  The time was drawing near for my departure. Once more I was about to leave the ruins amidst which I had spent so many happy hours, and to which I was bound by so many pleasant and solemn ties; and probably to return no more. I only waited the arrival of Abde, the late Pasha of Baghdad, who was now on his way to his new government of Diarbekir. He was travelling with a large company of attendants, and without a strong escort it was scarcely prudent to venture on a journey. It was doubly necessary for me to have proper protection, as I took with me the valuable collection of bronzes and other small objects At length, after the usual Eastern delays, the Pasha arrived at Mosul. He remained encamped outside the town for two or three days, and during that time visited the excavations, his curiosity having been excited by the description he had received of the wondrous idols dug out of the ruins. He marvelled at what he saw, as a Turk marvels at strange things which he can neither understand nor explain. It would be in vain to speak to him of the true objects of such researches, the knowledge they impart, the lessons they teach, or the thoughts they beget. In these pages I have occasionally indulged in reflections suggested by the scenes I have had to describe, and have ventured to point out the moral of the strange tale I have had to relate. I cannot better conclude than by showing the spirit in which Eastern philosophy and Mussulman resignation contemplate the evidences of ancient greatness and civilization, suddenly rising up in the midst of modern ignorance and decay. A letter in my possession contained so true and characteristic a picture of the feelings that such an event excites in the mind of a good Mohammedan, that I here give a literal translation of its contents. It was written to a friend of mine by a Turkish Cadi, in reply to some inquiries as to the commerce, population, and remains of antiquity of an ancient city, in which dwelt the head of the law. These are its words:— “My Illustrious Friend, and Joy of my Liver! “The thing you ask of me is both difficult and useless. Although I have passed all my days in this place, I have neither counted the houses nor have I inquired into the number of the inhabitants; and as “Oh, my soul! oh, my lamb! seek not after the things which concern thee not. Thou camest unto us, and we welcomed thee: go in peace. “Of a truth, thou hast spoken many words; and there is no harm done, for the speaker is one and the listener is another. After the fashion of thy people thou hast wandered from one place to another until thou art happy and content in none. We (praise be to God) were born here, and never desire to quit it. Is it possible then that the idea of a general intercourse between mankind should make any impression on our understandings? God forbid! “Listen, oh my son! There is no wisdom equal unto the belief in God! He created the world, and shall we liken ourselves unto him in seeking to penetrate into the mysteries of his creation? Shall we say, behold this star spinneth round that star, and this other star with a tail goeth and cometh in so many years! Let it go! He from whose hand it came will guide and direct it. “But thou wilt say unto me, Stand aside, oh man, for I am more learned than thou art, and have seen more things. If thou thinkest that thou art in this respect better than I am, thou art welcome. I praise God that I seek not that which I require not. Thou art learned in the things I care not for; and as for that which thou hast seen I defile it. Will much knowledge create thee a double belly, or wilt thou seek Paradise with thine eyes? “Oh, my friend! If thou wilt be happy, say, There is no God but God! Do no evil, and thus wilt thou fear neither man nor death; for surely thine hour will come! “The meek in spirit (El Fakir), On the 28th of April I bid a last farewell to my faithful Arab friends, and with a heavy heart turned from the ruins of ancient Nineveh. THE END. INDEX. A. Gherdi, district of, 306. Footnotes: [1] The most unobservant and hasty traveller in Turkey would soon become acquainted with this fact, could he read the modest and pious inscription, carved in relief on a small marble tablet of the purest white, adorning almost every half-ruined fountain at which he stops to refresh himself by the wayside. [2] Anabasis, lib. iv. c. 5. [3] The small building which sometimes covers a Mohammedan tomb is so called. [4] Shah Armen, i. e., King of Armenia, was a title assumed by a dynasty, reigning at Akhlat, founded by Sokman Kothby, a slave of the Seljuk Prince, Kothbedin Ismail, who established an independent principality at Akhlat in A. D. 1100, which lasted eighty years. [5] The lowest order of the Yezidi priesthood. [6] A large drum beaten at both ends, and a kind of oboe or pipe. [7] Nineveh and its Remains, vol. i. p. 245. [8] Anab. book iv. c. 3. [9] It was at the foot of this steep descent that Xenophon was compelled to turn off, as caravans still are, from the river, and to brave the difficulties of a mountain pass, defended by the warlike Carduchi or Kurds. [10] The custom of assembling and transacting business in the gate is continually referred to in the Bible. See 2 Sam. xix. 8., where king David is represented as sitting in the gate; comp. 2 Chron. xviii. 9., and Dan. ii. 49. The gates of Jewish houses were probably similar to that described in the text. Such entrances are also found in Persia. Frequently in the gates of cities, as at Mosul, these recesses are used as shops for the sale of wheat and barley, bread and grocery. Elisha prophesies that a measure of fine flour shall be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria. 2 Kings, vii. 1. and 18. [11] Mr. Ainsworth would take the Greeks up to the modern ferry, where there could never have been a ford, and which would have been some miles out of their route. (Travels in the Track of the Ten Thousand.) [12] In Chapter X. will be found some farther remarks on this subject. [13] He probably took the more difficult road over the pass, and not that round the spur, in order to cross the Khabour by a bridge or ferry. It must be remembered that it was winter, and that the rivers were consequently swollen. [14] This halt, after so short a day’s march, may have been occasioned by the Hazel. The distance corresponds with sufficient accuracy. [15] It is a matter of surprise that Cyrus should have chosen the very middle of summer for his expedition into Babylonia, and still more wonderful that the Greeks, unused to the intense heats of Mesopotamia, and encumbered with their heavy arms and armour, should have been able to brave the climate. No Turkish or Persian commander would in these days venture to undertake a campaign against the Arabs in this season of the year; for, besides the heat, the want of water would be almost an insurmountable obstacle. During their retreat, the Greeks had to encounter all the rigor of an Armenian winter; so that, during the few months they were under arms, they went through the most trying extremes of climate. The expedition of Alexander was also undertaken in the middle of summer. It must, however, be borne in mind, that Mesopotamia was probably then thickly peopled and well cultivated, and that canals and wells of water must have abounded. [16] Had he seen this large inland sea, he would probably have mentioned it. [17] In no way, however, would a direct line of march between these two rivers, nor between any other two rivers which can possibly answer to his description, tally with the distances given by Xenophon. [18] See Nineveh and its Remains, vol. ii. p. 112. [19] Nineveh and its Remains, vol. ii. p. 107. [20] The long