34 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



[Febbuaby, 



like like b.iv the richly-carved cornice or capital half hidden by 

 tl.t luvuriat t'herha'e- are replaced by the stern, shapeless mound, 



i^ri k " ' 11 f-- the scorched plain,-the fragment, ,, po 

 tery, and the stupendous mass of brickwork, "'^X " i U>e uin 1 e 



by the winter rains The scene around '« ^^hy oi he rum he 



iscontemnlating- desolation meets desolation,— a teeling V' f "f 



ucceeds tSer; for there is nothing to -l-ve the n,„d^^^ 

 lead to hone, or to tell of what has gone by. -^ \'f , "^"'i"!'"",^ 

 brines forcibly to mind the words of prophecy: "And he will 

 stretch out h s hand against the north, and destroy Assyria; and 

 wlfmake Nineveh a desolation, and dry !*« f -f.^^J.^of the 

 flocks shall lie down in the midst of her, all the beasts ot tne 

 nations both the cormorant and the bittern sha 1 lodge m the 

 npper intels of it; their voice shaU sing in the -'""i^^; /^-^^ 

 tion shall be in the thresholds: for he shall ""'^^f'-.^.^.^^^^f^^ 

 work This is the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly, that said in 

 her heart, I am, and there is n^ne beside me: how is she become a 



''^':X^:':i^^'>^^^ ^ ^triking contrast to 

 that oVthe £-ptTans; nor, in'taking the soil and « t-t .^^o 

 consideration,'-are we at a loss to account for the difference 



Nineveh, Babylon, Risen, and other great cities, had no doubt 

 beln founded on\he' banks 'of the Euphrates and Tigris fo^ the 

 sake of the easy transit afforded by the rivers, ^/ J'^l^/^ {°^ ^^j^ 

 great fertility caused by the abundant supply of water. Assyiia 

 ^cupied a vaL plain, boLded on the north and ^a^t by the moun 

 tains of Armenia and Khurdistan; and on the west by the Arabian 

 desel-t Stone,of a serviceable k-d, could only be brougU from 

 the distant mountains by an Intense expenditure of t.n^e and 

 labour, and was consequently only employed on statues, obelisks 

 &c ■ Lnd wood appears also to have been scarce, for Berossus, 

 then enlerating'p'alm, apple, and different kinds ofriu, makes 

 no mention of timber trees; nor have t>'e present inhabitants of 

 the country any other than the palm and the poplar. Cedar was 

 doubtless imported from Phoenicia, but nuist have been too va uable 

 ?o use as a common building material The Assy.ans^w-ere, there- 

 fore, wholly confined to the use ol brick, and the native coarse 

 alabaster, which could only be used for cutting '"to slabs: this 

 want of stone accounts for the total absence of fragments of 

 columns, generally so abundant amongst ancient ruins, btrabo 

 tells us thiy constructed columns of palm trees, round which, by 

 way of ornament, thev twisted bulrushes painted in various co- 

 lours. These are probably the kind of columns represented on 

 their sculptures; but of such frail materials all vestiges would 



naturally soon pass away. „+;„„. 



The walls of Babylon have been a fertile source of exaggeration, 

 but aUowing for this, they must have been extraordinary works, 

 and to the dweUers in the open plain they formed the only means 

 of defence. According to Diodorus Siculus, there was sufficient 

 space within the outer walls of Babylon not only for gardens and 

 orchards, hut to cultivate corn enough for the subsistence ot 

 the whole population, in case of siege: each city had also a citadel, 

 and a ditch 'round the walls. The citadel was the holy place 

 where the palace-temple stood, where the treasures were kept and 

 where were preserved the records of the kingdom, carved in stone; 

