Professional Documents
Culture Documents
The Archaeology of Mesopotamia (History Arts Ebook)
The Archaeology of Mesopotamia (History Arts Ebook)
The Archaeology
of Mesopotamia
^/t
from the
Old Stone Age
o the Persian
lonquest
REVISED EDITION
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SETON LLOYD
The Archaeology
of Mesopotamia
From the Old Stone Age
to the Persian Conquest
REVISED EDITION
Sculpture
Statues; Relief Carving
Architecture
Building Methods; Temples; Palaces
Cylinder-seals
Metallurgy and Composite Craftsmanship
Inlaid Ornament; Composite Objects
Pottery
Semites in Mesopotamia
Sargon and his Successors
Archaeology
Buildings; Tell Asmar; Khafaje and Brak;
Sculpture; Cylinder-seals; Gasur
GUTIANS AND LaGASH
De Sarzec; Telloh; Gudea; Al-Hiba
The Third Dynasty of Ur
Buildings at Ur; The Ziggurat; The Terrace;
The Mausoleum; Temples and Sculpture
Imperial History
Early Excavations in Assyrian Cities
Nimrud (Kalhu)
Khorsabad
Nineveh
American Excavations at Khorsabad
Building Construction
Late Assyrian Sculpture
British Return to Nimrud
The Nimrud Ivories
Bibliography 239
Index 246
To the memory of Henri Frankfort
Preface to the First Edition
But of even greater importance was the fact that, in doing so, he
mastered the art of 'stratified' excavation: a practice whose
understanding became the key to effective research in all
Mesopotamian settings. In the third decade of the present century,
when 'professional' archaeologists of other nationalities began to
arrive in Iraq, these German methods were adopted by them to
great advantage. Needless to say, they have been elaborated and
improved upon as time has gone by; but they can still be seen to
have provided the basis for a developing technique of excavation,
without which the discoveries recorded in this book could not have
been made.
10
Preface to the Revised Edition
II
Chapter One
C'/ ALEPPO
V.Mardikh
o
SYRIA
Canj Da
Tepe Asiab'
ChogaMami ^TepeGura
i^Mallaha y^.^
ISRAEL/,.-
, , 'MrCarmel
"-..^ .
^ _ ~
s.
^
TepeSabz\
v.AaIjI^sI
'Jericho <^ [^^ X/ SusaA^
-1 ^\
ABeidha '.
SAUDI ARABIA
200 m/
The Land and its Rivers
river valley, as they did in the 7th century ad, from the Hamad or
high Arabian Desert to the west, one fmds oneself suddenly on an
escarpment about 30 m
above the plain, looking out over the tree-
tops of the Euphrates cultivation to that of the Tigris beyond and,
in the remoter distance, to the thin line of the Zagros Mountains,
which form the eastern limits of Mesopotamia. At Kufah, on the
edge of the 'cliff, there is a shrine called As-Safinah, 'the Ship',
marking the place where Moslems think that the Ark rested.
U.S.S.R text
CASPIAN
SEA
I RAN
Tepe Yahya.
13
The Land and its Rivers
2 Map showing Mesopotamian fringes of the tremendous desert which geologists call the 'Arabian
sites mentioned in the text
Plateau'. What is less apparent on an ordinary map is a horizontal
dividing-line, running approximately through Hit on the Euph-
rates and Samarra on the Tigris, which marks the uppermost
limit of the alluvial plain. To the north of this line, the rivers are
separated by a barren limestone plateau called Al-Jazirah, 'the
Island',which restricts the Euphrates to a narrow valley. The
Tigris, however, profiting from its eastern tributaries, passes
through a wide upland of undulating ploughland and pasture: the
productive countryside which was once Assyria. To the south of
the Hit-Samarra line, where the two rivers reach their common
14
The Land and its Rivers
The Coastline
today are almost 100 miles from the seashore; so some acceptable
compromise had to be arrived at. One small detail of archaeological
15
The Land and its Rivers
The Rivers
Perhaps one should now return to the character of the two rivers,
on which the whole economy of the country depends.