lines of variously armed troops, described in my former work (vol. ii. p. 107), as covering several slabs from top to bottom, form the army of the king marching to this campaign. [21] It is still the custom in Persia, and was so until lately in Turkey, for soldiers to bring the heads of the slain to their officers after a battle, and to claim a small pecuniary reward. [22] For an account of these mounds represented in the Assyrian sculptures, and the manner in which they illustrate various passages in Scripture see my Nineveh and its Remains, vol ii. p. 281 and note. [23] Such is the costume of the women in ships in a bas-relief discovered during my former researches (see Nineveh and its Remains, vol. ii. p. 116), and which, I have conjectured, may represent the capture of Tyre and Sidon. [24] See Nineveh and its Remains, vol. i. p. 131, for a description of the discoveries previously made in this mound. [25] “The little sheep.” Kouyunjik is, however, generally known to the Arabs by the name of Armousheeyah. [26] The river Tigris flows in this part of its course, and until it reaches Saimarrah, on the confines of Babylonia, through a valley varying from one to two miles in width, bounded on both sides by low limestone and conglomerate hills. Its bed has been undergoing a continual and regular change. When it reaches the hills on one side, it is thrown back by this barrier, and creeps gradually to the opposite side, leaving a rich alluvial soil quickly covered with jungle. This process it has been repeating, backwards and forwards, for countless ages, and will continue to repeat as long as it drains the great highlands of Armenia. At Nimroud it is now gradually returning to the base of the mound, which it deserted some three thousand years ago; but centuries must elapse before it can work its way that far. [27] Nineveh and its Remains, vol. i. ch. ix. [28] A mixture of bruised wheat, chopped meat, milk and curds, boiled into a thick pulpy mass, over which melted butter is poured. It is a favorite dish in Syria and Mesopotamia, and is cooked by families on great festivals, or on certain days of the year, in consequence of vows made during sickness or in travel. [29] For a translation of this singular poem, see the larger work, of which the present volume is an abridgment. [30] This reminds me of the Bedouins, who, when they come into a town in a party, send one of their number to the mosque to pray for his companions as well as himself. [31] At Mosul, a bullock, very small certainly when compared with our high-fed cattle, is sold for forty or fifty piastres, 8s. or 10s.; a fat sheep for about 4s.; a lamb for 2s. or 2s. 6d. Other articles of food are proportionably cheap. The camel-load of barley was selling at my departure for ten or twelve piastres (2s. or 2s. 6d.). A common horse is worth from 3l. to 5l.; a donkey about 10s.; a camel about the same as a horse. [33] It will be borne in mind that it was necessary to carry tunnels round the chambers, and along the walls, leaving the centre buried in earth and rubbish, a very laborious and tedious operation with no more means at command than those afforded by the country. [34] All these entrances were formed in the same way as that in the south-eastern side, described p. 66., namely, by a pair of human-headed bulls, flanked on each side by a winged giant, and two smaller figures one above the other. [36] P. 66. I assume the building to be due north and south, although it is not so. It faces nearly north-east and south-west. [37] In my former work I had stated that all the Assyrian sculptures were carved in their places against the walls of the building. [38] I have described the mode of irrigation now generally employed by the Mesopotamian Arabs, in my “Nineveh and its Remains,” vol. ii. p. 321. [39] It may be remarked, that precisely the same framework was used for moving the great sculptures in the British Museum. [41] Although in these bas-reliefs, as in other Assyrian sculptures, no regard is paid to perspective, the proportions are very well kept. [42] 1 Kings, vi. 23. I shall hereafter compare the edifices built by Solomon with the Assyrian palaces, and point out the remarkable illustrations of the Jewish temple afforded by the latter. [43] A peculiar deity is mentioned who probably presided over the earth, but his name is as yet unknown; it is here denoted by a monogram. [44] Nahum, iii. 13. [45] Anab. lib. iii. c. 4. [46] Col. Rawlinson remarks in his memoir on the “Outlines of Assyrian History” (published by the Royal Asiatic Society in 1842), that “the great pyramid at Nimroud was erected by the son of the builder of the north-west palace;” and as the Greeks name that monument the tomb of Sardanapalus, he believes that “a shaft sunk in the centre of the mound, and carried down to the foundations, would lay bare the original sepulchre. The difficulties (he adds) of such an operation have hitherto prevented its execution, but the idea is not altogether abandoned.” He appears thus, curiously enough, to be ignorant of the excavations in that ruin described in the text, although he had just visited Nimroud. The only likely place not yet examined would be beneath the very foundations. [47] Palaces of Nineveh and Persepolis restored, p. 223. [48] Nineveh and its Remains, vol. ii.—plan of Kouyunjik. [49] I had also shown the probability that the palace of Khorsabad owed its erection to a monarch of this dynasty, in a series of letters published in the Malta Times, as far back as 1843. [50] Vol. xxii. p. 34. I take this opportunity of attributing to their proper source the discoveries of the names of Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon, inadvertently assigned to others in my “Nineveh and its Remains.” We owe these, with many others of scarcely less importance, to the ingenuity and learning of Dr. Hincks. (Literary Gazette, June 27, 1846.) [51] Isaiah, xxxix. 1, and 2 Kings, xx. 12, where the name is written Berodach. [52] Col. Rawlinson reads Bel-adon. This Belib is the Belibus of Ptolemy’s Canon. The mention of his name led Dr. Hincks to determine the accession of Sennacherib to be in 703 B. C. [53] Col. Rawlinson gives 11,180 head of cattle, 5230 camels, 1,020,100 sheep, and 800,300 goats. He has also pointed out that both Abydenus and Polyhistor mention this campaign against Babylon. [54] Joseph. 1. ix. c. 14., and see Nineveh and its Remains, vol. ii. p. 306, where I had long before the deciphering of the inscriptions endeavoured to point out the representation of this event, in some bas-reliefs at Kouyunjik. [55] Isaiah, xxxvii. 2 Kings, xix. 9. [56] 2 Kings, xviii. 13.; and compare Isaiah, xxxvi. 1. [57] “And the king of Assyria appointed unto Hezekiah, king of Judah, 300 talents of silver and 30 talents of gold.” (2 Kings, xviii. 14.) [58] Shalmaneser, who made war against Hosea, and who is generally supposed to have carried away the ten tribes from Samaria, although the sacred historian does not distinctly say so (2 Kings, xvii.), is identified by general consent with Sargon, who sent his general against Ashdod (Isaiah, xx.). [60] Xenophon Cyrop. lvii. c. 3. Quintus Curtius, liii. c. 3. [61] Botta’s Monumens de Ninive, Plate 146. [62] 2 Kings, xviii. 14. Isaiah xxxvi. 2. From 2 Kings, xix. 8., and Isaiah, xxxvii. 