The armour of the Assyrian was much the same as that in the early Sumerian days. The pointed helmet became rather taller, and did not cover the back of the head. The spear, and the bow and arrow, were the main weapons as before. The old straight-sided shield was also used in Assyrian times, but was partly superseded by the round shield considerably coned. The extension of the kingdom brought in various auxiliaries, who differed from the older Babylonians. Slingers, northern horsemen clad in leather, and mountaineers with woodman’s axes, all added new branches to the army.
Sculpture 5,000 Years Ago
ART. The arts were carried to great perfection by the mixed population. Broadly speaking, the best work is that of the early age of Naramsin (3750 B.C.), and that of the late age of Ashur-bani-pal (640 B.C.). Though not so fine, yet probably the Hammurabi sculptures are the highest between the early and late schools. This would give intervals of 1,650 and 1,460 years between the successive waves of art, and about 1,450 years more to the glories of Baghdad, a period much like that found on the Mediterranean, though not coincident with it.
The finest work of Naramsin (3750 B.C.) is his great stele from Susa, now in Paris. It is remarkably pictorial in style, agreeing in this with the pieces of a limestone stele representing rows of combatants from Tello, also in Paris. The figure of the king is lithe, active, romantic in attitude, the enemies and his soldiers are full of animation. No Oriental sculpture has had quite the same life in it; and it recalls the pictorial style of Crete and the later Greek sculpture. The art of Gudea (3300 B.C.) is more cold and formal, and has not the same fine sense of proportion; it is distinctly a period of survival and not of artistic instinct, as seen, for instance, on the limestone relief in Berlin. The age of Hammurabi (2100 B.C.) shows careful portraiture, but not the spirit of the earlier age; the work is well finished, and there was no hesitation in handling materials boldly, as on the great black stele of the laws, now in Paris. There was a fine sympathetic treatment in private sculpture, as shown in the beautiful limestone head of a Sumerian in Berlin [see [page 266]].
Fine Later Art
The last great age was that of the Assyrian Empire. Under Ashur-nazir-pal (885) the work is fine and severe, but without much expression. Shalmaneser III. (860) troubled more about history than about art, and his principal remains are the long records of the black obelisk and the Balawat gates, which are but clumsy in the forms. Under Sennacherib (705) there is a breadth of composition, as in the siege of Lachish, which is worthily aided by a more pictorial style, while under Ashur-bani-pal (668–626) the art reaches both grace and vigour, as in the splendid natural scenes of the wild-ass hunt, in the lion hunt, and in the garden feast with the queen.
GUDEA LED BY A GOD
This shows the Babylonian art at 3300 B.C., inferior to the earlier style of Naramsin. The original is in Berlin Museum.
MECHANICS. The mechanical arts were also greatly developed. The large size of the buildings, the great quantities of stone transported for the sculptures, and the immense size of many blocks—the bulls weigh nearly 50 tons each—all show that there was not only considerable skill, but also large ideals and directive ability. Layard found that three hundred men were wanted for drawing his cart bearing the great bull; and the sledge used by the Assyrians for the transport must have needed as many, or more. Long levers are represented as having been used in a very effective manner; but the placing of such great blocks exactly in the right position required far more ability than the mere transport. The forms of tools were much in advance of those used by the Egyptians. As far back as Naramsin, the copper axes were all well hafted, generally with rings raised round the edges of the haft hole to strengthen the band and prevent it splitting.