In Fig. [42] on the other hand we have a dish also made of bronze, and found on the same site as the one described above, but it betrays not the slightest trace of Egyptian influence. The motif is one frequently employed in Mesopotamia; the decoration of circular objects by consecutive chains of animals following each other round in a circle was no invention of the Assyrians, for it may be traced back to the earliest Sumerian times. It occurs on the famous silver vase of Entemena (cf. Fig. [45]) as well as on the stone mace-head of Mesilim (cf. Fig. [26]), which is decorated with a group of wonderfully life-like lions pursuing each other round the mace. In the innermost circle, a troop of gazelles, such as are often seen depicted on cylinder-seals (cf. Fig. [51]), march along in file; the middle register forms the circus for a variety of animals all marching in the same direction as the gazelles. A bull, a winged griffin, an ibex and a gazelle, are followed by two bulls who are being attacked by lions, and a griffin, a bull, and a gazelle, who are all respectively being attacked by leopards. In the outermost zone there is a stately procession of realistically conceived bulls marching in the opposite direction to the animals parading in the two inner circles, and thus relieving the otherwise aggressive monotony of the decorations. The preservation of the handle by which it was held or suspended is an additional point of interest. Unfortunately these platters bear no cuneiform inscriptions, though a few of them contain an inscription written in Phœnician characters on the reverse, which is probably an indication that they were fashioned by Phœnician artists, if they were not actually made in Phœnicia itself. As has been already stated, some of the dishes under consideration are clearly Assyrian in art and conception, while others are as certainly Egyptian, but notwithstanding this fact, there is evidence to show that those betokening the greatest Egyptian influence did not originate in Egypt, and were probably not the work of Egyptian artists. One of these dishes for example is decorated with a circle of cartouches containing Egyptian hieroglyphs: but the hieroglyphs are placed together quite haphazard, they mean nothing, and this fact alone would suggest that the artist, whoever he was, was not an Egyptian but a plagiarist.
The varying and distinct styles of art to which the decorations of these different dishes conform, are illustrated again in an equally conspicuous manner in the carved ivories, which were discovered on the same site and in the same palace.
As has been already seen, engraving was not the only manner in which the Assyrians utilized metal for artistic and pictorial purposes; they also learned to excel in metal repoussé work, a process whereby the figures are beaten out in relief on the reverse, though they are sometimes finished off with a graver on the right side. The bronze gate-bands discovered by Rassam at Balâwât are by far the largest and most important monument of this branch of Assyrian metallurgy. Balâwât is situated about fifteen miles south-east of Nineveh, and on this site Rassam discovered the remains of four pairs of large folding-doors. Of two pairs of these doors the cedar-wood backing still remained, but all that remained of the other two were the bronze bands which were nailed on to the doors themselves for decorative purposes. These bands were fashioned and affixed to the wooden doors by Shalmaneser II, king of Assyria from 860 to 825 B.C. The largest of these doors was nearly twenty-two feet in height, six feet in width and three inches thick. Each of these doors was attached to a rounded post, the diameter of which was about eighteen inches, and the foot of which was covered with bronze with a view to facilitating its revolution in the stone gate-socket which was destined to hold it and the affixed door.
Fig. 43.—Bronze gate-band from Balâwât. (British Museum.)
Fig. 44.—Bronze gate-band from Balâwât. (British Museum.)
In Fig. [43] we have a reproduction of a portion of one of these bands. In the upper register we have a procession of foot-soldiers armed with maces, swords, bows and quivers, and also a charioteer, all in attendance on the king, who goes before; in the lower register a number of chariots are seen crossing a river by means of a bridge of boats. The whole is beaten out in relief on the reverse, with the exception of fine lines representing the horses’ trappings or the decoration of garments. Strange to say, the reins of the chariot horses on these gate-sheaths are sometimes raised in relief by the repoussé method, sometimes on the other hand they are incised. At the top and bottom of each register a row of the ubiquitous rosettes are introduced as a decorative accessory, and the nails which fastened the metal bands to the woodwork transfixed the rosettes. In Fig. [44] we have another scene in which is represented the capture of a certain city called Dabigu. The centre of the upper register is occupied with a representation of the Assyrian camp, within which the king is seen seated before the royal pavilion and attended by two eunuchs, while behind the camp there is another band of eunuchs, and in front to the right of the register there is a detachment of bowmen. Below, the assault of the city “by the assault of engines and the attack of foot soldiers and mines and breaches”[114] is vividly represented. The city itself has apparently an outer and an inner wall, both of which are crenelated as usual. The outer wall has an arched gate to the left, while within the city there are various conical shaped objects which recall the domed and conical roofs seen in Fig. [9]. Three archers are defending the inner wall of the city, while only one archer and another warrior remain at their posts on the outer wall, the lower part of which appears to be speedily succumbing to the irresistible attack of the battering-ram. The latter has six wheels and seems to bear a kind of platform on which some Assyrian soldiers have taken their stand and from which they are discharging their unerring shafts; behind are a troop of archers actively engaged though very passively portrayed, as is always the case with Assyrian representations of human beings.[115]