Percy S. P. Handcock

STONE and clay were the two materials from which the Babylonians and Assyrians as a rule manufactured their vases, pots and bowls, though, as we have seen (cf. Fig. 45), metal was occasionally used for the purpose. Unfortunately the study of Babylonian and Assyrian pottery has never received the attention which it deserves, while in the earlier excavations carried on in Mesopotamia the importance of these uninscribed relics of the past was not realized, and the omission to observe the particular strata of the mounds in which they were respectively discovered, as well as in some cases the failure to note even the sites where they were unearthed, has made anything like a systematic study of Babylonian and Assyrian pottery a virtual impossibility.

Various kinds of stone were used as materials for making bowls and vases from the earliest periods of Mesopotamian civilization. Thus at Nippur the American excavators unearthed a vase made of sandstone, bearing an inscription of Utug, patesi or priest-king of Kish, the writing of which was even more archaic than that on the mace-head of Mesilim, king of Kish (cf. p. 185, Fig. 26) and, therefore, presumably of an earlier date; it seems to have been dedicated to En-lil as a thank-offering, an incidental testimony to the important place which the god of Nippur must have occupied even at this extremely remote period. So, too, a vase of white calcite stalagmite, bearing an inscription of Urzage, a king of Kish belonging to about the same period, was dedicated to En-lil and his spouse Nin-lil.

Stone vases have similarly been found at TellÔ, while the fragments of a number of stone vases made of white calcite stalagmite and bearing an inscription of Lugal-zaggisi, the king of Umma who sacked Lagash in the reign of Urukagina the last king of the first dynasty, were found on the same site, and we learn from the inscriptions on these vase-fragments that they were dedicated by Lugal-zaggisi to En-lil at E-kur. A fragment of an alabaster vase bearing the name of Urukagina is now preserved in the British Museum, and an onyx vase, dedicated to the goddess Bau, was discovered in the neighbourhood of Ur-NinÂ’s building, while a large basalt bowl of Eannatum was found on the same site, and the fragments of a limestone vase, bearing an inscription of Entemena, a later king of Lagash, were discovered beneath the temple of En-lil at Nippur. So also at JÔkha, the site of the ancient city of Umma, fragments of vases and objects made of stone were brought to light, while at FÂra, the ruined mounds of which represent one of the earliest sites of Sumerian civilization in the Babylonian plain, vases and cups made of various stones including marble were recovered. These were generally of a simple character, though sometimes they were decorated. But BismÂya, thanks to the scientific excavations carried on by Harper and Banks for the University of Chicago, has probably yielded a richer and more varied harvest of stone pots than any other site in Babylonia. They comprise bowls, phials, dishes, cups, mugs, and vessels of every conceivable shape, the tallest measuring about twelve inches in height, and the largest about twelve inches in diameter, while the thickness of the walls varies from an eighth of an inch to just under an inch and a quarter.147 The stones from which they are made vary almost as much as their dimensions, and include white marble, yellow marble, alabaster, yellow limestone, pinkish onyx, porphyry, green porphyry, blue freestone, soft limestone, and grey sandstone. Hardly any of these manifold vessels were found complete, but Banks was able to reconstruct a large number from the fragments that remained. They were all polished; some were engraved with a comparatively simple design, while others were elaborately decorated with the figures of men and animals, and some were inlaid with ivory and precious stones. The inscriptions were few and fragmentary, the name of the king or the temple mentioned being otherwise unknown, while the writing is extremely archaic. That part of the mound in which these stone vase fragments were discovered contains only the plano-convex bricks characteristic of the old Sumerian period, which further indicates the extreme antiquity of this large collection of stone-ware, and indeed stone-ware seems to have been to a great extent supplanted by the more economical and more easily wrought clay pottery, at a comparatively early date, as was the case in ancient Egypt. Most of the vases from BismÂya are circular in shape, though examples of oval, oblong, square, and shell-shaped vases were also found. The stone most commonly used was marble, due no doubt to its comparative softness and adaptability to the chisel. The curvature and general symmetry of these vases is so perfect that, according to Banks, a lathe or something answering the same purpose as a lathe, must have been used. The softer stones at this period were doubtless worked with flint instruments, as in the case of the earliest cylinder-seals. The purposes which these vases served must have been as diversified as the vases themselves. Some appear to have been lamps, others drinking-cups; some were probably used as water, wine, or oil jars, while others may have been used as wash-basins; some were used for articles of toilet, and in one vessel traces of henna148 were still visible in one compartment and traces of kohl in the other.

