Discoveries Among the Ruins of Nineveh and Babylon
by Austen Henry Layard · English · Gutenberg #39897 · 1,014,166 chars · public domain (US)
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Title: Discoveries Among the Ruins of Nineveh and Babylon
Author: Austen Henry Layard
Release date: June 2, 2012 [eBook #39897]
Language: English
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[Illustration: NORTH-EASTERN FACADE AND GRAND ENTRANCE OF SENNACHERIBS
PALACE KOUYUNJIK
Restored from a Sketch by J Fergusson, Esqre
G P PUTNAM & Co NEW YORK.]
DISCOVERIES AMONG THE RUINS OF NINEVEH AND BABYLON;
WITH
TRAVELS IN ARMENIA, KURDISTAN, AND THE DESERT:
BEING THE RESULT OF A SECOND EXPEDITION
UNDERTAKEN FOR
THE TRUSTEES OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM.
BY AUSTEN H. LAYARD, M. P.
AUTHOR OF "NINEVEH AND ITS REMAINS."
"For thou hast made of a city an heap; of a defenced city
a ruin; a palace of strangers to be no city; it shall never
be built."--ISAIAH xxv. 2.
ABRIDGED FROM THE LARGER WORK.
NEW-YORK:
G. P. PUTNAM & CO., 10 PARK PLACE.
1853.
ENTERED according to Act of Congress in the year 1853, by
GEORGE P. PUTNAM & CO.,
In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Southern
District of New-York.
PREFATORY NOTE.
The present Abridgment of Mr. Layard's Discoveries among the ruins of
Nineveh and Babylon has been prepared with much care and attention; and a
studious effort has been made to retain, in the Author's own language, the
more interesting and important portions of the larger work. This has been
done by omitting the greater part of the minute details of the
descriptions of sculpture and monumental remains, by dispensing with
several tables of cuneiform characters, elaborate examinations of various
matters by scientific men, &c. At the same time there has been retained
every thing relating to the Bible, and illustrating and enforcing its
truth and the fulfilment of prophecy; as well as the genial and life-like
portraitures of Arab habits and customs, and the pleasant adventures of
the Author in regions that to most men seem like fairy land.
For general use it is confidently hoped and believed that the present
volume will be more widely serviceable than the larger work, from its
expensiveness and size, could possibly be.
S.
_New-York, May 2d, 1853._
PREFACE.
Since the publication of my first work on the discoveries at Nineveh much
progress has been made in deciphering the cuneiform character, and the
contents of many highly interesting and important inscriptions have been
given to the public. For these additions to our knowledge we are mainly
indebted to the sagacity and learning of two English scholars, Col.
Rawlinson and the Rev. Dr. Hincks. In making use of the results of their
researches, I have not omitted to own the sources from which my
information has been derived. I trust, also, that I have in no instance
availed myself of the labors of other writers, or of the help of friends,
without due acknowledgments. I have endeavored to assign to every one his
proper share in the discoveries recorded in these pages.
I am aware that several distinguished French scholars, amongst whom I may
mention my friends, M. Botta and M. de Saulcy, have contributed to the
successful deciphering of the Assyrian inscriptions. Unfortunately I have
been unable to consult the published results of their investigations. If,
therefore, I should have overlooked in any instance their claims to prior
discovery, I have to express my regret for an error arising from
ignorance, and not from any unworthy national prejudice.
Doubts appear to be still entertained by many eminent critics as to the
progress actually made in deciphering the cuneiform writing. These doubts
may have been confirmed by too hasty theories and conclusions, which, on
subsequent investigation, their authors have been the first to withdraw.
But the unbiased inquirer can scarcely now reject the evidence which can
be brought forward to confirm the general accuracy of the interpretations
of the inscriptions. Had they rested upon a single word, or an isolated
paragraph, their soundness might reasonably have been questioned; when,
however, several independent investigators have arrived at the same
results, and have not only detected numerous names of persons, nations,
and cities in historical and geographical series, but have found them
mentioned in proper connection with events recorded by sacred and profane
writers, scarcely any stronger evidence could be desired. The reader, I
would fain hope, will come to this conclusion when I treat of the contents
of the various records discovered in the Assyrian palaces.
To Mr. Thomas Ellis, who has added so much to the value of my work by his
translations of inscriptions on Babylonian bowls, now for the first time,
through his sagacity, deciphered; to those who have assisted me in my
labors, and especially to my friend and companion, Mr. Hormuzd Rassam, to
the Rev. Dr. Hincks, to the Rev. S. C. Malan, who has kindly allowed me
the use of his masterly sketches, to Mr. Fergusson, Mr. Scharf, and to Mr.
Hawkins, Mr. Birch, Mr. Vaux, and the other officers of the British
Museum, I beg to express my grateful thanks and acknowledgments.
London, January, 1853.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
PAGE
N. E. FACADE AND ENTRANCE TO SENNACHERIB'S PALACE,
RESTORED _Frontispiece._
THE MELEK TAOUS OR COPPER BIRD OF THE YEZIDIS 46
SUBTERRANEAN EXCAVATIONS AT KOUYUNJIK 61
MOUND OF NIMROUD 84
HEAD-DRESS OF CAPTIVES EMPLOYED BY ASSYRIANS IN
MOVING BULL (KOUYUNJIK) 92
VILLAGE WITH CONICAL ROOFS NEAR ALEPPO 97
BULLS WITH HISTORICAL INSCRIPTIONS OF SENNACHERIB
(KOUYUNJIK) 113
SENNACHERIB ON HIS THRONE BEFORE LACHISH 129
FEET OF TRIPODS IN BRONZE AND IRON 151
A CAPTIVE (OF THE TOKKARI?) KOUYUNJIK 193
LION DISCOVERED AT ARBAN 231
VOLCANIC CONE OF KOUKAB 268
ENTRANCE TO SMALL TEMPLE (NIMROUD) _Facing page_ 288
FISH-GOD AT ENTRANCE TO SMALL TEMPLE (NIMROUD) 289
KURDS OF WAN 320
FIGURES OF ASSYRIAN VENUS IN BAKED CLAY 383
THE MUJELIBE OR KASR (FROM RICH) 392
PLAN OF PART OF THE RUINS OF BABYLON ON THE EASTERN
BANK OF THE EUPHRATES 396
JUG OF SOAPSTONE, FROM THE MOUND OF BABEL 409
ASSYRIAN PEDESTAL, FROM KOUYUNJIK 477
PART OF COLOSSAL HEAD, FROM KOUYUNJIK 481
PLAN OF THE INCLOSURE WALLS AND DITCHES AT KOUYUNJIK 536
MAP OF ASSYRIA, ETC. } _at the end._
GENERAL MAP OF MESOPOTAMIA }
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
The Trustees of the British Museum resume Excavations at
Nineveh.--Departure from Constantinople.--Description of our
Party.--Roads from Trebizond to Erzeroom.--Description of the
Country.--Armenian Churches.--Erzeroom.--Reshid Pasha.--The
Dudjook Tribes.--Shahan Bey.--Turkish Reform.--Journey through
Armenia.--An Armenian Bishop.--The Lakes of Shailu and Nazik 15
CHAPTER II.
The Lake of Wan.--Akhlat.--Tatar Tombs.--Ancient Remains.--A
Dervish.--A Friend.--The Mudir.--Armenian Remains.--An Armenian
Convent and Bishop.--Journey to Bitlis.--Nimroud Dagh.--
Bitlis.--Journey to Kherzan.--Yezidi Village 30
CHAPTER III.
Reception by the Yezidis.--Village of Guzelder.--Triumphal
March to Redwan.--Redwan.--Armenian Church.--The Melek Taous,
or Brazen Bird.--Tilleh.--Valley of the Tigris.--Bas-reliefs.--
Journey to Dereboun.--To Semil.--Abde Agha.--Journey to
Mosul.--The Yezidi Chiefs.--Arrival at Mosul.--Xenophon's March
from the Zab to the Black Sea 42
CHAPTER IV.
State of the Excavations on my Return to Mosul.--Discoveries at
Kouyunjik.--Tunnels in the Mound.--Bas-reliefs representing
Assyrian Conquests.--A Well.--Siege of a City.--Nature of
Sculptures at Kouyunjik.--Arrangement for Renewal of
Excavations.--Description of Mound.--Kiamil Pasha.--Visit to
Sheikh Adi.--Yezidi Ceremonies.--Sheikh Jindi.--Yezidi
Meeting.--Dress of the Women.--Bavian.--Doctrines of the
Yezidi.--Jerraiyah.--Return to Mosul 61
CHAPTER V.
Renewal of Excavations at Kouyunjik.--First Visit to Nimroud.--
State of Ruins.--Renew Excavations in Mound.--Visit of Col.
Rawlinson.--Mr. H. Rassam.--The Jebour Workmen at Kouyunjik.--
Discoveries at Kouyunjik.--Sculptures representing moving of
great Stones and Winged Bulls.--Methods adopted.--Epigraphs on
Bas-reliefs of moving Bulls.--Sculptures representing Invasion
of Mountainous Country, and Sack of City.--Discovery of
Gateway.--Excavation in high conical Mound at Nimroud.--
Discovery of Wall of Stone.--Visit to Khorsabad.--Discovery of
Slab.--State of the Ruins.--Futhliyah.--Baazani.--Baasheikhah 84
CHAPTER VI.
Discovery of Grand Entrance to the Palace of Kouyunjik.--Of the
Name of Sennacherib in the Inscriptions.--The Records of that
King in the Inscriptions on the Bulls.--An Abridged Translation
of them.--Name of Hezekiah.--Account of Sennacherib's Wars with
the Jews.--Dr. Hincks and Col. Rawlinson.--The Names of Sargon
and Shalmaneser.--Discovery of Sculptures at Kouyunjik,
representing the Siege of Lachish.--Description of the
Sculptures.--Discovery of Clay Seals.--Of Signets of Egyptian
and Assyrian Kings.--Cartouche of Sabaco.--Name of
Essarhaddon.--Confirmation of Historical Records of the
Bible.--Royal Cylinder of Sennacherib 113
CHAPTER VII.
Road open for removal of Winged Lions.--Discovery of Vaulted
Drain.--Of other Arches.--Of Painted Bricks.--Attack of the Tai
on the Village of Nimroud.--Visit to the Howar.--Description of
the Encampment of the Tai.--The Plain of Shomamok.--Sheikh
Faras.--Wali Bey.--Return to Nimroud 137
CHAPTER VIII.
Contents of newly-discovered Chamber.--A Well.--Large Copper
Caldrons.--Bells, Rings, and other Objects in Metal.--
Tripods.--Caldrons and large Vessels.--Bronze Bowls, Cups, and
Dishes.--Description of the Embossings upon them.--Arms and
Armour.--Shields.--Iron Instruments.--Ivory Remains.--Bronze
Cubes inlaid with Gold.--Glass Bowls.--Lens.--The Royal Throne 150
CHAPTER IX.
Visit to the Winged Lions by Night.--The Bitumen Springs.--
Removal of the Winged Lions to the River.--Floods at Nimroud.--
Yezidi Marriage Festival.--Baazani.--Visit to Bavian.--Site of
the Battle of Arbela.--Description of Rock-Sculptures.--
Inscriptions.--The Shabbaks 167
CHAPTER X.
Visit to Kalah Sherghat prevented.--Visit to Shomamok.--
Keshaf.--The Howar.--A Bedouin.--His Mission.--Descent of Arab
Horses.--Their Pedigree.--Ruins of Mokhamour.--The Mound of the
Kasr.--Plain of Shomamok.--The Gla or Kalah.--Xenophon and the
Ten Thousand.--A Wolf.--Return to Nimroud and Mosul.--
Discoveries at Kouyunjik.--Description of the Bas-reliefs 182
CHAPTER XI.
Preparations for a Journey to the Khabour.--Sculptures
discovered there.--Sheikh Suttum.--His Rediff.--Departure from
Mosul.--First Encampment.--Abou Khameera.--A Storm.--Tel
Ermah.--A Stranger.--Tel Jemal.--The Chief of Tel Afer.--A
Sunset in the Desert.--A Jebour Encampment.--The Belled
Sinjar.--The Sinjar Hill.--Mirkan.--Bukra.--The dress of the
Yezidis.--The Shomal.--Ossofa.--Aldina.--Return to the
Belled.--A Snake-Charmer.--Journey continued in the Desert.--
Rishwan.--Encampment of the Boraij.--Dress of Arab Women.--
Rathaiyah.--A Deputation from the Yezidis.--Arab Encampments.--
The Khabour.--Mohammed Emin.--Arrival at Arban 195
CHAPTER XII.
Arban.--Our Encampment.--Suttum and Mohammed Emin.--Winged
Bulls discovered.--Excavations commenced.--Their Results.--
Discovery of Small Objects--of Second Pair of Winged Bulls.--of
Lion--of Chinese Bottle--of Vase--of Egyptian Scarabs--of
Tombs.--The Scene of the Captivity 225
CHAPTER XIII.
Residence at Arban.--Mohammed Emin's Tent.--The Agaydat.--our
Tents.--Bread-baking.--Food of the Bedouins.--Thin Bread.--The
Produce of their Flocks.--Diseases amongst them.--Their
Remedies.--The Deloul or Dromedary.--Bedouin Warfare.--Suttum's
First Wife.--A Storm.--Turtles.--Lions.--A Bedouin Robber.--
Beavers.--Ride to Ledjmiyat--A Plundering Expedition.--Loss of
a Hawk.--Ruins of Shemshani.--Return to Arban.--Visit to
Moghamis 237
CHAPTER XIV.
Leave Arban.--The Banks of the Khabour.--Artificial Mounds.--
Mijwell.--The Cadi of the Bedouins.--The _Thar_ or
Blood-Revenge.--Caution of Arabs.--A natural Cavern.--An
extinct volcano.--The Confluents of the Khabour.--Bedouin
Marks.--Suleiman Agha.--Encampment at Um-Jerjeh.--The Turkish
Irregular Cavalry.--Mound of Mijdel.--Ruins on the Khabour.--
Mohammed Emin leaves us.--Visit to Kurdish Tents and Harem.--
The Milli Kurds.--The Family of Rishwan.--Arab Love-making.--
The Dakheel.--Bedouin Poets and Poetry.--Turkish Cavalry Horses 252
CHAPTER XV.
Departure from the Khabour.--Arab Sagacity.--The Hol.--The Lake
of Khatouniyah.--Return of Suttum.--Encampment of the
Shammar.--Arab Horses--their Breeds--their Value--their
Speed.--Sheikh Ferhan.--Yezidi Villages.--Falcons.--An Alarm.--
Abou Maria.--Eski Mosul.--Arrival at Mosul.--Return of Suttum
to the Desert 268
CHAPTER XVI.
Discoveries at Kouyunjik.--Procession of Figures bearing Fruit
and Game.--Locusts.--Led Horses.--An Assyrian Campaign.--Dagon,
or the Fish-God.--The Chambers of Records.--Inscribed Clay
Tablets.--Return to Nimroud.--Effects of the Flood.--
Discoveries.--Small Temple under high Mound.--The Evil
Spirit.--Fish-God.--Fine Bas-relief of the King.--Extracts from
the Inscription.--Great inscribed Monolith.--Extracts from the
Inscription.--Cedar Beams.--Small Objects.--Second Temple.--
Marble Figure and other Objects 280
CHAPTER XVII.
The Summer.--Encampment at Kouyunjik.--Visitors.--Mode of
Life.--Departure for the Mountains.--Akra.--Rock-Tablets at
Gunduk.--District of Zibari.--Namet Agha.--District of
Shirwan--of Baradost--of Gherdi--of Shemdina.--Mousa Bey.--
Nestorian Bishop.--Convent of Mar Hananisho.--Dizza.--An
Albanian Friend.--Bash-Kalah.--Izzet Pasha.--A Jewish
Encampment.--High Mountain Pass.--Mahmoudiyah.--First View of
Wan 300
CHAPTER XVIII.
Mehemet Pasha.--Description of Wan.--Its History.--Improvement
in its Condition.--The Armenian Bishop.--The Cuneiform
Inscriptions.--The Caves of Khorkhor.--The Meher Kapousi.--A
Tradition.--Observations on the Inscriptions.--The Bairam.--An
American School.--The American Missions.--Protestant Movement
in Turkey.--Amikh.--The Convent of Yedi Klissia 320
CHAPTER XIX.
Leave Wan.--The Armenian Patriarch.--The Island of Akhtamar.--
An Armenian Church.--History of the Convent.--Pass into
Mukus.--The District of Mukus--of Shattak--of Nourdooz.--A
Nestorian Village.--Encampments.--Mount Ararat.--Mar Shamoun.--
Julamerik.--Valley of Diz.--Pass into Jelu.--Nestorian District
of Jelu.--An ancient Church.--The Bishop.--District of Baz--of
Tkhoma.--Return to Mosul 337
CHAPTER XX.
Discoveries at Kouyunjik during the Summer.--Description of the
Sculptures.--Capture of Cities on a great River.--Pomp of
Assyrian King.--Alabaster Pavement.--Conquest of Tribes
inhabiting a Marsh.--Their Wealth.--Chambers with Sculptures
belonging to a new King.--Description of the Sculptures.--
Conquest of the People of Susiana.--Portrait of the King.--His
guards and Attendants.--The City of Shushan.--Captive Prince.--
Musicians.--Captives put to the Torture.--Artistic Character of
the Sculptures.--An Inclined Passage.--Two small Chambers.--
Colossal Figures.--More Sculptures 356
CHAPTER XXI.
Preparations for leaving Nineveh.--Departure for Babylon.--
Descent of the River.--Tekrit.--The State of the Rivers of
Mesopotamia.--Commerce upon them.--Turkish Roads.--The Plain of
Dura.--The Naharwan.--Samarrah.--Kadesia.--Palm Groves.--
Kathimain.--Approach to Baghdad.--The City.--Arrival.--Dr.
Ross.--A British Steamer.--Modern Baghdad.--Tel Mohammed.--
Departure for Babylon.--A Persian Prince.--Abde Pasha's
Camp.--Eastern Falconry.--Hawking the Gazelle.--Approach to
Babylon.--The Ruins.--Arrival at Hillah 372
CHAPTER XXII.
The Chiefs of Hillah.--Present of Lions.--The Son of the
Governor.--Description of the Town.--Zaid.--The Ruins of
Babylon.--Changes in the Course of the Euphrates.--The Walls.--
Visit to the Birs Nimroud.--Description of the Ruin.--View from
it.--Excavations and Discoveries in the Mound of Babel.--In the
Mujelibe or Kasr.--The Tree Athele.--Excavations in the Ruin of
Amran.--Bowls, with Inscriptions in Hebrew and Syriac
Characters.--The Jews of Babylonia 392
CHAPTER XXIII.
State of the Ruins of Babylon.--Cause of the Disappearance of
Buildings.--Nature of original Edifices.--Babylonian Bricks.--
The History of Babylon.--Its Fall.--Its Remarkable Position.--
Commerce.--Canals and Roads.--Skill of Babylonians in the
Arts.--Engraved Gems.--Corruption of Manners, and consequent
Fall of the City.--The Mecca Pilgrimage.--Sheikh Ibn Reshid.--
The Gebel Shammar.--The Mounds of El Hymer--of Anana 419
CHAPTER XXIV.
Ruins in Southern Mesopotamia.--Departure from Hillah.--
Sand-Hills.--Villages in the Jezireh.--Sheikh Karboul.--
Ruins.--First View of Niffer.--The Marshes.--Arab Boats.--
Arrive at Souk-el-Afaij.--Sheikh Agab.--Town of the Afaij.--
Description of the Ruins of Niffer.--Excavations in the
Mounds.--Discovery of Coffins--of various Relics.--Mr. Loftus'
Discoveries at Wurka.--The Arab Tribes.--Wild Beasts.--Lions.--
Customs of the Afaij.--Leave the Marshes.--Return to Baghdad.--
A Mirage 437
CHAPTER XXV.
Preparations for Departure.--Sahiman.--Plunder of his Camels.--
Leave Baghdad.--Journey through Mesopotamia.--Early Arab
Remains.--The Median Wall.--Tekrit.--Horses stolen.--Instances
of Bedouin Honesty.--Excavations at Kalah Sherghat.--Reach
Mosul.--Discoveries during Absence.--New Chambers at
Kouyunjik.--Description of Bas-reliefs.--Extent of the Ruins
explored.--Bases of Pillars.--Small objects.--Roman Coins
struck at Nineveh.--Hoard of Denarii.--Greek Relics.--Absence
of Assyrian Tombs.--Fragment with Egyptian Characters.--
Assyrian Relics.--Remains beneath the Tomb of Jonah.--
Discoveries at Shereef-Khan--at Nimroud.--Assyrian Weights.--
Engraved Cylinders 463
CHAPTER XXVI.
Results of the Discoveries to Chronology and History.--Names of
Assyrian Kings in the Inscriptions.--A Date fixed.--The Name of
Jehu.--The Obelisk King.--The earlier Kings--Sardanapalus.--His
Successors.--Pul, or Tiglath Pileser.--Sargon.--Sennacherib.--
Essarhaddon.--The last Assyrian Kings.--Tables of proper Names
in the Assyrian Inscriptions.--Antiquity of Nineveh.--Of the
Name of Assyria.--Illustrations of Scripture.--State of Judaea
and Assyria compared.--Political Condition of the Empire.--
Assyrian Colonies.--Prosperity of the Country.--Religion.--
Extent of Nineveh.--Assyrian Architecture--Compared with
Jewish.--Palace of Kouyunjik restored.--Platform at Nimroud
restored.--The Assyrian fortified Inclosures.--Description of
Kouyunjik.--Conclusion 491
NINEVEH AND BABYLON.
