By courtesy of the British Museum
ONE OF THE COLOSSAL, HUMAN-HEADED, WINGED FIGURES, TWICE AS TALL AS A MAN, WHICH SIR A. H. LAYARD DUG OUT OF THE MOUNDS ON THE TIGRIS, AND WHICH REVEAL THE HIGH CIVILIZATION TO WHICH THE ANCIENT ASSYRIANS ATTAINED. IT IS COVERED WITH AN INSCRIPTION IN CUNEIFORM CHARACTERS, AND A NOTABLE FEATURE IS THE FIVE LEGS
The diggers were delighted at the discovery, and under Layard’s direction they managed to uncover the top of another head a dozen feet away. The men worked in a half frenzy, digging away and running to and fro with the baskets of rubbish like mad creatures.
To celebrate the find, Layard gave a great feast. Sheep were killed, musicians made music. Figures whirled hither and thither in the flicker of the campfires, dancing wildly over the desert in front of the goat-hair tents, shouting and leaping until far into the night.
If by a miracle the clock could have been put back twenty-five centuries, the simple tents would have changed to noble palaces and the feasting Arabs into Assyrian courtiers, with King Sennacherib drinking out of a golden goblet! As it was, the Arabs were stamping the past under their feet.
Wonder after wonder was laid bare by the picks of Layard’s diggers. He found three palaces, all of different ages, some of which had been built with slabs of alabaster taken from earlier edifices. It was plain that the latest had been destroyed by fire, the vengeful fire which led to the final obliteration of Assyrian civilization.
In the days of their glory the palaces were magnificent, standing on massive platforms about 20 feet high, built of sun-dried bricks, with fine wide terraces and sculptured halls. The Tigris flowed by the walls, and mighty winged lions and bulls guarded the entrances. The ancient sculptors who carved these figures were no mean artists. Their art was highly developed, and their skill in carrying out the details and ornamentation quite remarkable. They had arrived at a better idea of perspective than the Egyptians, and their figures were more lifelike, especially the animals, the muscles of which were carved very faithfully.
The irrigation works engineered by the ancient Babylonians and Assyrians were more wonderful than those carried out in Egypt. The deserts of Mesopotamia were intersected with an intricate network of canals. The rivers Tigris and Euphrates were dammed at intervals, to hold back the waters and direct them into the canals, feeding the fertile lands of the country round about. The banks of the rivers and canals were tended with scrupulous care, and heavy fines were inflicted on those who were responsible if the banks gave way.
Mesopotamia in those days was the finest granary in the world. Here was the Garden of Eden, the fairest, most fruitful land under the sun, where, according to the Bible, the story of Man began, the land of the rivers of which the Bible says: “And the fourth river is the Euphrates.” Here Adam and Eve wandered in the Land of Plenty, until they were cast out for eating of the Tree of Knowledge.