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that, not much more than thirty years ago, it was generally believed that the ancients were entirely ignorant of that useful product. At length scepticism is put to flight, and it is now certain that glass was well known in Italywitness the ruins of Pompeii; in Phoenicia according to the testimony of Pliny; in Egypt-where glass has been found which must have been manufactured 1500 years B.C., while representations of glass-blowing are given in the paintings of Beni-Hassan, executed 200 years earlier still; and, last of all, in Assyria and Chaldæa, as we proceed to shew. In the chamber referred to in this note, two entire glass bowls, with fragments of others, were found, and also a rock-crystal lens, with opposite convex and plane faces. In his previous expedition, Mr Layard had discovered two vases-one in alabaster, the other in glass at Nimroud, and two glass bottles at Kouyunjik; and he subsequently discovered a variety of vessels of glass, both ribbed and plain, at Kouyunjik, and also at Babel, amongst the ruins of Babylon. It is important to notice that the glass vase found at Nimroud bears the name of Sargon, with his title of king of Assyria, in cuneiform characters, a circumstance which fixes its date to the latter part of the seventh century B.C. This is the most ancient known specimen of transparent glass, as the Egyptian relics formerly mentioned were opaque. The glass vessels found at Nineveh are of elegant form, and seem to have been used for the toilet. While the lens of rock crystal is quite sound, all the glass vessels are covered with 'thin semi-transparent laminæ, which glow with all the brilliant colours of the opal, the usual effect of age, arising from partial decomposition.' The discovery of the lens suggests the thought, that the Assyrians were probably acquainted with its uses, as a magnifying and burning glass.

NOTE 67, p. 463.-In chapter x., where the description given in this chapter is substantially repeated, the animals, here called vaguely living creatures, are denominated cherubim. The cherubim of Ezekiel's visions must not, however, be confounded with the historical cherubim of the tabernacle and the temple; as there is no reason to suppose that the latter had a plurality of faces, or, to speak more generally, exhibited such a monstrous combination of heterogeneous parts. It is natural for one who has read of the symbolical figures from Nineveh, to think of them as the original of the cherubim of Ezekiel's vision, especially as the resemblance between them is strikingly close. As stated elsewhere, the four principal figures exhibited on the monuments of Nineveh are the human-headed winged bull, the humanheaded winged lion, the winged man, and the winged man with eagle's head. Each of the cherubim of Ezekiel combines the features of all of these together-each living creature had four faces-namely, those of a man, of a lion, of an ox, and of an eagle. In the Book of Revelation (chaps. iv. and v.), we find these compound beings resolved into their component animals. The apostle, in describing his vision of the glories of heaven, proceeds to say: 'And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind. And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle.' Here we have four figures whose description at once reminds us of the symbolical figures of Nineveh; yet the difference between them, as also between the latter and the monstrous forms of Ezekiel, is sufficient to make us hesitate before pronouncing affirmatively on their historical connection. It will be observed, that the figures on the monuments of Nineveh have each a human head, with the exception of the eagle-headed man, whereas each of the living creatures' has four different heads. It may be said with regard to this point, by those who maintain an intended resemblance, that the prophet took the heads as representative of the whole bodies; so that the human-headed bull is represented by the head of a bull, and the human-headed lion by the head of a lion. This supposition takes for granted that the body (as distinct

