Persian cylinders are recognised at once by the draperies of the figures, gathered up into folds, as in the sculptures of the Achæmenian dynasty, a peculiarity never found on pure Assyrian or Babylonian monuments; by the crown of the king; by the form of the supreme deity, or Ormuzd and by the monstrous animals, resembling the sculptures on the walls of Persepolis.
It has been conjectured that these cylinders were amulets engraved with a kind of horoscope of the owner, or with the figures of the deities who were supposed to preside over his nativity and fortunes. But it is evident from the specimens above described, that they were seals or signets to be impressed on clay and other materials on which public and private documents were written. Herodotus states that the Babylonians were accustomed to have their signets constantly with them, as a modern Eastern always carries his seal.[246]
The seal was evidently rolled on the moist clay, at the same time as the letters were impressed.[247] The tablet was then placed in the furnace and baked. All these cylinders have been pierced, and one specimen, found by my workmen in a mound in the desert near the Sinjar, still retained its copper setting. They revolved upon a metal axis, like a garden rolling-stone.
Such then were the objects of sculpture and the smaller relics found at Nimroud and Kouyunjik. I will now endeavour to convey to the reader, in conclusion, a general idea of the results of the excavations, as far as they may tend to increase our acquaintance with the history of Assyria, and to illustrate the religion, the arts, and the manners of her inhabitants.
CHAPTER XXVI.
RESULTS OF THE DISCOVERIES TO CHRONOLOGY AND HISTORY.—NAMES OF ASSYRIAN KINGS IN THE INSCRIPTIONS.—A DATE FIXED.—THE NAME OF JEHU.—THE OBELISK KING.—THE EARLIER KINGS.—SARDANAPALUS.—HIS SUCCESSORS.—PUL, OR TIGLATH PILESER.—SARGON.—SENNACHERIR.—ESSARHADDON.—THE LAST ASSYRIAN KINGS.—TABLES OF PROPER NAMES IN THE ASSYRIAN INSCRIPTIONS.—ANTIQUITY OF NINEVEH.—OF THE NAME OF ASSYRIA.—ILLUSTRATIONS OF SCRIPTURE.—STATE OF JUDÆA AND ASSYRIA COMPARED.—POLITICAL CONDITION OF THE EMPIRE.—ASSYRIAN COLONIES.—PROSPERITY OF THE COUNTRY.—RELIGION.—EXTENT OF NINEVEH.—ASSYRIAN ARCHITECTURE.—COMPARED WITH JEWISH.—PALACE OF KOUYUNJIK RESTORED.—PLATFORM AT NIMROUD RESTORED.—THE ASSYRIAN FORTIFIED INCLOSURES.—DESCRIPTION OF KOUYUNJIK.—CONCLUSION.
Although ten years have barely elapsed since the first discovery of ruins on the site of the great city of Nineveh, a mass of information, scarcely to be overrated for its importance and interest, has already been added to our previous knowledge of the early history and comparative geography of the East. When in 1849 I published the narrative of my first researches in Assyria, the numerous inscriptions recovered from the remains of the buried palaces were still almost a sealed book; for although an interpretation of some had been hazarded, it was rather upon mere conjecture than upon any well-established philological basis. I then, however, expressed my belief, that ere long their contents would be known with almost certainty, and that they would be found to furnish a history, previously almost unknown, of one of the earliest and most powerful empires of the ancient world. Since that time the labors of English scholars, and especially of Col. Rawlinson and Dr. Hincks, and of M. de Saulcy, and other eminent investigators on the Continent, have nearly led to the fulfilment of those anticipations; and my present work would be incomplete were I not to give a general sketch of the results of their investigations, as well as of my own researches.
I will not detain the reader by any account of the various processes adopted in deciphering, and of the steps gradually made in the investigation; nor will I recapitulate the curious corroborative evidence which has led in many instances to the verification of the interpretations. Such details, philologically of the highest interest, and very creditable to the sagacity and learning of those pursuing this difficult inquiry, will be found in the several treatises published by the investigators themselves. The results, however, are still very incomplete. It is, indeed, a matter of astonishment that, considering the time which has elapsed since the discovery of the monuments, so much progress has been already made. But there is every prospect of our being able, ere long, to ascertain the general contents of almost every Assyrian record. The Babylonian column of the Bisutun inscription, that invaluable key to the various branches of cuneiform writing, has at length been published by Col. Rawlinson, and will enable others to carry on the investigation upon sure grounds.