CHAPTER I.
THE TRUSTEES OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM RESUME EXCAVATIONS AT
NINEVEH.--DEPARTURE FROM CONSTANTINOPLE.--DESCRIPTION OF OUR
PARTY.--ROADS FROM TREBIZOND TO ERZEROOM.--DESCRIPTION OF THE
COUNTRY.--ARMENIAN CHURCHES.--ERZEROOM.--RESHID PASHA.--THE DUDJOOK
TRIBES.--SHAHAN BEY.--TURKISH REFORM.--JOURNEY THROUGH ARMENIA.--AN
ARMENIAN BISHOP.--THE LAKES OF SHAILU AND NAZIK.
After a few months' residence in England during the year 1848, to recruit
a constitution worn by long exposure to the extremes of an Eastern
climate, I received orders to proceed to my post at Her Majesty's Embassy
in Turkey. The Trustees of the British Museum did not, at that time,
contemplate further excavations on the site of ancient Nineveh. Ill health
and limited time had prevented me from placing before the public, previous
to my return from the East, the results of my first researches, with the
illustrations of the monuments and copies of the inscriptions recovered
from the ruins of Assyria. They were not published until some time after
my departure, and did not consequently receive that careful
superintendence and revision necessary to works of this nature. It was at
Constantinople that I first learnt the general interest felt in England
in the discoveries, and that they had been universally received as fresh
illustrations of Scripture and prophecy, as well as of ancient history
sacred and profane.
And let me here, at the very outset, gratefully acknowledge that generous
spirit of English criticism which overlooks the incapacity and
shortcomings of the laborer when his object is worthy of praise, and that
object is sought with sincerity and singleness of purpose. The gratitude,
which I deeply felt for encouragement rarely equalled, could be best shown
by cheerfully consenting, without hesitation, to the request made to me by
the Trustees of the British Museum, urged by public opinion, to undertake
the superintendence of a second expedition into Assyria. Being asked to
furnish a plan of operations, I stated what appeared to me to be the
course best calculated to produce interesting and important results, and
to enable us to obtain the most accurate information on the ancient
history, language, and arts, not only of Assyria, but of its sister
kingdom, Babylonia. Perhaps my plan was too vast and general to admit of
performance or warrant adoption. I was merely directed to return to the
site of Nineveh, and to continue the researches commenced amongst its
ruins.
Arrangements were hastily, and of course inadequately, made in England.
The assistance of a competent artist was most desirable, to portray with
fidelity those monuments which injury and decay had rendered unfit for
removal. Mr. F. Cooper was selected by the Trustees of the British Museum
to accompany the expedition in this capacity. Mr. Hormuzd Rassam, already
well known to many of my readers for the share he had taken in my first
discoveries, quitted England with him. They both joined me at
Constantinople. Dr. Sandwith, an English physician on a visit to the
East, was induced to form one of our party. One Abd-el-Messiah, a Catholic
Syrian of Mardin, an active and trustworthy servant during my former
residence in Assyria, was fortunately at this time in the capital, and
again entered my service: my other attendants were Mohammed Agha, a
cawass, and an Armenian named Serkis. The faithful Bairakdar, who had so
well served me during my previous journey, had accompanied the English
commission for the settlement of the boundaries between Turkey and Persia;
with the understanding, however, that he was to meet me at Mosul, in case
I should return. Cawal Yusuf, the head of the Preachers of the Yezidis,
with four chiefs of the districts in the neighbourhood of Diarbekir, who
had been for some months in Constantinople, completed my party.
In consequence of the severe and unjust treatment of the Yezidis, in
compelling them to serve in the Turkish army, Hussein Bey and Sheikh Nasr,
the chiefs of the whole community, hearing that I was at Constantinople,
sent a deputation to the Sultan. Through Sir Stratford Canning's friendly
interference, a firman was obtained, and they were freed from all illegal
impositions for the future.
Our arrangements were complete by the 28th of August (1849), and on that
day we left the Bosphorus by an English steamer bound for Trebizond. The
size of my party and its consequent incumbrances rendering a caravan
journey absolutely necessary, I determined to avoid the usual tracks, and
to cross eastern Armenia and Kurdistan, both on account of the novelty of
part of the country in a geographical point of view, and its political
interest as having only recently been brought under the immediate control
of the Turkish government.
We disembarked at Trebizond on the 31st, and on the following day
commenced our land journey. The country between this port and Erzeroom has
been frequently traversed and described. Through it pass the caravan
routes connecting Persia with the Black Sea, the great lines of
intercourse and commerce between Europe and central Asia. The roads
usually frequented are three in number. The summer, or upper, road is the
shortest, but is most precipitous, and, crossing very lofty mountains, is
closed after the snows commence; it is called _Tchairler_, from its fine
upland pastures, on which the horses are usually fed when caravans take
this route. The middle road has few advantages over the upper, and is
rarely followed by merchants, who prefer the lower, although making a
considerable detour by Gumish Khaneh, or the Silver Mines. The three unite
at the town of Baiburt, midway between the sea and Erzeroom. Although an
active and daily increasing trade is carried on by these roads, no means
whatever have until recently been taken to improve them. They consist of
mere mountain tracks, deep in mud or dust according to the season of the
year. The bridges have been long permitted to fall into decay, and
commerce is frequently stopped for days by the swollen torrent or fordless
stream. This has been one of the many evil results of the system of
centralization so vigorously commenced by Sultan Mahmoud, and so steadily
carried out during the present reign.
Since my visit to Trebizond a road for carts has been commenced, which is
to lead from that port to the Persian frontiers; but it will, probably,
like other undertakings of the kind be abandoned long before completed, or
if ever completed will be permitted at once to fall to ruin from the want
of common repair. And yet the Persian trade is one of the chief sources of
revenue of the Turkish empire, and unless conveniences are afforded for
its prosecution, will speedily pass into other hands. The southern shores
of the Black Sea, twelve years ago rarely visited by a foreign vessel, are
now coasted by steamers belonging to three companies, which touch nearly
weekly at the principal ports; and there is commerce and traffic enough
for more. The want of proper harbors is a considerable drawback in the
navigation of a sea so unstable and dangerous as the Euxine. Trebizond has
a mere roadstead, and from its position is otherwise little calculated for
a great commercial port, which, like many other places, it has become
rather from its hereditary claims as the representative of a city once
famous, than from any local advantages. The only harbour on the southern
coast is that of Batoun, nor is there any retreat for vessels on the
Circassian shores. This place is therefore probably destined to become the
emporium of trade, both from its safe and spacious port, and from the
facility it affords of internal communication with Persia, Georgia, and
Armenia.
At the back of Trebizond, as indeed along the whole of this singularly
bold and beautiful coast, the mountains rise in lofty peaks, and are
wooded with trees of enormous growth and admirable quality, furnishing an
unlimited supply of timber for commerce or war. Innumerable streams force
their way to the sea through deep and rocky ravines. The more sheltered
spots are occupied by villages and hamlets, chiefly inhabited by a hardy
and industrious race of Greeks. In spring the choicest flowers perfume the
air, and luxuriant creepers clothe the limbs of gigantic trees. In summer
the richest pastures enamel the uplands, and the inhabitants of the coasts
drive their flocks and herds to the higher regions of the hills.
Our journey to Erzeroom was performed without incident. A heavy and
uninterrupted rain for two days tried the patience and temper of those who
for the first time encountered the difficulties and incidents of Eastern
travel. The only place of any interest, passed during our ride, was a
small Armenian village, the remains of a larger, with the ruins of three
early Christian churches, or baptisteries. These remarkable buildings, of
which many examples exist, belong to an order of architecture peculiar to
the most eastern districts of Asia Minor and to the ruins of ancient
Armenian cities, on the borders of Turkey and Persia. There are many
interesting questions connected with this Armenian architecture which will
deserve elucidation. From it was probably derived much that passed into
the Gothic, whilst the Tatar conquerors of Asia Minor adopted it, as will
be hereafter seen, for their mausoleums and places of worship. It is
peculiarly elegant both in its decorations, its proportions, and the
general arrangement of the masses, and might with advantage be studied by
the modern architect. Indeed, Asia Minor contains a mine of similar
materials unexplored and almost unknown.
We reached Erzeroom on the 8th, and were most hospitably received by the
British consul, Mr. Brant, a gentleman who has long, well, and honorably
sustained our influence in this part of Turkey, and who was the first to
open an important field for our commerce in Asia Minor. With him I visited
the commander-in-chief of the Turkish forces in Anatolia, who had recently
returned from a successful expedition against the wild mountain tribes of
central Armenia. Reshid Pasha, known as the "_Guzlu_," or the "Wearer of
Spectacles," enjoyed the advantages of an European education, and had
already distinguished himself in the military career. With a knowledge of
the French language he united a taste for European literature, which,
during his numerous expeditions into districts unknown to western
travellers, had led him to examine their geographical features, and to
make inquiries into the manners and religion of their inhabitants. His
last exploit had been the subjugation of the tribes inhabiting the Dudjook
Mountains, to the south-west of Erzeroom, long in open rebellion against
the Sultan. The account he gave me of the country and its occupants,
though curious and interesting, is not perhaps to be strictly relied on,
but a district hitherto inaccessible may possibly contain the remains of
ancient races, monuments of antiquity, and natural productions of
sufficient importance to merit the attention of the traveller in Asia
Minor.
The city of Erzeroom is rapidly declining in importance, and is almost
solely supported by the Persian transit trade. It would be nearly deserted
if that traffic were to be thrown into a new channel by the construction
of the direct road from Batoun to the Persian frontiers. It contains no
buildings of any interest, with the exception of a few ruins of monuments
of early Mussulman domination; and the modern Turkish edifices, dignified
with the names of palaces and barracks, are meeting the fate of neglected
mud.
The districts of Armenia and Kurdistan, through which lay our road from
Erzeroom to Mosul, are sufficiently unknown and interesting to merit more
than a casual mention. Our route by the lake of Wan, Bitlis, and Jezirah
was nearly a direct one. It had been but recently opened to caravans. The
haunts of the last of the Kurdish rebels were on the shores of this lake.
After the fall of the most powerful of their chiefs, Beder Khan Bey, they
had one by one been subdued and carried away into captivity. Only a few
months had, however, elapsed since the Beys of Bitlis, who had longest
resisted the Turkish arms, had been captured. With them rebellion was
extinguished for the time in Kurdistan.
Our caravan consisted of my own party, with the addition of a muleteer and
his two assistants, natives of Bitlis, who furnished me with seventeen
horses and mules from Erzeroom to Mosul. The first day's ride, as is
customary in the East, where friends accompany the traveller far beyond
the city gates, and where the preparations for a journey are so numerous
that everything cannot well be remembered, scarcely exceeded nine miles.
We rested for the night in the village of Guli, whose owner, one Shahan
Bey, had been apprised of my intended visit. He had rendered his
newly-built house as comfortable as his means would permit for our
accommodation, and, after providing us with an excellent supper, passed
the evening with me. Descended from an ancient family of Dereh-Beys, he
had inherited the hospitality and polished manners of a class now almost
extinct, in consequence of the policy pursued by the Turkish sultans,
Mahmoud and Abdul-Medjid, to break down the great families and men of
middle rank, who were more or less independent, and to consolidate and
centralize the vast Ottoman empire.
It is customary to regard these old Turkish lords as inexorable
tyrants--robber chiefs, who lived on the plunder of travellers and of
their subjects. That there were many who answered to this description
cannot be denied; but they were, I believe, exceptions. Amongst them were
some rich in virtues and high and noble feeling. It has been frequently my
lot to find a representative of this nearly extinct class in some remote
and almost unknown spot in Asia Minor or Albania. I have been received
with affectionate warmth at the end of a day's journey by a venerable Bey
or Agha in his spacious mansion, now fast crumbling to ruin, but still
bright with the remains of rich, yet tasteful, oriental decoration; his
long beard, white as snow, falling low on his breast; his many-folded
turban shadowing his benevolent yet manly countenance, and his limbs
enveloped in the noble garments rejected by the new generation; his hall
open to all comers, the guest neither asked from whence he came or whither
he was going, dipping his hands with him in the same dish; his servants,
standing with reverence before him, rather his children than his servants;
his revenues spent in raising fountains[1] on the wayside for the weary
traveller, or in building caravanserais on the dreary plain; not only
professing, but practising all the duties and virtues enjoined by the
Koran, which are Christian duties and virtues too; in his manners, his
appearance, his hospitality, and his faithfulness, a perfect model for a
Christian gentleman. The race is fast passing away, and I feel grateful in
being able to testify, with a few others, to its existence once, against
prejudice, intolerance, and so-called reform.
Our host at Guli, Shahan Bey, although not an old man, was a very
favorable specimen of the class I have described. He was truly, in the
noble and expressive phraseology of the East, an "Ojiak Zadeh," "a child
of the hearth," a gentleman born. His family had originally migrated from
Daghistan, and his father, a pasha, had distinguished himself in the wars
with Russia. He entertained me with animated accounts of feuds between his
ancestors and the neighbouring chiefs; and steadily refused to allow any
recompense to himself or his servants for his hospitality.
From Guli we crossed a high range of mountains, running nearly east and
west, by a pass called Ali-Baba, or Ala-Baba, enjoying from the summit an
extensive view of the plain of Pasvin, once one of the most thickly
peopled and best cultivated districts in Armenia. The Christian
inhabitants were partly induced by promises of land and protection, and
partly compelled by force, to accompany the Russian army into Georgia
after the end of the last war with Turkey. By similar means, that part of
the Pashalic of Erzeroom adjoining the Russian territories was almost
stripped of its most industrious Armenian population. To the south of us
rose the snow-capped mountains of the Bin-Ghiul, or the "Thousand Lakes,"
in which the Araxes and several confluents of the Euphrates have their
source. We descended from the pass into undulating and barren downs. The
villages, thinly scattered over the low hills, were deserted by their
inhabitants, who, at this season of the year, pitch their tents and seek
pasture for their flocks in the uplands.
Next day we continued our journey amongst undulating hills, abounding in
flocks of the great and lesser bustard. Innumerable sheep-walks branched
from the beaten path, a sign that villages were near; but, like those we
had passed the day before, they had been deserted for the _yilaks_, or
summer pastures. These villages are still such as they were when Xenophon
traversed Armenia. "Their houses," says he, "were under ground; the mouth
resembling that of a well, but spacious below: there was an entrance dug
for the cattle, but the inhabitants descended by ladders. In these houses
were goats, sheep, cows, and fowls, with their young."[2] The low hovels,
mere holes in the hill-side, and the common refuge of man, poultry, and
cattle, cannot be seen from any distance, and they are purposely built
away from the road, to escape the unwelcome visits of travelling
government officers and marching troops. It is not uncommon for a
traveller to receive the first intimation of his approach to a village by
finding his horse's fore feet down a chimney, and himself taking his place
unexpectedly in the family circle through the roof. Numerous small streams
wind among the valleys, marking by meandering lines of perpetual green
their course to the Arras, or Araxes. We crossed that river about mid-day
by a ford not more than three feet deep, but the bed of the stream is
wide, and after rains, and during the spring, is completely filled by an
impassable torrent.
During the afternoon we crossed the western spur of the Tiektab Mountains,
a high and bold range with three well defined peaks, which had been
visible from the summit of the Ala-Baba pass. From the crest we had the
first view of Subhan, or Sipan, Dagh, a magnificent conical peak, covered
with eternal snow, and rising abruptly from the plain to the north of Lake
Wan. It is a conspicuous and beautiful object from every part of the
surrounding country. We descended into the wide and fertile plain of
Hinnis. The town was just visible in the distance, but we left it to the
right, and halted for the night in the large Armenian village of Kosli,
after a ride of more than nine hours. I was received at the guesthouse (a
house reserved for travellers, and supported by joint contributions), with
great hospitality by one Misrab Agha, a Turk, to whom the village formerly
belonged as Spahilik or military tenure, and who, deprived of his
hereditary rights, had now farmed its revenues. He hurried with a long
stick among the low houses, and heaps of dry dung, piled up in every open
space for winter fuel, collecting fowls, curds, bread, and barley, abusing
at the same time the _tanzimat_, which compelled such exalted travellers
as ourselves, he said, "to pay for the provisions we condescended to
accept." The inhabitants were not, however, backward in furnishing us with
all we wanted, and the flourish of Misrab Agha's stick was only the
remains of an old habit. I invited him to supper with me, an invitation he
gladly accepted, having himself contributed a tender lamb roasted whole
towards our entertainment.
The inhabitants of Kosli could scarcely be distinguished either by their
dress or by their general appearance from the Kurds. They seemed
prosperous and were on the best terms with the Mussulman farmer of their
tithes. The village stands at the foot of the hills forming the southern
boundary of the plain of Hinnis, through which flows a branch of the Murad
Su, or Lower Euphrates. We forded this river near the ruins of a bridge at
Kara Kupri. The plain is generally well cultivated, the principal produce
being corn and hemp. The villages, which are thickly scattered over it,
have the appearance of extreme wretchedness, and, with their low houses
and heaps of dried manure piled upon the roofs and in the open spaces
around, look more like gigantic dunghills than human habitations. The
Kurds and Armenian Christians, both hardy and industrious races, are
pretty equally divided in numbers, and live sociably in the same filth and
misery.
We left the plain of Hinnis by a pass through the mountain range of
Zernak. On reaching the top of the pass we had an interrupted view of the
Subhan Dagh. From the village of Karagol, where we halted for the night,
it rose abruptly before us. This magnificent peak, with the rugged
mountains of Kurdistan, the river Euphrates winding through the plain, the
peasants driving the oxen over the corn on the threshing-floor, and the
groups of Kurdish horsemen with their long spears and flowing garments,
formed one of those scenes of Eastern travel which leave an indelible
impression on the imagination, and bring back in after years indescribable
feelings of pleasure and repose.
We crossed the principal branch of the Euphrates soon after leaving
Karagol. Although the river is fordable at this time of year, during the
spring it is nearly a mile in breadth, overflowing its banks, and
converting the entire plain into one great marsh. We had now to pick our
way through a swamp, scaring, as we advanced, myriads of wild-fowl. I have
rarely seen game in such abundance and such variety in one spot; the water
swarmed with geese, duck, and teal, the marshy ground with herons and
snipe, and the stubble with bustards and cranes. After the rains the lower
road is impassable, and caravans are obliged to make a considerable
circuit along the foot of the hills.
We were not sorry to escape the fever-breeding swamp and mud of the plain,
and to enter a line of low hills, separating us from the lake of Gula
Shailu. I stopped for a few minutes at an Armenian monastery, situated on
a small platform overlooking the plain. The bishop was at his breakfast,
his fare frugal and episcopal enough, consisting of nothing more than
boiled beans and sour milk. He insisted that I should partake of his
repast, and I did so, in a small room scarcely large enough to admit the
round tray containing the dishes, into which I dipped my hand with him and
his chaplain. I found him profoundly ignorant, like the rest of his class,
grumbling about taxes, and abusing the Turkish government.
After a pleasant ride of five hours we reached a deep clear lake, embedded
in the mountains, two or three pelicans, "swan and shadow double," and
myriads of waterfowl, lazily floating on its blue waters. Piron, the
village where we halted for the night, stands at the further end of the
Gula Shailu, and is inhabited by Kurds of the tribe of Hasananlu, and by
Armenians, all living in good fellowship amidst the dirt and wretchedness
of their eternal dung-heaps. Ophthalmia had made sad havoc amongst them,
and the doctor was soon surrounded by a crowd of the blind and diseased
clamoring for relief. The villagers said that a Persian, professing to be
a Hakim, had passed through the place some time before, and had offered to
cure all bad eyes on payment of a certain sum in advance. These terms
being agreed to, he gave his patients a powder which left the sore eyes as
they were, and destroyed the good ones. He then went his way: "And with
the money in his pocket too," added a ferocious-looking Kurd, whose
appearance certainly threw considerable doubt on the assertion; "but what
can one do in these days of accursed Tanzimat (reform)?"
The lake of Shailu is separated from the larger lake of Nazik, by a range
of low hills about six miles in breadth. We reached the small village of
Khers, built on its western extremity, in about two hours and a half, and
found the chief, surrounded by the principal inhabitants, seated on a
raised platform near a well-built stone house. He assured me, stroking a
beard of spotless white to confirm his words, that he was above ninety
years of age, and had never seen an European before the day of my visit.
Half blind, he peered at me through his blear eyes until he had fully
satisfied his curiosity; then spoke contemptuously of the Franks, and
abused the Tanzimat. The old gentleman, notwithstanding his rough
exterior, was hospitable after his fashion, and would not suffer us to
depart until we had eaten of every delicacy the village could afford.
Leaving the Nazik Gul, we entered an undulating country traversed by very
deep ravines, mere channels cut into the sandstone by mountain torrents.
