Chapter IX. Babylonian and Assyrian Culture

Of all the revelations regarding the Mesopotamian civilisation which the researches of Botta and Layard and their followers have brought to light, none perhaps are more interesting than those that showed the position which art had attained in those far-off and forgotten times. It had all along been remembered that powerful political empires had risen and fallen here, however vaguely the details of the history may have been preserved. It was recalled, too, that these peoples possessed religions with the same fundamental elements as the Jewish creeds; but that they had developed an artistic spirit and artistic craftsmanship far beyond that of any other people of their time, had been entirely forgotten. Yet, as we have seen, the most striking and conspicuous of the monuments restored by the explorations were works of art. We have obtained many glimpses of these in the preceding pages, and it will not be necessary here to treat them in very great detail; indeed, it would be quite impossible to do so within the necessary bounds of space. Our concern is with the historic relations of the Mesopotamian art development rather than with the details of the art itself. Nevertheless, something more than incidental references will be made to some features of the subject.a

The origin of Babylonian-Assyrian civilisation is lost in the darkness of prehistoric times, like that of the Egyptians and Chinese. We shall see that even their oldest monuments display a high grade of artistic ability and presuppose a long development. The texts on the oldest monuments are already written in cuneiform; the picture writing in which this must have originated was already out of use, which shows a great progress in civilisation. As to the origin of this culture various suppositions have been made. According to the one which has made most headway, it was borrowed by the Babylonians from a non-Semitic race who inhabited the country before them, and then spread gradually from the Persian Gulf, where it originated or whither it was brought from without, towards the north.

It is pure supposition to say that civilisation in Babylonia started out from the shores of the Persian Gulf and spread from there towards the north, but it is a supposition which has a high degree of probability. In this direction points the old legend of the Babylonians, as Berossus relates it, which describes the origin of civilisation—the legend of the divine fish-man Oannes, who came up in the morning from the Erythræan Sea, instructed the inhabitants of Chaldea, who were still living like animals, in the arts and sciences, and then in the evening disappeared again under the waves. This fish-god has long since been recognised as the god who is so frequently depicted on Babylonian and Assyrian monuments, and it can now hardly be longer doubted that he, the god of the waters, or rather the source of light and fire in the waters, is the god Ea. This god with his circle is without doubt indigenous to southern Chaldea. The oldest and most important centre of his cult is Eridu, situated close to the sea. His son Marduk, and the god connected with him whom the Semites call Nabu, is especially honoured on the islands and coast of the Persian Gulf. Thus if legend traces the culture of the Chaldeans from the instruction of this god, this is the origin of the tradition that his worshippers, who must have been mariners and dwellers on the sea coast, introduced this civilisation into Chaldea.

In agreement with this is the fact that the decrees of Ea and the magic formulæ of Eridu, his chief city situated near the sea, are repeatedly designated as being very holy and powerful, and as very ancient; also that the oldest sayings and traditions which are known to us in the Gisdubas (Gilgamesh) epic, are located precisely in places on the sea coast or not far distant from it. These were also the centres of powerful states, as also of the kingdom of Ur, and the oldest monuments of Chaldean civilisation which have yet become known to us were found in southern Babylonia at Telloh.

However, wherever its origin may have been, the great age of Babylonian culture, of which the Assyrian is only a later branch, stands beyond doubt. The cylinders of Sargon I as well as the statues found at Telloh show a high grade of development and presuppose an art which already has a long past behind it. That the Egyptian culture is younger and even derived from the Babylonian, and that the latter is thus the oldest in the world, and at the same time was the mother of all other civilisations of antiquity, as has been claimed (Hommel), can naturally not be proved and is still doubtful; but it is not impossible. And the most remarkable fact is, that at least the plastic art could never again reach the heights it had already attained in such a gray antiquity.

This does not mean to imply that the Babylonians did not further develop the civilisation, the elements of which they had received from their predecessors. They assimilated it and developed it independently; it may even be assumed that they improved on it in more than one respect, and applied it to higher ends. They also introduced into it much that was peculiar to them. How far this was the case—what with them was borrowed and what original, cannot yet be determined in detail. At any rate we are not justified in attributing to their non-Semitic teachers, as often happens, everything barbaric, cruel, and repulsive that still characterises their customs, nor all the superstitions still connected with their religion.

The original inhabitants excelled the Semites in artistic spirit and ability, perhaps also as traders and mariners, and the latter probably imitated the former, but seldom reached them and never surpassed them. The Semites, on the other hand, put more depth and earnestness into their religious life; energetically carried out the monarchic principle in this, as also in the life of the state; simplified the writing; enriched the literature, which was thus rendered more practical, by highly remarkable epic narrations, especially with epic poems, and even made an attempt to write history. Furthermore, by the organisation of a capable army, by the warlike talents of their kings and generals, as also by their unbending character and persevering will, they established states which endured the most violent upheavals and changes, and ruled all their neighbours for centuries. If they were behind their predecessors in some points, they far surpassed them in others. The conception that one people takes on the culture of another, quite as one puts on a borrowed dress, is just as foolish as the conception that a nation relinquishes its own individuality and originality as soon as it learns something from another. The Greeks of whom it has now been proved that they owed much to oriental peoples, the Persians of whom everyone knows that they borrowed most of their civilisation from Babylon, prove the contrary. The people who brought its culture to the southern coasts of Babylonia and probably also to the coasts of Elan and communicated it to the still uncultured races living there, seems to have belonged to that peaceful, commercial race which the Hebrews designated as the “sons of Kush,” which was not unlike the Phœnicians and was placed in the same category; a race which, while jealous of its independence, was not aggressive, although inclined to colonisation and to making distant journeys. These dwellers on the coasts, together with the inland tribes, were then conquered by the Semites, perhaps after long battles. If, however, they became in this way, as always, the teachers of their conquerors, the culture which grew under their influence was none the less a creation, and thus the inalienable property of the Babylonians.

Literature and Science

How high a state of civilisation the Babylonians had reached is shown by the fact that the invention of writing was a long-accomplished fact with them. The oldest inscriptions known to us, and which certainly date as far back as 4000 B.C., are already written in a species of character which from similarity to the second Egyptian style of writing has been called hieratic, and it has been proved that this hieratic style of writing has been evolved from older hieroglyphics, long since fallen into disuse.

It is not known whether any other material than stone or clay was used to write upon, and whether in such case syllabic writing was used or not. It has been surmised that the Babylonians and Assyrians also used, and perhaps exclusively at first, papyrus, leather, and other soft materials to write upon, and engraved upon stone or clay only such matter as they wished to preserve. This is not improbable, even though we do not possess any such manuscripts. For as a matter of course the first named materials could not withstand the Babylonian climate as well as the Egyptian, and only the last named are proof against fire and water. It is a fact, however, that the bas-reliefs show the scribes recording the number of the slain on soft material, probably leather, as well as upon hard tablets. Whether they also wrote books or letters on papyrus or leather has not been definitely established.

However much the writing of the Babylonians and Assyrians may have been an inheritance from very ancient times, and how much they may be indebted to the early Chaldeans for the single form and the structure of the whole system, the cuneiform writing in which they represented their language was their own invention in more than one respect, since they did not thoughtlessly use what was ready to hand, but modified and altered it with deliberation.

Writing was also used by the Babylonians and Assyrians for purely literary purposes. The narratives, legends, or poems were inscribed on tablets of clay, and if in case of a work of greater size, the two sides covered with microscopic characters did not suffice, a series of such was used, which were clearly designated and numbered, so that they were in fact leaves of a book. Generally the title of the whole, as usual with the Hebrews, the first words and the first words of the following tablet were inscribed on every tablet. This literature even if limited to the productions of the imagination, is comparatively abundant. Although in this respect it may not equal the literature of some races still living, such as the Chinese, Arabian, Persian, and Indian, nor that of the ancient times of Greece and India, which in the last named country grows as luxuriantly as its vegetation, yet on the other hand, it excels in this respect that of the other Semitic races, the Hebrews not excepted. This is proved not only by the writings so far discovered but also by the catalogues of books in Babylonian libraries or of similar works elsewhere. However, enough has been brought to light, and in a fair state of preservation, to enable us to form an opinion of the literary talent of the Babylonians, and to prove to us what great varieties of it they cultivated.

The Assyrians stand, in a literary sense, in about the same relation to the Babylonians as the Romans to the Greeks, disciples who never equalled their masters, although as far as can be seen, even relatively considered, Roman literature stands higher in relation to Greek than Assyrian stands in relation to Babylonian. The tendency of the Assyrians was warlike, and directed to practical ideas: to found a mighty empire, and to maintain their supremacy was the end for which they strove. Therefore they were more interested in history than in creations of the imagination; purely literary work had little charm for them. Only much later, a desire is awakened in them to become acquainted with the productions of the Babylonians in this field, and to acquire as much as possible of it for themselves. And perhaps even here interest in the ancient religions and national traditions played a greater rôle than love for poetry.

The Assyrians seem to have had more taste for what may be designated the science of the period, than for literature. Here also, they were following the lead of the Babylonians, and accomplished little beyond taking possession of the treasures of the Babylonian libraries. The prestige which attached to the Babylonians in antiquity as the earliest cultivators of science is well known, although some thought that they had borrowed it from the Egyptians. Without doubt they reached the greatest eminence in antiquity in the knowledge of astronomy. Kalisthenes sent Aristotle astronomical observations from Babylon, which, according to the most moderate statement, reach back to 1903 before Alexander, i.e., 2324 B.C.; and there is nothing improbable in this. The number of eclipses mentioned on the astronomical tablets would lead to a conclusion that there was an even longer period of recorded calculations. It may be that the Ziggurat of the temples, which originally had a religious significance, might, in Assyria at least, have been used as observatories. It has even been surmised that the Babylonians had some sort of a telescope, and this surmise rests upon the finding of a lens in the ruins, and upon the fact that they were acquainted with the planet Saturn, which is invisible to the naked eye; but this doss not seem probable. One thing is certain, they gave names to the constellations, especially to the signs of the Zodiac, which have in part remained in use. They were acquainted with five planets, and distinguished them very exactly from the other heavenly bodies. They observed, and with great accuracy, the eclipses of the sun and moon, perhaps also the sun spots, the comets, the orbit of Venus, and the position of the Polar star; but they had some very childish ideas about the causes of eclipses and the character of the other heavenly phenomena. Naturally the Milky Way did not escape their observation. They even calculated the regular recurrence of eclipses of the moon as well as its phases.

A few of the mathematical tablets extant prove that they had made great progress in arithmetic and higher mathematics, so indispensable to the study of astronomy. The prevalent system was the sexagesimal, with the 60 as the unit, but the decimal system seems to have been known and used. However in spite of the recognition of the high value of these researches, they hardly deserve the name of science. These researches were certainly not undertaken from a love of science. The prime object, no doubt, was to discover the will of the gods in regard to the future. The science of mathematics itself was made subservient to the art of divination. Astronomy was a secondary object, astrology the principal one. Knowledge was sought of what must happen when there should be a recurrence of certain phases of stars and heavenly bodies. All observations of planets, comets, and other stars, of eclipses and other phenomena, were immediately connected with occurrences on earth, which at some former time had fallen in conjunction with them and consequently must be expected again.

No more were other branches of science besides astronomy cultivated for their own sakes. Their science of medicine was based almost entirely upon magic, and appears to have stood on a lower plane than that of the Egyptians, at least in so far as the still existing inscriptions will permit us to judge. They indeed used as did the Vedic Indians external and internal remedies, but they probably regarded them as charms; whatever progress they may have made in the science of medicine, the records of it in the ancient inscriptions prove that it was somewhat less than what we know of the Vedic physicians and their cures. Thus it is rather an exaggeration to speak of physical, geographical, grammatical, and mythological writings of the Babylonians and Assyrians, unless the myths and legends belonging to literature already discussed are meant.

There are various reasons for the supposition that each of the Babylonian libraries according to the studies of the several religious and scientific schools had a distinctive character. The Assyrian libraries, on the other hand, being all of later date, had more general and more varied contents.