8., we may infer that the city soon yielded. [63] Isaiah, iii. 18—24. &c. (See translation by the Rev. J. Jones.) This description of the various articles of dress worn by the Jewish women is exceedingly interesting. Most of the ornaments enumerated, probably indeed the whole of them, if we were acquainted with the exact meaning of the Hebrew words, are still to be traced in the costumes of Eastern women inhabiting the same country. Many appear to be mentioned in the Assyrian inscriptions amongst objects of tribute and of spoil brought to the king. See also Ezekiel xvi. 10—14. for an account of the dress of the Jewish women. [64] M. Botta also found, at Khorsabad, the ashes of string in lumps of clay impressed with a seal, without being aware of their origin. [65] The impressions of the signets of the Egyptian and Assyrian kings, besides a large collection of seals found in Kouyunjik, are now in the British Museum. [66] The sockets, which are now in the British Museum, weigh 6 lb. 3¾ oz.; the diameter of the ring is about five inches. The hinges and frames of the brass gates at Babylon were also of brass (Herod. i. 178). [67] “Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh.” (Gen. x. 11.) [68] On Egyptian monuments captives are portrayed with similar feathers attached to their heads; but they appear to be of a negro race, whilst those on the Nimroud bricks bear no traces of negro color or physiognomy. (Wilkinson’s Ancient Egyptians, vol. 1. plate, p. 385.) [69] That is, as will be hereafter shown, to Pul, or Tiglath Pileser. [70] The canvass of such tents is divided into strips, which, packed separately on the camels during a march, are easily united again by coarse thread, or by small wooden pins. [71] The reader may remember a well-known anecdote of this celebrated Sheikh, still current in the desert. He was the owner of a matchless mare whose fame had even reached the Greek Emperor. Ambassadors were sent from Constantinople to ask the animal of the chief, and to offer any amount of gold in return. When they announced, after dining, the object of their embassy, it was found, that the tribe suffering from a grievous famine, and having nothing to offer to their guests, the generous Hatem had slain his own priceless mare to entertain them. [72] It was parallel to, and to the south of, the chamber marked A A, in the plan of the north-west palace. (Nineveh and its Remains, vol. i. Plan III.) [73] Few wells in the plains bordering on the Tigris yield sweet water. [74] The caldrons contained about eighty bells. The largest are 3¼ inches high, and 2¼ inches in diameter, the smallest 1¾ inch high, and 1¼ inch in diameter. With the rest of the relics they are now in the British Museum. [75] 2 Chron. iv. 2. The dimensions, however, of this vessel were far greater. It is singular that in some of the bas-reliefs large metal caldrons supported on brazen oxen are represented. [76] They were dedicated to the gods in temples. Coloeus dedicated a large vessel of brass, adorned with griffins, to HerÉ. Herod. iv. 152. [77] The Egyptian goddess Athor is represented with similar ears and hair. [78] 1 Kings, vii. 13, 14. 2 Chron. iv. [79] 2 Kings, xxiv. 14, 16. Jeremiah xxiv. 1.; xxix. 2. [80] In ancient history, embossed or inlaid goblets are continually mentioned amongst the offerings to celebrated shrines. Gyges dedicated goblets, Alyattes, a silver cup, and an inlaid iron saucer (the art of inlaying having been invented, according to Herodotus, by Glaucus), and Croesus similar vessels, in the temple of Delphi. (Herod. i. 14. and 25. Pausanias, l, x.) They were also given as acceptable presents to kings and distinguished men, as we see in 2 Sam. viii. 10. and 3 Chron. ix. 23, 24. The LacedÆmonians prepared for Croesus a brazen vessel ornamented with forms of animals round the rim (Herod. i. 70.), like some of the bowls described in the text. The embossings on the Nimroud bronzes may furnish us with a very just idea of the figures and ornaments of the celebrated shield of Achilles, which were probably much the same in treatment and execution. [81] Such may have been “the bosses of the bucklers” mentioned in Job, xv. 26. [82] 1 Kings, x. 16, 17.; xiv. 25, 26. [83] Jer. li. 11. Ezek. xxi. 21., and compare Isaiah, xlix. 2., where a polished shaft is mentioned. [84] Nineveh and its Remains, vol. ii. p. 319. [85] Ezek. xxvii. 15. Ivory was amongst the objects brought to Solomon by the navy of Tharshish (1 Kings x. 22). [86] The height of the glass vase is 3¼ inches; of the alabaster, 7 inches. [88] 1 Kings, x. 18. This is a highly interesting illustration of the work in Solomon’s palaces. The earliest use of metal amongst the Greeks appears also to have been as a casing to wooden objects. [89] Herod, i. 14. [90] Both sculptures have, however, been completely restored in the British Museum. [91] No tradition is more generally current in the East than the well known story of the Seven Sleepers and their Dog. There is scarcely a district without the original cave in which the youths were concealed during their miraculous slumber. [92] They were first visited by the late M. Rouet, French consul at Mosul. In my Nineveh and its Remains, vol. ii. p. 114 note, will be found a short description of the sculptures by my friend Mr. Ross. These are the rock-tablets which have been recently described in the French papers, as a new discovery by M. Place, and as containing a series of portraits of the Assyrian kings! [93] These tombs are not of the Assyrian epoch. The Jews, as well as other nations of antiquity, were, however, accustomed to make such rock-chambers for their dead, as we learn from Isaiah, xxii. 16. “What hast thou here? and whom hast thou here, that thou hast hewed thee out a sepulchre here, as he that heweth him out a sepulchre on high, and that graveth an habitation for himself in a rock?” [94] I examined the remarkable tablets at the Nahr-el-Kelb, on my return to Europe in 1851. They were sculptured, as I stated in my first work, by Sennacherib, the king of the Bavian monuments. [96] Nineveh and its Remains, vol. ii. chap. 12. [97] The names of the principal are Tel-el-Barour, Abbas, Kadreeyah, Abd-ul-Azeez, Baghurtha, Elias Tuppeh, Tarkheena, and Doghan. [98] Anab. b. ii. c. 4. [100] Isaiah, xxxvi. 18, 19. [101] Nineveh and its Remains, vol. ii. p. 104. [103] 2 Kings, xviii. 11. Ezek. i. 2. [104] 2 Chron. xxxv. 20. [105] I use the word “dromedary” for a swift riding camel, the Deloul of the Arabs, and Hejin of the Turks: it is so applied generally, although incorrectly, by Europeans in the East. [106] Burckhardt, the English traveller best acquainted with the Bedouin character, and admirably correct in describing it, makes the following remarks: “With all their faults, the Bedouins are one of the noblest nations with which I ever had an opportunity of becoming acquainted.... The sociable character of a Bedouin, when there is no question of profit or interest, may be described as truly amiable. His cheerfulness, wit, softness of temper, good nature and sagacity, which enable him to make shrewd remarks on all subjects, render him a pleasing, and often a valuable companion. His equality of temper is never ruffled by fatigue or suffering.” (Notes on the Bedouins, pp. 203, 208.) Unfortunately, since Burckhardt’s time, closer intercourse with the Turks and with Europeans, has much tended to destroy many good features in the Arab character. [108] The following are the names of the principal mounds seen during this day’s march: Ermah, Shibbit, Duroge, Addiyah, Abou-Kubbah, and Kharala, each name being preceded by the Arabic word Tel, i. e. mound. They are laid down in the map accompanying this volume, their positions having been fixed by careful bearings, and in some instances by the sextant. [109] Nineveh and its Remains, vol. i. p. 258. [110] Nineveh and its Remains, vol. i. p. 259. [111] The traveller who has looked down from Mardin, for the first time, upon the plains of Mesopotamia, can never forget the impression which that singular scene must have made upon him. The view from the Sinjar hill