The villages are built at the bottom of these gulleys, amidst fruit-trees
and gardens, sheltered by perpendicular rocks and watered by running
streams. They are undiscovered until the traveller reaches the very edge
of the precipice, when a pleasant and cheerful scene opens suddenly
beneath his feet. He would have believed the upper country a mere desert
had he not spied here and there in the distance a peasant slowly driving
his plough through the rich soil. The inhabitants of this district are
more industrious and ingenious than their neighbours. They carry the
produce of their harvest not on the backs of animals, as in most parts of
Asia Minor, but in carts entirely made of wood, no iron being used even in
the wheels, which are ingeniously built of walnut, oak, and kara agatch
(literally, black tree--? thorn), the stronger woods being used for rough
spokes let into the nave. The plough also differs from that in general use
in Asia. To the share are attached two parallel boards, about four feet
long and a foot broad, which separate the soil and leave a deep and well
defined furrow.
We rode for two or three hours on these uplands, until, suddenly reaching
the edge of a ravine, a beautiful prospect of a lake, woodland, and
mountain opened before us.
CHAPTER II.
THE LAKE OF WAN.--AKHLAT.-TATAR TOMBS.--ANCIENT REMAINS.--A
DERVISH.--A FRIEND.--THE MUDIR.--ARMENIAN REMAINS.--AN ARMENIAN
CONVENT AND BISHOP.--JOURNEY TO BITLIS.--NIMROUD
DAGH.--BITLIS.--JOURNEY TO KHERZAN.--YEZIDI VILLAGE.
The first view the traveller obtains of the Lake of Wan, on descending
towards it from the hills above Akhlat, is singularly beautiful. This
great inland sea, of the deepest blue, is bounded to the east by ranges of
serrated snow-capped mountains, peering one above the other, and springing
here and there into the highest peaks of Tiyari and Kurdistan; beneath
them lies the sacred island of Akhtamar, just visible in the distance,
like a dark shadow on the water. At the further end rises the one sublime
cone of the Subhan, and along the lower part of the eastern shores
stretches the Nimroud Dagh, varied in shape, and rich in local traditions.
At our feet, as we drew nigh to the lake, were the gardens of the ancient
city of Akhlat, leaning minarets and pointed Mausoleums peeping above the
trees. We rode through vast burying-grounds, a perfect forest of upright
stones seven or eight feet high of the richest red colour, most delicately
and tastefully carved with arabesque ornaments and inscriptions in the
massive character of the early Mussulman age. In the midst of them rose
here and there a conical _turbeh_[3] of beautiful shape, covered with
exquisite tracery. The monuments of the dead still stand, and have become
the monuments of a city, itself long crumbled into dust. Amidst orchards
and gardens are scattered here and there low houses rudely built out of
the remains of the earlier habitations, and fragments of cornice and
sculpture are piled up into the walls around the cultivated plots.
Beyond the turbeh, said to be that of Sultan Baiandour through a deep
ravine such as I have already described, runs a brawling stream, crossed
by an old bridge; orchards and gardens make the bottom of the narrow
valley, and the cultivated ledges as seen from above, a bed of foliage.
The lofty perpendicular rocks rising on both sides are literally
honeycombed with entrances to artificial caves, ancient tombs, or
dwelling-places. On a high isolated mass of sandstone stand the walls and
towers of a castle, the remains of the ancient city of Khelath, celebrated
in Armenian history, and one of the seats of Armenian power. I ascended to
the crumbling ruins, and examined the excavations in the rocks. The latter
are now used as habitations, and as stables for herds and flocks.
Many of the tombs are approached by flights of steps, also cut in the
rock. An entrance, generally square, unless subsequently widened, and
either perfectly plain or decorated with a simple cornice, opens into a
spacious chamber, which frequently leads into others on the same level, or
by narrow flights of steps into upper rooms. There are no traces of the
means by which these entrances were closed: they probably were so by
stones, turning on rude hinges, or rolling on rollers.
Leaving the valley and winding through a forest of fruit trees, here and
there interspersed with a few primitive dwellings, I came to the old
Turkish castle, standing on the very edge of the lake. It is a pure
Ottoman edifice, less ancient than the turbehs, or the old walls towering
above the ravine. Inscriptions over the gateways state that it was partly
built by Sultan Selim, and partly by Sultan Suleiman, and over the
northern entrance occurs the date of 975 of the Hejira. In the fort there
dwelt, until very recently, a notorious Kurdish freebooter, of the name of
Mehemet Bey, who, secure in this stronghold, ravaged the surrounding
country, and sorely vexed its Christian inhabitants. He fled on the
approach of the Turkish troops, after their successful expedition against
Nur-Ullah Bey, and is supposed to be wandering in the mountains of
southern Kurdistan.
The ancient city of Khelath was the capital of the Armenian province of
Peznouni. It came under the Mohammedan power as early as the ninth
century, but was conquered by the Greeks of the Lower Empire at the end of
the tenth. The Seljuks took it from them, and it then again became a
Mussulman principality. It was long a place of contention for the early
Arab and Tartar conquerors. Shah Armen[4] reduced it towards the end of
the twelfth century. It was besieged, without result, by the celebrated
Saleh-ed-din, and was finally captured by his nephew, the son of Melek
Adel, in A. D. 1207.
The sun was setting as I returned to the tents. The whole scene was
lighted up with its golden tints, and Claude never composed a subject more
beautiful than was here furnished by nature herself. I was seated outside
my tent gazing listlessly on the scene, when I was roused by a
well-remembered cry, but one which I had not heard for years. I turned
about and saw standing before me a Persian Dervish, clothed in the
fawn-colored gazelle skin, and wearing the conical red cap, edged with
fur, and embroidered in black braid with verses from the Koran and
invocations to Ali, the patron of his sect. He was no less surprised than
I had been at his greeting, when I gave him the answer peculiar to men of
his order. He was my devoted friend and servant from that moment, and sent
his boy to fetch a dish of pears, for which he actually refused a present
ten times their value.
Whilst we were seated chatting in the soft moonlight, Hormuzd was suddenly
embraced by a young man resplendent with silk and gold embroidery and
armed to the teeth. He was a chief from the district of Mosul, and well
known to us. Hearing of our arrival he had hastened from his village at
some distance to welcome us, and to endeavour to persuade me to move the
encampment and partake of his hospitality. Failing of course, in
prevailing upon me to change my quarters for the night, he sent his
servant to his wife, who was a lady of Mosul, and formerly a friend of my
companion's, for a sheep. We found ourselves thus unexpectedly amongst
friends. Our circle was further increased by Christians and Mussulmans of
Akhlat, and the night was far spent before we retired to rest.
In the morning, soon after sunrise, I renewed my wanderings amongst the
ruins, first calling upon the Mudir, or governor, who received me seated
under his own fig-tree. He was an old greybeard, a native of the place,
and of a straightforward, honest bearing. I had to listen to the usual
complaints of poverty and over-taxation, although, after all, the village,
with its extensive gardens, only contributed yearly ten purses, or less
than forty-five pounds, to the public revenue. This sum seems small
enough, but without trade, and distant from any high road, there was not
a para of ready money, according to the Mudir, in the place.
From the Mudir's house I rode to the more ancient part of the city and to
the rock-tombs. I entered many of these; and found all of them to be of
the same character, though varying in size. Amongst them there are
galleries and passages in the cliffs without apparent use, and flights of
steps, cut out of the rock, which seem to lead nowhere. I searched and
inquired in vain for inscriptions and remains of sculpture, and yet the
place is of undoubted antiquity, and in the immediate vicinity of
cotemporary sites where cuneiform inscriptions do exist.
During my wanderings I entered an Armenian church and convent standing on
a ledge of rock overhanging the stream, about four miles up the southern
ravine. The convent was tenanted by a bishop and two priests. They dwelt
in a small low room, scarcely lighted by a hole carefully blocked up with
a sheet of oiled paper to shut out the cold; dark, musty, and damp, a very
parish clerk in England would have shuddered at the sight of such a
residence. Their bed, a carpet worn to threads, spread on the rotten
boards; their diet, the coarsest sandy bread and a little sour curds, with
beans and mangy meat for a jubilee. A miserable old woman sat in a kind of
vault under the staircase preparing their food, and passing her days in
pushing to and fro with her skinny hands the goat's skin containing the
milk to be shaken into butter. She was the housekeeper and handmaiden of
the episcopal establishment. The church was somewhat higher, though even
darker than the dwelling-room, and was partly used to store a heap of
mouldy corn and some primitive agricultural implements. The whole was well
and strongly built, and had the evident marks of antiquity. The bishop
showed me a rude cross carved on a rock outside the convent, which, he
declared, had been cut by one of the disciples of the Saviour himself. It
is, at any rate, considered a relic of very great sanctity, and is an
object of pilgrimage for the surrounding Christian population.
On my return to our encampment the tents were struck, and the caravan had
already begun its march. Time would not permit me to delay, and with a
deep longing to linger on this favored spot, I slowly followed the road
leading along the margin of the lake to Bitlis. I have seldom seen a
fairer scene, one richer in natural beauties. The artist and the lover of
nature may equally find at Akhlat objects of study and delight. The
architect, or the traveller, interested in the history of that graceful
and highly original branch of art, which attained its full perfection
under the Arab rulers of Egypt and Spain, should extend his journey to the
remains of ancient Armenian cities, far from high roads and mostly
unexplored. He would then trace how that architecture, deriving its name
from Byzantium, had taken the same development in the East as it did in
the West, and how its subsequent combination with the elaborate
decoration, the varied outline, and tasteful coloring of Persia had
produced the style termed Saracenic, Arabic, and Moresque. He would
discover almost daily, details, ornaments, and forms, recalling to his
mind the various orders of architecture, which, at an early period,
succeeded to each other in Western Europe and in England; modifications of
style for which we are mainly indebted to the East during its close union
with the West by the bond of Christianity. The Crusaders, too, brought
back into Christendom, on their return from Asia, a taste for that rich
and harmonious union of color and architecture which had already been so
successfully introduced by the Arabs into the countries they had
conquered.
Our road skirted the foot of the Nimroud Dagh, which stretches from Akhlat
to the southern extremity of the lake. We crossed several dykes of lava
and scoria, and wide mud-torrents now dry, the outpourings of a volcano
long since extinct. Our road gradually led away from the lake. With Cawal
Yusuf and my companions I left the caravan far behind. The night came on,
and we were shrouded in darkness. We sought in vain for the village which
was to afford us a resting-place, and soon lost our uncertain track. The
Cawal took the opportunity of relating tales collected during former
journeys on this spot, of robber Kurds and murdered travellers, which did
not tend to remove the anxiety felt by some of my party. At length, after
wandering to and fro for above an hour, we heard the distant jingle of the
caravan bells. We rode in the direction of the welcome sound, and soon
found ourselves at the Armenian village of Keswak, standing in a small
bay, and sheltered by a rocky promontory jutting boldly into the lake.
Next morning we rode along the margin of the lake, still crossing the
spurs of the Nimroud Dagh, furrowed by numerous streams of lava and mud.
In one of the deep gulleys, opening from the mountain to the water's edge,
are a number of isolated masses of sandstone, worn into fantastic shapes
by the winter torrents, which sweep down from the hills. The people of the
country call them "the Camels of Nimrod." Tradition says that the
rebellious patriarch, endeavoring to build an inaccessible castle, strong
enough to defy both God and man, the Almighty, to punish his arrogance,
turned the workmen, as they were working, into stone. The rocks on the
border of the lake are the camels, who, with their burdens, were
petrified into a perpetual memorial of the Divine vengeance. The
unfinished walls of the castle are still to be seen on the top of the
mountain; and the surrounding country, the seat of a primeaeval race,
abounds in similar traditions.
We left the southern end of the lake, near the Armenian village of Tadwan,
once a place of some importance, and soon entered a rugged ravine, worn by
the mountain rills, collected into a large stream. This was one of the
many head-waters of the Tigris. It was flowing tumultuously to our own
bourne, and, as we gazed upon the troubled waters, they seemed to carry us
nearer to our journey's end. The ravine was at first wild and rocky;
cultivated spots next appeared, scattered in the dry bed of the torrent;
then a few gigantic trees; gardens and orchards followed, and at length
the narrow valley opened on the long, straggling town of Bitlis. The
governor had here provided quarters for us in a large house belonging to
an Armenian, who had been tailor to Beder Khan Bey.
My party was now, for the first time during the journey, visited with that
curse of Eastern travel, fever and ague. The doctor was prostrate, and
having then no experience of the malady, at once had dreams of typhus and
malignant fever. A day's rest was necessary, and our jaded horses needed
it as well as we, for there were bad mountain roads and long marches
before us. I had a further object in remaining:--this was, to obtain
indemnity for the robbery committed on some relations of Cawal Yusuf two
years before. The official order of Reshid Pasha, and the governor's
intervention, speedily effected the desired arrangement.
The governor ordered cawasses to accompany me through the town. I had been
told that ancient inscriptions existed in the castle, or on the rock, but
I searched in vain for them: those pointed out to me were early
Mohammedan. Bitlis contains many picturesque remains of mosques, baths,
and bridges, and was once a place of considerable size and importance. It
is built in the very bottom of a deep valley, and on the sides of ravines,
worn by small tributaries of the Tigris. The export trade is chiefly
supplied by the produce of the mountains; galls, honey, wax, wool, and
carpets and stuffs, woven and dyed in the tents. The dyes of Kurdistan,
and particularly those from the districts around Bitlis, Sert, and
Jezireh, are celebrated for their brilliancy. They are made from herbs
gathered in the mountains, and from indigo, yellow berries, and other
materials, imported into the country. The carpets are of a rich soft
texture, the patterns displaying considerable elegance and taste: they are
much esteemed in Turkey. There was a fair show of Manchester goods and
coarse English cutlery in the shops. The sale of arms, once extensively
carried on, had been prohibited.
Having examined the town, I visited the Armenian bishop, who dwells in a
large convent in one of the ravines branching off from the main valley. On
my way I passed several hot springs, some gurgling up in the very bed of
the torrent. The bishop was maudlin, old, and decrepit; he cried over his
own personal woes, and over those of his community, abused the Turks, and
the American missionaries, whispering confidentially in my ear as if the
Kurds were at his door. He insisted in the most endearing terms, and
occasionally throwing his arms round my neck, that I should drink a couple
of glasses of fiery raki, although it was still early morning, pledging me
himself in each glass. He showed me his church, an ancient building, well
hung with miserable daubs of saints and miracles.
There are three roads from Bitlis to Jezireh; two over the mountains
through Sert, generally frequented by caravans, but very difficult and
precipitous; a third more circuitous, and winding through the valleys of
the eastern branch of the Tigris. I chose the last, as it enabled me to
visit the Yezidi villages of the district of Kherzan. We left Bitlis on
the 20th.
About five miles from Bitlis the road is carried by a tunnel, about twenty
feet in length, through a mass of calcareous rock, projecting like a huge
rib from the mountain's side. The mineral stream, which in the lapse of
ages has formed this deposit, is still at work, projecting great
stalactites from its sides, and threatening to close ere long the tunnel
itself. There is no inscription to record by whom and at what period this
passage was cut.
We continued during the following day in the same ravine, crossing by
ancient bridges the stream, which was gradually gathering strength as it
advanced towards the low country. About noon we passed a large Kurdish
village, called Goeena, belonging to Sheikh Kassim, one of those religious
fanatics who are the curse of Kurdistan. He was notorious for his hatred
of the Yezidis, on whose districts he had committed numerous depredations,
murdering those who came within his reach. His last expedition had not
proved successful; he was repulsed, with the loss of many of his
followers. We encamped in the afternoon on the bank of the torrent, near a
cluster of Kurdish tents, concealed from view by the brushwood and high
reeds. The owners were poor but hospitable, bringing us a lamb, yahgourt,
and milk. Late in the evening a party of horsemen rode to our encampment.
They were a young Kurdish chief, with his retainers, carrying off a girl
with whom he had fallen in love,--not an uncommon occurrence in Kurdistan.
They dismounted, eat bread, and then hastened on their journey to escape
pursuit.
Starting next morning soon after dawn we rode for two hours along the
banks of the stream, and then, turning from the valley, entered a country
of low undulating hills. We halted for a few minutes in the village of
Omais-el-Koran, belonging to one of the innumerable saints of the Kurdish
mountains. The Sheikh himself was on his terrace superintending the repair
of his house, gratuitously undertaken by the neighbouring villagers, who
came eagerly to engage in a good and pious work. Leaving a small plain, we
ascended a low range of hills by a precipitous pathway, and halted on the
summit at a Kurdish village named Khokhi. It was filled with Bashi-Bozuks,
or irregular troops, collecting the revenue, and there was such a general
confusion, quarrelling of men and screaming of women, that we could
scarcely get bread to eat. Yet the officer assured me that the whole sum
to be raised amounted to no more than seventy piastres (about thirteen
shillings.) The poverty of the village must indeed have been extreme, or
the bad will of the inhabitants outrageous.
It was evening before we descended into the plain country of the district
of Kherzan. The Yezidi village of Hamki had been visible for some time
from the heights, and we turned towards it. As the sun was fast sinking,
the peasants were leaving the threshing-floor, and gathering together
their implements of husbandry. They saw the large company of horsemen
drawing nigh, and took us for irregular troops,--the terror of an Eastern
village. Cawal Yusuf, concealing all but his eyes with the Arab kefieh,
which he then wore, rode into the midst of them, and demanded in a
peremptory voice provisions and quarters for the night. The poor creatures
huddled together, unwilling to grant, yet fearing to refuse. The Cawal,
having enjoyed their alarm for a moment, threw his kerchief from his face,
exclaiming, "O evil ones, will you refuse bread to your priest, and turn
him hungry from your door?" There was surely then no unwillingness to
receive us. Casting aside their shovels and forks, the men threw
themselves upon the Cawal, each struggling to kiss his hand. The news
spread rapidly, and the rejoicing was so great that the village was alive
with merriment and feasting.
Yusuf was soon seated in the midst of a circle of the elders. He told his
whole history, with such details and illustrations as an Eastern alone can
introduce, to bring every fact vividly before his listeners. Nothing was
omitted: his arrival at Constantinople, his reception by me, his
introduction to the ambassador, his interview with the great ministers of
state, the firman of future protection for the Yezidis, prospects of peace
and happiness for the tribe, our departure from the capital, the nature of
steamboats, the tossing of the waves, the pains of sea-sickness, and our
journey to Kherzan. Not the smallest particular was forgotten; and, when
he had finished, it was my turn to be the object of unbounded welcomes and
salutations.
As the Cawal sat on the ground, with his noble features and flowing robes,
surrounded by the elders of the village, eager listeners to every word
which dropped from their priest, and looking towards him with looks of
profound veneration, the picture brought vividly to my mind many scenes
described in the sacred volumes. Let the painter who would throw off the
conventionalities of the age, who would feel as well as portray the
incidents of Holy Writ, wander in the East, and mix, not as the ordinary
traveller, but as a student of men and of nature, with its people. He
will daily meet with customs which he will otherwise be at a loss to
understand, and be brought face to face with those who have retained with
little change the manners, language, and dress of a patriarchal race.
CHAPTER III.
RECEPTION BY THE YEZIDIS.--VILLAGE OF GUZELDER.--TRIUMPHAL MARCH TO
REDWAN.--REDWAN.--ARMENIAN CHURCH.--THE MELEK TAOUS, OR BRAZEN
BIRD.--TILLEH.--VALLEY OF THE TIGRIS.--BAS RELIEFS.--JOURNEY TO
DEREBOUN--TO SEMIL--ABDE AGHA--JOURNEY TO MOSUL.--THE YEZIDI
CHIEFS.--ARRIVAL AT MOSUL.--XENOPHON'S MARCH FROM THE ZAB TO THE BLACK
SEA.
I was awoke on the following morning by the tread of horses and the noise
of many voices. The good people of Hamki having sent messengers in the
night to the surrounding villages to spread the news of our arrival, a
large body of Yezidis on horse and on foot had already assembled, although
it was not yet dawn, to greet us and to escort us on our journey. They
were dressed in their gayest garments, and had adorned their turbans with
flowers and green leaves. Their chief was Akko, a warrior well known in
the Yezidi wars, still active and daring, although his beard had long
turned grey. The head of the village of Guzelder, with the principal
inhabitants, had come to invite me to eat bread in his house, and we
followed him. As we rode along we were joined by parties of horsemen and
footmen, each man kissing my hand as he arrived, the horsemen alighting
for that purpose. Before we reached Guzelder the procession had swollen to
many hundreds. The men had assembled at some distance from the village,
the women and children, dressed in their holiday attire, and carrying
boughs of trees, congregated on the housetops.
Soon after our arrival several Fakirs[5], in their dark coarse dresses and
red and black turbans, came to us from the neighbouring villages. Other
chiefs and horsemen also flocked in, and were invited to join in the
feast, which was not, however, served up until Cawal Yusuf had related his
whole history once more, without omitting a single detail. After we had
eaten of stuffed lambs, pillaws, and savory dishes and most luscious
grapes, the produce of the district, our entertainer placed a present of
home-made carpets at my feet, and we rose to depart. The horsemen, the
Fakirs, and the principal inhabitants of Guzelder on foot accompanied me.
