides of the great halls are two or three narrow parallel chambers opening one into the other. Most of them have doorways at each and leading into smaller rooms, which have no other outlet. It seems highly probable that this uniform plan was adopted with reference to the peculiar architectural arrangements required by the building, and I agree with Mr. Fergusson in attributing it to the mode resorted to for lighting the apartments.

In my former work I expressed a belief that the chambers received light 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 had more than one story. Such being the fact, it is evident that other means must have been adopted to admit daylight to the inner rooms on the ground-floor. Mr. Fergusson’s suggestion, that the upper part of the halls and principal chambers was formed by a row of pillars supporting the ceiling and admitting a free circulation of light 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 forming the frontispiece to this volume, a somewhat similar capital has been adopted[Pg 525] in preference to that taken by Mr. Fergusson from Persepolis, which, although 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 improbable that such was the case, to judge from modern Eastern houses, in which the absence of light is considered essential to secure a cool temperature. The sculptures and decorations in them could then only be seen by torchlight. The great 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 columns and buttresses immediately beneath the ceiling. It is most probable that there were two or three stories of chambers opening into them, either by columns or by windows. Such appears to have been the case in Solomon’s temple; for Josephus tells us that the great inner sanctuary was surrounded by small rooms, “over these rooms were other rooms, and others above them, equal both in their measure and numbers, and that these reached to a height 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 modern houses of some parts of Persia, in which a great central hall, called an Iwan, rises to the top of the building, and has small rooms in two or three separate stories,[Pg 526] opening by windows into it, whilst the inner chambers, having no windows at all, have no more light than that which reaches them through the door. Sometimes these side chambers open into a centre court, as I have suggested may have been the case in the Nineveh palaces, then a projecting roof of woodwork protects the carved and painted walls from injury by the weather. Curtains and awnings were also suspended above the windows and entrances, to ward off the rays of the sun.

Although no remains or even traces of pillars have hitherto been discovered in the Assyrian ruins, I now think it highly probable, as suggested by Mr. Fergusson, that they were used to support the roof. It is curious, however, that no stone pedestals, upon which wooden columns may have rested, have been found in the ruins, nor are there marks of them on the pavement. I can scarcely account for the entire absence of all such traces. However, unless some support of this kind were resorted to, it is impossible that even the large chambers at Kouyunjik, without including the central halls, could have been covered in. The great hall, or house as it is rendered in the Bible,[287] of the forest of Lebanon was thirty cubits high, upon four rows of cedar pillars with cedar beams upon the pillars. The Assyrian kings, we have seen, cut wood in the same forests as King Solomon; and probably used it for the same purposes, namely, for pillars, beams, and ceilings. The dimensions of this hall, 100 cubits (about 150 feet) by 50 cubits (75 feet), very much resemble those of the centre halls of the palaces of[Pg 527] Nineveh. “The porch of pillars” was fifty cubits in length; equal, therefore, to the breadth of the hall, of which I presume it to have been an inclosed space at the upper end, whilst “the porch for the throne where he might judge, even the porch of judgment ... covered with cedar wood from one side of the floor to the other,” was probably a raised place beneath it, corresponding with a similar platform where the host and guests of honor are seated in a modern Eastern house. Supposing the three parts of the building to have been arranged as I have suggested, we should have an exact counterpart of them in the hall of audience of the Persian palaces. The upper part of the room in which I have frequently seen the governor of Isfahan, was divided from the rest of a magnificent hall by columns, and his throne was a raised place of carved woodwork adorned with rich stuffs, ivory, and other precious materials. Suppliants and attendants stood outside the line of pillars, and the officers of the court within. Such also may have been the interior arrangement of the great halls in the Assyrian edifices.

That the Ninevite palaces had more than one story, at least in some parts if not in all, can now no longer be doubted. The inscriptions appear to describe distinctly the upper rooms, and at Kouyunjik, as it has been seen, an inclined way was discovered leading to them. Without there had been an upper structure, it would be impossible to account for the enormous accumulation of rubbish, consisting chiefly of remains of buildings, over the ruins of Kouyunjik and Khorsabad. These upper rooms were probably built of sundried bricks and wood, but principally of the latter material, and may have been connected with the lower by winding staircases, as in the temple of Solomon, as well as by inclined ways. The[Pg 528] roofs were flat, as those of all Eastern houses are to this day; and, as suggested by Mr. Fergusson,[288] they may have been crowned by a wooden talar, or platform, and altars upon which sacrifices were offered,—“The houses upon whose roofs they have burned incense unto all the host of heaven, and have poured out drink-offerings to other gods.”[289]

I have already described the internal decorations of the Assyrian palaces,[290] and have little more to add upon the subject. The walls of Kouyunjik were more elaborately decorated than those of Nimroud and Khorsabad. Almost every chamber explored, and they amount to above seventy, was panelled with alabaster slabs carved with numerous figures and with the minutest details. Each room appears to have been dedicated to some particular event, and in each, apparently, was the image of the king himself. In fact, the walls recorded in sculpture what the inscriptions did in writing,—the whole history of Sennacherib’s reign, his great deeds in peace as well as in war. It will be remarked that whilst in other Assyrian edifices the king is frequently represented taking an active part in war, slaying his enemies, and fighting beneath a besieged city, he is never represented at Kouyunjik otherwise than in an attitude of triumph, in his chariot or on his throne, receiving the captives and the spoil. Nor is he ever seen torturing his prisoners, or putting them to death with his own hand.

There were chambers, however, in the palace of [Pg 529]Sennacherib, as well as in those of Nimroud and Khorsabad, whose walls were simply coated with plaster, like the walls of Belshazzar’s palace at Babylon.[291] They may have been richly ornamented in color with figures of men and animals, as well as with elegant designs; or they may have been panelled with cedar wainscoting, as the chambers in the temple and palaces of Solomon, and in the great edifices of Babylon. Gilding, too, appears to have been extensively used in decoration, and some of the great sphinxes may have been overlaid with gold, like the cherubim in Solomon’s temple.[292]

At Kouyunjik, the pavement slabs were not inscribed as at Nimroud; but those between the winged bulls at some of the entrances, were carved with an elaborate and very elegant pattern. The doors were probably of wood, gilt and adorned with precious materials, like the gates of the temple of Jerusalem, and they appear to have turned in stone sockets, for amongst the ruins were found many black stones hollowed in the centre, and bearing an inscription in these words: “Sennacherib, the great king, king of Assyria, brought this stone from the distant mountains, and used it for the sockets of the pillars of the doors of his palace.”

To ward off the glare of an Eastern sun hangings or curtains of gay colors and of rich materials were probably suspended to the pillars supporting the ceiling, or to wooden poles raised for the purpose, as in the palaces of Babylon and Shushan. Such hangings, as we have seen,[Pg 530] appear to be described in the tablets of king Nebuchadnezzar. The frontispiece to this volume will enable the reader to understand how they were used. This engraving from a beautiful water-color drawing, made by Mr. Baynes under the superintendence of Mr. Fergusson, represents the Eastern façade and the great entrance to the palace of Sennacherib, as they are supposed originally to have been. The lower part of the building actually exists, and is drawn to scale; the upper part of course is mainly founded upon conjecture; but the preceding remarks may show that we are not altogether without materials to authorise some such restoration. The edifice represented in the bas-relief discovered at Kouyunjik has furnished some of the architectural details, the battlemented finish to the walls is still seen at Kouyunjik and Nimroud, and the various decorations introduced in other places are all taken from Assyrian monuments. The two poles with streamers in the foreground, are from a bas-relief at Khorsabad. The sculptures at the sides of the steps are those from the descending passage at Kouyunjik. The stone facing of the platform is that of the basement of the tower at Nimroud. The lions, Assyrian in character, are placed on the steps conjecturally, and the steps themselves are restored. The design upon the pavement is found on slabs at the entrances at Kouyunjik.

The excavations carried on at Nimroud during the last expedition have enabled me to restore, to a certain extent, the several buildings on the platform, and to obtain some idea of their original appearance. On the artificial platform, built of regular layers of sundried bricks in some parts, and entirely of rubbish in others, but cased on all sides with solid stone masonry, stood at one time at least nine distinct buildings. Between each was a terrace, paved with stone, or with large kiln-burnt bricks,[Pg 531] from one and a half to two feet square. At the north-western corner rose the great tower, the tomb of the founder of the principal palace. Its basement was encased with massive masonry of stone, relieved by recesses and other architectural ornaments. The upper part built of brick, was most probably painted, like the palaces of Babylon, with figures and mythic emblems. Its summit, I conjecture, to have consisted of several receding gradines like the top of the black obelisk, and I would venture to crown it with an altar on which may have burnt the eternal fire. Adjoining this tower were, two small temples, dedicated to Assyrian gods. One actually abutted on it, although there was no communication whatever, as far as I could discover, between the interior of the two buildings; the other was about 100 feet to the east. They were both adorned with sculptures, and had evidently been more than one story high, and their beams and ceilings were of cedar wood. They contained statues of the gods, and the fullest records of the reign of the king their founder, engraved on immense monoliths. Between them was a way up to the platform from the north.

Between the small temples and the north-west palace were two great flights of steps, or inclined ways, leading up from the margin of the river. Their sites are still marked by deep ravines. They opened upon a broad paved terrace. The north-west palace having been so fully described in my former work, I need only add that I have now been able to ascertain the position of its principal façade and entrance. It was to the north, facing the tower, and nearly resembled the grand approaches to Kouyunjik and Khorsabad. The two gateways formed by the sphinxes with the human form to the waist, appear to have flanked a grand centre portal to which they were[Pg 532] united on both sides, as in Sennacherib’s palace, by colossal figures of human-headed bulls and lions and winged priests. The remains of no other great entrance to the palace have yet been discovered, but I have little doubt from several indications in the ruins, that there was a similar façade on the river side, and that a terrace, ascended by broad flights of steps, overlooked the Tigris.

To the south of the north-west palace was a third ascent to the summit of the platform, also marked by a ravine in the side of the mound. Beyond it were the upper chambers, built by the fourth king in succession from Sardanapalus, probably over the remains of an earlier edifice. Excavations made in different parts of the small mound covering their ruins, show that they consisted of three distinct groups, built round a solid central mass of sundried bricks. The great accumulation of earth above them, proves that this building must have had more than one story.

The upper chambers were separated from the palace of Essarhaddon, the most southern on this side of the platform, by a fourth grand approach to the terraces. Remains of great blocks of stone, of winged bulls, and of colossal figures in yellow limestone, were found in the ravine.

Essarhaddon’s palace was raised some feet above the north-west and centre edifices. It has been so entirely destroyed by fire, and by the removal of the slabs from its walls, that a complete ground-plan of it cannot be restored. In the arrangement of its chambers, as far as we are able to judge from the ruins, it differed from other Assyrian buildings with which we are acquainted. The hall, above 220 feet long, and 100 broad, opening at the northern end by a gateway of winged bulls on a terrace, which overlooked the grand approach and the principal[Pg 533] palaces, and at the opposite end having a triple portal guarded by three pairs of colossal sphinxes, which commanded the open country and the Tigris winding through the plain, must have been a truly magnificent feature in this palace. It occupied the corner of the platform, and an approach of which considerable remains still exist led up from the plain to its southern face. Around the grand hall appear to have been built a number of small chambers; and this Assyrian building probably answers in its general plan, more than any other yet discovered, to the descriptions in the Bible of the palace of Solomon, especially if we assume that the antechamber, divided into two parts, corresponds with the portico of the Jewish structures.

The palace of Essarhaddon was considerably below the level of that of his grandson, and was separated from it by what appears, from a very deep and wide ravine, to have been the principal approach to the platform. The south-east edifice was very inferior, both in the size of its apartments and in the materials employed in its construction, to the other royal buildings. It was probably built when the empire was fast falling to decay, and, as is usual in such cases, the arts seem to have declined with the power of the people.

Returning northwards, we come to the only traces of an approach on the eastern side of the platform, and consequently from the interior of the walled inclosure. It is remarkable that there should have been but one on this face; and it is even more curious, that the only sides of the mound on which there are any remains of walls or fortifications, are the eastern and northern, where the royal residences would have overlooked the city, supposing it to have been contained within the existing ramparts of earth. The edifices facing what would, in that[Pg 534] case, have been the open country, were left apparently defenceless.

On the west side of the platform no actual ruins have been discovered, although there are undoubtedly traces of building in several places, and I think it not improbable that a temple, or some similar edifice, stood there.

It only remains for me to mention the palace in the centre of the platform, founded by the king whose name is believed to read Divanubar or Divanubra, but rebuilt almost entirely by Pul or Tiglath-Pileser. Excavations carried on during the second expedition, brought to light the walls of a few additional chambers and numerous fragments of interesting sculptures. But the edifice was so utterly destroyed by Essarhaddon, who used the materials in the construction of his own dwelling-place, that it is impossible to ascertain its general plan, or even the arrangement of any of its rooms. The great inscribed bulls and the obelisk, we know to have been of the time of the older king; and the bas-reliefs of battles and sieges, heaped up together as if ready for removal, to have belonged to the later.

In the ramparts of earth, marking the inclosure wall of Nimroud to the north, fifty-eight towers can still be distinctly traced. To the east there were about fifty, but all traces of some of them are entirely gone. To the south the wall has almost disappeared, so that it could not have been of great size or thickness on that side. The level of the inclosure is here, however, considerably above the plain, and it is not improbable that the Tigris actually flowed beneath part of it, and that the remainder was defended by a wide and deep ditch, either supplied by the small stream still running near the ruins, or by the river.

At the south-eastern corner of the inclosure, is a[Pg 535] mound of considerable height, and the remains of a square edifice; they may have been a fort or castle. I searched in vain for traces of gates in the walls on the northern side. A high double mound, which probably marks the ruins of an entrance, was excavated; but no stone masonry or sculptured figures were discovered, as in a similar mound in the inclosure of Kouyunjik. I conclude, therefore, that the gateways of the quarter of Nineveh represented by Nimroud were not, like those of the more northern divisions of the city, adorned with sculptures, but were built of the same materials as the walls, and were either arched or square, being formed, like the gates of modern Arab cities, by simple beams of wood.

