Chapter IX: Babylonian and Assyrian Culture (2)

Painting was also employed to decorate the exterior as well as the interior of walls. Ornaments and figures were painted with great skill on stucco, _al fresco_ in such a case, or on tiles which were afterwards glazed. These tiles were sometimes joined to make one picture. In what remains of such work it is shown that painting had attained quite an eminence in Babylon and Asshur. Drawing and grouping are often very successful, and the treatment has often a certain breadth. These paintings are also important because it is seen from them how much conventionality prevailed in Assyrian sculpture. In painting there is nothing of that exaggerated muscularity nor of the almost clumsy strength of the sculptured figures. Beard and hair are not as stiffly curled as in the sculptures, but hang more loosely and naturally.[h] A beautiful example of glazed tiling has recently been excavated by the Deutsche Orient Gesellschaft at Babylon. It is in the so-called Procession street leading from Babylon to Borsippa; on either side of the street were walls faced with coloured tiles representing a stately procession of lions and other animals, very artistically drawn.[a]

Sculpture, more than painting, was employed in decorating buildings, the works of which covered the greater part of the palace walls, and ornamented the gateways, courts, terraces, and apartments. The material which the sculptor used in Chaldea was usually valuable stone difficult to procure, such as basalt, dolorite, diorite; in Assyria, generally a commoner, more easily worked species, such as alabaster and sandstone. The difference of material naturally influenced the work itself. Figures of cast bronze are also often found.

The inscriptions of the Babylonian kings often speak of columns erected in honour of the gods, of which some were made of solid gold or silver, others only coated with precious metal, and the Assyrian kings also mention such dedications. Naturally the columns of precious metal have not survived, but a great number of stone pillars have been found. It may be chance, that the greater number of statues in the round are from Babylon, the greater number of bas-reliefs from Assyria. The objects of these surviving sculptures are mainly of a religious or historical character. But rarely does a representation of the domestic life of the monarch or other social circles appear.

Only once is a banquet pictured, that of king Asshurbanapal and his queen. Otherwise no women, except captives, appear in the reliefs. On the whole little tendency is shown to represent female beauty and grace, as compared with the Egyptians and especially with the Greeks. The nude female figure is seldom pictured, and if so, in a repulsively realistic form, as in the small figures of the mother goddess. Cheerful or comic scenes, which are not wanting even in Egyptian reliefs and vignettes, are never found here. Hasty conclusions, however, should not be drawn from this, and it should not be forgotten, that most of the surviving reliefs are from the palaces, few from the temples, still fewer from the tombs, and none at all from private residences. This is doubtless one of the reasons why representations of domestic or private life are so scarce. In fact, in a few of the tombs reliefs have been found whose subjects recall favourite representations in those of Egypt. Most prevalent certainly, are those scenes relating to religious and public life.

In the treatment of these objects, truth is often sacrificed to certain conventionalities. Thus for instance the Lamassi and Shedi, the man-headed lions and bulls have five legs, in order that they may always present four to the eye, whether viewed from the front or the side; the heads are usually represented in profile with the eyes in full face, but sometimes in full face, although the image presents a side view to the beholder, which was also customary in Egypt; so also, the stiff curling of the hair and beard is unnatural. Apparently no attempt had ever been made in Egypt to make portraits of historical personages, and the individual differences of rank and condition can only be recognised by objects of secondary importance. There is, however, still some doubt upon this point. There is indeed a great uniformity, but an attempt at least to differentiate facial traits cannot be overlooked. Ignoring all accessories, the features differ among kings and higher courtiers on the one hand, and lower men-at-arms on the other, among men and eunuchs, among adults and youths. Wherever the artists of Mesopotamia were not limited by conventionality,--notably in the representation of animals,--they have surpassed in accuracy, in truth and strength of representation all other nations of antiquity, the Greeks hardly excepted. This is particularly true of the representation of native animals, yet foreign ones were treated with great skill, although the delineation of these betrays less practice. Even in the picturing of therianthropic deities, they remain as true to nature as possible, and with much taste and tact allow the human attributes of the figure to predominate. Wherever it is possible to partially or wholly break away from tradition, their talent is displayed in a manner truly marvellous. Their only prominent fault is their exaggerated realism, which shows itself not only in the monstrous drawing of muscles and joints, but also in the disgusting details of the nude figures of Astarte.

Too little of the sculpture of the new Babylonian realm has been preserved to allow judgment of the state of art during this period. The well known carving of Nebuchadrezzar II on a cameo would force us to have a very high opinion of it, if convincing reasons did not argue that, although genuine, it is the work of a foreign, probably a Cyprian, artist.

There is no doubt that the art of music was cultivated among the Babylonians and Assyrians, since the reliefs show musicians very frequently, at religious festivals, at triumphal greetings of the victorious king and at festivities. They play singly or in concert, and also accompany singing. The musical instruments are of various kinds, and the musicians, who are sometimes very daintily attired, are not always eunuchs, and are of different ages.

On the whole it must be conceded, that the Assyrio-Babylonian nation was artistically inclined and that it cultivated various branches of art with talent and success. If they, the Assyrians in particular, had been able to free themselves from tradition, they might have surpassed their predecessors and teachers. They practised art, however, not for itself alone, but as a means of glorifying the gods or the kings, and the historical reliefs at least, are for the greater part nothing more than illustrations to the inscriptions, a sort of war-report in pictures. They were not an artistic people like the Greeks. Still they have produced more and better results in this respect, than all other nations of their race put together. And although in some special instances they may have been excelled by the Egyptians, in others they are far in advance of them. The Assyrians, following the example of the Babylonians, showed their artistic talents also in the productions of their industries; art and industry were with them closely related.