At a short distance from the village we were met by another large body of
Yezidis, and by many Jacobites. A bishop and several priests were with
him. Two hours' ride, with this great company, the horsemen galloping to
and fro, the footmen discharging their firearms, brought us to the large
village of Koshana. The whole of the population, mostly dressed in pure
white, and wearing leaves and flowers in their turbans, had turned out to
meet us; women stood on the road-side with jars of fresh water and bowls
of sour milk, whilst others with the children were assembled on the
housetops making the _tahlel_. Resisting an invitation to alight and eat
bread, and having merely stopped to exchange salutations with those
assembled, I continued on the road to Redwan, our party swollen by a fresh
accession of followers from the village. As we passed through the defile
leading into the plain of Redwan, we had the appearance of a triumphal
procession, but as we approached the small town a still more enthusiastic
reception awaited us. First came a large body of horsemen, collected from
the place itself, and the neighbouring villages. They were followed by
Yezidis on foot, carrying flowers and branches of trees, and preceded by
musicians playing on the tubbul and zernai.[6] Next were the Armenian
community headed by their clergy, and then the Jacobite and other
Christian sects, also with their respective priests; the women and
children lined the entrance to the place and thronged the housetops. I
alighted amidst the din of music and the "tahlel" at the house of Nazi,
the chief of the whole Yezidi district, two sheep being slain before me as
I took my feet from the stirrups.
I took up my quarters in the Armenian church, dining in the evening with
the chiefs to witness the festivities.
The change was indeed grateful to me, and I found at length a little
repose and leisure to reflect upon the gratifying scene to which I had
that day been witness. I have, perhaps, been too minute in the account of
my reception at Redwan, but I record with pleasure this instance of a
sincere and spontaneous display of gratitude on the part of a much
maligned and oppressed race. To those, unfortunately too many, who believe
that Easterns can only be managed by violence and swayed by fear, let this
record be a proof that there are high and generous feelings which may not
only be relied and acted upon without interfering with their authority, or
compromising their dignity, but with every hope of laying the foundation
of real attachment and mutual esteem.
The church stands on the slope of a mound, on the summit of which are the
ruins of a castle belonging to the former chiefs of Redwan. It was built
expressly for the Christians of the Armenian sect by Mirza Agha, the last
semi-independent Yezidi chief, a pleasing example of toleration and
liberality well worthy of imitation by more civilised men. Service was
performed in the open iwan, or large vaulted chamber, during the
afternoon, the congregation kneeling uncovered in the yard. The priests of
the different communities called upon me as soon as I was ready to receive
their visits. The most intelligent amongst them was a Roman Catholic
Chaldaean, a good humoured, tolerant fellow, who with a very small
congregation of his own did not bear any ill-will to his neighbours. With
the principal Yezidi chiefs, too, I had a long and interesting
conversation on the state of their people and on their prospects.
Redwan is called a town, because it has a bazar, and is the chief place of
a considerable district. It may contain about eight hundred rudely-built
huts, and stands on a large stream, which joins the Diarbekir branch of
the Tigris, about five or six miles below. The inhabitants are Yezidis,
with the exception of about one hundred Armenian, and forty or fifty
Jacobite and Chaldaean families. A Turkish Mudir, or petty governor,
generally resides in the place, but was absent at the time of my visit.
We slept in a long room opening on the courtyard, and were awoke long
before daybreak by the jingling of small bells and the mumbling of
priests. It was Sunday, and the Armenians commence their church services
betimes. I gazed half dozing, and without rising from my bed, upon the
ceremonies, the bowing, raising of crosses, and shaking of bells, which
continued for above three hours, until priests and congregation must have
been well nigh exhausted. The people, as during the previous afternoon's
service, stood and knelt uncovered in the courtyard.
[Illustration: The Melek Taous, or Copper Bird of the Yezidis.]
The Cawals, who are sent yearly by Hussein Bey and Sheikh Nasr to instruct
the Yezidis in their faith, and to collect the contributions forming the
revenues of the great chief, and of the tomb of Sheikh Adi, were now in
Redwan. The same Cawals do not take the same rounds every year. The
Yezidis are parcelled out into four divisions for the purpose of these
annual visitations, those of the Sinjar, of Kherzan, of the pashalic of
Aleppo, and of the villages in northern Armenia, and within the Russian
frontiers. The Yezidis of the Mosul districts have the Cawals always
amongst them. I was aware that on the occasion of these journeys the
priests carry with them the celebrated Melek Taous, or brazen peacock, as
a warrant for their mission. As this was a favorable opportunity, I asked
and obtained a sight of this mysterious figure. A stand of bright copper
or brass, in shape like the candlesticks generally used in Mosul and
Baghdad, was surmounted by the rude image of a bird in the same metal, and
more like an Indian or Mexican idol than a cock or peacock. Its peculiar
workmanship indicated some antiquity, but I could see no traces of
inscription upon it. Before it stood a copper bowl to receive
contributions, and a bag to contain the bird and stand, which takes to
pieces when carried from place to place. There are four such images, one
for each district visited by the Cawals. The Yezidis declare that,
notwithstanding the frequent wars and massacres to which the sect has been
exposed, and the plunder and murder of the priests during their journeys,
no Melek Taous has ever fallen into the hands of the Mussulmans. Mr.
Hormuzd Rassam was alone permitted to visit the image with me. As I have
elsewhere observed,[7] it is not looked upon as an idol, but as a symbol
or banner, as Sheikh Nasr termed it, of the house of Hussein Bey.
Having breakfasted at Nazi's house we left Redwan, followed by a large
company of Yezidis, whom I had great difficulty in persuading to turn back
about three or four miles from the town. My party was increased by a very
handsome black and tan greyhound with long silky hair, a present from old
Akko, the Yezidi chief. Touar, for such was the dog's name, soon forgot
his old masters, and formed an equal attachment for his new.
Cawal Yusuf, and the Yezidi chiefs, had sent messengers even to Hussein
Bey to apprise him of our coming. As they travelled along they scattered
the news through the country, and I was received outside every village by
its inhabitants. At Tilleh, the united waters of Bitlis, Sert, and the
upper districts of Bohtan, join the western branch of the Tigris. The two
streams are about equal in size, and at this time of the year both
fordable in certain places. We crossed the lower, or eastern, which we
found wide and exceedingly rapid, the water, however, not reaching above
the saddle-girths.
The spot at which we crossed was one of peculiar interest. It was here
that the Ten Thousand in their memorable retreat forded this river,
called, by Xenophon, the Centritis. The Greeks having fought their way
over the lofty mountains of the Carduchians, found their further progress
towards Armenia arrested by a rapid stream. The ford was deep, and its
passage disputed by a formidable force of Armenians, Mygdonians, and
Chaldaeans, drawn up on an eminence 300 or 400 feet from the river. In
this strait Xenophon dreamt that he was in chains, and that suddenly his
fetters burst asunder of their own accord. His dream was fulfilled when
two youths casually found a more practicable ford, by which the army,
after a skilful stratagem on the part of their commander, safely reached
the opposite bank.[8]
The sun had set before our baggage had been crossed, and we sought, by the
light of the moon, the difficult track along the Tigris, where the river
forces its way to the low country of Assyria, through a long, narrow, and
deep gorge. Huge rocks rose perpendicularly on either side, broken into
many fantastic shapes, and throwing their dark shadows over the water. In
some places they scarcely left room for the river to pursue its course;
and then a footpath, hardly wide enough to admit the loaded mules, was
carried along a mere ledge overhanging the gurgling stream. The gradual
deepening of this outlet during countless centuries is strikingly shown by
the ledges which jutt out like a succession of cornices from the sides of
the cliffs. The last ledge left by the retiring waters formed our pathway.
We found no village until we reached Chellek. The place had been deserted
by its inhabitants for the Yilaks, or mountain pastures.
For three hours during the following morning we followed the bold and
majestic ravine of the Tigris, scenes rivalling each other in grandeur and
beauty opening at every turn. Leaving the river, where it makes a sudden
bend to the northward, we commenced a steep ascent, and in an hour and a
half reached the Christian village of Khouara. We rested during the heat
of the day under the grateful shade of a grove of trees, and in the
afternoon we stood on the brink of the great platform of Central Asia.
Beneath us were the vast plains of Mesopotamia, lost in the hazy distance,
the undulating land between them and the Taurus confounded, from so great
a height, with the plains themselves; the hills of the Sinjar and of
Zakko, like ridges on an embossed map; the Tigris and the Khabour, winding
through the low country to their place of junction at Dereboun; to the
right, facing the setting sun, and catching its last rays, the high cone
of Mardin; behind, a confused mass of peaks, some snow-capped, all rugged
and broken, of the lofty mountains of Bohtan and Malataiyah; between them
and the northern range of Taurus, the deep ravine of the river and the
valley of Redwan. I watched the shadows as they lengthened over the plain,
melting one by one into the general gloom, and then descended to the large
Kurdish village of Funduk, whose inhabitants, during the rule of Beder
Khan Bey, were notorious amongst even the savage tribes of Bohtan for
their hatred and insolence to Christians.
Although we had now nothing to fear, I preferred seeking another spot for
our night's halt, but this was not permitted by Resoul Kiayah, who sent
after us, and was so urgent in his hospitality that we were compelled to
pass the night in the village. The Kurds of Funduk wear the Bohtan dress
in its full perfection, a turban nearly three feet in diameter, shalwars
or trowsers of enormous width, loose embroidered jackets, and shirt
sleeves sweeping the ground; all being striped deep dull red and black,
except the under-linen and one kerchief tied diagonally across the turban,
which is generally of bright yellow. They are armed, too, to the teeth,
and as they crouched round the fires on the housetops, their savage
countenances peering through the gloom, my London companion, unused to
such scenes, might well have fancied himself in a den of thieves. The
Kiayah, notwithstanding his bad reputation, was exact in all the duties of
hospitality; the supper was abundant, the coffee flowed perpetually, and
he satisfied my curiosity upon many points of revenue, internal
administration, tribe-history, and local curiosities.
We passed the night on the roof without any adventure, and resumed our
journey before dawn on the following morning, to the great relief of Mr.
C., who rejoiced to feel himself well out of the hands of such dangerous
hosts. Crossing a mountain wooded with dwarf oaks, by a very difficult
pathway, carried along and over rocks containing many excavated tombs, we
descended to Fynyk, a village on the Tigris supposed to occupy the site of
an ancient town (Phoenica).[9]
After we had breakfasted, some Kurds who had gathered round us, offered to
take me to a rock, sculptured, they said, with unknown Frank figures. We
rode up a narrow and shady ravine, through which leapt a brawling torrent,
watering fruit trees and melon beds. The rocks on both sides were
honeycombed with tombs. The bas-relief is somewhat above the line of
cultivation, and is surrounded by excavated chambers. It consists of two
figures, dressed in loose vests and trowsers, one apparently resting his
hand on the shoulder of the other. There are the remains of an
inscription, but too much weather-worn to be copied with any accuracy. The
costume of the figures, and the forms of the characters, as far as they
can be distinguished, prove that the tablet belongs to the Parthian
period.
We quitted Fynyk in the afternoon. Accompanied by Cawal Yusuf and Mr. C.,
I left the caravan to examine some rock-sculptures, in a valley leading
from Jezireh to Derghileh, the former stronghold of Beder Khan Bey. The
sculptures are about two miles from the high road, near a small fort built
by Mir Saif-ed-din, and now occupied by a garrison of Arnaouts. There are
two tablets, one above the other; the upper contains a warrior on
horseback, the lower a single figure. Although no traces of inscription
remain, the bas-reliefs may confidently be assigned to the same period as
that at Fynyk.
We found the caravan at Mansouriyah, where they had established themselves
for the night. This is one of the very few Nestorian Chaldaean villages of
the plains which has not gone over to the Roman Catholic faith. It
contains a church, and supports a priest. The inhabitants complained much
of oppression, and unfortunately, chiefly from brother Christians formerly
of their own creed. I was much struck with the intelligence and beauty of
the children; one boy, scarcely twelve years of age, was already a
shamasha, or deacon, and could read with ease the Scriptures and the
commentaries.
We left Mansouriyah at four in the morning, passing Jezireh about dawn,
its towers and walls just visible through the haze on the opposite bank of
the Tigris. Shortly after we were unexpectedly met by a number of Yezidi
horsemen, from whom we learnt that the country was in a very disturbed
state, on account of the incursions of the Desert Arabs; but as a strong
party was waiting to accompany us to Semil, I determined upon taking the
shorter, though more dangerous and less frequented, road by Dereboun. This
road, impracticable to caravans except when the river Khabour is
fordable, winds round the spur of the Zakko hills, and thus avoids a
difficult and precipitous pass. Dereboun is a large Yezidi village
standing on the western spur of the Zakko range. Numerous springs burst
from the surrounding rocks, and irrigate extensive rice-grounds. Below is
the large Christian village of Feshapoor, where there is a ferry across
the Tigris. We were most hospitably entertained by the Yezidi chief, one
of the horsemen who had met us near Jezireh.
We mounted our horses as the moon rose, and resumed our journey,
accompanied by a strong escort, which left us when we were within five or
six miles of Semil. It was late in the forenoon before we reached our
halting-place, after a dreary and fatiguing ride. We were now fairly in
the Assyrian plains; the heat was intense--that heavy heat, which seems to
paralyse all nature, causing the very air itself to vibrate. The high
artificial mound of the Yezidi village, crowned by a modern mud-built
castle, had been visible in the distance long before we reached it,
miraged into double its real size, and into an imposing group of towers
and fortifications. Almost overcome with weariness, we toiled up to it,
and found its owner, Abde Agha, the Yezidi chieftain, seated in the gate,
a vaulted entrance with deep recesses on both sides, used as places of
assembly for business during the day,[10] and as places of rest for guests
during the night. He was of a tall, commanding figure, with the deepest
and most powerful voice I ever heard. We arrived earlier than he had
expected, our forced march from Dereboun having saved us some hours, and
he apologised for not having ridden out to meet us. His reception was most
hospitable; the lamb was slain and the feast prepared. But a sudden attack
by the Bedouin on a neighbouring village obliged him reluctantly to leave
us, and be absent during our stay. Being urged to depart, through
apprehension of the Bedouin, we pushed forward, when suddenly a large body
of horsemen appeared on a rising ground to the east of us. We could
scarcely expect Arabs from that quarter; however, all our party made ready
for an attack. Cawal Yusuf and myself, being the best mounted, rode
towards them to reconnoitre. Then one or two horsemen advanced warily from
the opposite party. We neared each other. Yusuf spied the well-known black
turban, dashed forward with a shout of joy, and in a moment we were
surrounded, and in the embrace of friends. Hussein Bey and Sheikh Nasr,
with the Cawals and Yezidi elders, had ridden nearly forty miles through
the night to meet and escort me, if needful, to Mosul! Their delight at
seeing us knew no bounds; nor was I less touched by a display of gratitude
and good feeling, equally unexpected and sincere.
They rode with us as far as Tel Eskoff, where the danger from the Arabs
ceased; and I was now once more with old friends. In the afternoon, as we
rode towards Tel Kef, I left the high road with Hormuzd to drink water at
some Arab tents. As we approached we were greeted with exclamations of
joy, and were soon in the midst of a crowd of men and women, kissing our
knees, and exhibiting other tokens of welcome. They were Jebours, who had
been employed in the excavations. Hearing that we were again going to dig
after old stones, they at once set about striking their tents to join us
at Mosul or Nimroud.
As we neared Tel Kef we found groups of my old superintendents and workmen
by the roadside. There were fat Toma, Mansour, Behnan, and Hannah, joyful
at meeting me once more, and at the prospect of fresh service. In the
village we found Mr. Rassam (the vice-consul) and Khodja Toma, his
dragoman, who had made ready the feast for us at the house of the Chaldaean
bishop. Next morning, as we rode the three last hours of our journey, we
met fresh groups of familiar faces. Then as we ascend an eminence midway,
walls, towers, minarets, and domes rise boldly from the margin of the
broad river, cheating us into the belief, too soon to be dispelled, that
Mosul is still a not unworthy representative of the great Nineveh. As we
draw near, the long line of lofty mounds, the only remains of mighty
bulwarks and spacious gates, detach themselves from the low undulating
hills; now the vast mound of Kouyunjik overtops the surrounding heaps:
then above it peers the white cone of the tomb of the prophet Jonah; many
other well-remembered spots follow in rapid succession; but we cannot
linger. Hastening over the creaking bridge of boats, we force our way
through the crowded bazars, and alight at the house I had left two years
ago. Old servants take their places as a matter of course, and, uninvited,
pursue their regular occupations as if they had never been interrupted.
Indeed it seemed as if we had but returned from a summer's ride: two years
had passed away like a dream.
I may in this place add a few words on part of the route pursued by
Xenophon and the Ten Thousand during their memorable retreat, the
identification of which had been one of my principal objects during our
journey. I have, in the course of my narrative, already pointed out one
or two spots signalled by remarkable events on their march.
I must first state my conviction that the parasang, like its
representative, the modern farsang or farsakh of Persia, was not a measure
of distance very accurately determined, but rather indicated a certain
amount of time employed in traversing a given space. That Xenophon
reckoned by the common mode of computation of the country is evident, by
his employing, almost always, the Persian "parasang," instead of the Greek
stadium; and that the parasang was the same as the modern hour, we find by
the distance between Larissa (Nimroud) and Mespila (Kouyunjik) being given
as six parasangs, corresponding exactly with the number of hours assigned
by the present inhabitants of the country, and by the authorities of the
Turkish post, to the same road. The six hours in this instance are equal
to about eighteen English miles.
The ford, by which the Greeks crossed the Great Zab (Zabates) may, I
think, be accurately determined. It is still the principal ford in this
part of the river, and must, from the nature of the bed of the stream,
have been so from the earliest periods. It is about twenty-five miles from
the confluence of the Zab and Tigris.[11] The Greeks could not have
crossed the Zab above the spot I have indicated, as the bed of the river
is deep, and confined within high rocky banks. They might have done so
_below_ the junction of the Ghazir, and a ravine worn by winter rains may
correspond with the valley mentioned by Xenophon, but I think the Ghazir
far more likely to have been the torrent bed viewed with so much alarm by
the Greek commander, and the passage of which Mithridates might have
disputed with some prospect of success.[12]
That Larissa and Mespila are represented by the ruins of Nimroud and
Kouyunjik no one can reasonably doubt. Xenophon's description corresponds
most accurately with the ruins and with the distance between them.
From Mespila the Greeks marched four parasangs, and probably halted near
the modern village of Batnai, between Tel Kef and Tel Eskof, an ancient
site exactly four hours, by the usual caravan road, from Kouyunjik.
Instead of fording the Khabour near its junction with the Tigris, and thus
avoiding the hills, they crossed them by a precipitous pass to the site of
the modern Zakko. They reached this range in four days, traversing it on
the fifth, probably by the modern caravan road. They were probably much
retarded during the last day, by having to fight their way over three
distinct mountain ridges. It is remarkable that Xenophon does not mention
the Khahour, although he must have crossed that river either by a ford or
by a bridge[13] before reaching the plain. Yet the stream is broad and
rapid, and the fords at all times deep. Nor does he allude to the Hazel, a
confluent of the Khabour, to which he came during his first day's march,
after leaving Zakko. These omissions prove that he does not give an
accurate itinerary of his route.
Four days' march, the first of only sixty stadia, or about seven
miles,[14] brought the Greeks to the high mountains of Kurdistan, which,
meeting the Tigris, shut out all further advance, except by difficult and
precipitous passes, already occupied by the Persians. Xenophon, having
dislodged the enemy from the first ridge, returned to the main body of the
army, which had remained in the plain. This must have been near Fynyk,
where the very foot of the Kurdish mountains is first washed by the river.
The spot agrees accurately with Xenophon's description, as it does with
the distance. "The Greeks," says he, "came to a place where the river
Tigris is, both from its depth and breadth, absolutely impassable; no road
appeared, the craggy mountains of the Carduchians hanging over the river."
Xenophon preferred the route across the mountains of Kurdistan, as it led
into Armenia, a country from which they might choose their own road to the
sea, and which abounded in villages and the necessaries of life.
Beyond the Carduchian mountains there were, according to the prisoners,
two roads into Armenia, one crossing the head waters of the principal
branch of the Tigris, the other going round them; that is, leaving them to
the left. These are the roads to this day followed by caravans, one
crossing the plains of Kherzan to Diarbekir, and thence, by well-known
mountain-passes to Kharput, the other passing through Bitlis. Xenophon
chose the latter. The villages in the valleys and recesses of the
mountains are still found around Funduk; and, on their first day's march
over the Carduchian hills, the Greeks probably reached the neighbourhood
of this village. There now remained about ten parasangs to the plain
through which flows the eastern branch of the Tigris; but the country was
difficult, and at this time of the year (nearly midwinter)[15], the lower
road along the river was impassable. The Greeks had, therefore, to force
their way over a series of difficult passes, all stoutly defended by
warlike tribes. They were consequently four days in reaching the
Centritis, or eastern Tigris, the united waters of the rivers of Bitlis,
Sert, and Bohtan. It was impossible to cross the river at this spot in the
face of the enemy. At length, a ford was discovered higher up, and
Xenophon, by skilful strategy, effected the passage. This must have been
at a short distance from Tilleh, as the river, narrowed between rocky
banks, is no longer fordable higher up.