Fig. 90a	Fig. 89.	Fig. 90b
Fig. 90, a.	Fig. 89.	Fig. 90, b.

Of the stone-ware of the early period of Semitic supremacy in the Euphrates valley, a gracefully curved vase of white marble belonging to Urumush149 king of Kish, which was discovered at Nippur during the course of the excavations carried on by the University of Pennsylvania, and is now preserved in the Pennsylvania Museum, affords us a good example; while of the stone-ware of the somewhat later period of Shar-GÂni-sharri and NarÂm-Sin, the Semitic kings of Agade, a white alabaster “phial” (cf. Fig. 89) discovered at TellÔ and bearing the name of NarÂm-Sin is an excellent specimen. It consists in a well-rounded flask or phial seven and a half inches high, and is inscribed with the words “NarÂm-Sin, King of the four regions.” Another small stone vase of this king made of marble was acquired by Oppert during the ill-fated expedition of 1855, the inscription upon which gave the additional information that the stone from which the vase was made came from Magan, but this valuable relic shared the fate of the other monuments and tablets recovered by Fresnel and Oppert, and went down in the Tigris on May 23rd, 1855.150

Many stone vases of the late period of Sumerian supremacy have been brought to light, but none so interesting or so illuminating as that of Gudea, patesi of Lagash (cf. Figs. 90 a, b). This unique vase of dark green steatite is between eight and nine inches high, and rests upon a narrow circular base. It is furnished with a very small spout which could only allow but a small quantity of liquid to pass at a time. The decoration is of the most elaborate order: two entwined serpents occupy the central part of the design, their sinuous coils encircled round a long staff traversing the whole height of the vase, while their tongues are seen touching the edge of the vase near the embryonic spout. The serpents are flanked by two strangely composite and highly mythical creatures which face each other; in the grasp of each is a long spear provided with a semicircular lateral handle, an exact replica of the copper weapon discovered by De Sarzec at TellÔ,151 the site where this vase was also found. These winged monsters have the body and head of a serpent, and are provided with claws and talons, while their tails find their fitting termination in the sting of a scorpion; their necks are encircled with twisted tails, and their head-gears consist in a kind of horned cap, an indication of the supernatural powers of these extraordinary monstrosities. But in spite of the highly mythical character of these creatures, the artist has not lost sight of the general appearance of the serpent that has, as it were supplied the material and natural foundation for the unnatural additions which his imaginative mind has superimposed, the scaly skin of the snake being portrayed by means of inlaid fragments of marble. The inscription informs us that this vase was dedicated to the god Nin-gish-zi-da by Gudea for the prolongation of his life.

Another stone vessel of a somewhat unique character is the dark alabaster bowl in the NimrÛd Central Saloon of the British Museum; it is sculptured in relief with a scene of Gilgamesh and Ea-bani wrestling with lions, but unfortunately it is in a very poor state of preservation.

Fig. 91.—A, B, C (British Museum, Nos. 93088, 91596, 90952). D (after Clay).

But the practice of making vases of stone did not cease with the decline of Babylonian supremacy; the Assyrians imitated their cultural progenitors in this as in all other matters. The most interesting stone vase belonging to the Assyrian era is that bearing an inscription of Sennacherib (cf. Fig. 91, A). It is a kind of amphora though the two handles are nearly worn away. The shape and proportions of this vase are very artistic, and the curves well rounded off. In general contour it somewhat resembles the little glass vase of Sargon, a yet more remarkable relic of antiquity (cf. Fig. 91, C). Another interesting example of Assyrian stone-ware is seen in Fig. 91, B; the vase, which is decorated round the neck, bears the traces of a well-nigh effaced inscription, and like the small glass vase of this same king is engraved with a small lion. It is shaped differently from most of the stone vases of the period, and has a charm and beauty all its own. Various glass vessels and tubes were recovered from the ruins of Babil, Kouyunjik and elsewhere, but their date is in nearly all cases an uncertain quantity. Assyrian and Babylonian glass would appear to have been made in the ordinary way, i.e. by a mixture of silex or sand with alkalis, while it was fashioned into the required shape by means of a blow-pipe, and finished off with a turning machine, of which the marks are sometimes still visible. This is the case with the little vase of Sargon illustrated above.152

