The Historians' History of the World 01

The important discoveries made by the French consul, De Sarsac, at Telloh have first thrown some light on the old Chaldean art in which the whole Babylonian-Assyrian art has taken its origin. The question as to whether the works of art found there are Semitic or non-Semitic does not concern us here. It is more probably the latter. At any rate we are here confronted with a civilisation preceding the flourishing period of the known Semitic dominion in Babylonia.[35] A temple was found there 53 by 31 metres square which shows the same fundamental plan as the later Chaldean architecture, that is, a structure of burnt on a foundation of dried brick, the corners exactly facing the points of the compass (not the side as in Egypt), a Ziggurat in the centre, the whole, as is seen from stamps on the stones, dating from the time of the priest-prince Gudra, who is known from other sources, and who rebuilt or founded this temple. Besides, a large number of larger and smaller works of art were discovered, cylinders, reliefs, bronze objects, especially statues, which had been collected either by the ruler already mentioned or by other priestly princes or kings.h

Before building a temple or palace, a religious ceremony took place corresponding to what we call to-day laying the corner-stone. Nabuna’id relates that in the ruins of the oldest Chaldean temples he looked for the foundation stone, the temen which the original kings had placed there, and that he had the good fortune to find this corner-stone, whereas several of his predecessors had excavated only in vain. In our days such cylindrical tubes have been found covered with close writing difficult to decipher, which had been placed in little niches at the corners of the foundation facing the four points of the compass. Thus at Nimrod, Rawlinson caused excavations to be carried on in one of the corners of the tower, feeling sure that he would find objects similar to those which had been met with elsewhere. He relates his discovery as follows: “At the end of half an hour a small cavity was found. ‘Bring me,’” said Rawlinson to the man in charge of the digging, “‘bring me the dedicatory cylinder.’ The workman put his hand into the hole and showed the cylinder; those present could not believe their eyes and looked at each other in amazement. The cylinder, covered with inscriptions, then came out of the hiding-place where it had been placed probably by the hands of Nebuchadrezzar himself, and where it had lain for twenty-nine centuries.” In the fruitful excavations which he undertook at Telloh, De Sarsac made similar discoveries. “I found,” said he, “at a depth of scarcely thirty centimeters under the original soil, four cubes of masonry of large bricks and bitumen, measuring eighty centimeters on each side. In the centre of these cubes was a cavity of twenty-seven centimeters by twelve and by thirty-five of depth. This cavity filled with yellow sand enclosed a statuette of bronze, representing now a man kneeling, again a woman standing, sometimes also a bull. At the foot of each statue, usually embedded in the bitumen which lined the cavity, were found two stone tablets, one white, the other black. It was the black one which usually bore an inscription in cuneiform characters, like or almost like the one carved on the figure of bronze.” Moreover De Sarsac in place of statuettes found cones of clay in the shape of large nails with hemispherical heads, and having an inscription around the stem.m

It has been believed that three stages of development may be detected in this ancient art. To the first belong the reliefs, which represent scenes of war and burial which have not yet been satisfactorily explained, drawn very awkwardly and comparatively rough and primitive. This stage represents the infancy of art. To the second stage are counted the eight statues of Gudea and the one of Ur-ba-’u which are carved with great skill and fine artistic feeling out of hard stone, as it appears of diorite.

The strength which characterises the sculptural efforts of the Babylonians and especially of the Assyrians, is already manifest, although without that exaggeration of the muscles and joints which is so pronounced with the latter. Hands and feet in particular are most carefully executed. The heads are totally different from the hairy and bearded Assyrian, or even early Babylonian heads. They are perfectly clean shaven, but sometimes seemingly decked with an artificial hair arrangement or something of that sort; all just as in Egypt. In addition, an attempt to suggest the folds of draperies is seen, which we do not find among the Babylonians and Assyrians nor the Egyptians, but only later among the Persians and Greeks. In the third so-called classic period are placed works of art of most finished execution, which show a decided advance, among which are pictures, in which beard and hair are worked out with the greatest care.