Owing to the frequent incursions of the Carduchi, the villages along the
banks of the Bitlis had been abandoned, and the Greeks were compelled to
turn to the westward, to find provisions and habitations. Still _there was
no road_ into Armenia, particularly at this time of year, for an army
encumbered with baggage, except that through the Bitlis valley. The
remains of an ancient causeway are even now to be traced, and this
probably has always been the great thoroughfare between western Armenia
and the Assyrian plains. Xenophon consequently made nearly the same
detour as I had made on my way from Constantinople.
Six marches, of five parasangs each, brought them to the small river
Teleboas, which I believe to have been the river of Bitlis. After crossing
the low country of Kherzan, well described by Xenophon as "a plain varied
by hills of an easy ascent," the Greeks must necessarily have turned
slightly to the eastward to reach the Bitlis valley, as inaccessible
mountains stopped all further progress. My caravan was thirty-three hours
in journeying from Bitlis to Tilleh, corresponding exactly with the six
days' march of the Greeks. They probably came to the river somewhat below
the site of the modern town, where it well deserves the epithet of
"beautiful." It may have then had, as at this day, many villages near its
banks. It will be observed that Xenophon says that _they came to_, not
that they _crossed_, the Teleboas.
From this river they reached the Euphrates in six marches, making, as
usual, five parasangs each day; in all, thirty parasangs, or hours. I
believe, therefore, that, after issuing from the valley of Bitlis,
Xenophon turned to the westward, leaving the lake of Wan a little to the
right, though completely concealed from him by a range of low hills.[16]
Skirting the western foot of the Nimroud Dagh range, he passed through a
plain thickly inhabited, abounding in well-provisioned villages, and
crossed here and there by ranges of hills. This country still tallies
precisely with Xenophon's description.
We have not, I conceive, sufficient data in Xenophon's narrative to
identify with any degree of certainty his route after crossing the
Euphrates. We know that about twenty parasangs from that river the Greeks
encamped near a hot spring, and this spring might be recognised in one of
the many which abound in the country. It is most probable that the Greeks
took the road still used by caravans through the plains of Hinnis and
Hassan-Kalah, as offering the fewest difficulties. But what rivers are we
to identify with the Phasis and Harpasus, the distance between the
Euphrates and Phasis being seventy parasangs, and between the Phasis and
Harpasus ninety-five, and the Harpasus being the larger of the two rivers?
I am on the whole inclined to believe, that either the Greeks took a very
tortuous course after leaving the Euphrates, making daily but little
actual progress towards the great end of their arduous journey, the
sea-coast, or that there is a considerable error in the amount of
parasangs given by Xenophon; that the Harpasus must be the Tcherouk, and
the Phasis either the Araxes or the Kur[17]; and that Mount Theches, the
holy mountain from which the Greeks beheld the sea, was between Batoun and
Trebizond, the army having followed the valley of the Tcherouk, but
leaving it before reaching the site of the modern port on the Black Sea.
[Illustration: Subterranean Excavations at Kouyunjik.]
CHAPTER IV.
STATE OF THE EXCAVATIONS ON MY RETURN TO MOSUL.--DISCOVERIES AT
KOUYUNJIK.--TUNNELS IN THE MOUND.--BAS-RELIEFS REPRESENTING ASSYRIAN
CONQUESTS.--A WELL.--SIEGE OF A CITY.--NATURE OF SCULPTURES AT
KOUYUNJIK.--ARRANGEMENTS FOR RENEWAL OF EXCAVATIONS.--DESCRIPTION OF
MOUND.--KIAMIL PASHA.--VISIT TO SHEIK ADI.--YEZIDI CEREMONIES.--SHEIKH
JINDI.--YEZIDI MEETING.--DRESS OF THE WOMEN.--BAVIAN.--DOCTRINES OF
THE YEZIDI--JERRAIYAH.--RETURN TO MOSUL.
On the morning after our arrival in Mosul, I rode at sunrise to Kouyunjik.
The reader may remember that, on my return to Europe in 1847, Mr. Ross had
continued the researches in that mound, and had uncovered several
interesting bas-reliefs, which I have already described from his own
account of his discoveries.[18] That gentleman had, to my great regret,
left Mosul. Since his departure the excavations had been placed under the
charge of Mr. Rassam, the English vice-consul, who was directed by the
Trustees of the British Museum to employ a small number of men, rather to
retain possession of the spot, and to prevent interference on the part of
others, than to carry on extensive operations. Toma Shishman, or "the
Fat," was still the overseer of the workmen, and accompanied me on my
first visit to the ruins.
But little change had taken place in the great mound since I had last seen
it. It was yellow and bare, as it always is at this time of the year.
Heaps of earth marked the site of former excavations, the chambers first
discovered having been again completely buried with rubbish. Of the
sculptured walls laid bare two years before no traces now remained. The
trenches dug under Mr. Ross's directions, in the southern corner, opposite
the town of Mosul, were still open. It was evident at a glance that the
chambers he had entered did not, as he had been led to suppose, belong to
a second palace. They formed part of the same great edifice once standing
on this angle of the mound, and already partly explored. The style of the
bas-reliefs, and of the inscriptions, marked them at once as of the same
epoch as those previously discovered.
The walls of two chambers had been laid bare. In one, the lower part of a
long series of sculptures was still partly preserved, but the upper had
been completely destroyed, the very alabaster itself having disappeared.
The bas-reliefs recorded the subjection by the Assyrian king of a nation
inhabiting the banks of a river. The captive women are distinguished by
long embroidered robes fringed with tassels, and the castles have a
peculiar wedge-shaped ornament on the walls. The towns probably stood in
the midst of marshes, as they appear to be surrounded by canes or reeds,
as well as by groves of palm trees. The Assyrians having captured the
strong places by escalade, carried the inhabitants into captivity, and
drove away cattle, camels, and carts drawn by oxen. Some of the men bear
large baskets of osier work, and the women vases or cauldrons. The king,
standing in his chariot, attended by his warriors, and preceded by an
eunuch registering the number of prisoners and the amount of the spoil,
receives the conquered chiefs. Not a vestige of inscription remains to
record the name of the vanquished people; but we may conjecture, from the
river and the palm trees, that they inhabited some district in southern
Mesopotamia. In the southern wall of this chamber was a doorway formed by
plain, upright slabs of a close-grained magnesian limestone, almost as
hard as flint; between them were two small, crouching lions, in the usual
alabaster. This entrance led into a further room, of which only a small
part had been explored. The walls were panelled with unsculptured slabs of
the same compact limestone.
The sculptured remains hitherto discovered in the mound of Kouyunjik had
been reached by digging down to them from the surface, and then removing
the rubbish. After the departure of Mr. Ross, the accumulation of earth
above the ruins, had become so considerable, frequently exceeding thirty
feet, that the workmen, to avoid the labor of clearing it away, began to
tunnel along the walls, sinking shafts at intervals to admit light and
air. These long galleries, dimly lighted, lined with the remains of
ancient art, broken urns projecting from the crumbling sides, and the wild
Arab and hardy Nestorian wandering through their intricacies, or working
in their dark recesses, were singularly picturesque.
Toma Shishman had removed the workmen from the southern corner of the
mound, where the sculptures were much injured, and had opened tunnels in a
part of the building previously explored, commencing where I had left off
on my departure from Mosul. I descended into the vaulted passages by an
inclined way, through which the workmen issued from beneath to throw away
the rubbish dug out from the ruins. At the bottom I found myself before a
wall forming the southern side of the great Hall, discovered, though only
partly explored, during my former researches. The sculptures, faintly seen
through the gloom, were still well enough preserved to give a complete
history of the subject represented, although, with the rest of the
bas-reliefs of Kouyunjik, the fire had nearly turned them to lime, and had
cracked them into a thousand pieces. The faces of the slabs had been
entirely covered with figures, varying from three inches to one foot in
height, carefully finished, and designed with great spirit.
In this series of bas-reliefs the history of an Assyrian conquest was more
fully portrayed than in any other yet discovered, from the going out of
the monarch to battle, to his triumphal return after a complete victory.
The first part of the subject has already been described in my former
work.[19] The king, accompanied by his chariots and horsemen, and leaving
his capital in the Assyrian plains, passed through a mountainous and
wooded district.[20] He does not appear to have been delayed by the siege
of many towns or castles, but to have carried the war at once into the
high country. His troops, cavalry and infantry, are represented in close
combat with their enemies, pursuing them over hills and through valleys,
beside streams, and in the midst of vineyards. The Assyrian horsemen are
armed with the spear and the bow, using both weapons whilst at full speed:
their opponents seem to be all archers. The vanquished turn to ask for
quarter; or, wounded, fall under the feet of the advancing horses, raising
their hands imploringly to ward off the impending deathblow. The triumph
follows. The king standing in his chariot, beneath the royal parasol,
followed by long lines of dismounted warriors leading richly caparisoned
horses, and by foot soldiers variously armed and accoutred, is receiving
the captives and spoil taken from the conquered people. First approach the
victorious warriors, throwing the heads of the slain into heaps before the
registering officers. They are followed by others leading, and urging
onwards with staves, the prisoners--men chained together, or bound singly
in fetters, and women, some on foot, carrying their children on their
shoulders, and leading them by the hand, others riding on mules. The
procession is finished by asses, mules, and flocks of sheep. As on the
bas-reliefs uncovered by Mr. Ross, there is unfortunately no inscription
by which the name of the conquered people can be determined. The
mountains, valleys, and streams, the vines and dwarf oaks, probably
indicate a region north of Assyria, in Armenia, Media, or Kurdistan,
countries we know to have been invaded by the royal builder of the palace.
The dress of the men consists of a short tunic; that of the women, of a
shirt falling to the ankles, and cut low in front of the neck.
In the side of the hall sculptured with these bas-reliefs was a wide
portal, formed by a pair of gigantic human-headed bulls. They had
suffered, like all those previously discovered, from the fire, and the
upper part, the wings and human head, had been completely destroyed. The
lower half had, however, escaped, and the inscriptions were consequently
nearly entire. Joined to the forepart of the bulls were four small
figures, two on each side, and one above the other. They had long hair,
falling in large and massive curls on their shoulders, wore short tunics
descending to the knee, and held a pole topped by a kind of cone in one
hand, raising the other as in act of adoration. At right angles with the
slabs bearing these sculptures were colossal figures carrying the
oft-repeated cone and basket.
In this entrance a well, cut through the large pavement slab between the
bulls, was afterwards discovered. It contained broken pottery, not one
vase having been taken out whole, apparently human remains, and _some
fragments of calcined sculptured alabaster_, evidently detached from the
bas-reliefs on the walls. It is doubtful whether this well was sunk after
the Assyrian ruins had been buried, or whether it had been from the
earliest times a place of deposit for the dead.
A small doorway to the right of the portal formed by the winged bulls, led
into a further chamber, in which an entrance had been found into a third
room, whose walls had been completely uncovered. Its dimensions were 26
feet by 23, and it had but this one outlet, flanked on either side by two
colossal figures, whose lower extremities alone remained, the upper part
of the slabs having been destroyed: one appeared to have been
eagle-headed, with the body of a man, and the other a monster, with human
head and the feet of a lion. The bas-reliefs round the chamber represented
the siege of a castle standing on an artificial mound, surrounded at its
base by houses. The besieged defended themselves on the walls and turrets
with bows, spears, and stones. The Assyrian army was composed of spearmen,
slingers, and bowmen, some of whom had already gained the housetops. Male
and female captives had been taken and heads cut off; the victorious
warriors according to custom, and probably to claim a reward,[21] bringing
them to the registrars. In the back ground were wooded mountains; vines
and other trees formed a distinct band in the middle of the slabs; and a
river ran at the foot of the mound. The dress of the male prisoners
consisted either of a long robe falling to the ankles, or of a tunic
reaching to the knees, over which was thrown an outer garment, apparently
made of the skins of animals, and they wore greaves laced up in front. The
women were clothed in a robe descending to the feet, with an outer fringed
garment thrown over the shoulders; a kind of hood or veil covered the back
of the head, and fell over the neck. Above the castle was the fragment of
an inscription in two lines, containing the name of the city, of which
unfortunately the first character is wanting. It reads: "_The city of_ ...
alammo I attacked and captured; I carried away its spoil." No name,
however, corresponding with it has yet been found in the royal annals, and
we can only infer, from the nature of the country represented, that the
place was in a mountainous district to the north of Assyria.
This doorway to a third outlet opening to the west, led into a narrow
passage, one side of which had alone been excavated; on it was represented
the siege of a walled city, divided into two parts by a river. One half of
the place had been captured by the Assyrians, who had gained possession
of the towers and battlements, but that on the opposite bank of the stream
was still defended by slingers and bowmen. Against its walls had been
thrown banks or mounds, built of stones, bricks, and branches of
trees.[22] The battering-rams, covered with skins or hides looped
together, had been rolled up these inclined ways, and had already made a
breach in the fortifications. Archers and spearmen were hurrying to the
assault, whilst others were driving off the captives, and carrying away
the idols of the enemy. The dress of the male prisoners consisted of a
plain under-shirt, an upper garment falling below the knees, divided in
the front and buttoned at the neck, and laced greaves. Their hair and
beards were shorter and less elaborately curled than those of the
Assyrians. The women were distinguished by high rounded turbans,
ornamented with plaits or folds. A veil fell from the back of this
head-dress over the shoulders.[23] No inscription remained to record the
name of the vanquished nation.
Such were the discoveries that had been made during my absence. There
could be no doubt whatever that all the chambers hitherto excavated
belonged to one great edifice, built by one and the same king. I have
already shown how the bas-reliefs of Kouyunjik differed from those of the
older palaces of Nimroud, but closely resembled those of Khorsabad in the
general treatment, in the costumes of the Assyrian warriors, as well as of
the nations with whom they warred, and in the character of the ornaments,
inscriptions, and details. Those newly uncovered were, in all these
respects, like the bas-reliefs found before my departure, and upon which I
had ventured to form an opinion as to the respective antiquity and origin
of the various ruins hitherto explored in Assyria.
At Kouyunjik there were probably few bas-reliefs, particularly those
containing representations of castles and cities, that were not
accompanied by a short epigraph or label, giving the name of the conquered
king and country, and even the names of the principal prisoners,
especially if royal personages. Unfortunately these inscriptions having
been usually placed on the upper part of the slabs, which has very rarely
escaped destruction, but few of them remain. These remarks should be borne
in mind to enable the reader to understand the descriptions of the
excavated chambers at Kouyunjik, which will be given in the following
pages in the order that they were discovered.
I lost no time in making arrangements for continuing the excavations with
as much activity as the funds granted to the Trustees of the British
Museum would permit. Toma Shishman was placed over Kouyunjik; Mansour,
Behnan (the marble cutter), and Hannah (the carpenter), again entered my
service. Ali Rahal, a sheikh of the Jebours, was appointed "sheikh of the
mound," and duly invested with the customary robe of honor on the
occasion.
The accumulation of soil above the ruins was so great, that I determined
to continue the tunnelling, removing only as much earth as was necessary
to show the sculptured walls. But to facilitate the labor of the workmen,
and to avoid the necessity of their leaving the tunnels to empty their
baskets, I made a number of rude triangles and wooden pulleys, by which
the excavated rubbish could be raised by ropes through the shafts, sunk
at intervals for this purpose, as well as to admit light and air. One or
two passages then sufficed for the workmen to descend into the
subterranean galleries.
Many of the Nestorians formerly in my service as diggers, having also
heard of my intended return, had left their mountains, and had joined me a
day or two after my arrival. There were Jebours enough in the immediate
neighbourhood of the town to make up four or five gangs of excavators, and
I placed parties at once in the galleries already opened, in different
parts of Kouyunjik not previously explored, and at a high mound in the
north-west walls, forming one side of the great inclosure opposite
Mosul--a ruin which I had only partially examined during my previous
visit.[24]
The shape of this great ruin is very irregular; nearly square at the S. W.
corner, it narrows almost to a point at the N. E. The palace occupies the
southern angle. At the opposite, or northern, extremity are the remains of
the village of Kouyunjik, from which the mound takes its name.[25] From
this spot a steep road leads to the plain, forming the only access to the
summit of the mound for loaded animals or carts. There are ravines on all
sides of Kouyunjik, except that facing the Tigris. If not entirely worn by
the winter rains, they have, undoubtedly, been deepened and increased by
them. They are strewed with fragments of pottery, bricks, and sometimes
stone and burnt alabaster, whilst the falling earth frequently discloses
in their sides vast masses of solid brick masonry, which fall in when
undermined by the rains. Through these ravines are carried the steep and
narrow pathways leading to the top of the mound.
The Khauser winds round the eastern base of Kouyunjik, and leaving it near
the angle occupied by the ruins of the palace, runs in a direct line to
the Tigris. Although a small and sluggish stream, it has worn for itself a
deep bed, and is only fordable near the mound immediately below the
southern corner, where the direct road from Mosul crosses it, and at the
northern extremity where a flour mill is turned by its waters. After rain
it becomes an impetuous torrent, overflowing its banks, and carrying all
before it. It then rises very suddenly, and as suddenly subsides. The
Tigris now flows about half a mile from the mound, but once undoubtedly
washed its base. Between them is a rich alluvium deposited by the river
during its gradual retreat; it is always under cultivation, and is divided
into corn fields, and melon and cucumber beds.[26] In this plain stands
the small modern village of Kouyunjik, removed for convenience from its
ancient site on the summit of the mound.
In Mosul I had to call upon the governor, and renew my acquaintance with
the principal inhabitants, whose good will was in some way necessary to
the pleasant, if not successful, prosecution of my labors. Kiamil Pasha
had been lately named to the pashalic. He was the sixth or seventh pasha
who had been appointed since I left, for it is one of the banes of Turkish
administration that, as soon as an officer becomes acquainted with the
country he is sent to govern, and obtains any influence over its
inhabitants, he is recalled to make room for a new ruler. Kiamil had been
ambassador at Berlin, and had visited several European courts. His manners
were eminently courteous and polished; his intelligence, and what is of
far more importance in a Turkish governor, his integrity, were
acknowledged. His principal defects were great inactivity and indolence,
and an unfortunate irritability of temper, leading him to do foolish and
mischievous things, of which he generally soon found cause to repent.
Soon after my arrival, my old friends Sheikh Abd-ur-rahman, of the Abou
Salman, and Abd-rubbou, chief of the Jebours, rode into the town to see
me; where I had scarcely settled myself, when Cawal Yusuf came in from
Baadri, with a party of Yezidi Cawals, to invite me, on the part of
Hussein Bey and Sheikh Nasr, to the annual festival at Sheikh Adi. The
invitation was too earnest to be refused.
I was accompanied in this visit by my own party, with the addition of Mr.
Rassam, the vice-consul, and his dragoman. We rode the first day to
Baadri, and were met on the road by Hussein Bey and a large company of
Yezidi horsemen. Sheikh Nasr had already gone to the tomb, to make ready
for the ceremonies. The young chief entertained us for the night, and on
the following morning, an hour after sunrise, we left the village for
Sheikh Adi. At some distance from the sacred valley we were met by Sheikh
Nasr, Pir Sino, the Cawals, the priests, and the chiefs. They conducted us
to the same building in the sacred grove that I had occupied on my former
visit. The Cawals assembled around us and welcomed our coming on their
tambourines and flutes; and soon about us was formed one of those
singularly beautiful and picturesque groups which I have attempted to
describe in my previous account of the Yezidi festival.[27]
The Yezidis had assembled in less numbers this year than when I had last
met them in the valley. Only a few of the best armed of the people of
Sinjar had ventured to face the dangers of the road now occupied by the
Bedouins. Abde Agha and his adherents were fully occupied in defending
their villages against the Arab marauders, who, although repulsed after we
quitted Semil, were still hanging about the district, bent upon revenge.
The Kochers, and the tribes of Dereboun, were kept away by the same fears.
The inhabitants of Kherzan and Redwan were harassed by the conscription.
Even the people of Baasheikhah and Baazani had been so much vexed by a
recent visit from the Pasha that they had no heart for festivities. His
excellency not fostering feelings of the most friendly nature towards
Namik Pasha, the new commander-in-chief of Arabia, who was passing through
Mosul on his way to the head-quarters of the army at Baghdad, and
unwilling to entertain him, was suddenly taken ill and retired for the
benefit of his health to Baasheikhah. On the morning after his arrival he
complained that the asses by their braying during the night had allowed
him no rest; and the asses were accordingly peremptorily banished from the
village. The dawn of the next day was announced, to the great discomfort
of his Excellency, who had no interest in the matter, by the cocks; and
the irregular troops who formed his body-guard were immediately incited to
a general slaughter of the race. The third night his sleep was disturbed
by the crying of the children, who, with their mothers, were at once
locked up, for the rest of his sojourn, in the cellars. On the fourth he
was awoke at daybreak by the chirping of sparrows, and every gun in the
village was ordered to be brought out to wage a war of extermination
against them. But on the fifth morning his rest was sorely broken by the
flies, and the enraged Pasha insisted upon their instant destruction. The
Kiayah, who, as chief of the village, had the task of carrying out the
Governor's orders, now threw himself at his Excellency's feet, exclaiming,
"Your Highness has seen that all the animals here, praise be to God, obey
our Lord the Sultan; the infidel flies alone are rebellious to his
authority. I am a man of low degree and small power, and can do nothing
against them; it now behoves a great Vizir like your Highness to enforce
the commands of our Lord and Master." The Pasha, who relished a joke,
forgave the flies, but left the village.