The idea that these libraries were for the use of the general public, is not well founded, and rather improbable. They were probably designed in the first place, for the learned men and scribes of the king, as well as for his own use, for the instruction of his sons, and future officials, as well as for archives of the state. They do not in the least prove that culture, learning, and erudition were the property of all classes in Assyria.h

Epistolary Literature

At the same time the large number of written private documents which have been unearthed—the letters and contract tablets—show that writing was not an unusual thing among the people as a whole.

From one point of view these old letters are the most interesting form of Babylonian literature because they show better than anything else the real life of the nation. At first thought it may seem that a correspondence on clay must have been cumbersome, but most of these little letters were not so large as an ordinary envelope and some of them were only two or three inches long, and could easily be carried in the pocket. Some of them were enclosed in an outer envelope of clay which frequently contained a copy of the real document within.

In connection with the code of Khammurabi, his correspondence with one of his officials, Sin-idinnam, is particularly interesting because in these letters we find references to the same subjects which are treated of in the laws. In them all, we see Khammurabi attending to the minutest affairs of his kingdom, taking a personal interest in everything. It seems to have been a comparatively easy matter to get the king’s ear. He received letters complaining of things we should perhaps consider beneath the notice of a powerful king, and he seems to have devoted careful thought to all.

The letters of Khammurabi have been edited and translated by Mr. L. W. King, of the British Museum. They have been also translated by Dr. G. Nageli for a doctor’s dissertation, at Berlin, and published in the Beiträge zur Assyriologie, vol. IV. Some of the latter’s translations are given below.a

To Sin-idinnam say: Thus saith Khammurabi. Naram-Sin the keeper of flocks hath said: “To the leaders of the troops have our shepherd lads been given.” Thus did he say. The shepherd lads of Apil-Shamash and of Naram-Sin must not be given to the troopers. Now send to Etil-hi-Marduk and his fellows that they give back the shepherd lads of Apil-Shamash and of Naram-Sin which they have taken.

To Sin-idinnam say: Thus saith Khammurabi. The whole canal was dug, but it was not dug clear into Erech, so that water does not come into the city. Also … on the bank of the Duru canal has fallen in. This labour is not too much for the people at thy command to do in three days. Directly upon receipt of this writing dig the canal with all the people at thy command, clear into the city of Erech, within three days. As soon as thou hast dug the canal, do the work which I have commanded thee.

To Sin-idinnam say: Thus saith Khammurabi. Tummumu of Nippur has announced to me as follows: “In the place Unaburu (?) I deposited seventy tons of grain in a granary (?). Avel-ilu has opened the granary and taken the grain.” Thus did he tell me. See, I am sending Tummumu to thee with this. Let Avel-ilu be brought before thee. Examine their dispute. The grain belonging to Tummumu which Avel-ilu took, he shall give back to Tummumu.

To Sin-idinnam say: Thus saith Khammurabi. See, I have ordered and sent Sin-aiaba-iddina, Guzalu and Shatammu to the war. They will reach thee on the 12th day of Marshewan. When they have reached thee, do thou proceed with them. The cows and flocks of thy province, put into safe keeping. Also Nabu-malik, Ilu-naditum, Shamash-mushalim, Sin-usili, Taribum, and Idin-Ninshah shall go with thee and take part in the war.

To Sin-idinnam say: Thus saith Khammurabi. Immediately upon receipt of this letter, have all the keepers of thy temple and Ardi-Shamash, the son of Eriban, the shepherd of the Shamash temple come before thee, together with their complete account. Send them to Babylon to give their account. Let them ride day and night. Within two days they should be in Babylon.i

We also have examples of the private correspondence of the same period, showing the style of letter one Babylonian wrote to another. The following remarks and translations of letters are taken from a dissertation giving letters from the time of Khammurabi.a

The insignificant contents of some of these letters show that letter writing at that time was a general custom and the theory again and again thrusts itself forward that a comparatively regular postal service was already in existence. These letters also show how far Babylonian commerce extended in the second half of the third century before Christ. Every letter throws new light upon that far distant past and helps us to form an ever surer picture of the daily life of the old Babylonian people. Following are a few examples to give an idea of the epistolary style.

To my father say: Thus speaks Elmeshu. May Shamash and Marduk keep my father alive forever. Mayest thou, my father, be in health, mayest thou live. May the protecting deity of my father lift up the head of my father in favour. To greet my father have I written. May the prosperity of my father before Shamash and Marduk endure forever. After Sin and Ramman had spoken thy name, my father, thou, my father, didst speak as follows: “As soon as I come to Der-Ammizadaduga on the Sharku canal, I will send thee, within a short space, a lamb with five mina of silver.” This didst thou say, my father. My father made me expectant, but thou hast sent nothing. Now after thou, my father, hadst started out to Taribu, the queen, I sent a letter to my father. Thou, my father, hast never voluntarily sent anyone who brought (even) a silver shekel. In accordance with the … of Sin and Ramman who have blessed my father, may my father send me that for which I am eager, so will my heart not be grieved, and I will pray for my father to Shamash and Marduk.

To my lord, say: Thus speaketh Belshunu, thy slave. Since I have been confined in prison thou, my lord, hast kept me alive. What is the reason that for five months my lord has neglected me? The house in which I am confined is a house of want. Now I have sent the Mar-abulli (gate-keeper[?]) to you with a letter. I am also ill. May my lord have pity on me, send me corn and vegetables so that I may not die. Send me also a dress to cover my nakedness. Either a half shekel of silver or two mina of wool let him (Mar-abulli) bring, for my service let him bring it. Let not Mar-abulli be sent empty away. If he cometh empty, the dogs will devour me. As thou, my lord, so also every inhabitant of Sippar and Babylon knows that I am confined without guilt; not because of a bilshu, I have been imprisoned. Thou, my lord, didst send me beyond the river to carry oil, but the Sutu people met me and took me captive. Speak a favourable word to the servant of the king’s grand vizir. Send, that I die not in the house of need. Send one ka of oil and five ka of salt. What thou didst send a short time ago was not delivered. Whatever thou sendest, send it well guarded.

To my father say: Thus saith Zimri-erah. May Shamash and Marduk give my father everlasting life. Ibi-Ninshah the younger brother of Nur-ilishu has fallen upon Nabu-atpalam and beaten him; he has also spoken insults concerning me which are not to be endured. I shall beat the young man! Wherefore has he cursed me? I have as yet said nothing to the person. I thought to myself: “I will send to my father, let him send his decision about the matter, and then I will speak to the person.” Now I have sent a tablet to Nabu-atpalam, for information in this matter. Up! make a decision in this matter, send your judgment, give (?) a word.

To the secretary of the merchants of Sippar, Iahruru speak: Thus saith Ammidatitana. The wool dealer has informed me as follows: “I have written to the secretary of the merchants of Sippar, Iahruru to send his spun wool to Babylon, but he has not sent his spun wool.” Thus has he informed me. Why hast thou not sent thy spun wool to Babylon? Since thou hast not feared to do this thing, so send—as soon as thou seest this tablet—thy spun wool to Babylon.

To Appa speak: Thus saith Gimil-Marduk. May Shamash keep thee alive. I have spoken in thy behalf to the person in question and he said; “Let him come so that he may speak.” And the tablets which thou didst take to examine, take them according to thy examination and come quickly.

To Etil-Shamash-iddina speak: Thus saith Avel-Ruhati. May Shamash and Ishtar keep thee alive; I am well. Humtani has given for Amti-Shamash 8⅚ kat and 15 she of silver. To Musalimma, I will give the money wherever he commands. I am going into the service of the king’s daughter. I will quickly send thy desire. Send an answer to my tablet.j

Among the large number of letters which have been preserved it has been possible to find more than one written by the same person, and, by putting these together, to get some idea of the life and character of the writer. The letters of a certain Bel-Ibni are prominent among these. They contain allusions to historical events mentioned on the monuments, thus contributing valuable details to these rather barren records of events. Bel-Ibni himself was a general in the army of Ashurbanapal. Below is a translation of one of these letters made by Dr. C. Johnston,k in the Epistolary literature of the Assyrians and Babylonians in the Journal of the American Oriental Society, vol. XVIII.a

To the lord of kings, my lord, thy servant Bel-Ibni! May Ashur, Shamash and Marduk decree length of days, health of mind and body for the lord of kings, my lord! Shuma, the son of Sham-iddina, son of Gakhal, son of Tammaritu’s sister, fleeing from Elam, reached the (country of the) Dakkha. I took him under my protection and transferred him from Dakkha (hither). He is ill. As soon as he completely recovers his health, I shall send him to the king, my lord.

A messenger has come to him (with the news) that Nadan and the Pukudeans of Til … had a meeting with Nabu-bel-shumate at the city of Targibati, and they took a neutral oath to this effect: “According to agreement we shall send you whatever news we may hear.” To bind the bargain (?) they purchased from him fifty head of cattle, and also said to him: “Our sheep shall come and graze in the pasture (?) among the Ubanateans, in order that you may have confidence in us.” Now (I should advise that) a messenger of my lord, the king, come, and give Nadan plainly to understand as follows: “If thou sendest anything to Elam for sale, or if a single sheep gets over to the Elamite pasture (?) I will not let thee live.” The king, my lord, may thoroughly rely upon my report.k

Professor Delitzsch in an article in the Beiträge zur Assyriologie, vol. I. entitled Beiträge zur Erklärung der babylonisch-assyrischen Brieflitteratur, has given a translation of a letter from the king to this same Bel-Ibni:

The word of the king to Bel-Ibni: May my greeting make glad thy heart! Concerning thy communication about the Pukudeans on the river Charru—In the future, whoever loves the house of his lords, shall communicate whatever he sees and hears to his lords. See! whilst thou inform me concerning the cause of thy communication.l

Some of the letters throw light on religious ceremonies, others are communications from astrologers telling whether or not the signs of the heavens are propitious for certain undertakings. There are still others from physicians telling of patients under their care. The following is translated by Dr. Johnston:a

To the king, my lord, thy servant, Arad-Nana! Greeting most heartily to my lord, the king! May Adar and Gula grant health of mind and body to my lord, the king. A hearty greeting to the son of the king.… With regard to the patient who has a bleeding from his nose, the Rab-mugi reports: “Yesterday, towards evening, there was much hemorrhage.” Those dressings are not scientifically applied. They are placed on the alæ of the nose, oppress the breathing, and come off when there is hemorrhage. Let them be placed within the nostrils, and then the air will be kept away and the hemorrhage restrained. If it is agreeable to my lord, the king, I will go to-morrow and give instructions; (meantime) let me hear how he does.k

Several letters have been preserved of a certain Ishtar-duri, who appears to have lived during the reign of Sargon (722-705 B.C.), and was perhaps identical with the eponym of the same name in the year 714. Dr. Johnston has translated a communication of his to the king:a

To the king, my lord, thy servant Ishtar-duri! Greeting to the king, my lord! I send forthwith to my lord, the king, in company with my messenger, the physicians Nabu-shum-iddina and Nabu-erba, of whom I spoke to the king, my lord. Let them be admitted to the presence of the king, my lord, and let the king, my lord, converse with them. I have not disclosed (to them) the true facts, but have told them nothing. As the king, my lord, commands, (so) has it been done.

Shamash-bel-uçur sends word from Der: “We have no inscriptions to place upon the temple walls.” I send therefore to the king, my lord, (to ask) that one inscription be written out and sent immediately, (and that) the rest be speedily written, so that they may place them upon the temple walls.

There has been a great deal of rain, (but) the harvest is gathered. May the heart of the king, my lord, be of good cheer!k

ART

Art occupies too prominent a position in the life of the Babylonians and Assyrians, and they have produced too much that is original and peculiar to them, for this history to pass over the question in silence. Even a mere sketch of their culture would be incomplete without it. At the same time great precaution is necessary. In the determination of the chronological succession of undated monuments so much depends on subjective valuation and æsthetic judgment that, without a long and conscientious study of the history of art, one is liable to serious error. And the determination of dates largely influences one’s conception of the progress of Babylonian-Assyrian art; æsthetic judgment, one’s decision concerning the character, independence, and value of this artistic effort.