The Tigris rises in a small lake (Hazar Golii), .about lOO miles
west of Lake Van, and flows down easterly and southeasterly
towards Nineveh and the Assyrian uplands. The Euphrates, which
is a much longer river (1,780 as opposed, to 1,150 miles), has two
seen, standing as they always have beside the river banks. South of
the same line the situation is quite different. Here rivers meander
through the alluvial plain, frequently changing course and
throwing off side-branches. Also, like all sediment-bearing rivers
which flow at a very low gradient, they gradually raise the level of
their own beds, so that, for the greater part of the time, they flow at
a higher level than the surrounding plain. If, as inevitably happens
on occasion, they overflow their banks in floodtime, great
permanent lakes and swamps tend to be created, and occasionally
the river changes its course. This explains why some of the great
cities of the alluvial plains, which once stood beside the Tigris or
16
The Land and its Rivers
the rivers do not receive their full volume of water until the spring,
when the melting snows in the Taurus and Zagros Mountains feed
their tributaries. Then come the spring floods which, a generation
ago, were considered practically uncontrollable and through
all
Salinization
17
The Land and its Rivers
18
The Land and its Ri vers
Northern Iraq
19
The Land and its Rivers
20
Chapter Two
The Palaeolithic period then, which saw the evolution of man Table I
from ape-like ancestry to the true semblance of Homo sapiens,
corresponds roughly with the Pleistocene or 'most recent' phase in
geological history. It started over 2,000,000 years ago and ended
between 20,000 and 12,000 years ago. It was during this period that,
at least four times in succession, huge glaciers which were an
extension of the polar ice-cap crept southward to cover large parts
of Eurasia and North America. ^ The earliest phase of the Old Stone
Age, the Lower Palaeolithic, extends from well before 2,000,000
years ago to about 80,000 years ago. In Europe during the latter
part of this long era, the first evidence is found of primitive cultures
(Abbevillian, Clactonian and Acheulian), material remains of
creatures already related to the forebears of modern man. With the
Middle Palaeolithic (80,000-30,000 years ago) we shall be more
closely concerned in our present context, since in northern Iraq it is
21
I
BEFORE CTT L
WEST IRAQ LEVEL OF
PRESENT b 1 Aor, EUROPE SHANIDAR OTHER CULTURE
CAVE SITES
Layer B Zawi- FOOD
10,600 BP Chemi PRODUCING
12,000 Layer B2
12,000 BP KarimShahir
M'lefaat
Hazar Merd
Magdalenian Palegawra
U
15,000
X
H
Hiatus
2
< 1
N-l
<
0-
ce: Solutrean
0.
20,000 a. Zarzi
Gravettian Z
X
H
<
Perigordian
Top Layer C Q
Aurignacian
30,000 28,000 BP 2
' ^ ' '
1
Q
<
Bot torn
Lay erC
35,0(DO BP 7
n
1I
40,000
Hicitus
>
TopL ayerD
Mous terian 46,0 DO BP
Up per
Lay 2rD
50,000 50,0(DOBP
22
The Twilight of Neolithic Man
apparent that the encroaching ice-sheet itself did not reach as far as
the East. On the contrary, throughout most of the Ice Age,
Near
moist from the Mediterranean blew around the lower contours
air
23
TURKEY
USSR
Mt Ararat )*y
^^^
Lake Van ....-.''
