ESSAY IV. PLANETARY ORNAMENTATION. 1 483 the year 1854, that the Birs-Nimrud, like the temple of Belus described by our author, was a building in seven receding stages. Upon a platform of crude brick, raised a few feet above the level of the alluvial plain, was built of burnt brick, the first or basement stage-an exact square, 272 feet each way, and 26 feet in perpendicular height. Upon this stage was erected a second, 230 feet each way, and likewise 26 feet high; which, however, was not placed exactly in the middle of the first, but considerably nearer to the south-western end, which constituted the back of the building. The other stages were arranged similarly-the third being 188 feet, and again 26 feet high; the fourth 146 feet square, and 15 feet high; the fifth 104 feet square, and the same height as the fourth; the sixth 62 feet square, and again the same height; and the seventh 20 feet square and once more the same height. On the seventh stage there was probably placed the ark or tabernacle, which seems to have been again 15 feet high, and must have nearly, if not entirely, covered the top of the seventh story. The entire original height, allowing three feet for the platform, would thus have been 156 feet, or, without the platform, 153 feet. The whole formed a sort of oblique pyramid, the gentler slope facing the N.E., and the steeper incline the S.W. On the N.E. side was the grand entrance, and here stood the vestibule, a separate building, the debris from which having joined those from the temple itself, fill up the intermediate space, and very remarkably prolong the mound in this direction. 2 3 15. The ornamentation of the building was almost solely by colour. The seven stages were coloured so as to represent the seven planetary spheres, according to the tints regarded by the Sabæans as appropriate to the seven luminaries-the basement stage being black, the hue assigned to Saturn; the next an orange, or raw-sienna tint, the huc of Jupiter; the third a bright red, the hue of Mars; the fourth golden, the hue of the Sun; the fifth a pale yellow, the hue of Venus; the sixth dark blue, the hue of Mercury; and the seventh silver, the hue of the Moon. The tint in the first instance was given by a coating of bitumen over the face of burnt bricks; in the second and fifth, by the natural hue of the burnt bricks themselves; in the third, by the use of halfburnt bricks of a bright red clay; in the sixth by vitrifaction, after the stage was erected, of the bricks composing it, through the force of an intense heat, whereby they were converted into a mass of blue slag; and in the fourth and seventh, probably by plates of the precious metals rose like steps on the eastern or south-eastern (north-eastern ?) side, they terminated on the western or north-western (south-western?) in a "solid perpendicular wall" (Nin. and Bab. p. 498). The reality is half-way between Sir R. Porter's and Mr. Layard's conceptions. The accompanying restoration (see opposite) will illustrate this paragraph. Its proportions are derived from the measurements of Col. Rawlinson. "See note to Book i. ch. 98. 3 Herodotus expresses this tint by the word aavdapáкivov, which is generally explained as the colour of the red sulphuret of arsenic, called by the Greeks σavdapáкη; but is thought by some to be really the colour of "sandal-wood," Sandali (which has that meaning) being the term commonly applied to the sphere in the astrology of the East. 484 THE BIRS BUILT BY NEBUCHADNEZZAR. APP. BOOK III. forming an external casing to the brickwork. Along the third stage which was of a weaker material than the rest, the flatness of the wall was broken by a row of buttresses, not placed there however for the purpose of ornamentation, but merely to give additional strength. This stage too was not, like the rest, entirely perpendicular, but had an abutment at the base, and a species of plinth formed by three rows of bricks laid on their edges between single horizontal rows. The entire mass of brickwork was also pierced throughout by a rhomboidal series of small square holes, which served to keep the structure dry, by admitting air, and also by carrying off any moisture that might penetrate into it. 16. Such were the most striking features of the great Temple of Borsippa, which was designed and named after the "Seven Spheres," but was especially dedicated to Nebo or Mercury, whose tabernacle probably occupied its summit. It was not perhaps originally superior to hundreds of temples in Babylonia; but it has escaped, far more than any other, the ravages of time, and thus is the ruin to