Part 10

A large part of the ground-plan is still buried under rubbish, which up to the present time has prevented our gaining a clear idea of the general arrangement. The entrance from the east consists of a three-chambered building, which differs somewhat in arrangement from the usual plan of a gateway building. The towers that are found elsewhere at the sides of gateways of any importance are absent here. The first room, which is unusually spacious, affords access to the double house 37 and 38. Two doors lead to the chamber near the court, and two more direct to the court. At these doors there are still the great stone sockets of the hinges. Owing to uneven setting they became much distorted, but they were already in this condition when they were washed over with gypsum mortar.

The houses of this part of the palace are remarkable for the strength of their walls and the admirable regularity with which they are laid out. Court 38 is reached by a passage-way from the Western Court and also by the wide passage from the Principal Court, the latter through a hall which, as in the case of 25, 26, and 27, opens with three doors on to court 38. Between the doors, pillars project from the walls, and correspond with others on the opposite side. They must have served as piers to support arches for the ceiling, although it is difficult to make out clearly what was the object of this structure. In this house, as in the neighbouring one and in the house farther east, the irregularity of the floor space has been utilised to form an alcove or niche, and these rooms may safely be regarded as sleeping chambers. In one of the doorways we found a statuette of Papsukal, such as we have elsewhere found only in the temples (Fig. 70).

At the north-west corner, where, as we have already stated, the palace is broken off, although it did not end there originally, a hole is cut from the north low down into the massive brickwork, which contained a pottery coffin of very unusual size. After it had been inserted the hole was once more bricked up with Nebuchadnezzar’s bricks. As the outer fortification wall, which runs parallel and completely concealed the opening, also dates from the time of Nebuchadnezzar, it is obvious that the burial must be of his time. The dead man must have been the object of deepest reverence, and with this his funerary outfit is in entire agreement. The place had been opened and plundered before we came, but in the rubbish concealed by the immense sarcophagus we found gold beads, and also a large number of small gold plates, with a hole by which they had been sewn on to some material, forming a sumptuous decoration. Most of them are circular, but with them are some rectangular plates somewhat larger, which bear moulded representations; a bearded man offering before the symbol of Marduk, or the gateway of a fortress with towers and battlements (see Fig. 20). When we consider that only a very small portion of the outfit has escaped the tomb robbers, we realise that the body was provided with rich gold ornaments, and arrayed in garments richly spangled with gold, and that this personage during his lifetime must have occupied a very conspicuous and important position at the court of Babylon, our thoughts turn to Nabopolassar, and we almost wonder whether he himself had not been laid within his palace wall by his son.

Of the remaining buildings on this side, we have nothing of importance to communicate owing to the unfinished state of the excavations, nor is there much to report with regard to the buildings to the south of the Western Court: only a part of the Great Hall is excavated. We recognise the additional building, with its wall pushed towards the north. It is built with the two-ridged bricks of Nebuchadnezzar, and the peculiar effect of this method of building can here be seen clearly (Fig. 71). Behind the hall we again find a series of three chambers, all apparently similar to each other, such as we find behind the great halls of the Principal and Central Courts. In the chambers next to court 40 are two circular walled-in wells, and in each case the foundation of the chamber that contains them is also filled in with rubble brickwork.

XVII THE FORTIFICATION WALLS TO THE NORTH AND SOUTH OF THE PALACE OF NABOPOLASSAR.

In the fortification wall south of Nabopolassar’s palace, which has been excavated to a considerable depth, Nebuchadnezzar’s bricks occur even in the lower courses, while close by on the east the bricks are unstamped. There is an opening here in the wall to form an exit for the drain which runs from the Principal Citadel through the long passage. The three arched openings (Fig. 72) are very remarkable. They resemble doorways, but they have no rabbets, such as are usually found in this kind of archway. The bricks are laid in asphalt and reeds.

At about 7 metres above zero, near this old wall another wall begins, which is also constructed with Nebuchadnezzar’s bricks. It rests on a projecting smooth foundation, and its towers do not correspond with those of the lower wall. In order to form a base for this projecting foundation the space between the palace and the old wall was filled up with brickwork (Fig. 68), divided into separate blocks, each of which overlaps its neighbour in stepped fashion. This in a sense forms the exact contrary of the expansion joint, and the builders must have calculated that in this case the unequal sinking occurred so completely and satisfactorily during the course of the building that the whole of the upper portions might safely be bonded together in one solid mass.

Outside a strengthening kisu is added, which permits of the opening of the doors, but which cuts off the outlet for the drain (Fig. 73). Where the later building is joined on, a grid of wooden beams laid at right angles to each other is inserted. The later building can be easily recognised on the whole of the southern side, but here it is especially clear.