It is evident that the inclosure of Nimroud was regularly fortified, and defended by walls built for the purpose of resisting an enemy, and sustaining a prolonged siege. That of Khorsabad was precisely similar. There also the platform, on which the great palace stood, formed part of the walls,—a fact for which I can scarcely offer any satisfactory explanation. It would seem more consistent with security that the dwelling of the king, the temples of the gods, and the edifices containing the archives and treasures of the kingdom, should have been in the centre of the fortifications, equally protected on all sides. The palaces of Nimroud and Kouyunjik, built on a platform, washed by a deep and broad river, were, to a certain extent, guarded from the approach of an enemy. But at Khorsabad such was not the case. The royal residence overlooked the plain country, and was accessible from it, unless the summit of the platform were strongly fortified on the western side, of which there is no trace.

Of the fortified inclosures still existing, that surrounding Kouyunjik is the most remarkable, and was best calculated to withstand the attack of a powerful and numerous[Pg 536] army. I give a plan of the ruins from Mr. Rich’s survey, which will enable the reader to understand the following description.[293]


Plan of the Inclosure Walls and Ditches at Kouyunjik.

Its form, it will be perceived, was irregular. The side facing the river, including the mounds of Kouyunjik and Nebbi-Yunus (a), and the northern (or north-western) (b),[Pg 537] are at right angles to each other, and in nearly a straight line. From the eastern corner of the northern face, the inner wall (c) forms the segment of a circle towards the southern end of the western, the two being only 873 yards apart at their extremities (d).[294] On the four sides are the remains of towers and curtains, and the walls appear to have consisted of a basement of stone and an upper structure of sundried bricks. The top of the stone masonry was ornamented with gradines, as at Nimroud.

The western wall (a) was washed by the river, and needed no other defence.[295] A deep ditch, of which traces still exist, appears to have been dug beneath the northern (b). That to the south (d) was also protected by a dyke and the Tigris. The side most accessible to an enemy was that to the east (c), and it was accordingly fortified with extraordinary care and strength. The small river Khauser flows nearly in a direct line from the hills to the north-eastern corner of the inclosure, makes a sweep to the south (at e) before reaching it, and after running for some distance beneath a perpendicular bank formed by conglomerate hills (g) parallel to the walls, but about three quarters of a mile from them, again turns to the westward (at f), and enters the inclosure almost in the centre. It then traverses this quarter of the city, winds round the base of Kouyunjik, and falls into the Tigris. Nearly one half of the eastern wall was, consequently, provided with natural defences. The Khauser served as a ditch; and the conglomerate ridge, slightly increased by artificial means, as a strong line of fortification. The remains of one or more ramparts of earth are still to be traced between the stream and the inner[Pg 538] wall, but they could not have been of very considerable size. The north-eastern extremity of these outer defences appears to have joined the ditch which was carried along the northern face of the inclosure, thus completing the fortification in this part.

Below, or to the south of, the entry of the Khauser into the inclosure, the inner wall was defended by a complete system of outworks. In the first place a deep ditch, about one hundred and fifty feet wide, was cut immediately beneath it, and was divided for half its length into two separate parts, between which was a rampart. A parallel wall (h) was then carried from the banks of the Khauser to the dyke on the southern side of the inclosure. A second ditch, about one hundred and eight feet wide, and of considerable depth, probably supplied by the Khauser, extended from the point at which that stream turns to the westward, as far as the southern line of defences. A third wall (i), the remains of which are above one hundred feet high on the inner face, abutted to the north on the ridge of conglomerate hills (g), and completed the outer defences. A few mounds rising in the level country beyond, the principal of which, near the southern extremity of the lines, is called Tel-ez-zembil (the Mound of the Basket), appear to have been fortified outposts, probably detached towers, such as are represented in the bas-reliefs of Kouyunjik.

An enemy coming from the east, the side on which the inclosure was most open to attack, had consequently first to force a stupendous wall strengthened by detached forts. Two deep ditches and two more walls, the inner being scarcely inferior in size to the outer, had then to be passed before the city could be taken.[296] The remains still[Pg 539] existing of these fortifications almost confirm the statements of Diodorus Siculus, that the walls were a hundred feet high, and that three chariots could drive upon them abreast; and lead to the conclusion that in describing the ramparts forming the circuit round the whole city, ancient historians were confounding them with those which inclosed only a separate quarter or a royal residence, as they have also done in speaking of Babylon. Whilst the inner walls were constructed of stone and brick masonry, the outer appear to have consisted of little else than of the earth, loose pebbles, and rubble dug out from the ditches, which were cut with enormous labor into the solid conglomerate rock.[297]

The walls and ditches around Kouyunjik were a favourite ride during my residence among the ruins. The summit of the outer ramparts commands an extensive and beautiful prospect over all the great mounds, the plains bounded by the several mountain ranges of Kurdistan, the windings of the river, and the town of Mosul. “Niniue (that which God himself calleth that Great Citie) hath not one stone standing, which may giue memorie of the being of a towne: one English mile from it is a place called Mosul, a small thing, rather to be a witnesse of the other’s mightenesse, and God’s judgement, than of any fashion of magnificence in itselfe.”[298] Such are the simple though impressive words of an old English traveller, who probably looked down upon the site of Nineveh from the same spot two centuries and a half ago.

[Pg 540]Beaten tracks from the neighbouring villages have for ages led, and still lead, through the ruins. Along them Arabs and Kurds with their camels and laden beasts may be seen slowly wending their way to the town. But the space between the walls is deserted except by the timid gazelle and the jackals and hyenas which make their dens in the holes and caves in the sides of the mounds and in the rocky banks of the ancient ditches.

The spring called by the Arabs Damlamajeh, and described by Mr. Rich,[299] is a small pool of cool and refreshing water in a natural cavern, the fore part of which is adorned with an arch, cornice, and stonework, evidently of Roman or Greek construction. Upon the masonry are still to be traced the names of Mrs. Rich, and of the companions of the distinguished traveller.

[admin]

CONCLUSION.

The time was drawing near for my departure. Once more I was about to leave the ruins amidst which I had spent so many happy hours, and to which I was bound by so many pleasant and solemn ties; and probably to return no more.

I only waited the arrival of Abde, the late Pasha of Baghdad, who was now on his way to his new government of Diarbekir. He was travelling with a large company of attendants, and without a strong escort it was scarcely prudent to venture on a journey. It was doubly necessary for me to have proper protection, as I took with me the valuable collection of bronzes and other small objects[Pg 541] discovered in the ruins. I gladly, therefore, availed myself of this opportunity of joining so numerous and powerful a caravan.

At length, after the usual Eastern delays, the Pasha arrived at Mosul. He remained encamped outside the town for two or three days, and during that time visited the excavations, his curiosity having been excited by the description he had received of the wondrous idols dug out of the ruins. He marvelled at what he saw, as a Turk marvels at strange things which he can neither understand nor explain. It would be in vain to speak to him of the true objects of such researches, the knowledge they impart, the lessons they teach, or the thoughts they beget.

In these pages I have occasionally indulged in reflections suggested by the scenes I have had to describe, and have ventured to point out the moral of the strange tale I have had to relate. I cannot better conclude than by showing the spirit in which Eastern philosophy and Mussulman resignation contemplate the evidences of ancient greatness and civilization, suddenly rising up in the midst of modern ignorance and decay. A letter in my possession contained so true and characteristic a picture of the feelings that such an event excites in the mind of a good Mohammedan, that I here give a literal translation of its contents. It was written to a friend of mine by a Turkish Cadi, in reply to some inquiries as to the commerce, population, and remains of antiquity of an ancient city, in which dwelt the head of the law. These are its words:—

“My Illustrious Friend, and Joy of my Liver!

“The thing you ask of me is both difficult and useless. Although I have passed all my days in this place, I have neither counted the houses nor have I inquired into the number of the inhabitants; and as [Pg 542]to what one person loads on his mules and the other stows away in the bottom of his ship, that is no business of mine. But, above all, as to the previous history of this city, God only knows the amount of dirt and confusion that the infidels may have eaten before the coming of the sword of Islam. It were unprofitable for us to inquire into it.

“Oh, my soul! oh, my lamb! seek not after the things which concern thee not. Thou camest unto us, and we welcomed thee: go in peace.

“Of a truth, thou hast spoken many words; and there is no harm done, for the speaker is one and the listener is another. After the fashion of thy people thou hast wandered from one place to another until thou art happy and content in none. We (praise be to God) were born here, and never desire to quit it. Is it possible then that the idea of a general intercourse between mankind should make any impression on our understandings? God forbid!

“Listen, oh my son! There is no wisdom equal unto the belief in God! He created the world, and shall we liken ourselves unto him in seeking to penetrate into the mysteries of his creation? Shall we say, behold this star spinneth round that star, and this other star with a tail goeth and cometh in so many years! Let it go! He from whose hand it came will guide and direct it.

“But thou wilt say unto me, Stand aside, oh man, for I am more learned than thou art, and have seen more things. If thou thinkest that thou art in this respect better than I am, thou art welcome. I praise God that I seek not that which I require not. Thou art learned in the things I care not for; and as for that which thou hast seen I defile it. Will much knowledge create thee a double belly, or wilt thou seek Paradise with thine eyes?

“Oh, my friend! If thou wilt be happy, say, There is no God but God! Do no evil, and thus wilt thou fear neither man nor death; for surely thine hour will come!

“The meek in spirit (El Fakir),
“IMAUM ALI ZADE.”

On the 28th of April I bid a last farewell to my faithful Arab friends, and with a heavy heart turned from the ruins of ancient Nineveh.

THE END.

[admin]

INDEX.

A.

Abde Pasha, 383, 540.

Abdi Agha, 52.

Abd-ul-Azeez, mound of, 187.
Hills of, 259.

Abou-Jerdeh, mound, 186.

Abou-Khameera, ruins of, 201, 202.

Abou-Maria, excavations at, 278.

Abou-Sheetha, mound of, 188.

Abraham thrown into the furnace by Nimrod, 403.

Adremit, village of, 338.

Adrammelech, name of, according to Rawlinson, 497.

Æthiopia, mentioned in inscriptions, 121.

Afaij, visit to tribe of, 438.
Their boats, 443.
Their huts, 445.

Agab, Sheikh of the Afaij, 446.

Agammi river, 124, 475.

Agayl, tribe of, 395.

Akhlat, village of, 30.

Akhtamar, patriarch of, 339.
Visit to the island of, ib.
Church of, ib.

Akkari, sea of the Mediterranean, 296.

Akker-Kuf, ruin of, 382.

Akko, a Yezidi chief, 42, 47.

Albanian, an, 313.

Alabaster, jars in, 164, 165.

Alexander the Great, 174, 190.
Wish to uncover ruins of Temple of Belus, 420.
To rebuild it, 426.
To restore canals, 428.

Ali-Baba mountains, 24.

Altars discovered at Khorsabad, 110.
At Nimroud, 288.

American missionaries, their establishments, 313, 332, 334, and note.
Their schools at Ooroomiyah, 334.
Intercourse with Nestorians, 347.

Amran, mound of, 390.
Discoveries in, 414.

Ana, town of, mentioned in inscriptions, 294.

Anana, ruin and village, 436.

Antioch, Egyptian monument at, 295, note.

Ararat, name of Armenia, 403.
View of mount, 423.

Araxes river, 25.

Arban, arrival at, 223.
Description of, 226.
Excavations at, 228.
Departure from, 252.

Arbela, battle of, 174.

Arabs. See Bedouins.

Arab workmen, 88.
Instances of honesty in, 470.

Arabkha, a city under Sennacherib, 120.

Aramæans defeated by Sennacherib, 118.

Arch at Nimroud, 138.

Architecture, Armenian, 35.
Assyrian, 120.
Babylonian, 423.
Early Persian, 460.
Comparison between Assyrian and Jewish, 517.

Armenia, a bishop of, 27, 392.
Ploughs in, 29, 38.
Schools in, 331.
Reform in church, 332.
Books in language of, 334.
Ignorance of Christians in, 335.

Armour, parts of, discovered, 152, 162.
Worn by Bedouins, 251.

Arms in iron and bronze discovered, 162.

Arrows, heads of, discovered, 162.

Art, Assyrian, of lower period, 369.

Arvad, name of, in inscriptions, 296.

Ascalon, name of, in inscriptions, 122.

Ashayansk, village of, 340.

Ashtoreth, or Astarte, the moon, 291, and note.

Ashur, the supreme god of the Assyrians, 504.

Ashurakhbal. See Sardanapalus.

Ass, a wild, 224.
White, of Bagdad, 379.

Assordanes, name in inscriptions, 365.

Assurnadin, son of Sennacherib, 124.

Assyria, computation of time in, 178.
Greek coin of, 479.
Name of, on Egyptian monuments, 505.
Records of, compared with Jewish, 506.
Nature of government, 507.
Bounds of empire, 509.

Athur or Assur, mound of, 139.

Azeez Agha, a young Sheikh, 393.

B.

Baashiekhah, village of, 112.

Baazani, village of, 111.

Babel, mound of, 389, 397.
Excavations and discoveries in, 408.
Small objects from, 409.

Babylon taken by Sennacherib, 118, 178, 500.
In possession of early Nimroud king, 293.
Name of, in Wan inscriptions, 327.
Approach to ruins of, 389.
Excavations commenced at, 394.
Walls of, not traced, 397.
Dimensions of walls, 398.
General plan of, 400.
Hanging gardens of, 405.
Temple of Belus, 406.
Painted walls at, 412.
Deities of, 413.
Jews of the captivity at, 415.
Building materials of, 420.
History of, 425.
Destruction of, 427.
Commerce of, 428.
Fabrics of, 431.
Inhabitants impaled by Darius, 295, note.
Common origin of inhabitants with Assyrians, 423.
[Pg 544]Cupidity of their priests, 427.
Commerce and roads of, 428.
Corruption of, 432.
Cylinders and gems of, 488.

Badger, the Rev. Mr., his intercourse with the Nestorians, 347, note.

Baghdad, departure for, 373.
Entrance to, 380.
Description of, 381.
Departure from, 465.

Baiandour, Sultan, the tomb of, 31.

Bairam, Mussulman feast of, 330.

Bash-Kalah, castle of, 315.

Bavian, sculptures of, 173.
Inscriptions of, 177, 494.