from the head) determines the nature of the animal. On this principle, the eagle-headed figure, having a human body, should have been represented in the vision of the prophet by a human head, and not by that of an eagle. Still, the departure from the rule may be accounted for in the following way:-The bull and the lion of the monuments have one kind of head (human), and specifically different bodies; while, on the contrary, the other two figures have the same bodies, but different heads. On the supposition, then, that the cherubim of the prophet were designed to combine into one the four symbolical figures of the palaces of Assyria, representing each being by a head, it is evident that it would be necessary to make the body determine the species when the head was the same; and, conversely, to make the head determine the species when the body was the same. It is not necessary to enter into the difference between the beasts of the Apocalypse and those at Nineveh, as these are apparent at a glance; and particularly as the former have evidently no direct connection with the latter, but are to be viewed as the resolution of one of Ezekiel's living creatures into four. The other differences between the figures of the present chapter and the symbolical figures of the monuments-such as, that the former had each a human body ('they had the likeness of a man,' v. 5), and that they had each four wings, do not require any remarks. There were only four, and not eight (4 times 2) wings to each animal, because each pair of wings was supposed to move the body in two opposite directions; and thus being set at right angles to each other, were sufficient to make it advance towards the four points of the compass. Mr Layard conjectures that the 'wheel within wheel,' mentioned in connection with the emblematic figures [of Ezekiel], may refer to the winged circles, or wheels representing at Nimroud the supreme Deity. These coincidences,' he adds, in concluding his remarks on the present subject, are too marked not to deserve notice; and do certainly lead to the inference that the symbols chosen by the prophet were derived from the Assyrian sculptures.'Nineveh and its Remains, p. 464. We may remark, in conclusion, that the prophet, when he beheld this vision, was dwelling in a district of Chaldæa where such sculptures as those of Nineveh were to be seen. At Arban, on the right bank of the river Chabour (identical with the Chebar of Ezekiel), Mr Layard found two pair of winged humanheaded bulls, and also one lion (the lion which, doubtless, at one time formed the opposite side of the doorway having disappeared). Of the bulls, Mr Layard remarks and he states that the same observations hold regarding the lion and a mutilated human figure which he afterwards discovered at the same place- They resembled in general form the well-known winged bulls of Nineveh, but, in the style of art, they differed considerably from them. The outline and treatment was bold and angular, with an archaic feeling conveying the impression of great antiquity. They bore the same relation to the more delicately finished and highly ornamented sculptures at Nimroud, as the earliest remains of Greek art do to the exquisite monuments of Phidias and Praxiteles.'-Nineveh and Babylon, p. 275. Doubtless, had the destroying hand of time not so completely accomplished its work on these ruins, the other symbolical sculptures of the palaces of Nineveh would have been found to have their representatives at Arban, as well as the bulls and the lions. But, indeed, the evident identity of the two nations would lead us to expect, that not only at Arban, but in the sacred edifices of the Babylonians generally, the symbolical figures of the Assyrians would be found. In the temple of Belus, according to Berosus, there were sculptured representations of men with two wings, and others with four; some having two faces; others, the legs and horns of goats, or the hoofs of horses; there were bulls, also, with the heads of men, and horses with the heads of dogs.'-Layard, Nineveh and its Remains, p. 465.

NOTE 68, p. 466.-The ruins of Nineveh furnish abundant illustrations of this text; and without attempting to enter into great detail, we shall content ourselves with referring only to such particulars as bear directly on its

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elucidation. In a note on Zephaniah, ii. 13, Vol. III., Dr Kitto has stated with regard to the palace at Khorsabad, whose ruins were explored by M. Botta, that 'the body of the building consisted of several thick walls, with various passages leading into halls. The substance of the walls was formed of clayey earth and chalk, which was rivetted with large slabs of gray marmoriform gypsum, known as the Mosul marble, very soft and friable, varying from ten to twelve feet square. These slabs were surmounted by rows of glazed bricks, principally white and yellow, and disposed so as to represent an architectural ornament, with others enamelled with cuneiform characters in white upon a green ground.' This description is applicable in the main to all the palaces of Nineveh. According to Mr Layard (Nineveh and its Remains), the slabs used for panelling rarely exceeded twelve feet in height, while the rooms were certainly much higher, as is shewn by the height of the bulls and lions forming the doorway, which vary from ten to sixteen feet, and above which the walls were carried up some feet. The upper wall was built either of richly coloured baked bricks or of sun-dried bricks, covered by plaster. On these bricks were painted various ornaments, and many of them appear to have been enamelled-that is, the colours appear to have been laid on in a liquid state, and then exposed to the action of fire. The paintings on these brick upper walls were just a continuation of the scenes represented on the bass-reliefs. The command given to Ezekiel to portray Jerusalem on a tile, will be best illustrated by a brief description of a few of the paintings on the bricks. In the south-east corner of the quadrangle at Nimroud, Mr Layard came upon the ruins of a chamber in the shape of the remains of walls, and a pavement of baked bricks, whose under faces were painted a circumstance, by the way, from which it is inferred that these bricks had originally belonged to another building. Although the designs on them were in most cases destroyed, yet a few fragments were collected which have since been placed in the British Museum, and fac-similes of which are given in Mr Layard's second series of Monuments of Nineveh. One of these bricks exhibited four captives tied together by their necks, the foremost prisoner holding the rope and having his hands free, while the arms of the others are bound behind. On another fragment was represented a similar scene; while others, again, shewed representations of Assyrian warriors on foot and on horse; of chariots; of a walled tower with square battlements; of a castle with angular battlements, &c. More interesting than the specimens of painting found in the above-mentioned locality, was one on a brick twelve inches by nine, which Mr Layard discovered in the centre of the mound of Nimroud. In it was represented a king, followed by a eunuch, receiving his general or vizier, having over his head a fringed pavilion, and part of an inscription, probably containing his name. Mr Layard remarks, that this is a unique specimen of an entire Assyrian painting. The colours used in these paintings are white, blue, and yellow for the figures, and a pale blue and olive green for the ground. (See Layard's Nineveh and Babylon, p. 165.)