Among the productions to be considered here are primarily the hundreds of seals, which are still in preservation, and whose number will not seem so surprising when it is remembered that every Babylonian and Assyrian of quality had his private seal. In early times these were always, and in later times generally, cylinders, pierced through the centre, to be worn around the neck suspended from a cord. The impression was made by rolling them over moist clay. After the eighth century conical and half-spherical seals appear. These cylinders are made of many different materials, at first, of easily carved, later of harder, material, such as porphyry, basalt, ferruginous marble, serpentine, syenite and hematite. After that, semi-precious stones were used, jasper, agate, onyx, chalcedony, rock-crystal, garnet, etc. In the oldest stones the pictured objects were rather suggested by indentations and strokes, than actually executed and carved; but gradually a great skilfulness was attained, and there are beautiful cuttings in the hard stones also. The execution varied greatly of course, not only in proportion to the talent of the artist, but also according to the rank and wealth of the person who gave the commission. The subjects chosen are mostly of a religious nature, the adoration of a goddess, an offering of sacrifice, various emblems such as winged animals, sun, moon, and stars, and very frequently the tree of life, in whose shadow stand two persons, or which is guarded by two genii. Under the new Babylonian dominion and under the Achamenides, glyptics as an art declined rapidly.

Ceramic art seems not to have occupied a very lofty position in Babylonia at first. Clay vases and utensils, during a long period made by hand, are crude and inartistic in earliest times. Gradually with the introduction of the potter’s wheel, however, they become more graceful in form, and towards the end of the Assyrian period are enamelled and decorated with patterns painted in colours. However, Babylonian ceramic art cannot compete with that of Greece, although it surpasses that of Egypt. Glass has not been found in large quantities, to be sure, but quite advanced progress had been made in its manufacture. The Assyrians and Babylonians showed particular skill in the working of metals. Bronze, a mixture of copper and tin, was known to them in the earliest times. They had a knowledge of iron earlier than the Egyptians, and certainly made much greater use of it. Gold objects are commoner than those of silver, and lead is seldom used. Ornaments, such as bracelets, ear-rings, and necklaces are usually cast of precious metal and often inlaid with pearls. It may be taken as a proof of highly advanced culture that they used not only spoons, but forks, a luxury introduced into Europe only at the close of the Middle Ages, and that toilet articles, such as combs, pins, etc., were ornamented with the greatest care and skill.

(Layard)]

The Assyrians were also more skilled in mechanics than the Egyptians and were not inferior to them in agriculture. Two reliefs, one Assyrian, the other Egyptian, give us an opportunity to compare how each nation overcame the difficulties attending the moving and putting in place of their enormous collossi of stone. It is shown that the Assyrians knew the use of the lever, which the Egyptians did not, and that they took much greater precautions against upsetting the collossi. How the Babylonians and Assyrians, like the Egyptians and Chinese, made use of irrigation is well known. On the same tablets with the records of their deeds of war, the rulers often spoke of the laying out of canals, the regulating and deepening of the river beds “enduring waters for the enduring use of town and country,” and associated their own names with them. On account of the higher altitude of their country than that of their southern brethren, the Assyrians had to surmount greater difficulties in achieving such works, but this did not deter them from rivalry with them. One canal leading from the Upper Zab and one of its tributaries, irrigated the region between this river and the Tigris, and also supplied the capital, Kalah, with drinking water.

Sennacherib did something similar for Nineveh, which together with its environs was completely dependent upon rain. He had a network of canals constructed, which were fed, partly by the Khushur, and partly by the small mountain brooks of the Accad and Tash mountains. Here also two objects were attained, to furnish Nineveh with good drinking water, and to make the surrounding country fruitful; for the king had it all planted with many kinds of plants, among which was the vine. Floriculture was also much encouraged by the kings of Babylon and Asshur. They admired beautiful parks in which strange foreign animals were bred and nurtured. Marduk-bel-iddin, king of Bit-Yakin, apparently the same who at one time overcame Babylon, owned sixty-seven vegetable gardens and six parks of which a catalogue still exists, although he was constantly at war or guarding against the vengeance of the Assyrians.[h]

ASSYRIAN ART

But the world-historic relations of Mesopotamian art are best brought out by a study of the later and more perfectly preserved examples of Assyrian craftsmanship. It was the Assyrian who borrowed more directly from the Egyptian in developing his art, and who passed on artistic impulses to the Persians on the one hand, and to the Greeks on the other. The question to what extent the Assyrians were themselves influenced by the Mycenæan art of early Greece is one regarding which students of the subject are not agreed, and which we need not enter upon here.[a]

