Mesopotamian Archaeology / An introduction to the archaeology of Mesopotamia and Assyria

by Percy S. P. Handcock

In the recent excavations conducted by the Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft at Ashur, bronze plates for overlaying and decorating doors, precisely similar to those found by Rassam at Balâwât, were brought to light.

But bronze found its natural sphere of use in the necessities of daily life, and afforded a first-class material wherefrom to fashion knives, tools, swords, and implements of all kinds; many of these have been brought to light by Layard and other excavators, while without doubt the innumerable spears, swords, shields and arrows depicted on the Assyrian bas-reliefs were made of this metal. It was used also in the manufacture of personal ornaments, such as finger rings and bracelets. Bronze was similarly used in Babylonia during the Neo-Babylonian dynasty, and was employed for building as well as for other purposes; doorsteps were sometimes made of bronze, and one such bronze step bearing an inscription of Nebuchadnezzar II (cf. above, p. [131]) is preserved in the British Museum. It is interesting to note the discovery of similar bronze doorsteps by the French excavators at Susa, especially bearing in mind the close relationship which existed between the two countries and peoples throughout their history, though unfortunately Mesopotamia has at present offered no parallel to the life-size statue in bronze of Napir-asu, the wife of Untash-gal king of Elam about 1600 B.C. A small bronze plaque bearing in relief the four-winged demon of the south-west winds was discovered by Layard, and is now preserved in the British Museum (No. 86262), while a statuette of the same picturesque creature and made of the same material now adorns the galleries of the Louvre. The demon in question is of a highly composite character like so many of the Babylonian and Assyrian genii. His body resembles that of a dog, his arms find their natural or unnatural termination in lion’s claws, his head is a caricature of a human skeleton, which is in its turn crowned with the horns of a goat, his tail is that of a scorpion, and his back is protected with four huge wings, which in their extended position form a grim and fitting background to the whole. But this demon, hideous as it is, was constructed for distinctly beneficent purposes, and was used as a talisman. One perhaps might not have at once conjectured that this fascinating personage was really the embodiment of the south-west wind, but fortunately he bears an inscription on his back which removes all doubt on the point. He was destined to be suspended from the door or window of a house in order to scare away any spirits of evil or doubtful intentions. The figure is unnatural in its conception, but it is grimly realistic and full of life, if not life-like, and in some ways recalls the hideous wicker-work and feather-covered war-gods of the Hawaiians.

Gold has not been found as frequently as one could wish in the course of Babylonian and Assyrian excavations; doubtless this is in part due to the depredations of booty-hunters, but it is nevertheless an indication that it was only used for exceptional purposes as is indeed the case with us to-day. It was regularly used for commercial transactions; a good example of its use in this connection is afforded by a tablet belonging to the Kassite period, the text of which is to be found in Vol. XIV (40) of the University of Pennsylvania’s publication.[116] A woman agrees to adopt a girl, tend her during life, and after death offer libations of water for the repose of her soul, and as consideration she receives the sum of seven shekels of gold. One of the earliest pieces of gold actually discovered in Babylonia is the narrow strip inscribed with the name of Narâm-Sin of Agade, to which we have already had occasion to allude (cf. p. [103]).

But gold was also employed for decorative purposes; at Abû Shahrein (Eridu) for example, Taylor found various fragments of gold on the base of the second storey of the ziggurat,—apparently the remains of the ornamentation of the sanctuary which doubtless crowned the tower; gold-headed nails and fragments of gold leaf were also found on the same site. In the course of the recent excavations at Ashur, a representation of lightning in gold, about a foot and a half in length, which doubtless was once in the grasp of the hand of a life-size statue of Adad, the storm-god, was brought to light. The handle was made of wood, but was covered with a thin sheath of pure gold. The three-pronged end, of which only two remain, was welded to this covering. The whole is said to weigh about 290 grains, 250 of which represent the weight of the gold. At Babylon, the most famous of all the cities in the Euphrates valley, gold was employed with great prodigality. As early as the first dynasty of Babylon it was used in the service of the gods, and Sumu-la-ilu, the second king of this dynasty, built a throne of gold and silver for the great lord Marduk,[117] while the statues of the gods themselves were frequently made wholly or in part of pure gold; thus for example Nabû-aplu-iddina, king of Babylon circ. 870 B.C., tells us that he carefully prepared the image of Shamash, the Sun-god, with pure gold and lapis lazuli, while the famous statue of Marduk of Babylon would also appear to have been made of pure gold.