Here again, as in the language, religion, and in the whole civilisation of this people the unity of the Babylonian-Assyrian race comes clearly to light. Whatever differences may exist between Babylonian and Assyrian art in the conception of detail, in certain peculiarities of technique, in the choice of subjects, at bottom they are one. It has ever been characterised as a national school in which one and the same character prevails, so that a work of art, be it from Telloh, Babylon, Nineveh, or Kalah, at once shows its connection with it. All the differences are merely shades, changes caused by time. This is especially noticeable when one considers what material for example was used for building. In Babylonia it is difficult to obtain stone; there are no rocks there. Consequently this material, which had to be brought from a distance, and was therefore expensive, was kept like precious and other metals for the decoration of the whole, for pillars, bas-reliefs, dedicatory inscriptions, etc., or for making a firm foundation, while dried and burnt bricks were used for the buildings themselves. Among the Assyrians this difficulty did not exist. Excellent stone, which was easily worked, was found in close proximity, and the Assyrians understood how to hew and shape it. In spite of this, they imitated the Babylonian custom and used mainly bricks for their buildings. They preferred continually to repair these temples and palaces, which soon fell into ruin, or else to replace them by others, rather than to depart from the traditional mode of building of their ancestors.

The question has been raised as to whether Babylonian-Assyrian art may not perhaps have been a daughter of the Egyptian. Without doubt Assyrian art was at least influenced by it. All the ivory objects which have yet been found are plainly imitations of Egyptian motives, although they were certainly not made by Egyptians, and some of them date from the time of Asshurnazirpal. The lotus ornament also, which is so often used as a temple decoration, points to an Egyptian origin. Perhaps, however, the models were not borrowed directly from the Egyptians. Certain dishes and cups for drink-offering, which occur in Mesopotamia, as well as in western Asia and southern Europe, are plainly ornamented with Egyptian cartouches, hieroglyphics, and symbols, but in such a divergent form that no Egyptian could have made them; and these objects have the name of the artificer in Aramaic characters on the border or back. It is thus plainly to be seen that this Egyptian fashion wandered into Assyria through the influence of Aramäen artists.

When it is acknowledged, however, that Egyptian patterns were imitated by the Assyrians at a comparatively late date, and that Egyptian motives were borrowed from her artists, it does not by any means follow that Babylonian-Assyrian art as a whole was of Egyptian origin. This could be proved only from the oldest monuments to be found in Babylonia. It was in fact believed, when the art works of Telloh first became known, that they showed a great similarity to the products of Egyptian art. They displayed the same simplicity and naïveness, the same clean-shorn heads and faces, and many other coincidences. The connoisseurs of art, however, believe differently. The similarity is great; nevertheless a careful examination shows the independence of Babylonian art in respect to Egyptian. Thus in the oldest monuments the same peculiarities, truth and strength, appear, which in the later development of art among the Assyrians were so greatly exaggerated, whereas they are wholly lacking in Egyptian figures.

A further similarity is found between the oldest pyramids in the Nile valley and the Babylonian-Assyrian Ziggurat. In the first place, however, the pyramids had a wholly different object from the Ziggurat, and, in the second place, it must not be forgotten that the Babylonian temple architecture varies greatly from the Egyptian. If there is any dependence it is not on the side of the Chaldeans; they did not borrow their art from the Egyptians. At the same time the similarities are so remarkable, especially between the old Chaldaic statues and the oldest productions of Egyptian sculpture, such as the statues of Shafra, Chufu, and Ra-em-ke, that we are compelled here, as in the case of the writing, to suppose a common stock out of which both branches grew independently and in a way peculiar to each.

The important discoveries made by the French consul, De Sarsac, at Telloh have first thrown some light on the old Chaldean art in which the whole Babylonian-Assyrian art has taken its origin. The question as to whether the works of art found there are Semitic or non-Semitic does not concern us here. It is more probably the latter. At any rate we are here confronted with a civilisation preceding the flourishing period of the known Semitic dominion in Babylonia. A temple was found there 53 by 31 metres square which shows the same fundamental plan as the later Chaldean architecture, that is, a structure of burnt on a foundation of dried brick, the corners exactly facing the points of the compass (not the side as in Egypt), a Ziggurat in the centre, the whole, as is seen from stamps on the stones, dating from the time of the priest-prince Gudra, who is known from other sources, and who rebuilt or founded this temple. Besides, a large number of larger and smaller works of art were discovered, cylinders, reliefs, bronze objects, especially statues, which had been collected either by the ruler already mentioned or by other priestly princes or kings.h

Before building a temple or palace, a religious ceremony took place corresponding to what we call to-day laying the corner-stone. Nabuna’id relates that in the ruins of the oldest Chaldean temples he looked for the foundation stone, the temen which the original kings had placed there, and that he had the good fortune to find this corner-stone, whereas several of his predecessors had excavated only in vain. In our days such cylindrical tubes have been found covered with close writing difficult to decipher, which had been placed in little niches at the corners of the foundation facing the four points of the compass. Thus at Nimrod, Rawlinson caused excavations to be carried on in one of the corners of the tower, feeling sure that he would find objects similar to those which had been met with elsewhere. He relates his discovery as follows: “At the end of half an hour a small cavity was found. ‘Bring me,’” said Rawlinson to the man in charge of the digging, “‘bring me the dedicatory cylinder.’ The workman put his hand into the hole and showed the cylinder; those present could not believe their eyes and looked at each other in amazement. The cylinder, covered with inscriptions, then came out of the hiding-place where it had been placed probably by the hands of Nebuchadrezzar himself, and where it had lain for twenty-nine centuries.” In the fruitful excavations which he undertook at Telloh, De Sarsac made similar discoveries. “I found,” said he, “at a depth of scarcely thirty centimeters under the original soil, four cubes of masonry of large bricks and bitumen, measuring eighty centimeters on each side. In the centre of these cubes was a cavity of twenty-seven centimeters by twelve and by thirty-five of depth. This cavity filled with yellow sand enclosed a statuette of bronze, representing now a man kneeling, again a woman standing, sometimes also a bull. At the foot of each statue, usually embedded in the bitumen which lined the cavity, were found two stone tablets, one white, the other black. It was the black one which usually bore an inscription in cuneiform characters, like or almost like the one carved on the figure of bronze.” Moreover De Sarsac in place of statuettes found cones of clay in the shape of large nails with hemispherical heads, and having an inscription around the stem.m

It has been believed that three stages of development may be detected in this ancient art. To the first belong the reliefs, which represent scenes of war and burial which have not yet been satisfactorily explained, drawn very awkwardly and comparatively rough and primitive. This stage represents the infancy of art. To the second stage are counted the eight statues of Gudea and the one of Ur-ba-’u which are carved with great skill and fine artistic feeling out of hard stone, as it appears of diorite.

The strength which characterises the sculptural efforts of the Babylonians and especially of the Assyrians, is already manifest, although without that exaggeration of the muscles and joints which is so pronounced with the latter. Hands and feet in particular are most carefully executed. The heads are totally different from the hairy and bearded Assyrian, or even early Babylonian heads. They are perfectly clean shaven, but sometimes seemingly decked with an artificial hair arrangement or something of that sort; all just as in Egypt. In addition, an attempt to suggest the folds of draperies is seen, which we do not find among the Babylonians and Assyrians nor the Egyptians, but only later among the Persians and Greeks. In the third so-called classic period are placed works of art of most finished execution, which show a decided advance, among which are pictures, in which beard and hair are worked out with the greatest care.

It would be exaggerated scepticism to deny that these art productions exceed in antiquity, nearly everything found in Babylonia until now. The only exception could be the beautiful cylinder of the time of Sargon I, if we assume that this monarch reigned about 3800 B.C., and that this work of art is of his time. But this is by no means established as a fact.

It can also not be denied that these creations of early Chaldaic art, although in some instances only feeble attempts, in others, however, are of such finished perfection, that in succeeding periods they were never excelled and seldom equalled.

We have here a similar case to one in Egypt, where, for instance, under the kings of the fourth dynasty, sculpture reached an eminence, which nothing of later date ever approached, and where the oldest works of art have a value which none of the Egyptian sculptures of the following centuries can claim. In both these countries therefore there is an early, surprisingly rapid development, followed by a speedy decline; where even in succeeding brilliant epochs no successful attempts to equal the results of the first florescence were ever made. Such a phenomenon is all the more striking when it is considered that these later epochs, whether in Egypt, in Babel, or in Asshur, were by no means periods of degeneration, but show, although with continual fluctuations, marked progress in literature, science, government, and general culture. It seems probable that the cause lies in the difference of race. The artists who carved the statues of King Schafra, were no more Semites than, judging from all appearances and from the facial types of the monarchs, pictured, were the sculptors who immortalised King Gudea. Later on the Egyptian population became more and more affected by Semitic elements, and under the increasing influence of the Semites, art declined.

Not until under the Saits, who certainly were not descended from a race intermixed with Semitic blood, did art rise again to a height which recalled the palmy days of the ancient realm. Thus early Chaldaic art was the mother of that of Babylonia and Assyria, and the Semites of Babylon and Asshur proved themselves diligent students, gifted imitators, who gave to their works also the stamp of their own genius; but they were never more than students and imitators, they never produced anything original which might stand in equality by the side of early Chaldaic art. The Semitic race occupies one of the foremost positions in the history of civilisation, and is highly talented. But in architecture and sculpture it has always worked in close connection with foreign masters, and never produced anything really great by itself. The further it goes from the ancient centres, where the great tradition of the former so highly developed art still lived on, the more unskilful become its productions in this field. Assyria where the Semitic blood was purer than in Babylonia, and which was certainly surpassed in art by the latter, Phœnicia, Palestine, and Arabia, are proofs of this. Only when the Semites have handed down the old tradition which they have at least preserved, to the Aryans, the Persians, and Greeks, is there an independent higher development of plastic art. Be that as it may, considered as artists, the Babylonians and Assyrians stand foremost among the Semites, but they are indebted for this to the early Chaldeans.

The character of the Babylonian-Assyrian building has remained in general about the same, from the earliest times, until the destruction of the nation. The architect, more than any other artist, is dependent upon the nature of the material at his disposal; and this in Babylonia was almost exclusively in the form of tiles of clay, either dried in the sun, or baked in the fire. The former, which were made most skilfully in Babylonia, were generally used for foundations, either by simply placing them in layers, or cementing them with wet clay or pitch, or, as in the substructures of the Assyrian palaces, by using them while still in a moist condition, in order that under the pressure of the superstructure they might be united in one solid mass. For the covering of the walls, baked tiles were used. Enamelled or glazed bricks were used in those parts of the building which were most exposed to moisture or the changes of the weather. In Assyria where stone was not expensive this was also used as the outer coating of walls. This, however, is the only important variation which the Assyrian architects allowed themselves. Although it would have been easier for them to erect more beautiful, more pleasing, and certainly more durable buildings of stone, they were not able to rise to the attempt, although they had only to carry out and use in larger measure what had already been found in Chaldea. A short step was indeed taken in this direction.

The Babylonians already knew how to make wooden pillars or columns, probably covered with metal, and made use of them in lighter architecture, as for instance the Naos, or canopy over the figures of the gods. The Assyrians not only copied this, but built columns of stone, and a certain originality and gracefulness in the capitals and bases of their pillars is not to be denied. However, the column never played the same important rôle in their architecture as it does, for instance, in the Græco-Roman and even in the Egyptian. In their great buildings they clung almost servilely to the designs handed down during centuries. The question as to whether the buildings had more than one story, was formerly almost generally admitted as a fact, but it is generally denied now, and can really hardly be determined. The ruins give no positive support to either theory; but a few reliefs give representations of two-storied buildings.

Tile construction presents necessarily a certain monotony which is here accentuated by the absence of windows. To relieve this monotony, glazing, colouring, or woodwork were resorted to, in case the use of columns was excluded; sometimes more artistic measures were used, such as projecting pilasters, which in Chaldea were somewhat crude, but richly ornamented in Assyria; also mosaics of conical form, or decorations of vases on the walls. The upper stones of the walls were decorated with battlements. The inner, as well as the outer walls, had a stone covering up to a certain height, and higher up a polychromatic layer of stucco. Ivory, and particularly bronze decorations, were much employed. In spite of all this, the impression given by Babylonian and Assyrian buildings is one of massiveness, almost clumsiness, and the decorations seem childish, paltry, and commonplace. Hence also the disproportion of length and breadth, in other words the elongated form of the rooms, whose roof not being supported by columns, had to rest on the side walls, and whose breadth depended on the length of the roof beams.