which we are chiefly indebted for our knowledge of the plan and character of the Babylonian sacred buildings. The date of the original structure is uncertain, but is probably very ancient. In its present form the Birs is chiefly the work of Nebuchadnezzar, whose name appears exclusively upon the bricks composing it, and the cylinders deposited at its angles. The following is the account which the royal restorer gives of his careful renovation of the edifice : : "Behold now the building named the Stages of the Seven Spheres,' which was the wonder of Borsippa, had been built by a former king. He had completed forty-two ammas (of the height), but he did not finish its head. From the lapse of time it had become ruined; they had not taken care of the exits of the waters, so the rain and wet had penetrated into the brickwork; the casing of burnt bricks had bulged out, and the terraces of crude brick lay scattered in heaps; (then) Merodach, my great lord, inclined my heart to repair the building. I did not change its site, nor did I destroy its foundation platform; but in a fortunate month, and on an auspicious day, I undertook the rebuilding of the crude brick terraces, and the burnt brick casing (of the temple). I strengthened its foundation, and I placed a titular record in the part that I had rebuilt. I set my hand to build it up and to finish its sumAs it had been in ancient times, so I built up its structure; as it had been in former days, thus I exalted its head. Nebo, the strength mit. 4 This, it must be remembered, is the account given by Herodotus of the manner in which the spheres of the sun and moon were represented at Agbatana (i. 98, ad fin.). It has already been shown (note ad loc.) that such a lavish display of the precious metals was in accordance with Eastern habits. At the Birs the fourth or golden stage presents an appearance as if the face of the wall had been entirely broken away by blows from a pickaxe. Nebuchadnezzar, in describing his temples and palaces, often speaks of them as "clothed with gold." Sir H. Rawlinson discovered two of these at the eastern and southern angles of the third stage. They were duplicates. He also found a few small fragments of another, the inscription upon which was different. There are probably many cylinders still in the building. ESSAY IV. INSCRIPTION OF NEBUCHADNEZZAR. 485 ener of his children, he who ministers to the gods (?), and Merodach, the supporter of sovereignty, may they cause my work to be established for ever! May it last through the seven ages! May the stability of my throne and the antiquity of my empire, secure against strangers and triumphant over many foes, continue to the end of time!" NOTE A. STANDARD INSCRIPTION OF NEBUCHADNEZZAR. Jce B. i.ch. 178, n. 5, The Inscription begins with the various titles of Nebuchadnezzar. It then 1. The great temple of Merodach. (The mound of Babil is the tower 2. The Borsippa temple (or Birs). 3. Various other temples in Babylon and Borsippa. The subjoined description of the city follows: "The double enclosure which Nabopolassar my father had made but not completed, I finished. Nabopolassar made its ditch. With two long embankments of brick and mortar he bound its bed. He made the embankment of the Arakha. He lined the other side of the Euphrates with brick. He made a bridge (?) over the Euphrates, but did not finish its buttresses (?). From ***(the name of a place) he made with bricks burnt as hard as stones, by the help of the great Lord Merodach, a way (for) a branch of the Shimat to the waters of the Yapur-Shapu, the great reservoir of Babylon, opposite to the gate of Nin. "The Ingur-Bel and the Nimiti-Bel—the great double wall of BabylonI finished. With two long embankments of brick and mortar I built the sides of its ditch. I joined it on with that which my father had made. I strengthened the city. Across the river to the west I built the wall of Babylon with brick. The Yapur-Shapu-the reservoir of Babylon-by the grace of Merodach, I filled completely full of water. With bricks burnt as hard as stones, and with bricks in huge masses like mountains (?), the YapurShapu, from the gate of Mula as far as Nana, who is the protectress of her votaries, by the grace of his godship (i. e. Merodach), I strengthened. With that which my father had made I joined it. I made the way of Nana, the protectress of her votaries. The great gates of the Ingur-Bel and the Nimiti-Bel -the reservoir of Babylon, at the time of the flood (lit. of fulness), inundated them. These gates I raised. Against the waters their foundations with brick and mortar I built. [Here