The temple of E-sagil erected at Babylon in honour of this same god was covered with gold, silver and precious stones by Ashur-bani-pal,[118] king of Assyria from 668 to 626 B.C. Yet later Nebuchadnezzar added his contribution to the great work of restoration; he built a certain magnificent chamber called Ekua, the walls of which he made of pure gold, and the cedar-wood roof of which he also covered with the same precious metal, while he similarly decorated the cedar-wood roof of Nabû’s shrine with gold. Gold was further used for personal adornment; in the Amran mound at Babylon, which represents the site of the world-renowned E-sagil, a gold ear-ring was found upon a platform composed of bricks bearing the name of Nebuchadnezzar, and therefore possibly belonging to his time, while a plate of gold was also found in the same neighbourhood, and rings of gold are perpetually mentioned in Babylonian and Assyrian literature.

Many golden face-masks, ear-rings, necklaces and other pieces of jewellery have been found in Babylonia, but for the most part their date is uncertain, the only certainty about them being their comparative lateness: they may probably be assigned to the Sassanidian period, and consequently their treatment will be outside the scope of the present volume.

Silver was also used for much the same purposes as those for which gold was employed. The finest and at the same time the earliest specimen of the Babylonian silversmith’s art has been bequeathed to us by

Fig. 45.—(Cf. Cat., p. 372; Déc. en Chald., Pl. 43.) (Musée de Louvre.) Entemena, one of the more famous rulers of the first dynasty of Lagash, and takes the form of a magnificent silver vase. This renowned vase (cf. Fig. [45]) is some twenty-eight inches in height, and rests upon a copper base seven inches high, while the largest diameter is eighteen inches. The copper base is supported by four feet resembling the paws of lions, and on the centre of the vase just above two of these feet, is engraved the lion-headed eagle with outstretched wings whose two claws firmly grip the backs of two lions facing in opposite directions, a motif frequently found on the works of art belonging to the period of the first dynasty of Lagash, and representing the heraldic arms of that ancient city. Above the other two feet of the base the motif is slightly varied, the two lions being exchanged in one case for two deer, in the other for two goats. Each lion is engaged in putting its teeth into the mouth of the deer or the goat of the adjoining group, the whole thus forming a continuous chain admirably suited for the decoration of a circular vase. The lion-headed eagles and their submissive animals, are separated from the upper and lower portions of the vase by means of a double fish-bone line; upon the upper part of the vase are seven heifers all facing in the same direction, and all in a semi-reclining attitude, one of their fore-legs being raised preparatory to standing up; these heifers are marvellously life-like and true to nature, and already we seem to see in them the forerunners of those masterpieces of Assyrian art which adorned the palace walls of Ashur-bani-pal. This scene of country life was evidently very popular at this period, it occurs on the little sculptured block seen in Fig. [27], as well as elsewhere. But success in the reproduction of animal life at this epoch seems to have been largely conditioned by the artist’s abstention from trying to depict the animals full-face; when he aspires to the latter the result is amazingly stereotyped and formal, and a comparison between the lion-headed eagles and the lions on the one hand, and these spirited heifers, at once reveals the contrast, as well as the cause of the contrast. The artist himself was evidently conscious of his failure, for he has striven, but it must be admitted without much success, to impart life to his lions and lion-headed eagles by elaborating the wings of the one and the mane of the other by means of an altogether extravagant amount of detailed attention. The inscription round the neck informs us that this vase was dedicated by Entemena, the fourth successor of Ur-Ninâ, to the god Nin-girsu in his temple Eninnu, during the priesthood of one Dudu, whose name also occurs on the little sculptured block (cf. Fig. [27]), thus proving the contemporaneity, which the style of art to which the decorations on both conform would have independently led us to infer.

But silver sometimes played a subsidiary, though nevertheless from the artistic point of view an essential part in the decoration of metal figures: a good example of the latter is afforded by a bronze figure of a bull, already referred to (cf. Fig. [40], D).