Baz, district of, 353.

Beavers of the Khabour, 247.

Bedouins, customs of, with regard to captured horses, 184.
On seeing a stranger, 202.
Their women, 217.
Their bread, 239.
Their hospitality, 240.
Their food, ib.
Diseases amongst, 242.
Their Cadis, 253.
Lovemaking of, 262.
Laws of Dakheel, or protection, 263.
Their poetry, 265.
Their sagacity, 269.
Their horses, 272.
Their honesty, 470.

Belad, ancient district of, 99.

Belib, made king of Babylon, 118, 500.

Bells discovered at Nimroud, 151.
Analyses of copper of, 160.

Benjamin of Tudela, his description of Babylon, 402.
Of tomb of Ezekiel, 407.
Of tomb of Ezra, 407, note.
Account of captive Jews, 416.

Beth-Khumri, or Samaria, 494.

Bimerstein, Dr., 323, note.

Birs-Nimroud, the, 401.
Restoration of, 404.

Bishi country conquered by Sennacherib, 119.

Bitlis, town of, 38.

Bitumen pits fired, 168.
Used for cement, 422.

Blood-revenge among Bedouins, 253.

Boats of Afaij, 443.

Borsippa, the Birs Nimroud, 402.

Bowen, the Rev. Mr., 300, 319, 334.

Bowls of bronze from Nimroud, 153.
Earthenware with Hebrew inscriptions, 415.
Date of, 417.

Brant, Mr., 20.

Bread, Arab mode of baking, 239.
Unlawful to see among Afaij, 457.

Bricks, painted, at Khorsabad, 110.
Nimroud, 139.
Babylonian, 141, 405.

Bronzes, discovery of, 151.
Analysis of, 160.
Origin of, 161.

Buffalos of Arabs, 406.

Bukra, village of, 209.

Bulls, winged, transport of represented in bas-reliefs, 91, 99.
At gateway, 102.
In façade of Kouyunjik, 115.
At Arban, 228.

Burchardt, his account of the Bedouins, 199, note, 263.

Bustard, the, 205.
Hawking the, 386.

C.

Calah, ancient name of Nimroud, 294.

Caldrons, discovery, at Nimroud, 151.
Value of, among ancients, 152.
Represented in bas-relief, 588.

Camanus mountain. See Kamana.

Camels of Nimroud, 36.
Abstinence from water, 215, note.
Represented in bas-reliefs, 476.

Canals of Babylonia, 478.

Canning, Sir S., 17.
Protects reformed Armenians, 333.

Captives in bas-reliefs, with feathers in their heads, 139.
With feathered head-dress, 192.

Captivity, Prince of the, 417.
The history of the Jews of the, 416.

Carchemish, 195, 236, 238.

Cavalry, Turkish irregular, 267.

Cavern, a natural, 255.
Artificial, at Wan, 328.

Cedar-wood brought by Assyrians from Lebanon, 297, 521.
Discovered at Nimroud, 297.
Employed in palaces, 527.

Centre Palace, Nimroud, builder of, 497.
State of, 534.

Chaldæans defeated by Sennacherib, 118.

Chariot, an Assyrian, 130.
Royal, 364.

Chark, a hawk used by Bedouins, 387.

Charms, Eastern, 418.

Chellek, village of, 48.

Cherubim of Jews compared with Assyrian figures, 519.

Chinese bottles discovered at Arban, 332.

Chesney, Col., expedition under, 381.

Cock, image of, on Babylonian gems, 432.

Commerce of Babylon, 432.

Coffins of earthenware at Arban, 234.
At Niffer, 449.
Of wood, at Babel, 408.

Colonies, Assyrian, 513.

Colors on bricks, 139.

Columns not found at Babylon, 423.
Used at Nineveh, 526.

Cooper, Mr., 16, 88.
Returns to England, 337.

Copper used in colors, 297.

Convent, a Nestorian, 311.
An Armenian, 339.

Corinthian capital, 194.

Cowley, Lord, protects the Armenians, 333.

Ctesiphon, ruin of, 460.
Tradition connected with, 461.

Cuneiform, progress in deciphering, 492.

Cuth, country of, 432, note.

Cylinders, of Sennacherib, 136.
Babylonian, 432.
Assyrian, 488.
Phœnician, 487.
Persian, 488.
Used as seals, 490.

Cyprus, Assyrian tablet found in, 499.

Cyrus, description of, 357.
Takes Babylon, 426.

D.

Dagon, represented in bas-reliefs, 284, 289.

Dakheel, the law of, among Bedouins, 263.

Dam, building up a, 385.

Dumlamajeh, spring of, 540.

Darius, cylinder of, 489.

Deloul. See Dromedary.

Denarii found at Kouyunjik, 479.

Dereboun, village of, 52.

Dereh Beys, the, 22.

Dervish, a Persian, 32.

Desert, the, described, 204, 205, 250.
[Pg 545]
Divanubar, name of Assyrian king, 496.

Diz, district of, 349.

Dizza, town of, 313.

Dromedary, the, 196, note, 249, 278.

Ducks, in marble, &c. used as weights, 486, and note.

Dudjook tribes, 21.

Dujail, canal of, 465.

Dura, plain of, 376.

E.

Earring of gold from Kouyunjik, 482.
Moulds for casting, ib.

Eclipse, Eastern prejudice concerning, 444, and note.

Effendi, the, a Yezidi chief, 200.

Egypt, seal of king of, 134.
Bronzes of Egyptian character, 154, 156, 157.
Relics of, discovered at Kouyunjik, 482.
Conquered by Essarhaddon, 501.

Egyptians, mode of transport of great stones, 98.
Defeated by Sennacherib, 121.
Antiquities of, at Antioch, 295.
Weights used by, 487.

Elam, ancient name of, 124, 365.
Conquest of, 178, 292, 362, 473.

Elulæus, king of Tyre, mentioned in inscriptions, 121.

Ekron, name in inscriptions, 121.

Embossing on bronze vessels, 153.

Enamel, Assyrian, 165, 297.
Babylonian, 412.

Enoch, book of, 418.

Erzeroom, roads to city of, 17, 20.

Eski Baghdad, ruins of, 377.

Eski Mosul, ruins at, 278.

Essarhaddon, name of, 136.
Cylinder of, 286.
Name at Nebbi Yunus, 484.
His monuments, 501.
His palace at Nimroud, 532.

Essarhaddon’s son, his bas-reliefs, 362.
His name, 365.
His palace at Shereef-Khan, 484.
His monuments, 501.

Eulæus, river, 125.

Eunuch, represented in bas-relief, 364.

Euphrates, river, 27.
Represented in bas-reliefs, 359.
Banks of, deserted, 374.
Navigation of, 381.
State of, ib.
Changes in its course at Babylon, 399.

Evemerus, king of Parthia, sends Babylonians to Media, 427.

Evil Spirit, the, represented in bas-reliefs, 289.

Eyes in marble and enamel, 297.

Ezekiel, tomb of, 407.

Ezra, tomb of 407, note.

F.

Façade of Kouyunjik palace, 115.

Falcons. See Hawking.

Faras, Sheikh of the Tai, 147.

Fawaz, a hawk, 224.

Fergusson, Mr., remarks on Assyrian cornice, 110.
Restoration of Assyrian palaces, 519, 520, 523, 526.

Ferhan, son of Sofuk, 276.

Ferry-boat at Mosul, 300.

Fish-god. See Dagon.

Footstool of bronze discovered, 166.

Ford, the Rev. Mr., 198.

Fountain, an Assyrian, 180.

Funduk, village of, 49.

Futhliyah, village and mound of, 111.

Fynyk, rock sculptures at, 50.

G.

Galleys represented in bas-reliefs, 192.

Gate of Eastern cities, 52.
Of Nineveh, 101.
Of palace, 529.
None discovered at Nimroud, 535.

Gaza, name of, in inscriptions, 122.

Gazelle, hawking the, 387.

Ghazir river, the, 148, 303.

Gherdi, district of, 306.

Gherara, mound of, excavated, 383.

Glass bowls, 164.
Vase of Sargon, 164.
From Babel, 409.
From Kouyunjik, 480.

Gods, the twelve Assyrian, 291.
Table of, 504.

Gold inlaid in bronze, 165.
Laid over figures in temples, 529.

Gomel river, 173.

Greek art, resemblance to Assyrian, 369.
Remains at Kouyunjik, 480.

Greyhound, Persian, 47.

Guagamela, battle of, 173.

Gula Shailu lake, 28.

Guli, village of, 23.

Gunduk, Assyrian bas-reliefs at, 304.

Guzelder, village of, 43.

H.

Hadj, the, or caravan to Mecca, 433.

Hagarenes, conquered by Sennacherib, 119.

Hakkiari, pashalic of, 307.

Hall, great, in palace of Kouyunjik, 360.

Hamki, village of, 40.

Hangings of silk in Babylonian palace, 422.
At Nineveh, 529.

Hanging gardens, 194, 405.

Harisa, an Arab dish, 77.

Hartushi Kurds, 344.

Haroun, mound of, 440.

Hatem Tai, anecdote of, 146, note.

Hawking, 223, 248.
Falcons, 277.
Training, 387.

Hazael, king of Syria, mentioned in inscriptions, 494.

Hebar. See Khabour.

Hercules, the Assyrian, 114, 179, 482, 484.

Herki, tribe of, 183.

Hermus, river, mentioned in inscriptions, 294.

Hezekiah, name of, in inscriptions, 121.
Wars of Sennacherib with, 122.

Hillah, arrival at, 391.
Governor of, 393.
Built of Babylonian bricks, 412.

Hincks, the Rev. Dr., translations of inscriptions, 99, 117, 177, 291.
Discovery of name of Sennacherib, 116.
[Pg 546]Of Nebuchadnezzar, 116, note.
Of syllabarium, 286.
Discoveries, 492.
On Wan inscriptions, 327, 329.
Translation of inscription of Nebuchadnezzar, 422.

Hindiyah canal and marshes, 383, 401.

Hittites, the, name of Syrians, 120.
Tribute of, 293.
Name of, on Egyptian monuments, 505.

Horses, trappings of, 151.
Pedigrees of Bedouin, 184.
Bedouin, 215.
Turkish, 267.
Arab breeds, 272.
Represented in bas-reliefs, 282.
Clothed in armour, 363.

Howar, Sheikh of the Tai, 144, 183.

Hymer, the ruins of, 436.

I. J.

Idols of Assyrians carried away, 179.
Taken by Assyrians, 191, 474.

Jehesh, tribe of, 200.

Jehu, name of, on obelisk, 493.

Jelu, mountains of, 350.
Valley of, 350.
Ancient church in, 352.
Bishop of, 352.

Jerraiyah, mound of, 83.

Jews represented in bas-reliefs, 131, 367.
Dress of, 131.
Captives on the Hebar, 235, 359.
Families in Kurdistan, 308.
Nomades, 317.
Pilgrimage to Ezekiel’s tomb, 407.
Relics of, from Babylon, 414.
Their history after the captivity, 415.
Ancient political state of, compared with Assyria, 509.

Jiulamerik, town of, 346.

Illibi, a country conquered by Sennacherib, 120.

Impalement, 295.

India, overland road to, 375.
Intercourse of Babylonians with, 429.
Dogs of, brought to Babylon, 430.

Inclined way discovered, 370.

Inclosures of Nimroud and Kouyunjik, 514, 534.

Inlaying, art of, known to Assyrians, 164.

Inscriptions deciphered, 100.
Progress made in, 492.

Jones, Capt. Conduct towards Arabs, 455.

Jonah, tomb of, 482.
Excavations in mound of, 483.
His preaching, 507.

Jovian, retreat of, 377.

Iron, bronze cast over, 163.
Objects discovered in, 297, 482.

Judi mountain, ark rested on, 501.
Tablet at foot of, ib.

Jumjuma. See Amran.

Ivory, objects in, discovered, 297.

K.

Kadesia, site of battle, 378.

Kalah-Sherghat, excavations at, 471.

Kamana, mountain of, mentioned in inscriptions, 296.

Kara-chok, hills of, 185.

Karagol, village of, 26.

Kar-Duniyas, a city of Chaldæa, 118, 178, 295.

Karboul Sheikh, 440.

Karnaineh Khan, 468.

Karnessa ou Daoleh mountain, 345.

Kasr, the, of Rich, 411. See Mujelibé.

Kathimain, tombs of, 379, 465.

Keshaf, mound of, 183.

Khabour river, 52, 56.
Journey to, 195.
Arrival at, 223.
Discoveries on, 234.
Ancient condition of country on, 235.
Course of, 256.
Sources of, 259.

Khan-i-resh, village of, 308.

Khan Mahmoud, a Kurdish chief, 323, 340.

Kharareh, subdued by Sennacherib, 119.

Kharkhar, a country conquered by Sennacherib, 120.

Khatouniyah, lake of, 270.

Khauser, the river, 71, 101, 177.

Khazana Kapousi, tablet at Wan, 326.

Khelath. See Akhlat.

Kherimmi conquered by Sennacherib, 120.

Khoraif, a Bedouin, 197.

Khorkhor, name of gardens at Wan, 326.

Khorsabad, discoveries at, 109.
Builder of, 126.
Inclosure of, 449.

Kiamil Pasha, 71.

Kifil, tomb of Ezekiel, 407.

King, bas-relief of, at Nimroud, 290.
On bas-relief, 358.
Table of names, 502.

Kirikor, an Armenian monk, 338.

Kochers, or nomades, 184, 307.

Kormawor, inscription in church of, 335.

Kosh-ab, castle of, 317.

Kosli, village of, 25.

Koukab, volcanic hill of, 226, 255, 268.

Kouyunjik, discoveries at, 61, 69, 99, 118, &c.
General description of, 70.
Excavations renewed in, 85, 88.
Grand entrance discovered, 114.
Descending passage, 280.
Residence at, 301.
Extent of ruins excavated, 476.
Small objects from, 478, 481, 482.
Restoration of palace, 521, 527.
Inclosure and defences, 535.

Kurdistan, journey into, 305.
Dialects of, 309.
Chiefs of, 391.

Kurds, chief of, 49, 309.
Character of, 307.
Fanaticism, 310.

L.

Lachish, siege of, represented, 128.
Name of, on bas-reliefs, 130, 131, note.