Tabriz
y JamtamaQ
Tar
J-^ ,^ ., P ^Rizaiyeh'
Lake Urmia
ShanidarJ Ushnavieh
Mahabad
«Hamadan
r~ . PaSangar ^
Yafteh Cave^ Khorra'mabad ^
GarArjeneh^ Kunji Cave
24
The Twilight of Neolithic Man
western France, did not reach the Near East. Garrod's assemblage
of late Aurignacian or 'extended Gravettian' from Zarzi accord-
ingly came to be regarded as representing the terminal phase of the
Old Stone Age in Iraq. Since it already comprised some features of
the transitional period which followed, it is perhaps worth
examining a little more closely.
newly refined blade industry which included the first chipped stone
arrowheads, in addition to a wide variety of microlithic bladelets,
scrapers and burins. Among other stone implements was a polished
celt, fragments of querns for grinding and some obsidian (volcanic
glass), for which the nearest source would have been the area of
Lake Van in eastern Anatolia. There were also beads and pendants
of shell. Animal bones showed that the onager or wild ass was the
most commonly hunted species but wild goats, sheep, cattle and
;
25
The Twilight of Neolithic Man
26
The Twilight of Neolithic Man
ANATOLIA
BC LEVANT IRAN
OTHER SITES MERSIN
Susa®
2500
a-c
Bronze Age
Susa ©
c
3000
b
t
Uruk-'Ubaid a
3500
Susa®
'Ubaid xi-xv
4000 Susa ^
(Old Susa I)
t
PNB
Fortress xvi Susiana e
4500
PNA
Susiana
^ Halaf xvii-xix a-d
1
5000
-2 X
G T
Gi\P
'Neolithic'
><
X X Guran
1
6000
1
m pp NB
' ^ >
'
>
7000 .
Qayonii ,
> '
'
>
PP VA >
h
27
The Twilight of Neolithic Man
28
The Twilight of Neolithic Man
were the bones of wild animals, among which the gazelle was
preponderant, and of goats which were plainly domesticated. The
carbonized remains of food-grains were also found, the emmer
wheat of the previous period having now largely been replaced by
einkorn. The Pottery Neolithic phase, which followed the
temporary abandonment of the Jericho settlement, was distin-
guished as its name implies by the appearance of plain or clumsily
painted ceramics, of a sort which are better represented at other
sites.
29
5 Excavations at Beidha, near ot the 9th millennium bc, where a people living in substantially
Petra, exposing the stone-built
built clay houses may already have cultivated einkorn, herded
houses of a settlement founded ir
Natufian times, but reoccupied goats, and made pottery (see D. and J. Oates (1976), p. 74 etc.)
from about 7000 bc onwards by
a characteristically Neolithic Anatolia
people
If we must now choose from a dozen relevant excavations in
modern Turkey, one in particular immediately suggests itself as
being likely to provide the Anatolian equivalent of the Pre-Pottery
Neolithic at Jericho. This is Qayonii, in the Diyarbakir area, at
which Braidwood has more recently been collaborating with a
Turkish scholar, Halet f ambel. The material remains here can now
be regarded as characteristic of a developing society in its 'aceramic'
stage, with an adequate knowledge of agriculture and the
exploitation of domestic animals. But it has two unusual
characteristics, one of which is architectural. During the second of
four phases, the building remains consist of stone foundations or
'sleeper-walls', forming a regular 'grill' with spaces between too
small for any purpose other than storage ;
while, in the third
'
"^
30
The Twilight of Neolithic Man
It would be out of place here to describe in detail the many 6 The restored interior of a
shrine-room in the NeoHthic
aspects of the Qatal Hiiyiik settlement, so well published and
township of Qatal Hiiyiik, near
publicized in recent years. A township covering more than 15 acres
Konya in AnatoHa, ornamented
is composed of brick-built houses, arranged contiguously like a with mural paintings of bulls and
honeycomb and entered by ladders from the communal roof- a stag-hunt {c. 5800 Bc). (After
space. Of unique interest are buildings apparently associated with a Mellaart, 1967)
31
The Twilight of Neolithic Man
and finely made obsidian artifacts. But its culture seems no more
than a prelude to that of the more advanced ChalcoHthic period
that followed, about which there will be much to say when we
return to Mesopotamia.
Iran
For the moment, however, a few words must finally be said about
contemporary developments in Iran. For this purpose we should
first mention the particular which discoveries have been
areas in
made and note wide distribution. The search for
their significantly
prehistoric origins of Iranian culture hardly began until the 1950s
and many contributory discoveries have therefore been made too
recently yet to be recorded in the form of definitive publications.