I have already so fully described the general nature of the annual
festival at Sheikh Adi, and the appearance of the valley on that occasion,
that I shall confine myself to an account of such ceremonies as I was now
permitted to witness for the first time.
About an hour after sunset, Cawal Yusuf summoned Hormuzd and myself, who
were alone allowed to be present, to the inner yard, or sanctuary, of the
Temple. We were placed in a room from the windows of which we could see
all that took place in the court. The Cawals, Sheikhs, Fakirs, and
principal chiefs were already assembled. In the centre of the court was an
iron lamp, with four burners--a simple dish with four lips for the wicks,
supported on a sharp iron rod driven into the ground. Near it stood a
Fakir, holding in one hand a lighted torch, and in the other a large
vessel of oil, from which he, from time to time, replenished the lamp,
loudly invoking Sheikh Adi. The Cawals stood against the wall on one side
of the court, and commenced a slow chant, some playing on the flute,
others on the tambourine, and accompanying the measure with their voices.
The Sheikhs and chiefs now formed a procession, walking two by two. At
their head was Sheikh Jindi. He wore a tall shaggy black cap, the hair of
which hung far over the upper part of his face. A long robe, striped with
horizontal stripes of black and dark red, fell to his feet. A countenance
more severe, and yet more imposing, than that of Sheikh Jindi could not
well be pictured by the most fanciful imagination. A beard, black as jet,
waved low on his breast; his dark piercing eyes glittered through ragged
eyebrows, like burning coals through the bars of a grate. The color of his
face was of the deepest brown, his teeth white as snow, and his features,
though stern beyond measure, singularly noble and well formed. It was a
byword with us that Sheikh Jindi had never been seen to smile. To look at
him was to feel that a laugh could not be born in him. As he moved, with a
slow and solemn step, the flickering lamp deepening the shadows of his
solemn and rugged countenance, it would have been impossible to conceive a
being more eminently fitted to take the lead in ceremonies consecrated to
the evil one. He is the _Peesh-namaz_, "the leader of prayer," to the
Yezidi sect. Behind him were two venerable sheikhs. They were followed by
Hussein Bey and Sheikh Nasr, and the other chiefs and Sheikhs came after.
Their long robes were all of the purest white. As they walked slowly
round, sometimes stopping, then resuming their measured step, they chanted
prayers in glory and honor of the Deity. The Cawals accompanied the chant
with their flutes, beating at intervals the tambourines. Round the
burning lamp, and within the circle formed by the procession, danced the
Fakirs in their black dresses, with solemn pace timed to the music,
raising and swinging to and fro their arms after the fashion of Eastern
dancers, and placing themselves in attitudes not less decorous than
elegant. To hymns in praise of the Deity succeeded others in honor of
Melek Isa and Sheikh Adi. The chants passed into quicker strains, the
tambourines were beaten more frequently, the Fakirs became more active in
their motions, and the women made the loud _tahlel_, the ceremonies ending
with that extraordinary scene of noise and excitement that I have
attempted to describe in relating my first visit. When the prayers were
ended, those who marched in procession kissed, as they passed by, the
right side of the doorway leading into the temple, where a serpent is
figured on the wall; but not, as I was assured, the image itself, which
has no typical or other meaning, according to Sheikh Nasr and Cawal Yusuf.
Hussein Bey then placing himself on the step at this entrance, received
the homage of the Sheikhs and elders, each touching the hand of the young
chief with his own, and raising it to his lips. All present, afterwards,
gave one another the kiss of peace.
The ceremonies having thus been brought to a close, Hussein Bey and Sheikh
Nasr came to me, and led me into the inner court. Carpets had been spread
at the doorway of the temple for myself and the two chiefs; the Sheikhs,
Cawals, and principal people of the sect, seated themselves, or rather
crouched, against the walls. By the light of a lamp, dimly breaking the
gloom within the temple, I could see Sheikh Jindi unrobing. During the
prayers, priests were stationed at the doorway, and none were allowed to
enter except a few women and girls: the wives and daughters of sheikhs and
cawals had free access to the building, and appeared to join in the
ceremonies. The Vice-Consul and Khodja Toma were now admitted, and took
their places with us at the upper end of the court. Cawal Yusuf was then
called upon to give a full account of the result of his mission to
Constantinople, which he did with the same detail, and almost in the same
words, that he had used so frequently during our journey. After he had
concluded, I endeavored to urge upon them to avail themselves of the new
privileges and opportunities for advancement and cultivation thus afforded
them. It was finally agreed that letters of thanks, sealed by all the
chiefs of the Yezidis, should be sent to the Grand Vizir, Reshid Pasha,
for the reception given to the Yezidi deputation, and to Sir Stratford
Canning for his generous intercession in their behalf.
Soon after sunrise on the following morning the Sheikhs and Cawals offered
up a short prayer in the court of the temple, but without any of the
ceremonies of the previous evening. Some prayed in the sanctuary,
frequently kissing the threshold and holy places within the building. When
they had ended, they took the green cloth covering from the tomb of Sheikh
Adi, and, followed by the Cawals playing on their tambourines and flutes,
walked with it round the outer court. The people flocked about them, and
reverently carried the corner of the drapery to their lips, making
afterwards a small offering of money. After the cover had again been
thrown over the tomb, the chiefs and priests seated themselves round the
inner court. The Fakirs and Sheikhs especially devoted to the service of
the sanctuary, who are called Kotcheks, now issued from the kitchens of
the temple bearing large platters of smoking _harisa_[28], which they
placed on the ground. The company collected in hungry groups round the
messes, and whilst they were eating, the _Kotcheks_ standing by called
upon them continually in a loud voice to partake of the hospitality of
Sheikh Adi. After the empty plates had been removed, a collection was made
towards the support of the temple and tomb of the saint.
These ceremonies occupied us until nearly mid-day; we then sat by the
fountain in the valley, and the men and women danced before us, the boys
climbing into the trees and hanging on the boughs to see the dancers.
Sugar, dates, and raisins were afterwards scrambled amongst the children.
The men soon took part in the amusement. A party of Kurds, bringing grapes
from the mountains to sell at the festival, were maliciously pointed out
as good objects for a joke. The hint was no sooner given than they, their
donkeys, and their grapes, were all rolled into one heap under a mountain
of human beings. The Kurds, who were armed, resisted manfully; and,
ignorant of our intentions, might have revenged themselves on their
assailants, but were soon restored to good humour when they found that
they were to receive ample compensation for their losses and personal
injuries. There was general laughing in the valley, and the Yezidis will
long remember these days of simple merriment and happiness.
In the afternoon the wives and daughters of the chiefs and Cawals called
upon me. The families of the Cawals, evidently descended from the same
stock, are remarkable for the beauty both of the men and women, all of
whom are strikingly like one another. Their complexion is, perhaps, too
dark, but their features are regular and admirably formed. The dresses of
the girls were elegant, and as rich as the material they could obtain
would allow. Some wove flowers into their hair, others encircled their
black turbans with a single wreath of myrtle, a simple and elegant
ornament. They all wore many strings of coins, amber, coral, agate, and
glass beads round their necks, and some had the black skull cap completely
covered with gold and silver money. A kind of apron of grey or yellowish
check, like a Scotch plaid, tied over one shoulder, and falling in front
over the silk dress, is a peculiar feature in the costume of the Yezidi
girls, and of some Christians from the same district. Unmarried women have
the neck bare, the married conceal it with a white kerchief, which passes
under the chin, and is tied on the top of the head. The brightest colors
are worn by the girls, but the matrons are usually clothed in plain white.
The females of the Cawal families always wear black turbans and skull
caps. Cawal Yusuf, to show how the Frank ladies he had seen at
Constantinople were honored by their husbands, made his young wife walk
arm in arm with him before us, to the great amusement of the bystanders.
At night the same religious ceremonies were repeated in the temple, and I
was allowed to sleep in the room overlooking the inner court from whence I
had witnessed them on the previous evening. After all had retired to rest,
the Yezidi Mullah recited, in a low chanting tone, a religious history, or
discourse, consisting of the adventures and teachings of a certain Mirza
Mohammed. He stood before the burning lamp, and around him were at full
length on the stone pavement, and covered by their white cloaks, the
sleeping Sheikhs and Cawals. The scene was singularly picturesque and
impressive.
Next morning I visited, with Mr. Rassam and Mr. Cooper, the
rock-sculptures of Bavian, which are not more than six miles from the
valley of Sheikh Adi in the same range of hills; but I will defer a
description of these remarkable monuments until I come to relate my second
journey to the spot.
Cawal Yusuf had promised, on the occasion of the festival, to show me the
sacred book of the Yezidis. He accordingly brought a volume to me one
morning, accompanied by the secretary of Sheikh Nasr, the only Yezidi, as
far as I am aware, who could read it. It consisted of a few tattered
leaves, of no ancient date, containing a poetical rhapsody on the merits
and attributes of Sheikh Adi, who is identified with the Deity himself, as
the origin and creator of all things, though evidently distinguished from
the Eternal Essence by being represented as seeking the truth, and as
reaching through it the highest place, which he declares to be attainable
by all those who like him shall find the truth.[29]
This was the only written work that I was able to obtain from the Yezidis;
their cawals repeated several prayers and hymns to me, which were purely
laudatory of the Deity, and unobjectionable in substance. Numerous
occupations during the remainder of my residence in Assyria prevented me
prosecuting my inquiries much further on this subject. Cawal Yusuf
informed me that before the great massacre of the sect by the Bey of
Rahwanduz, they possessed many books which were lost during the general
panic, or destroyed by the Kurds. He admitted that this was only a
fragmentary composition, and by no means "the Book" which contained the
theology and religious laws of the Yezidi. He even hinted that the great
work did still exist, and I am by no means certain that there is not a
copy at Baasheikhah or Baazani. The account given by the Cawal seems to be
confirmed by the allusion made in the poem to the "Book of Glad Tidings,"
and "the Book that comforteth the oppressed," which could scarcely have
been inserted for any particular purpose, such as to deceive their
Mohammedan neighbours.
I will here add a few notes concerning the Yezidis and their faith to
those contained in my former work; they were chiefly obtained from Cawal
Yusuf.
They believe that Christ will come to govern the world, but that after him
Sheikh Medi will appear, to whom will be given special jurisdiction over
those speaking the Kurdish language, including the Yezidis (this is
evidently a modern interpolation, derived from Mussulman sources, perhaps
invented to conciliate the Mohammedans).
All who go to heaven must first pass an expiatory period in hell, but no
one will be punished eternally. Mohammedans they exclude from all future
life, but not Christians. (This may have been said to avoid giving
offence.)
The Yezidis will not receive converts to their faith; circumcision is
optional. When a child is born near enough to the tomb of Sheikh Adi, to
be taken there without great inconvenience or danger, it should be
baptized as early as possible after birth. The Cawals in their periodical
visitations carry a bottle or skin filled with the holy water, to baptize
those children who cannot be brought to the shrine.
There are forty days fast in the spring of the year, but they are observed
by few; one person in a family may fast for the rest.[30] They should
abstain during that period as completely as the Chaldaeans from animal
food. Sheikh Nasr fasts rigidly for one month in the year, eating only
once in twenty-four hours and immediately after sunset.
Only one wife is strictly lawful, although the chief takes more; but
concubines are not forbidden. The wife may be turned away for great
misconduct, and the husband, with the consent of the Sheikhs, may marry
again; but the discarded wife never can. Even such divorces ought only to
be given in cases of adultery; for formerly, when the Yezidis administered
their own temporal laws, the wife was punished with death, and the husband
of course was then released.
The religious, as well as the political, head of all Yezidis, wherever
they may reside, is Hussein Bey, who is called the Kalifa, and he holds
this position by inheritance. As he is young and inexperienced, he deputes
his religious duties to Sheikh Nasr. Sheikh Nasr is only the chief of the
Sheikhs of the district of Sheikhan. The Cawals are all of one family, and
are under the orders of Hussein Bey, who sends them periodically to
collect the voluntary contributions of the various tribes. The amount
received by them is divided into two equal parts, one of which goes to the
support of the tomb of Sheikh Adi, and half of the other to Hussein Bey,
the remainder being equally shared by the Cawals. Neither the priests nor
Hussein Bey ever shave their beards. They ought not to marry out of their
own order, and though the men do not observe this rule very strictly, the
women are never given in marriage to one out of the rank of the
priesthood. Hussein Bey ought to take his wife from the family of Chul
Beg.
After death, the body of a Yezidi, like that of a Mohammedan, is washed in
running water, and then buried with the face turned towards the north
star.
I have stated that it is unlawful amongst the Yezidis to know how to read
or write. This, I am assured, is not the case, and their ignorance arises
from want of means and proper teachers. Formerly a Chaldaean deacon used to
instruct the children. Cawal Yusuf mentioned accidentally, that, amongst
the Yezidis, the ancient name for God was Azed, and from it he derived the
name of his sect. Their Kublah, he declared, was the polar star and not
the east.
On my way to Mosul from Sheikh Adi, I visited the ruins of Jerraiyah,
where excavations had been again carried on by one of my agents. No
ancient buildings were discovered. The principal mound is lofty and
conical in shape, and the base is surrounded by smaller mounds, and
irregularities in the soil which denote the remains of houses. I had not
leisure during my residence in Assyria to examine the spot as fully as it
may deserve.
[Illustration: Mound of Nimroud.]
CHAPTER V.
RENEWAL OF EXCAVATIONS AT KOUYUNJIK.--FIRST VISIT TO NIMROUD.--STATE
OF RUINS.--RENEW EXCAVATIONS IN MOUND.--VISIT OF COLONEL
RAWLINSON.--MR. H. RASSAM.--THE JEBOUR WORKMEN AT
KOUYUNJIK.--DISCOVERIES AT KOUYUNJIK.--SCULPTURES REPRESENTING MOVING
OF GREAT STONES AND WINGED BULLS.--METHODS ADOPTED.--EPIGRAPHS ON
BAS-RELIEFS OF MOVING BULLS.--SCULPTURES REPRESENTING INVASION OF
MOUNTAINOUS COUNTRY, AND SACK OF CITY.--DISCOVERY OF
GATEWAY.--EXCAVATION IN HIGH CONICAL MOUND AT NIMROUD.--DISCOVERY OF
WALL OF STONE.--VISIT TO KHORSABAD.--DISCOVERY OF SLAB.--STATE OF THE
RUINS.--FUTHLIYAH.--BAAZANI.--BAASHEIKHAH.
We were again in Mosul by the 12th of October. The Jebours, my old
workmen, had now brought their families to the town. I directed them to
cross the river, and to pitch their tents over the excavations at
Kouyunjik, as they had formerly done around the trenches at Nimroud. The
Bedouins, unchecked in their forays by the Turkish authorities, had become
so bold, that they ventured to the very walls of Mosul, and I felt it
necessary to have a strong party on the ruins for self-defence. The
Jebours were, however, on good terms with the Bedouins, and had lately
encamped amongst them.
About one hundred workmen, divided into twelve or fourteen parties, were
employed at Kouyunjik. The Arabs, as before, removed the earth and
rubbish, whilst the more difficult labor with the pick was left entirely
to the Nestorian mountaineers. My old friend, Yakoub, the Rais of
Asheetha, was named superintendent of the Tiyari workmen, for whom I built
mud huts near the foot of the mound.
The work having been thus begun at Kouyunjik, I rode with Hormuzd to
Nimroud for the first time on the 18th of October. It seemed but yesterday
that we had followed the same track. We stopped at each village, and found
in each old acquaintances ready to welcome us. From the crest of the hill
half way, the first view of Nimroud opened upon us; the old mound, on
which I had gazed so often from this spot, and with which so many happy
recollections were bound up, rising boldly above the Jaif, the river
winding through the plain, the distant wreaths of smoke marking the
villages of Naifa and Nimroud. I dismounted at my old house, which was
still standing, though somewhat in ruins, for it had been the habitation
of the Kiayah during my absence, and to avoid the vermin swarming in the
rooms, my tent was pitched in the court-yard, and I dwelt entirely in it.
The village had still, comparatively speaking, a flourishing appearance,
and had not diminished in size since my last visit. The _tanzimat_, or
reformed system of local administration, had been introduced into the
pashalic of Mosul, and although many of its regulations were evaded, and
arbitrary acts were still occasionally committed, yet on the whole a
marked improvement had taken place in the dealings of the authorities with
the subjects of the Sultan. The great cause of complaint was the want of
security. The troops under the command of the Pasha were not sufficient in
number to keep the Bedouins in check, and there was scarcely a village in
the low country which had not suffered more or less from their
depredations. Nimroud was particularly exposed to their incursions, and
the inhabitants lived in continual agitation and alarm.
By sunrise I was amongst the ruins. The mound had undergone no change.
There it rose from the plain, the same sun-burnt yellow heap that it had
stood for twenty centuries. The earth and rubbish, which had been heaped
over the excavated chambers and sculptured slabs, had settled, and had
left uncovered in sinking the upper part of several bas-reliefs. A few
colossal heads of winged figures rose calmly above the level of the soil,
and with two pairs of winged bulls, which had not been reburied on account
of their mutilated condition, was all that remained above ground of the
north-west palace, that great storehouse of Assyrian history and art.
Collecting together my old excavators from the Shemutti and Jehesh (the
Arab tribes who inhabit Nimroud and Naifa), and from the tents of a few
Jebours who still lingered round the village to glean a scanty subsistence
after the harvest, I placed workmen in different parts of the mound. The
north-west palace had not been fully explored. Most of the chambers which
did not contain sculptured slabs, but were simply built of sundried
bricks, had been left unopened. I consequently directed a party of workmen
to resume the excavations where they had been formerly abandoned. New
trenches were also opened in the ruins of the centre palace, where, as
yet, no sculptures had been discovered in their original position against
the walls. The high conical mound forming the north-west corner of
Nimroud, the pyramid as it has usually been called, had always been an
object of peculiar interest, which want of means had hitherto prevented me
fully examining. With the exception of a shaft, about forty feet deep,
sunk nearly in the centre, and passing through a solid mass of sun-dried
bricks, no other opening had been made into this singular ruin. I now
ordered a tunnel to be carried into its base on the western face, and on a
level with the conglomerate rock upon which it rested.
As I ascended the mound next morning I perceived a group of travellers on
its summit, their horses picketted in the stubble. Ere I could learn what
strangers had thus wandered to this remote region, my hand was seized by
the faithful Bairakdar. Beneath, in an excavated chamber, wrapped in his
travelling cloak, was Rawlinson deep in sleep, wearied by a long and
harassing night's ride. For the first time we met in the Assyrian ruins,
and besides the greetings of old friendship there was much to be seen
together, and much to be talked over. The fatigues of the journey had,
however, brought on fever, and we were soon compelled, after visiting the
principal excavations, to take refuge from the heat of the sun in the mud
huts of the village. The attack increasing in the evening it was deemed
prudent to ride into Mosul at once, and we mounted our horses in the
middle of the night.
During two days Col. Rawlinson was too ill to visit the excavations at
Kouyunjik. On the third we rode together to the mound. After a hasty
survey of the ruins we parted, and he continued his journey to
Constantinople and to England, to reap the laurels of a well-earned fame.
My readers would be wearied were I to relate, day by day, the progress of
the excavations, and to record, as they were gradually made, the
discoveries in the various ruins. It will give a more complete idea of the
results of the researches to describe the sculptured walls of a whole
chamber when entirely explored, instead of noting, one by one, as dug out,
bas-reliefs which form but part of the same subject. I will, therefore,
merely mention that during the months of October and November, my time was
spent between Kouyunjik and Nimroud, and that the excavations were carried
on at both places without interruption. Mr. Cooper was occupied in drawing
the bas-reliefs discovered at Kouyunjik, living in Mosul, and riding over
daily to the ruins. To Mr. Hormuzd Rassam, who usually accompanied me in
my journeys, were confided, as before, the general superintendence of the
operations, the payment of the workmen, the settlement of disputes, &c.
His services were invaluable, and of the greatest consequence to the
success of my labors.
The Arab workmen were divided into several classes, and their wages varied
according to their respective occupations, as well as according to the
time of year. They were generally paid weekly by Hormuzd. The diggers, who
were exposed to very severe labor, and even to considerable risk, received
from two piastres and a half to three piastres (from 5_d._ to 6_d._)
a-day; those who filled the baskets from two piastres to two and a half;
and the general workmen from one and a half to two piastres. The earth,
when removed, was sifted by boys, who earned about one piastre for their
day's labor. These wages may appear low, but they are amply sufficient for
the support of a family in a country where the camel-load of wheat (nearly
480 lbs.) is sold for about four shillings, and where no other protection
from the inclemencies of the weather is needed than a linen shirt and the
black folds of an Arab tent.[31]
The Kouyunjik workmen were usually paid in the subterraneous galleries,
some convenient space where several passages met being chosen for the
purpose; those of Nimroud generally in the village. A scene of wild
confusion ensued on these occasions, from which an inexperienced observer
might argue a sad want of order and method. This was, however, but the way
of doing business usual in the country. When there was a difference of
opinion, he who cried the loudest gained the day, and after a desperate
struggle of voices matters relapsed into their usual state, every one
being perfectly satisfied. Screaming and gesticulation with Easterns by no
means signify ill will, or even serious disagreement. Without them, except
of course amongst the Turks, who are staid and dignified to a proverb, the
most ordinary transactions cannot be carried on, and they are frequently
rather symptoms of friendship than of hostility.