Lak, mounds of, 109.

Lead found in ruins, 297.

Lebanon, cedar wood from, 101, 297.
Conquered by Sardanapalus, 299.

Ledjmiyat, encampment at, 248.

Lens of rock crystal, 164.

Levers used by Assyrians, 98.

Limestone in palace of Kouyunjik, 368.

Lions brought as tribute, 115.
Statue of at Arban, 231.
Found on the Khabour, 245.
Colossal statues, at Nimroud, 298.
Tame, at Hillah, 393.
Found in marshes of Babylonia, 456.
Mode of capturing, 456.
Bronze weights, 486, and note.

Lions (winged), removal of, 137, 167.
Sent to Baghdad, 170.
Colossal, discovered at Nimroud, 288.

Lion (headed) figure, 370.

Locusts represented in bas-reliefs, 281.

Loftus, Mr., discoveries at Wurka, 437.
[Pg 547]

M.

Mahmoudiyah valley and town of, 316.

Maidan Arabs, 456.

Makhoul hills, 468.

Makloub hills, 302.

Malan, Rev. Mr., 300.

Mar Shamoun, 352.

Mansouriyah, village of, 51.

Median Wall, 378, 467.

Marduk, a god of the Babylonians, 422.

Mecca, return of caravan from, 433.

Marshes represented in bas-reliefs, 475.
Of the Afaij, 443.
Of Southern Mesopotamia, 455.

Mar Shamoun, 346.

Mediterranean Sea mentioned in inscriptions, 296.

Meher-Kapousi, inscription of, 327.

Mehemet, Pasha of Wan, 320.

Melek Beniamen, 350.

Melek Taous of Yezidis, 46.

Menahem, discovery of name, 497.

Merodach Baladin, his name in inscriptions, 117, 124, 178.
War against, described by Eusebius, 500.

Meroe. See Æthiopia.

Mesopotamia, ancient state of, 204, 296, 513.
Journey into Southern, 437.
Present state of, 454.

Metallurgy of Assyrians, 161.

Mirage, remarkable effect of, 461.

Mijwell, a Bedouin chief, 253.

Mirkan, village of, 208.

Milli Kurds, 257, 8.

Minuas, name of Armenian king, 327, 336.

Mirza Agha, a Yezidi chief, 44.

Mohammed Emin, Sheikh, 196, 227.
His tents, 223, 237, 276.

Mokhamour, ruins of, 185.

Monoliths at Nimroud, 291, 298.

Moses of Chorene, description of Wan, 322.

Mosul, arrival at, 54.

Motassem Billah, palace of, at Samarrah, 377.

Mousa Bey, a Kurdish chief, 309.

Moulds for earrings discovered, 482.

Mound, building represented, 96.

Moxoene. See Mukus.

Montefik Arabs, 454.

Mujelibé, mound of, 390.
Discoveries in, 411.
Painted walls and basalt lion, 412.
Tree on, 413.

Mukus, pass into, 341.
District of, ib.

Musseiyib, village of, 385.

N.

Nabathæans, conquered by Sennacherib, 119.

Naghit, cities of, 124.

Nahiri. See Mesopotamia.

Naharwan, canal, 377.

Nahr-el-Kelb, tablets of Sennacherib at, 176.

Nahum, tomb of, 483, note.

Narek, village and church of, 340.

Namet Agha, chief of Zibari, 306.

Names, Assyrian royal, 125.

Nasr, Sheikh, 75.

Navkur, plain of, 305.

Nazi, a Yezidi chief, 47.

Nazik, lake of, 28.

Nebbi Unus. See Jonah.

Nebuchadnezzar, name of, 116, note.
His golden image at Dura, 376.
Bricks and stones bearing his name, 402, 410.
Rebuilt Babylon, 425.
Tablet of, 424.

Nedjd, road to, 279.
Present state of, 434.

Negoub, tablet from tunnel of, 497.

Nergal, an idol, 432.

Nerib, a city taken by Assyrians, 293.

Nestorian villages near Akra, 304.
Families in Gherdi, 309.
Bishop of Shemisden, 311.
Patriarch, 346.
Turkish oppression, 348.
A bishop, 352.
A church, ib.

Nimroud, return to, 85.
Discoveries at, 104.
Flood at, 287.
Small temples at, 288, 297.
Account of building of north-west palace in inscriptions, 293.
Restoration of platform, 530.

Niebuhr, remarks on Greek art, 369.

Niffer, first view of, 442.
Description of, 442.
Excavations at, 443.
Coffins discovered, 450.

Nimroud Dagh mountains, 36.

Nineveh, Roman coins of, 479.
Its founder, according to Rawlinson, 495.
Name of, on Egyptian monuments, 505.
Extent of, 513, 515.
Described by old English travellers, 539.

Ninos, castle of, on site of Nineveh, 478.

Noah, a temple to, 485, note.

Nur Ullah Bey, murderer of Schulz, 314.

Nuvaki, ancient name of Susiana or Elam, 292, 365.

O.

Oannes. See Dagon.

Obelisk, from Nimroud, by whom raised, 493.
Name of Jehu on, ib.

Omri, name of, on inscriptions, 493.

Ooroomiyah, American schools at, 334.

Ormuzd, form of, 490.

Orontes, river mentioned in inscriptions, 295.

Oxus river, supposed to be mentioned in inscriptions, 498.

P.

Palace, at Nimroud built, 293.
Of Nebuchadnezzar, 422.
Assyrian mode of lighting, 524.
More than one story, 527.
Internal decorations, 528.

Parasang, its length, 55.

Patriarch, of Akhtamar, 338.
Bodies of Chaldæan patriarchs discovered, 233.

Pearls brought to Babylon, 430.

Pedestals discovered at Kouyunjik, 477.

Persia, frontiers of, 314.
Costume of ancient kings of, 358, 363.
A prince of, 384.
Conquest of Babylon, 426.
Relics of, at Kouyunjik, 485.

Persian Gulf navigated by Babylonians, 429.
Cylinders, 489.
Houses compared with Assyrian, 525.

[Pg 548]Phœnician seals, 138.
Letters on bronze, 159.
Workers in metal, 161.
Coast conquered by Assyrians, 192.
Tribute to Assyrian king, 295.
Trade with Babylon, 430.
Cylinders, 489.

Pine-apple in bas-reliefs, 281.

Plaster on walls of palaces, 421, 530.

Plough, Armenian, 314.

Poetry of Bedouins, 266.

Poole, Mr. Stuart, note on denarii, 479.

Pottery from Babylon, 409.
From Kouyunjik, 480.

Priest, Assyrian, sacrificing, 191.

Protestant religion, extension of, in Turkey, 331.

Propylæum at Khorsabad, 109.

Pul, monuments of, 498.

Pyramid at Nimroud, excavations in, 104.

Q.

Quarries of alabaster, 112.

Quintus Curtius, description of Persian king, 358.

R.

Rafts of skins, 194, 373.

Rassam, Mr. Hormuzd, 88.

Rathaiyah, the wife of Suttum, 219.

Rawlinson, Col., 87.
Sculptures purchased by, 110.
Discovery of annals of Sennacherib, 117;
of name of father of Sargon, 291.
Theory as to Babylon, 407.
Discoveries, 492, etc.

Records, chamber of, 286.
Of early Nimroud king, 298.
Nature of Assyrian, 511.

Rediff, meaning of term, 236.

Redwan, town of, 44.

Reshid Pasha, 20.

Rich, Mr., description of Babylon, 396, note.
Sketch of the Birs Nimroud, 404.
Discoveries at Babel, 408.

Rishwan, an Arab Sheikh, 214.

Roads, Turkish, 18.
Babylonian, 429.

Roman relics discovered at Kouyunjik, 479.

Ross, Dr., 380.

S.

Sabaco, seal of, 134.

Sabæan letters and dialect on Babylonian bowls, 417.

Sahiman, brother of Suttum, 215, 464.

Saladin, birthplace of, 374.

Samarrah, town of, 377.

Samaria, name in inscriptions, 498.

Sand hills, moving, 439.

Sandwith, Dr., 16, 337.

Sardanapalus, or Ashurakhbal, his tomb, 106.
Name read by Col. Rawlinson, 291.
His records, 290.
Builds a city on the Euphrates, 294.
Campaigns of, 294.
Small statue of, 299.
His records, 492, 494.

Sargon, name of, 127, and note.
Name on glass vase, 164.
His cotemporary at Wan, 329.
Monuments of, 498.

Sassanian ruins, 377.

Saulcy, M. de, investigations of, 492.

Saw of iron from Nimroud, 163.

Scarabs on bronzes, 164.
Egyptian, discovered at Arban, 233.
At Nineveh, 482.

Sceptre of ivory found at Nimroud, 164.

Schools, Armenian, at Wan, 331.
In Turkey, 332.

Schulz murdered, 314.
His account of Wan, 322.

Seals, Assyrian, discovered, 132.
Phœnician and Egyptian, 132.
Of king of Egypt, 134.
Importance of, in East, 490, note.

Seleucia, ruins of, 461.

Seleucus founded Seleucia, 427.

Seleucidæ, remains of period of, at Kouyunjik, 480.

Semiramis founded Wan, 321.

Sennacherib superintending transport of colossi, 95.
His annals discovered, 117.
Name of, 126.
His Signet, 135.
His sculptures at Bavian, 173.
His buildings at Shomamok, 186.
Name at Shereef-Khan, 484.
Date of accession, 494.
His monuments, 528.

Sert, river of, 38.

Seven Sleepers, the cave of, 173.

Shabbak, sect of, 181.

Shahan Bey, 22.

Shaheen, a falcon, 386.

Shammar, Gebel, present state of, 434.

Shalmaneser, name of, 127, and note.
Name on Monuments, 499.

Shat-el-Arab. See Euphrates.

Shell, engraved, from Wurka, 453.

Shedadi, mound of, 247.

Sheikh-Adi, 72.
Ceremonies at, 74.

Sheikh Tahar, 310.

Shepherds’ Gate, tradition of, at Wan, 327.

Shereef-Khan, excavations at, 484.

Sharutinian, the, 295.
The Shairetana of the Egyptians, ib. note.

Shomamok, plain of, 146.
Excavations in, 186.
The Kasr, 187.
The Gla, 188.

Shushan, city of, represented, 366.
Name of, in inscriptions, 367.

Sidon, name of, in inscriptions, 120, 296.
Mariners of, employed by Sennacherib, 124.
Workers in metal of, 161.

Singara, coin of, 207.
See Sinjar.

Suidones, 431.

Sinjar, the, 205, 207, 269.

Skins used for rafts, and to cross rivers, 373.

Snake-charmer, a, 212.

Sockets of gates of palace, 137.

Solomon, bronze vessels of, 161.
Jewish kingdom under, 510.
His buildings compared with Assyrian, 517.
Form of his house, 518.

Statue, an entire, discovered, 299.

Steamer, English, on Tigris, 381.

Stewart, Mr., Babylonian bowls from his collection, 414.

Storms, 201, 245, 301.

Studs, in mother of pearl and ivory, 151.

Subhan mountain, 316.

Suleiman Agha, visit to, 252, 257.

Summer, in Assyria, 301.

Summaichah, village of, 465.

Susiana, conquest of, 124.
Rivers of, 365.
See Elam.
[Pg 549]
Susubira, king of Chaldæa, 124, 475.

Suttum, a Bedouin Sheikh, 196, 198, 202.
His mare, 213.
His encampment, 215.
Rathaiyah, his wife, 219.
Adla, his wife, 244.
His hawk, 249.
His honesty, 470.
His death, ib. note.

Syria, conquered by Sennacherib, 120.

Syriac characters on Babylonian bowl, 415.

T.

Tablets, set up by Sennacherib, 120.
At Bavian, 174.
At Nahr-el-Kelb, 176, note.
Of Assyrian Kings, 290.
At Wan, 322.
From Wurka, 453.

Tai, tribe of, attack on Nimroud, 142.
Visit to, 144.

Talent, the Babylonian, 486, and note.

Talmud, the, 416.

Tekrit, town of, 378, 468.

Tel Ermah, mound, 202.

Tel Kef, village of, 54.

Temple of Jerusalem, compared with Assyrian palaces, 518.

Tent, an Arab, 144, 216.

Thief, a Bedouin, 246.
Tracing, 269.

Throne, a, 128.
Discovery of, 165.

Tiglath Pileser, monuments of, 498.
His annals said to be discovered, 498.

Tigris, the river, 47, 200.
Changes in course of, 71, note.
Sources of Eastern branch, 344.
Head waters of, 344.
Description of banks of, 374.
Navigation of, 378.

Timour Mirza, 384.

Tin, mixed with bronze, 160.

Tkhoma, district of, 354.

Tokkari, conquered by Sennacherib, 124, 193.

Tombs, in the rock, 31.
At Bavian, 175.
Mussulman, 967.
At Wan, 322, 325.
At Kouyunjik, 480.

Tortures, represented, 367.

Tower at Nimroud discovered, 104.
Tomb in, 106.

Treasure chamber discovered, 150.

Trebizond, 19.

Tripod, stands of bronze, 151.

Trumpet speaking in bas-reliefs, 94.

Tulip, an Assyrian ornament, 155.

Turkey, reforms in, 22.
State of frontiers, 317.

Turks, destructive policy of, 145, 374, 381, 454.

Turtle, a, taken in the Khabour, 245.

Tyre, mariners of, employed by Sennacherib, 124.
Name of, in inscriptions, 296.

U. V.

Vault at Nimroud, 138.

Venus, the Assyrian, images of, 388.

Verhan-Shehr, 260.

Umjerjeh, encampment at, 260.

Volcano. See Koukab.

W.

Wali Bey, a Turcoman chief, 147.

Walls represented, 193.
Of Kouyunjik, 539.

Walpole, Hon. F., 300.

Wan, first view of, 29, 316.
Jewish families taken there by Tigranes, 316.
Arrival at, 319.
History of, 322.
Inscriptions at, 325.
List of kings from monuments of, 327.
Language of inscriptions of, 329.

Weights, Assyrian, discovered at Nimroud, 486.

Well, a, at Kouyunjik, 66.
At Nimroud, 150.

Wine-strainer of bronze, 152.