It is impossible to examine the monuments of Assyria without being convinced that the people who raised them had acquired a skill in sculpture and painting, and a knowledge of design and even composition, indicating an advanced state of civilisation. It is very remarkable that the most ancient ruins show this knowledge in the greatest perfection attained by the Assyrians. The bas-relief representing the lion hunt, now in the British Museum, is a good illustration of the earliest school of Assyrian art yet known. It far exceeds the sculptures of Khorsabad, Kuyunjik, or the later palaces of Nimrud, in the vigour of the treatment, the elegance of the forms, and in what the French aptly term _mouvement_. At the same time it is eminently distinguished from them by the evident attempt at composition--by the artistical arrangement of the groups. The sculptors who worked at Khorsabad and Kuyunjik had perhaps acquired more skill in handling their tools. Their work is frequently superior to that of the earlier artists in delicacy of execution--in the details of the features, for instance--and in the boldness of the relief; but the slightest acquaintance with Assyrian monuments will show that they were greatly inferior to their ancestors in the higher branches of art--in the treatment of a subject and in beauty and variety of form. This decline of art, after suddenly attaining its greatest perfection in its earliest stage, is a fact presented by almost every people, ancient and modern, with which we are acquainted. In Egypt the most ancient monuments display the purest forms and the most elegant decorations. A rapid retrogression, after a certain period, is apparent, and the state of art serves to indicate approximately the epoch of most of her remains. In the history of Greek and Roman art this sudden rise and rapid fall are equally well known. Even changes in royal dynasties have had an influence upon art, as a glance at monuments of that part of the East of which we are specially treating will show. Thus the sculpture of Persia, as that of Assyria, was in its best state at the time of the earliest monarchs, and gradually declined until the fall of the empire. After the Greek invasion it revived under the first kings of the Arsacid branch, Greek taste still exercising an influence over the Iranian provinces. How rapidly art degenerated to the most barbarous forms, the medals and monuments of the later Arsacids abundantly prove. When the Sassanians restored the old Persian monarchy and introduced the ancient religion and sacred ceremonies of the empire, art again appears to have received a momentary impulse. The coins, gems, and rock sculptures of the first kings of this dynasty are distinguished by considerable elegance, and spirit of design, and beauty of form. But the decay was as rapid under them as it had been under their predecessors. Even before the Chosroes raised the glory and power of the empire to its highest pitch, art was fast degenerating. By the time of Yezdigird it had become even more rude and barbarous than in the last days of the Arsacids.

This decline in art may be accounted for by supposing that, in the infancy of a people, or after the occurrence of any great event having a very decided influence upon their manners, their religion, or their political state, nature was the chief, if not the only, object of study. When a certain proficiency had been attained, and no violent changes took place to shake the established order of things, the artist, instead of endeavouring to imitate that which he saw in nature, received as correct delineations the works of his predecessors, and made them his types and his models. In some countries, as in Egypt, religion may have contributed to this result. Whilst the imagination, as well as the hand, was fettered by prejudices, and even by laws, or whilst indolence or ignorance led to the mere servile copying of what had been done before, it may easily be conceived how rapidly a deviation from correctness of form would take place. As each transmitted the errors of those who had preceded him, and added to them himself, it is not wonderful if, ere long, the whole became one great error. It is to be feared that this prescriptive love of imitation has exercised no less influence on modern art than it did upon the arts of the ancients.

As the earliest specimens of Assyrian art which we possess are the best, it is natural to conclude that either there are other monuments still undiscovered which would tend to show a gradual progression, or that such monuments did once exist, but have long since perished; otherwise it must be inferred that those who raised the most ancient Assyrian edifice derived their knowledge directly from another people, or merely imitated what they had seen in a foreign land. Some are inclined to look upon the style and character of these early sculptures as purely Egyptian. But there is such a disparity in the mode of treatment and in the execution, that the Egyptian origin of Assyrian art appears to me to be a question open to considerable doubt. That which they have in common would mark the first efforts of any people of a certain intellectual order to imitate nature. The want of relative proportions in the figures and the ignorance of perspective--the full eye in the side face and the bodies of the dead scattered above or below the principal figures--are as characteristic of all early productions of art as they are of the rude attempts at delineation of children. It is only in the later monuments of Nineveh that we find evident and direct traces of Egyptian influence: as in the sitting sphinxes and ivories of Nimrud, and in the lotus-shaped ornaments of Khorsabad and Kuyunjik; perhaps also in the custom which then prevailed of inserting the name of the king, or of the castle, upon or immediately above their sculptured representations. Neither the ornaments of the earliest palace of Nimrud, nor the costumes, nor the elaborate nature of the embroideries upon the robes, with the groups of human figures and animals, nor the mythological symbols, are of an Egyptian character; they show a very different taste and style.

(Layard)]

The principal distinction between Assyrian and Egyptian art appears to be that in the one conventional forms were much more strictly adhered to than in the other. The angular mode of treatment, so conspicuous in Egyptian monuments, even in the delineation of every object, is not perceivable in those of Assyria. Had the arts of the two countries been derived from the same source--or had one been imitated from the other--they would both surely have displayed the same striking peculiarity. The Assyrians, less fettered, sought to imitate nature more closely, however rude and unsuccessful their attempts may have been; and this is proved by the constant endeavour to show the muscles, veins, and anatomical proportions of the human figure.

We must not lose sight of the assertion of Moses of Chorene--derived no doubt from ancient traditions, if not from direct historical evidence--that when Ninus founded the Assyrian Empire, a people far advanced in civilisation and in the knowledge of the arts and sciences, whose works the conquerors endeavoured to destroy, were already in possession of the country. Who that people may have been, we cannot now even conjecture. The same mystery hangs over the origin of the arts in Egypt and in Assyria. They may have been derived, before the introduction of any conventional forms, from a common source--from a people whose very name, and the proofs of whose former existence, may have perished even before tradition begins.