By the end of November several entire chambers had been excavated at
Kouyunjik, and many bas-reliefs of great interest had been discovered. The
four sides of the hall, part of which has already been described,[32] had
now been explored.[33] In the centre of each side was a grand entrance,
guarded by colossal human-headed bulls.[34] This magnificent hall was no
less than 124 feet in length by 90 feet in breadth, the longest sides
being those to the north and south. It appears to have formed a centre,
around which the principal chambers in this part of the palace were
grouped. Its walls had been completely covered with the most elaborate and
highly-finished sculptures. Unfortunately all the bas-reliefs, as well as
the gigantic monsters at the entrances, had suffered more or less from the
fire which had destroyed the edifice; but enough of them still remained to
show the subject, and even to enable me in many places to restore it
entirely.
The narrow passage leading from the great hall at the south-west corner
had been completely explored. Its sculptures have already been
described.[35] It opened into a chamber 24 feet by 19, from which branched
two other passages. The one to the west was entered by a wide doorway, in
which stood two plain spherical stones about three feet high, having the
appearance of the bases of columns, although no traces of any such
architectural ornament could be found. This was the entrance into a broad
and spacious gallery, about 218 feet long and 25 wide. A tunnel at its
western end, cut through the solid wall, as there was no doorway on this
side of the gallery, led into the chambers excavated by Mr. Ross, thus
connecting them with the rest of the building.
I have already described the bas-reliefs representing the conquest of a
mountainous country on the southern side of the great hall.[36] The same
subject was continued on the western wall, without much variety in the
details. But on the northern, the sculptures differed from any others yet
discovered, and from their interest and novelty merit a particular
notice. But before giving a description of them, I must return to the long
gallery to the west of the great hall, as the sculptures still preserved
in it form part of and complete this important series.
The slabs on one side of this gallery had been entirely destroyed, except
at the eastern end; and from the few which still remained, every trace of
sculpture had been carefully removed by some sharp instrument. Along the
opposite wall (that to the right on leaving the great hall) only eight
bas-reliefs still stood in their original position, and even of these only
the lower part was preserved. Detached fragments of others were found in
the rubbish, and from them I ascertained that the whole gallery had been
occupied by one continuous series, representing the different processes
adopted by the Assyrians in moving and placing various objects used in
their buildings, and especially the human-headed bulls, from the first
transport of the huge stone in the rough from the quarry, to the raising
of these gigantic sculptures in the gateways of the palace-temples. On
these fragments were seen the king in his chariot, superintending the
operations, and workmen carrying cables, or dragging carts loaded with
coils of ropes, and various implements for moving the colossi.
I will commence, then, by a description of the sculptures still standing
in their original position in the gallery. A huge block of stone (probably
of the alabaster used in the Assyrian edifices), somewhat elongated in
form so as to resemble an obelisk in the rough, is lying on a low
flat-bottomed boat floating on a river. It has probably been towed down
the Tigris from some quarry, and is to be landed near the site of the
intended palace, to be carved by the sculptor into the form of a colossal
bull. It exceeds the boat considerably in length, projecting beyond both
the head and stern, and is held by upright beams fastened to the sides of
the vessel, and kept firm in their places by wooden wedges. Two cables are
passed through holes cut in the stone itself, and a third is tied to a
strong pin projecting from the head of the boat. Each cable is held by a
large body of men, who pull by means of small ropes fastened to it and
passed round their shoulders. Some of these trackers walk in the water,
others on dry land. The number altogether represented must have been
nearly 300, about 100 to each cable, and they appear to be divided into
distinct bands, each distinguished by a peculiar costume. Some wear a kind
of embroidered turban, through which their long hair is gathered behind;
the heads of others are encircled by a fringed shawl, whose ends hang over
the ears and neck, leaving the hair to fall in long curls upon the
shoulders. Many are represented naked, but the greater number are dressed
in short chequered tunics, with a long fringe attached to the girdle. They
are urged on by taskmasters armed with swords and staves. The boat is also
pushed by men wading through the stream. An overseer, who regulates the
whole proceedings, is seated astride on the fore-part of the stone. His
hands are stretched out in the act of giving commands.
[Illustration: Head-dress of Captives employed by Assyrians in moving Bull
(Kouyunjik).]
The huge stone having been landed, and carved by the Assyrian sculptor
into the form of a colossal human-headed bull, is to be moved from the
bank of the river to the site it is meant to occupy permanently in the
palace-temple. This process is represented on the walls of the great
hall. From these bas-reliefs, as well as from discoveries to be hereafter
mentioned, it is therefore evident that the Assyrians sculptured their
gigantic figures before, and not after, the slabs had been raised in the
edifice, although all the details and the finishing touches were not put
in, as it will be seen, until they had been finally placed.[37] I am
still, however, of opinion, that the smaller bas-reliefs were entirely
executed after the slabs had been attached to the walls.
In the first bas-relief I shall describe, the colossal bull rests
horizontally on a sledge similar in form to the boat containing the rough
block from the quarry, but either in the carving the stone has been
greatly reduced in size, or the sledge is much larger than the boat, as it
considerably exceeds the sculpture in length. The bull faces the
spectator, and the human head rests on the fore-part of the sledge, which
is curved upwards and strengthened by a thick beam, apparently running
completely through from side to side. The upper part, or deck, is
otherwise nearly horizontal; the under, or keel, being slightly curved
throughout. Props, probably of wood, are placed under different parts of
the sculpture to secure an equal pressure. The sledge was dragged by
cables, and impelled by levers. The cables are four in number; two
fastened to strong projecting pins in front, and two to similar pins
behind. They are pulled by small ropes passing over the shoulders of the
men, as in the bas-reliefs already described.
On the bull itself are four persons, probably the superintending officers.
The first is kneeling, and appears to be clapping his hands, probably
beating time, to regulate the motions of the workmen, who unless they
applied their strength at one and the same moment would be unable to move
so large a weight. Behind him stands a second officer with outstretched
arm, evidently giving the word of command. The next holds to his mouth,
either a speaking-trumpet, or an instrument of music. If the former, it
proves that the Assyrians were acquainted with a means of conveying sound,
presumed to be of modern invention. In form it undoubtedly resembles the
modern speaking-trumpet, and in no bas-relief hitherto discovered does a
similar object occur as an instrument of music. The fourth officer, also
standing, carries a mace, and is probably stationed behind to give
directions to those who work the levers. The sledge bearing the sculpture
is followed by men with coils of ropes and various implements, and drawing
carts laden with cables and beams.
A subject similar to that just described is represented in another series
of bas-reliefs, with even fuller details. The bull is placed in the same
manner on the sledge, which is also moved by cables and levers. It is
accompanied by workmen with saws, hatchets, pick-axes, shovels, ropes, and
props, and by carts carrying cables and beams. Upon it are three officers
directing the operations, one holding the trumpet in his hands, and in
front walk four other overseers. Above the sledge and the workmen are rows
of trees, and a river on which are circular boats resembling in shape the
"kufas," now used on the lower part of the Tigris, and probably, like
them, built of reeds and ozier twigs, covered with square pieces of hide.
They are heavily laden with beams and implements required for moving the
bulls.
On a fallen slab, forming part of the same general series, is the king
standing in a richly decorated chariot, the pole of which, curved upwards
at the end, and ornamented with the head of a horse, is raised by
eunuchs. From the peculiar form of this chariot and the absence of a yoke,
it would seem to have been intended purposely for such occasions as that
represented in the bas-relief, and to have been a kind of moveable throne
drawn by men and not by horses. Behind the monarch, who holds a kind of
flower, or ornament in the shape of the fruit of the pine, in one hand,
stand two eunuchs, one raising a parasol to shade him from the sun, the
other cooling him with a fan. He appears to have been superintending the
transport of one of the colossal sculptures, and his chariot is preceded
and followed by his body-guard armed with maces.
The next series of bas-reliefs represents the building of the artificial
platforms on which the palaces were erected, and the Assyrians moving to
their summit the colossal bulls. The king is again seen in his chariot
drawn by eunuchs, whilst an attendant raises the royal parasol above his
head. He overlooks the operations from that part of the mound to which the
sledge is being dragged, and before him stands his body-guard, a long line
of alternate spearmen and archers, resting their arms and shields upon the
ground. At the bottom of the slab is represented a river, on the banks of
which are seen men raising water by a simple machine, still generally used
for irrigation in the East, as well as in Southern Europe, and called in
Egypt a _shadoof_. It consists of a long pole, balanced on a shaft of
masonry, and turning on a pivot; to one end is attached a stone, and to
the other a bucket, which, after being lowered into the water and filled,
is easily raised by the help of the opposite weight. Its contents are then
emptied into a conduit communicating with the various watercourses running
through the fields. In the neighbourhood of Mosul this mode of irrigation
is now rarely used, the larger skins raised by oxen affording a better
supply, and giving, it is considered, less trouble to the cultivator.[38]
It would appear that the men employed in building the artificial mound
were captives and malefactors, for many of them are in chains, some
singly, others bound together by an iron rod attached to rings in their
girdles. The fetters, like those of modern criminals, confine the legs,
and are supported by a bar fastened to the waist, or consist of simple
shackles round the ankles. They wear a short tunic, and a conical cap,
somewhat resembling the Phrygian bonnet, with the curved crest turned
backwards, a costume very similar to that of the tribute bearers on the
Nimroud obelisk. Each band of workmen is followed and urged on by
task-masters armed with staves.
The mound, or artificial platform, having been thus built, not always, as
it has been seen, with regular layers of sun-dried bricks, but frequently
in parts with mere heaped-up earth and rubbish, the next step was to drag
to its summit the colossal figures prepared for the palace. As some of the
largest of these sculptures were full twenty feet square, and must have
weighed between forty and fifty tons, this was no easy task with such
means as the Assyrians possessed. The only aid to mere manual strength was
derived from the rollers and levers.
Behind the monarch, on an adjoining slab, are carts bearing the cables,
wedges, and implements required in moving the sculpture. A long beam or
lever is slung by ropes from the shoulders of three men, and one of the
great wedges is carried in the same way. In the upper compartment of this
slab is a stream issuing from the foot of hills wooded with vines,
fig-trees, and pomegranates. Beneath stands a town or village, the houses
of which have domes and high conical roofs, probably built of mud, as in
parts of northern Syria. The domes have the appearance of dish-covers with
a handle, the upper part being topped by a small circular projection,
perhaps intended as an aperture to admit light and air.
[Illustration: Village with the conical Roofs, near Aleppo.]
This interesting series is completed by a bas-relief, showing, it would
seem, the final placing of the colossal bull. The figure no longer lies
horizontally on the sledge, but is raised by men with ropes and forked
wooden props. It is kept in its erect position by beams, held together by
cross bars and wedges,[39] and is further supported by blocks of stone, or
wood, piled up under the body. Cables, ropes, rollers, and levers are also
employed on this occasion to move the gigantic sculpture. The captives are
distinguished by the peculiar turbans before described.[40]
We have thus represented, with remarkable fidelity and spirit[41], the
several processes employed to place these colossi where they still stand,
from the transport down the river of the rough block to the final removal
of the sculptured figure to the palace. From these bas-reliefs we find
that the Assyrians were well acquainted with the lever and the roller, and
that they ingeniously made use of the former by carrying with them wedges,
of different dimensions, and probably of wood, to vary the height of the
fulcrum. When moving the winged bulls and lions now in the British Museum
from the ruins to the banks of the Tigris, I used almost the same means.
The Assyrians, like the Egyptians, had made considerable progress in rope
twisting, an art now only known in its rudest state in the same part of
the East. The cables appear to be of great length and thickness, and ropes
of various dimensions are represented in the sculptures.
On comparing representations of similar works among the Egyptians, it will
be found that they succeeded in removing masses of stone far exceeding in
weight any sculpture which has yet been discovered in Assyria. Yet it is a
singular fact, that whilst the quarries of Egypt bear witness of
themselves to the stupendous nature of the works of the ancient
inhabitants of the country, and still show on their sides engraved records
of those who made them, no traces whatever, notwithstanding the most
careful research, have yet been found to indicate from whence the builders
of the Assyrian palaces obtained their large slabs of alabaster. That they
were in the immediate neighbourhood of Nineveh there is scarcely any
reason to doubt, as strata of this material, easily accessible, abound,
not only in the hills but in the plains. This very abundance may have
rendered any particular quarry unnecessary, and blocks were probably taken
as required from convenient spots, which have since been covered by the
soil.
There can be no doubt, as will hereafter be shown, that the king
represented as superintending the building of the mounds and the placing
of the colossal bulls is Sennacherib himself, and that the sculptures
celebrate the building at Nineveh of the great palace and its adjacent
temples described in the inscriptions as the work of this monarch.
Unfortunately only fragments of the epigraphs have been preserved. From
them it would appear that the transport of more than one object was
represented on the walls. Besides bulls and sphynxes in stone are
mentioned figures in some kind of wood, perhaps of olive, like "the two
cherubims of olive tree, each ten cubits high," in the temple of
Solomon.[42] Over the king superintending the removal of one of these
colossi is the following short inscription thus translated by Dr.
Hincks:--
"Sennacherib, king of Assyria, the great figures of bulls, which in the
land of Belad, were made for his royal palace at Nineveh, he transported
_thither_." (?)
The land of Belad, mentioned in these inscriptions, appears to have been a
district in the immediate vicinity of Nineveh, and probably on the Tigris,
as these great masses of stone would have been quarried near the river for
the greater convenience of moving them to the palace. The district of
Belad may indeed have been that in which the city itself stood.
Over the representation of the building of the mound there were two
epigraphs, both precisely similar, but both unfortunately much mutilated.
As far as they can be restored, they have thus been interpreted by Dr.
Hincks:--
"Sennacherib, king of Assyria. Hewn stones, _which_, as the gods[43]
willed, were found in the land of Belad, for the _walls_ (?) (or
foundations, the word reads '_shibri_') of my palace, _I caused the
inhabitants of foreign countries_ (?) and the people of the forests
(Kershani), the great bulls for the gates of my palace to _drag_ (?) (or
bring)."
If this inscription be rightly rendered, we have direct evidence that
captives from foreign countries were employed in the great public works
undertaken by the Assyrian kings, as we were led to infer, from the
variety of costume represented in the bas-reliefs, and from the fetters on
the legs of some of the workmen. The Jews themselves, after their
captivity, may have been thus condemned to labor, as their forefathers had
been in Egypt, in erecting the monuments of their conquerors; and we may,
perhaps, recognise them amongst the builders portrayed in the sculptures.
From the long gallery, we have unfortunately only three fragments of
inscriptions without the sculptured representations of the events
recorded. The most perfect is interesting on more than one account.
According to Dr. Hincks it is to be translated:--
"Sennacherib, king of Assyria ... (some object, the nature not
ascertained) of wood, which from the Tigris I caused to be brought up
(_through_ ?) the Kharri, or Khasri, on sledges (or boats), I caused to be
carried (or to mount)."
The name of the river in this inscription very nearly resembles that of
the small stream which sweeps round the foot of the great mound of
Kouyunjik.
In the fragment of another epigraph, we have mention of some objects also
of wood "brought from Mount Lebanon, and taken up (to the top of the
mound) from the Tigris." These may have been beams of cedar, which, it
will be hereafter seen, were extensively used in the Assyrian palaces. It
is highly interesting thus to find the inhabitants of Nineveh fetching
their rare and precious woods from the same spots that king Solomon had
brought the choicest woodwork of the temple of the Lord and of his own
palaces.
On a third fragment similar objects are described as coming from or up the
same Kharri or Khasri. I have mentioned that the long gallery containing
the bas-relief representing the moving of the great stone, led out of a
chamber, whose walls had been completely uncovered. The sculptures upon
them were partly preserved, and recorded the conquest of a city standing
on a broad river, in the midst of mountains and forests.
The last bas-relief of the series represented the king seated within a
fortified camp, on a throne of elaborate workmanship, and having beneath
his feet a footstool of equally elegant form. He was receiving the
captives, who wore long robes falling to their ankles. Unfortunately, no
inscription remained by which we might identify the conquered nation.
It will be remembered that excavations had been resumed in a lofty mound
in the north-west line of walls forming the enclosure round Kouyunjik. It
was apparently the remains of a gate leading into this quarter of the
city, and part of a building, with fragments of two colossal winged
figures, had already been discovered in it. By the end of November, the
whole had been explored, and the results were of considerable interest. As
the mound rises nearly fifty feet over the plain, we were obliged to
tunnel along the walls of the building within it, through a compact mass
of rubbish, consisting almost entirely of loose bricks. Following the rows
of low limestone slabs, from the south side of the mound, and passing
through two halls or chambers, we came at length to the opposite entrance.
This gateway, facing the open country, was formed by a pair of majestic
human-headed bulls, fourteen feet in length, still entire, though cracked
and injured by fire. They were similar in form to those of Khorsabad and
Kouyunjik, wearing the lofty head-dress, richly ornamented with rosettes,
and edged with a fringe of feathers peculiar to that period. Their faces
were in full, and the relief was high and bold. More knowledge of art was
shown in the outline of the limbs and in the delineation of the muscles,
than in any sculpture I have seen of this period. The naked leg and foot
were designed with a spirit and truthfulness worthy of a Greek artist. It
is, however, remarkable that the four figures were unfinished, none of the
details having been put in, and parts being but roughly outlined.
The sculptures to the left, on entering from the open country, were in a
far more unfinished state than those on the opposite side. The hair and
beard were but roughly marked out, square bosses being left for carving
the elaborate curls. The horned cap of the human-headed bull was, as yet,
unornamented, and the wings merely outlined. The limbs and features were
hard and angular, still requiring to be rounded off, and to have
expression given to them by the finishing touch of the artist. The other
two figures were more perfect. No inscription had yet been carved on
either sculpture.
The entrance formed by these colossal bulls was fourteen feet and a
quarter wide. It was paved with large slabs of limestone, still bearing
the marks of chariot wheels. The sculptures were buried in a mass of
brick and earth, mingled with charcoal and charred wood; for "the gates of
the land had been set wide open unto the enemy, and the fire had devoured
the bars."[44] They were lighted from above by a deep shaft sunk from the
top of the mound. It would be difficult to describe the effect produced,
or the reflections suggested by these solemn and majestic figures, dimly
visible amidst the gloom, when, after winding through the dark,
underground passages, you suddenly came into their presence. Between them
Sennacherib and his hosts had gone forth in all their might and glory to
the conquest of distant lands, and had returned rich with spoil and
captives, amongst whom may have been the handmaidens and wealth of Israel.
Through them, too, the Assyrian monarch had entered his capital in shame,
after his last and fatal defeat. Then the lofty walls, now but long lines
of low, wave-like mounds, had stretched far to the right and to the
left--a basement of stone supporting a curtain of solid brick masonry,
crowned with battlements and studded with frowning towers.
Behind the colossal figures, and between the outer and inner face of the
gateway, were two chambers, nearly 70 feet in length, by 23 in breadth. Of
that part of the entrance which was within the walls, only the fragments
of winged figures, discovered during my previous researches, now remained.
The whole entrance thus consisted of two distinct chambers and three
gateways, two formed by human-headed bulls, and a third between them
simply panelled with low limestone slabs like the chambers. Its original
height, including the tower, must have been full one hundred feet. Most of
the baked bricks found amongst the rubbish bore the name of Sennacherib,
the builder of the palace of Kouyunjik. A similar gateway, but without any
remains of sculptured figures, and panelled with plain alabaster slabs,
was subsequently discovered in the inner line of walls forming the eastern
side of the quadrangle, where the road to Baashiekhah and Baazani leaves
the ruins.
At Nimroud discoveries of very considerable importance were made in the
high conical mound at the north-west corner. Desirous of fully exploring
that remarkable ruin, I had employed nearly all the workmen in opening a
tunnel into its western base. After penetrating for no less than
eighty-four feet through a compact mass of rubbish, composed of loose
gravel, earth, burnt bricks, and fragments of stone, the excavators came
to a wall of solid stone masonry. I have already observed that the edifice
covered by this high mound was originally built upon the natural rock, a
bank of hard conglomerate rising about fifteen feet above the plain, and
washed in days of yore by the waters of the Tigris. Our tunnel was carried
for thirty-four feet on a level with this rock, which appears to have been
covered by a kind of flooring of sun-dried bricks, probably once forming a
platform in front of the building. It was buried to the distance of thirty
feet from the wall, by baked bricks, broken and entire, and by fragments
of stone, remains of the superstructure once resting upon the basement of
still existing stone masonry. This mass of rubbish was about thirty feet
high, and in it were found bones apparently human, and a yellow earthen
jar, rudely colored with simple black designs. The rest of this part of
the mound consisted of earth, through which ran two thin lines of
extraneous deposit, one _of pebbles_, the other of fragments of brick and
pottery. I am totally at a loss to account for their formation.
I ordered tunnels to be carried along the basement wall in both
directions, hoping to reach some doorway or entrance, but it was found to
consist of solid masonry, extending nearly the whole length of the mound.
