Part 35

[65] The theatre of the ancients was divided into three principal parts; each of which had its peculiar appellation. The division for the actors was called in general the _scene_, or _stage_; that for the spectators was particularly termed the _theatre_, which must have been of vast extent, as at Athens it was capable of containing above thirty thousand persons; and the _orchestra_, which, amongst the Greeks, was the place assigned for the pantomimes and dancers, though at Rome it was appropriated to the senators and vestal virgins.

The theatre was of a semicircular form on one side, and square on the other. The space contained within the semicircle was allotted to the spectators, and had seats placed one above another to the top of the building. The square part, in the front of it, was the actors' division; and in the interval, between both, was the orchestra.

The great theatres had three rows of porticoes, raised one upon another, which formed the body of the edifice, and at the same time three different stories for the seats. From the highest of those porticoes the women saw the representation, covered from the weather. The rest of the theatre was uncovered, and all the business of the stage was performed in the open air.

[66] Boindin; Rollin.

[67] Plutarch, in his inquiry whether the Athenians were more eminent in the arts of war or in the arts of peace, severely censures their insatiable fondness for diversions. He asserts, that the money, idly thrown away upon the representation of the tragedies of Sophocles and Euripides alone, amounted to a much greater sum than had been expended in all their wars against the Persians, in defence of their liberty and common safety. That judicious philosopher and historian, to the eternal infamy of the Athenians, records a severe but sensible reflection of a Lacedæmonian, who happened to be present at these diversions. The generous Spartan, trained up in a state where public virtue still continued to be the object of public applause, could not behold the ridiculous assiduity of the Choragi, or magistrates who presided at the public shows, and the immense sums which they lavished in the decorations of a new tragedy, without indignation. He therefore frankly told the Athenians, that they were highly criminal in wasting so much time, and giving that serious attention to trifles, which ought to be dedicated to the affairs of the public. That it was still more criminal to throw away upon such baubles as the decorations of a theatre, that money which ought to be applied to the equipment of their fleet, or the support of their army. That diversions ought to be treated merely as diversions, and might serve to relax the mind at our idle hours, or when over a bottle; if any kind of utility could arise from such trifling pleasures. But to see the Athenians make the duty, they owed to their country, give way to their passion for the entertainments of the theatre, and to waste unprofitably that Footnote: time and money upon such frivolous diversions, which ought to be appropriated to the affairs and the necessities of the state, appeared to him to be the height of infatuation."--MONTAGUE.

[68] He bequeathed to every Athenian a sum nearly equivalent to 3_l._ of our money.

[69] The funeral of Herodes Atticus must have afforded one of the most affecting solemnities of which history makes mention. He was seventy-six years old when he died; and in the instructions which he left for his interment, he desired to be buried at Marathon, where he was born; but the Athenians insisted upon possessing his remains; and they caused the youth of their city to bear him to the Stadium Panathenaicum, which he had built; all the people accompanying, and pouring forth lamentations as for a deceased parent.--CLARKE.

[70] Clarke.

[71] Dodwell.

[72] Sandwich.

[73] Clarke.

[74] Lord Sandwich.

[75] Sandwich.

[76] Hobhouse.

[77] Wheler.

[78] Dodwell.

[79] Clarke.

[80] Clarke.

[81] Dodwell.

[82] Dodwell.

[83] Idem.

[84] Rollin.

[85] "It is generally supposed," continues Mr. Williams, "the marble temples are white; but, with the exception of the temple of Minerva at Cape Colonna, (which is built of Parian marble,) this is not the case. The marble of Pentelicus, with which all the temples at Athens were built, throws out an oxide of iron of the richest yellow, and this certainly makes them infinitely more picturesque than if they were purely white."