The monuments of Assyria furnish us with very important data, as to the origin of many branches of art, subsequently brought to the highest perfection in Asia Minor and Greece. I conceive the Assyrian influence on Asia Minor to have been twofold. In the first place, direct, during the time of the greatest prosperity of the Assyrian monarchy or empire, when, as it has been shown, the power of its kings extended over that country; in the second, indirect, through Persia, after the destruction of Nineveh. Of the influence exercised upon the arts of western Asia, during the early occupation of the Assyrians, few traces have hitherto been discovered, unless the remarkable monuments on the site of ancient Pteria, or Pterium, belong to this period. The evident connection between the divinities and sacred emblems worshipped in various parts of Asia Minor, and those of Assyria will be hereafter particularly pointed out. The Assyrian origin of these monuments, and of these religious symbols, once admitted, we shall have no difficulty in recognising the influence of Assyria on the arts and customs of Asia Minor. The antiquities of that country, prior to a well-known period, the Persian occupation, have been but little investigated. Few remains of an earlier epoch have yet been discovered. That such remains do exist, perhaps buried under ground, I have little doubt. It is most probable that, as we have additional materials for inquiry, we shall be still more convinced of this Assyrian influence, pointed out by Herodotus, when he declares the founder of the kingdom of Lydia to have been a descendant of Ninus, and by other authors, who mention the Syrian, or Assyrian, descent of many nations of Asia Minor.

But the second, or indirect, period of this influence is very fully and completely illustrated by the monuments of Asia Minor, of the time of the Persian domination. The known connection between these monuments and the archaic forms of Greek art renders this part of the inquiry both important and interesting. The Xanthian marbles, acquired for England by Sir Charles Fellows, and now in the British Museum, are remarkable illustrations of the threefold connection between Assyria and Persia, Persia and Asia Minor, and Asia Minor and Greece. Were those marbles properly arranged, and placed in chronological order, they would afford a most useful lesson, and would enable even a superficial observer to trace the gradual progress of art from its primitive rudeness to the most classic conceptions of the Greek sculptor. Not that he would find either style, the pure Assyrian or the Greek, in its greatest perfection; but he would be able to see how a closer imitation of nature, a gradual refinement of taste and additional study, had converted the hard and rigid lines of the Assyrians into the flowing draperies and classic forms of the highest order of art.

I have termed this second period that of _indirect_ influence, because the arts did not then penetrate directly into Asia Minor from Assyria, but were conveyed thither through the Persians. The Assyrian Empire had already existed for centuries, and had exercised the supreme power over Asia, before it was disputed by the kingdoms of Persia and Media, united under one monarch. The Persians were probably a rude people, possessing neither a literature nor arts of their own, but deriving what they had from their civilised neighbours. We have no earlier specimen of Persian writing than the inscription containing the name of Cyrus, on the ruins supposed to be those of his tomb, at Murghaub [Pasargarda]; nor any earlier remains of Persian art than the buildings and sculptures of Persepolis, and other monuments to be attributed beyond a question to the kings of the Achæmenian dynasty. It has already been shown that the writing of the Persians was imitated from the Assyrians, and it can as easily be proved that their sculptures were derived from the same source. The monuments of Persepolis establish this beyond a doubt. They exhibit precisely the same mode of treatment, the same forms, the same peculiarities in the arrangement of the bas-reliefs against the walls, the same entrances formed by gigantic winged animals with human heads, and, finally, the same religious emblems. Had this identity been displayed in one instance alone, we might have attributed it to chance, or to mere casual intercourse; but when it pervades the whole system, we can scarcely doubt that one was a close copy, an imitation, of the other. That the peculiar characteristics of the Persepolitan sculptures were derived from the monuments of the second Assyrian dynasty--that is, from those of the latest Assyrian period--can be proved by the similarity of shape in the ornaments and in the costume of many of the figures. Thus, the head-dress of the winged monsters forming the portals is lofty, squared, and richly ornamented at the top, resembling those of Khorsabad and Kuyunjik, and differing from the round, unornamented cap of the older figures at Nimrud.

The processions of warriors, captives, and tribute-bearers at Persepolis are in every respect similar to those on the walls of Nimrud and Khorsabad; we have the same mode of treatment in the figures, the same way of portraying the eyes and hair. The Persian artist introduced folds into the draperies; but, with this exception, he certainly did not improve upon his Assyrian model. On the contrary, his work is greatly inferior to it in the general arrangement of the groups and in the elegance of the details.

From whence the Persians obtained the column and other architectural ornaments used at Persepolis, it may be more difficult to determine. We have seen that the column was not unknown to the later Assyrians, although it does not appear to have been employed in the construction of their palaces. The Persians, therefore, may have partly derived their knowledge from them; and partly, perhaps principally, from the Egyptians, whom, before the foundation of Persepolis, they had already conquered. It will be observed that the capitals of their columns frequently assume the shape of Assyrian religious types, the bull for instance; whilst other portions of them nearly resemble in the form of their ornaments, though not in their proportions, those of Egypt.

