Similar were the proportions of Babylon, but still fainter traces are left of the city, owing to the friable materials of which it was built. Herodotus, who professes to have seen it more than one hundred years after the death of Nebuchadnezzar, describes it thus: "The city is situated in a wide plain and forms a square of one hundred and twenty stadia on each side, so that the whole circuit reaches four hundred and eighty stadia. It is divided into two parts, and the river Euphrates flows through the middle. It is surrounded by a broad and deep trench, which is always filled with water. The soil taken from this trench was made into bricks and burnt; and these were applied, first to lining the trench, and then to building the wall. The wall is 5o Babylonian cubits (93 feet 4 inches) in thickness, and 200 cubits (373 feet 4 inches) in height. The bricks are held together by bitumen mortar, and at every thirtieth course they are separated by a layer of reeds. On the wall are houses of a single chamber, built on each side opposite each other, and yet sufficient space is left between them for a chariot and four to pass. In the wall are one hundred gates, all of brass, with brazen lintels and side-posts. The wall has wings which run along the river on either side, and the banks are cased with masonry of burnt bricks. The city itself is filled with houses of three and four stories. The streets are straight, and those which run down to the river have each a brazen gate in the masonry on the river, through which you pass on steps of burnt brick into the water." Household derive our information concerning the house hold goods and utensils of the Assyrians and Babylonians from the oft mentioned sculptures and also from some original articles which have been preserved among the ruins. Their appearance exhibits enrich that is puz zling, for, while their art itself, and particularly their symbolical figures, exhibit a pronounced national character and betray the influence of the dark spirit of despotism under which they were created, the house furni ture (pi. r6, figs. 36-45) especially shows in a pleasing manner a some what severe yet facile style. The case is somewhat different with the pot tery (figs. 46-49), which in its more rounded forms indicates a connection with a more ancient industry peculiar to a brick-making country.
But regarding the furniture, attention has been called, and probably not without reason, to the fact that it was the product not of domestic industry, but of the skill of the subjugated inhabitants of the coasts, whose superior ability is apparent from the articles of tribute pictured on the Egyptian monuments of the second millennium B. C. It must also be remembered that the furniture and utensils depicted in the Assyrian sculp tures belonged only to the temples and palaces, and may have been articles of booty and tribute taken from vanquished nations. It was the custom, moreover, of the conquerors to transport whole populations from their distant homes and thus add to the immediate resources of the empire. We omit a detailed description of the objects depicted in our plates, as they will be easily understood. It is hardly necessary to mention that gold and other precious materials were lavishly used in the decoration of articles for the use of royalty.
Domestic and Social knowledge has come down to us concerning the manner of life in those great Asiatic kingdoms. The pictorial representations in the palaces are confined to the actions and pur suits of the kings, especially to their deeds of war and to their religious functions. The life of the people was probably monotonous, just as it is at present in the East, where its free development is politically and socially impeded, and where thought is directed only to material profit, which is employed solely to drown intellectual consciousness in dreams. In the
ancient periods, however, men were kept on the alert by their fear of hos tile neighbors, for conquest was generally accompanied by plunder and devastation. Rings were fastened into the lips of the captives, and by these they were led into slavery. If a long resistance had roused the anger of a besieging army, it took revenge on the conquered by cutting off noses and ears, lopping off hands and feet, and plucking out eyes, these being the ordinary modes of punishment in those times. Impaling (A/. 17, 16), crucifixion, flaying, and burning were also practised.
The reliefs depicted on Plate 17 show us the peaceful side of life in that strange epoch. Figure 9 shows King Sennacherib and his spouse drinking wine in a vine arbor; he is resting on a couch, she is seated in a high chair, and behind both are male and female servants, some of them engaged in fanning away the flies. This relief, discovered in the palace of Konyfinjik, is especially interesting on account of its female figures. It confirms what has been noted above (p. 144), respecting the attire: while the maids wear the long gown-like dress, by no means without ornament, the queen is apparelled in textures similar to those worn by the king; a diadem rests upon her brow, and her hair is curled in the same manner as the king's. The surrounding furniture is also very noteworthy, though the purposes for which it was designed are not always perfectly apparent.
Figure II shows the king in his war-chariot, with his driver and his umbrella-bearer at his side; two warriors or guides precede the two wheeled chariot, to which three horses are hitched abreast; behind it a mounted soldier leads a riderless horse, undoubtedly the war-horse of the king; and the guardian spirit Fcrohcr (shown larger in Figure 2) floats above it. Figure 15 portrays the ruler in his attire of peace: he has descended from his chariot, and seems to be conversing with a richly-clad man, who is perhaps a foreign ambassador; behind him stands a eunuch with an umbrella; the chariot is in charge of the driver and a servant in short dress. Figures 13 and 14 (fl. 17) show us the king engaged in hunt ing: Figure 13 represents him accompanied by a led horse pursuing in his chariot two wild steers, one of which, pierced with arrows, has fallen to the ground, while the other makes an attack on the chariot. In Figure 14 he stands by the side of a slain lion, holding his bow in his left hand, and with his right hand carrying a cup to his mouth; before him stands the fan-bearer; around him are armed hunters, and at the right are two men playing on stringed instruments. The camp scene (fig. 12) deserves especial notice: an enclosure, indicated in outline, shows in its four divis ions several men engaged in different occupations, apparently kitchen work; at the side of a tent horses are being groomed and fed; at its entrance a eunuch receives prisoners who are conducted by a soldier. The relief (fig. 1o) is from a monument of Sahnanassar III., and shows the king receiving the homage of a conquered enemy.
Cienez/brin Il specimen presented in Figure 17 is from the monument of Cyrus at Pasargadm, which is further described on page 152. It is the earliest writing of Central Asia; it has only recently been deci phered, but not so fully as the hieroglyphics. It is read from left to right, and consists of letters which are formed by a group of difierently-placed wedge-shaped signs, whose meaning depends on manifold accompanying circumstances. Professor Grotefend and Sir Henry Rawlinson deserve special praise as being their first decipherers. Small cylinder-shaped stones with inscriptions of this kind (bl. 16, fig. 13), which are frequently found, are undoubtedly to be considered as amulets or seals.'