[86] "The two principal statues among the Elgin marbles are those of Theseus, the Athenian hero, and a recumbent figure, supposed to be the river-god Ilissus (numbered in the Synopsis 93 and 99). They are executed in a style of extraordinary breadth and grandeur. Theseus is represented half reclined on a rock, covered with the skin of a lion, and appears to be resting after some mighty labour. The figure of the Ilissus is less robust: all his contours flow in lines of undulating elegance. But in both these statues, that which chiefly strikes us, in spite of the dilapidations which they have suffered, is the vitality which seems to pervade them. In these, not only the office and appearance of the muscles, whether in action or at rest, but the bearings of the skeleton, are expressed with an accuracy which could only have resulted from the most profound science, added to an acute and perpetual observation of nature. The statue of the Ilissus is especially remarkable for its graceful flexibility; and we would observe, without going too technically into the subject, how different is the indentation, formed by the lower line of the ribs in this figure, so admirably expressing its position, from that geometrical arch by which this part of the body is designated in the ordinary antique statues, and which is so rarely accommodated to the action represented. The principle, pointed out in this instance, may be traced throughout the Elgin marbles, in which true art is never superseded by conventional style. We believe that in the opinion of the majority of connoisseurs, the statue of Theseus is considered superior to that of the Ilissus. Canova, however, preferred the latter; and Raffaelle, who imported designs from Greece, has adapted this figure to that of the fallen Commander, in his picture of Heliodorus. It is well known that the Ilissus was a small stream which ran along the south side of the plain of Athens. The statue in which it is here personified occupied the left angle of the west pediment of the Parthenon, and that of Theseus was placed opposite to it on the east pediment next to the horses of Hyperion."

[87] Herodotus; Thucydides; Pliny, the younger; Plutarch; Pausanias; Wheler; Rollin; Chandler; Stuart; Barthelemy; Sandwich; Montague; Brewster; Rees; Byron; Dodwell; Clarke; Hobhouse; Eustace; Quin; Williams; De la Martine.

[88] Gen. c. x. v. 10.

[89] Gen. xi. v. 4.--"The schemes that men of coarse imaginations have raised from a single expression in the Bible, and sometimes from a supposition of a fact no where to be found, are astonishing. If you believe the Hebrew doctors, the language of men, which, till the building of Babel, had been one, was divided into seventy languages. But of the miraculous division of the languages there is not one word in the Bible."--"Dissertation on the Origin of languages," by DR. GREGORY SHARPE, 2nd Ed. p. 24.

[90] The greatest cities of Europe give but a faint idea of the grandeur which all historians unanimously ascribe to the famous city of Babylon.--DUTENS.

[91] "It is conceivable," says an elegant writer on civil architecture, "that walls of the height of the London monument might have, during the long existence of a great empire, been raised to protect so great a city as Nineveh; but it requires a much greater stretch of thought to conceive them, as in the case of Babylon, to be raised to a height equal to that of the cross which terminates the dome or cupola of St. Paul's cathedral in London. Yet, when we recollect that Nebuchadnezzar was intoxicated with conquest, in possession of unbounded power and riches, and ambitious of erecting a metropolis for all Asia, upon a scale which should surpass every city the world had seen, we shall hesitate in condemning as improbable even the descriptions of Herodotus."

[92] It must be confessed, indeed, that in the comparison of ancient and modern measures, nothing certain has been concluded. According to vulgar computation, a cubit is a foot and a half; and thus the ancients also reckoned it; but then we are not certainly agreed about the length of their foot.--MONTFAUCON.

The doubt expressed by Montfaucon appears unnecessary; these measures being taken from the proportions of the human body, are more permanent than any other. The foot of a moderately-sized man, and the cubit--(that is, the space from the end of the fingers to the elbow), have always been twelve and eighteen inches respectively.--BELOE.

[93] Thus, saith the Lord, to his anointed, to Cyrus, I will go before thee; I will break in pieces the gates of brass.--ISAIAH.

[94] The original Erythræan, or Red Sea, was that part of the Indian ocean, which forms the peninsula of Arabia; the Persian and Arabian gulfs being branches of it.--BELOE.

[95] It is necessary to bear in mind, that the temples of the ancients were altogether different from our churches. A large space was inclosed by walls, in which were courts, a grove, pieces of water, apartments sometimes for the priests; and, lastly, the temple, properly so called, and where, most frequently, it was permitted the priests alone to enter. The whole inclosure was named [Greek: to hieron]: the temple, properly so called, or the residence of the deity, was called [Greek: naos] (_naos_) or the cell.--HARVEY.