On the north, in order to support the later fortification wall, a thick foundation has been laid immediately in front of the palace. The base of this foundation is arranged on the same principle as on the southern side, with separate projecting stepped blocks (Fig. 74). Above this foundation the wall, with its closely set projecting courses, gradually extended so close to the palace wall that it actually touched it (see Fig. 69), and farther up, where they have now perished, the two must have formed one combined wall. From this point the proper towered fortification wall, which still stretches from here eastwards, may have continued on the same line. We do not know, however, in which form it originally extended westward beyond the ancient palace, for here the foundations, as well as the palace itself, were completely destroyed to make room for the junction with the western extension.

Along the north front of the palace there is a walled-in drain which collected the water of the palace and of the top of the fortification walls, and carried it off to the west (Fig. 75). The level of the intermediate space between the palace and the mud wall was originally very deep, but in the course of successive alterations it was gradually raised in about the same degree as the palace pavement. Fig. 75 shows the peculiar construction of these drains. Above the low side walls are placed either plain bricks or moulded bricks of half-moon shape, set edgeways. Larger drains, such as that of the Principal Court or those in the Principal Citadel, are roofed over with corbelled courses, but in these small drains vaulting is obviously avoided. Yet smaller drains were constructed of two flat brick courses placed together at the lower edge and closed in with bricks laid flat, thus forming a triangular section, such as occurs in the north-west corner of Sachn. The top of the fortification walls is regularly drained by means of vertical gutters inserted in the towers; if the towers were built of burnt brick, these gutters are simply carried down inside the towers at a distance of one brick from the front. This kind of gutter is found in the towers on the south side of Nabopolassar’s palace, and in the east part of the north wall. In walls of mud brick, however, it was of course necessary to construct the gutters of burnt brick, and thus the gutter forms a vertical shaft inserted in the mud brick building which surrounds it on three sides (see Fig. 95), while the fourth side lies flush with the outer wall. We shall meet with this remarkable construction, which often attains very considerable proportions, both in the inner and outer town walls, as well as in some of the temples.

XVIII THE WESTERN EXTENSION

To the west of the palace of Nabopolassar there is an additional building 40 metres in breadth, the lower courses of which, judging by the stamps on the bricks, date from the time of Nebuchadnezzar, and the upper courses from that of Neriglissar. It is the last addition actually made to the Southern Citadel which concerns it alone. The later buildings are connected with the Principal Citadel, and include with it the Southern Citadel, which points to an extension of the whole towards the north and west (Fig. 76).

From the first it was intended that this building should be on the same level as the eastern portion. The foundations, however, are different. The walls stand on a broadly widened base, and all the chambers are filled in to the intended pavement level with brickwork. Small deep spaces are frequently left in this filling near the corners of the chambers, and perhaps were used in some way in marking out the lines of the building. Elaborate precautions are taken to guard the west wall against damp. A high bank was piled up against it which reached almost to the “moat wall of Imgur-Bel,” and on the north and south was supported by low walls of brick rubble. In order to insulate the wall it was washed over with asphalt, and overlaid with plaited matting, on which bricks were set edgeways. Thus the wall carries, so to speak, a course of upright bricks in addition to the usual jointing material. The supporting walls connect with the corners of the palace by grooved expansion joints.

Of the arrangement of the chambers there is little to report, as here also the excavations are not far advanced. The northern of the two gateways is protected by a projecting tower, which had one large doorway in front and two small ones at the sides, an unusual arrangement, not found elsewhere in Babylon.

On the south-west corner, in the rubbish, was found the lower part of a large inscribed 8–sided prism.

XIX THE PERSIAN BUILDING

The space between the palace and the “moat wall of Imgur-Bel” divides into two parts, of which the more southern is filled in with a packing of broken brick in mud. A peculiarity of this packing is that the horizontal joints of the courses are almost as deep as the bricks themselves, and this again indicates Persian work, so far as we have learnt to know it in Susa. The northern portion, on the other hand, was filled in with sand, supporting a building which for the greater part has perished, but of which sufficient remains still exist to enable us to assign it unhesitatingly to the time of the Persian kings.

The foundation trenches still exist, containing some scanty remains of good brickwork, which permit us to recognise a ground-plan of the type of an apadana, as it appears in the well-known palaces of Persepolis (Fig. 77), a pillared hall with a pillared fore-hall, flanked, in front, by two towers. It is remarkable that the distinctive character of this beautiful type of building should always have been mistaken in a most unaccountable manner. The reconstructions which have been so widely circulated even in the most recent handbooks show only the pillars, while the whole of the surrounding walls and the fronting towers are omitted. When confronted with such a representation the scholar receives much the same impression that a naturalist would experience if a boned turkey were offered him for serious study.