In regard to the conjecture mentioned by Dr Kitto with respect to the nature of the inscriptions on the bricks of Babylon, it is necessary only to state, that it is now ascertained that almost every brick hitherto obtained from that quarter bears the same inscription, which is to the effect, that Nebuchadnezzar, the son of Nabubaluchun, built the city (see Note 1, Appendix to vol. i., and Note 75, in this Appendix). There is a marked difference observable between the inscriptions of Babylon and those of Nineveh, as regards taste and skill in the execution. While the former appear, as stated by Dr Kitto, to have been impressed with a stamp, on which the whole inscription had been previously cut in relief, the inscriptions of Assyria give unmistakable evidence, by the careless and irregular way in which they are formed and grouped together, of the characters having been made separately, and cut by the hand. The contrast thus exhibited proves the superior antiquity of the Assyrian inscriptions.

NOTE 69, p. 503.-Battering-rams of various forms are seen frequently represented on the monuments of Nineveh; and they may safely be held to give an exact idea of the instruments employed in sieges by the Babylonian warriors. The oldest form of the battering-ramthat represented on the bass-reliefs of the north-west palace at Nimroud-differed in some important respects from those represented on the more recent bass-reliefs. The Nimroud battering-ram was a heavy beam, with a metal head shaped like the mouth of a trumpet, attached to a machine which moved on three pair of wheels. The machine rose up so as to assume the form and serve the purpose of a tower, or rather two towers, the first being the lower, and the second so high as to be on a level with the wall of the besieged city. Both were pierced with loopholes for the discharge of arrows. The higher tower, or what may be called the tower, is represented as occupied by two warriors, of whom one discharged his arrows against the besieged, while the other held up a shield to defend his companion. They are sometimes represented as passing from the tower to the battlements. The whole machine was covered with hurdles of wicker. Sometimes the engine was used without the tower, the front part of the framework being elevated into a kind of dome, in order to the proper suspension of the beam. This latter form, which appears only occasionally in the most ancient bass-reliefs, was the usual one in later periods. The battering-rams of the Khorsabad period presented an essential difference from the one above described, in that the head of the beam was pointed like a spear. 'Hence the mode of their action was not that of shaking the wall, and causing it to fall by repeated heavy shocks, but rather that of penetrating the course of bricks of which they were probably composed, and thus picking, if we may be allowed the phrase, great holes in them, until at length the battlements would fall for want of support beneath. We see this result continually represented in the bass-reliefs.' -Gosse, Assyria. London. 1852. Sometimes there were two pointed beams to one engine. The Khorsabad ram was borne on four wheels, and the whole machine was enclosed by a canopy of leather or raw skins. In some bass-reliefs, the battering-ram is without wheels, having been apparently constructed on the spot, and not being designed to be moved.

It cannot be determined from the sculptures how the battering-ram was worked; but it would appear that the beam was suspended by a rope fastened to the outside of the machine, and that men directed and impelled it from within. To frustrate the action of the ram, the besieged are represented as letting down from the battlements strong chains, with which they caught the head of the engine. To obviate this inconvenience, the attackingparty employed hooks to catch the chains, and prevent them from catching the head of the beam.

To illustrate fully the use of the battering-ram by the Assyrians, as well as of the other devices mentioned in verse 22, and so frequently in other passages of Scripture (see Kitto's notes on 2 Chron. xxxii.), we cannot do better than refer the reader to the description given by Mr Layard (Nineveh and Babylon, p. 149) of the bass-relief discovered by him in the palace at Kouyunjik, which we have already quoted in Note 49 of Appendix to vol. ii. That description is all the more interesting, that it refers to a bass-relief which is ascertained to represent the siege of Lachish by Sennacherib.

