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ASSYRIAN
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ASSYRIAN See also:ARCHITECTURE
About 3800 B.C. the earlier inhabitants of See also:Chaldaea or Babylonia were invaded and absorbed by a Semitic See also:race, whose first monarch was See also:Sargon of Agade (See also:Akkad). 'Soo years later, emigrations took See also:place northward, and founded See also:Nineveh on the See also:banks of the See also:Tigris, about 250 M. See also:north of See also:Babylon. 1200 years later, the Assyrians began See also:building the magnificent See also:series of palaces from which were brought the winged See also:man-headed bulls and the sculptured slabs now in the See also:British Museum. The leading characteristics of the See also:style, and the nature of the structures, ihmples and palaces, evolved by the Chaldaeans (or first Babylonian See also:empire), the Assyrians, and the new Babylonian empire, are similar; they are best known by thosewhich represent a See also:culmination of the style in north See also:Mesopotamia, and are therefore described here.
By a singular coincidence the remains of the See also:oldest building found at See also:Nippur (Niffar), in See also:lower Mesopotamia, See also:bear a See also:close resemblance to the oldest See also:pyramid in See also:Egypt, Medum, before it received its final casing. The latter, however, is known to have been a See also:tomb, whereas the structure at Nippur was a See also:temple, which took the See also:form of a ziggurat or See also:stage See also:tower. It consisted of several storeys built one over the other, the upper See also:storey in each See also:case being set back behind the lower, in See also:order to leave a See also:terrace all See also:round. In some cases the terrace was wider in front, to give space for staircases ascending from storey to storey. In consequence of the extreme flatness of the See also:country and its liability to sudden inundations, it became necessary, when erecting buildings of any See also:kind, to raise them on mounds of See also:earth. The more important the structure, the higher was it deemed necessary to raise it, so as to make it the most conspicuous feature in the landscape. The result is that from See also:Abu Shahrain, the most See also:southern See also:town, to Akarkuf (Aqarquf), 220 M. north, there are a series of immense mounds, sometimes nearly a mile in See also:diameter, and rising to a height of 200 ft., crowned with the remains of towns, which, notwithstanding the See also:thirty centuries more or less during which they have been exposed to the torrential rains and the destructive agencies of man, form still the most prominent features in the country. The structures which were raised on the See also:mound, i.e. the temples and palaces with their enclosure walls, were all built with bricks made of the alluvial See also:clay of the country, shaped in wooden moulds and dried in the See also:heat of the See also:sun, a heat so intense that they acquired sometimes the hardness of the inferior qualities of See also: The walls of the temples, palaces and enclosures had the same See also:batter as that already referred to in the preceding See also:section on Egypt. In the latter country they were reproduced in stone, of which there were many quarries on either See also:side of the See also:Nile; in Chaldaea they were obliged to content themselves with the preservation of their ziggurats by See also:outer casings of burnt See also:brick and with pavements of tiles for their terraces. In order to vary the monotony of their temple walls, and perhaps to give them greater strength, they built See also:vertical bands or buttresses at intervals, or they sank panels in the walls to two depths, a natural decoration to which brick See also:work lends itself; and these two methods, which were employed in See also:early times, were followed by the Assyrians in the palaces of Nimrud, Nineveh and See also:Khorsabad. The earlier settlements were those founded between the mouths of the Tigris and the See also:Euphrates, on what was then the See also:shore of the See also:Persian Gulf, now some 140 M. farther See also:south. The See also:principal towns where the remains of ziggurats have been found, all on the See also:borders of the Euphrates, beginning with the most southern, are:—Abu Shahrain (See also:Eridu); Mugheir (Ur of the Chaldees); Senkera (? Ellasar or See also:Larsa) ; Warka (See also:Erech) ; Tello (Eninnu) ; Nippur; Birs Nimrud (See also:Borsippa) ; Babil (Babylon) ; El Ohemir (See also:Kish) ; Abu Habba (See also:Sippara) ; and Akarkuf (Durkurigalsu). Although the ziggurats at Warka, Nippur and Tello are probably of older See also:foundation, the See also:great temple