The Persians introduced into Asia Minor the arts and religion which they received from the Assyrians. Thus the Harpy Tomb and the monument usually attributed to Harpagus at Xanthus, and other still earlier remains, show all the peculiarities of the sculpture of Persepolis, and at the same time that gradual progress in the mode of treatment--the introduction of action and sentiment, and a knowledge of anatomy--which marks the distinction between Asiatic and Greek art. Whilst there was a manifest improvement in the disposition of the draperies and in the delineation of the human form, we still remark, even in the latest works of the Persian period in Asia Minor, the absence of all attempt to impart sentiment to the features, or even to give more than the side view of the human face.

Many architectural ornaments, known to the Assyrians, passed from them, directly or indirectly, into Greece. The Ionic column is an instance. We have, moreover, in the earliest monuments of Nineveh that graceful ornament, commonly called the honeysuckle, which was so extensively used in Greece, and is to this day more generally employed than any other moulding. In Assyria, as I have pointed out, it was invested with sacred properties, and was either a symbol or an object of worship. That the similarity between the Assyrian and Greek ornament is not accidental, seems to be proved, beyond a question, by the alternation of the lotus or tulip, whichever this flower may be, with the honeysuckle, by the number of leaves or petals of the flower, and by their proceeding in both from a semicircle, supported by two tendrils or scrolls. The same ornament occurs, even in India, on a lath erected by Asoka at Allahabad (about B.C. 250); but whether introduced by the Greeks--which, from the date of the erection of the monument, shortly after the Macedonian invasion, is not improbable--or whether derived directly from another source, I cannot venture to decide.

That the Assyrians possessed a highly refined taste can hardly be questioned when we find them inventing an ornament which the Greeks afterwards, with few additions and improvements, so generally adopted in their most classic monuments. Others, no less beautiful, continually occur in the most ancient bas-reliefs of Nimrud. The sacred bull, with expanded wings, and the wild goat are introduced, kneeling before the mystic flower which is the principal feature in the border just described. The same animals are occasionally represented supporting disks, or flowers, and rosettes. A bird, or human figure, frequently takes the place of the bull and goat; and the simple flower becomes a tree, bearing many flowers of the same shape. This tree, evidently a sacred symbol, is elaborately and tastefully formed; and is one of the most conspicuous ornaments of Assyrian sculpture.

The flowers at the ends of the branches are frequently replaced in later Assyrian monuments and on cylinders by the fir or pine cone, and sometimes by a fruit or ornament resembling the pomegranate.

The guilloche, or intertwining bands, continually found on Greek monuments, and still in common use, was also well known to the Assyrians, and was one of their most favourite ornaments. It was embroidered on their robes, embossed on their arms and chariots, and painted on their walls. This purity and elegance of taste was equally displayed in the garments, arms, furniture, and trappings of the Assyrians. The robes of the king were most elaborately embroidered. The part covering his breast was generally adorned, not only with flowers and scroll-work, but with groups of figures, animals, and even hunting and battle scenes. In other parts of his dress similar designs were introduced, and rows of tassels or fringes were carried round the borders. The ear-rings, necklaces, armlets, and bracelets were all of the most elegant forms. The clasps and ends of the bracelets were frequently in the shape of the heads of rams and bulls, resembling our modern jewellery. The ear-rings have generally on the later monuments, particularly in the bas-reliefs of Khorsabad, the form of a cross.

In their arms the Assyrians rivalled even the Greeks in elegance of design. The hilt of the sword was frequently ornamented with four lions’ heads; two, with part of the neck and shoulders, made the cross-bar or defence, and two more with extended jaws were introduced into the handle. The end of the sheath was formed by two entire lions, clasped together, their heads turned outward and their mouths open. Sometimes the whole of the sheath was engraved or embossed, with groups of human figures, animals, and flowers. The handles of the daggers were no less highly ornamented, being sometimes in the form of the head of a horse, bull, or ram. The sheath frequently terminated in the head of a bird, to which a tassel was suspended. The part of the bow to which the string was attached was in the shape of an eagle’s head. The quiver was richly decorated with groups of figures and fanciful designs.

Ornaments in the form of the heads of animals, chiefly the lion, bull, and ram, were very generally introduced even in parts of the chariot, the harness of the horses, and domestic furniture. In this respect the Assyrians resembled the Egyptians.[b]

ASSYRIAN SCULPTURE AND THE EVOLUTION OF ART

The study of a country’s art is interesting, primarily of course purely as a study in the expression of beauty or in the portraiture of national types and ideals. The study should not, however, stop here, but one should consider also the effect each school has had upon the evolution of the world-art. This phase of Assyrian art has been examined by the Editor in a paper called “The Influence of Modern Research on the Scope of World History,” a Prefatory Essay to Vol. III of the New Volumes of the Ninth Edition of the _Encyclopædia Britannica_, from which a quotation may be permitted here.[a]

Whoever would see the story of the evolution of Greek art illustrated, should go to the British Museum and pass from the Egyptian hall, with its grotesque colossi, to the Assyrian rooms, with their marvellous bas-reliefs, and then on to the Elgin marbles from the Parthenon. In particular, the art treasures of the Assyrian collection should demand the closest scrutiny. In the Nineveh gallery, for example, where one finds collections of strange Assyrian books, the walls are flanked everywhere with bas-reliefs that come from some buried palace that once stored the literary treasures.