On the other hand, the almost exclusive use of tiles had this advantageous result, that it was almost imperative to make prodigal use of arch and vault construction. That the Chaldaic architects were the inventors of these constructions, with which the Etruscans were formerly erroneously credited, cannot be positively affirmed, for they are also found in Egypt, although seldom made use of there. Without doubt, however, the Babylonians and Assyrians developed them greatly and knew how to make use of them with great skill. From the false arch, which is formed by allowing each succeeding layer of stone to project over the foregoing one, to the finished arch, all kinds are represented by them. Not only were all underground canals and sewers, vaults of masonry, but all gateways ended in arches, and even the ceilings of some apartments, particularly those in the part of the palaces which seems to have been the harem were wholly or partially vaulted.

The Babylonians and Assyrians have built extensively many and great cities enclosed within mighty walls, extended palaces and peculiar temples. They cannot be enumerated here or even described in general terms.

A few important points, however, may be touched upon. In the first place it must be noticed that, while in Egypt the monumental buildings were tombs and temples, in Babylon and Asshur they were mainly palaces. Although no pains nor expense were spared in the erection of the temples, they were smaller than the palaces, of which they were in some cases certainly annexes.

The tombs were constructed with great care, in order to guard against the rapid decay of the corpses, yet the inhabitants of Mesopotamia never reached the same degree of perfection in the embalming of bodies as the Egyptians: they were also fitted out with everything that, according to their faith, was necessary for the dead, but they were piled upon each other, and thus excluded from view. Art was not expended upon them; on the other hand, however, all known means of art were used to decorate the residences of the kings and the earthly habitations of the gods in the most splendid and sumptuous manner. Their size increased continually. The early Chaldaic palace discovered at Telloh, had an area of only 53 meters long by 31 broad; the so-called Wasevas at Warka (Erech) was 200 meters long by 150 broad; the palace of Sargon II at Dur-Sharrukin covered an area of about 10 hectares, and contained 30 open courts and more than 200 apartments. Under the Sargonids the rooms also became larger. One in the palace of Sennacherib was almost as long as the entire palace at Telloh, i.e., 46 meters long by 12 wide. Another in the palace of Esarhaddon, which was intended to be 15 meters by 12 meters, remained unfinished, probably on account of the difficulty of construction. The palace of Asshurbanapal was of somewhat smaller, though still magnificent proportions. The great palace of Nebuchadrezzar II, consisting of the old palace of his father and a new one constructed by him and joined to the old, has not yet been sufficiently explored, but according to the descriptions, must have surpassed in splendour, if not in size, all those of his predecessors. All palaces were constructed on the same plan, and contained separate living apartments for the king and his court, for his wives, for the lower court officials, and, as it appears, also a temple with various sanctuaries and a tower.

Too little is as yet known of the Babylonian-Assyrian temples to judge with any certainty of their style of architecture. Here and there, remains of temples have been found, but it has not yet been proved that the buildings designated as temples were really devoted to religious purposes. Most of the temples seem to have been small, at any rate not intended for large assemblages. The altar stood outside and consequently the religious services must usually have taken place there.

Every large town had many temples but always only one Ziggurat. This constituted only one part of the principal temple, albeit the most prominent one. There were various kinds of such towers, of three or more, sometimes seven stories, which were attainable by a single inclined plane encircling the whole building, or a double one rising on two sides of it. The ground plan was a perfect square in some, in others a parallelogram; all rested, however, on a massive substructure, and seem to have been crowned with a small sanctuary.

Although these principal temples, including the Ziggurat, were not of equal extent with the royal palaces, they were nevertheless imposing buildings, and the towers in particular were erected with much care and at great expense. It would be wrong to conclude from this ratio of temples and palaces that the Assyrians were less religious and more servile than the Egyptians, who, entirely dominated as they were by the dogma of immortality, lavished more care on the tombs of the dead kings than on the habitations of the living ones. The valuable decorations and sculptures which the Assyrians and Babylonians gave to their gods prove their pious tendency. In reality the whole palace was a sacred edifice in which the representative of the deity lived on earth with and beside his god.

The aid which architecture received from other arts has already been briefly mentioned. There are still a few particulars to be noticed in regard to this point. The Assyrians as well as the Babylonians were skilful workers in bronze. Proofs of this are the bronze door-sill 1½ meters long, found at Borsippa, whose decorations of rosettes and squares are in very good taste, and particularly the bronze gates at Balawat, belonging to the 9th century B.C., which are masterpieces of their kind, and a great number of other remains.

Painting was also employed to decorate the exterior as well as the interior of walls. Ornaments and figures were painted with great skill on stucco, al fresco in such a case, or on tiles which were afterwards glazed. These tiles were sometimes joined to make one picture. In what remains of such work it is shown that painting had attained quite an eminence in Babylon and Asshur. Drawing and grouping are often very successful, and the treatment has often a certain breadth. These paintings are also important because it is seen from them how much conventionality prevailed in Assyrian sculpture. In painting there is nothing of that exaggerated muscularity nor of the almost clumsy strength of the sculptured figures. Beard and hair are not as stiffly curled as in the sculptures, but hang more loosely and naturally.h A beautiful example of glazed tiling has recently been excavated by the Deutsche Orient Gesellschaft at Babylon. It is in the so-called Procession street leading from Babylon to Borsippa; on either side of the street were walls faced with coloured tiles representing a stately procession of lions and other animals, very artistically drawn.a

Sculpture, more than painting, was employed in decorating buildings, the works of which covered the greater part of the palace walls, and ornamented the gateways, courts, terraces, and apartments. The material which the sculptor used in Chaldea was usually valuable stone difficult to procure, such as basalt, dolorite, diorite; in Assyria, generally a commoner, more easily worked species, such as alabaster and sandstone. The difference of material naturally influenced the work itself. Figures of cast bronze are also often found.

The inscriptions of the Babylonian kings often speak of columns erected in honour of the gods, of which some were made of solid gold or silver, others only coated with precious metal, and the Assyrian kings also mention such dedications. Naturally the columns of precious metal have not survived, but a great number of stone pillars have been found. It may be chance, that the greater number of statues in the round are from Babylon, the greater number of bas-reliefs from Assyria. The objects of these surviving sculptures are mainly of a religious or historical character. But rarely does a representation of the domestic life of the monarch or other social circles appear.

Only once is a banquet pictured, that of king Asshurbanapal and his queen. Otherwise no women, except captives, appear in the reliefs. On the whole little tendency is shown to represent female beauty and grace, as compared with the Egyptians and especially with the Greeks. The nude female figure is seldom pictured, and if so, in a repulsively realistic form, as in the small figures of the mother goddess. Cheerful or comic scenes, which are not wanting even in Egyptian reliefs and vignettes, are never found here. Hasty conclusions, however, should not be drawn from this, and it should not be forgotten, that most of the surviving reliefs are from the palaces, few from the temples, still fewer from the tombs, and none at all from private residences. This is doubtless one of the reasons why representations of domestic or private life are so scarce. In fact, in a few of the tombs reliefs have been found whose subjects recall favourite representations in those of Egypt. Most prevalent certainly, are those scenes relating to religious and public life.

In the treatment of these objects, truth is often sacrificed to certain conventionalities. Thus for instance the Lamassi and Shedi, the man-headed lions and bulls have five legs, in order that they may always present four to the eye, whether viewed from the front or the side; the heads are usually represented in profile with the eyes in full face, but sometimes in full face, although the image presents a side view to the beholder, which was also customary in Egypt; so also, the stiff curling of the hair and beard is unnatural. Apparently no attempt had ever been made in Egypt to make portraits of historical personages, and the individual differences of rank and condition can only be recognised by objects of secondary importance. There is, however, still some doubt upon this point. There is indeed a great uniformity, but an attempt at least to differentiate facial traits cannot be overlooked. Ignoring all accessories, the features differ among kings and higher courtiers on the one hand, and lower men-at-arms on the other, among men and eunuchs, among adults and youths. Wherever the artists of Mesopotamia were not limited by conventionality,—notably in the representation of animals,—they have surpassed in accuracy, in truth and strength of representation all other nations of antiquity, the Greeks hardly excepted. This is particularly true of the representation of native animals, yet foreign ones were treated with great skill, although the delineation of these betrays less practice. Even in the picturing of therianthropic deities, they remain as true to nature as possible, and with much taste and tact allow the human attributes of the figure to predominate. Wherever it is possible to partially or wholly break away from tradition, their talent is displayed in a manner truly marvellous. Their only prominent fault is their exaggerated realism, which shows itself not only in the monstrous drawing of muscles and joints, but also in the disgusting details of the nude figures of Astarte.

Too little of the sculpture of the new Babylonian realm has been preserved to allow judgment of the state of art during this period. The well known carving of Nebuchadrezzar II on a cameo would force us to have a very high opinion of it, if convincing reasons did not argue that, although genuine, it is the work of a foreign, probably a Cyprian, artist.

There is no doubt that the art of music was cultivated among the Babylonians and Assyrians, since the reliefs show musicians very frequently, at religious festivals, at triumphal greetings of the victorious king and at festivities. They play singly or in concert, and also accompany singing. The musical instruments are of various kinds, and the musicians, who are sometimes very daintily attired, are not always eunuchs, and are of different ages.

On the whole it must be conceded, that the Assyrio-Babylonian nation was artistically inclined and that it cultivated various branches of art with talent and success. If they, the Assyrians in particular, had been able to free themselves from tradition, they might have surpassed their predecessors and teachers. They practised art, however, not for itself alone, but as a means of glorifying the gods or the kings, and the historical reliefs at least, are for the greater part nothing more than illustrations to the inscriptions, a sort of war-report in pictures. They were not an artistic people like the Greeks. Still they have produced more and better results in this respect, than all other nations of their race put together. And although in some special instances they may have been excelled by the Egyptians, in others they are far in advance of them. The Assyrians, following the example of the Babylonians, showed their artistic talents also in the productions of their industries; art and industry were with them closely related.

Among the productions to be considered here are primarily the hundreds of seals, which are still in preservation, and whose number will not seem so surprising when it is remembered that every Babylonian and Assyrian of quality had his private seal. In early times these were always, and in later times generally, cylinders, pierced through the centre, to be worn around the neck suspended from a cord. The impression was made by rolling them over moist clay. After the eighth century conical and half-spherical seals appear. These cylinders are made of many different materials, at first, of easily carved, later of harder, material, such as porphyry, basalt, ferruginous marble, serpentine, syenite and hematite. After that, semi-precious stones were used, jasper, agate, onyx, chalcedony, rock-crystal, garnet, etc. In the oldest stones the pictured objects were rather suggested by indentations and strokes, than actually executed and carved; but gradually a great skilfulness was attained, and there are beautiful cuttings in the hard stones also. The execution varied greatly of course, not only in proportion to the talent of the artist, but also according to the rank and wealth of the person who gave the commission. The subjects chosen are mostly of a religious nature, the adoration of a goddess, an offering of sacrifice, various emblems such as winged animals, sun, moon, and stars, and very frequently the tree of life, in whose shadow stand two persons, or which is guarded by two genii. Under the new Babylonian dominion and under the Achamenides, glyptics as an art declined rapidly.

Ceramic art seems not to have occupied a very lofty position in Babylonia at first. Clay vases and utensils, during a long period made by hand, are crude and inartistic in earliest times. Gradually with the introduction of the potter’s wheel, however, they become more graceful in form, and towards the end of the Assyrian period are enamelled and decorated with patterns painted in colours. However, Babylonian ceramic art cannot compete with that of Greece, although it surpasses that of Egypt. Glass has not been found in large quantities, to be sure, but quite advanced progress had been made in its manufacture. The Assyrians and Babylonians showed particular skill in the working of metals. Bronze, a mixture of copper and tin, was known to them in the earliest times. They had a knowledge of iron earlier than the Egyptians, and certainly made much greater use of it. Gold objects are commoner than those of silver, and lead is seldom used. Ornaments, such as bracelets, ear-rings, and necklaces are usually cast of precious metal and often inlaid with pearls. It may be taken as a proof of highly advanced culture that they used not only spoons, but forks, a luxury introduced into Europe only at the close of the Middle Ages, and that toilet articles, such as combs, pins, etc., were ornamented with the greatest care and skill.