Women, Arab, their dress, 217.
Of the Milli tribe, 260.
Singing, represented in bas-reliefs, 367.

Wothaiyah, 435.

Wurka, coffins discovered at, 451.

X.

Xenophon, retreat of the Ten Thousand, remarks on, 47, 50, 55, note, 188.
Description of Cyrus, 357.

Xerxes, inscription of, at Wan, 329.
Destroyed the temples of Babylon, 420.

Y.

Yavan, the Greek islands, 120.
Mariners of, employed by Sennacherib, 124.

Yedi Klissia, convent of, 335.
Cuneiform inscriptions at, 336.

Yusuf Cawal, 17, 40, 171.

Yezidis, state of, 17.
Reception by, 40, 42.
Bronze bird of, 46.
A meeting with, 53.
Sacred ceremonies of, 74.
A book of the, 80.
Customs of, 81.
A marriage, 171.
Of the Sinjar, 208.
Their houses, 209.
Their dress, 210.
On Persian frontiers, 317.

Z.

Zab river, 146, 183, 209, 345.

Zerga, plain of, 200.

Zibari Kurds, 307.
Chiefs of, 308.

Zibbliyah, ruin of, 459.

Zidkaha, king of Sidon, 121.

Zobeide, tomb of, 379.
Tribe of, 390.

[admin]

Notes:

[1] The most unobservant and hasty traveller in Turkey would soon become acquainted with this fact, could he read the modest and pious inscription, carved in relief on a small marble tablet of the purest white, adorning almost every half-ruined fountain at which he stops to refresh himself by the wayside.

[2] Anabasis, lib. iv. c. 5.

[3] The small building which sometimes covers a Mohammedan tomb is so called.

[4] Shah Armen, i. e., King of Armenia, was a title assumed by a dynasty, reigning at Akhlat, founded by Sokman Kothby, a slave of the Seljuk Prince, Kothbedin Ismail, who established an independent principality at Akhlat in a. d. 1100, which lasted eighty years.

[5] The lowest order of the Yezidi priesthood.

[6] A large drum beaten at both ends, and a kind of oboe or pipe.

[7] Nineveh and its Remains, vol. i. p. 245.

[8] Anab. book iv. c. 3.

[9] It was at the foot of this steep descent that Xenophon was compelled to turn off, as caravans still are, from the river, and to brave the difficulties of a mountain pass, defended by the warlike Carduchi or Kurds.

[10] The custom of assembling and transacting business in the gate is continually referred to in the Bible. See 2 Sam. xix. 8., where king David is represented as sitting in the gate; comp. 2 Chron. xviii. 9., and Dan. ii. 49. The gates of Jewish houses were probably similar to that described in the text. Such entrances are also found in Persia. Frequently in the gates of cities, as at Mosul, these recesses are used as shops for the sale of wheat and barley, bread and grocery. Elisha prophesies that a measure of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria. 2 Kings, vii. 1. and 18.

[11] Mr. Ainsworth would take the Greeks up to the modern ferry, where there could never have been a ford, and which would have been some miles out of their route. (Travels in the Track of the Ten Thousand.)

[12] In Chapter X. will be found some farther remarks on this subject.

[13] He probably took the more difficult road over the pass, and not that round the spur, in order to cross the Khabour by a bridge or ferry. It must be remembered that it was winter, and that the rivers were consequently swollen.

[14] This halt, after so short a day’s march, may have been occasioned by the Hazel. The distance corresponds with sufficient accuracy.

[15] It is a matter of surprise that Cyrus should have chosen the very middle of summer for his expedition into Babylonia, and still more wonderful that the Greeks, unused to the intense heats of Mesopotamia, and encumbered with their heavy arms and armour, should have been able to brave the climate. No Turkish or Persian commander would in these days venture to undertake a campaign against the Arabs in this season of the year; for, besides the heat, the want of water would be almost an insurmountable obstacle. During their retreat, the Greeks had to encounter all the rigor of an Armenian winter; so that, during the few months they were under arms, they went through the most trying extremes of climate. The expedition of Alexander was also undertaken in the middle of summer. It must, however, be borne in mind, that Mesopotamia was probably then thickly peopled and well cultivated, and that canals and wells of water must have abounded.

[16] Had he seen this large inland sea, he would probably have mentioned it.

[17] In no way, however, would a direct line of march between these two rivers, nor between any other two rivers which can possibly answer to his description, tally with the distances given by Xenophon.

[18] See Nineveh and its Remains, vol. ii. p. 112.

[19] Nineveh and its Remains, vol. ii. p. 107.

[20] The long lines of variously armed troops, described in my former work (vol. ii. p. 107), as covering several slabs from top to bottom, form the army of the king marching to this campaign.

[21] It is still the custom in Persia, and was so until lately in Turkey, for soldiers to bring the heads of the slain to their officers after a battle, and to claim a small pecuniary reward.

[22] For an account of these mounds represented in the Assyrian sculptures, and the manner in which they illustrate various passages in Scripture see my Nineveh and its Remains, vol ii. p. 281 and note.

[23] Such is the costume of the women in ships in a bas-relief discovered during my former researches (see Nineveh and its Remains, vol. ii. p. 116), and which, I have conjectured, may represent the capture of Tyre and Sidon.

[24] See Nineveh and its Remains, vol. i. p. 131, for a description of the discoveries previously made in this mound.

[25] “The little sheep.” Kouyunjik is, however, generally known to the Arabs by the name of Armousheeyah.

[26] The river Tigris flows in this part of its course, and until it reaches Saimarrah, on the confines of Babylonia, through a valley varying from one to two miles in width, bounded on both sides by low limestone and conglomerate hills. Its bed has been undergoing a continual and regular change. When it reaches the hills on one side, it is thrown back by this barrier, and creeps gradually to the opposite side, leaving a rich alluvial soil quickly covered with jungle. This process it has been repeating, backwards and forwards, for countless ages, and will continue to repeat as long as it drains the great highlands of Armenia. At Nimroud it is now gradually returning to the base of the mound, which it deserted some three thousand years ago; but centuries must elapse before it can work its way that far.

[27] Nineveh and its Remains, vol. i. ch. ix.

[28] A mixture of bruised wheat, chopped meat, milk and curds, boiled into a thick pulpy mass, over which melted butter is poured. It is a favorite dish in Syria and Mesopotamia, and is cooked by families on great festivals, or on certain days of the year, in consequence of vows made during sickness or in travel.

[29] For a translation of this singular poem, see the larger work, of which the present volume is an abridgment.

[30] This reminds me of the Bedouins, who, when they come into a town in a party, send one of their number to the mosque to pray for his companions as well as himself.

[31] At Mosul, a bullock, very small certainly when compared with our high-fed cattle, is sold for forty or fifty piastres, 8s. or 10s.; a fat sheep for about 4s.; a lamb for 2s. or 2s. 6d. Other articles of food are proportionably cheap. The camel-load of barley was selling at my departure for ten or twelve piastres (2s. or 2s. 6d.). A common horse is worth from 3l. to 5l.; a donkey about 10s.; a camel about the same as a horse.

[32] See p. 64.

[33] It will be borne in mind that it was necessary to carry tunnels round the chambers, and along the walls, leaving the centre buried in earth and rubbish, a very laborious and tedious operation with no more means at command than those afforded by the country.

[34] All these entrances were formed in the same way as that in the south-eastern side, described p. 66., namely, by a pair of human-headed bulls, flanked on each side by a winged giant, and two smaller figures one above the other.

[35] P. 67.

[36] P. 66. I assume the building to be due north and south, although it is not so. It faces nearly north-east and south-west.

[37] In my former work I had stated that all the Assyrian sculptures were carved in their places against the walls of the building.

[38] I have described the mode of irrigation now generally employed by the Mesopotamian Arabs, in my “Nineveh and its Remains,” vol. ii. p. 321.

[39] It may be remarked, that precisely the same framework was used for moving the great sculptures in the British Museum.

[40] See woodcut, p. 92.

[41] Although in these bas-reliefs, as in other Assyrian sculptures, no regard is paid to perspective, the proportions are very well kept.

[42] 1 Kings, vi. 23. I shall hereafter compare the edifices built by Solomon with the Assyrian palaces, and point out the remarkable illustrations of the Jewish temple afforded by the latter.

[43] A peculiar deity is mentioned who probably presided over the earth, but his name is as yet unknown; it is here denoted by a monogram.

[44] Nahum, iii. 13.

[45] Anab. lib. iii. c. 4.

[46] Col. Rawlinson remarks in his memoir on the “Outlines of Assyrian History” (published by the Royal Asiatic Society in 1842), that “the great pyramid at Nimroud was erected by the son of the builder of the north-west palace;” and as the Greeks name that monument the tomb of Sardanapalus, he believes that “a shaft sunk in the centre of the mound, and carried down to the foundations, would lay bare the original sepulchre. The difficulties (he adds) of such an operation have hitherto prevented its execution, but the idea is not altogether abandoned.” He appears thus, curiously enough, to be ignorant of the excavations in that ruin described in the text, although he had just visited Nimroud. The only likely place not yet examined would be beneath the very foundations.

[47] Palaces of Nineveh and Persepolis restored, p. 223.

[48] Nineveh and its Remains, vol. ii.—plan of Kouyunjik.

[49] I had also shown the probability that the palace of Khorsabad owed its erection to a monarch of this dynasty, in a series of letters published in the Malta Times, as far back as 1843.

[50] Vol. xxii. p. 34. I take this opportunity of attributing to their proper source the discoveries of the names of Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon, inadvertently assigned to others in my “Nineveh and its Remains.” We owe these, with many others of scarcely less importance, to the ingenuity and learning of Dr. Hincks. (Literary Gazette, June 27, 1846.)

[51] Isaiah, xxxix. 1, and 2 Kings, xx. 12, where the name is written Berodach.

[52] Col. Rawlinson reads Bel-adon. This Belib is the Belibus of Ptolemy’s Canon. The mention of his name led Dr. Hincks to determine the accession of Sennacherib to be in 703 b. c.

[53] Col. Rawlinson gives 11,180 head of cattle, 5230 camels, 1,020,100 sheep, and 800,300 goats. He has also pointed out that both Abydenus and Polyhistor mention this campaign against Babylon.

[54] Joseph. 1. ix. c. 14., and see Nineveh and its Remains, vol. ii. p. 306, where I had long before the deciphering of the inscriptions endeavoured to point out the representation of this event, in some bas-reliefs at Kouyunjik.

[55] Isaiah, xxxvii. 2 Kings, xix. 9.

[56] 2 Kings, xviii. 13.; and compare Isaiah, xxxvi. 1.

[57] “And the king of Assyria appointed unto Hezekiah, king of Judah, 300 talents of silver and 30 talents of gold.” (2 Kings, xviii. 14.)

[58] Shalmaneser, who made war against Hosea, and who is generally supposed to have carried away the ten tribes from Samaria, although the sacred historian does not distinctly say so (2 Kings, xvii.), is identified by general consent with Sargon, who sent his general against Ashdod (Isaiah, xx.).

[59] Chap. VIII.

[60] Xenophon Cyrop. lvii. c. 3. Quintus Curtius, liii. c. 3.

[61] Botta’s Monumens de Ninive, Plate 146.

[62] 2 Kings, xviii. 14. Isaiah xxxvi. 2. From 2 Kings, xix. 8., and Isaiah, xxxvii. 8., we may infer that the city soon yielded.

[63] Isaiah, iii. 18—24. &c. (See translation by the Rev. J. Jones.) This description of the various articles of dress worn by the Jewish women is exceedingly interesting. Most of the ornaments enumerated, probably indeed the whole of them, if we were acquainted with the exact meaning of the Hebrew words, are still to be traced in the costumes of Eastern women inhabiting the same country. Many appear to be mentioned in the Assyrian inscriptions amongst objects of tribute and of spoil brought to the king. See also Ezekiel xvi. 10—14. for an account of the dress of the Jewish women.

[64] M. Botta also found, at Khorsabad, the ashes of string in lumps of clay impressed with a seal, without being aware of their origin.

[65] The impressions of the signets of the Egyptian and Assyrian kings, besides a large collection of seals found in Kouyunjik, are now in the British Museum.

[66] The sockets, which are now in the British Museum, weigh 6 lb. 3¾ oz.; the diameter of the ring is about five inches. The hinges and frames of the brass gates at Babylon were also of brass (Herod. i. 178).

[67] “Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh.” (Gen. x. 11.)

[68] On Egyptian monuments captives are portrayed with similar feathers attached to their heads; but they appear to be of a negro race, whilst those on the Nimroud bricks bear no traces of negro color or physiognomy. (Wilkinson’s Ancient Egyptians, vol. 1. plate, p. 385.)

[69] That is, as will be hereafter shown, to Pul, or Tiglath Pileser.

[70] The canvass of such tents is divided into strips, which, packed separately on the camels during a march, are easily united again by coarse thread, or by small wooden pins.

[71] The reader may remember a well-known anecdote of this celebrated Sheikh, still current in the desert. He was the owner of a matchless mare whose fame had even reached the Greek Emperor. Ambassadors were sent from Constantinople to ask the animal of the chief, and to offer any amount of gold in return. When they announced, after dining, the object of their embassy, it was found, that the tribe suffering from a grievous famine, and having nothing to offer to their guests, the generous Hatem had slain his own priceless mare to entertain them.

[72] It was parallel to, and to the south of, the chamber marked A A, in the plan of the north-west palace. (Nineveh and its Remains, vol. i. Plan III.)

[73] Few wells in the plains bordering on the Tigris yield sweet water.

[74] The caldrons contained about eighty bells. The largest are 3¼ inches high, and 2¼ inches in diameter, the smallest 1¾ inch high, and 1¼ inch in diameter. With the rest of the relics they are now in the British Museum.

[75] 2 Chron. iv. 2. The dimensions, however, of this vessel were far greater. It is singular that in some of the bas-reliefs large metal caldrons supported on brazen oxen are represented.

[76] They were dedicated to the gods in temples. Colœus dedicated a large vessel of brass, adorned with griffins, to Heré. Herod. iv. 152.

[77] The Egyptian goddess Athor is represented with similar ears and hair.

[78] 1 Kings, vii. 13, 14. 2 Chron. iv.

