Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XII.djvu/471

 NINEVEH 457 earthen wall is between 40 and 50 ft. Some remains have been found of stone masonry, which faced the walls to a certain height. The wall occasionally rises above the usual height, marking the remains of a gateway or tower. The mound of Koyunjik is 96 ft. high, nearly 4,000 ft. long from N. to S., and about 1,500 ft. from E. to W. The summit is nearly flat, and was formerly occupied by a small village. The sides are steep and fur- rowed with occasional watercourses. Koyun- jik was once surrounded by a small but deep stream called the Khosr, which now flows around its S. E. side. The mound of Nebi Yunus is about 1,600 ft. from E. to W. and 1,300 ft. from N. to S., but about as high as Koyunjik. Its summit is divided by a de- pression into two parts. The Turkoman vil- lage containing the traditional tomb of Jonah occupies its summit, together with a burial ground held very sacred from its neighbor- hood. The W. side of the great quadrangle was protected by the Tigris. The E. side was defended in its northern part by the Khosr, which there runs parallel with the wall, and in its southern part by two great moats, which were filled from the Khosr by means of dams that can still be traced. One of these moats was about 200 ft. wide, and cut in the native rock. The outer eastern rampart was of earth, and is 80 ft. high ; and some detached towers seemed marked by mounds outside of this out- er rampart. The mounds at Nimrud have an arrangement somewhat similar to those op- posite Mosul. They are included in a walled square, somewhat irregular, about 7,000 ft. by 6,285, defended on the west and south by the river, on the north and east by moats, and showing traces of 108 towers; the great mound is on the S. W. face of the enclosure, and 2,100 ft. by 1,200, rising in its N. W. corner in a pyramid 140 ft. high. A group of high mounds, which the Arabs call Athur, is at the S. E. corner of the enclosure. The remains at Khorsabad consist of an enclosure about 6,000 ft. square, with traces of gate- ways and towers, but no ditches, and in the N. W. side a mound in two parts or stages, the lower about 1,350 ft. by 300, and the up- per about 650 ft. square and 30 ft. high, while one corner is marked by a pyramid like that at Nimrud, but smaller. An Arab village formerly occupied the summit of the Khorsa- bad mounds. In the three mounds of Nim- rud, Koyunjik, and Khorsabad the most of the remains of ancient sculptures and build- ings have been found. The mound of Nim- rud contains the ruins of several distinct edifices, erected at different times, materials for the construction of the latest having been taken from an earlier building. In general plan the ruins consist of a number of halls, chambers, and galleries, panelled with sculp- tured and inscribed slabs, and opening one into another by doorways, generally formed by pairs of colossal human-headed and winged bulls or lions. The exterior architecture could not be traced. The pyramidal N. W. corner of the mound rises above the ruins of a base- ment 165 ft. square, walled to the height of 20 ft. with sun-dried bricks, and faced on the four sides by blocks of stone carefully squared, bevelled, and fitted together. This stone plinth corresponds exactly with the description by Xenophon of the deserted city on the Tigris, which he calls Larissa (" Anabasis," iii. 4), and is surmounted by a superstructure of bricks, as he describes, the burnt bricks being gen- erally inscribed. Above this base a succession of platforms probably rose, each smaller than the one below, and the topmost crowned with a shrine or altar. A vaulted gallery, 100 ft. long, 6 broad, and 12 high, crossed the summit of the mound at the level of the top of the stone plinth. This building is identified with the tower described by Xenophon at Larissa. Its builder also erected in the centre of the great mound a second palace, the materials of which have been used for later structures. In its ruins was found a black obelisk, now in the British museum. A third stood on the W. face of the mound, and was built by Iva- lush, identified with the Pul of the Hebrew Scriptures. A fourth palace was built mainly with materials taken from older structures by Esarhaddon, about 680 B. C., at the S. W. corner of the platform. A fifth was built at the S. E. corner by his grandson Asshur-emit- ilin, but much smaller than the rest, its cham- bers being panelled with plain unsculptured slabs ; but some detached figures were found here. The largest palace hitherto explored stood at the S. W. corner of the mound of Koyunjik. It was built by Sennacherib about 700 B. 0., and had an extent of nearly 100 acres. About 60 courts, halls, rooms, and passages have been discovered ; some of the halls are 150 ft. square, and one passage is 200 ft. long ; all are panelled with sculptured slabs of alabaster. The winged human-headed lions and bulls at the principal entrances are 20 ft. in height. Layard discovered 27 such doorways. In the same mound are the ruins of a second palace, erected by his son Esarhaddon, in which were discovered a series of sculptures represent- ing a lion hunt, now in the British museum. Somewhat similar remains have been found in the other mounds. The Assyrian edifices were generally alike in plan, construction, and dec- oration. They were built upon enormous platforms raised about 40 ft. above the level of the plain, either by heaping up earth and rubbish or by masonry of sun-dried bricks. The platforms were faced with stone, and were ascended by broad flights of steps. The palaces themselves were constructed princi- pally of sun-dried bricks, though kiln-burnt bricks were used for the solider parts, and a coarse alabaster quarried near the city was used for ornament. The walls of these build- ings were generally about 15 ft. thick, and were lined with sculptured alabaster slabs