[96] The streets crossed each other, and the city was cut into six hundred and seventy-six squares, each of which was four furlongs and a half on every side; viz., two miles and a quarter in circumference.

[97] Porter.

[98] Anon.

[99] This is said to have been done at the building of old London Bridge.

[100] These canals having been suffered to decay, the water of the river is much greater now than formerly.

[101] Herodotus. Megathenes says seventy-five feet. "We relate the wonders of Babylon," says Rollin, "as they are delivered down to us by the ancients; but there are some of them which are scarce to be comprehended or believed; of which number is the lake. I mean in respect to its vast extent."

[102] Vol. xlviii. 199.

[103] The reviewer then goes on to say:--"By way of comparing this with a work of modern times, we may notice, that the Bristol ship canal, one of the late projects, was intended to have been eighty miles long, one hundred feet wide, and thirty feet deep; and the estimated cost was four millions sterling. To be sure, labour was cheaper at Babylon than in London, and well it might be; for if the Babylonian lake were to be made now in England, it would cost the trifling sum of four thousand two hundred and twenty-one millions sterling!"

[104] The reader will naturally be reminded of the tunnel now constructing under the Thames; a much more difficult and extensive undertaking.

[105] Going in and out, we should suppose, with every angle. Should any one do this with a rule at St. Paul's Cathedral, it is probable he might compass a mile.

[106] The largest pyramid is 110 feet higher than St. Paul's, with a base occupying about the same area as Lincoln's Inn Fields.

[107] The advantageous situation of Babylon, which was built upon a wide, extended, flat country, where no mountains bounded the prospect; the constant clearness and serenity of the air in that country, so favourable to the free contemplation of the heavens; perhaps, also, the extraordinary height of the tower of Babel, which seems to have been intended for an observatory; all these circumstances were strong motives to engage this people to a more nice observation of the various motions of the heavenly bodies, and the regular course of the stars.--ROLLIN.

[108] Diodorus states, that in his time many monuments still remained with inscriptions upon them.

[109] Val. Max. ix. c. 3.

[110] A statue was erected in memory of this action, representing her in that very attitude, and the undress, which had not prevented her from flying to her duty.

[111] Daniel, c. iv.

[112] Diodorus; Prideaux.

[113] "The hanging gardens," says Major Rennell, "as they are called, had an area of about three acres and a half, and in them were grown trees of considerable size; and it is not improbable, that they were of a species different from those of the natural growth of the alluvial soil of Babylonia. These trees may have been perpetuated in the same spot where they grew (or seeds from them), notwithstanding that the terraces may have subsided, by the crumbling of the piers and walls that supported them; the ruins of which may form the very eminences, spoken of by M. Niebuhr, and which are covered with a particular kind of trees." That is, with trees different from any that grow between the ruins and the Persian gulf, in which space no other trees are to be found but date and other fruit trees.

[114] Daniel, ch. v., ver. 25.

[115] Isaiah xiii. 19, 22; xiv. 23, 24.--It has been well observed by Bishop Newton, that it must afford all readers of an exalted taste and generous sentiments, a very sensible pleasure to hear the prophets exulting over such tyrants and oppressors as the kings of Assyria. "In the fourteenth chapter of Isaiah," continues he, "there is an Epinikion, or a triumphant ode upon the fall of Babylon. It represents the infernal mansions as moved, and the ghosts of deceased tyrants as rising to meet the king of Babylon, and congratulate his coming among them."--"It is really admirable for the severest strokes of irony as well as for the sublimest strains of poetry. The Greek poet Alcæus, who is celebrated for his hatred to tyrants, and whose odes were animated with the spirit of liberty no less than with the spirit of poetry, we may presume to say, never wrote any thing comparable to it."