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It appears that the kings of that far-off time and land were connoisseurs of art as well as patrons of literature; and the art treasures of their palaces certainly form the most striking, if not the most important, part of the mementoes they have left to us. The more closely these figures in low relief are examined, the more wonderful they will seem. They take the place of the Egyptian carvings in the round; and if they are less striking to first view than the great sarcophagi, the grotesque gods, and colossal animal forms of that people, they will prove infinitely more expressive and incomparably more artistic on closer inspection. For these flat sculptures depict, not alone gods and sacerdotal scenes, but everyday affairs and the events of Assyrian history. The bas-relief was clearly the focal point of Assyrian art. Even the great bulls and lions that guarded the palace entrances were only partially detached from their background, and a frescoed statue of King Asshurnazirpal shows the same tendency. The full rounded statue was not indeed unknown to them, as several examples testify; but their real _forte_ lay in mural decoration in low relief. And the particular walls on which the artists mainly expended their skill, if we may judge from what the ruins have revealed to us, were not the walls of temples, but the palaces of kings. It is quite clear that these great conquerors of antiquity were very human, very like their successors of after times. They loved to have their heroic deeds, real or alleged, heralded to the world, and recalled incessantly to their own memories. So one finds whole histories epitomised on these walls--wars, conquests, victories; the storming of cities, the slaughter of the enemy, the leading of captives, and bringing of tribute by subject people--everything, in short, but Assyrian reverses; the court artist, true to his colours then as now, never made the mistake of depicting those.

As historical records these sculptures are of priceless value, both for what they tell of political history and for the light they throw on the powers and limitations of antique art. But before you venture to judge the Assyrian artist in the latter regard, you must pass on to the room of Asshurnazirpal, and from that to the adjacent room, where the mural decorations of the dining-hall of the last of the great Assyrian kings, Asshurbanapal, have been placed _in situ_, reproducing an effect which they first made in the palace of Nineveh in the seventh century B.C. Here you may see at once both another phase of royal life in Assyria and another stage of Assyrian art. Not war, but the chase is now the theme. King Asshurbanapal is seen in pursuit of the goat, the wild ass, the lion. The king, of course, towers above his attendants, though not in the grotesque disproportion of the Egyptian paintings. To the oriental mind such excessive stature seemed indissoluble from royal station. One recalls how the mother of Darius, made captive at Issus, mistook Hephæstion for the king, because he was taller than Alexander; and how Agesilaus, when he went to Egypt as an ally of the Egyptians, was held in contempt, despite his renown, because of his diminutive stature; and one cannot help wondering what would have been the real aspect of the Assyrian and Egyptian monarchs could they have been subjected to the camera. Be that as it may, there was apparently no doubt in the mind of the court artist as to what his chisel should reveal in this respect, and the king may always be distinguished by his stature, without regard to his royal robes. Still, it is notable, as a distinction between Egyptian and Assyrian art, that the realistic eye of the Assyrian sculptor never let him depict the king as a Brobdingnag among the pigmies, after the Egyptian fashion. At the most he is a head taller than those about him.

The royal hunter pursues his quarry sometimes on foot, more usually standing in his chariot. His weapon is usually the bow, sometimes the spear; on one occasion he grapples with the lion, hand to jowl, and stabs the quarry to the heart with a short sword. The quiet dignity and royal calm with which the feat is achieved must have insured the artist a high and enduring place in the royal favour. The action, however, of the human figures in these sculptures is always sedate and reposeful, suggestive of reserved strength perhaps, or possibly of the artist’s limitations. Whichever it is, the real power of the artist is not shown in the human figures. These, to be sure, are in part strongly anatomised; in the main, they are fairly proportioned, and, unlike the Egyptian figures, they have the shoulders drawn in proper perspective. But the faces are fixed, impassive; the eyes are not in perspective, and, as a whole, they cannot claim high merit as works of art, viewed from an abstract modern standpoint. Considered in relation to their time, they are wonderful enough, so far ahead are they of anything that we could suppose to have been accomplished in the world of that day. But they fall far short of the standard which the same artist has himself given us in animal figures of his composition. It seems as if the human figures might have been done from memory, whereas the animal forms are clearly enough from the natural model. Indeed, when we turn to these animal figures we may criticise them, not with reservation as to their age, but from the standpoint of modern art, and as individual figures they will not be found wanting. The three fundamental canons--“proportion, action, aspect”--have been successfully met. The lions skulk sullenly from their cages, spring furiously into action, or roll in death agony at the will of the depicter. The lioness, with spine broken by an arrow, dragging her palsied hind-quarters, is a veritable masterpiece. The same is true of many of the figures of goats, of running and pacing wild asses, and of dogs. As a whole, these animal frescoes are nothing less than wonderful. It is worth a visit to London from the remotest land to see these sculptures from the palace of the old Assyrian king.

(Now in the British Museum)]

Still, though these bas-reliefs have intrinsic merits as works of art, their chief value is for what they teach regarding the evolution of art in the world. Previously to their discovery it had been supposed that the stiff formalism of Egyptian sculpture represented the fullest flight of pre-Grecian art, and that Greek art itself had stepped suddenly forth, rather a new creation than an evolution. But the pick and shovel of Layard at Nineveh dispelled that illusion. For these art treasures, that had lain there under the deposits of centuries, were found to represent an enormous advance upon Egyptian models, precisely in the direction of that realism for which Greek art is distinguished.

