Fig. 70.—Statuette of Papsukal in Nabopolassar Palace.
At the north-west corner, where, as we have already stated, the palace is broken off, although it did not end there originally, a hole is cut from the north low down into the massive brickwork, which contained a pottery coffin of very unusual size. After it had been inserted the hole was once more bricked up with Nebuchadnezzar’s bricks. As the outer fortification wall, which runs parallel and completely concealed the opening, also dates from the time of Nebuchadnezzar, it is obvious that the burial must be of his time. The dead man must have been the object of deepest reverence, and with this his funerary outfit is in entire agreement. The place had been opened and plundered before we came, but in the rubbish concealed by the immense sarcophagus we found gold beads, and also a large number of small gold plates, with a hole by which they had been sewn on to some material, forming a sumptuous decoration. Most of them are circular, but with them are some rectangular plates somewhat larger, which bear moulded representations; a bearded man offering before the symbol of Marduk, or the gateway of a fortress with towers and battlements (see Fig. [20]). When we consider that only a very small portion of the outfit has escaped the tomb robbers, we realise that the body was provided with rich gold ornaments, and arrayed in garments richly spangled with gold, and that this personage during his lifetime must have occupied a very conspicuous and important position at the court of Babylon, our thoughts turn to Nabopolassar, and we almost wonder whether he himself had not been laid within his palace wall by his son.
Fig. 71.—Wall of two-ridged bricks in Southern Citadel.
Of the remaining buildings on this side, we have nothing of importance to communicate owing to the unfinished state of the excavations, nor is there much to report with regard to the buildings to the south of the Western Court: only a part of the Great Hall is excavated. We recognise the additional building, with its wall pushed towards the north. It is built with the two-ridged bricks of Nebuchadnezzar, and the peculiar effect of this method of building can here be seen clearly (Fig. [71]). Behind the hall we again find a series of three chambers, all apparently similar to each other, such as we find behind the great halls of the Principal and Central Courts. In the chambers next to court 40 are two circular walled-in wells, and in each case the foundation of the chamber that contains them is also filled in with rubble brickwork.
XVII
THE FORTIFICATION WALLS TO THE NORTH AND SOUTH OF THE PALACE OF NABOPOLASSAR.
Fig. 72.—Door in south wall of Southern Citadel.
In the fortification wall south of Nabopolassar’s palace, which has been excavated to a considerable depth, Nebuchadnezzar’s bricks occur even in the lower courses, while close by on the east the bricks are unstamped. There is an opening here in the wall to form an exit for the drain which runs from the Principal Citadel through the long passage. The three arched openings (Fig. [72]) are very remarkable. They resemble doorways, but they have no rabbets, such as are usually found in this kind of archway. The bricks are laid in asphalt and reeds.
