SCULPTURE. 



eonftruftion, but are of Roman or Grecian origin, and mud 

 have been erefted in an age greatly pofterior to the prophets. 

 This feems to be allowed in the words of our Saviour to the 

 Pharifees : " Your fathers killed the prophets and ye build 

 their fepulchres." It ftiould feem that the Pharifees added 

 Roman ornaments to the iimple forms of ancient Hebrew 

 veneration, as is fiirnified in thefe words. " Ye build the 

 tombs of the prophets and garnifh the fepulchres of the 

 righteous." 



There are engravings of thefe fepulchral monuments, pub- 

 liftied by Mr. Cafafs in Paris. 



Of Babylonian and Per/tan Sculpture, alfo of Aftatic Sculpture 

 in general. — It may be proper to take only fome general no- 

 tice of the moil ancient fculpture of other nations of the 

 Eaft, of which our accounts are very imperfeft, previous to 

 the defcription of Egyptian fculpture, for two reafons ; 

 lit, that the fculptures of thefe nations will have coijfiderable 

 light thrown upon them by the Egyptian remains; and, 

 2dly, becaufe, as the hiitory and examples of Egyptian fculp- 

 ture are abundant and fucceffive ; tiiey lead us more natu- 

 rally and accurately to the great objeft of our prefe:it en- 

 quiry, Grecian fculpture. 



In the very ruined (late of fome, and the utter devaftation 

 of moll of thofe countries in Alia which were once the 

 feats of art and fcience, the traveller in vain fceks for me- 

 morials of Noah, or of Abraham, or of Mofes, or even of 

 Solomon : all hiilorical record of tliefe early times is with- 

 out corroborative evidence from remaining monuments. 



The firll method of tranfmitting ideas to potlcrity is fup- 

 pofed to have been by hieroglyphics or ideal writings, whe- 

 ther painted or fculptured. Such alfo was uled in Mexico 

 when firll difcovered. All the moft ancient writings ap- 

 proach to the figurative or ideal writing, every word being 

 as much as poflible a piAure or image. Some of the learned 

 have thought that the firll chapters of GenefK were origin- 

 ally tranfmitted in this way. 



How fuch figurative words could have occurred, previous 

 to the art of ideal writing, cannot be eafily conceived. The 

 author of a figurative expreflion mull have a figurative idea 

 in his mind, and that is a hieroglyphic, which might as well 

 be painted or fculptured as written, and with infinitely 

 greater effedl on the reader. 



The defcriptions of the creation and fall of man, of the 

 flood of Noah, of the building of Babel, and ^f the de- 

 parture of Abraham from Chaldea, are each of them a fub- 

 rime feries of ideal writing. 



After the flood, when men began again to multiply upon 

 the earth, Nimrod's followers are faid to have " bnilded a city 

 and a tower, whole top fliould reach unto heaven." The 

 facred writings do not mention any thiiig of fculpture in 

 this building. But Berofus fays, that reprefentations of the 

 terrific forms that inhabited chaos previous to the creation, 

 were to be feen on the walls of the temple of Belus in Baby- 

 lon ; and that thefe confilted of human figures with wings, 

 of human figures with two heads, of others with legs of 

 goats and with horns ; and that they were executed both in 

 painting and fculpt\ire. 



There are no works of fculpture difcovered in any coun- 

 try at all to be compared v.'ith Greek art. All the great 

 empires, previous to the age of Pericles, are vanilhed ; not 

 any thing of Nebuchadnezzar, nor of Semiramis, nor of Be- 

 lus; their names remain in hiilory but not in Iculpture, and 

 it cannot be certified whether the golden image of Nebu- 

 chadnezzar was merely a coloffus or a work ot fine art. 



Much lefs can we fpeak of Belus, from any thing that 

 remains. Herodotus, in defcribing the temple of Jupiter 

 Belus in Babylon, fays it is a " fquare building, two ftades 



in length on every fide, having gates of brafs, as may be 

 feen in our time, in the midll of this temple lta:d3 a 

 fohd tower of one Hade in height, and in length and breadth 

 the fame meafure. On this lower another is built, and a 

 third upon that, till they make up the number nf eight. 