[79] 2 Kings, xxiv. 14, 16. Jeremiah xxiv. 1.; xxix. 2.

[80] In ancient history, embossed or inlaid goblets are continually mentioned amongst the offerings to celebrated shrines. Gyges dedicated goblets, Alyattes, a silver cup, and an inlaid iron saucer (the art of inlaying having been invented, according to Herodotus, by Glaucus), and Crœsus similar vessels, in the temple of Delphi. (Herod. i. 14. and 25. Pausanias, l, x.) They were also given as acceptable presents to kings and distinguished men, as we see in 2 Sam. viii. 10. and 3 Chron. ix. 23, 24. The Lacedæmonians prepared for Crœsus a brazen vessel ornamented with forms of animals round the rim (Herod. i. 70.), like some of the bowls described in the text. The embossings on the Nimroud bronzes may furnish us with a very just idea of the figures and ornaments of the celebrated shield of Achilles, which were probably much the same in treatment and execution.

[81] Such may have been “the bosses of the bucklers” mentioned in Job, xv. 26.

[82] 1 Kings, x. 16, 17.; xiv. 25, 26.

[83] Jer. li. 11. Ezek. xxi. 21., and compare Isaiah, xlix. 2., where a polished shaft is mentioned.

[84] Nineveh and its Remains, vol. ii. p. 319.

[85] Ezek. xxvii. 15. Ivory was amongst the objects brought to Solomon by the navy of Tharshish (1 Kings x. 22).

[86] The height of the glass vase is 3¼ inches; of the alabaster, 7 inches.

[87] See p. 129.

[88] 1 Kings, x. 18. This is a highly interesting illustration of the work in Solomon’s palaces. The earliest use of metal amongst the Greeks appears also to have been as a casing to wooden objects.

[89] Herod, i. 14.

[90] Both sculptures have, however, been completely restored in the British Museum.

[91] No tradition is more generally current in the East than the well known story of the Seven Sleepers and their Dog. There is scarcely a district without the original cave in which the youths were concealed during their miraculous slumber.

[92] They were first visited by the late M. Rouet, French consul at Mosul. In my Nineveh and its Remains, vol. ii. p. 114 note, will be found a short description of the sculptures by my friend Mr. Ross. These are the rock-tablets which have been recently described in the French papers, as a new discovery by M. Place, and as containing a series of portraits of the Assyrian kings!

[93] These tombs are not of the Assyrian epoch. The Jews, as well as other nations of antiquity, were, however, accustomed to make such rock-chambers for their dead, as we learn from Isaiah, xxii. 16. “What hast thou here? and whom hast thou here, that thou hast hewed thee out a sepulchre here, as he that heweth him out a sepulchre on high, and that graveth an habitation for himself in a rock?”

[94] I examined the remarkable tablets at the Nahr-el-Kelb, on my return to Europe in 1851. They were sculptured, as I stated in my first work, by Sennacherib, the king of the Bavian monuments.

[95] See p. 117.

[96] Nineveh and its Remains, vol. ii. chap. 12.

[97] The names of the principal are Tel-el-Barour, Abbas, Kadreeyah, Abd-ul-Azeez, Baghurtha, Elias Tuppeh, Tarkheena, and Doghan.

[98] Anab. b. ii. c. 4.

[99] See p. 56.

[100] Isaiah, xxxvi. 18, 19.

[101] Nineveh and its Remains, vol. ii. p. 104.

[102] See p. 124.

[103] 2 Kings, xviii. 11. Ezek. i. 2.

[104] 2 Chron. xxxv. 20.

[105] I use the word “dromedary” for a swift riding camel, the Deloul of the Arabs, and Hejin of the Turks: it is so applied generally, although incorrectly, by Europeans in the East.

[106] Burckhardt, the English traveller best acquainted with the Bedouin character, and admirably correct in describing it, makes the following remarks: “With all their faults, the Bedouins are one of the noblest nations with which I ever had an opportunity of becoming acquainted.... The sociable character of a Bedouin, when there is no question of profit or interest, may be described as truly amiable. His cheerfulness, wit, softness of temper, good nature and sagacity, which enable him to make shrewd remarks on all subjects, render him a pleasing, and often a valuable companion. His equality of temper is never ruffled by fatigue or suffering.” (Notes on the Bedouins, pp. 203, 208.) Unfortunately, since Burckhardt’s time, closer intercourse with the Turks and with Europeans, has much tended to destroy many good features in the Arab character.

[107] See p. 187.

[108] The following are the names of the principal mounds seen during this day’s march: Ermah, Shibbit, Duroge, Addiyah, Abou-Kubbah, and Kharala, each name being preceded by the Arabic word Tel, i. e. mound. They are laid down in the map accompanying this volume, their positions having been fixed by careful bearings, and in some instances by the sextant.

[109] Nineveh and its Remains, vol. i. p. 258.

[110] Nineveh and its Remains, vol. i. p. 259.

[111] The traveller who has looked down from Mardin, for the first time, upon the plains of Mesopotamia, can never forget the impression which that singular scene must have made upon him. The view from the Sinjar hill is far more beautiful and varied.

[112] In the spring months, when the pastures are good, the sheep and camels of the Bedouins require but little water, and the tents are seldom pitched near a well or stream; frequently as much as half a day’s journey distant. Suttum assured me that at this time of the year the camels need not be watered for two months, such is the richness of the grass of the Desert.

[113] It is an error to suppose that the Bedouins never ride horses; for several reasons, however, they seldom do so.

[114] It is considered exceedingly inhospitable amongst the Shammar to place a hot dish before guests, as they are obliged to eat quickly out of consideration for others, who are awaiting their turn, which they cannot do, unless the mess be cool, without burning their mouths, or wasting half their time picking out the colder bits. On one occasion, Ferhan, the great chief of the Shammar, and a large number of horsemen having alighted at my tent, I prepared a dinner for them. The Sheikh was afterwards heard to say that the Bey’s feast was sumptuous, but that he had not treated his guests with proper hospitality, as the dishes were so hot nobody could eat his fill.

[115] These are “the rings and nose jewels,” which Isaiah (iii. 21.) describes as worn by the Jewish women. It is curious that no representation of them has hitherto been found in the Assyrian sculptures. I take this opportunity of mentioning, that I saw a finger-ring sculptured on a fragment at Khorsabad.

[116] As this was known to be a mere matter of form with me, as I made it a rule never to accept presents of this kind, Suttum might have offered me his bay colt, the most valuable horse amongst the Shammar, to increase the display of hospitality. The reason he did not was this, that although he knew I would have returned the horse, I might have expressed a wish to buy it, and have offered a price. An offer of this kind would have at once injured the value of the animal in the eyes of the Bedouins, and its owner might have been ultimately compelled to sell it. On one occasion, when I was amongst the Shammar, at Al Hather, an Arab rode into my encampment on a beautiful grey colt. I was so much struck with the animal, that I at once expressed a wish to its rider to purchase it. He merely intimated that the sum I named was beneath the value. I increased it, but he only shook his head, and rode off. Nevertheless, the report spread amongst the tribes that he had bargained for the sale of his horse. Although of the best blood, the animal was looked upon with suspicion by the Bedouins, and the owner was, some months after, obliged to sell him at a lower price than I had bid, to a horse-dealer of Mosul! A knowledge of such little prejudices and customs is very necessary in dealing with the Arabs of the Desert, who are extremely sensitive, and easily offended.

[117] Its note resembles the cry of the camel-driver, when leading the herds home at night, for which it is frequently mistaken.

[118] Literally, “strength-money:” the small tribes, who wander in the Desert, and who inhabit the villages upon its edge, are obliged to place themselves under the protection of some powerful tribe to avoid being utterly destroyed. Each great division of the Shammar receives a present of money, sheep, camels, corn, or barley, from some tribe or another for this protection, which is always respected by the other branches of the tribe. Thus the Jehesh paid kowee to the Boraij, the Jebours of the Khabour to Ferhan (the hereditary chief of all the Shammar), the people of Tel Afer to the Assaiyah. Should another branch of the Shammar plunder, or injure, tribes thus paying kowee, their protectors are bound to make good, or revenge, their losses.

[119] Cawal Yusuf actually became the farmer of the revenues for a sum scarcely exceeding 350l. The inhabitants of the Sinjar were greatly pleased by this concession to one of their own faith, and were encouraged to cultivate the soil, and to abstain from mutual aggressions.

[120] These relics are now in the British Museum.

[121] The height of this fragment was 5 ft. 8 in.

[122] A lion very similar to that discovered at Arban, though more colossal in its dimensions, exists near Serong. (Chesney’s Expedition, vol. i. p. 114.)

[123] 2 Kings, xvii. 6. Ezek. i. 1. In the Hebrew text the name of this river is spelt in two different ways. In Kings we have חָבור, Khabour, answering exactly to the Chaboras of the Greeks and Romans, and the Khabour of the Arabs. In Ezekiel it is written כְּבָר, Kebar. There is no reason, however, to doubt that the same river is meant.

[124] The name occurs in Ezekiel, iii. 15. “Then I came to them of the captivity at Tel-Abib, that dwelt by the river of Chebar.” In the Theodosian tables we find Thallaba on the Khabour, with which it may possibly be identified. (Illustrated Commentary on the Old and New Testaments, published by Charles Knight, a very useful and well-digested summary, in note to word.) It is possible that Arbonad, a name apparently given to the Khabour in Judith, ii. 24., may be connected with Arban: however, it is not quite clear what river is really meant, as there appears to be some confusion in the geographical details. The cities on the Khabour, mentioned by the Arab geographers, are Karkisia (Circesium, at the junction of the river with the Euphrates), Makeseen (of which I could find no trace), Arban, and Khabour. I have not been able to discover the site of any ruin of the same name as the river. Karkisia, when visited in the twelfth century by Benjamin of Tudela, contained about 500 Jewish inhabitants, under two Rabbis. According to Ibn Haukal, it was surrounded by gardens and cultivated lands. The spot is now inhabited by a tribe of Arabs.

[125] In speaking of the Bedouins I mean the Aneyza, Shamma, Al Dhefyr, and other great tribes inhabiting Mesopotamia and the Desert to the north of the Gebel Shammar. With the Arabs of the Hedjaz and Central Arabia I am unacquainted.

[126] Polygamy, it may be here mentioned, is very common amongst the Bedouins.

[127] The title of haraymi (thief), so far from being one of disgrace, is considered evidence of great prowess and capacity in a young man. Like the Spartans of old, he only suffers if caught in the act. There was a man of the Assaiyah tribe, who had established an immense renown by stealing no less than ninety horses, amongst which was the celebrated mare given by Sofuk to Beder Khan Bey.

[128] Easterns never hawk, if they can avoid it, when the sun is high, as the bird of prey described in the text then appears in search of food.

[129] One of the principal objects of the Bedouins in battle being to carry off their adversaries’ mares, they never wound them if they can avoid it, but endeavour to kill or unhorse the riders.

[130] Burckhardt has thus defined the terms of this law: “The Thar rests with the khomse, or fifth generation, those only having the right to revenge a slain parent, whose fourth lineal ascendant is, at the same time, the fourth lineal ascendant of the person slain; and, on the other side, only those male kindred of the homicide are liable to pay with their own for the blood shed, whose fourth lineal ascendant is at the same time the fourth lineal ascendant of the homicide. The present generation is thus comprised within the number of the khomse. The lineal descendants of all those who are entitled to revenge at the moment of the manslaughter inherit the right from their parents. The right to blood-revenge is never lost; it descends on both sides to the latest generation.” (Notes on Arabs, p. 85.)

[131] I. e. The ancient ruined city, a name very generally given by the Turks to ruins.

[132] The form of salutation used by the Turks, consisting of raising the hand from the breast, or sometimes from the ground, to the forehead.

[133] Burckhardt remarks that “Bedouins are, perhaps, the only people of the East that can be entitled true lovers.” (Notes on Bedouins, p. 155.)

[134] In the winter of the year my residence in Babylonia, after an engagement near Baghdad, between the Boraij and the Turkish regular troops, in which the latter were defeated, a flying soldier was caught within sight of an encampment. His captors were going to put him to death, when he stretched his hands towards the nearest tent, claiming the Dakheel of its owner, who chanced to be Sahiman, Mijwell’s eldest brother. The Sheikh was absent from home, but his beautiful wife Noura answered to the appeal, and seizing a tent-pole beat off his pursuers, and saved his life. This conduct was much applauded by the Bedouins.

[135] The manner in which reports are spread and exaggerated in the Desert is frequently highly amusing. In all encampments there are idle vagabonds who live by carrying news from tribe to tribe, thereby earning a dinner and spending their leisure hours. As soon as a stranger arrives, and relates anything of interest to the Arabs, some such fellow will mount his ready-saddled deloul, and make the best of his way to retail the news in a neighbouring tent, from whence it is carried, in the same way, to others. It is extraordinary how rapidly a report spreads in this manner over a very great distance. Sofuk sent to inform the British resident at Baghdad, of the siege and fall of Acre, many days before the special messenger dispatched to announce that event reached the city; and I have frequently rejected intelligence received from Bedouins, on account of the apparent impossibility of its coming to me through such a source, which has afterwards proved to be true.

[136] Nineveh and its Remains, vol. i. p. 93.

[137] I have elsewhere described the ruins and springs of Abou Maria. (Nineveh and its Remains, vol. i. p. 257.)

[138] The Tigris this year had risen much higher than usual. I have already mentioned that the plain of Nimroud was completely under water; opposite Mosul the flood nearly reached the mounds of Kouyunjik and Nebbi Yunus.

[139] Burckhardt (Notes on the Bedouins, p. 269) gives the following account of the mode of preparing them:—“The Arabs in preparing locusts as an article of food, throw them alive into boiling water, with which a good deal of salt has been mixed: after a few minutes they are taken out and dried in the sun. The head, feet, and wings are then torn off; the bodies are cleansed from the salt and perfectly dried; after which process whole sacks are filled with them by the Bedouins. They are sometimes eaten broiled in butter; and they often constitute materials for a breakfast when spread over unleavened bread mixed with butter.” It has been conjectured that the locust eaten by John the Baptist in the wilderness was the fruit of a tree; but it is more probable that the prophet used a common article of food, abounding even in the Desert.

[140] Cory’s Fragments, page 30.