is far more beautiful and varied. [112] In the spring months, when the pastures are good, the sheep and camels of the Bedouins require but little water, and the tents are seldom pitched near a well or stream; frequently as much as half a day’s journey distant. Suttum assured me that at this time of the year the camels need not be watered for two months, such is the richness of the grass of the Desert. [113] It is an error to suppose that the Bedouins never ride horses; for several reasons, however, they seldom do so. [114] It is considered exceedingly inhospitable amongst the Shammar to place a hot dish before guests, as they are obliged to eat quickly out of consideration for others, who are awaiting their turn, which they cannot do, unless the mess be cool, without burning their mouths, or wasting half their time picking out the colder bits. On one occasion, Ferhan, the great chief of the Shammar, and a large number of horsemen having alighted at my tent, I prepared a dinner for them. The Sheikh was afterwards heard to say that the Bey’s feast was sumptuous, but that he had not treated his guests with proper hospitality, as the dishes were so hot nobody could eat his fill. [115] These are “the rings and nose jewels,” which Isaiah (iii. 21.) describes as worn by the Jewish women. It is curious that no representation of them has hitherto been found in the Assyrian sculptures. I take this opportunity of mentioning, that I saw a finger-ring sculptured on a fragment at Khorsabad. [116] As this was known to be a mere matter of form with me, as I made it a rule never to accept presents of this kind, Suttum might have offered me his bay colt, the most valuable horse amongst the Shammar, to increase the display of hospitality. The reason he did not was this, that although he knew I would have returned the horse, I might have expressed a wish to buy it, and have offered a price. An offer of this kind would have at once injured the value of the animal in the eyes of the Bedouins, and its owner might have been ultimately compelled to sell it. On one occasion, when I was amongst the Shammar, at Al Hather, an Arab rode into my encampment on a beautiful grey colt. I was so much struck with the animal, that I at once expressed a wish to its rider to purchase it. He merely intimated that the sum I named was beneath the value. I increased it, but he only shook his head, and rode off. Nevertheless, the report spread amongst the tribes that he had bargained for the sale of his horse. Although of the best blood, the animal was looked upon with suspicion by the Bedouins, and the owner was, some months after, obliged to sell him at a lower price than I had bid, to a horse-dealer of Mosul! A knowledge of such little prejudices and customs is very necessary in dealing with the Arabs of the Desert, who are extremely sensitive, and easily offended. [117] Its note resembles the cry of the camel-driver, when leading the herds home at night, for which it is frequently mistaken. [118] Literally, “strength-money:” the small tribes, who wander in the Desert, and who inhabit the villages upon its edge, are obliged to place themselves under the protection of some powerful tribe to avoid being utterly destroyed. Each great division of the Shammar receives a present of money, sheep, camels, corn, or barley, from some tribe or another for this protection, which is always respected by the other branches of the tribe. Thus the Jehesh paid kowee to the Boraij, the Jebours of the Khabour to Ferhan (the hereditary chief of all the Shammar), the people of Tel Afer to the Assaiyah. Should another branch of the Shammar plunder, or injure, tribes thus paying kowee, their protectors are bound to make good, or revenge, their losses. [119] Cawal Yusuf actually became the farmer of the revenues for a sum scarcely exceeding 350l. The inhabitants of the Sinjar were greatly pleased by this concession to one of their own faith, and were encouraged to cultivate the soil, and to abstain from mutual aggressions. [120] These relics are now in the British Museum. [121] The height of this fragment was 5 ft. 8 in. [122] A lion very similar to that discovered at Arban, though more colossal in its dimensions, exists near Serong. (Chesney’s Expedition, vol. i. p. 114.) [123] 2 Kings, xvii. 6. Ezek. i. 1. In the Hebrew text the name of this river is spelt in two different ways. In Kings we have ?????, Khabour, answering exactly to the Chaboras of the Greeks and Romans, and the Khabour of the Arabs. In Ezekiel it is written ??????, Kebar. There is no reason, however, to doubt that the same river is meant. [124] The name occurs in Ezekiel, iii. 15. “Then I came to them of the captivity at Tel-Abib, that dwelt by the river of Chebar.” In the Theodosian tables we find Thallaba on the Khabour, with which it may possibly be identified. (Illustrated Commentary on the Old and New Testaments, published by Charles Knight, a very useful and well-digested summary, in note to word.) It is possible that Arbonad, a name apparently given to the Khabour in Judith, ii. 24., may be connected with Arban: however, it is not quite clear what river is really meant, as there appears to be some confusion in the geographical details. The cities on the Khabour, mentioned by the Arab geographers, are Karkisia (Circesium, at the junction of the river with the Euphrates), Makeseen (of which I could find no trace), Arban, and Khabour. I have not been able to discover the site of any ruin of the same name as the river. Karkisia, when visited in the twelfth century by Benjamin of Tudela, contained about 500 Jewish inhabitants, under two Rabbis. According to Ibn Haukal, it was surrounded by gardens and cultivated lands. The spot is now inhabited by a tribe of Arabs. [125] In speaking of the Bedouins I mean the Aneyza, Shamma, Al Dhefyr, and other great tribes inhabiting Mesopotamia and the Desert to the north of the Gebel Shammar. With the Arabs of the Hedjaz and Central Arabia I am unacquainted. [126] Polygamy, it may be here mentioned, is very common amongst the Bedouins. [127] The title of haraymi (thief), so far from being one of disgrace, is considered evidence of great prowess and capacity in a young man. Like the Spartans of old, he only suffers if caught in the act. There was a man of the Assaiyah tribe, who had established an immense renown by stealing no less than ninety horses, amongst which was the celebrated mare given by Sofuk to Beder Khan Bey. [128] Easterns never hawk, if they can avoid it, when the sun is high, as the bird of prey described in the text then appears in search of food. [129] One of the principal objects of the Bedouins in battle being to carry off their adversaries’ mares, they never wound them if they can avoid it, but endeavour to kill or unhorse the riders. [130] Burckhardt has thus defined the terms of this law: “The Thar rests with the khomse, or fifth generation, those only having the right to revenge a slain parent, whose fourth lineal ascendant is, at the same time, the fourth lineal ascendant of the person slain; and, on the other side, only those male kindred of the homicide are liable to pay with their own for the blood shed, whose fourth lineal ascendant is at the same time the fourth lineal ascendant of the homicide. The present generation is thus comprised within the number of the khomse. The lineal descendants of all those who are entitled to revenge at the moment of the manslaughter inherit the right from their parents. The right to blood-revenge is never lost; it descends on both sides to the latest generation.” (Notes on Arabs, p. 85.) [131] I. e. The ancient ruined city, a name very generally given by the Turks to ruins. [132] The