[116] Partly, not entirely. "Herodotus states that Darius Hystaspes, on the taking of Babylon by the stratagem of Zopyrus, 'levelled the walls and took away the gates, neither of which Cyrus had done.' But let it be remarked that Darius lived a century and a half before Alexander, in whose time the walls appear to have been in the original state; or, at least, nothing is said that implies the contrary; and it cannot be believed, if Darius had taken the trouble to level thirty-four miles of so prodigious a rampart as that of Babylon, that ever it would have been rebuilt in the manner described by Ctesias, Clitarchus, and others, who describe it at a much later period. Besides, it would have been quite unnecessary to level more than a _part_ of the wall; and in this way, probably, the historian ought to be understood."--RENNELL.

[117] Herod. Thalia. c. v. ch. ix.

[118] Cyrus; Cambyses; Smerdis Magus; Darius the son of Hystaspes; Xerxes I.; Artaxerxes Longimanus; Xerxes II.; Sogdianus; Darius Nothus; Artaxerxes Mnemon; Artaxerxes Ochus; Arses; and Darius Codomanus.

[119] "Babylon was designed by Alexander to be not only the capital of his empire, but also a great port and naval arsenal. To contain his fleet, he ordered a basin to be excavated, capable of admitting a thousand sail, to which were to be added docks and magazines for stores. The ships of Nearchus, as well as others from Phoenicia, were already arrived. They had been taken to pieces on the Mediterranean coast, and conveyed overland to Thapsacus, where they had been put together, and then navigated down the Euphrates." The object of all this was to enable him to invade Arabia.

[120] Sir John Malcolm says, that many traditions still exist in Persia, in regard to this wonderful person. Amongst others, this:--"The astrologers had foretold, that when Alexander's death was near, he would place his throne where the earth was of iron and the sky of gold. When the hero, fatigued with conquest, directed his march towards Greece, he was one day seized with a bleeding at the nose. A general who was near, unlacing his coat of mail, spread it for his prince to sit on; and, to defend him from the sun, held a golden shield over his head. When Alexander saw himself in this situation, he exclaimed, 'The prediction of the astrologers is accomplished, I no longer belong to the living! Alas! that the work of my youth should be finished! Alas! that the plant of the spring should be cut down like the ripened tree of autumn!' He wrote to his mother, saying, he should shortly quit the earth and pass to the regions of the dead. He requested that the alms given at his death should be bestowed on such as had never seen the miseries of the world, and who had never lost those who were dear to them. In conformity to his will, his mother sought, but in vain, for such persons. All had tasted the woes and griefs of life; all had lost those whom they loved. She found in this a consolation which her son had intended, for her great loss. She saw that her own was the common lot of humanity."

[121] In describing the overthrow, the prophet is admirable; rising by a judicious gradation into all the pomp of horror. _q. d._ "Now, indeed, it is thronged with citizens; but the hour is coming, when it shall be entirely depopulated, and not so much as a single inhabitant left.--Lest you should think, that in process of time it may be re-edified, and again abound with joyful multitudes, it shall never be inhabited more; no, never to be dwelt in any more, from generation to generation; but shall continue a dismal waste, through all succeeding ages.--A waste so dismal, that none of the neighbouring shepherds shall make their fold, or find so much as an occasional shelter for their flocks; where kings, grandees, and crowds of affluent citizens were wont to repose themselves in profound tranquillity. Even the rude and roving Arabian shall not venture to pitch his tent, nor be able to procure for himself the poor accommodation of a night's lodging; where millions of polite people basked in the sunshine of profuse prosperity.--In short; it shall neither be habitable, nor accessible! but a dwelling place for dragons, and a court for owls; an astonishment, and a hissing. What was once the golden city, and the metropolis of the world, shall be an everlasting scene of desolation, a fearful monument of divine vengeance, and an awful admonition to human pride."

[122] About the middle of the second century, when Strabo was there, the walls were reduced to fifty cubits in height, and twenty-one in breadth.

[123] About the year 1169.