The Assyrians were also more skilled in mechanics than the Egyptians and were not inferior to them in agriculture. Two reliefs, one Assyrian, the other Egyptian, give us an opportunity to compare how each nation overcame the difficulties attending the moving and putting in place of their enormous collossi of stone. It is shown that the Assyrians knew the use of the lever, which the Egyptians did not, and that they took much greater precautions against upsetting the collossi. How the Babylonians and Assyrians, like the Egyptians and Chinese, made use of irrigation is well known. On the same tablets with the records of their deeds of war, the rulers often spoke of the laying out of canals, the regulating and deepening of the river beds “enduring waters for the enduring use of town and country,” and associated their own names with them. On account of the higher altitude of their country than that of their southern brethren, the Assyrians had to surmount greater difficulties in achieving such works, but this did not deter them from rivalry with them. One canal leading from the Upper Zab and one of its tributaries, irrigated the region between this river and the Tigris, and also supplied the capital, Kalah, with drinking water.

Sennacherib did something similar for Nineveh, which together with its environs was completely dependent upon rain. He had a network of canals constructed, which were fed, partly by the Khushur, and partly by the small mountain brooks of the Accad and Tash mountains. Here also two objects were attained, to furnish Nineveh with good drinking water, and to make the surrounding country fruitful; for the king had it all planted with many kinds of plants, among which was the vine. Floriculture was also much encouraged by the kings of Babylon and Asshur. They admired beautiful parks in which strange foreign animals were bred and nurtured. Marduk-bel-iddin, king of Bit-Yakin, apparently the same who at one time overcame Babylon, owned sixty-seven vegetable gardens and six parks of which a catalogue still exists, although he was constantly at war or guarding against the vengeance of the Assyrians.h

Assyrian Art

But the world-historic relations of Mesopotamian art are best brought out by a study of the later and more perfectly preserved examples of Assyrian craftsmanship. It was the Assyrian who borrowed more directly from the Egyptian in developing his art, and who passed on artistic impulses to the Persians on the one hand, and to the Greeks on the other. The question to what extent the Assyrians were themselves influenced by the Mycenæan art of early Greece is one regarding which students of the subject are not agreed, and which we need not enter upon here.a

It is impossible to examine the monuments of Assyria without being convinced that the people who raised them had acquired a skill in sculpture and painting, and a knowledge of design and even composition, indicating an advanced state of civilisation. It is very remarkable that the most ancient ruins show this knowledge in the greatest perfection attained by the Assyrians. The bas-relief representing the lion hunt, now in the British Museum, is a good illustration of the earliest school of Assyrian art yet known. It far exceeds the sculptures of Khorsabad, Kuyunjik, or the later palaces of Nimrud, in the vigour of the treatment, the elegance of the forms, and in what the French aptly term mouvement. At the same time it is eminently distinguished from them by the evident attempt at composition—by the artistical arrangement of the groups. The sculptors who worked at Khorsabad and Kuyunjik had perhaps acquired more skill in handling their tools. Their work is frequently superior to that of the earlier artists in delicacy of execution—in the details of the features, for instance—and in the boldness of the relief; but the slightest acquaintance with Assyrian monuments will show that they were greatly inferior to their ancestors in the higher branches of art—in the treatment of a subject and in beauty and variety of form. This decline of art, after suddenly attaining its greatest perfection in its earliest stage, is a fact presented by almost every people, ancient and modern, with which we are acquainted. In Egypt the most ancient monuments display the purest forms and the most elegant decorations. A rapid retrogression, after a certain period, is apparent, and the state of art serves to indicate approximately the epoch of most of her remains. In the history of Greek and Roman art this sudden rise and rapid fall are equally well known. Even changes in royal dynasties have had an influence upon art, as a glance at monuments of that part of the East of which we are specially treating will show. Thus the sculpture of Persia, as that of Assyria, was in its best state at the time of the earliest monarchs, and gradually declined until the fall of the empire. After the Greek invasion it revived under the first kings of the Arsacid branch, Greek taste still exercising an influence over the Iranian provinces. How rapidly art degenerated to the most barbarous forms, the medals and monuments of the later Arsacids abundantly prove. When the Sassanians restored the old Persian monarchy and introduced the ancient religion and sacred ceremonies of the empire, art again appears to have received a momentary impulse. The coins, gems, and rock sculptures of the first kings of this dynasty are distinguished by considerable elegance, and spirit of design, and beauty of form. But the decay was as rapid under them as it had been under their predecessors. Even before the Chosroes raised the glory and power of the empire to its highest pitch, art was fast degenerating. By the time of Yezdigird it had become even more rude and barbarous than in the last days of the Arsacids.

This decline in art may be accounted for by supposing that, in the infancy of a people, or after the occurrence of any great event having a very decided influence upon their manners, their religion, or their political state, nature was the chief, if not the only, object of study. When a certain proficiency had been attained, and no violent changes took place to shake the established order of things, the artist, instead of endeavouring to imitate that which he saw in nature, received as correct delineations the works of his predecessors, and made them his types and his models. In some countries, as in Egypt, religion may have contributed to this result. Whilst the imagination, as well as the hand, was fettered by prejudices, and even by laws, or whilst indolence or ignorance led to the mere servile copying of what had been done before, it may easily be conceived how rapidly a deviation from correctness of form would take place. As each transmitted the errors of those who had preceded him, and added to them himself, it is not wonderful if, ere long, the whole became one great error. It is to be feared that this prescriptive love of imitation has exercised no less influence on modern art than it did upon the arts of the ancients.

As the earliest specimens of Assyrian art which we possess are the best, it is natural to conclude that either there are other monuments still undiscovered which would tend to show a gradual progression, or that such monuments did once exist, but have long since perished; otherwise it must be inferred that those who raised the most ancient Assyrian edifice derived their knowledge directly from another people, or merely imitated what they had seen in a foreign land. Some are inclined to look upon the style and character of these early sculptures as purely Egyptian. But there is such a disparity in the mode of treatment and in the execution, that the Egyptian origin of Assyrian art appears to me to be a question open to considerable doubt. That which they have in common would mark the first efforts of any people of a certain intellectual order to imitate nature. The want of relative proportions in the figures and the ignorance of perspective—the full eye in the side face and the bodies of the dead scattered above or below the principal figures—are as characteristic of all early productions of art as they are of the rude attempts at delineation of children. It is only in the later monuments of Nineveh that we find evident and direct traces of Egyptian influence: as in the sitting sphinxes and ivories of Nimrud, and in the lotus-shaped ornaments of Khorsabad and Kuyunjik; perhaps also in the custom which then prevailed of inserting the name of the king, or of the castle, upon or immediately above their sculptured representations. Neither the ornaments of the earliest palace of Nimrud, nor the costumes, nor the elaborate nature of the embroideries upon the robes, with the groups of human figures and animals, nor the mythological symbols, are of an Egyptian character; they show a very different taste and style.

The principal distinction between Assyrian and Egyptian art appears to be that in the one conventional forms were much more strictly adhered to than in the other. The angular mode of treatment, so conspicuous in Egyptian monuments, even in the delineation of every object, is not perceivable in those of Assyria. Had the arts of the two countries been derived from the same source—or had one been imitated from the other—they would both surely have displayed the same striking peculiarity. The Assyrians, less fettered, sought to imitate nature more closely, however rude and unsuccessful their attempts may have been; and this is proved by the constant endeavour to show the muscles, veins, and anatomical proportions of the human figure.

We must not lose sight of the assertion of Moses of Chorene—derived no doubt from ancient traditions, if not from direct historical evidence—that when Ninus founded the Assyrian Empire, a people far advanced in civilisation and in the knowledge of the arts and sciences, whose works the conquerors endeavoured to destroy, were already in possession of the country. Who that people may have been, we cannot now even conjecture. The same mystery hangs over the origin of the arts in Egypt and in Assyria. They may have been derived, before the introduction of any conventional forms, from a common source—from a people whose very name, and the proofs of whose former existence, may have perished even before tradition begins.

The monuments of Assyria furnish us with very important data, as to the origin of many branches of art, subsequently brought to the highest perfection in Asia Minor and Greece. I conceive the Assyrian influence on Asia Minor to have been twofold. In the first place, direct, during the time of the greatest prosperity of the Assyrian monarchy or empire, when, as it has been shown, the power of its kings extended over that country; in the second, indirect, through Persia, after the destruction of Nineveh. Of the influence exercised upon the arts of western Asia, during the early occupation of the Assyrians, few traces have hitherto been discovered, unless the remarkable monuments on the site of ancient Pteria, or Pterium, belong to this period. The evident connection between the divinities and sacred emblems worshipped in various parts of Asia Minor, and those of Assyria will be hereafter particularly pointed out. The Assyrian origin of these monuments, and of these religious symbols, once admitted, we shall have no difficulty in recognising the influence of Assyria on the arts and customs of Asia Minor. The antiquities of that country, prior to a well-known period, the Persian occupation, have been but little investigated. Few remains of an earlier epoch have yet been discovered. That such remains do exist, perhaps buried under ground, I have little doubt. It is most probable that, as we have additional materials for inquiry, we shall be still more convinced of this Assyrian influence, pointed out by Herodotus, when he declares the founder of the kingdom of Lydia to have been a descendant of Ninus, and by other authors, who mention the Syrian, or Assyrian, descent of many nations of Asia Minor.

But the second, or indirect, period of this influence is very fully and completely illustrated by the monuments of Asia Minor, of the time of the Persian domination. The known connection between these monuments and the archaic forms of Greek art renders this part of the inquiry both important and interesting. The Xanthian marbles, acquired for England by Sir Charles Fellows, and now in the British Museum, are remarkable illustrations of the threefold connection between Assyria and Persia, Persia and Asia Minor, and Asia Minor and Greece. Were those marbles properly arranged, and placed in chronological order, they would afford a most useful lesson, and would enable even a superficial observer to trace the gradual progress of art from its primitive rudeness to the most classic conceptions of the Greek sculptor. Not that he would find either style, the pure Assyrian or the Greek, in its greatest perfection; but he would be able to see how a closer imitation of nature, a gradual refinement of taste and additional study, had converted the hard and rigid lines of the Assyrians into the flowing draperies and classic forms of the highest order of art.

I have termed this second period that of indirect influence, because the arts did not then penetrate directly into Asia Minor from Assyria, but were conveyed thither through the Persians. The Assyrian Empire had already existed for centuries, and had exercised the supreme power over Asia, before it was disputed by the kingdoms of Persia and Media, united under one monarch. The Persians were probably a rude people, possessing neither a literature nor arts of their own, but deriving what they had from their civilised neighbours. We have no earlier specimen of Persian writing than the inscription containing the name of Cyrus, on the ruins supposed to be those of his tomb, at Murghaub [Pasargarda]; nor any earlier remains of Persian art than the buildings and sculptures of Persepolis, and other monuments to be attributed beyond a question to the kings of the Achæmenian dynasty. It has already been shown that the writing of the Persians was imitated from the Assyrians, and it can as easily be proved that their sculptures were derived from the same source. The monuments of Persepolis establish this beyond a doubt. They exhibit precisely the same mode of treatment, the same forms, the same peculiarities in the arrangement of the bas-reliefs against the walls, the same entrances formed by gigantic winged animals with human heads, and, finally, the same religious emblems. Had this identity been displayed in one instance alone, we might have attributed it to chance, or to mere casual intercourse; but when it pervades the whole system, we can scarcely doubt that one was a close copy, an imitation, of the other. That the peculiar characteristics of the Persepolitan sculptures were derived from the monuments of the second Assyrian dynasty—that is, from those of the latest Assyrian period—can be proved by the similarity of shape in the ornaments and in the costume of many of the figures. Thus, the head-dress of the winged monsters forming the portals is lofty, squared, and richly ornamented at the top, resembling those of Khorsabad and Kuyunjik, and differing from the round, unornamented cap of the older figures at Nimrud.

