[8]. Monumental History of Egypt, Vol. I. p. 262. London, 1854.
The relation of archæology to Egyptian history deserves especial notice. We have not here, as in pre-historic Europe, a mere multitude of uninscribed and inconsiderable remains; but we have colossal monuments of all kinds—temples, gateways, obelisks, statues, rock sculptures—more or less over-written with hieroglyphics; also sepulchral-chambers, in many instances covered with paintings, in addition to a variety of smaller works, mummy cases, jewelry, scarabæi, pottery, &c., upon many of which are inscriptions. By aid of these monuments mostly, but by no means exclusively, the history of the Pharaohs and the manners and customs of their people are recovered. The monumenta litterarum themselves are frequently preserved on the monuments of stone and other materials.
For the pyramids of Ghizeh and the adjoining districts, for the glorious temples of Dendera, of Karnak, the grandest of all the remains of the Pharaohs, as well as for those of Luxor, with its now one obelisk, of Thebes, of Edfou, of Philæ, likewise for the grottoes of Benihassan, I must leave you to your own imagination or recollection, which may be aided in some degree by a few of the beautiful photographs by Bedford, which are now before your eyes. They extend along the banks and region of the Nile—for this is Egypt—from the earliest times down to the age of the Ptolemies and of Cleopatra herself, and even of the Roman empire, in the case of Dendera, where the portico was added by Tiberius to Cleopatra’s temple. Before quitting these regions I would remark, that the extraordinary rock-hewn temple of Aboo-Simbel in Nubia, which includes the most beautiful colossal statues yet found—their height as they sit is more than fifty feet—bears some similarity to certain Indian temples, especially to the temple of Siva at Tinnevelly, and the Kylas at Ellora, which last has excited the astonishment of all travellers. “Undoubtedly,” says Mr Fergusson, “there are many very striking points of resemblance ... but, on the other hand, the two styles differ so widely in details and in purpose, that we cannot positively assert the actual connexion between them, which at first sight seems unquestionable[[9]].”
[9]. Handbook of Architecture, p. 101. London, 1859.
The archæology of the Babylonian empire need only occupy a few moments. The antiquity of Babylon is proved to be as remote as the fifteenth century B.C., by the occurrence of the name on a monument of Thothmes III., an Egyptian monarch of the XVIIIth dynasty. It may be much older than that; but the archæological remains of the Birs Nimroud (which was long imagined to be the tower of Babel) hitherto found are not older than the age of Nebuchadnezzar. This palatial structure consisted, in Mr Layard’s opinion, of successive horizontal terraces, rising one above another like steps in a staircase. Every inscribed brick taken from it,—and there are thousands and tens of thousands of these,—bears the name of Nebuchadnezzar. It is indeed possible that he may have added to an older structure, or rebuilt it; and if so we may one day find more ancient relics in the Birs. But at a place called Mujelibé (the Overturned) are remains of a Babylonian palace not covered by soil, also abounding with Nebuchadnezzar’s bricks, where Mr Layard found one solitary fragment of a sculptured slab, having representations of gods in head-dresses of the Assyrian fashion, and indicating that the Babylonian palaces were probably similarly ornamented. A very curious tablet was also brought from Bagdad of the age of Nebuchadnezzar, giving, according to Dr Hincks, an account of the temples which he built. Besides these, “a few inscribed tablets of stone and baked clay, figures in bronze and terra cotta, metal objects of various kinds, and many engraved cylinders and gems are almost the only undoubted Babylonian antiquities hitherto brought to Europe.” Babylonia abounds in remains, but they are so mixed—Babylonian, Greek, Roman, Arsacian, Sassanian, and Christian—that it is hard to separate them. Scarcely more than one or two stone figures or slabs have been dug out of the vast mass of débris; and, as Isaiah has said, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen; and all the graven images of her gods hath Jehovah broken unto the ground[[10]].”
[10]. See Layard’s Nineveh and Babylon, chapters xxii, xxiii., especially pp. 504, 528, 532. London, 1853.
The most splendid archæological discovery of our age is the disinterment of the various palaces and other monuments of the Assyrian Empire. The labours of Mr Layard and M. Botta have made ancient Assyria rise before our eyes in all its grandeur and in all its atrocity. In visiting the British Museum we seem to live again in ancient Nineveh. We behold the sculptured slabs of its palaces, on which the history of the nation is both represented and written; we wonder at its strange compound divinities, its obelisks, its elegant productions in metal, in ivory, and in terra cotta. By patient and laborious attention to the cuneiform inscriptions, aided by the notices in ancient authors, sacred and profane, men like Sir H. Rawlinson and Dr Hincks have recovered something like a succession of Assyrian kings, ranging from about 1250 B.C. to about 600 B.C., and many particulars of their reigns, some of which bring out in a distinct manner the accurate knowledge of the writers of the Old Testament.
The remains of ancient Persia are too considerable to be passed over. Among other monuments at Pasargadæ, a city of the early Persians, is a great monolith, on which is a bas-relief, and a cuneiform inscription above, “I am Cyrus the king, the Achæmenian.” Here is the tomb of the founder of the empire.
At Susa, the winter seat of the Persian kings from the time of Cyrus, Mr Loftus and Sir W. F. Williams have found noble marble structures raised by Darius, the son of Hystaspes (424—405 B.C.), whose great palace was here: commenced by himself and completed by Artaxerxes II. or Mnemon (405—359 B.C.). Both here and at Persepolis, the richest city after Susa (destroyed, as we all remember from Dryden’s ode, by Alexander), are ruins of magnificent columns of the most elaborate ornamentation, and many cuneiform inscriptions, deciphered by Lassen and Rawlinson. Mr Loftus remarks on the great similarity of the buildings of Persepolis and Susa, which form a distinct style of architecture. This is the salient feature of Persian archæology, and to him I refer you upon it[[11]]. I cannot dwell upon other ruins in these regions, or on the minor objects, coins, cylinders, and vases of the ancient Persian empire; and still less on the very numerous coins of the Arsacidæ, and Sassanidæ, who afterwards succeeded to it.
[11]. See his Travels and Researches in Chaldæa and Susiana, ch. xxviii. London, 1857; also Smith’s Dict. of Greek and Roman Geography, s. v. Pasargadæ, Persepolis, Susa; and Vaux’s Nineveh and Persepolis, London, 1850.