Stone-ware of the late Babylonian period is well illustrated by the jar-fragment of Nebuchadnezzar (604-561 B.C.) published by W. L. Nash in the Proceedings of the Society of Biblical ArchÆology (1910, p. 180). The inscription is very brief and apart from the king’s name only has the numeral “one,” which was probably followed by a measure, but the name of the latter is broken away. This stone jar like the Assyrian jars differs from most of the inscribed vessels of earlier times, which usually bear a dedicatory inscription, while in shape it is not unlike the Assyrian jars seen in Fig. 91.

Allusion has elsewhere been made (cf. p. 86) to the marble vase bearing the name of Xerxes in cuneiform and Egyptian hieroglyphics, but a number of similar vases and fragments bearing an inscription of this same king have also been brought to light. One such vase was found by Newton at Halicarnassus in Asia Minor, the fragments of another being found by Loftus at Susa, while a third (cf. Fig. 91, D) recently acquired by the Babylonian Museum of the University of Pennsylvania, is published by Clay in the Museum Journal (1910, I, p. 6). It bears the royal inscription of Xerxes the Great written in four different languages, Persian, Elamite, Babylonian and Egyptian, the last-named being written in the old hieroglyphics, and the other three in cuneiform. The vase measures nine and seven-eighths inches in height, and eight and fifteen-sixteenths inches in diameter.

Although stone-ware appears to have been used more frequently in the earlier periods of Mesopotamian civilization, it must be not supposed that terra-cotta pottery was not also used by the ancient Sumerians and early Semites. A vast quantity of pottery comprising bowls, phials, flat vases, chalice goblets, oval pots and vessels of every description, size, shape and form has been recovered from TellÔ, Nippur, FÂra and other recently excavated sites in Babylonia, and indeed so numerous and so manifold are the vessels in question that only a long and systematic study of the mass of material now available, as thorough and exhaustive as that made by Professor Flinders Petrie of Egyptian pottery, would justify any attempt to classify and date the different specimens. The earlier excavations in Mesopotamia similarly yielded a large number of terra-cotta pots and jars, but unfortunately there is so much uncertainty as to the locality from which many of them came, and even where that is known, there is generally no means of ascertaining in what strata they were found—(as is unhappily also the case with a good deal of the pottery discovered in recent years)—and as they further bear no inscriptions, any attempted systematization in our present state of knowledge is inevitably based largely on unproved and unprovable hypotheses. Two good examples of early pre-Sargonic pottery are seen in Figs. 92, 93. Both the cup (Fig. 92) and the vase (Fig. 93) were discovered in the pre-Sargonic strata at Nippur.153 Many other interesting specimens of early pottery were discovered on the same site, some being apparently black in colour, others being red. In a room beneath the pavement of NarÂm-Sin two vases were brought to light which illustrate the remarkable differences in size and shape exhibited by early Babylonian pottery, one of these vases being bell-shaped and having a flat bottom twice as large in diameter as its mouth, while the other, a little over two feet high and one foot nine inches across the top, was decorated with a rope pattern.154