The processions of warriors, captives, and tribute-bearers at Persepolis are in every respect similar to those on the walls of Nimrud and Khorsabad; we have the same mode of treatment in the figures, the same way of portraying the eyes and hair. The Persian artist introduced folds into the draperies; but, with this exception, he certainly did not improve upon his Assyrian model. On the contrary, his work is greatly inferior to it in the general arrangement of the groups and in the elegance of the details.

From whence the Persians obtained the column and other architectural ornaments used at Persepolis, it may be more difficult to determine. We have seen that the column was not unknown to the later Assyrians, although it does not appear to have been employed in the construction of their palaces. The Persians, therefore, may have partly derived their knowledge from them; and partly, perhaps principally, from the Egyptians, whom, before the foundation of Persepolis, they had already conquered. It will be observed that the capitals of their columns frequently assume the shape of Assyrian religious types, the bull for instance; whilst other portions of them nearly resemble in the form of their ornaments, though not in their proportions, those of Egypt.

The Persians introduced into Asia Minor the arts and religion which they received from the Assyrians. Thus the Harpy Tomb and the monument usually attributed to Harpagus at Xanthus, and other still earlier remains, show all the peculiarities of the sculpture of Persepolis, and at the same time that gradual progress in the mode of treatment—the introduction of action and sentiment, and a knowledge of anatomy—which marks the distinction between Asiatic and Greek art. Whilst there was a manifest improvement in the disposition of the draperies and in the delineation of the human form, we still remark, even in the latest works of the Persian period in Asia Minor, the absence of all attempt to impart sentiment to the features, or even to give more than the side view of the human face.

Many architectural ornaments, known to the Assyrians, passed from them, directly or indirectly, into Greece. The Ionic column is an instance. We have, moreover, in the earliest monuments of Nineveh that graceful ornament, commonly called the honeysuckle, which was so extensively used in Greece, and is to this day more generally employed than any other moulding. In Assyria, as I have pointed out, it was invested with sacred properties, and was either a symbol or an object of worship. That the similarity between the Assyrian and Greek ornament is not accidental, seems to be proved, beyond a question, by the alternation of the lotus or tulip, whichever this flower may be, with the honeysuckle, by the number of leaves or petals of the flower, and by their proceeding in both from a semicircle, supported by two tendrils or scrolls. The same ornament occurs, even in India, on a lath erected by Asoka at Allahabad (about B.C. 250); but whether introduced by the Greeks—which, from the date of the erection of the monument, shortly after the Macedonian invasion, is not improbable—or whether derived directly from another source, I cannot venture to decide.

That the Assyrians possessed a highly refined taste can hardly be questioned when we find them inventing an ornament which the Greeks afterwards, with few additions and improvements, so generally adopted in their most classic monuments. Others, no less beautiful, continually occur in the most ancient bas-reliefs of Nimrud. The sacred bull, with expanded wings, and the wild goat are introduced, kneeling before the mystic flower which is the principal feature in the border just described. The same animals are occasionally represented supporting disks, or flowers, and rosettes. A bird, or human figure, frequently takes the place of the bull and goat; and the simple flower becomes a tree, bearing many flowers of the same shape. This tree, evidently a sacred symbol, is elaborately and tastefully formed; and is one of the most conspicuous ornaments of Assyrian sculpture.

The flowers at the ends of the branches are frequently replaced in later Assyrian monuments and on cylinders by the fir or pine cone, and sometimes by a fruit or ornament resembling the pomegranate.

The guilloche, or intertwining bands, continually found on Greek monuments, and still in common use, was also well known to the Assyrians, and was one of their most favourite ornaments. It was embroidered on their robes, embossed on their arms and chariots, and painted on their walls. This purity and elegance of taste was equally displayed in the garments, arms, furniture, and trappings of the Assyrians. The robes of the king were most elaborately embroidered. The part covering his breast was generally adorned, not only with flowers and scroll-work, but with groups of figures, animals, and even hunting and battle scenes. In other parts of his dress similar designs were introduced, and rows of tassels or fringes were carried round the borders. The ear-rings, necklaces, armlets, and bracelets were all of the most elegant forms. The clasps and ends of the bracelets were frequently in the shape of the heads of rams and bulls, resembling our modern jewellery. The ear-rings have generally on the later monuments, particularly in the bas-reliefs of Khorsabad, the form of a cross.

In their arms the Assyrians rivalled even the Greeks in elegance of design. The hilt of the sword was frequently ornamented with four lions’ heads; two, with part of the neck and shoulders, made the cross-bar or defence, and two more with extended jaws were introduced into the handle. The end of the sheath was formed by two entire lions, clasped together, their heads turned outward and their mouths open. Sometimes the whole of the sheath was engraved or embossed, with groups of human figures, animals, and flowers. The handles of the daggers were no less highly ornamented, being sometimes in the form of the head of a horse, bull, or ram. The sheath frequently terminated in the head of a bird, to which a tassel was suspended. The part of the bow to which the string was attached was in the shape of an eagle’s head. The quiver was richly decorated with groups of figures and fanciful designs.

Ornaments in the form of the heads of animals, chiefly the lion, bull, and ram, were very generally introduced even in parts of the chariot, the harness of the horses, and domestic furniture. In this respect the Assyrians resembled the Egyptians.b

Assyrian Sculpture and the Evolution of Art

The study of a country’s art is interesting, primarily of course purely as a study in the expression of beauty or in the portraiture of national types and ideals. The study should not, however, stop here, but one should consider also the effect each school has had upon the evolution of the world-art. This phase of Assyrian art has been examined by the Editor in a paper called “The Influence of Modern Research on the Scope of World History,” a Prefatory Essay to Vol. III of the New Volumes of the Ninth Edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica, from which a quotation may be permitted here.a

Whoever would see the story of the evolution of Greek art illustrated, should go to the British Museum and pass from the Egyptian hall, with its grotesque colossi, to the Assyrian rooms, with their marvellous bas-reliefs, and then on to the Elgin marbles from the Parthenon. In particular, the art treasures of the Assyrian collection should demand the closest scrutiny. In the Nineveh gallery, for example, where one finds collections of strange Assyrian books, the walls are flanked everywhere with bas-reliefs that come from some buried palace that once stored the literary treasures.

It appears that the kings of that far-off time and land were connoisseurs of art as well as patrons of literature; and the art treasures of their palaces certainly form the most striking, if not the most important, part of the mementoes they have left to us. The more closely these figures in low relief are examined, the more wonderful they will seem. They take the place of the Egyptian carvings in the round; and if they are less striking to first view than the great sarcophagi, the grotesque gods, and colossal animal forms of that people, they will prove infinitely more expressive and incomparably more artistic on closer inspection. For these flat sculptures depict, not alone gods and sacerdotal scenes, but everyday affairs and the events of Assyrian history. The bas-relief was clearly the focal point of Assyrian art. Even the great bulls and lions that guarded the palace entrances were only partially detached from their background, and a frescoed statue of King Asshurnazirpal shows the same tendency. The full rounded statue was not indeed unknown to them, as several examples testify; but their real forte lay in mural decoration in low relief. And the particular walls on which the artists mainly expended their skill, if we may judge from what the ruins have revealed to us, were not the walls of temples, but the palaces of kings. It is quite clear that these great conquerors of antiquity were very human, very like their successors of after times. They loved to have their heroic deeds, real or alleged, heralded to the world, and recalled incessantly to their own memories. So one finds whole histories epitomised on these walls—wars, conquests, victories; the storming of cities, the slaughter of the enemy, the leading of captives, and bringing of tribute by subject people—everything, in short, but Assyrian reverses; the court artist, true to his colours then as now, never made the mistake of depicting those.

As historical records these sculptures are of priceless value, both for what they tell of political history and for the light they throw on the powers and limitations of antique art. But before you venture to judge the Assyrian artist in the latter regard, you must pass on to the room of Asshurnazirpal, and from that to the adjacent room, where the mural decorations of the dining-hall of the last of the great Assyrian kings, Asshurbanapal, have been placed in situ, reproducing an effect which they first made in the palace of Nineveh in the seventh century B.C. Here you may see at once both another phase of royal life in Assyria and another stage of Assyrian art. Not war, but the chase is now the theme. King Asshurbanapal is seen in pursuit of the goat, the wild ass, the lion. The king, of course, towers above his attendants, though not in the grotesque disproportion of the Egyptian paintings. To the oriental mind such excessive stature seemed indissoluble from royal station. One recalls how the mother of Darius, made captive at Issus, mistook Hephæstion for the king, because he was taller than Alexander; and how Agesilaus, when he went to Egypt as an ally of the Egyptians, was held in contempt, despite his renown, because of his diminutive stature; and one cannot help wondering what would have been the real aspect of the Assyrian and Egyptian monarchs could they have been subjected to the camera. Be that as it may, there was apparently no doubt in the mind of the court artist as to what his chisel should reveal in this respect, and the king may always be distinguished by his stature, without regard to his royal robes. Still, it is notable, as a distinction between Egyptian and Assyrian art, that the realistic eye of the Assyrian sculptor never let him depict the king as a Brobdingnag among the pigmies, after the Egyptian fashion. At the most he is a head taller than those about him.

The royal hunter pursues his quarry sometimes on foot, more usually standing in his chariot. His weapon is usually the bow, sometimes the spear; on one occasion he grapples with the lion, hand to jowl, and stabs the quarry to the heart with a short sword. The quiet dignity and royal calm with which the feat is achieved must have insured the artist a high and enduring place in the royal favour. The action, however, of the human figures in these sculptures is always sedate and reposeful, suggestive of reserved strength perhaps, or possibly of the artist’s limitations. Whichever it is, the real power of the artist is not shown in the human figures. These, to be sure, are in part strongly anatomised; in the main, they are fairly proportioned, and, unlike the Egyptian figures, they have the shoulders drawn in proper perspective. But the faces are fixed, impassive; the eyes are not in perspective, and, as a whole, they cannot claim high merit as works of art, viewed from an abstract modern standpoint. Considered in relation to their time, they are wonderful enough, so far ahead are they of anything that we could suppose to have been accomplished in the world of that day. But they fall far short of the standard which the same artist has himself given us in animal figures of his composition. It seems as if the human figures might have been done from memory, whereas the animal forms are clearly enough from the natural model. Indeed, when we turn to these animal figures we may criticise them, not with reservation as to their age, but from the standpoint of modern art, and as individual figures they will not be found wanting. The three fundamental canons—“proportion, action, aspect”—have been successfully met. The lions skulk sullenly from their cages, spring furiously into action, or roll in death agony at the will of the depicter. The lioness, with spine broken by an arrow, dragging her palsied hind-quarters, is a veritable masterpiece. The same is true of many of the figures of goats, of running and pacing wild asses, and of dogs. As a whole, these animal frescoes are nothing less than wonderful. It is worth a visit to London from the remotest land to see these sculptures from the palace of the old Assyrian king.

Still, though these bas-reliefs have intrinsic merits as works of art, their chief value is for what they teach regarding the evolution of art in the world. Previously to their discovery it had been supposed that the stiff formalism of Egyptian sculpture represented the fullest flight of pre-Grecian art, and that Greek art itself had stepped suddenly forth, rather a new creation than an evolution. But the pick and shovel of Layard at Nineveh dispelled that illusion. For these art treasures, that had lain there under the deposits of centuries, were found to represent an enormous advance upon Egyptian models, precisely in the direction of that realism for which Greek art is distinguished.

