Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 02.djvu/191

ASSYRIA. excavations were l)e;jriin by the I'^ronchman, Paul Eniile J'.otta, iu 1842, at a mound at Kliorsabad, not far from Mosul, on the left liank of the Tigris, which proved to eontain tlic remains of a magnificent pahice erected by .Sargon II. (B.C. 721-0.5). Three years were spent there by Botta, at the end of which time he had un- earthed numerous chambers of the palace, re- vealing an abundance of sculptural represen- tations, covered with inscriptions, statues, inscribed slabs, and nuuierous objects. Jleauwhile the Englishman, Sir Austen Henry Layard, was making ])reparations to begin work at mounds directly opposite SIosul and some miles to the south. In 1845 he began the excava- tions, which, continued till 1850, were fraught with such startling results. He rediscovered Xineveh, of which Kliorsabad to the north and the mound Ximrud to the south were suburbs. No less than five palaces and several temples were fovmd by him, filled with sculptured objects and quantities of inscriptions. A notable find was the discovery of the royal "brick' library gathered by Asurbanipal, of which some 30,000 fragments were sent to the British Museum. This collection, being copies of originals be- longing to Babylonian temples, forms the chief source for the study of Babylonian literature and religion. After Layard came Rassam and George Smith, who made still further researches among the mounds opi)Osite Jfosul ; but during the past four decades the chief activity of explorers has been directed to the mounds in the south, covering the remains of Babylonian cities, whose history carries us back to a far earlier period than that revealed by the discoveries in the mounds of Assyria proper.

Bii!LiO(iR.vpiiv. Hisforij. — Tiele, Babylonisch- Assyrisclie Oescliichte (Gotha, 1886) ; Rogers, llistori/ of liiiliiiUiinu and Asstiria (New York, 1900) ; Hommel, Oescliichte Babi/lonieiis und As- syrien.i (Berlin, 1885): Wincklcr, (Jesrhichte lidbijloincnfi und Assyriens (Leipzig, 1892); Maspero, The Daivn of Civilization (New York, 1894) ; struggle of the Nations (London, 1896) ; I'he l^assinfj of tlw Empires (Xew Y'ork, 1900). Reliyion. — .Jastrow, h'elif/ion of Babylonia and ^l,s,s;/nVi (Boston, 1898); Tiele, Geschirlite der Ueligion im Alterlum, Vol. I., Die I'eli(/ion in liubylonien und Assyria (Gotha, 1895) ; King, Babylonian-Assyrian Reliyion (London, 1899). lixcaraliuns. — Rogers, History of Babylonia^ and Assyria, Vol. I. (New Y'ork, 1900) ; Kaulen, Assyrien und Babylonien naeh den neuesteii Ent- deelntngcn (5th ed., Freiburg, 1890) : Evetts, Veio lAyht on the Holy Lund (London, 1891) ; Place, Vinii.e et I'Assyrie (Paris, 1867-70); Layard, Nineveh and Its Remains (London, 1867); id. Monuments of Nineveh (London, 1850) ; id. Dis- coveries in the Ruins of Nineveh and Babylon (London, 1853).

ASSYR'IAN ART. The historic inscriptions show that the earliest rulers of Assyria in the Seventeenth Century n.c. built monumentsand en- riched them with images, with colored decorations, and with hangings. None of these early works has yet been found, but it is probable that they reseml)led the art of Babylonia even more closely than later works, because at first the Assyrians, being cruder in their culture, were more imitative than when their national char- acteristics found artistic expression after Assyria became a great power. Roughly speaking, the fol- lowing periods nuiy be recognized: (1) Baby- lonish. Seventeenth to Twelfth centuries; (2) Archaic, Twelfth to Ninth centuries; (3) De- veloped, or Epic, Ninth to Eighth centuries; (4) Picturesque, Seventh t'enUiry. The temple and all forms of religious art, which predominated dur- ing the earliest centuries, had taken second place the time of Asurnazirpal (Ninth Century), and the building and decorating of the royal pal- ace, the celebrating of royal victories, exploits, and everyday life became and remained the |)rin- cipal theme of Assyrian art, in harmony with the despotic and secular character of Assyrian insti- tutions. It is a help in tracing its history that nearly every king built at least one palace to commemorate his reign, in which everything was executed by his royal artists. The capital being successively shifted to Nineveh, Calah, and Ashur helped to multiply royal constructions. Beginning in the reign of Asurnazirpal. Assyria came in touch with every phase of Oriental art — Egyptian, Phcenician. Hittite, ^Egean. The re- sult was a strong reciprocal influence. Between the Ninth and Seventh centuries, Nineveh was the centre of the entire East for art as well as commerce ; here colonies of foreign artists set- tled, and imitated or transformed the strongly marked character of Assyrian art, sending their works, by the hands especially of Phoenician traders, over the entire civilized world. This Assyrian supremacy did not cease until the fall of Nineveh, about B.C. 607. In describing the char- acter of Assyrian art, it is not easy to detach the other arts from architecture, because the con- struction itself, being of brick, was necessarily so plain, so devoid of special features, such as colonnades or elaborate moldings, that both re- lief sculptures and color decoration were used for eft'ect and became an integral ])art of architec- ture. Cult-images of the gods, often of precious metals, were placed in the temples, as well as re- liefs with mythological subjects. Doors were covered with bronze-figured plaques, or carved in wood; obelisks and stiles were set up in the open air; but the favorite form of sculpture remained the low-relief frieze, and the favorite material, soft limestone. The industrial arts were highly developed. The king and his courtiers dressed in superbly embroidered and figured stviflfs ; the horses were superbly caparisoned; the arms and armor were highly finished; the king's throne was of carved ivory and gold, and the king was served out of gold, silver, and bronze vessels, with figures in relief. The Phamicians and Syrians in particular were cunning workmen, who supplied all that Assyrian luxury demanded, and life was then as luxurious as under the Roman Empire. The bronze gates of Balawat, the dislies and ivories from Nimrnd now in the British Museum, the carved cylinders and gems there and in the Louvre, Metropolitan Jluseuni, and De Clereq Collection, show the character of the smaller arts.

Architecture. The Assyrians copied the Baby- lonians far more closely in architecture than in the other arts. They employed brick in similar fashion, though they occasionally faced their sib- structures and walls with stone slabs as the Babylonians never did. Their temples were of the same pyramidal shape; their palaces on a similar quadrangular plan, with chambers also grouped around three courts. Color decoration was used, both outside in the form of reliefs of