The pavements in the chambers as well as on the square to the north of the building consist of a flooring of lime mortar and pebbles in three layers: a coarse thick bottom layer—the festucatio of Vitruvius,—a fine shallow layer, and lastly a thin overlay of a fine red colour. This is entirely Greek, and it is a pleasure to meet with this fine coating we know so well in Athens, in Babylon of the fifth century. There are remains of a pavement made in exactly the same fashion in the ruins of Babil, where, according to the parallel inscription to the great _Steinplatten_ inscription (_K.B._ iii. 2, p. 31), Nebuchadnezzar also built an _appa danna_.

Among the scanty but varied remains of this building, fragments of a plinth of black limestone found on the ruins show sufficient cuneiform signs to enable us to recognise without difficulty the remains of the name of King Darius (Fig. 78), and bases of columns of the same material reproduce precisely the forms of the bases of Persepolis (Fig. 79). Bricks, which like those of Persepolis are not made of clay, but of an artificial mass of lime mixed with sand, bear representations in coloured enamels (Fig. 80). Here, as in the enamelled bricks of the Ishtar Gate, the fields are separated by lines of black glaze. There are ornaments and figures both flat and in relief, the figures with rich garments decorated with the woven patterns of the Persian guard of Persepolis. A woman’s face in white enamel is the only piece of the sort that we possess up to the present time.

We can here recall what Diodorus, whose description was derived from Ctesias, the body surgeon of King Artaxerxes Mnemon, reports of the polychrome decorations of the royal castle of Babylon. To begin with, he quotes (ii. 8) that there were two castles, one on the eastern bank of the Euphrates, on the modern mound “Babil,” and the other on the western bank, the modern “Kasr.” He continues:

τοῦ μὲν γὰρ [εἰς τὸ] πρὸς ἑσπέραν κειμένου μέρους ἐποίησε τὸν πρῶτον περίβολον ἑξήκοντα σταδίων, ὑψηλοῖς καὶ πολυτελέσι τείχεσιν ὠχυρωμένον, ἐξ ὀπτῆς πλίνθου· ἕτερον δ’ ἐντὸς τούτου κυκλοτερῆ κατεσκεύασε, καθ’ ὃν ἐν ὠμαῖς ἔτι ταῖς πλίνθοις διετετύπωτο θηρία παντοδαπὰ τῇ τῶν χρωμάτων φιλοτεχνίᾳ τὴν ἀλήθειαν ἀπομιμούμενα. οὗτος δ’ ὁ περίβολος ἦν τὸ μὲν μῆκος σταδίων τετταράκοντα, τὸ δὲ πλάτος ἐπὶ τριακοσίας πλίνθους, τὸ δ’ ὕψος, ὡς Κτησίας φησίν, ὀργυιῶν πεντήκοντα· τῶν δὲ πύργων ὑπῆρχε τὸ ὕψος ὀργυιῶν ἑβδομήκοντα. κατεσκεύασε δὲ καὶ τρίτον ἐνδοτέρω περίβολον, ὃς περιεῖχεν ἀκρόπολιν, ἧς ἡ μὲν περίμετρος ἦν σταδίων εἴκοσι, τὸ δὲ μῆκος καὶ πλάτος τῆς οἰκοδομίας ὑπεραῖρον τοῦ μέσου τείχους τὴν κατασκευήν. ἐνῆσαν δ’ ἔν τε τοῖς πύργοις καὶ τείχεσι ζῷα παντοδαπὰ φιλοτέχνως τοῖς τε χρώμασι καὶ τοῖς τῶν τύπων ἀπομιμήμασι κατεσκευασμένα. τὸ δ’ ὅλον ἐπεποίητο κυνήγιον παντοίων θηρίων ὑπάρχον πλῆρες, ὦν ἦσαν τὰ μεγέθη πλέον ἢ πηχῶν τεττάρων. κατεσκεύαστο δ’ ἐν αὐτοῖς καὶ ἡ Σεμίραμις ἀφ’ ἵππου πάρδαλιν ἀκοντίζουσα, καὶ πλησίον αὐτῆς ὁ ἀνὴρ Νίνος παίων ἐκ χειρὸς λέοντα λόγχῃ.