If we would judge how direct and unequivocal was the impulse which the dying nation transferred to the adolescent one in point of art, we have but to take a few steps in the British Museum, from the Assyrian rooms to the wonderful hall that holds Lord Elgin’s trophies from the desecrated Parthenon. Look, then, upon the frieze of bas-relief that bears the magic name of Phidias. If anything can reconcile us to the act that deprived Greece of her priceless heirlooms, it is the fact that they have found lodgment here close beside their oriental prototypes, where half a million visitors each year may at least have an opportunity to learn the lesson that human progress is an accretion, a growth, a building upon foundations; and, specifically, that Greek art, no less than other forms of human culture, was an evolution, and not an isolated miracle. For what is the Parthenon frieze, as we now come to it fresh from the palaces of Nineveh, but an Assyrian fresco adapted to the needs and ideals of another race and developed by the genius of a newer civilisation? The profiled figures in low relief coursing together, are they different in conception from the profiled figures of the palaces we have just left? The horses of the Parthenon frieze might almost seem to have stepped bodily from the palaces of Asshurbanapal. They have gained something in suppleness of limb, have altered their attitude in a measure, to be sure, thanks to their new environment. But their type has not changed by so much as an actual breed of horses might be changed in as many generations. Note the head, the most typical and characteristic feature of this Grecian steed. Line for line it is the same head, trappings aside, that we have just seen at Nineveh. Even the defects of the Assyrian drawing are there—the too small and slender face, and receding lower jaw, the tiny ear, the far too full and “chuffy” neck. Possibly no horse in nature was ever like this, but the Assyrian artist so conceives it; the Greek copies that conception; and the distorted type will be transmitted down the generations to the Italian of the Renaissance, to the classical painters of Spain, the Netherlands, and Germany, and France; nay, even to the artist of the nineteenth century. The court artist of an oriental prince of the ninth or tenth century B.C. conceives a certain ideal; and, following him, a certain type of sculptured horse, such as the artist who carved it has never seen, steps before the chariot on Napoleon’s Arc de Triomphe in nineteenth-century Paris.c

If Mesopotamian art and literature had been forgotten in succeeding ages, Chaldean science had not shared the same fate. The fame of the Babylonian astrology and astronomy was still fresh in the mind of the Greeks of the day of Diodorus, as we shall see, and it is curious to reflect that even at this relatively late period after Greece had passed far beyond the culminating point of her own career the learned Greek looked upon Chaldean science as something beyond the pale of the science of his own nation. It would seem as if the cultivated Greek looked back upon the Babylonian civilisation with something of that reverence which “modern” European nations have reserved for Greece itself. It is significant, too, that the Babylonians themselves, even in the day of their decline, continued to regard the Greeks, along with the rest of the outside world, as “barbarians” in something more than the Greek sense of the word.

The older civilisation always thus regards the younger, regardless of the actual relative merits of the two. It was an Egyptian priest who lectured the famous Greek in these words: “O Solon! Solon! You Hellenes are but children, and there is never an old man who is a Hellene. In my mind you are all young. There is no old opinion handed down among you by ancient tradition, nor any science hoary with age”; but the same words might well have been pronounced by a priest of Chaldea. We have learned through Diodorus that the Egyptians guarded the secrets of their science very jealously from the Greeks, who travelled and sojourned there for the express purpose of learning them; and there is reason to suppose that much the same reception was accorded the Greek traveller in Babylonia, since Herodotus seems to have learned so little there beyond what his own direct observations taught him.

But how much ground the Babylonian had for this arrogance of intellectual attitude the modern world had little material for judging, beyond such general assertions as that of Diodorus, until the records of the libraries were revealed. Then it was made evident that as original scientific investigators the Babylonians were no whit inferior to their contemporaries of the Nile, if, indeed, they were not superior; that in short they fully merited the praise which classical tradition accorded them. A people that thus excelled in theoretical science, no less than in art and literature and in practical civilisation, has many claims to be considered the foremost nation of antiquity.a

A Classical Estimate of Chaldean Philosophy and Astrology

“Here it will not be amiss to say something of the Chaldeans (as the Babylonians call them) and of their Antiquity, that nothing worth Remark may be omitted,” says Diodorus, as translated in 1700 by Booth.

“They being the most ancient Babylonians, hold the same station and dignity in the Common-wealth as the Egyptian Priests do in Egypt: For being deputed to Divine Offices, they spend all their Time in the study of Philosophy, and are especially famous for the Art of Astrology. They are mightily given to Divination, and foretel future Events, and imploy themselves either by Purifications, Sacrifices, or other Inchantments to avert Evils, or procure good Fortune and Success. They are skilful likewise in the Art of Divination, by the flying of Birds, and interpreting of Dreams and Prodigies: And are reputed as true Oracles (in declaring what will come to pass) by their exact and diligent viewing the Intrals of the Sacrifices. But they attain not to this Knowledge in the same manner as the Grecians do; for the Chaldeans learn it by Tradition from their Ancestors, the Son from the Father, who are all in the mean time free from all other publick Offices and Attendances; and because their Parents are their Tutors, they both learn every thing without Envy, and rely with more confidence upon the truth of what is taught them; and being train’d up in this Learning from their very Childhood, they become most famous Philosophers, (that Age being most capable of Learning, wherein they spend much of their time). But the Grecians for the most part come raw to this study, unfitted and unprepar’d, and are long before they attain to the Knowledge of this Philosophy: And after they have spent some small time in this Study, they are many times call’d off and forc’d to leave it, in order to get a Livelihood and Subsistence. And although some few do industriously apply themselves to Philosophy, yet for the sake of Gain, these very Men are opinionative, and ever and anon starting new and high Points, and never fix in the steps of their Ancestors. But the Barbarians keeping constantly close to the same thing, attain to a perfect and distinct Knowledge in every particular.

“But the Grecians cunningly catching at all Opportunities of Gain, make new Sects and Parties, and by their contrary Opinions wrangling and quarelling concerning the chiefest Points, lead their Scholars into a Maze; and being uncertain and doubtful what to pitch upon for certain truth, their Minds are fluctuating and in suspence all the days of their Lives, and unable to give a certain assent unto any thing. For if any Man will but examine the most eminent Sects of the Philosophers, he shall find them much differing among themselves, and even opposing one another in the most weighty parts of their Philosophy. But to return to the Chaldeans, they hold that the World is eternal, which had neither any certain Beginning, nor shall have any End; but all agree, that all things are order’d, and this beautiful Fabrick is supported by a Divine Providence, and that the Motions of the Heavens are not perform’d by chance and of their own accord, but by a certain and determinate Will and Appointment of the Gods.

“Therefore from a long observation of the Stars, and an exact Knowledge of the motions and influences of every one of them, wherein they excel all others, they fortel many things that are to come to pass.

“They say that the Five Stars which some call Planets, but they Interpreters, are most worthy of Consideration, both for their motions and their remarkable influences, especially that which the Grecians call Saturn. The brightest of them all, and which often portends many and great Events, they call Sol, the other Four they name Mars, Venus, Mercury, and Jupiter, with our own Country Astrologers. They give the Name of Interpreters to these Stars, because these only by a peculiar Motion do portend things to come, and instead of Jupiters, do declare to Men before-hand the good-will of the Gods; whereas the other Stars (not being of the number of the Planets) have a constant ordinary motion. Future Events (they say) are pointed at sometimes by their Rising, and sometimes by their Setting, and at other times by their Colour, as may be experienc’d by those that will diligently observe it; sometimes foreshewing Hurricanes, at other times Tempestuous Rains, and then again exceeding Droughts. By these, they say, are often portended the appearance of Comets, Eclipses of the Sun and Moon, Earthquakes and all other the various Changes and remarkable effects in the Air, boding good and bad, not only to Nations in general, but to Kings and Private Persons in particular. Under the Course of these Planets, they say are Thirty Stars, which they call Counselling Gods, half of whom observe what is done under the Earth, and the other half take notice of the actions of Men upon the Earth, and what is transacted in the Heavens. Once every Ten Days space (they say) one of the highest Order of these Stars descends to them that are of the lowest, like a Messenger sent from them above; and then again another ascends from those below to them above, and that this is their constant natural motion to continue for ever. The chief of these Gods, they say, are Twelve in number, to each of which they attribute a Month, and one Sign of the Twelve in the Zodiack.

“Through these Twelve Signs the Sun, Moon, and the other Five Planets run their Course. The Sun in a Years time, and the Moon in the space of a Month. To every one of the Planets they assign their own proper Courses, which are perform’d variously in lesser or shorter time according as their several motions are quicker or slower. These Stars, they say, have a great influence both as to good and bad in Mens Nativities; and from the consideration of their several Natures, may be foreknown what will befal Men afterwards. As they foretold things to come to other Kings formerly, so they did to Alexander who conquer’d Darius, and to his Successors Antigonus and Seleucus Nicator; and accordingly things fell out as they declar’d; which we shall relate particularly hereafter in a more convenient time. They tell likewise private Men their Fortunes so certainly, that those who have found the thing true by Experience, have esteem’d it a Miracle, and above the reach of Man to perform. Out of the Circle of the Zodiack they describe Four and Twenty Stars, Twelve towards the North Pole, and as many to the South.

“Those which we see, they assign to the living; and the other that do not appear, they conceive are Constellations for the Dead; and they term them Judges of all things. The Moon, they say, is in the lowest Orb; and being therefore next to the Earth (because she is so small,) she finishes her Course in a little time, not through the swiftness of her Motion, but the shortness of her Sphear. In that which they affirm (that she has but a borrow’d light, and that when she is eclips’d, it’s caus’d by the interposition of the shadow of the Earth) they agree with the Grecians.

“Their Rules and Notions concerning the Eclipses of the Sun are but weak and mean, which they dare not positively foretel, nor fix a certain time for them. They have likewise Opinions concerning the Earth peculiar to themselves, affirming it to resemble a Boat, and to be hollow, to prove which, and other things relating to the frame of the World, they abound in Arguments; but to give a particular Account of ’em, we conceive would be a thing foreign to our History. But this any Man may justly and truly say, That the Chaldeans far exceed all other Men in the Knowledge of Astrology, and have study’d it most of any other Art or Science: But the number of Years during which the Chaldeans say, those of their Profession have given themselves to the study of this natural Philosophy, is incredible; for when Alexander was in Asia, they reckon’d up Four Hundred and Seventy Thousand Years since they first began to observe the Motions of the Stars. But lest we should make too long a digression from our intended Design, let this which we have said concerning the Chaldeans suffice.”d

The Babylonian Year

The Babylonian year, according to Eduard Meyer, consisted of simple lunar months (twenty-nine or thirty days), which, as with the Greeks and the Mohammedans, was determined by the course of the moon itself.

To make this year coincide with the course of the sun, an extra month was intercalated; in olden times this seems to have been done after the first or the sixth month.

This year, with the names of its months, was adopted by the Jews at the time of the Exile, and is still in use with them. The commencement of their year (Nisan) falls at the time of the spring equinox. The Babylonians had no continuous chronology; they dated according to the years of the kings, or, rather, they marked the year according to any important event which took place in it. Thus we see dates like “on the 30th Adar in the Sixth year after the conquest of Nisin by King Rim-Sin.”

Later on in Babylon, and also in Assyria, they reckoned simply the years of the kings, from the day of their accession to the throne. The remainder of the year, in the course of which the predecessor had died, was therefore considered the first part of the first year of the new reign, and was very often called “the beginning of the reign” of the king in question.

Chronological calculations were reckoned from the same starting-point as in Egypt. They reckon the calendar year in which a king comes to the throne as his first year, and hence his death takes place in the first year of his successor. This is the method of the Ptolemaic canon, one of the most important chronological monuments of antiquity. It is the list beginning with Nabonassar (about 747 B.C.) of the native and Persian kings of Babylonia, to which the Egyptian rulers up to Alexander are added. It is an addition to the astronomical work of Ptolemy, and was intended to throw light on the passages relating to the Babylonian, and later on to the Alexandrian chronological methods. It is authentic, and is confirmed by the monuments. Yet, in using the same, it must be recollected that all dates of the Egyptian “vague” year (and the Egyptian months) are reduced. Therefore the first year of the Nabonassar era begins on the 1st Tehuti, the 26th February, 747 B.C.

In Assyria there is also a second and far more common form of specifying the years. Since a very early date (as far back as the fourteenth century) it was customary to name the year after some high official. The year, as such, is called limmu, “eponymic year.” Of course, they had continuous lists of these eponyms; and we have recovered several fragments. The lists for the years 893 to 666 are complete, and with fragments we can go still farther back. The kings frequently used this system, and private persons regularly used this eponym.