[124] The soil of Babylonia, in the time of Herodotus, may be in no small degree judged of by what that historian states:--"Of all countries, which have come under my observation, this is far the most fruitful in corn. Fruit-trees, such as the vine, the olive, and the fig, they do not even attempt to cultivate; but the soil is so particularly well adapted for corn, that it never produces less than two-hundredfold; in seasons which are remarkably favourable it will sometimes produce three hundred; the ear of their wheat as well as barley is four digits in size. The immense height to which millet will grow, although I have witnessed it myself, I know not how to mention. I am well aware that they who have not witnessed the country will deem whatever I may say upon the subject, a violation of probability."--CLIO, CXCIII.

[125] There is a copy of Rauwolf's work in the British Museum, enriched by a multitude of MS. notes by Gronovius, to whom it would seem the copy once belonged.

[126] By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down; yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion.

2. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof.

3. For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they, that wasted us, required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion.

4. How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?--PSALM cxxxvii.

[127] The words of Beauchamp are:--"I employed two men for three hours in clearing a stone, which they supposed to be an idol. The part, which I got a sight of, appeared to be nothing but a shapeless mass: it was evident, however, that it was not a simple block, as it bore the marks of a chisel, and there were pretty deep holes in it." Sir Robert Ker Porter says, it is a common idea with the Turks, that the real object with Europeans, in visiting the banks of the Euphrates, is not to explore antiquities, as we pretend, but to make a laborious pilgrimage to these almost shapeless relics of a race of unbelievers more ancient than ourselves; and to perform certain mysterious religious rites before them, which excite no small curiosity amongst the Faithful to inquire into.

[128] It is probable, that many fragments of antiquity, especially of the larger kind, are lost in this manner. The inhabitants call all stones, with inscriptions or figures on them, idols.--RICH.

[129] "The mass on which the Kasr stands," says Sir R. K. Porter, "is above the general level full seven hundred feet. Its length is nearly four hundred yards; its breadth six hundred; but its form is now very irregular. Much of the _débris_, which this interesting spot presented to the Abbé Beauchamp and Mr. Rich in 1811, have now totally disappeared; the aspect of the summit and sides suffering constant changes from the everlasting digging in its apparently inexhaustible quarries for brick of the strongest and finest material.

[130] For the story of Haroot and Maroot, see D'Herbelot and Richards' Persian Dictionary; also Kinneir's Geographical Memoir of the Persian Empire.

[131] Buckingham.

[132] Justin. iii. c. 16.

[133] The Hebrew Scriptures; Herodotus; Xenophon; Valerius Maximus; Diodorus Siculus; Plutarch; Arrian; Quintus Curtius; Justin; Texeira; Rauwolf; Delle Valle; Prideaux; Rollin; Bp. Newton; Beloe; Rennell; Beauchamp; Kinneir; Porter; Malcolm; Franklin; Rich; Buckingham.

[134] Since this was written, the following account has appeared in one of the journals (The Saturday Magazine):--"The present population of Hillah, which may average from six to seven thousand souls, consists chiefly of Arabs, who have their own Sheik, but the Mutsellim, or governor of the place, is under the pacha of Bagdad, and resides in a fortress within the town. There are bazaars and markets on both sides of the river. The shopkeepers are chiefly Armenians, Turks, and Jews. A most important fact connected with these traders is, that Manchester and Glasgow goods that were taken out by the Euphrates expedition as samples, were eagerly bought by them, at a profit to the sellers of one hundred per cent. There is much trade carried on in the town, both by camels from the interior, and by boats laden with rice, dates, tobacco, and other articles most in demand among the desert tribes. It would be curious if, in the progress of commerce and civilisation, the neighbourhood of Babylon should again become the scene of princely mercantile traffic; it is described in the Revelations as having once been (xviii. 12, 13), "The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyme wood, and all manner of vessels of ivory, and all manner of vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble, and cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots," &c.

[135] That beautiful bird, with plumage of the finest shining blue, with purple beak and legs, the natural and living ornament of the temples and porticoes of the Greeks and Romans, which, from the stateliness of its port, as well as the brilliancy of its colours, has obtained the title of Sultana.--SONNINI.

[136] The temple of the sun at Balbec.