NOTE 70, p. 509.-The 14th and 15th verses evidently allude to and describe the sculptures wherewith the walls of the palaces of Nineveh are ornamented; and the description they contain is certainly very remarkable. The first particular mentioned (v. 14), is the colour in which these 'images' were painted-vermilion or red, which shashar is generally supposed to denote. See Nahum ii. 3: The valiant men are in scarlet.' Unfortunately, the colours on the monuments are very much obliterated, and present few materials for the illustration of the text. Yet even the faint traces which remain are

sufficient to indicate the prevalence of a brilliant red colour. The blue also occurs frequently, as we would expect from v. 6. The following list, by Mr Layard, of articles on which colours have been found at Nimroud and Khorsabad, with the colours appropriated to each, will give the readers some idea of the Assyrian usages in painting. The hair, beard, eyebrows, eyelids, and eyeballs were black; the inner part of the eye, white; the king's mitre, principally red; the crests of helmets, blue and red; the heads of arrows, blue-the bows, red; the handles of maces, red; the harness of horses, blue and red; sandals, in oldest monuments, black, edged with red-in those of Khorsabad, striped blue and red; the rosettes in the garlands of winged figures, red; trees, at Khorsabad, a bluish green; flowers carried by the winged figures, green, with red flowers occasionally; fire, always red. The preponderance of red and blue in this list will strike every one at once.

In v. 12, allusion is made to the gorgeous clothing of the Assyrians. This opens up the wide subject of the costume of the Assyrians, which we cannot here enter into at length. It will suffice, if we adduce an illustrative instance, in the person of an Assyrian king, from the north-west palace of Nimroud. His dress consists of a long. flowing garment, reaching to the ankles, having the whole of the breast and a wide border richly embroidered and dyed. The designs are very elaborate, consisting of figures of men, animals, flowers, including mythological devices. This robe is confined at the waist by a girdle, having cords with tassels attached, the latter reaching almost to the feet. Over it, another robe of about the same length was thrown, which was likewise embroidered and edged with tassels. In v. 15, the girdles with which these robes were bound are specially mentioned-' Girded with girdles upon their loins." These girdles were of a great variety of forms. The most common was a very broad belt, which Gosse (Assyria) conjectures to have passed more than once round the waist, the last circumvolution becoming much more narrow, and each end terminating in a clasp.

These facts may perhaps incline us to explain the text as referring rather to the plaited hair which characterises all the Assyrian figures on the monuments. The hair of both the head and beard appears to have been very abundant, and was elaborately plaited. The hair of the head was parted over the forehead, and fell from behind the ear on the shoulders in a large bunch of ringlets. The beard was allowed to grow to its full length; so that it descended on the breast in a square form, with series of curls occurring at regular intervals.

It is not unlikely that the Assyrians wore false hair and beards; and it is certain that they used a black pigment to stain the eyelids, eyelashes, and hair of the head generally. Such a hairy equipment as we have described, seems to have been an indispensable requisite to a proper appearance among the Assyrians; and, consequently, must have been procured at all hazards by those (if any) to whom nature denied it.

On v. 24 we remark simply, that all the articles mentioned there are abundantly represented on the monuments. A conical shield generally, and a helmet always, formed a part of the equipment of an Assyrian warrior.

NOTE 71, p. 525.-The hitherto obscure allusion contained in the words: "They hanged their shields upon thy walls round about' (v. 11), is satisfactorily explained by bassreliefs from Kouyunjik. The sculptures on the two slabs which afford the illustration in question, are thus described by Mr Layard: 'Vessels filled with warriors and females were represented leaving a castle, built on the sea-shore, and on the declivity of a mountain. A man stood at the castle-gate which opened immediately upon the water. A woman, who had already embarked in one of the ships, was seen stretching out her arms to receive a child which the man was giving to her. The sea was indicated by wavy lines, carried across the slab from top to bottom, and by fish, crabs, and turtles. The vessels were of two kinds-some had masts and sails, as well as oars; others were impelled by rowers alone. They were furnished with two decks. On the upper, stood warriors armed with spears, and women wearing high turbans or mitres. On the lower (which was probably divided into two compart

The last article mentioned in these verses is 'dyed attire upon their heads' (v. 15). There has been a difference of opinion in regard to what is the real meaning of the Hebrew words rendered in our version as above. (ments), were double sets of rowers-eight, and sometimes

). Thus Layard, for example, takes the

words as referring to the head-dress of the Assyrian princes, while Gosse (Assyria) thinks that they probably allude to their copious and elaborately trimmed hair and beards. Without attempting to settle this question, we remark, that both the head-dress and the trimmed hair were sufficiently prominent parts of the Assyrian costume, to entitle them to special notice in a description of the latter.