[141] The authorities respecting this god are collected in Selden, “De Dis Syris,” and in Beyer’s commentary. Abarbanel, in his commentary on Samuel, says that Dagon had the form of a fish, from the middle downwards, with the feet and hands of a man.

[142] 1 Sam. v. 4.

[143] Judges, xvi. 23.

[144] Joshua, xv. 41. From the connection of this verse with the 33rd, it would appear that the town was in a valley.

[145] Joshua, xix. 27. 1 Mac. x. 83.

[146] Ezra, vi. 1.

[147] Nineveh and its Remains, vol. ii. p. 147.

[148] Page 125.

[149] This is evident from Lucian’s “De Deâ Syrâ,” c. 4.; and see Gesenius’s “Thesaurus” in voce “Ashtoreth.” (1 Kings, xi. 5. 33. 2 Kings, xxiii. 13.) Quære, whether the bull’s horns placed on the head of this divinity, were not originally the horns of the moon’s crescent?

[150] This city, one apparently of considerable size and importance, must have stood somewhere near Antioch, or between Antioch and Aleppo. The Sharutinians may probably be identified with the Shairetana of the Egyptian monuments, at one time the allies, and at another the enemies, of Egypt. Few travellers are aware that, above the city of Antioch, carved in the rock, are colossal figures of an Egyptian sphinx and two priests. I have been informed that there are other similar monuments in the neighbouring mountains.

[151] This barbarous practice, frequently represented in the bas-reliefs, seems, therefore, to have prevailed from the earliest times in the East. Darius impaled 3000 Babylonians when he took their city. (Herod. iii. 159.) The last instance with which I am acquainted of this punishment having been inflicted in Turkey, was at Baghdad, where, about ten years ago, Nejib Pasha impaled four rebel Arab Sheikhs, one at each corner of the bridge. They survived for many hours. It is said that, unless they drink water, when they instantly die, persons so treated will live even for two or three days.

[152] Might this word, translated conjecturally pearls, mean the shell fish from which the Tyrian dye was extracted?

[153] The whole of the last passage is very obscure; the translation is partly conjectural.

[154] Isaiah, xv. 6. Translation by the Rev. John Jones.

[155] For this valley I received three different names, Hassanawa, Hassanmaima, and Nahala, the latter from the Zibari chief. The difficulty of getting a correct name either of a place or a person from a Kurd is very great, and travellers in Kurdistan can scarcely avoid falling into frequent errors in this respect. The same name is pronounced in a variety of ways, and is subject to all manner of additions and contractions. If it have any meaning, the difficulty is, of course, less.

[156] Khan-i-resh is, by observation, 4372 feet above the level of the sea.

[157] It was this chief, or one of his dependants, I believe, who plundered and was about to murder two American missionaries, who attempted to cross the mountains the year after my visit.

[158] As I have used the word convent, it may be necessary to remind the reader that the Nestorians have no establishments answering to Roman Catholic places of retirement, and that monastic vows are not taken by them.

[159] The height of the convent above the level of the sea is, by observation, 6625 feet.

[160] Nineveh and its Remains, vol. i. p. 141.

[161] The place of our encampment at Bash-Kalah was, by observation, 7818 feet above the level of the sea.

[162] The Jewish encampment was 9076 feet above the level of the sea.

[163] Amongst the Jewish population scattered widely over this part of ancient Media, might be sought the descendants of the ten tribes, with more probability than in the various lands which ingenious speculation has pointed out as dwelling-places of the remnant of Israel.

[164] I must not omit to mention the name of Dr. Bimerstein, a German gentleman at the head of the quarantine establishment, from whom I received much civility and assistance during my stay at Wan, and who, by the influence he had obtained over the Pasha, and by his integrity and good sense, had contributed considerably towards the improvement in the condition of the Christians, and the general prosperity of the pashalic. He was a pleasing exception in a class made up of the refuse and outcasts of Europe, who have done more than is generally known to corrupt the Turkish character, and to bring an European and a Christian into contempt. I am proud to say that an Englishman is not, I believe, to be found amongst them.

[165] Wan is about 5600 feet above the level of the sea.

[166] This inscription was copied, with a strong telescope, by Schulz, and is published with the rest of his transcripts.

[167] The Mussulmans have only two great annual feasts in which labor gives way to rejoicings and festivities; the Christians of all sects have little else but fasts and festivals throughout the year. A lazy Christian will add to his own holidays the Friday of the Mohammedans, and the Saturday of the Jews.

[168] The desire of a large number of the Armenians to improve their institutions, and to adopt the manners of Europe, is a highly interesting, and indeed important, fact. I was amused, after having contributed a trifle to the funds of the school, at having presented to me a neatly printed and ornamented receipt, with the amount of my donation duly filled up in the blank space left for the purpose, the document being signed by the head of the school.

[169] I cannot refrain from recording the names of the Rev. Messrs. Goddall, Dwight, Holmes, Hamlin, and Schauffler, of the Constantinople missionary station; the late excellent and enterprising Dr. Smith, who, like the estimable Dr. Grant, his fellow-laborer in the same field, and many others of his countrymen, has recently fallen a victim to his zeal and devotion; the Rev. Eli Smith of Beyrout, and Perkins of Ooroomiyah; men who will ever be connected with the first spread of knowledge and truth amongst the Christians of the East, and of whom their country may justly be proud. Personally I must express my gratitude to them for many acts of kindness and friendship. The American mission has now establishments in Smyrna, Brousa, Trebizond, Erzeroom, Diarbekir, Mosul, Aintab, Aleppo, and many other cities in Asia Minor, together with native agents all over Turkey.

[170] The several streams forming the headwaters of the eastern branch of the Tigris mentioned in this Chapter were not before known, I believe, to geographers.

[171] The encampment at Billi was 8612 feet above the level of the sea.

[172] The bearing I obtained of Mount Ararat (N. 15°. 30″ E.), corresponds correctly with its position on the best maps. Our distance was about 145 miles.

[173] Those who wish to have a painful picture of the nature of the interference amongst the Nestorians, to which I allude, may read Mr. Badger’s Nestorians and their Rituals, and Mr. Fletcher’s Travels in Assyria. Although Mr. Badger naturally gives his own version of these transactions, the impartial reader will have no difficulty in seeing the misfortunes to which the unfortunate opposition to the American missions naturally led.

[174] Consuls are so called in Southern Turkey and Persia, and all European strangers are supposed to be consuls.

[175] Nineveh and its Remains, vol. i. p. 180.

[176] On my return to Mosul I sent to Constantinople a report of the exactions and cruelties to which the Nestorians had been subjected by their Turkish rulers; but nothing, I fear, has been done to amend their condition.

[177] This bas-relief is now in the British Museum.

[178] Cyrop. lib. viii. c. 3.

[179] Quint. Curt. lib. iii. c. 3. I have quoted this description in my Nineveh and its Remains, vol. ii. p. 279. The Persian king, although represented on the walls of Persepolis with a crown, also wore a high cap or upright turban, as we learn from Xenophon (Anab. lib. ii. c. 5).

[180] 2 Kings, xvii. 6.

[181] Cyrus covered his chariot-horses, all but the eyes, with armour. (Xenophon, Inst. 1. vi.)

[182] Wilkinson’s Ancient Egyptians, vol. ii. p. 109.

[183] So many characters are unfortunately wanting in this epigraph, that the inscription cannot be satisfactorily translated. It commences, it would appear, with the name of the Susianian king, although written without the first character found on the other slabs. The captive, however, was not the monarch himself, who was slain, as it has been seen, in the battle. The name of Shushan, written, as in the book of Daniel, for Susa, is highly interesting. It places beyond a doubt the identification of the site of the campaign.

[184] 1 Sam. xviii. 6.

[185] Isaiah, v. 12. In Daniel, iii. 5., we have mention of the “cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer;” but it is scarcely possible to determine what these instruments really were: they probably resembled those represented in the bas-reliefs described in the text. The instrument of ten strings mentioned in Psalm xxxiii. 2., xlii. 3., and cxliv. 9., may have been the harp of the sculptures, and the psaltery the smaller stringed instrument.

[186] Niebuhr’s Thirty-fourth Lecture on Ancient History.

[187] See especially Narrative of a Residence in Koordistan, &c., by the late C. J. Rich, Esq,. vol. ii. chap, xviii.

[188] Daniel, iii.

[189] The white ass of Baghdad is much esteemed in the East. Some are of considerable size, and, when fancifully dyed with henna, their tails and ears bright red, and their bodies spotted, like an heraldic talbot, with the same color, they bear the chief priests and the men of the law, as they appear to have done from the earliest times. (Judges, v. 10.)

[190] Baghdad contained, before the great plague of 1830, 110,000 inhabitants, but can now scarcely hold many more than 50,000. It is divided into two parts by the Tigris, the smaller quarters forming suburbs on the western bank.

[191] Jeremiah, 1. 38.

[192] This is the Kasr of Rich and subsequent travellers.

[193] Isaiah, xiii. 19-22., and compare Jeremiah, 1. 39.: “therefore the wild beasts of the desert with the wild beasts of the island shall dwell there, and the owls shall dwell therein.” A large grey owl is found in great numbers, frequently in flocks of nearly a hundred, in the low shrubs among the ruins of Babylon.

[194] From this tribe was the celebrated lady of Haroun-al-Reshid, “the Zobeide,” as she was called from her origin.

[195] The generous hospitality frequently shown by men living, like Zaid, upon the smallest means, is one of the most interesting features of Arab character.

[196] The most accurate and careful description is that by Mr. Rich, to whom I shall have frequent occasion to refer, and whose valuable memoirs on the site of the city were my text-books during my researches at Babylon. In the preface, by his widow, to the collected edition of his memoirs, will be found an interesting summary of the researches and discoveries of previous travellers. Ker Porter, Mr. Buckingham, and several other travellers, have given accounts more or less full of the ruins.

[197] Abydenus states (ap. Euseb. Præp. Evang. l. ix. c. 41.) that the first wall of Babylon, built by Belus, had disappeared, and was rebuilt by Nebuchadnezzar. It must be borne in mind how much ancient authors copied from one another. Nearly all the descriptions which have reached us of Babylon appear to have been founded on the account of Herodotus and the uncertain statements of Ctesias.

[198] I had visited it on several occasions during previous journeys. For the first time in 1840, with Mr. Mitford.

[199] These dimensions are from Rich. I was unable to take any measurements during my hurried visit.

[200] See Chap. XI.

[201] Lib. ii. c. 8.

[202] Lib. ii. c. 10. Such is the form that Calmet and other antiquaries have given to the hanging gardens of Babylon in their restored plans of the city.

[203] Nineveh and its Remains, vol. ii. p. 139.

[204] Isaiah, xiv. 23.

[205] On the Tigris, near its junction with the Euphrates, is the traditionary tomb of Ezra. The Jews, from the first centuries of the Christian era, also appear to have visited this spot as the place of sepulture of the prophet. Benjamin of Tudela says of it, “The sepulture of Ezra, the priest and scribe, is in this place (name lost), where he died on his journey from Jerusalem to King Artaxerxes.” In the early part of the 13th century, a celebrated Jewish poet, named Jehuda Charisi ben Salomo, described both tombs in verse. (Dr. Zunz’s Essay in 2d volume of Asher’s ed. of Benjamin of Tudela.)

[206] For an interesting account of those singular relics, and for translations of the inscriptions on the bowls, see the larger work in 8vo.

[207] Josephus against Appian, l. i. cviii. The Jewish historian quotes from Hecatæus, who gives a characteristic account of the attachment of the Jews to their faith.

[208] Benjamin of Tudela’s Travels; and see Milman’s History of the Jews, book xix. &c.

[209] The form of the letters certainly approach the cuneiform character when written with simple lines, as it is sometimes seen on Assyrian relics and monuments. (See Nineveh and its Remains, vol. ii. p. 143.) I am not, however, at present ready to admit that the early Chaldee square letters were derived from this source.

[210] See Book of Enoch translated by Archbishop Lawrence, particularly chap. vii. sect. 2. and chap. lxviii. Among the names of the angels who came down to the daughters of men and instructed them in sorcery and the magic arts, we find Tamiel, Agheel, Azael, and Ramiel.

[211] Strabo, lib. xvi. p. 1049. Oxf. ed. Arrian, lib. vii. 17.

[212] Isaiah, xxi. 9.

[213] Daniel, v. 5.

[214] Esther i. 6.

[215] This inscription was obtained from some ruins near Baghdad by Sir Harford Jones, and is now in the Museum of the East India Company. A facsimile of it has been published.

[216] Nineveh and its Remains, vol. ii. 2d part, chap. ii.

[217] The usual dimensions of the Babylonian bricks are as nearly as possible one foot square, by three and a half inches thick. Rich says thirteen inches square. Mr. Birch has conjectured that they may represent multiples of some Babylonian measure, perhaps the cubit.

[218] Mr. Birch has found more than one notice of Babylon on Egyptian monuments of the time of Thothmes III.

[219] Ezekiel, xvii. 4.

[220] Daniel, v. 30, 31. This event took place b. c. 538. Whether the Darius of the book of Daniel be Cyrus himself, or a Median who commanded the armies of that monarch, and was afterwards appointed viceroy of Babylon, is one of the many disputed points of ancient history.

[221] Arrian, Exp. Alex. 1. vii. c. 17. See Jeremy’s Epistle in the Apocryphal hook of Baruch, vi. 10, 11, and 28, for instances of the cupidity of the Babylonian priests. They had even stripped the idols of their robes and ornaments to adorn their wives and children. This epistle contains a very curious account of the idol worship of the Babylonians.

[222] Isaiah, xiv. 23. Jeremiah, li. 42.

[223] See an interesting Memoir on Babylon, by M. de St. Croix, in the 48th vol. of the Transactions of the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres, in which all the authorities on the subject of the gradual decay of the city are collected.

[224] Isaiah, xliii. 14.

[225] Ezekiel, xxvii. 15.