An admirable summary published by P. Singh draws mainly on
preliminary communications; but in the present context it can be
highly recommended. Singh is able to distinguish geographically
three clusters of newly discovered sites, which have produced
'cultural assemblages' relevant to the Neolithic enquiry. '
^ The first
32
The Twilight of Neolithic Man
33
w:rk
7 The site of Jarmo, on the Pottery was found in the upper third of these strata, but there were
brow of an escarpment in the 'baked-in-place' floor-basins throughout. The impHcations of flint
Kurdish hill-country. In this
or stone implements for reaping or grinding were confirmed by the
excavation a system of
stratigraphic soundings was used presence of food-grains, including emmer wheat and two-row
to locate the Neohthic barley. A flint industry comprised both blades and microliths, with
settlement, where pottery a good deal of obsidian from Lake Van in use.
appeared only in the later levels
The pottery at Jarmo presented something of an enigma. Rather
{c. 5800 BC onwards)
well-made stone jars in the deeper levels gave way in mid-
occupation to a range of clay vessels, competently finished with a
burnished slip or painted with simple designs; but their quality
seemed to deteriorate nearer to the surface. Braidwood had
expected, through this medium, to establish a link with the earliest
pottery at Hassuna. In this however he was unsuccessful and the
most recent assessment of his painted wares'^ finds a parallel with
those at Tepe Guran (one of the best published sites in the
Kermanshah group of Iran), thus suggesting an association with the
Zagros Mountains, rather than the Mesopotamian lowlands.
34
The Twilight of Neolithic Man
point in time for the abandonment of his settlement near the end of
the Late Neohthic elsewhere. If so, the earliest evolution of the
Hassuna culture should be sought in the lowlands themselves: at
Umm Dabaghiyah and sites excavated by the Russians in Sinjar
(p. yoff.). Here, however, the Neolithic phase merges so amor-
phously with that until recently called the 'Chalcolithic', that it
may better be dealt with in another chapter.
Before leaving Braidwood's site, there is something further to be
said about his findings.
We have earlier mentioned the inter-disciplinary element in the
group of research- workers which he brought to Iraq in the 1950s.
For the first time in the Near East, geologists and climatologists,
together with specialists in flora and fauna, were to be found
collaborating with archaeologists in their search for the en-
vironmental background of ancient man. From their reports, a
picture emerged of an ecological situation remarkably different
from that of the present day. The contrast which they have revealed
between 'then' and 'now' in the physical aspect of northern Iraq is
one outstanding result of their work.
As Braidwood says.
During the period which has elapsed since Jarmo was a village, man has
been the pre-eminent environmental influence, and the effects of his
handiwork are to be seen throughout the Near East. In general the role of
man, of his agriculture and of his flocks has been destructive, and this
without any one man wishing to be destructive.
35
DIYALA SITES
BC PERIOD UR URUK ERIDU UBAID NIPPUR KISH 'UQAIR
ASMAR KHAFAJE AGRAB
Akkadian
Akkadian Graves Buildings Monument Palace Build ings Houses
Z
Graves Graves
Inanna Single
First
iiib Nm-Khursag Cemetery I
Shrine
Dynasty Temple
2500 Temple A I
Temple
Royal
Tombs
Temenos
Survives
i I _l_
- Oval Palace A
Terrace Ziggurat
Palaces
Square Shara
Enmerkar Houses
Temple Temple
Seal Archaic
Houses '-n
ipressions Temple
White
Temple
3000 Jemdet Nasr Chapel
Chapel
Temples
—i- 1
Painted
i-ii
Late Uruk Temple
Temenos
3250 Raised I
I-
III-V
Early Uruk
Walled
Temenos
m.