Its height was exactly twenty feet, which, singularly enough, coincides
with that assigned by Xenophon to the stone basement of the wall of the
city (Larissa).[45] The stones in this structure were carefully fitted
together, though not united with mortar, unless the earth which filled the
crevices was the remains of mud, used, as it still is in the country, as a
cement. They were bevelled with a slanting bevel, and in the face of the
wall were eight recesses or false windows, four on each side of a square
projecting block between gradines.
The basement, of which this wall proved to be only one face, was not
excavated on the northern and eastern side until a later period, but I
will describe all the discoveries connected with this singular building at
once. The northern side was of the same height as, and resembled in its
masonry, the western. It had a semicircular hollow projection in the
centre, sixteen feet in diameter, on the east side of which were two
recesses, and on the west four, so that the two ends of the wall were not
uniform. That part of the basement against which the great artificial
mound or platform abutted, and which was consequently concealed by it,
that is, the eastern and southern sides, was of simple stone masonry
without recesses or ornament. The upper part of the edifice, resting on
the stone substructure, consisted of compact masonry of burnt bricks,
which were mostly inscribed with the name of the founder of the centre
palace (the obelisk king), the inscription being in many instances turned
outwards.
It was thus evident that the high conical mound forming the north-west
corner of the ruins of Nimroud, was the remains of a square tower, and not
of a pyramid, as had previously been conjectured. The lower part, built of
solid stone masonry, had withstood the wreck of ages, but the upper walls
of burnt brick, and the inner mass of sun-dried brick which they encased,
falling outwards, and having been subsequently covered with earth and
vegetation, the ruin had taken the pyramidal form that loose materials
falling in this manner would naturally assume.
It is very probable that this ruin represents the tomb of Sardanapalus,
which, according to the Greek geographers, stood at the entrance of the
city of Nineveh. It will hereafter be seen that it is not impossible the
builder of the north-west palace of Nimroud was a king of that name,
although it is doubtful whether he can be identified with the historical
Sardanapalus. Subsequent discoveries proved that he must himself have
raised the stone substructure, although his son, whose name is found upon
the bricks, completed the building. It was, of course, natural to
conjecture that some traces of the chamber in which the royal remains were
deposited, were to be found in the ruin, and I determined to examine it as
fully as I was able. Having first ascertained the exact centre of the
western stone basement, I there forced a passage through it. This was a
work of some difficulty, as the wall was 8 ft. 9 in. thick, and strongly
built of large rough stones. Having, however, accomplished this step, I
carried a tunnel completely through the mound, at its very base, and on a
level with the natural rock, until we reached the opposite basement wall,
at a distance of 150 feet. Nothing having been discovered by this cutting,
I directed a second to be made at right angles to it, crossing it exactly
in the centre, and reaching from the northern to the southern basement;
but without any discovery.
The next cutting was made in the centre of the mound, on a line with the
top of the stone basement wall, which was also the level of the platform
of the north-west palace. The workmen soon came to a narrow gallery, about
100 feet long, 12 feet high, and 6 feet broad, which was blocked up at the
two ends without any entrance being left into it. It was vaulted with
sun-dried bricks, a further proof of the use of the arch at a very early
period, and the vault had in one or two places fallen in. No remains
whatever were found in it, neither fragments of sculpture or inscription,
nor any smaller relic. There were, however, undoubted traces of its having
once been broken into on the western side, by digging into the face of the
mound after the edifice was in ruins, and consequently, therefore, long
after the fall of the Assyrian empire. The remains which it may have
contained, probably the embalmed body of the king, with vessels of
precious metals and other objects of value buried with it, had been
carried off by those who had opened the tomb at some remote period, in
search of treasure. They must have had some clue to the precise position
of the chamber, or how could they have dug into the mound exactly at the
right spot? Had this depositary of the dead escaped earlier violation, who
can tell with what valuable and important relics of Assyrian art or
Assyrian history it might have furnished us? I explored, with feelings of
great disappointment, the empty chamber, and then opened other tunnels,
without further results, in the upper parts of the mound.
It was evident that the long gallery or chamber I have described was the
place of deposit for the body of the king, if this were really his tomb.
The tunnels and cuttings in other parts of the mound only exposed a
compact and solid mass of sun-dried brick masonry. I much doubt, for many
reasons, whether any sepulchre exists in the rock beneath the foundations
of the tower, though, of course, it is not impossible that such may be the
case.[46]
From the present state of the ruin it is difficult to conjecture the exact
original form and height of this edifice. There can be no doubt that it
was a vast square tower, and it is not improbable that it may have
terminated in a series of three or more gradines, like the obelisk of
black marble from the centre palace now in the British Museum. Like the
palaces, too, it was probably painted on the outside with various mythic
figures and devices, and its summit may have been crowned by an altar, on
which the Assyrian king offered up his great sacrifices, or on which was
fed the ever-burning sacred fire. But I will defer any further remarks
upon this subject until I treat of the architecture of the Assyrians.
As the ruin is 140 feet high, the building could scarcely have been much
less than 200, whilst the immense mass of rubbish surrounding and covering
the base shows that it might have been considerably more.
During the two months in which the greater part of the discoveries
described in this chapter were made, I was occupied almost entirely with
the excavations, my time being spent between Nimroud and Kouyunjik.
Wishing to visit Baasheikhah, Khorsabad, and other ruins at the foot of
the range of low hills of the Gebel Makloub, I left Nimroud on the 26th of
November with Hormuzd and the Bairakdar. Four hours' ride brought us to
some small artificial mounds near the village of Lak, about three miles to
the east of the high road to Mosul. Here we found a party of workmen
excavating under one of the Christian superintendents. Nothing had been
discovered except fragments of pottery and a few bricks bearing the name
of the Kouyunjik king. As the ruins, from their size, did not promise
other results, I sent the men back to Mosul. We reached Khorsabad after
riding for nearly eight hours over a rich plain, capable of very high
cultivation, though wanting in water, and still well stocked with
villages, between which we startled large flocks of gazelles and bustards.
I had sent one of my overseers there some days before to uncover the
platform to the west of the principal edifice, a part of the building I
was desirous of examining. Whilst clearing away the rubbish, he had
discovered two bas-reliefs sculptured in black stone. They represented a
hunting scene, and were executed with much truth and spirit. They belonged
to a small building, believed to be a temple, entirely constructed of
black marble, and attached to the palace. It stood upon a platform 165
feet in length and 100 in width, raised about six feet above the level of
the flooring of the chambers, and ascended from the main building by a
flight of broad steps. This platform, or stylobate, is remarkable for a
cornice in grey limestone carried round the four sides,--one of the few
remains of exterior decoration in Assyrian architecture, with which we
are acquainted. It is carefully built of separate stones, placed _side by
side_, each forming part of the section of the cornice. Mr. Fergusson
observes,[47] with reference to it, "at first sight it seems almost purely
Egyptian; but there are peculiarities in which it differs from any found
in that country, especially in the curve being continued beyond the
vertical tangent, and the consequent projection of the torus giving a
second shadow. Whether the effect of this would be pleasant or not in a
cornice placed so high that we must look up to it, is not quite clear; but
below the level of the eye, or slightly above it, the result must have
been more pleasing than any form found in Egypt, and where sculpture is
not added might be used with effect anywhere."
Many fragments of bas-reliefs in the same black marble, chiefly parts of
winged figures, had been uncovered; but this building has been more
completely destroyed than any other part of the palace of Khorsabad, and
there is scarcely enough rubbish even to cover the few remains of
sculpture which are scattered over the platform.
The sculptures in the palace itself had rapidly fallen to decay, and of
those which had been left exposed to the air after M. Botta's departure,
scarcely any traces remained. Since my former visit to Khorsabad, the
French consul at Mosul had sold to Col. Rawlinson the pair of colossal
human-headed bulls and winged figures, now in the great hall of the
British Museum. They had stood in a propylaeum, about 900 feet to the
south-east of the palace, within the quadrangle, but not upon the
artificial mound. In form this small building appears to have been nearly
the same as the gateway, in the walls of Kouyunjik, and like it was built
of brick and panelled with low limestone slabs. From the number of
enamelled bricks discovered in the ruins it is probable that it was richly
decorated in color.
Trenches had also been opened in one of the higher mounds in the line of
walls, and in the group of ruins at the S. W. corner of the quadrangle,
but no discoveries of any interest had been made. The centre of the
quadrangle was now occupied by a fever-breeding marsh formed by the waters
of the Khauser.
We passed the night at Futhliyah, a village built at the foot of the Gabel
Makloub, about a mile and a half from Khorsabad. Near Futhliyah, and about
two miles from the palace of Khorsabad, is a lofty conical Tel visible
from Mosul, and from most parts of the surrounding country. It is one of
those isolated mounds so numerous in the plains of Assyria, which do not
appear to form part of any group of ruins, and the nature of which I have
been unable to determine. Its vicinity to Khorsabad led me to believe that
it might have been connected with those remains, and might have been
raised over a tomb. By my directions deep trenches were opened into its
sides, but only fragments of pottery were discovered.
From Futhliyah we rode across the plain to the large village of Baazani,
chiefly inhabited by Yezidis. There we found Hussein Bey, Sheikh Nasr, and
a large party of Cawals assembled at the house of one Abd-ur-rahman
Chelibi, a Mussulman gentleman of Mosul, who had farmed the revenues of
the place.
Near Baazani are a group of artificial mounds of no great size. Having
examined them, and taken leave of the chiefs, I rode to the neighbouring
village of Baasheikhah, only separated from Baazani by a deep watercourse,
dry except during the rains. Both stand at the very foot of the Gebel
Makloub. Immediately behind them are craggy ravines worn by winter
torrents. In these valleys are quarries of the kind of alabaster used in
the Assyrian palaces, but I could find no remains to show that the
Assyrians had obtained their great slabs from them, although they appear
to be of ancient date.
I have mentioned, in my former work, the Assyrian ruin near Baasheikhah.
It is a vast mound, little inferior in size to Nimroud, irregular in
shape, uneven in level, and furrowed by deep ravines worn by the winter
rains. Standing, as it does, near abundant quarries of the favorite
sculpture-material of the Assyrians, and resembling the platforms of
Kouyunjik or Khorsabad, there was every probability that it contained the
remains of an edifice like those ruins. There are a few low mounds
scattered around it, but no distinct line of walls forming an inclosure.
During the former excavations only earthen jars, and bricks, inscribed
with the name of the founder of the centre palace at Nimroud, had been
discovered. A party of Arabs and Tiyari were now opening trenches and
tunnels in various parts of the mound, under the superintendence of Yakoub
Rais of Asheetha. The workmen had uncovered, on the west side of the ruin
near the surface, some large blocks of yellowish limestone apparently
forming a flight of steps; the only other antiquities of any interest
found during the excavations were a few bricks bearing the name of the
early Nimroud king, and numerous fragments of earthenware.
It is remarkable that no remains of more interest have been discovered in
this mound, which must contain a monument of considerable size and
antiquity. Although the trenches opened in it were numerous and deep, yet
the ruin has not yet probably been sufficiently examined. It can scarcely
be doubted that on the artificial platform, as on others of the same
nature, stood a royal palace, or some monument of equal importance.
[Illustration: Bulls, with historical Inscriptions of Sennacherib
(Kouyunjik).]
CHAPTER VI.
DISCOVERY OF GRAND ENTRANCE TO THE PALACE OF KOUYUNJIK.--OF THE NAME
OF SENNACHERIB IN THE INSCRIPTIONS.--THE RECORDS OF THAT KING IN THE
INSCRIPTIONS ON THE BULLS.--AN ABRIDGED TRANSLATION OF THEM.--NAME OF
HEZEKIAH.--ACCOUNT OF SENNACHERIB'S WARS WITH THE JEWS.--DR. HINCKS
AND COL. RAWLINSON.--THE NAMES OF SARGON AND SHALMANESER.--DISCOVERY
OF SCULPTURES AT KOUYUNJIK, REPRESENTING THE SIEGE OF
LACHISH.--DESCRIPTION OF THE SCULPTURES.--DISCOVERY OF CLAY SEALS--OF
SIGNETS OF EGYPTIAN AND ASSYRIAN KINGS.--CARTOUCHE OF SABACO.--NAME OF
ESSARHADDON.--CONFIRMATION OF HISTORICAL RECORDS OF THE BIBLE.--ROYAL
CYLINDER OF SENNACHERIB.
During the month of December, several discoveries of the greatest interest
and importance were made, both at Kouyunjik and Nimroud. I will first
describe the results of the excavations in the ruins opposite Mosul.
I must remind the reader that, shortly before my departure for Europe in
1848, the forepart of a human-headed bull of colossal dimensions had been
uncovered on the east side of the Kouyunjik Palace. This sculpture then
appeared to form one side of an entrance or doorway, and it is so placed
in the plan of the ruins accompanying my former work.[48] The excavations
had, however, been abandoned before any attempt could be made to ascertain
the fact. On my return, I had directed the workmen to dig out the opposite
sculpture. A tunnel, nearly 100 feet in length, was accordingly opened at
right angles to the bull, first discovered, but without coming upon any
other remains than a pavement of square limestone slabs which stretched
without interruption as far as the excavation was carried. I consequently
discontinued the cutting, as it was evident that no entrance could be of
so great a width, and as there were not even traces of building in that
direction.
The workmen having been then ordered to uncover the bull which was still
partly buried in the rubbish, it was found that adjoining it were other
sculptures, and that it formed part of an exterior facade. The upper half
of the next slab had been destroyed, but the lower still remained, and
enabled me to restore the figure of the Assyrian Hercules strangling the
lion, similar to that discovered between the bulls in the propylaea of
Khorsabad, and now in the Louvre. The hinder part of the animal was still
preserved. Its claws grasped the huge limbs of the giant, who lashed it
with the serpent-headed scourge. The legs, feet, and drapery of the god
were in the boldest relief, and designed with great truth and vigor.
Beyond this figure, in the same line, was a second bull. The facade then
opened into a wide portal, guarded by a pair of winged bulls, twenty feet
long, and probably, when entire, more than twenty feet high. Forming the
angle between them and the outer bulls were gigantic winged figures in low
relief, and flanking them were two smaller figures, one above the other.
Beyond this entrance was a group similar to and corresponding with that on
the opposite side, also leading to a smaller entrance into the palace, and
to a wall of sculptured slabs; but here all traces of building and
sculpture ceased, and we found ourselves near the edge of the water-worn
ravine.
Thus a facade of the south-east side of the palace, forming apparently the
grand entrance to the edifice, had been discovered. Ten colossal bulls,
with six human figures of gigantic proportions, were here grouped
together, and the length of the whole, without including the sculptured
walls continued beyond the smaller entrances, was 180 feet. They had
represented the conquest of a district, probably part of Babylonia,
watered by a broad river and wooded with palms, spearmen on foot in combat
with Assyrian horsemen, castles besieged, long lines of prisoners, and
beasts of burden carrying away the spoil. Amongst various animals brought
as tribute to the conquerors, could be distinguished a lion led by a
chain.
The bulls, as I have already observed, were all more or less injured. The
same convulsion of nature--for I can scarcely attribute to any human
violence the overthrow of these great masses--had shattered some of them
into pieces, and scattered the fragments amongst the ruins. Fortunately,
however, the lower parts of all, and, consequently, the inscriptions, had
been more or less preserved. To this fact we owe the recovery of some of
the most precious records with which the monuments of the ancient world
have rewarded the labors of the antiquary.
On the great bulls forming the centre portal of the grand entrance, was
one continuous inscription, injured in parts, but still so far preserved
as to be legible almost throughout. It contained 152 lines. On the four
bulls of the facade were two inscriptions, one inscription being carried
over each pair, and the two being of precisely the same import. These two
distinct records contain the annals of six years of the reign of
Sennacherib, besides numerous particulars connected with the religion of
the Assyrians, their gods, their temples, and the erection of their
palaces, all of the highest interest and importance.
In my first work I pointed out the evidence, irrespective of the
inscriptions, which led me to identify the builder of the great palace of
Kouyunjik with Sennacherib.[49] Dr. Hincks, in a memoir on the
inscriptions of Khorsabad, read in June, 1849, but published in the
"Transactions of the Royal Irish Academy"[50] in 1850, was the first to
detect the name of this king in the group of arrowheaded characters at the
commencement of nearly all the inscriptions, and occurring on all the
inscribed bricks from the ruins of this edifice. Subsequent discoveries
confirmed this identification, but it was not until August, 1851, that the
mention of any actual event recorded in the Bible, and in ancient profane
history, was detected on the monuments, thus removing all further doubt as
to the king who had raised them.
Shortly after my return to England my copies of these inscriptions having
been seen by Colonel Rawlinson, he announced in the Athenaeum of the 23d
August, 1851, that he had found in them notices of the reign of
Sennacherib, "which placed beyond the reach of dispute his historic
identity," and he gave a recapitulation of the principal events recorded
on the monuments, the greater part of which are known to us through
history either sacred or profane. These inscriptions have since been
examined by Dr. Hincks, and translated by him independently of Colonel
Rawlinson. He has kindly assisted me in giving the following abridgment of
their contents.
The inscriptions begin with the name and titles of Sennacherib. It is to
be remarked that he does not style himself "King, or rather High Priest,
of Babylon," as his father had done in the latter part of his reign, from
which it may be inferred that at the time of engraving the record he was
not the immediate sovereign of that city, although its chief may have paid
tribute to him, and, no doubt, acknowledged his supremacy. He calls
himself "the subduer of kings from the upper sea of the setting sun (the
Mediterranean) to the lower sea of the rising sun (the Persian Gulf)." In
the first year of his reign he defeated Merodach Baladan, a name with
which we are familiar, for it is this king who is mentioned in the Old
Testament as sending letters and a present to Hezekiah[51], when the
Jewish monarch in his pride showed the ambassadors "the house of his
precious things, the silver and the gold, and the spices, and the precious
ointment, and all the house of his armour, and all that was found in his
treasures: there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominions that
Hezekiah showed them not;" an act of vain boasting which led to the
reproof of the prophet Isaiah, and to his foretelling that all this
wealth, together with the descendants of its owner, should be carried away
as spoil to the very city from which these ambassadors came. Merodach
Baladan is called king of Kar-Duniyas, a city and country frequently
mentioned in the Assyrian inscriptions, and comprising the southernmost
part of Mesopotamia, near the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates,
together with the districts watered by those two rivers, to the borders of
Susiana. This king, with the help of his Susianian allies, had recently
recovered Babylon, from which Sargon, Sennacherib's father, had expelled
him in the twelfth year of his reign. The battle appears to have been
fought considerably to the north of that city. The result was that
Sennacherib totally defeated Merodach Baladan, who fled to save his life,
leaving behind him his chariots, _wagons_ (?), horses, mares, _asses_ (?),
camels, and _riding horses with their trappings for war_ (?). The
victorious king then advanced to Babylon, where he plundered the palace,
carrying off a vast treasure of gold, silver, vessels of gold and silver,
precious stones, men and women servants, and a variety of objects which
cannot yet be satisfactorily determined. No less than seventy-nine cities
(or fortresses), all the castles of the Chaldaeans, and eight hundred and
twenty small towns (or villages), dependent upon them, were taken and
spoiled by the Assyrian army, and the great wandering tribes "that dwelt
around the cities of Mesopotamia," the Syrians (Arameans), and Chaldaeans,
&c., &c., were brought under subjection. Sennacherib having made
Belib[52], one of his own officers, sovereign of the conquered provinces,
proceeded to subdue the powerful tribes who border on the Euphrates and
Tigris, and amongst them the Hagarenes and Nabathaeans. From these
wandering people he declares that he carried off to Assyria, probably
colonising with them, as was the custom, new-built towns and villages,
208,000 men, women, and children, together with 7200 horses and mares,
11,063 _asses_ (?), 5230 camels, 120,100 oxen, and 800,500 sheep. It is
remarkable that the camels should bear so small a proportion to the oxen
and asses in this enumeration of the spoil. Amongst the Bedouin tribes,
who now inhabit the same country, the camels would be far more
numerous.[53] It is interesting to find, that in those days, as at a later
period, there was both a nomade and stationary population in Northern
Arabia.
In the same year, Sennacherib received a great tribute from the conquered
Khararah, and subdued the people of Kherimmi, whom he declares to have
been long rebellious (neither people can as yet be identified), rebuilding
(? or consecrating) the city of the latter, and sacrificing on the
occasion, for its dedication to the gods of Assyria, one ox, ten sheep,
ten goats or lambs, and twenty other animals.
In the second year of his reign, Sennacherib appears to have turned his
arms to the north of Nineveh, having reduced in his first year the
southern country to obedience. By the help of Ashur, he says, he went to
Bishi and Yasubirablai (both names of doubtful reading and not
identified), who had long been rebellious to the kings his fathers. He
took Beth Kilamzakh, their principal city, and carried away their men,
small and great, horses, mares, _asses_ (?), oxen, and sheep. The people
of Bishi and Yasubirablai, who had fled from his servants, he brought
down from the mountains and placed them under one of his eunuchs, the
governor of the city of Arapkha. He made tablets, and _wrote on them the
laws (or tribute) imposed upon the conquered, and set them up_ in the
city. He took permanent possession of the country of Illibi (Luristan ?),
and Ispabara, its king, after being defeated, fled, leaving the cities of
Marubishti and Akkuddu, the royal residences, with thirty-four principal
towns, and villages not to be counted, to be destroyed by the Assyrians,
who carried away a large amount of captives and cattle. Beth-barrua, the
city itself and its dependencies,
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