[226] Of the early reputation of the looms of Babylon we may form an idea from the fact of “a goodly Babylonish garment” (i. e. garment of Shinar) being mentioned in the book of Joshua (vii. 21) amongst the objects buried by Achan in his tent. In a curious decree of the time of Diocletian, regulating the maximum value of articles of clothing and food throughout the Roman empire, several objects from Babylon are specified. Babylonian skins of the first quality are rated at 500 denarii; of the second quality at 40; Babylonian shoes, called mullai, at 120 denarii per pair; and a Babylonian girdle at 100. Plain Babylonian socks are also mentioned, but the amount at which they were valued is wanting. This decree was discovered at Eski Hissar, the ancient Stratoniceia, in Asia Minor. (See Leake’s Asia Minor.)

[227] “And the men of Cuth made Nergal,” in Samaria, where they had been transplanted after the first captivity. (2 Kings, xvii. 30.) The country of the Cuthites was probably in the neighbourhood of Babylon, though the commentators have not agreed upon its exact site. Josephus says that it was in Persia (Antiq. ix. 14.)

[228] xviii 2.

[229] The common notion amongst ignorant Mohammedans is, that an eclipse is caused by some evil spirit catching hold of the sun or moon. On such occasions, in Eastern towns, the whole population assembles with pots, pans, and other equally rude instruments of music, and, with the aid of their lungs, make a din and turmoil which might suffice to drive away a whole army of evil spirits, even at so great a distance.

[230] Nineveh and its Remains, vol. ii. p. 139, note.

[231] Isaiah, xxi. 1.

[232] I have lately learnt, to my great grief, that poor Suttum has been killed in some affray with the Aneyza.

[233] Of the same size and form as that containing the records of Essarhaddon, given by me to the British Museum. It has been only partly restored, and the inscription, which appears to be historical, has not yet been deciphered.

[234] See Chapter 20.

[235] Isaiah, xxxvii. 18, 19.

[236] 1 Kings, vii. 23-25. The brazen sea of Solomon stood upon twelve oxen, three facing each cardinal point. It must be borne in mind that the Assyrian sculptor frequently represented only one figure to signify many, and that more than one ox probably supported the vessel portrayed in this bas-relief.

[237] These measurements merely include that part of the palace actually excavated.

[238] Since my departure a fine entire bas-relief has, I understand, been found near the ruined tomb in the centre of the mound.

[239] The distance from centre to centre of the pedestals facing each other was 9 feet three inches; their diameter, 11½ inches in the broadest part. The second pair found were about 84 feet distant from the first. There were the remains of a wall of sundried bricks, 6 feet 3 inches from the centre of one of the pedestals.

[240] Tacit. Ann. lib. xii. c. 13., and Ammianus Marcell. 1. xxiii. c. 20. The latter author especially mentions that the town had belonged to the Persians.

[241] In the same shape as the Egyptian. (See Wilkinson’s Ancient Egyptians, vol. ii. p. 112.)

[242] See Nineveh and its Remains, vol. i. Introduction, p. xiv. Benjamin of Tudela places the tomb of Nahum at Ain Japhata, to the south of Babylon.

[243] According to Col. Rawlinson (Outlines of Assyrian History, p. xx.), to Neptune or Noah!

[244] The actual weight of the large ducks in the British Museum being 480 oz. troy, the mana would be equal to 16 oz., with a small fraction over. The Attic mana has been computed to be 14 oz., with a small fraction. It would consequently be to the Babylonian talent as 7 to 8. According to Herodotus (lib. iii. c. 89.) the Eubœan talent was to the Babylonian as 6 to 7. If this statement be correct, the Eubœan would be to the Attic as 48 to 49. (Dr. Hincks.)

[245] One cylinder bears his name.

[246] Lib. i. c. 195. As a written signature is of no value, except in particular cases, in the East, and as all documents to be valid must be sealed with seals bearing the names of the parties to them, the engraved signet is of great importance, and the trade of an engraver one of considerable responsibility. The punishment for forging seals is very severe, and there are many regulations enforced for securing their authenticity.

[247] Compare Job, xxxviii. 14. “It is turned as clay to the seal.”

[248] Compare 1 Kings, xix. 16. and 2 Kings, ix. 2.

[249] Sargon is called on the monuments of Khorsabad, “the conqueror of Samaria and of the circuit of Beth Khumri.” (Dr. Hincks, Trans, of the R. Irish Acad. vol. xx.)

[250] 1 Kings, xix. 15.

[251] Colonel Rawlinson suggests about 930 b. c.

[252] Especially if, as Egyptian scholars still maintain, the name is found on Egyptian monuments of the 18th dynasty.

[253] See my Nineveh and its Remains, vol. ii. p. 155, where this genealogy was first pointed out.

[254] Discovered during the first expedition. (Nineveh and its Remains, vol. i. p. 83.)

[255] This interesting discovery was first announced in the Athenæum of Jan. 3, 1852.

[256] These three kings came against Israel (2 Kings, xv. 19, and 29, and 1 Chron. v. 26); but Pul is particularly mentioned as receiving tribute from Menahem, and Tiglath Pileser, as carrying away Israelites into captivity in the time of Pekah, between whose reign and that of Menahem only two years elapsed. (2 Kings, xv. 23.)

[257] See an interesting note on this subject in Rich’s Narrative, vol. ii. p. 123.

[258] 2 Chron. xxxiii.

[259] We have a curious illustration of the magnificent suicide of Sardanapalus in the history of Zimri, king of Israel. “And it came to pass, when Zimri saw that the city was taken, that he went into the palace of the king’s house, and burnt the king’s house over him with fire and died.” 1 Kings xvii. 18. There is nothing, therefore, improbable in the romantic history of the Assyrian king.

[260] The reading according to Col. Rawlinson is marked R—that according to Dr. Hincks, H.

[261] Nineveh and its Remains, vol. ii. p. 185.

[262] It was not necessary to the effect of his preaching that Jonah should be of the religion of the people of Nineveh. I have known a Christian priest frighten a whole Mussulman town to tents and repentance by publicly proclaiming that he had received a divine mission to announce a coming earthquake or plague.

[263] 2 Kings, xx. 19.

[264] 2 Kings, xxv. 19.

[265] Driving away the cattle and sheep of a conquered people, and accounting them amongst the principal spoil, has ever been the custom of Eastern nations who have not altogether renounced a nomadic life, and whose chief wealth consequently consisted in these animals. When Asa defeated the Ethiopians, “he carried away sheep and camels in abundance; and returned to Jerusalem.” (2 Chron. xiv. 15.)

[266] The same thing may, indeed, be inferred from several passages in Chronicles and Kings. See particularly 2 Kings, xvi. 7, xvii. 4.

[267] 1 Kings, iv. 21, and 24. “He reigned over all the kings from the river even unto the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt;” and the kings “brought him every man his present, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and raiment, harness, and spices, horses and mules, a rate year by year.” (2 Chron. ix. 24, 26.) Such were probably the very articles brought yearly to the Assyrian king, and enumerated in his records.

[268] 2 Chron. v. 62.

[269] 1 Chron. v. 6 and 26.

[270] 2 Kings, xvii. 6, xviii. 11.

[271] 2 Kings, xvii. 29.

[272] See woodcuts, Nineveh and its Remains, vol. ii. p. 340.

[273] Ch. iii. 12-14.

[274] From this propylæum came the two colossal bulls in the British Museum; it was part of the royal palace.

[275] Nineveh and its Remains, vol. ii. part ii. ch. 2. A recent trigonometrical survey of the country by Captain Jones proves, I am informed, that the great ruins of Kouyunjik, Nimroud, Karamless, and Khorsabad, form very nearly a perfect parallelogram, corresponding with the conjecture I ventured to make in my former work. A recent writer (Bonomi, Nineveh and its Palaces, p. 94), adopting the theory of the greater extent of Nineveh, has endeavored to prove that the Gebel Makloub is the remains of its eastern walls, stating that he “has the testimony of a recent observant traveller, Mr. Barker, who has no doubt that the so-called ‘mountain’ is entirely the work of man.” Unfortunately it happens that the Gebel Makloub is somewhat higher, and far more precipitous and rocky than the Malvern hills. It would, indeed, have required Titans to raise such a heaven-reaching wall! Scarcely less extravagant are the conjectures that the mound is called Kouyumjik, not Kouyunjik, because silver ornaments may have been found there, and that Yaroumjeh, a mere Turkish name meaning “half-way village,” is “roum,” “signifying the territory and inhabitants of the Roman empire,” and, consequently, a part of Nineveh, “Roman and ancient being synonymous terms!” The line, too, indicated in Mr. Bonomi’s diagram for the former bed of the Tigris, in order to complete the parallelogram, would take the river over a range of steep limestone hills. I may here observe that the name of “Niniouah” is not known in the country as applied either to the mound of Nebbi Yunus, or any other ruin in the country. Before founding theories upon such grounds, it would be as well to have some little acquaintance with the localities and with the languages spoken by the people of the country.

[276] 1 Kings, v. 15.

[277] The Jewish cubit appears to have been about eighteen inches.

[278] The height, according to 2 Chron. iii. 4, was 120 cubits, which would appear to be an error slipt into the text, although Josephus gives the same dimensions, adding an upper story or structure.

[279] Mr. Fergusson has pointed out, from the account of Josephus, the probability of the temple having had two stories. (The Palaces of Nineveh restored, p. 222.)

[280] See Calmet’s Dictionary of the Bible.

[281] See frontispiece to Fergusson’s Palaces of Nineveh restored.

[282] Josephus, b. viii. c. 2. Fergusson’s Palaces of Nineveh, p. 229.

[283] It will be remembered that the annals on the bulls of Kouyunjik include six years of his reign, and must consequently have been inscribed on them in the seventh year.

[284] 1 Kings, v. 8.

[285] See Frontispiece to this volume.

[286] Such also appears to have been the case at Nimroud.

[287] 1 Kings, vii. 2. It is only by supposing it to have been one great hall that we can at all understand the proportions and form of the building as subsequently given. The Hebrew word, as its Arabic equivalent still does, will bear both meanings. Pharaoh’s daughter’s house, which was “like unto the porch,” was probably the harem or private apartment.

[288] Palaces of Nineveh restored, p. 181. That the Assyrians were, however, acquainted with slanting roofs may be inferred from a bas-relief discovered at Khorsabad. (Botta, Plate 141.)

[289] Jerem. xix. 13.

[290] Nineveh and its Remains, vol. ii. part ii. ch. 2.

[291] Daniel, v. 5.

[292] 1 Kings, vi. 28. I cannot, however, but express my conviction that much of the metal called gold both in the sacred writings and in the profane authors of antiquity, was really copper, alloyed with other metals, the aurichalcum, or orichalcum, of the Greeks, such as was used in the bowls and plates discovered at Nimroud.

[293] Rich estimates the entire length of the inclosure at about four miles, and its greatest breadth at nearly two. This appears to me rather above the actual extent of the ruins. It must also be remembered that they narrow off from the northern side to a few hundred yards at the southern. I have not hitherto had time to lay down my survey of Nimroud. The general plan of the mound in my first work must be considered as a mere rough sketch.

[294] Rich’s Narrative, vol. ii. p. 60.

[295] It will be borne in mind that the Tigris has now changed its course.

[296] According to Mr. Rich, the distance from the inside of the inner wall to the inside of the outer was 2007 feet. Allowing 200 feet for the outer the breadth of the whole fortifications would be about 2200 feet, or not far from half a mile.

[297] If the city, or this part of it, were ever taken by the river having been turned upon the walls, as some ancient authors have declared, the breach must have been made at the north-western corner. There are no traces of it.

[298] Sir Anthony Shirley’s Travels in Persia. Purchas, vol. ii. p. 1387.

[299] Narrative of a Residence in Kurdistan, vol. i. pp. 40, 51.

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Lowering the Great Winged Bull, John Murray Albemarle Street 1848


Eagle-Headed Figure (N.W. Palace, Nimrod)


Discovery of the Gigantic Head


Winged Human-Headed Lion (N.W. Palace, Nimrod)


Winged Figure (N.W. Palace, Nimrod)


Winged Human-Headed Bull (N.W. Palace, Nimrod)


The Tomb of Jonah, Kouyunjik , and the Ruins Opposite Mosul.


A Nestorian House in the District of Tiyari


A Wicker Bridge across the Zab near Lizau.


Tel Afer

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General Plan of an __ Nimroud / The High Pyramidal Mound


The Obelisk


A Shammar Lady on a Camel.


Sphinx from S.W. Palace (Nimroud.)


Plan II. Southwest Ruin, Nimroud.


Plan III. North-west Palace, Nimroud.


General Plan __ Nimroud.


Eunuch Warrior in Battle (N.W. Palace, Nimroud.)


Procession of the Bull Beneath the Mound ___ Nimroud.


The King (N.W. Palace, Nimroud)

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Plan 4. Upper Chambers on the West Side of the Mound. (Nimroud.)


Enemy Asking Quarter of Assyrian Horsemen (N.W. Palce, Nimroud)


Part of a Bas Relief, Showing a Pulley, and a Warrior Cutting a Bucket from the Rope


Plan 5. Excavations in the South-East Corner of the Mound (Nimroud)


Sitting Figure in Basalt, from Kalah Sherohat.


Warrior Hunting the Lion (N.W. Palace, Nimroud)


Plan of Excavated Ruins at Koutunjik.

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Wedge or Arrow-Head on an Altar (From a stone in the Bibliotheque Nationale at Paris.)


Scribes Writing Down the Number of Heads of the Slain and the Amount of the Spoil (Kouyunjik).












Figures and Cartouche with Hieroglyphics, on an Ivory Panel (N.W. Palace, Nimroud).


The Egyptian Goddess Ken.


Assyrian Deity (? The Astarte of the Assyrians and the Ken of the Egyptians). From a rock tablet at Malthaiyah, near Mosul.

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Plan 4. Upper Chambers on the West Side of the Mound. (Nimroud.)


Forms of Pottery found in the Tombs above the Ruins at Nimroud.


A House (Kouyunjik.)


The Interior of a Tent. (Kouyunjik.)


A Temple or Fishing Pavilion supported by Proto-Ionic Columns, and standing in a River or artificial Lake. (Khorsabad.)


Head of Winged Bull. (Khorsabad and Kouyunjik.)


Head of Winged Monster. (Persepolis.)


Fragment of a Lycian Monument in the British Museum.


Bas-Relief from a Monument from Xanthus, in the British Museum.


Assyrian Ornament. (Nimroud.)