 The afcent to thefe is by a way carried round the outfide of 

 the building to the higheil part, lu the inidit of the alcent 

 is a place, where thole, who go up may retl themfclvcs. 

 Within the uppermoll tower a fpaciouh dome is built, in 

 which a table of gold (lauds, at the fide of a niagnificeii* 

 bed. No image is leen in this place, but in a chapel whicl 

 Hands below within the temple, a large image of gold, rc- 

 prefenting Jupiter fitting, is placed on a throne of gold, bj 

 a table of the fame metal, all together weighing eight hun- 

 dred talents, as the Chaldeans affirm. Without this chapel 

 is an altar of gold, and another of a greater fize, which is 

 ufed when cattle of full age are facrificcd ; for on the golden 

 altar no other than fucking viftims may be offered. On the 

 great altar the Chaldeans confume yearly a thouland talent* 

 in incenfe, when they celebrate the feitival of this god. 

 Bcfides thefe things, a llatue of folid gold, twelve cubits 

 high, Hood formerly in this temple, which, becaule I did not 

 fee, I fliall only relate what I heard from the Chaldeans. 

 Darius, the fon of Hyllafpes, had defigned to take away 

 this, but had not courage for this purpole ; but Xerxes, the 

 ion of Darius, not only took away the llatue, bul killed the 

 pried who had torbidden him to remove it. In this manner 

 the temple of Jupiter Belus is built and adoriaed, not to 

 mention divers other donations confecratcd there by private 

 perfons." 



Diodorus Siculus has given a defcription of the works of 

 queen Semiramis in Babylon. " She built two palaces, at the 

 end of the bridge upon the banks of the Euphrates. That 

 on the well had a high and {lately wall, built circular, upon 

 which were pourtraycd in the bricks, before they were burat> 

 the forms of all forts of living creatures, laid with great art 

 in curious colours. This wall was in circuit forty iurlongs, 

 in height a hundred yards, upon which were turrets a hun- 

 dred and forty yards high. The third and moll inward wall 

 immediately lurrounded the palace, thirty furlongs in com. 

 pals, and far furraounted the middle wall both in height and 

 thickuefs ; and on this wall and the towers were reprefented 

 the ihapes of all lorts of living creatures, artificially ex- 

 prelFed in the moll lively colours : cfpecially was reprefented 

 a general hiilory of all forts ol wild bealls, each four cubits 

 high and upwards. Among thefe was to be feen Semiramis 

 on horleback, linking a leopard through with a dart; and 

 nexi. to her, her hulband Ninus, in dole fight with a lion, 

 piercing him with a lance. This palace far excelled that on 

 the other lide of tlie river, both in greatnels and adornments, 

 for the outermoll wall ot that made of well burnt brick, 

 was but thirty furlongs in circumference, Inltead of the 

 curious portraiture of bealls, there were the brazen Hatues 

 of Ninus and Semiramis, the great officers, and of Jupiter, 

 whom the Babylonians call Bolus, and likewife of armies 

 drawn up in battalia ; and diverfe forts of hunting were 

 there reprefented, to the great diverfion and plealure of 

 the beholders. In the middle of the city ihe built a 

 temple to Jupiter, whom the Babylonians call Belus. Upon 

 the top ftie placed three Hatues of beaten gold, of Jupiter, 

 Juno, and Rhea, That of Jupiter Hood upright, in the 

 pollute as if he were walking. He was forty feet in 

 height, and weighed a thoufand Babyloiiilh talents. The 

 ftatue of Rhea was of the fame weight, fitting on a golden 

 throne, having two lions at her knees, Handing one on 

 either fide, and near to them two exceeding great ferpents 

 of filver, weighing thirty talents a piece. Here likewife 



tbp 