form of salutation used by the Turks, consisting of raising the hand from the breast, or sometimes from the ground, to the forehead. [133] Burckhardt remarks that “Bedouins are, perhaps, the only people of the East that can be entitled true lovers.” (Notes on Bedouins, p. 155.) [134] In the winter of the year my residence in Babylonia, after an engagement near Baghdad, between the Boraij and the Turkish regular troops, in which the latter were defeated, a flying soldier was caught within sight of an encampment. His captors were going to put him to death, when he stretched his hands towards the nearest tent, claiming the Dakheel of its owner, who chanced to be Sahiman, Mijwell’s eldest brother. The Sheikh was absent from home, but his beautiful wife Noura answered to the appeal, and seizing a tent-pole beat off his pursuers, and saved his life. This conduct was much applauded by the Bedouins. [135] The manner in which reports are spread and exaggerated in the Desert is frequently highly amusing. In all encampments there are idle vagabonds who live by carrying news from tribe to tribe, thereby earning a dinner and spending their leisure hours. As soon as a stranger arrives, and relates anything of interest to the Arabs, some such fellow will mount his ready-saddled deloul, and make the best of his way to retail the news in a neighbouring tent, from whence it is carried, in the same way, to others. It is extraordinary how rapidly a report spreads in this manner over a very great distance. Sofuk sent to inform the British resident at Baghdad, of the siege and fall of Acre, many days before the special messenger dispatched to announce that event reached the city; and I have frequently rejected intelligence received from Bedouins, on account of the apparent impossibility of its coming to me through such a source, which has afterwards proved to be true. [136] Nineveh and its Remains, vol. i. p. 93. [137] I have elsewhere described the ruins and springs of Abou Maria. (Nineveh and its Remains, vol. i. p. 257.) [138] The Tigris this year had risen much higher than usual. I have already mentioned that the plain of Nimroud was completely under water; opposite Mosul the flood nearly reached the mounds of Kouyunjik and Nebbi Yunus. [139] Burckhardt (Notes on the Bedouins, p. 269) gives the following account of the mode of preparing them:—“The Arabs in preparing locusts as an article of food, throw them alive into boiling water, with which a good deal of salt has been mixed: after a few minutes they are taken out and dried in the sun. The head, feet, and wings are then torn off; the bodies are cleansed from the salt and perfectly dried; after which process whole sacks are filled with them by the Bedouins. They are sometimes eaten broiled in butter; and they often constitute materials for a breakfast when spread over unleavened bread mixed with butter.” It has been conjectured that the locust eaten by John the Baptist in the wilderness was the fruit of a tree; but it is more probable that the prophet used a common article of food, abounding even in the Desert. [140] Cory’s Fragments, page 30. [141] The authorities respecting this god are collected in Selden, “De Dis Syris,” and in Beyer’s commentary. Abarbanel, in his commentary on Samuel, says that Dagon had the form of a fish, from the middle downwards, with the feet and hands of a man. [142] 1 Sam. v. 4. [143] Judges, xvi. 23. [144] Joshua, xv. 41. From the connection of this verse with the 33rd, it would appear that the town was in a valley. [145] Joshua, xix. 27. 1 Mac. x. 83. [146] Ezra, vi. 1. [147] Nineveh and its Remains, vol. ii. p. 147. [149] This is evident from Lucian’s “De De SyrÂ,” c. 4.; and see Gesenius’s “Thesaurus” in voce “Ashtoreth.” (1 Kings, xi. 5. 33. 2 Kings, xxiii. 13.) QuÆre, whether the bull’s horns placed on the head of this divinity, were not originally the horns of the moon’s crescent? [150] This city, one apparently of considerable size and importance, must have stood somewhere near Antioch, or between Antioch and Aleppo. The Sharutinians may probably be identified with the Shairetana of the Egyptian monuments, at one time the allies, and at another the enemies, of Egypt. Few travellers are aware that, above the city of Antioch, carved in the rock, are colossal figures of an Egyptian sphinx and two priests. I have been informed that there are other similar monuments in the neighbouring mountains. [151] This barbarous practice, frequently represented in the bas-reliefs, seems, therefore, to have prevailed from the earliest times in the East. Darius impaled 3000 Babylonians when he took their city. (Herod. iii. 159.) The last instance with which I am acquainted of this punishment having been inflicted in Turkey, was at Baghdad, where, about ten years ago, Nejib Pasha impaled four rebel Arab Sheikhs, one at each corner of the bridge. They survived for many hours. It is said that, unless they drink water, when they instantly die, persons so treated will live even for two or three days. [152] Might this word, translated conjecturally pearls, mean the shell fish from which the Tyrian dye was extracted? [153] The whole of the last passage is very obscure; the translation is partly conjectural. [154] Isaiah, xv. 6. Translation by the Rev. John Jones. [155] For this valley I received three different names, Hassanawa, Hassanmaima, and Nahala, the latter from the Zibari chief. The difficulty of getting a correct name either of a place or a person from a Kurd is very great, and travellers in Kurdistan can scarcely avoid falling into frequent errors in this respect. The same name is pronounced in a variety of ways, and is subject to all manner of additions and contractions. If it have any meaning, the difficulty is, of course, less. [156] Khan-i-resh is, by observation, 4372 feet above the level of the sea. [157] It was this chief, or one of his dependants, I believe, who plundered and was about to murder two American missionaries, who attempted to cross the mountains the year after my visit. [158] As I have used the word convent, it may be necessary to remind the reader that the Nestorians have no establishments answering to Roman Catholic places of retirement, and that monastic vows are not taken by them. [159] The height of the convent above the level of the sea is, by observation, 6625 feet. [160] Nineveh and its Remains, vol. i. p. 141. [161] The place of our encampment at Bash-Kalah was, by observation, 7818 feet above the level of the sea. [162] The Jewish encampment was 9076 feet above the level of the sea. [163] Amongst the Jewish population scattered widely over this part of ancient Media, might be sought the descendants of the ten tribes, with more probability than in the various lands which ingenious speculation has pointed out as dwelling-places of the remnant of Israel. [164] I must not omit to mention the name of Dr. Bimerstein, a German gentleman at the head of the quarantine establishment, from whom I received much civility and assistance during my stay at Wan, and who, by the influence he had obtained over the Pasha, and by his integrity and good sense, had contributed considerably towards the improvement in the condition of the Christians, and the general prosperity of the pashalic. He was a pleasing exception in a class made up of the refuse and outcasts of Europe, who have done more than is generally known to corrupt the Turkish character, and to bring an European and a Christian into contempt. I am proud to say that an Englishman is not, I believe, to be found amongst them. [165] Wan is about 5600 feet above the level of the sea. [166] This inscription was copied, with a strong telescope, by Schulz, and is