 it was also the place of refuge in time of danger This sacred 

 ground was elevated above the other buildings, both to give d g- 

 nity to the palace-temple and strength to the citadel. In these 

 plains, where no natural eminence was at hand, a. regular plat- 

 form of crude brick was constructed, 30 or 40 feet in height: the 

 custom of building on elevated ground still exists and many ot 

 the ancient mounds are occupied by a modern citadel. It was to 

 defend this sacred inclosure that those huge walls were bu. t so 

 often celebrated by ancient authors. Herodotus speaks oi the 

 walls of Babylon as 300 feet in height, and about Jo feet in thick- 

 ness- and, according to Diodorus, the walls of Nineveh were 

 100 feet in height, and so broad that three chariots might be 

 driven abreast upon them; 1500 towers were built at intervals 

 along the walls, each 200 feet in height. AVhether these dimen- 

 sions be correct or not, it is certain that the fortihcation must 

 have been of prodigious strength, as, in the reign of Sardanapalus, 

 Nineveh was only subdued by the combined forces of the I ersians 

 and Babylonians, after a siege of nearly three years At certain 

 distances in the wall were the gates, either flanked by towers, or 

 ornamented at the entrance by gigantic figures, such as the winged 

 hull The exterior of the wall was frequently cased with square 

 slabs, most probably of the native alabaster, and was decorated 

 with 'paintings. Eztkiel speaks of these P'^^^tings: "For when she 

 saw men pourtraved upon the walls, the images of the Chaldean, 

 pourtrayed with' vermilion; girded with girdles upon their loins, 



exceedin.^ in dved attire upon their heads." Diodorus says that on 

 ™outskle of- the principal palace of Babylon, bin t by Queen 

 Semiramis, figures of men and animals were painted; and th.t 

 tirpaint was laid on the bricks before they were phiced in the 

 furra e. Some enamelled bricks have been found at N^niroud, on 

 which the colours appear to have been thickly laid in a liquid state, 



"tf "rrrchitSrl^of the palaces of Babylon we have no 



account- hut we mav suppose it to have resembled the s yle of 



those structures discovered by Mr. Layard. Straho has left us an 



account of the temple of Belus; by whose description it would 



seem to have been a pyramidal tower, of eight stories, with a 



vi'^ding staircase on the outside from the base to the summit, the 



i"hest^story containing an observatory, fitted up for astronomical 



ur noses ive are told also of quays, of beautiful workmanship, 



purposes " « ar i ^^ ^^.j^. ^ ggn.iramis 



: rth\1.™esfpart of t'he Euphrates, "founded with wonder 

 ful skm- in the bed of the river, supported by columns 12 feet 

 auirt In order that the stones of which the bridge was composed 

 s Cld be firmly united, they were bound together by cramps 

 of "ron run with lead and to break the force of the water 

 iron, run ,i' ,ina- masses of masonry were built up 



^l^in them eroadtro? the bridge was formed with beams 

 of cedar and cypress, and was 30 feet in breadth. Dams were a so 

 constructed across the river, to secure a constant supply of water 

 t^the numeious canals, which spread over the country like net- 

 work! and were known'to have been the work of an ancient people 

 in tbp time of Alexander the Great. 



I fear the preceding descriptions must he taken as somewhat 

 apociTphal,Vhen we consider 'for how many centuries the mighty 

 cftks of Assyria have lain a heap of ruins; according to Mr. 

 Lavard however, the Arabs state that when the river runs low, 

 S st'one^runited by cramps of iron, become visible, which they 

 assert to have been the work of Nimroud. 



It is not probable that any judgment can now be formed of the 

 exterfor arch7tecture of Nineveh, so completely are the buildings 

 buried in heaps of earth and rubbish; and it was only by laborious 

 excavations that Mr. Layard gained an entrance into the interior 

 of one of the great palaces. It is most probable they were flat- 

 roofed, fnd did'not rl above the height of o-f ory The .val s 

 of the chambers were constructed of ^'^"-'^"f ,^"f^'f' ^^^^t"^ 

 from 5 feet to 15 feet in thickness; from 9 feet to 12 teet or tne 

 height of this wall was panelled with slabs of the coarse alabaster 

 or gypsum, with which the plains of Mesopotamia abound.- The 

 slab we?e fixed in their place by wooden or metal cramps dove- 

 fatdinto corresponding grooves in tlie.adjon.ng slabs Af 

 wall was formed, the bas-reliefs and inscriptions were cniseiie(i 

 out IhTs s evide'nt from the manner in which the sculptures and 

 ornLme It are continued from one slab to another. The wall above 

 thk Alabaster panelling was formed either of richly-coloured baked 

 hrcksorof sun-dried bricks covered with a coat of plaster, and 

 variously decorated and painted. Here, several ornaments now 

 feniUar to us through Greek art, appear to have ongmated- 

 "gst others, the guiUoche and the device know as the G^eek 

 1 i.in ni. nnlnipttp Assvriau art miluencea inat oi j\iui 



Srand%"artrnsm\tte''/To the Greeks who knew so well 

 how to harmonise and beautify every idea they borrowed tha what 

 tbPV m-oduced from the crude conceptions of other nations was 

 hkl te pel fectly developed flower compared with the just opening 

 bud The roof in Assyrian buildings was formed of beams of wood; 

 ouu. lae juui i hranrhes of palm were laid across them, 



Tnd u'^X'le' plas red orero.nhe oStside The disproportionate 

 C'rot'nrss^of ?he chambers .vould -m to forbid the lea of inte. 



narrowness of the chambers wouiu ''«"",^",,'rr^ :„„,:" though 

 vinr sunuort by means of columns; one hall of the palace, tnougn 

 160 feet' n length, is only 35 feet in breadth. In the wider halls, it 

 is probab e that t le centre was open to the air; indeed, it is to be 

 nresumed that all the chambers were lighted through an opening 

 Fn the 1 oof unless artificially illuminated, for there are no traces 

 of windows'- and drains are found leading from each chamber, as if 

 fi.r the purpose of carrying off the rain that might have fallen from 

 Zle 'in' the open halls it is conjectured that a projecting ledge 

 mav have been ca'^^ried round the walls, sufliciently wide to afford 

 Se =:.Krshelter,-and here, f °bably, the pal„^ colunins -en- 



"^^ ':>;^tviS^r '^qJi^re^'^ompr;^. ^^ of;^^ith 



nahited flower^ or figures oi" animals, a'lid surrounded by elegant 

 ITiet anrmo'uldinrgs: in some instances, the compartments w ere 



^"^rtla^Ss^^i^^^^^il:^^ inscribed alabaster sl^ 

 or bated briX; at the threshold of each chamber, beneath the 