If we would judge how direct and unequivocal was the impulse which the dying nation transferred to the adolescent one in point of art, we have but to take a few steps in the British Museum, from the Assyrian rooms to the wonderful hall that holds Lord Elgin’s trophies from the desecrated Parthenon. Look, then, upon the frieze of bas-relief that bears the magic name of Phidias. If anything can reconcile us to the act that deprived Greece of her priceless heirlooms, it is the fact that they have found lodgment here close beside their oriental prototypes, where half a million visitors each year may at least have an opportunity to learn the lesson that human progress is an accretion, a growth, a building upon foundations; and, specifically, that Greek art, no less than other forms of human culture, was an evolution, and not an isolated miracle. For what is the Parthenon frieze, as we now come to it fresh from the palaces of Nineveh, but an Assyrian fresco adapted to the needs and ideals of another race and developed by the genius of a newer civilisation? The profiled figures in low relief coursing together, are they different in conception from the profiled figures of the palaces we have just left? The horses of the Parthenon frieze might almost seem to have stepped bodily from the palaces of Asshurbanapal. They have gained something in suppleness of limb, have altered their attitude in a measure, to be sure, thanks to their new environment. But their type has not changed by so much as an actual breed of horses might be changed in as many generations. Note the head, the most typical and characteristic feature of this Grecian steed. Line for line it is the same head, trappings aside, that we have just seen at Nineveh. Even the defects of the Assyrian drawing are there--the too small and slender face, and receding lower jaw, the tiny ear, the far too full and “chuffy” neck. Possibly no horse in nature was ever like this, but the Assyrian artist so conceives it; the Greek copies that conception; and the distorted type will be transmitted down the generations to the Italian of the Renaissance, to the classical painters of Spain, the Netherlands, and Germany, and France; nay, even to the artist of the nineteenth century. The court artist of an oriental prince of the ninth or tenth century B.C. conceives a certain ideal; and, following him, a certain type of sculptured horse, such as the artist who carved it has never seen, steps before the chariot on Napoleon’s Arc de Triomphe in nineteenth-century Paris.[c]

If Mesopotamian art and literature had been forgotten in succeeding ages, Chaldean science had not shared the same fate. The fame of the Babylonian astrology and astronomy was still fresh in the mind of the Greeks of the day of Diodorus, as we shall see, and it is curious to reflect that even at this relatively late period after Greece had passed far beyond the culminating point of her own career the learned Greek looked upon Chaldean science as something beyond the pale of the science of his own nation. It would seem as if the cultivated Greek looked back upon the Babylonian civilisation with something of that reverence which “modern” European nations have reserved for Greece itself. It is significant, too, that the Babylonians themselves, even in the day of their decline, continued to regard the Greeks, along with the rest of the outside world, as “barbarians” in something more than the Greek sense of the word.

The older civilisation always thus regards the younger, regardless of the actual relative merits of the two. It was an Egyptian priest who lectured the famous Greek in these words: “O Solon! Solon! You Hellenes are but children, and there is never an old man who is a Hellene. In my mind you are all young. There is no old opinion handed down among you by ancient tradition, nor any science hoary with age”; but the same words might well have been pronounced by a priest of Chaldea. We have learned through Diodorus that the Egyptians guarded the secrets of their science very jealously from the Greeks, who travelled and sojourned there for the express purpose of learning them; and there is reason to suppose that much the same reception was accorded the Greek traveller in Babylonia, since Herodotus seems to have learned so little there beyond what his own direct observations taught him.

But how much ground the Babylonian had for this arrogance of intellectual attitude the modern world had little material for judging, beyond such general assertions as that of Diodorus, until the records of the libraries were revealed. Then it was made evident that as original scientific investigators the Babylonians were no whit inferior to their contemporaries of the Nile, if, indeed, they were not superior; that in short they fully merited the praise which classical tradition accorded them. A people that thus excelled in theoretical science, no less than in art and literature and in practical civilisation, has many claims to be considered the foremost nation of antiquity.[a]

A CLASSICAL ESTIMATE OF CHALDEAN PHILOSOPHY AND ASTROLOGY

“Here it will not be amiss to say something of the Chaldeans (as the Babylonians call them) and of their Antiquity, that nothing worth Remark may be omitted,” says Diodorus, as translated in 1700 by Booth.

“They being the most ancient Babylonians, hold the same station and dignity in the Common-wealth as the Egyptian Priests do in Egypt: For being deputed to Divine Offices, they spend all their Time in the study of Philosophy, and are especially famous for the Art of Astrology. They are mightily given to Divination, and foretel future Events, and imploy themselves either by Purifications, Sacrifices, or other Inchantments to avert Evils, or procure good Fortune and Success. They are skilful likewise in the Art of Divination, by the flying of Birds, and interpreting of Dreams and Prodigies: And are reputed as true Oracles (in declaring what will come to pass) by their exact and diligent viewing the Intrals of the Sacrifices. But they attain not to this Knowledge in the same manner as the Grecians do; for the Chaldeans learn it by Tradition from their Ancestors, the Son from the Father, who are all in the mean time free from all other publick Offices and Attendances; and because their Parents are their Tutors, they both learn every thing without Envy, and rely with more confidence upon the truth of what is taught them; and being train’d up in this Learning from their very Childhood, they become most famous Philosophers, (that Age being most capable of Learning, wherein they spend much of their time). But the Grecians for the most part come raw to this study, unfitted and unprepar’d, and are long before they attain to the Knowledge of this Philosophy: And after they have spent some small time in this Study, they are many times call’d off and forc’d to leave it, in order to get a Livelihood and Subsistence. And although some few do industriously apply themselves to Philosophy, yet for the sake of Gain, these very Men are opinionative, and ever and anon starting new and high Points, and never fix in the steps of their Ancestors. But the Barbarians keeping constantly close to the same thing, attain to a perfect and distinct Knowledge in every particular.