published with the rest of his transcripts. [167] The Mussulmans have only two great annual feasts in which labor gives way to rejoicings and festivities; the Christians of all sects have little else but fasts and festivals throughout the year. A lazy Christian will add to his own holidays the Friday of the Mohammedans, and the Saturday of the Jews. [168] The desire of a large number of the Armenians to improve their institutions, and to adopt the manners of Europe, is a highly interesting, and indeed important, fact. I was amused, after having contributed a trifle to the funds of the school, at having presented to me a neatly printed and ornamented receipt, with the amount of my donation duly filled up in the blank space left for the purpose, the document being signed by the head of the school. [169] I cannot refrain from recording the names of the Rev. Messrs. Goddall, Dwight, Holmes, Hamlin, and Schauffler, of the Constantinople missionary station; the late excellent and enterprising Dr. Smith, who, like the estimable Dr. Grant, his fellow-laborer in the same field, and many others of his countrymen, has recently fallen a victim to his zeal and devotion; the Rev. Eli Smith of Beyrout, and Perkins of Ooroomiyah; men who will ever be connected with the first spread of knowledge and truth amongst the Christians of the East, and of whom their country may justly be proud. Personally I must express my gratitude to them for many acts of kindness and friendship. The American mission has now establishments in Smyrna, Brousa, Trebizond, Erzeroom, Diarbekir, Mosul, Aintab, Aleppo, and many other cities in Asia Minor, together with native agents all over Turkey. [170] The several streams forming the headwaters of the eastern branch of the Tigris mentioned in this Chapter were not before known, I believe, to geographers. [171] The encampment at Billi was 8612 feet above the level of the sea. [172] The bearing I obtained of Mount Ararat (N. 15°. 30 E.), corresponds correctly with its position on the best maps. Our distance was about 145 miles. [173] Those who wish to have a painful picture of the nature of the interference amongst the Nestorians, to which I allude, may read Mr. Badger’s Nestorians and their Rituals, and Mr. Fletcher’s Travels in Assyria. Although Mr. Badger naturally gives his own version of these transactions, the impartial reader will have no difficulty in seeing the misfortunes to which the unfortunate opposition to the American missions naturally led. [174] Consuls are so called in Southern Turkey and Persia, and all European strangers are supposed to be consuls. [175] Nineveh and its Remains, vol. i. p. 180. [176] On my return to Mosul I sent to Constantinople a report of the exactions and cruelties to which the Nestorians had been subjected by their Turkish rulers; but nothing, I fear, has been done to amend their condition. [177] This bas-relief is now in the British Museum. [178] Cyrop. lib. viii. c. 3. [179] Quint. Curt. lib. iii. c. 3. I have quoted this description in my Nineveh and its Remains, vol. ii. p. 279. The Persian king, although represented on the walls of Persepolis with a crown, also wore a high cap or upright turban, as we learn from Xenophon (Anab. lib. ii. c. 5). [180] 2 Kings, xvii. 6. [181] Cyrus covered his chariot-horses, all but the eyes, with armour. (Xenophon, Inst. 1. vi.) [182] Wilkinson’s Ancient Egyptians, vol. ii. p. 109. [183] So many characters are unfortunately wanting in this epigraph, that the inscription cannot be satisfactorily translated. It commences, it would appear, with the name of the Susianian king, although written without the first character found on the other slabs. The captive, however, was not the monarch himself, who was slain, as it has been seen, in the battle. The name of Shushan, written, as in the book of Daniel, for Susa, is highly interesting. It places beyond a doubt the identification of the site of the campaign. [184] 1 Sam. xviii. 6. [185] Isaiah, v. 12. In Daniel, iii. 5., we have mention of the “cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer;” but it is scarcely possible to determine what these instruments really were: they probably resembled those represented in the bas-reliefs described in the text. The instrument of ten strings mentioned in Psalm xxxiii. 2., xlii. 3., and cxliv. 9., may have been the harp of the sculptures, and the psaltery the smaller stringed instrument. [186] Niebuhr’s Thirty-fourth Lecture on Ancient History. [187] See especially Narrative of a Residence in Koordistan, &c., by the late C. J. Rich, Esq,. vol. ii. chap, xviii. [188] Daniel, iii. [189] The white ass of Baghdad is much esteemed in the East. Some are of considerable size, and, when fancifully dyed with henna, their tails and ears bright red, and their bodies spotted, like an heraldic talbot, with the same color, they bear the chief priests and the men of the law, as they appear to have done from the earliest times. (Judges, v. 10.) [190] Baghdad contained, before the great plague of 1830, 110,000 inhabitants, but can now scarcely hold many more than 50,000. It is divided into two parts by the Tigris, the smaller quarters forming suburbs on the western bank. [191] Jeremiah, 1. 38. [192] This is the Kasr of Rich and subsequent travellers. [193] Isaiah, xiii. 19-22., and compare Jeremiah, 1. 39.: “therefore the wild beasts of the desert with the wild beasts of the island shall dwell there, and the owls shall dwell therein.” A large grey owl is found in great numbers, frequently in flocks of nearly a hundred, in the low shrubs among the ruins of Babylon. [194] From this tribe was the celebrated lady of Haroun-al-Reshid, “the Zobeide,” as she was called from her origin. [195] The generous hospitality frequently shown by men living, like Zaid, upon the smallest means, is one of the most interesting features of Arab character. [196] The most accurate and careful description is that by Mr. Rich, to whom I shall have frequent occasion to refer, and whose valuable memoirs on the site of the city were my text-books during my researches at Babylon. In the preface, by his widow, to the collected edition of his memoirs, will be found an interesting summary of the researches and discoveries of previous travellers. Ker Porter, Mr. Buckingham, and several other travellers, have given accounts more or less full of the ruins. [197] Abydenus states (ap. Euseb. PrÆp. Evang. l. ix. c. 41.) that the first wall of Babylon, built by Belus, had disappeared, and was rebuilt by Nebuchadnezzar. It must be borne in mind how much ancient authors copied from one another. Nearly all the descriptions which have reached us of Babylon appear to have been founded on the account of Herodotus and the uncertain statements of Ctesias. [198] I had visited it on several occasions during previous journeys. For the first time in 1840, with Mr. Mitford. [199] These dimensions are from Rich. I was unable to take any measurements during my hurried visit. [201] Lib. ii. c. 8. [202] Lib. ii. c. 10. Such is the form that Calmet and other antiquaries have given to the hanging gardens of Babylon in their restored plans of the city. [203] Nineveh and its Remains, vol. ii. p. 139. [204] Isaiah, xiv. 23. [205] On the Tigris, near its junction with the Euphrates, is the traditionary tomb of Ezra. The Jews, from the first centuries of the Christian era, also appear to have visited this spot as the place of sepulture of the prophet. Benjamin of Tudela says of it, “The sepulture of Ezra, the priest and scribe, is in this place (name lost), where he died on his journey from Jerusalem to King Artaxerxes.” In the early part of the 13th century, a celebrated Jewish poet, named