248

KHORSABAD.-DESTRUCTION OF THE PALACE.

there is no cause for doubting that the palace of Khorsabad was roofed with wood. In this opinion he states that Mr. Layard coincides, for that several of the monuments found by him at Nimroud were covered over with pieces of wood, like those at Khorsabad.

Fig. 104.-PROCESSION, SHOWING DIVISIONS OF SLABS. (Botta, pls. 21, 22, 23.) The double line indicates a doorway.

Fig. 105.-VIEW OF PYRAMIDAL MOUND AT NIMROUD. FROM A SKETCH BY MR.

BOMAINE.

CHAPTER II.

MUSEUM.

THE readers who have gone with us through the preceding pages describing what is left to us of Assyrian art in the ruins of Khorsabad, will turn with double pleasure towards those chambers of our National Museum which contain our share of the relics of ancient Assyria. Our friends, the French, are proud of the sculptures obtained by Botta, and now in the Louvre; but we may fairly and successfully challenge com

250

NIMHOUD.-LAYARD'S DISCOVERIES.

parison with them, by pointing to the British Museum. No one can visit that establishment without feeling the importance and interest of our Assyrian acquisitions. The great Winged Bulls and Lions, which now grace the halls of our British Museum, attract the notice of visitors, and by their size, their antiquity, and their strange story, induce those who might otherwise pass on to other objects, to stop and inquire for the companion antiques, which, once seen, cannot easily be forgotten.

By devoting the present chapter and the next to the especial account of the Assyrian relics from Nimroud and from Kouyunjik, we shall at once render our work more complete, and adapt it for the companionship of those who may think fit to go in search of the antiquarian treasures acquired by Mr. Layard and others for the Museum of their country. It may be premised, that while this book is passing through the press, the authorities of the British Museum are yet undecided how the Nimroud marbles are to be ultimately arranged, and that, meanwhile, a large number of them occupy an apartment under ground, the remainder being ranged against the walls of a kind of temporary passage-chamber to the left of the entrance.

In some of our descriptions we shall avail ourselves of the articles originally contributed to the "Athenæum" and "Illustrated London News," which, however, will be found to be copiously enlarged. The Assyrian collection in the British Museum was not all contributed by Layard; a portion of it is due to the exertions of Mr. Hector, Sir Henry Rawlinson, Mr. Loftus, and Mr. Hormuzd Rassám, of whom more presently. Let us, however, first consider Layard's contributions, adopting, as far as practicable, the same system of examination as we have pursued in examining Botta's contributions to the Louvre.

In considering the structures at Nimroud, or so much of them as have been uncovered, there is a striking peculiarity, that we cannot allow to pass unnoticed,-viz.: the absence of that uniformity of plan which so remarkably characterised the Khorsabad Palace. There, most of the doors either faced, or were pendant to each other, and the principal chambers likewise appeared to correspond; while here, on the contrary, no two doors are opposite, and, apparently, no two chambers answer to one another.

The walls of the palace at Nimroud, from which these works

of art were taken, like those of Khorsabad, are composed of unburnt brick incrusted with slabs of marble (gypsum) eight inches in thickness, and seven feet wide. Unlike the Palace of Khorsabad, however, that of Nimroud presents no grand portal to invite our entrance, and serve as a guide to our course. We shall therefore, in the first instance, proceed to examine what, on a general survey, appears to be the principal existing chamber of the north-west quarter of the palace. Entering through a small door-way in the western side of the excavation, we are met on each side by a winged figure with a garland on his head, and having a pine-cone in his upraised right hand, while his left holds a basket. Behind each figure is a slab covered with cuneatic inscription. Having passed the entrance, we find ourselves within a small ante-chamber about 40 feet by 20 feet, which has three entrances,-one answering to that at which we entered, and a wider one on the opposite side, leading into a large hall. On the wall between the two lesser entrances we have a group of five figures, the centre being the king, holding a cup in his right hand, and his bow in his left, while on each side of him are a eunuch and a winged divinity. The remaining walls are occupied with thirteen slabs, containing colossal winged figures, wearing the horned egg-shaped cap, and carrying the fir-cone and basket, arranged in pairs facing each other, but separated by the symbolic tree. (Fig. 64.)

Proceeding through the central opening, we are accompanied on each side by winged

human-headed lions, and find ourselves in a large hall, 160 feet long by nearly 40 feet wide. The lions at the entrance are each 9 feet long, and the same in height. The countenance is noble and benevolent in expression; the features are of true Persian type; he wears an eggshaped cap, with three

horns, and cord round the base. The ear is human, and not that of a lion. The beard and hair of the head are most elaborately curled; but the hair on the legs and sides of the statue represents the shaggy appendage of the animal; round the loins is a succession of numerous cords, which are drawn into four separate knots; and at the extremities are fringes, forming as many distinct tassels. At the end of the tail a claw is distinctly visible. The strength of the animal is admirably and characteristically conveyed. Upon the flat surface of this slab is a cuneiform inscription; twenty lines being between the fore legs, twenty-six in the middle, eighteen between the hind legs, and seventy-one at the back.

991

"The first was like a lion, and had eagles' wings." We have chosen this figure to commence our work, because it is an emblematic symbol of the Assyrian empire, as we learn from the Book of Daniel, who, in the first year of Belshazzar, had a vision, informing him of the future destiny of the monarchy, which, at that time, had reached the pinnacle of its glory; and we present it here again as it actually occurs at the entrances of the palaces and of the historical chambers we are about to describe.

Turning to the right, we perceive an upright slab, 7 feet 10 inches high, and 2 feet 10 inches wide. It represents a winged human figure with the head of a carnivorous bird, the Percnopterus, or black and white eagle, very recognisable from the crest of feathers, and from the caruncles which cover the beak. This figure occurs very frequently in the Babylonish cylinders, and has been taken, in those less perfect specimens of the divinity, for the figure of a man with the head of a cock, the crest of feathers on the head having been supposed to represent the cock's comb. This was the opinion of Mr. John Landseer, who first made these works of art known to the world by his beautiful engravings and descriptions of them. The figure is clothed in a short, fringed tunic, reaching only to the knee, and tied at the neck with a tasselled cord; over this is an elaborate necklace with an ornament something like a pomegranate; and another of this favourite fruit, but quite distinct from the necklace, is hanging from a cord. Over the short tunic is a longer robe similarly trimmed, some part of which is shown at the back over the left shoulder. The

1 Dan. vii. 4.