Discoveries Among the Ruins of Nineveh and Babylon

by Austen Henry Layard

Subterranean Excavations at Kouyunjik.

CHAPTER IV.

STATE OF THE EXCAVATIONS ON MY RETURN TO MOSUL.—DISCOVERIES AT KOUYUNJIK.—TUNNELS IN THE MOUND.—BAS-RELIEFS REPRESENTING ASSYRIAN CONQUESTS.—A WELL.—SIEGE OF A CITY.—NATURE OF SCULPTURES AT KOUYUNJIK.—ARRANGEMENTS FOR RENEWAL OF EXCAVATIONS.—DESCRIPTION OF MOUND.—KIAMIL PASHA.—VISIT TO SHEIK ADI.—YEZIDI CEREMONIES.—SHEIKH JINDI.—YEZIDI MEETING.—DRESS OF THE WOMEN.—BAVIAN.—DOCTRINES OF THE YEZIDI—JERRAIYAH.—RETURN TO MOSUL.

On the morning after our arrival in Mosul, I rode at sunrise to Kouyunjik. The reader may remember that, on my return to Europe in 1847, Mr. Ross had continued the researches in that mound, and had uncovered several interesting bas-reliefs, which I have already described from his own account of his discoveries.[18] That gentleman had, to my great regret, left Mosul. Since his departure the excavations had been placed under the charge of Mr. Rassam, the English vice-consul, who was directed by the Trustees of the British Museum to employ a small number of men, rather to retain possession of the spot, and to prevent interference on the part of others, than to carry on extensive operations. Toma Shishman, or “the Fat,” was still the overseer of the workmen, and accompanied me on my first visit to the ruins.

But little change had taken place in the great mound since I had last seen it. It was yellow and bare, as it always is at this time of the year. Heaps of earth marked the site of former excavations, the chambers first discovered having been again completely buried with rubbish. Of the sculptured walls laid bare two years before no traces now remained. The trenches dug under Mr. Ross’s directions, in the southern corner, opposite the town of Mosul, were still open. It was evident at a glance that the chambers he had entered did not, as he had been led to suppose, belong to a second palace. They formed part of the same great edifice once standing on this angle of the mound, and already partly explored. The style of the bas-reliefs, and of the inscriptions, marked them at once as of the same epoch as those previously discovered.

The walls of two chambers had been laid bare. In one, the lower part of a long series of sculptures was still partly preserved, but the upper had been completely destroyed, the very alabaster itself having disappeared. The bas-reliefs recorded the subjection by the Assyrian king of a nation inhabiting the banks of a river. The captive women are distinguished by long embroidered robes fringed with tassels, and the castles have a peculiar wedge-shaped ornament on the walls. The towns probably stood in the midst of marshes, as they appear to be surrounded by canes or reeds, as well as by groves of palm trees. The Assyrians having captured the strong places by escalade, carried the inhabitants into captivity, and drove away cattle, camels, and carts drawn by oxen. Some of the men bear large baskets of osier work, and the women vases or cauldrons. The king, standing in his chariot, attended by his warriors, and preceded by an eunuch registering the number of prisoners and the amount of the spoil, receives the conquered chiefs. Not a vestige of inscription remains to record the name of the vanquished people; but we may conjecture, from the river and the palm trees, that they inhabited some district in southern Mesopotamia. In the southern wall of this chamber was a doorway formed by plain, upright slabs of a close-grained magnesian limestone, almost as hard as flint; between them were two small, crouching lions, in the usual alabaster. This entrance led into a further room, of which only a small part had been explored. The walls were panelled with unsculptured slabs of the same compact limestone.

The sculptured remains hitherto discovered in the mound of Kouyunjik had been reached by digging down to them from the surface, and then removing the rubbish. After the departure of Mr. Ross, the accumulation of earth above the ruins, had become so considerable, frequently exceeding thirty feet, that the workmen, to avoid the labor of clearing it away, began to tunnel along the walls, sinking shafts at intervals to admit light and air. These long galleries, dimly lighted, lined with the remains of ancient art, broken urns projecting from the crumbling sides, and the wild Arab and hardy Nestorian wandering through their intricacies, or working in their dark recesses, were singularly picturesque.

Toma Shishman had removed the workmen from the southern corner of the mound, where the sculptures were much injured, and had opened tunnels in a part of the building previously explored, commencing where I had left off on my departure from Mosul. I descended into the vaulted passages by an inclined way, through which the workmen issued from beneath to throw away the rubbish dug out from the ruins. At the bottom I found myself before a wall forming the southern side of the great Hall, discovered, though only partly explored, during my former researches. The sculptures, faintly seen through the gloom, were still well enough preserved to give a complete history of the subject represented, although, with the rest of the bas-reliefs of Kouyunjik, the fire had nearly turned them to lime, and had cracked them into a thousand pieces. The faces of the slabs had been entirely covered with figures, varying from three inches to one foot in height, carefully finished, and designed with great spirit.

In this series of bas-reliefs the history of an Assyrian conquest was more fully portrayed than in any other yet discovered, from the going out of the monarch to battle, to his triumphal return after a complete victory. The first part of the subject has already been described in my former work.[19] The king, accompanied by his chariots and horsemen, and leaving his capital in the Assyrian plains, passed through a mountainous and wooded district.[20] He does not appear to have been delayed by the siege of many towns or castles, but to have carried the war at once into the high country. His troops, cavalry and infantry, are represented in close combat with their enemies, pursuing them over hills and through valleys, beside streams, and in the midst of vineyards. The Assyrian horsemen are armed with the spear and the bow, using both weapons whilst at full speed: their opponents seem to be all archers. The vanquished turn to ask for quarter; or, wounded, fall under the feet of the advancing horses, raising their hands imploringly to ward off the impending deathblow. The triumph follows. The king standing in his chariot, beneath the royal parasol, followed by long lines of dismounted warriors leading richly caparisoned horses, and by foot soldiers variously armed and accoutred, is receiving the captives and spoil taken from the conquered people. First approach the victorious warriors, throwing the heads of the slain into heaps before the registering officers. They are followed by others leading, and urging onwards with staves, the prisoners—men chained together, or bound singly in fetters, and women, some on foot, carrying their children on their shoulders, and leading them by the hand, others riding on mules. The procession is finished by asses, mules, and flocks of sheep. As on the bas-reliefs uncovered by Mr. Ross, there is unfortunately no inscription by which the name of the conquered people can be determined. The mountains, valleys, and streams, the vines and dwarf oaks, probably indicate a region north of Assyria, in Armenia, Media, or Kurdistan, countries we know to have been invaded by the royal builder of the palace. The dress of the men consists of a short tunic; that of the women, of a shirt falling to the ankles, and cut low in front of the neck.

In the side of the hall sculptured with these bas-reliefs was a wide portal, formed by a pair of gigantic human-headed bulls. They had suffered, like all those previously discovered, from the fire, and the upper part, the wings and human head, had been completely destroyed. The lower half had, however, escaped, and the inscriptions were consequently nearly entire. Joined to the forepart of the bulls were four small figures, two on each side, and one above the other. They had long hair, falling in large and massive curls on their shoulders, wore short tunics descending to the knee, and held a pole topped by a kind of cone in one hand, raising the other as in act of adoration. At right angles with the slabs bearing these sculptures were colossal figures carrying the oft-repeated cone and basket.