Jehuda Charisi ben Salomo, described both tombs in verse. (Dr. Zunz’s Essay in 2d volume of Asher’s ed. of Benjamin of Tudela.) [206] For an interesting account of those singular relics, and for translations of the inscriptions on the bowls, see the larger work in 8vo. [207] Josephus against Appian, l. i. cviii. The Jewish historian quotes from HecatÆus, who gives a characteristic account of the attachment of the Jews to their faith. [208] Benjamin of Tudela’s Travels; and see Milman’s History of the Jews, book xix. &c. [209] The form of the letters certainly approach the cuneiform character when written with simple lines, as it is sometimes seen on Assyrian relics and monuments. (See Nineveh and its Remains, vol. ii. p. 143.) I am not, however, at present ready to admit that the early Chaldee square letters were derived from this source. [210] See Book of Enoch translated by Archbishop Lawrence, particularly chap. vii. sect. 2. and chap. lxviii. Among the names of the angels who came down to the daughters of men and instructed them in sorcery and the magic arts, we find Tamiel, Agheel, Azael, and Ramiel. [211] Strabo, lib. xvi. p. 1049. Oxf. ed. Arrian, lib. vii. 17. [212] Isaiah, xxi. 9. [213] Daniel, v. 5. [214] Esther i. 6. [215] This inscription was obtained from some ruins near Baghdad by Sir Harford Jones, and is now in the Museum of the East India Company. A facsimile of it has been published. [216] Nineveh and its Remains, vol. ii. 2d part, chap. ii. [217] The usual dimensions of the Babylonian bricks are as nearly as possible one foot square, by three and a half inches thick. Rich says thirteen inches square. Mr. Birch has conjectured that they may represent multiples of some Babylonian measure, perhaps the cubit. [218] Mr. Birch has found more than one notice of Babylon on Egyptian monuments of the time of Thothmes III. [219] Ezekiel, xvii. 4. [220] Daniel, v. 30, 31. This event took place B. C. 538. Whether the Darius of the book of Daniel be Cyrus himself, or a Median who commanded the armies of that monarch, and was afterwards appointed viceroy of Babylon, is one of the many disputed points of ancient history. [221] Arrian, Exp. Alex. 1. vii. c. 17. See Jeremy’s Epistle in the Apocryphal hook of Baruch, vi. 10, 11, and 28, for instances of the cupidity of the Babylonian priests. They had even stripped the idols of their robes and ornaments to adorn their wives and children. This epistle contains a very curious account of the idol worship of the Babylonians. [222] Isaiah, xiv. 23. Jeremiah, li. 42. [223] See an interesting Memoir on Babylon, by M. de St. Croix, in the 48th vol. of the Transactions of the AcadÉmie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres, in which all the authorities on the subject of the gradual decay of the city are collected. [224] Isaiah, xliii. 14. [225] Ezekiel, xxvii. 15. [226] Of the early reputation of the looms of Babylon we may form an idea from the fact of “a goodly Babylonish garment” (i. e. garment of Shinar) being mentioned in the book of Joshua (vii. 21) amongst the objects buried by Achan in his tent. In a curious decree of the time of Diocletian, regulating the maximum value of articles of clothing and food throughout the Roman empire, several objects from Babylon are specified. Babylonian skins of the first quality are rated at 500 denarii; of the second quality at 40; Babylonian shoes, called mullai, at 120 denarii per pair; and a Babylonian girdle at 100. Plain Babylonian socks are also mentioned, but the amount at which they were valued is wanting. This decree was discovered at Eski Hissar, the ancient Stratoniceia, in Asia Minor. (See Leake’s Asia Minor.) [227] “And the men of Cuth made Nergal,” in Samaria, where they had been transplanted after the first captivity. (2 Kings, xvii. 30.) The country of the Cuthites was probably in the neighbourhood of Babylon, though the commentators have not agreed upon its exact site. Josephus says that it was in Persia (Antiq. ix. 14.) [228] xviii 2. [229] The common notion amongst ignorant Mohammedans is, that an eclipse is caused by some evil spirit catching hold of the sun or moon. On such occasions, in Eastern towns, the whole population assembles with pots, pans, and other equally rude instruments of music, and, with the aid of their lungs, make a din and turmoil which might suffice to drive away a whole army of evil spirits, even at so great a distance. [230] Nineveh and its Remains, vol. ii. p. 139, note. [231] Isaiah, xxi. 1. [232] I have lately learnt, to my great grief, that poor Suttum has been killed in some affray with the Aneyza. [233] Of the same size and form as that containing the records of Essarhaddon, given by me to the British Museum. It has been only partly restored, and the inscription, which appears to be historical, has not yet been deciphered. [234] See Chapter 20. [235] Isaiah, xxxvii. 18, 19. [236] 1 Kings, vii. 23-25. The brazen sea of Solomon stood upon twelve oxen, three facing each cardinal point. It must be borne in mind that the Assyrian sculptor frequently represented only one figure to signify many, and that more than one ox probably supported the vessel portrayed in this bas-relief. [237] These measurements merely include that part of the palace actually excavated. [238] Since my departure a fine entire bas-relief has, I understand, been found near the ruined tomb in the centre of the mound. [239] The distance from centre to centre of the pedestals facing each other was 9 feet three inches; their diameter, 11½ inches in the broadest part. The second pair found were about 84 feet distant from the first. There were the remains of a wall of sundried bricks, 6 feet 3 inches from the centre of one of the pedestals. [240] Tacit. Ann. lib. xii. c. 13., and Ammianus Marcell. 1. xxiii. c. 20. The latter author especially mentions that the town had belonged to the Persians. [241] In the same shape as the Egyptian. (See Wilkinson’s Ancient Egyptians, vol. ii. p. 112.) [242] See Nineveh and its Remains, vol. i. Introduction, p. xiv. Benjamin of Tudela places the tomb of Nahum at Ain Japhata, to the south of Babylon. [243] According to Col. Rawlinson (Outlines of Assyrian History, p. xx.), to Neptune or Noah! [244] The actual weight of the large ducks in the British Museum being 480 oz. troy, the mana would be equal to 16 oz., with a small fraction over. The Attic mana has been computed to be 14 oz., with a small fraction. It would consequently be to the Babylonian talent as 7 to 8. According to Herodotus (lib. iii. c. 89.) the Euboean talent was to the Babylonian as 6 to 7. If this statement be correct, the Euboean would be to the Attic as 48 to 49. (Dr. Hincks.) [245] One cylinder bears his name. [246] Lib. i. c. 195. As a written signature is of no value, except in particular cases, in the East, and as all documents to be valid must be sealed with seals bearing the names of the parties to them, the engraved signet is of great importance, and the trade of an engraver one of considerable responsibility. The punishment for forging seals is very severe, and there are many regulations enforced for securing their authenticity. [247] Compare Job, xxxviii. 