It is true, indeed, that we must limit this remark, so far as regards the head-dress, to the costume of the king; for, with exception of the royal tiara or mitre, the head-dress of the other figures in the sculptures is exceedingly simple. The mitre of the king had a form resembling that of a truncated cone, surmounted by a little point or peak in the centre of the crown. The base was surrounded by a broad band, formed by the upturned fold of the material of the mitre, and rising to a point in front. To this band, from behind, were attached two long ribbons, which hung down the back, and were sometimes plain, and sometimes ornamented. Such was the headdress of the king of the north-west palace at Nimroud. The tiara of the Kouyunjik king was more elevated and graceful, and more highly ornamented. The head-dress of the officers of state consisted sometimes of a diadem or band, resembling the band on the royal mitre, and left the crown of the head uncovered. Perhaps it is in allusion to the form of the head-dress of the Assyrian princes that the prophet Nahum speaks of them as crowned: 'Thy crowned' (Nahum iii. 17). In other cases, the heads of the chief officers are represented as surrounded with a simple fillet, without ornament; and often the head appears altogether bare, as in hunting scenes.

ten men sitting on a side, making sixteen or twenty in all. The sides of the upper-deck, as well as the battlements of the castle on the sea-shore, were hung with shields.'-Nineveh and its Remains, vol. ii. p. 128. (The italics are ours.)

Mr Layard has shewn it to be probable, that the bassreliefs in question represent a siege and capture of Tyre, or some other Phoenician city on the sea-coast, though of course it cannot be the final siege of Tyre alluded to in the text, but one much earlier by Sennacherib. He states that the larger galleys may be identified with the vessels used to a comparatively late period by the inhabitants of the great maritime cities of the Syrian coast-by the people of Tyre and Sidon. They are very similar in form to the galleys represented on coins of a later period, which belong to the period of the Persian supremacy in Asia, and which are most probably of Phoenician origin. The galleys on the bass-reliefs, moreover, bear a close resemblance to those on the coins of Sidon of a later period, which bear on one side a galley, and on the other, the head of an Assyrian goddess. When we take these facts into consideration, and reflect, moreover, that the allusion to hanging shields on the walls is nowhere else found in Scripture, we will be disposed to acquiesce in Mr Layard's opinion, that the vessels on the bass-reliefs above described belonged to the great cities of Phoenicia. This opinion is converted into something like certainty, by the light thrown by the inscriptions on the relations subsisting at different times between Phoenicia and Assyria. Some of these inscriptions are as ancient as the period of Sardanapalus, the founder of the north-west palace, Nimroud. In the two temples discovered in the high mound already referred to, were found, forming the pavements of two recesses, two enormous monoliths, or alabaster slabs-one 21 feet by 16 feet 7 inches, and 1 foot 1 inch thick; and the other 19 feet

by 12 feet, with inscriptions, whose letters were carved with great care, written both on the upper and under surfaces, and divided into two parallel horizontal columns.

