CHAPTER XII—STONEWARE AND POTTERY

STONE and clay were the two materials from which the Babylonians and Assyrians as a rule manufactured their vases, pots and bowls, though, as we have seen (cf. Fig. [45]), metal was occasionally used for the purpose. Unfortunately the study of Babylonian and Assyrian pottery has never received the attention which it deserves, while in the earlier excavations carried on in Mesopotamia the importance of these uninscribed relics of the past was not realized, and the omission to observe the particular strata of the mounds in which they were respectively discovered, as well as in some cases the failure to note even the sites where they were unearthed, has made anything like a systematic study of Babylonian and Assyrian pottery a virtual impossibility.

Various kinds of stone were used as materials for making bowls and vases from the earliest periods of Mesopotamian civilization. Thus at Nippur the American excavators unearthed a vase made of sandstone, bearing an inscription of Utug, patesi or priest-king of Kish, the writing of which was even more archaic than that on the mace-head of Mesilim, king of Kish (cf. p. 185, Fig. [26]) and, therefore, presumably of an earlier date; it seems to have been dedicated to En-lil as a thank-offering, an incidental testimony to the important place which the god of Nippur must have occupied even at this extremely remote period. So, too, a vase of white calcite stalagmite, bearing an inscription of Urzage, a king of Kish belonging to about the same period, was dedicated to En-lil and his spouse Nin-lil.

Stone vases have similarly been found at Tellô, while the fragments of a number of stone vases made of white calcite stalagmite and bearing an inscription of Lugal-zaggisi, the king of Umma who sacked Lagash in the reign of Urukagina the last king of the first dynasty, were found on the same site, and we learn from the inscriptions on these vase-fragments that they were dedicated by Lugal-zaggisi to En-lil at E-kur. A fragment of an alabaster vase bearing the name of Urukagina is now preserved in the British Museum, and an onyx vase, dedicated to the goddess Bau, was discovered in the neighbourhood of Ur-Ninâ’s building, while a large basalt bowl of Eannatum was found on the same site, and the fragments of a limestone vase, bearing an inscription of Entemena, a later king of Lagash, were discovered beneath the temple of En-lil at Nippur. So also at Jôkha, the site of the ancient city of Umma, fragments of vases and objects made of stone were brought to light, while at Fâra, the ruined mounds of which represent one of the earliest sites of Sumerian civilization in the Babylonian plain, vases and cups made of various stones including marble were recovered. These were generally of a simple character, though sometimes they were decorated. But Bismâya, thanks to the scientific excavations carried on by Harper and Banks for the University of Chicago, has probably yielded a richer and more varied harvest of stone pots than any other site in Babylonia. They comprise bowls, phials, dishes, cups, mugs, and vessels of every conceivable shape, the tallest measuring about twelve inches in height, and the largest about twelve inches in diameter, while the thickness of the walls varies from an eighth of an inch to just under an inch and a quarter.[147] The stones from which they are made vary almost as much as their dimensions, and include white marble, yellow marble, alabaster, yellow limestone, pinkish onyx, porphyry, green porphyry, blue freestone, soft limestone, and grey sandstone. Hardly any of these manifold vessels were found complete, but Banks was able to reconstruct a large number from the fragments that remained. They were all polished; some were engraved with a comparatively simple design, while others were elaborately decorated with the figures of men and animals, and some were inlaid with ivory and precious stones. The inscriptions were few and fragmentary, the name of the king or the temple mentioned being otherwise unknown, while the writing is extremely archaic. That part of the mound in which these stone vase fragments were discovered contains only the plano-convex bricks characteristic of the old Sumerian period, which further indicates the extreme antiquity of this large collection of stone-ware, and indeed stone-ware seems to have been to a great extent supplanted by the more economical and more easily wrought clay pottery, at a comparatively early date, as was the case in ancient Egypt. Most of the vases from Bismâya are circular in shape, though examples of oval, oblong, square, and shell-shaped vases were also found. The stone most commonly used was marble, due no doubt to its comparative softness and adaptability to the chisel. The curvature and general symmetry of these vases is so perfect that, according to Banks, a lathe or something answering the same purpose as a lathe, must have been used. The softer stones at this period were doubtless worked with flint instruments, as in the case of the earliest cylinder-seals. The purposes which these vases served must have been as diversified as the vases themselves. Some appear to have been lamps, others drinking-cups; some were probably used as water, wine, or oil jars, while others may have been used as wash-basins; some were used for articles of toilet, and in one vessel traces of henna[148] were still visible in one compartment and traces of kohl in the other.

Fig. 90, a.Fig. 89.Fig. 90, b.

Of the stone-ware of the early period of Semitic supremacy in the Euphrates valley, a gracefully curved vase of white marble belonging to Urumush[149] king of Kish, which was discovered at Nippur during the course of the excavations carried on by the University of Pennsylvania, and is now preserved in the Pennsylvania Museum, affords us a good example; while of the stone-ware of the somewhat later period of Shar-Gâni-sharri and Narâm-Sin, the Semitic kings of Agade, a white alabaster “phial” (cf. Fig. [89]) discovered at Tellô and bearing the name of Narâm-Sin is an excellent specimen. It consists in a well-rounded flask or phial seven and a half inches high, and is inscribed with the words “Narâm-Sin, King of the four regions.” Another small stone vase of this king made of marble was acquired by Oppert during the ill-fated expedition of 1855, the inscription upon which gave the additional information that the stone from which the vase was made came from Magan, but this valuable relic shared the fate of the other monuments and tablets recovered by Fresnel and Oppert, and went down in the Tigris on May 23rd, 1855.[150]

Many stone vases of the late period of Sumerian supremacy have been brought to light, but none so interesting or so illuminating as that of Gudea, patesi of Lagash (cf. Figs. [90] a, b). This unique vase of dark green steatite is between eight and nine inches high, and rests upon a narrow circular base. It is furnished with a very small spout which could only allow but a small quantity of liquid to pass at a time. The decoration is of the most elaborate order: two entwined serpents occupy the central part of the design, their sinuous coils encircled round a long staff traversing the whole height of the vase, while their tongues are seen touching the edge of the vase near the embryonic spout. The serpents are flanked by two strangely composite and highly mythical creatures which face each other; in the grasp of each is a long spear provided with a semicircular lateral handle, an exact replica of the copper weapon discovered by De Sarzec at Tellô,[151] the site where this vase was also found. These winged monsters have the body and head of a serpent, and are provided with claws and talons, while their tails find their fitting termination in the sting of a scorpion; their necks are encircled with twisted tails, and their head-gears consist in a kind of horned cap, an indication of the supernatural powers of these extraordinary monstrosities. But in spite of the highly mythical character of these creatures, the artist has not lost sight of the general appearance of the serpent that has, as it were supplied the material and natural foundation for the unnatural additions which his imaginative mind has superimposed, the scaly skin of the snake being portrayed by means of inlaid fragments of marble. The inscription informs us that this vase was dedicated to the god Nin-gish-zi-da by Gudea for the prolongation of his life.

Another stone vessel of a somewhat unique character is the dark alabaster bowl in the Nimrûd Central Saloon of the British Museum; it is sculptured in relief with a scene of Gilgamesh and Ea-bani wrestling with lions, but unfortunately it is in a very poor state of preservation.