Some copies of the lists contain accounts of the changes of reigns, and give short statements of important internal and external events of the particular years. Thus an eclipse of the sun June 15, 763 B.C., mentioned therein can be astronomically fixed, and the dates arrived at thereby concur exactly with the accounts of the Ptolemaic canon. The chronological history of this epoch is therefore perfectly determined.e

The Babylonian Day and Its Division Into Hours

This being the Babylonian method of reckoning dates, it is interesting to note on what plan they subdivided the day. Investigations were made in this line by that indefatigable Irishman, Edward Hincks, from whose article “On the Assyrio-Babylonian Measures of Time,” in the Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy, we quote.a

I begin with the day and its divisions.

Our knowledge on this subject is mainly derived from a tablet in the British Museum, marked K. 15. A paper of mine was read before the Royal Irish Academy in 1854, and was published in the twenty-third volume of the Transactions in which this tablet was discussed. As that paper contained some slight philological errors, I will here repeat the substance of it, correcting those errors.

I now translate the inscription on the Tablet as follows, omitting the customary benedictory formula. “On the sixth day of the month Nisan the day and the night are equal; six kazabs [kashbu] are the day; six kazabs [kashbu] are the night.” It is evident that this inscription records the observation of an equinox; and I will return to the consideration of it with that view. At present I will only remark that it points to a double division of the day, or Nycthemeron; viz., the first into the day properly so called, and the night; which were in this instance equal, though not generally so; the second into twelve equal kazabs [kashbu].

I proceed to the second division of the day into twelve kazabs [kashbu]. Each of these was equivalent, putting out of sight errors of observation, to two hours of mean solar time, such as we use in ordinary life. The word kazab [kashbu] is from a Hebrew root meaning “to fail,” which is applied to streams that run dry. This suggests the primary signification, “runnings out,” namely, of the water which had been poured into a vessel with a small hole in the bottom. The Babylonians measured time by clepsydræ, which, when they had been filled, would be emptied in two hours of mean time. Such clepsydræ would maintain a sufficiently accurate division of the day into twelve kazabs [kashbu] if the first were set to run at apparent noon, the second when the first had run out, and so on till the thirteenth, which would be set to run at the next apparent noon, whether the twelfth was just running out, or had already run out, or had still a little water in it.

The kazab [kashbu] is mentioned as an ordinary measure of time in more than one passage. The distance from the mainland to an island in the Persian Gulf is said to be a voyage of thirty kazabs [kashbu] (Botta, 41. 48), just as that from Cyprus to Syria is said to be one of seven days (Botta, 38. 41). Also, in Rawlinson, 42. 13, Sennacherib speaks of slaughtering his enemies for the space of a journey or march of two kazabs [kashbu]. This use of the word seems to me a positive proof that the clepsydræ was in use among the Assyrians and Babylonians generally, and was not confined to the astronomers.

There does not appear to me any reason to suppose that a division of the day from sunrise to sunset into twelve hours, varying in length according to the season of the year, and again of the night, from sunset to sunrise into twelve similar hours, was ever known to the Babylonians. Such a division was in use among the Egyptians, and was adopted from them by the Greeks, but the Babylonians and Assyrians knew nothing of it. I may here observe that some modern writers have committed a strange mistake in supposing the clepsydræ to have been invented so late as the third century before Christ and at Alexandria. These writers have confounded two totally different things; viz., the original invention of the clepsydræ marking mean solar time, which goes back to remote antiquity, and is almost certainly due to the Babylonians, and the adaptation of the clepsydræ to the seasonable (καιρικαὶ) hours of the Egyptians and Greeks, which was accomplished at the time and place which these writers mention. I have met with no subdivisions of the kazab [kashbu], and I much doubt whether the Babylonians had any means of marking such.f

Assyrian Science

The exact sciences were cultivated in Assyria from the earliest times, nor had natural sciences been neglected. Zoology, botany, mineralogy are largely represented in the library of Nineveh, and as all these tablets contain a Sumerian as well as the equivalent Assyrian text, we are justified in believing that the Ninevites, in this respect, still followed the traditions of their predecessors.

We find lists of animals arranged in a certain order which indicates an attempt at classification; thus the dog, lion, and wolf are in the same category, whilst the ox, sheep, and goat form another. In the enumeration of the different animals, there is a very evident design of establishing genera and families, and of distinguishing species. Thus we have a family comprising the great Carnivora: the dog, lion, and wolf; then we have different species in the dog family—such as the dog itself, the domestic dog, the coursing dog, the small dog, the dog of Elam, etc. The scientific side of this classification is revealed by an easily recognised circumstance; thus one finds after the common name a special nomenclature, which belongs to a scientific classification with which the Assyrians seem to have been familiar.

Among the birds similar attempts at classification are evident. Birds of rapid flight, sea-birds, or marsh birds are differentiated. Insects form a very numerous class; we see an entire family whose species are differentiated according as they attack plants, animals, clothing, or wood. Vegetables seem to be classified according to their usefulness, or the service that industry can make of them. One tablet enumerates the uses to which wood can be put, according to its adaptability, for the timber-work of palaces, the construction of vessels, the making of carts, implements of husbandry, or even furniture. Minerals occupy a long series in these tablets. They are classed according to their qualities, gold and silver forming a division apart; precious stones form still another, but there is nothing to indicate on what basis a classification would be established.

If we pass from the natural sciences to geography, we find the latter in a synthetic and fairly confused state. Nevertheless several lists give us a series of the names of towns, rivers, and mountains, arranged according to their geographical disposition, as we can easily prove. Sometimes the data are of a practical character, and names are followed by mention of natural or industrial products of localities, their revenue taxes, or tributes. But the science, par excellence, which was especially cultivated in Assyria, and which the learned men of Asshurbanapal connected with the greatest care with antique Chaldean traditions, was astronomy.

This science was not indeed born at Nineveh; the Greeks teach us that astronomical observations were first made in lower Chaldea 1903 years before Alexander, and consequently 2226 years before Christ. Whatever the value of this date may be, the tradition of this origin is found in the works of the Assyrians, who constantly refer to the observations of their predecessors. Asshurbanapal had sent these learned men to the old schools of Mesopotamia, Ur, Sippar, Agade, Babylon; there to imbibe the elements of the science which was the glory of the southern empire. In the seventh century before our era, observations were carried on at Nineveh. At this date the fixed stars had long been distinguished from the planets; the sidereal revolutions, the divisions of the year, the course of the sun in the different constellations of the zodiac, periodic return of eclipses, and even the precession of the equinoxes, had been calculated. These achievements imply long and conscientious observation, a special intelligence to undertake them, and simple methods of rigorous calculation.

We are ignorant as to the nature of the instruments with which the Assyrio-Chaldeans could observe the stars. The chances of error in observations by the naked eye are evidently very great, and errors can only be rectified by multiplied operations and the most minute calculations. It is known that the determining of the periodicity of the moon’s eclipses rests on a knowledge of the cycle of 223 lunations which bring back the same eclipses periodically. It is certain that the Assyrio-Chaldeans must have also known another cycle of 22,325 lunations equalling 1805 tropical years plus 8 days, or 1805 Julian years of 365¼ days; after which the eclipses return with still greater precision in the same order. How long did it take the human mind to observe and understand a sufficient number of lunations so as to combine the data they afforded and deduct the law that Meton formulated and to which he has given his name?

In regard to eclipses of the sun, the cycle is so very much greater that the beginnings of the observations on which the calculations of their periodicity would rest, would take us back to a period which is quite beyond the limits of the historic age. Diogenes Laertius estimates it as 48,863 years. During that time 373 eclipses of the moon and 832 eclipses of the sun had been observed. When they turned their attention to the calculations resulting from these observations the Assyrio-Chaldeans were marvellously helped by their system of notation. Their numerical system lent itself with ease to the most complicated of calculations. We must content ourselves with stating the results. As we were saying a minute ago, the observations were carried on under Asshurbanapal; the king sent astronomers to different points to study celestial phenomena, and the results of their labours were sent him. Here are the terms in which these reports were expressed:

“To the King, my Lord, his humble servant Ishtar-iddin-apal, chief astronomer of the town of Arbela writes this: Peace and happiness to the king my master and may he long prosper.

“On the 29th day, I observed the node of the moon, the clouds obscured the field of observation, and we could not see the moon.

“In the month of Sebat (January) the 1st day during the year Bel-haran-saduya (648 B.C.).”

The result of this mission was not satisfactory. The eclipse had been predicted, but although the state of the atmosphere did not allow of observation, the attesting of this failure proves the care with which every circumstance that could serve to explain the phenomenon was noted. Here is an observation which was entirely successful:

“To the director of observations my Lord, his humble servant Nabu-shum-iddin, Great Astronomer of Nineveh writes this: May Nabu and Marduk be propitious to the director of these observations, my Lord.

“The 15th day we observed the node of the moon, and the moon was eclipsed.”

Here is a more complicated observation:

“To the king, my Lord, may the Gods Nabu and Marduk be propitious, may the great gods grant to the king, my master, long life, the benefits of the flesh and satisfaction of the heart.

“The 27th day the moon disappeared; the 28th 29th and 30th day we continually observed the node of the obscuring sun. The eclipse did not take place. The 1st day (of the following month) we saw the moon during the first day of the month Tammuz (June) above the star Mercury of which I have previously sent an observation to the king my master. In its course during the day of Anu, around the shepherd star (the planet Venus), it was seen declining: on account of rain the horns were not very distinctly visible, and so it was in its whole course. The day Anu I sent the observation of its conjunction, to the king my master. It was prolonged and was visible above the star of the Chariot in its course during the day of Baal; it disappeared towards the star of the Chariot.

“To the King, my Lord, peace and happiness.”

The discovery of the precession of the equinoxes is generally attributed to Hipparchus. It was he, indeed, who taught this fact to the Greeks, and he estimated its yearly amount as from 36 to 39 seconds; but it is certain that he learned about it in Chaldea, and that he obtained the elements of his calculations from the astronomical observations made on the lower Euphrates. All the astronomical knowledge of the Ninevite savants had the same point of origin.

Two thousand years before our era, from the time of a king of Agade called Sharrukin (Shargani-shar-ali), and who is usually known as Sargon I (the Ancient), the precession of the equinoxes was an observed and calculated fact, since it had already brought sufficient disturbance into the calendar to make a corrective element necessary. Sargon had given a brilliancy to his century which the learned men of Nineveh only echoed. In his time there was a library at Agade, the importance of which we can judge by the fragments which were preserved at Nineveh. We are certain that at these remote times the great divisions of the uranographic chart were already determined upon. Fixed stars were designated according to the different groups or constellations which were known by the names they have retained to this day.

Outside these fixed stars the signs of the zodiac were perfectly determined in that portion of the celestial vault which the texts designate by the name of harranu (the way), that is to say, the way of the stars. These stars were the planets. The Chaldeans knew of seven, and they were thus known to them: Shamash, the sun; Sin, the moon; Alap-Shamash, Saturn; Rus, Jupiter; Ashbat, Venus; Sulpa-sadu, Mars; Nivit-Anu, Mercury. The Ninevite savants borrowed their astronomical knowledge from the Chaldeans; they made use of the calendar as it was transmitted to them, and as such it has been used by all nations from the remotest times up to the present day.

The Assyrian year was composed of twelve lunar months. It began with the new moon preceding the vernal equinox. A well-known tablet thus fixes the day of the equinoxes: “At the sixth day of the month of Nisan (March) the days and nights are equal (and comprise), six kashbu for the day and six kashbu for the night. May Nabu and Marduk be propitious to the King, my Lord.”

To correct the error resulting from the difference between the lunar and solar year, a supplementary month was intercalated, the length of which necessarily varied with circumstances. The Ninevite tablets offer us calendars arranged in conformity with the different exigencies of life. Some are purely scientific, and show us the divisions of the year into days, months, and seasons. Others are formed to meet the needs of religion, and tell us, by the day, the feasts consecrated to divinities invoked or honoured by special ceremonies. Others seem to take current superstitions into account; thus days are marked by a particular sign, according as they are considered propitious or disastrous. We see tables constructed to indicate the influence of the stars on each day of the year, with a mention of appropriate prayers, to propitiate favourable auguries and ward off those which are fatal.

The importance of these last documents must not be exaggerated; they are related to superstitions common to all ages and lands; and, in the ancient East, as everywhere else, these beliefs merely represent one of the most curious, but the least interesting phases of the aberrations of the human mind.g