follows a description of the gates, with various architectural details, and an account of the decorations, hangings, &c.] For the delight of mankind I filled the reservoir. Behold! besides the Ingur-Bel, the impregnable fortification of Babylon, I constructed inside Babylon on the eastern side of the river a fortification such as no king had ever made before me, viz. a long rampart, 4000 ammas square, as an extra defence. I excavated the ditch: with brick and mortar I bound its bed; a long rampart at its head (?) I strongly built. I adorned its gates. The folding-doors and the pillars I plated with copper. Against presumptuous enemies, who were hostile 486 STANDARD INSCRIPTION. APP. BOOK III to the men of Babylon, great waters, like the waters of the ocean, I made use of abundantly. Their depths were like the depths of the vast ocean. I did not allow the waters to overflow, but the fulness of their floods I caused to flow on, restraining them with a brick embankment. . . . Thus I completely made strong the defences of Babylon. May it last for ever! [Here follows a similar account of works at Borsippa.] "In Babylon-the city which is the delight of my eyes, and which I have glorified-when the waters were in flood, they inundated the foundations of the great palace called Taprati-nisi, or the Wonder of Mankind;" (a palace) with many chambers and lofty towers; the high-place of Royalty; (situated) in the land of Babylon, and in the middle of Babylon; stretching from the Ingur-Bel to the bed of the Shebil, the eastern canal, (and) from the bank of the Sippara river to the water of the Yapur-Shapu; which Nabopolassar my father built with brick and raised up; when the reservoir of Babylon was full, the gates of this palace were flooded. I raised the mound of brick on which it was built, and made smooth its platform. I cut off the floods of the water, and the foundations (of the palace) I protected against the water with bricks and mortar; and I finished it completely. Long beams I set up to support it with pillars and beams plated with copper and strengthened with iron I built up its gates. Silver and gold, and precious stones whose names were almost unknown [Here follow several unknown names of objects, treasures of the palace], I stored up inside, and placed there the treasure-house of my kingdom. Four years (?), the seat of my kingdom in the city..... which . . . . . did not rejoice (my) heart. In all my dominions I did not build a high place of power; the precious treasures of my kingdom I did not lay up. In Babylon, buildings for myself and the honour of my kingdom I did not lay out. In the worship of Merodach my lord, the joy of my heart (?), in Babylon, the city of his sovereignty and the seat of my empire, I did not sing his praises (?), and I did not furnish his altars (i. e. with victims), nor did I clear out the canals. [Here follow further negative clauses.] "As a further defence in war, at the Ingur-Bel, the impregnable outer wall, the rampart of the Babylonians-with two strong lines of brick and mortar · I made a strong fort, 400 ammas square, inside the Nimiti-Bel, the inner defence of the Babylonians. Masonry of brick within them (the lines) I constructed. With the palace of my father I connected it. In a happy month and on an auspicious day its foundations I laid in the earth like *** I completely finished its top. In fifteen days I completed it, and made it the high place of my kingdom. [Here follows a description of the ornamentation of the palace.] A strong fort of brick and mortar in strength I constructed. Inside the brick fortification another great fortification of long stones, of the size of great mountains, I made. Like Shedim I raised up its head. And this building I raised for a wonder; for the defence of the people I constructed it." ESSAY IV. BABYLONIAN RESEARCHES OF M. OPPERT. 487 NOTE B. BABYLONIAN RESEARCHES OF M. OPPERT. Since this Essay was in type I have enjoyed the advantage of examining three livraisons of Plates belonging to the magnificent work which will shortly be published by M. Oppert, on the subject of the French expedition into Mesopotamia. As these plates are unaccompanied by any letter-press it is impossible at present to be sure how far they are based upon accurate measurements or observations. In some respects the views taken coincide remarkably with those expressed in the foregoing Essay. This is especially the case as regards the ancient course of the Euphrates, and the position of the lesser Chart of the Country round Babylon, with the limits of the ancient City, according to Oppert. |