14. “It is turned as clay to the seal.” [248] Compare 1 Kings, xix. 16. and 2 Kings, ix. 2. [249] Sargon is called on the monuments of Khorsabad, “the conqueror of Samaria and of the circuit of Beth Khumri.” (Dr. Hincks, Trans, of the R. Irish Acad. vol. xx.) [250] 1 Kings, xix. 15. [251] Colonel Rawlinson suggests about 930 B. C. [252] Especially if, as Egyptian scholars still maintain, the name is found on Egyptian monuments of the 18th dynasty. [253] See my Nineveh and its Remains, vol. ii. p. 155, where this genealogy was first pointed out. [254] Discovered during the first expedition. (Nineveh and its Remains, vol. i. p. 83.) [255] This interesting discovery was first announced in the AthenÆum of Jan. 3, 1852. [256] These three kings came against Israel (2 Kings, xv. 19, and 29, and 1 Chron. v. 26); but Pul is particularly mentioned as receiving tribute from Menahem, and Tiglath Pileser, as carrying away Israelites into captivity in the time of Pekah, between whose reign and that of Menahem only two years elapsed. (2 Kings, xv. 23.) [257] See an interesting note on this subject in Rich’s Narrative, vol. ii. p. 123. [258] 2 Chron. xxxiii. [259] We have a curious illustration of the magnificent suicide of Sardanapalus in the history of Zimri, king of Israel. “And it came to pass, when Zimri saw that the city was taken, that he went into the palace of the king’s house, and burnt the king’s house over him with fire and died.” 1 Kings xvii. 18. There is nothing, therefore, improbable in the romantic history of the Assyrian king. [260] The reading according to Col. Rawlinson is marked R—that according to Dr. Hincks, H. [261] Nineveh and its Remains, vol. ii. p. 185. [262] It was not necessary to the effect of his preaching that Jonah should be of the religion of the people of Nineveh. I have known a Christian priest frighten a whole Mussulman town to tents and repentance by publicly proclaiming that he had received a divine mission to announce a coming earthquake or plague. [263] 2 Kings, xx. 19. [264] 2 Kings, xxv. 19. [265] Driving away the cattle and sheep of a conquered people, and accounting them amongst the principal spoil, has ever been the custom of Eastern nations who have not altogether renounced a nomadic life, and whose chief wealth consequently consisted in these animals. When Asa defeated the Ethiopians, “he carried away sheep and camels in abundance; and returned to Jerusalem.” (2 Chron. xiv. 15.) [266] The same thing may, indeed, be inferred from several passages in Chronicles and Kings. See particularly 2 Kings, xvi. 7, xvii. 4. [267] 1 Kings, iv. 21, and 24. “He reigned over all the kings from the river even unto the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt;” and the kings “brought him every man his present, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and raiment, harness, and spices, horses and mules, a rate year by year.” (2 Chron. ix. 24, 26.) Such were probably the very articles brought yearly to the Assyrian king, and enumerated in his records. [268] 2 Chron. v. 62. [269] 1 Chron. v. 6 and 26. [270] 2 Kings, xvii. 6, xviii. 11. [271] 2 Kings, xvii. 29. [272] See woodcuts, Nineveh and its Remains, vol. ii. p. 340. [273] Ch. iii. 12-14. [274] From this propylÆum came the two colossal bulls in the British Museum; it was part of the royal palace. [275] Nineveh and its Remains, vol. ii. part ii. ch. 2. A recent trigonometrical survey of the country by Captain Jones proves, I am informed, that the great ruins of Kouyunjik, Nimroud, Karamless, and Khorsabad, form very nearly a perfect parallelogram, corresponding with the conjecture I ventured to make in my former work. A recent writer (Bonomi, Nineveh and its Palaces, p. 94), adopting the theory of the greater extent of Nineveh, has endeavored to prove that the Gebel Makloub is the remains of its eastern walls, stating that he “has the testimony of a recent observant traveller, Mr. Barker, who has no doubt that the so-called ‘mountain’ is entirely the work of man.” Unfortunately it happens that the Gebel Makloub is somewhat higher, and far more precipitous and rocky than the Malvern hills. It would, indeed, have required Titans to raise such a heaven-reaching wall! Scarcely less extravagant are the conjectures that the mound is called Kouyumjik, not Kouyunjik, because silver ornaments may have been found there, and that Yaroumjeh, a mere Turkish name meaning “half-way village,” is “roum,” “signifying the territory and inhabitants of the Roman empire,” and, consequently, a part of Nineveh, “Roman and ancient being synonymous terms!” The line, too, indicated in Mr. Bonomi’s diagram for the former bed of the Tigris, in order to complete the parallelogram, would take the river over a range of steep limestone hills. I may here observe that the name of “Niniouah” is not known in the country as applied either to the mound of Nebbi Yunus, or any other ruin in the country. Before founding theories upon such grounds, it would be as well to have some little acquaintance with the localities and with the languages spoken by the people of the country. [276] 1 Kings, v. 15. [277] The Jewish cubit appears to have been about eighteen inches. [278] The height, according to 2 Chron. iii. 4, was 120 cubits, which would appear to be an error slipt into the text, although Josephus gives the same dimensions, adding an upper story or structure. [279] Mr. Fergusson has pointed out, from the account of Josephus, the probability of the temple having had two stories. (The Palaces of Nineveh restored, p. 222.) [280] See Calmet’s Dictionary of the Bible. [281] See frontispiece to Fergusson’s Palaces of Nineveh restored. [282] Josephus, b. viii. c. 2. Fergusson’s Palaces of Nineveh, p. 229. [283] It will be remembered that the annals on the bulls of Kouyunjik include six years of his reign, and must consequently have been inscribed on them in the seventh year. [284] 1 Kings, v. 8. [285] See Frontispiece to this volume. [286] Such also appears to have been the case at Nimroud. [287] 1 Kings, vii. 2. It is only by supposing it to have been one great hall that we can at all understand the proportions and form of the building as subsequently given. The Hebrew word, as its Arabic equivalent still does, will bear both meanings. Pharaoh’s daughter’s house, which was “like unto the porch,” was probably the harem or private apartment. [288] Palaces of Nineveh restored, p. 181. That the Assyrians were, however, acquainted with slanting roofs may be inferred from a bas-relief discovered at Khorsabad. (Botta, Plate 141.) [289] Jerem. xix. 13. [290] Nineveh and its Remains, vol. ii. part ii. ch. 2. [291] Daniel, v. 5. [292] 1 Kings, vi. 28. I cannot, however, but express my conviction that much of the metal called gold both in the sacred writings and in the profane authors of antiquity, was really copper, alloyed with other metals, the aurichalcum, or orichalcum, of the Greeks, such as was used in the bowls and plates discovered at Nimroud. [293] Rich estimates the entire length of the inclosure at about four miles, and its greatest breadth at nearly two. This appears to me rather above the actual extent of the ruins. It must also be remembered that they narrow off from the northern side to a few hundred yards at the southern. I have not hitherto had time to lay down my survey of Nimroud. The general plan of the mound in my first work must be considered as a mere rough sketch. [294] Rich’s Narrative, vol. ii. p. 60. [295] It will be borne in mind that the Tigris has now changed its course. [296] According to Mr. Rich, the distance from the inside of the inner wall to the inside of the outer was 2007 feet. Allowing 200 feet for the outer the breadth of the whole fortifications would be about 2200 feet, or not far from half a mile. [297] If the city, or this part of it, were ever taken by the river having been turned upon the walls, as some ancient authors have declared, the breach must have been made at the north-western corner. There are no traces of it. [298] Sir Anthony Shirley’s Travels in Persia. Purchas, vol. ii. p. 1387. [299] Narrative of a Residence in Kurdistan, vol. i. pp. 40, 51. |
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