of Borsippa at Birs Nimrud is in better preservation, having been restored or rebuilt by See also:Nebuchadrezzar, and may be taken as a typical example. The ground storey was 272 ft. square, and, according to See also:Fergusson, 45 ft. high. The upper storeys or stages receded back, one behind the other, so as to leave a terrace all round. Although it is not possible to trace more than four storeys, it is known from the description on a See also:cylinder found on the site that there were seven storeys, dedicated to the See also:planets, each coloured with the See also:special tint prescribed. The See also:total height was about 16o ft., and on the See also:top was a See also:shrine dedicated to the See also:god See also:Nebo. An invaluable See also:record of the researches which have been made during the last three centuries or more is given in H. V. Hilprecht's Explorations in See also:Bible Lands during the zgth See also:Century. Two or three of them might be mentioned here. At Warka Mr See also:Kenneth See also:Loftus uncovered a See also:wall, strengthened by buttresses 15 ft. wide and projecting 18 in., between which were panels filled with a series of semicircular shafts side by side, both buttresses and shafts being decorated with geometrical patterns consisting of small earthenware cones embedded in the wall, the ends of which were enamelled in various See also:colours. The See also:design of these patterns is so unlike anything found in Assyrian work, but bears so close a resemblance to the geometrical designs carved on the columns at Diarbekr ascribed to the Parthians, that this wall may have been built at a much later See also:period; and this becomes the more probable in view of the discoveries made subsequently at Tello and Nippur, where See also:Parthian palaces have been found, crowning the summits of the See also:ancient Chaldaean mounds. In both these towns the researches made in later years have been carried out far more methodically than previously, and, following the example of See also:Schliemann, excavations have been made to great depths, careful notes being taken of the strata shown by the platforms at different levels. At Tello, de Sarzac discovered the magnificent collection of statues of See also:diorite now in the Louvre, one of them (unfortunately headless) of Gudea, See also:priest-See also: But we have now to pass to the principal cities of the Assyrian See also:monarchy on the See also:river Tigris. At Nineveh, the See also:capital, which is about 250 M. north of Babylon, the remains of three palaces have been found, those of See also:Sennacherib (705–68s B.C.), Esarhaddon (68'–668 B.c.), and Assurbanipal (668–626 B.C.). At Nimrud (the ancient From See also:Tire See also:History a) See also:Art in Ckaldaea and See also:Assyria, by permission of See also:Chapman & 'fall, Lid. A, Principal courtyard. E, See also:Official residences. B, The See also:harem. F, The king's See also:residence. C, The offices. G, The ziggurat or twnple. DD, The halls of See also:state. See also:Calah, founded by See also:Assur), 20 M. south of Nineveh, are also three palaces, one (the earliest known) built by Assurnazirpal (885–860 B.C.), the others by See also:Shalmaneser II. (86o–825 B.C.) and Esarhaddon. 
At Balawat, so m. See also:east of Nineveh, was a second palace of Shalmaneser II., and at Khorsabad, so m. north-east of Nineveh, the palace (fig. 8) built by Sargon 722–705 B.C.), which was situated on the banks of the Khanser, a tributary of the Tigris. As this palace is one of the most extensive of those hitherto explored, its description will best give the See also:general See also:idea of the plan and conception of an Assyrian palace.
The palace was built on an immense See also:platform, made of sun-dried bricks, enclosed in See also:masonry, and covering an See also:area of nearly one million square feet, raised 48 ft. above the town level. The principal front of the palace measured 900 ft., there being a terrace in front. The approach was probably by a See also:double inclined ramp which chariots and horses could See also:mount. A central and two side portals (fig. 9), flanked with winged human-headed bulls (now in the British Museum), led to the principal courtyard (A), measuring 300 ft. by 240 ft. The See also:block (B) on the See also:left of the See also:court, containing smaller courts and rooms, constituted the harem; that on the right the offices (C) ; those in the See also:rear the halls of state (DDD), the residences of the See also:officers of the court (E), the king's private apartments (F) being on the left, facing the ziggurat or temple (G). In the extreme rear were other state rooms with terraces probably laid out as gardens and commanding a view of the river and country beyond.
