NINEVEH
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NINEVEH
Assyrian character of these objects is very remarkable. The two pillars and " chapiters" of brass had ornaments of lilies and pomegranates; the brazen sea was support- ed on oxen, and its rim was ornamented with flowers of lilies, while the bases were graven with lions, oxen, and cherubim on the borders, and the plates of the ledges with cherubim, lions, and palm-trees. The veil of the Temple, of different colors, had also cherubim wrought upon it (comp. Layard, Nin. ami Bab. p. 588, in which a large vessel, probably of bronze or copper, is represented supported upon oxen, and Mon. of Nin. ser. 2, pi. 60, Go, 68, in which vessels with embossed rims apparently similar to those in Solomon's temple are figured ; also ser. 1 , pi. 8, 44, 48, in which embroid- eries with cherubim occur).
The influence of Assyria to the eastward was even more considerable, extending far into Asia. The Per- sians copied their architecture (with such modifications as the climate and the building-materials at hand sug- gested), their sculpture, probably their painting and their mode of writing, from the Assyrians. The ruined palaces of Persepolis show the same general plan of con- struction as those of Nineveh — the entrances formed by human-headed animals, the skirting of sculptured stone, and the inscribed slabs. The various religious emblems anil the ornamentation have the same Assyrian charac- ter. In Persia, however, a stone architecture prevailed, and the columns in that material have resisted to this day the ravages of time.
The Persians made an advance in one respect upon Assyrian sculpture, and probably painting likewise, in an attempt at a natural representation of drapery by the introduction of folds, of which there is only the slight- est indication on Assyrian monuments. It may have been partly through Persia that the influence of As- syrian art passed into Asia Minor, and thence into Greece ; but it had probably penetrated far into the former country long before the Persian domination. We find it strongly shown in the earliest monuments, as in those of Lycia and Phrj'gia, and in the archaic sculptures of Branchidre. But the early art of Asia Minor still offers a most interesting field for investiga- tion. Among the Assyrians the arts were principally employed, as among all nations in their earlier stages of civilization, for religious and national purposes. The colossal figures at the doorways of the pala«es were mythic combinations to denote the attributes of a deity. The "Man-Bull" and the "Man-Lion" are conjectured to be the gods " Nin" and " Nergal," presiding over war and the chase ; the eagle-headed and fish-headed fig- ures, so constantly repeated in the sculptures and as ornaments on vessels of metal or in embroideries, Nis- roch and Dagon. The bass-reliefs almost invariably record some deed of the king, as head of the nation, in war, and in combat with wild beasts, or his piety in erecting vast palace-temples to the gods. Hitherto no sculptures specially illustrating the private life of the Assyrians have been discovered, except one or two in- cidents, such as men baking bread or tending horses, introduced as mere accessories into the historical bass- reliefs. This may be partly owing to the fact that no traces whatever have yet been found of their burial- places, or even of their mode of dealing with the dead. It is chiefly upon the walls of tombs that the domestic life of the Egyptians has been so fully depicted. In the useful arts, as in the fine arts, the Assyrians had made a progress which denotes a very high state of civilization. When the inscriptions have been fully examined and deciphered, it will probably be found that they had made no inconsiderable advance in the sciences, especially in astronomy, mathematics, numer- ation, and hydraulics.
Although the site of Nineveh afforded no special ad- vantages for commerce, and although she owed her greatness rather to her political position as the capital of the empire, j^et, situated upon a navigable river com- municating with the Euphrates and the Persian Gulf,
she must have soon formed one of the great trading sta» tions between that important inland sea and Syria and the Mediterranean, and must have become a depot for the merchandise supplied to a great part of Asia Minor, Armenia, and Persia. Her merchants are described in Ezekiel (xxvii, 24) as trading in blue clothes and broid- ered work (such as is probably represented in the sculpt- ures), and in Nahum (iii, 16) as " multiplied above the stars of heaven." The animals represented on the black obelisk in the British Museum and on other monuments —the rhinoceros, the elephant, the double-humped cam- el, and various kinds of apes and monkeys— show a com- munication, direct or indirect, with the remotest parts of Asia. This intercourse with foreign nations, and the practice of carrying to Assyria as captives the skilled artists and workmen of conquered countries, must have contributed greatly to the improvement of Assyrian manufactures. Affairs of state are frequently repre- sented on the monuments : the king in his glory going to war; receiving booty or captives, or making a treaty of peace ; behind him the eunuch with beardless double chin, carrying a flj'-flapper or an umbrella. The gov- ernment was despotic ; it was centred in the king. The provinces were ruled by satraps, and their state and ret- inue were so magnificent that the monarch boasts "Are not my princes altogether kings?" In a country van- squished, the conqueror secured some memorial of his conquest — either an inscription on some conspicuous rock or on stone blocks. His name and martial achieve- ments are duly registered, and his person is figured in priestly robes. Several of these memorials are now in the British Museum.