“But the Grecians cunningly catching at all Opportunities of Gain, make new Sects and Parties, and by their contrary Opinions wrangling and quarelling concerning the chiefest Points, lead their Scholars into a Maze; and being uncertain and doubtful what to pitch upon for certain truth, their Minds are fluctuating and in suspence all the days of their Lives, and unable to give a certain assent unto any thing. For if any Man will but examine the most eminent Sects of the Philosophers, he shall find them much differing among themselves, and even opposing one another in the most weighty parts of their Philosophy. But to return to the Chaldeans, they hold that the World is eternal, which had neither any certain Beginning, nor shall have any End; but all agree, that all things are order’d, and this beautiful Fabrick is supported by a Divine Providence, and that the Motions of the Heavens are not perform’d by chance and of their own accord, but by a certain and determinate Will and Appointment of the Gods.

“Therefore from a long observation of the Stars, and an exact Knowledge of the motions and influences of every one of them, wherein they excel all others, they fortel many things that are to come to pass.

“They say that the Five Stars which some call Planets, but they Interpreters, are most worthy of Consideration, both for their motions and their remarkable influences, especially that which the Grecians call Saturn. The brightest of them all, and which often portends many and great Events, they call Sol, the other Four they name Mars, Venus, Mercury, and Jupiter, with our own Country Astrologers. They give the Name of Interpreters to these Stars, because these only by a peculiar Motion do portend things to come, and instead of Jupiters, do declare to Men before-hand the good-will of the Gods; whereas the other Stars (not being of the number of the Planets) have a constant ordinary motion. Future Events (they say) are pointed at sometimes by their Rising, and sometimes by their Setting, and at other times by their Colour, as may be experienc’d by those that will diligently observe it; sometimes foreshewing Hurricanes, at other times Tempestuous Rains, and then again exceeding Droughts. By these, they say, are often portended the appearance of Comets, Eclipses of the Sun and Moon, Earthquakes and all other the various Changes and remarkable effects in the Air, boding good and bad, not only to Nations in general, but to Kings and Private Persons in particular. Under the Course of these Planets, they say are Thirty Stars, which they call Counselling Gods, half of whom observe what is done under the Earth, and the other half take notice of the actions of Men upon the Earth, and what is transacted in the Heavens. Once every Ten Days space (they say) one of the highest Order of these Stars descends to them that are of the lowest, like a Messenger sent from them above; and then again another ascends from those below to them above, and that this is their constant natural motion to continue for ever. The chief of these Gods, they say, are Twelve in number, to each of which they attribute a Month, and one Sign of the Twelve in the Zodiack.

“Through these Twelve Signs the Sun, Moon, and the other Five Planets run their Course. The Sun in a Years time, and the Moon in the space of a Month. To every one of the Planets they assign their own proper Courses, which are perform’d variously in lesser or shorter time according as their several motions are quicker or slower. These Stars, they say, have a great influence both as to good and bad in Mens Nativities; and from the consideration of their several Natures, may be foreknown what will befal Men afterwards. As they foretold things to come to other Kings formerly, so they did to Alexander who conquer’d Darius, and to his Successors Antigonus and Seleucus Nicator; and accordingly things fell out as they declar’d; which we shall relate particularly hereafter in a more convenient time. They tell likewise private Men their Fortunes so certainly, that those who have found the thing true by Experience, have esteem’d it a Miracle, and above the reach of Man to perform. Out of the Circle of the Zodiack they describe Four and Twenty Stars, Twelve towards the North Pole, and as many to the South.

“Those which we see, they assign to the living; and the other that do not appear, they conceive are Constellations for the Dead; and they term them Judges of all things. The Moon, they say, is in the lowest Orb; and being therefore next to the Earth (because she is so small,) she finishes her Course in a little time, not through the swiftness of her Motion, but the shortness of her Sphear. In that which they affirm (that she has but a borrow’d light, and that when she is eclips’d, it’s caus’d by the interposition of the shadow of the Earth) they agree with the Grecians.

“Their Rules and Notions concerning the Eclipses of the Sun are but weak and mean, which they dare not positively foretel, nor fix a certain time for them. They have likewise Opinions concerning the Earth peculiar to themselves, affirming it to resemble a Boat, and to be hollow, to prove which, and other things relating to the frame of the World, they abound in Arguments; but to give a particular Account of ’em, we conceive would be a thing foreign to our History. But this any Man may justly and truly say, That the Chaldeans far exceed all other Men in the Knowledge of Astrology, and have study’d it most of any other Art or Science: But the number of Years during which the Chaldeans say, those of their Profession have given themselves to the study of this natural Philosophy, is incredible; for when Alexander was in Asia, they reckon’d up Four Hundred and Seventy Thousand Years since they first began to observe the Motions of the Stars. But lest we should make too long a digression from our intended Design, let this which we have said concerning the Chaldeans suffice.”[d]

THE BABYLONIAN YEAR