The excavations at Babylon

by Robert Koldewey

In the great courts round which the palace buildings are grouped, as in the Southern Citadel, the filling of brickwork is not arranged in a solid mass but in the form of long blocks about 2 metres in breadth and height. One course of these runs from east to west, the next above from north to south, as is clearly seen in m 12, and again in the south-east corner.

The bright yellow bricks in the upper parts are some of the hardest and best of those struck by Nebuchadnezzar; 7– or 3–lined stamps are used almost exclusively. In the narrow, often scarcely measurable joints there is fine white lime mortar as hard as stone, and here and there matting or reeds, which, however, do no damage to the hardness of the brickwork. In the lower parts the bricks are redder and softer and the mortar is grey, less solid, and reddish at the edges. For this reason the brick robbers have here preferred to work underground in search of the lower bricks, which are more easily removed. Thus the high walls have been largely robbed of their supports, and they are now sunk and split, as though they had been flung together by an earthquake (Fig. [98]).

During the progress of the building the details of the plan were frequently altered. Walls were thrown down and doors were displaced, so that at every 10th or 12th course a new plan was adopted. The royal builder must have insisted very specially and with great energy on his own wishes being carried out, for no architect would of his own free will alter plans so frequently during the course of building.

The decorations were still more splendid than those of the southern palace. Remains have been found of large reliefs consisting of a beautiful blue paste, similar to lapis lazuli. The figures were made up of separate pieces, each of which only contained a small part, such as a lock of hair. On the back of these separate pieces there was a prismatic addition, by which they were affixed to some background of which we know nothing.

Fig. 99.—Inscribed paving slabs—above of Evil-Merodach, below of Nebuchadnezzar.

Paving stones of white and mottled sandstone, limestone, and black basalt were used for the pavements, at any rate in the courts. They measure 66 centimetres square, and bear on their edges the name of Nebuchadnezzar, and in one case that of Evil-Merodach (Fig. [99]). Here also the ceilings were not vaulted, but according to the inscription quoted later on, they consisted of cedar, cypress, and other wood. In the entrances stood gigantic basalt lions similar to those of Assyrian palaces; of these we have found immense paws and other portions in the north-east corner.

All these facts we have gained as the result of the comparatively trifling excavations hitherto undertaken. These are limited to the central portion with the thick wall mentioned above, a cutting against the east front, and a similar one against the north front and on the north-east corner, but they have occupied a great deal of time owing to the amount of rubbish, as much as 8 to 12 metres deep or more, which has had to be cut through. Limited as the work has been, it has already yielded abundant proofs of the treasures of art and learning that Nebuchadnezzar and his successors heaped up in this portion of the palace for the “amazement of mankind,” as the king states in his inscription. It must always be remembered in this connection that the Kasr has been burrowed over, not once or twice, but repeatedly by brick robbers, for it is not without reason that the mound bears in addition to the name Kasr that of Mudshallibeh, which means “the overturned.” Here in the Principal Citadel this is more apparent than in the Southern Citadel, for here not only the foundation walls but also the spaces between them, which in the Southern Citadel consisted chiefly of earth, have yielded a supply of the greedily-sought brick materials.

At the north-east corner (Fig. [100]), in q 8 of the plan, before our excavations began there was a great basalt figure of a lion trampling on a man who lay beneath him with his right hand on the flank of the animal, and the left on his muzzle. This latter has been chopped away by superstitious hands, and he is marked all over by the stones and flint balls that have been, and are still, flung at him; for he is regarded as the much-feared “Djin.” On one side the Arabs have dug out a deep hole in his flanks, which is now filled in with cement. The reason of this is as follows. A European once came here, and inquired about the lion, which he had probably read of in the books of earlier travellers. The Arabs showed it to him, and after looking at it attentively, he chose from among the small holes in the basalt the right one, into which he thrust a key and turned it, whereupon his hand was immediately filled with gold pieces. Having accomplished his practical joke the traveller went his way, unable as he was to speak Arabic. The worthy Arabs, however, in order to render the treasure available, hammered this hole in the lion, which must have caused them immense labour, for the stone is extremely hard. The figure is not completely carved, and is still little more than blocked out. It therefore looks more ancient than it really is, for it can scarcely be earlier than the time of Nebuchadnezzar (Fig. [101]). People are divided as to its meaning. Some see in it Daniel in the lions’ den, and others Babylonia above defeated Egypt. But a concrete past is throughout this period never represented otherwise than in reliefs, and, on the other hand, it is foreign to Babylonian art to take as a basis the representation of an abstract idea.