The length of the walls are exaggerated about fourfold, and the other measurements yet more, but the three periboli are easily recognisable, as we shall see later. The middle one was laid out κυκλοτερῆ, which may certainly be rendered “annular, enclosed in itself, not open on one side, like the outer peribolos.” In any case it must not be translated “circular,” for a circular peribolos is found nowhere in Babylon. In the central peribolos there were representations of wild animals in naturalistic colours, which were applied to the bricks while they were still moist. These are obviously the lions, bulls, and dragons of the Procession Street and the Ishtar Gate. The central peribolos of Diodorus enclosed both the Southern and the Principal Citadel. On the walls and towers in the third peribolos, which can be no other than the Southern Citadel, there were also representations, coloured to life, of a chase of wild beasts, in which Ninus and Semiramis themselves took an active part. On no other site have we found human figures on the brick enamels, and had there been any, they could hardly have escaped us. We can scarcely doubt, therefore, that Diodorus was describing the enamels of the Persian building, and that the white face of a woman is the same that Ctesias recognised as a portrait of Semiramis. Whether Diodorus included among the wild animals those on the sides of the gateways of the other courts of the third peribolos—or, as we now call it, the Southern Citadel—may remain uncertain; it is a matter of no consequence. It is, however, a most unusual incident in the history of art, that we should have been able to recover by excavation at the present day such works of art described by a celebrated historian of antiquity, and in the very place where he beheld them.

XX THE WALLS OF THE FORTIFICATIONS AND QUAYS TO THE WEST AND NORTH OF THE SOUTHERN CITADEL.

We must now turn to the consideration of the fortifications that are connected both directly and indirectly with the Southern Citadel. It is not always easy to gain a clear idea of these structures. In course of time the walls are displaced, the area enlarged, ancient walls are demolished, and the whole appearance of the place altered. All this occurred to a marked extent during the 43 years of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign. Of the period previous to that we have only the Arachtu wall of Nabopolassar, and the supporting wall of the Assyrian Sargon north-west of the palace of Nabopolassar, which are marked A and S on the plan (Fig. 81). We will first examine those various walls in order to learn their purport and their extent, and then attempt to realise this somewhat complicated system of fortifications in its entire aspect and gradual formation.

XXI THE MOAT WALL OF IMGUR-BEL

We began our investigation of the western portion of the Southern Citadel, so far as we have carried it at present, by cutting a long and wide trench (Figs. 84, 85), which, in its western part, laid bare the walls of the western outworks, which in places are remarkably thick.

Not far from the Southern Citadel the trench brought to light two walls, of which the thicker one on the west replaced the older and narrower one (ÄG) (Fig. 81); they cannot therefore both have been standing at the same time. In the upper courses of the thicker wall (GI, cf. fig. 82) there is a large number of bricks placed closely together, all of which bear the following inscription (Fig. 83): “Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, the exalted prince, the nourisher of Esagila and Ezida, son of Nabopolassar, King of Babylon, am I. Since Nabopolassar, my father, my begetter, made Imgur-Bel the great Dûr of Babylon, I, the fervent suppliant, worshipper of the Lord of lords, dug its fosses and raised its banks of asphalt and baked bricks mountain high. Marduk, great Lord, behold with contentment the costly work of my hands, mayest thou be my helper, my standbye! Length of days send as a gift” (trans. by Delitzsch). Here then we have the slope, the escarpment of the most celebrated and earliest fortification of Babylon that bore the name of Imgur-Bel, “grace of Bel.” Nebuchadnezzar explicitly refers to an Imgur-Bel that was built by Nabopolassar. This Imgur-Bel of Nabopolassar no longer exists, with the exception possibly of some fragmentary remains, but we have a foundation record of Nabopolassar that concerns it. The cylinder, which is small and in excellent condition, was found in the Southern Citadel (_u_ 22) close to the Citadel wall, in rubbish south of the Vaulted Building, and therefore not _in situ_. The text on it runs: “Nabopolassar, King of Babylon, the chosen of Nabu and Marduk, am I. Imgur-Bel, the great Dûr of Babylon, which before me had become weak and fallen, I founded in the primeval abyss. I built it anew with the help of the hosts, the levies of my land. I caused Babylon to be enclosed by it towards the four winds of heaven. I set up its top as in the former time. Dûr, speak to Marduk my Lord on my behalf” (trans. by Delitzsch). From this it appears that the Imgur-Bel of Nabopolassar formed a quadrilateral, closed on all sides, and that it was constructed of burnt brick, as the deep foundations would be neither necessary nor possible for crude brick. The old part of the eastern city wall may thus have formed a portion of the Imgur-Bel of Nabopolassar. The wall of the moat unites on the south with the Citadel wall by a grooved expansion joint, but the groove is cut in the moat wall, which originally extended farther to the south and is older than the Citadel wall at this point. In the north it turns in an easterly direction, and the corner is marked by an immense bastion. On the outer side in the angle of the bastion there are two well shafts hewn out of the brickwork, the openings closed with a grating of pierced stone slabs.

Farther to the north the wall is still buried under the rubbish as far as its eastern termination, where it starts again from another great outstanding bastion to the north of the Ishtar Gate, and there rests against the exactly similarly constructed bastion of the older moat wall.