Among the minor results attending the excavations at BismÂya was the recovery of a vast number of terra-cotta vases, some entire, others only fragmentary.155 They were found in graves, wells, and drains as well as in the various platforms contained in the mound, and in the plain itself. Between twenty-five and twenty-six feet below the surface two large burial urns were discovered, while at a depth of some thirty-four feet a smaller urn was brought to light. The earliest examples of pottery were found more than forty-four feet below the surface. In the larger vases and urns the clay appears to have been mixed with chopped straw,156 the clay itself being as a rule of a yellowish brown colour, but according to Banks, the clay was burnt to a deep brown or black colour in the earliest times. The wheel seems to have been used at all periods, though not to the exclusion of hand-made pottery. One of the pre-Sargonic vases from this site was apparently formed by placing the clay on a flat surface, which the potter revolved with one hand while fashioning the clay into the required shape with the other hand; as Banks suggests, this may have been the origin of the potter’s wheel. The vessels from BismÂya vary in height from a little over an inch to just under thirty inches, and they exhibit every conceivable kind of shape. The surfaces of most of them are plain, but some are decorated with dots, squares, concentric circles and grooves. Two large vases are painted with the marks of their makers or owners in black, but these are regarded by Banks as post-Babylonian. Some of the vases are provided with covers, the cover of one of the funeral urns consisting in a kind of dish; sometimes, in the case of vases which were buried, a woven cloth was fastened over the mouth and sealed with clay. These cloths have of course long since perished, but the marks of the threads on the clay are still visible.157 One vase is shaped like a boat, while another interesting terra-cotta object discovered on this site is a lamp terminating in the head of an ox.

Some very unique specimens of Babylonian black pottery with incised lines filled with white paste were discovered by Capt. Cros at TellÔ. These vases were not only decorated with geometrical designs, but also with fish, boats, water-fowl and other river scenes.158 This type of pottery is of frequent occurrence in the ancient world. It has been found in Susa on the east, while in the west it penetrated as far as Spain. Of Babylonian pottery belonging to the Kassite period, mention should especially be made of three vases discovered by Peters and Haynes at Nippur. These pots are decorated with green and yellow stripes, and were enclosed in an urn together with three small boxes, the largest of which was ornamented with knobs. Along with these articles more than a hundred discs and crescents pierced for the purposes of suspension, and mostly coloured black or white, were also found. One of the best examples of late pottery is the delicately-shaped and well-preserved amphora discovered by Koldewey at Babylon,159 but it must probably be assigned to the Roman period.

With regard to Assyrian pottery we are in a still greater state of ignorance, in spite of the wealth of material at hand. Large quantities of pottery were brought to light by Botta, Layard and other early excavators, but unfortunately their archÆological importance seemed as nothing compared with colossal bulls, sculptured bas-reliefs, or even prosaic clay tablets, and the result of this fortunately bygone apathy is that the site from which they came is sometimes not ascertainable, while on hardly any occasion is it possible to discover the building or immediate locality where they were found.

But the scientific excavations carried on by Koldewey and Andrae at Ashur are calculated to yield more satisfactory results in this connection. These excavations have already thrown light on the early pottery of Assyria, in the discovery of clay vessels decorated with black and red geometrical designs and assigned to the prehistoric period.

Another interesting specimen of Assyrian pottery found on the same site consists in a large round vase decorated about the top and having two handles.160

In Pl. XXXIII we have a miscellaneous group of pottery from the ruined mounds of Nineveh, and a similar group from NimrÛd. The pots here displayed show much variation both in size and form, but little more can be said about them. Apart, however, from the complete vessels in clay, a number of fragments of bowls have been recovered bearing inscriptions of kings of Assyria who reigned between 1140-681 B.C. These inscriptions are principally concerned with the various building-operations undertaken during the reign of the king in question. Were these bowls complete they would be of immense importance in arriving at some definite idea as to the shapes and sizes of vases in vogue at the different periods to which they belong. But as fortune or misfortune has it, hardly any of the well-preserved cups and bowls as yet recovered bear any inscription or design at all, and this is one of the great difficulties with which the student of Babylonian and Assyrian pottery has to contend. Sometimes a coloured glaze was applied to the surface of terra-cotta vessels, but to what extent this practice prevailed in early times it is hard to say.

Probably the two most striking pots yielded by the excavations are those numbered 91941 and 91950 in the British Museum collections. The former is a large jar nineteen inches high and eighteen and three-quarter inches in diameter, upon which is portrayed the figure of a man with the tail of a goat and the claws of an eagle, while the broken remains of one handle are still preserved. The latter is a six-handled vase two feet six inches high, on the body of which rude figures and dragon-like animals are depicted, but both of these vases probably belong to post-Assyrian times.