On

The inscriptions were nearly the same on both; and that on the under side was in both cases substantially a repetition of the contents of the upper. The record was still once more repeated on a slab, on which was carved in high relief an image of the Nimroud king. The principal contents of the inscriptions consist of a full account of the various wars and campaigns of the king. In this account occurs the following passage: 'At that time, the countries that are upon Lebanon I took possession of, to the great sea of the country of Akkari-(the Mediterranean). the great sea I put my servants. Sacrifices to the gods I offered. The tribute of the kings of the people who dwelt near the sea, of the Tyrians, the Sidonians, the Kubalians, of the city of Arvad, which is in the middle of the sea,' &c.-Layard, Nineveh and Babylon, p. 356. Here, then, we find Tyre, Sidon, Aradus, besides other Phoenician cities, tributary to a king of Assyria, who reigned in the tenth century before Christ. But more nearly connected with the above account of the naval scenes in the Kouyunjik, is the following passage from the annals of Sennacherib, the founder of that palace :-'In my third year,' thus proceeds the record, 'I went up to the country of the Khetta, or Hittites-(used to designate all Southern Syria). Sulija, king of Sidon [the Elulæus of Menander], had thrown off the yoke of allegiance. On my approach from Abiri, he fled to Yetnan, which was on the sea-coast. I reduced his entire country; the places which submitted to me were Sidon the Greater, and Sidon the Less, Beth Zitta, Saripat, Mahallat, Husuva (Tyre), Akzib, and Akka. I placed Tubaal on the throne, in the place of Sulija, and imposed on him the regulated amount of tribute. The kings of the sea-coast all repaired to my presence in the neighbourhood of the city of Husuva, or Tyre.'Rawlinson's Outlines, p. xxxii. Tyre, or indeed Phoenicia generally, would thus seem to have been subject from a very early period; and the fact, that notices of Assyrian influence in this quarter appear in the inscriptions of different kings (as e. g. Sargon, by whom a monument, now in the Royal Museum of Berlin, was erected in Cyprus, commemorating a campaign conducted by him in the Mediterranean), renders probable the supposition, that Assyrian supremacy over Phoenicia was continuous from the tenth century.

NOTE 72, p. 527.-Whether we understand the Hebrew word as referring to chariots or to horses, the allusion to precious clothes is equally characteristic. The Assyrian chariots, especially the later, were often covered with ornaments, while the harness and trappings of the horses were extremely rich and elegant. 'Plumes waved over the head of the animals, or fancied crests rose gracefully in an arch above their ears, and descended in front to their nostrils. To these ornaments were sometimes appended long ribbons or streamers, which floated on the wind. Large tassels of wool or silk, dyed many colours, fell on the forehead, and were attached to many parts of the harness.-Layard, Nineveh and its Remains. The headgear and collar were elaborately ornamented with figures of winged bulls, and other symbolical figures in the earlier, and with rosettes in the later sculptures. Embroidered clothes were frequently thrown over the backs of the horses, nearly covering the body from the ears to the tail. We cannot enter more particularly into this subject, but content ourselves with remarking in the words of Mr Gosse, whose book on Assyria, her Manners and Customs, Arts and Arms, published under the direction of the committee of general literature and education, appointed by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, may be consulted with profit by all who are anxious to obtain information on these topics: 'Nothing is more remarkable in the sculptures than the gorgeous magnificence in which the chariot-horses are arrayed; and, could we see the original colours with which they were painted, and, still more, could we have beheld the reality, the polished metals,

the ornaments of stained and pure ivory, the necklaces, the plumes and coloured tassels, and the curiously wrought cloths of various dyes, the trappings would have appeared far more splendid than our imagination depicts them.' -(p. 233).

NOTE 73, p. 539.-In a previous note, reference was made to certain tombs found above the ruins of the older palaces of Assyria; and it was stated that they bore decided marks of Egyptian origin. It remains to state, that as yet no light has been thrown by the recent discoveries on the mode of sepulture amongst the Assyrians-no tombs, decidedly Assyrian, having as yet been discovered. Mr Layard did, indeed, discover a vaulted chamber in the high mound at Nimroud, which seemed adapted for no other purpose than to be a house of the dead, but he found it quite empty. From a depression in the exterior of the mound, Mr Layard inferred that it had been opened and robbed of its contents at some remote period. After adverting to the absence of Assyrian tombs throughout the ruins of the entire country, Mr Layard naturally adds:'Did the Assyrians, like the fire-worshippers of Persia, expose their dead until nought remained but the bleached bones, or did they burn them, and then scatter their ashes to the winds? Not a clue is given to their customs in this manner by any bass-relief or monument hitherto discovered. The Assyrians appear to have avoided all allusion to their dead and to their funeral rites; unlike the Egyptians, who portrayed the ceremonies observed after death, and even the events of a future state, upon the walls of almost every temple and tomb.'-Nineveh and Babylon, p. 594.