As there must have been nearly 700 rooms in the palace, the destination of the greater number of which it would be difficult to determine, it will be sufficient to refer only to those state rooms in which the principal sculptured slabs were found, and which decorated the lower 9 ft. of the walls. The two See also:chief factors to be noted are (s) the great length of the halls compared with their width, the chief See also: The only See also:reason for walls of this thickness would be to resist the thrust of a vault, and as La Place, the See also:French explorer, found many blocks of earth of great See also:size, the soffits of which were covered with See also:stucco and had apparently fallen from a height, he was led to the conclusion, now generally accepted, that these halls were vaulted. These discoveries, and the fact that in none of the palaces excavated has a single foundation of the See also:base of any See also:column been found, quite dispose of Fergusson's restoration, which was based on the palaces of See also:Persepolis. Moreover, the two climates are entirely different. In the mountainous country of See also:Persia the breezes might be welcomed, but in Mesopotamia the heat is so intense that every precaution (After See also:Layard.) has to be taken to protect the inmates of the See also:house or palace. Thick walls and vaults were a See also:necessity in Nineveh, and even the windows or openings must have been of small dimensions. No windows have been found, nor are any shown on the bas-reliefs, except on the upper parts of towers. It is possible therefore that the See also:light was admitted through terra-cotta pipes or cylinders, of which many were found on the site, and this is the See also:modern See also:system of See also:lighting the See also:dome in the East. Although no remains have ever been found of domes in any of the Assyrian palaces, the See also:representation of many domical forms is given in a bas-relief found at Kuyunjik (fig. to), suggesting that the dome was often employed to roof over their halls. Reference has already been made to the bas-reliefs which decorated the lower portion of the great halls; the less important rooms had their walls covered with stucco and painted. Externally the architectural deccration was of the simplest kind; the lower portion of the walls was faced with stone; and the monumental portals, in addition to the winged bulls which flanked them, had deep archivolts in coloured enamels on glazed brick, with figures and rosettes in See also:bright colours. A similar decoration would seem to have been applied to the crenellated battlements, which crowned all the exterior walls, as also those of the courts. The buttresses inside the courts, and the towers which flanked the chief entrance, were decorated with vertical semicircular See also:mouldings of brick. This system of decoration is also found in the ziggurats or observatories behind the harem, where the three lower storeys still exist. A winding ramp was carried round this tower, the storeys of which were set back one behind the other, the burnt brick paving of thehuman-headed bulls which flank the portals of the See also:propylaea. From See also:Media it would seem to have derived the great halls of columns and the porticoes of the palaces, so clearly described by See also:Polybius (x. 24) as existing at See also:Ecbatana; the principal difference being that the columns of the stoas and See also:peristyle, which there consisted of See also:cedar and See also:cypress covered with silver plates, were in the Persian palaces built of stone. The ephemeral nature of the one material, and the See also:intrinsic value of the other, are sufficient to See also:account for their entire disappearance; but as Ecbatana was occupied by See also:Darius and See also:Xerxes as one of their principal cities, the stone column, bases and capitals, which still exist there, may be regarded as See also:part of the restoration and rebuilding of the palace; and as they are similar to those found at Persepolis and See also:Susa, it is See also:fair to assume that the source of the first See also:inspiration of Persian architecture came from the Medians, especially as See also:Cyrus, the first king, was brought up at the court of See also:Astyages, the last Median monarch. The earliest Persian palace, of which but scanty remains have been found, was built at See also:Pasargadae by Cyrus. There is sufficient, Plan of Persepolis' Reference A. The Great See also:Staircase B. Propylon C. The Great Palace of Xerxes D. Palace of Darius E. Palace of Xerxes F. Second Propylon G. Palace of See also:ioo columns H. Small Palace '• . . .. N .1111111111t 41111NIIIII llllilipiu_ A IIIIIIIIIIIIII L ramp and the crenellated battlements forming a See also:parapet, portions of which are still in situ. Although not unknown in either Chaldaea or Assyria, the stone column, according to See also:Perrot and Chipiez, found no place in those structures of crude brick of which the real architecture of Mesopotamia consisted. Only one example in stone, in which the See also:shaft and capital together are 3 ft. 4 in. in height, has been found. Two bases of similar design to the capital are supposed to have supported wooden columns carrying an awning. There are representations in the bas-reliefs of kiosks in a See also:garden, the columns in which, with See also:volute capitals, are supposed to have been of See also:wood sheathed in See also:metal, and on the See also:bronze bands of the Balawat See also:gates in the British Museum are representations of the interior of a house with wood columns and See also:bracket capitals, and several awnings carried by posts. Small windows are shown in some of the bas-reliefs, with balustrades of small columns, which were doubtless copied from the, See also:ivory plaques found at Nimrud and now in the British Museum. (R. P. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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