NOTE 74, p. 560.-Several examples of the arch were discovered by Mr Layard in the mound of Nimroud. In his first excavations, he discovered a vaulted chamber built of baked bricks, about ten feet high, and the same in width. The arch was constructed on the well-known principle of vaulted roofs, the bricks being placed sideways, one against the other, and having been probably sustained by a framework until the vault was completed. This chamber was nearly filled with rubbish, the greater part of which was filled with a kind of slag. The sides of the bricks forming the arched roof and the walls were almost vitrified, and had evidently been exposed to very intense heat. In fact, the chamber had the appearance of a large furnace for making glass, or for fusing metal.'-Nineveh and its Remains, vol. ii., p. 41. This chamber was buried in the centre of a thick wall, and had no access from without, on which account Mr Layard thought it must have been used before the upper part of the wall was built. We may just mention, that Gosse (Assyria) compares with this chamber the burning fiery furnace into which Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego were thrown. The long chamber discovered in the high mound at the north-west corner of Nimroud, to which reference was made in note 73, had also a vaulted roof. The high mound itself was discovered by Layard to be the remains of a square tower, of which the lower part was built of solid stone-masonry, the stones being carefully fitted together, and bevelled with a slanting bevel, and the upper part of burnt brick. The stone-work was still remaining entire; but the bricks had fallen outwards; and by their ruin, gave to the whole that pyramidal appearance which had led previous travellers to regard the mound as actually the remains of a pyramid. The vaulted chamber within the tower was about 100 feet long, 12 feet high, and 6 feet broad, and was blocked up at the two ends, without any entrance being left into it. It was vaulted with sun-dried bricks, and the vault had in one or two places fallen in. Mr Layard considered it probable that the ruin represented the tomb of Sardanapalus, which, according to the Greek geographers, stood at the entrance of the city of Nineveh. It will be remembered, that the name of the builder of the north-west palace was Sardanapalus, or something similar. If Layard's opinion be correct, then the arch was known to the Assyrians in the tenth century B.C. Three other examples of the arch were discovered by Layard, two of them being arched drains; of which one, about 5 feet wide,

was built of large, kiln-burnt bricks, of a square form; so that a space was left about the centre of the arch, which was filled up by bricks laid longitudinally. It will be observed, that all these instances exhibit the arch only on a small scale. It remains to state, that no examples of the arch on a great scale have been found in Assyria; and this fact, taken in connection with what is stated in Kitto's note concerning the use of the arch in Egypt, would seem to point to the conclusion, that these ancients did not venture to adopt that principle in architecture, except when the superincumbent weight was comparatively trifling.

NOTE 75, p. 589.-The discovery by Colonel Rawlinson of the commemorative cylinders, to which reference was made in Note 55, Appendix to vol. ii., is one of great importance to the illustration of verse 30; and the account of the discovery, when published, will add greatly to our knowledge of ancient Babylon. The excavations at the Birs Nimroud, which were carried on according to a predetermined plan of Colonel Rawlinson's, led to the discovery of a wall of 190 feet in length, forming (as it appeared) one side of a square, 27 feet in height, and surmounted by a platform. From the two exposed corners of this wall were taken out the commemorative cylinders. In his account communicated to the British Museum, the learned colonel describes the original building as consisting of a series of square platforms, rising one above the other, each dedicated to one of the planets, and coloured externally with the colours attributed to the seven planets in the works of the Sabæan astrologers, and traditionally handed down from the Chaldæans. The inscriptions have been translated by Colonel Rawlinson, but have not yet been published. It is stated in the Athenæum (Jan. 20, 1855), from which this notice is taken, that the inscriptions begin with the name and usual titles of Nebuchadnezzar, and proceed with a summary of the buildings of Babylon, which the king had repaired or erected. It then says, that the 'Temple of the Planets of the Seven Spheres,' which had been built by an early king 504 years previously (about 1100 B.C.), having become ruinous owing to a neglect of the drainage, which allowed the rain to penetrate, and the sun-dried bricks causing the outer covering to bulge out, and fall down, the god Merodach had put it into his heart to restore it; that he did not, however, rebuild the platform, which was unimpaired, but that all the rest was restored by his commands. The inscription ends with the usual expression of his aspirations for the eternal duration of the work, and the continuation of his family on the throne for ever. This discovery is of the utmost importance, not merely as determining the long agitated dispute about the purport of the Birs; but chiefly for the satisfactory confirmation which it gives to the statement in verse 30, that Babylon was built by Nebuchadnezzar-built, that is, in the sense of a thorough-going repair.

NOTE 76, p. 591.-The perplexing difficulty regarding Belshazzar, of which two (false) solutions are given in the text by Dr Kitto, has been at length definitively set at rest by a very important discovery of Colonel Rawlinson's, announced in the Athenæum of March 18, 1854. We shall give the reader the colonel's descriptions of his discovery in his own words: Two of these cylinders [clay cylinders, discovered in the ruins of Um-Queer, which Rawlinson identifics with Ur of the Chaldees, and elsewhere] 'have already reached me, and I have found them to contain a memorial of the works executed by Nabonidus (the last king of Babylon) in Southern Chaldæa. They describe among other things the restoration of temples, originally built by the Chaldæan monarchs, at least 1000 years previously, and, further, notice the re-opening of canals dug by Nabopolassar and Nebuchadnezzar. The most important fact, however, which they disclose is, that the eldest son of Nabonidus was named Bel-shar-ezar, and that he was admitted by his father to a share in the government. This name is undoubtedly the Belshazzar (8) of Daniel, and thus furnishes us with a key to the explanation of that great historical problem which has hitherto defied

solution. We can now understand how Belshazzar, as joint king with his father, may have been governor of Babylon, when the city was attacked by the combined forces of the Medes and Persians, and may have perished in the assault which followed; while Nabonidus, leading a force to the relief of the place, was defeated, and obliged to take refuge in the neighbouring town of Borsippa (or Birs-i-Nimroud), capitulating after a short resistance, and being subsequently assigned, according to Berosus, an honourable retirement in Carmania. By the discovery, indeed, of the name of Bel-shar-ezar, as appertaining to the son of Nabonidus, we are for the first time enabled to reconcile authentic history (such as it is related by Herodotus and Berosus, and not as we find it in the romance of Xenophon or the fables of Ctesias) with the inspired record of Daniel, which forms one of the bulwarks of our religion.'

NOTE 77, p. 677.-Verse 14, 'house of thy gods.' The ruins of Nineveh have hitherto been for the most part regarded as the remains of palaces rather than of temples. The two small buildings discovered by Mr Layard at the high mound Nimroud, were regarded by him as the only undoubted remains of temples hitherto discovered. These buildings appeared to be temples from the sculptures which were found in them. The entrance was formed by two colossal human-headed lions, 16 feet high, and 15 feet long, flanked by three small winged figures, one above the other, and divided by an ornamental cornice; and between them was an ornamental pavement of alabaster, while in front of each lion was a square stone, which seemed to be the pedestal of an altar. At the sides of a second entrance were two singular figures. One was a monster of hideous aspect, and with heterogeneous members; and the other was a winged man, with a long sword hanging from his shoulder, and grasping in each hand a double trident resembling the thunderbolts of Greek Jove, which he was in the attitude of hurling at the monster. This group, according to Layard, represented the contest between the good and evil principles. Among the other sculptures were fish-gods of a form already described, and various other emblematic figures, which need not be more particularly mentioned. The most interesting sculpture was that of the king carved in high relief in the frame formerly referred to. He was clothed in sacrificial robes, and carried the sacred mace in his hand. On his neck were hung a crescent, a star, a trident, and a cross; while above his head were the five mythic symbols--the winged globe, the crescent, the star, the bident, and the horned cap. Before him stood an altar, which seemed set, in order to offer sacrifice to the king as a god or hero. The inscription on the monolith on which the king was sculptured, contained, towards the commencement, a list of the twelve great gods of Assyria, with their king, whose names we may here append, so far as they are known. The list on the monolith was the same as that on the black obelisk belonging to the son of the king represented on the former, though the names were differently arranged. The names, which we take from Layard's Nineveh and Babylon, p. 629, are as follow:-1. Asshur, King of the Circle of the Great Gods; 2. Anu, the Lord of the Mountains, or of Foreign Countries; 3. doubtful; 4. Sau; 5. Merodach, or Mars; 6. Yav (? Jupiter); 7. Bar; 8. Nebo (? Mercury); 9. Mylit (or Gula), called the Consort of Bel, and the Mother of the Great Gods (? Venus); 10. (?) Dagon; 11. Bel (? Saturn), Father of the Gods; 12. Shamash (the Sun); 13. Ishtar (the Moon).

The list given by Colonel Rawlinson differs from the one here given in some respects, and neither the one nor the other can be received implicitly. The progress which is being made in the interpretation of inscriptions, encourages us to entertain the hope, that the Assyrian Pantheon will soon be adjusted with certainty. This is, indeed, a matter of great importance, because the names of the kings, and sometimes the names of the countries over which they rule, are composed of the names of the gods. The difficulty of deciphering the latter arises from the

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