VI-VII
Settlement Settlement
'Ubaid0' Cemeterv
4000 Temples
VIII-XI
'Ubaid(3)
Levels
XII-XIV
4500 •Ubaid i
Hajyi
(Hajji
Muhammad
Muhamma
No Building
Temples
'UbaidT XV-XVIII
(Eriduy
Eridu Ware
36
Chapter Three
fmal phases cover the earliest use of writing and other major
inventions of the Sumerians, the word has seemed inappropriate
and other labels have had to be found for the chronological stages in
its development.
Al 'Ubaid
When excavations were resumed in Iraq after the First World War,
little was known about the Sumerians and even less about their
antecedents. The first indication of prehistoric occupation in the
south was found by Leonard WooUey at a small site called Al
'Ubaid, 4 miles to the west of Ur, where H. R. Hall had previously
located the brick platform on which a Sumerian temple had once
stood. Woolley
noticed, as Hall had done, that another part of the
mound was covered with sherds of painted pottery and, during a
brief excavation there, he was able to associate them with the
remains of reed-built houses, which for him created a picture of
primitive settlers 'on an island in the marshes'. Later in a deep
sounding which he made in the great city-mound of Ur itself, he
37
The Threshold of Written History
Warka
While in the 1920s WooUey was making these discoveries,
excavators of other nationalities were experimenting with similar
soundings beneath Sumerian of which the most significant
cities,
In 1948, F. Safar and S. Lloyd, on behalf of the Iraq Antiquities Eridu. An impression of the final
rebuilding in ProtoUterate times
Directorate, opened a first season of excavations at Eridu (now
('Temple I'). Above the stone
called Tell Abu Shahrain), which the Sumerians considered to be retaining-wall of the temenos,
the oldest city in the world. ^"^ Here were the remains of a late- the platform had survived up to
Sumerian ziggurat and, beneath one corner of its ruins, the walls of the base of the columned
portico. Above this, the
a small temple, dated by pottery to the very end of the 'Ubaid
reconstruction is based on fallen
period. This proved to be the latest in a long series of rebuildings,
facade ornament and the
whose plans could be traced in turn through eighteen occupation- appearance of temples
levels, down to a primitive chapel founded on a dune of clean sand. elsewhere. (M. E. Weaver after
39
The Threshold of Written History
URUK
XIV-IX VIII VII VI V IVc IVb IVa IIIc Illb Ilia ( ARCHAIC
LEVELS
URUK
XII < LRl K Mallowan
(jEMDET NASR)
PROTOHISTORIC Moortgat
. '
,
Table IV Pre-dynastic in a really magnificent form. The contents of the old buildings
terminologies according to
beneath the temenos, when compared with the remains of those
different authorities
afterwards superimposed upon it, now established a primary
division of the Uruk period into 'Early' and 'Late' phases.
Khafaje
Long before during the 1930s, new hght of another sort had
this,
40
from a number of sources.
In doing so, priority has been given to 9 The guesthouse (mudhij) of a
discoveries in southern Mesopotamia, mainly because the cultural modern Marsh Arab village a :
The'Ubaid Period
Architecture
The text of a Sumerian inscription tells us that Shulgi, a king of the
Third Dynasty of Ur, 'cared greatly for the city of Eridu, which
was on the shore of the sea'. This description need not be taken too
literally. It might, as we have already shown, be concluded that the
41
10 Temple plans characteristic of
the three main phases recognized
in the sounding at Eridu "Ubaid :
42
which are characteristic of temples from that time onwards. In the 1 1 Temple VII at Eridu after
excavation. Overlying it behind
levels immediately above this (XV-XII), the siting of the building
can be seen the great bulk of the
seemed to be beyond the reach of the sounding but it reappeared in
;
Third Dynasty ziggurat, built
level XI and was twice rebuilt (XI-IX) to a more ambitious plan, by Shulgi (2095-2048 Bc) and in
having a central sanctuary and projecting lateral wings. In this case the foreground the extended
platforms of Protoliterate temples
its extremely narrow brick walls were strengthened at intervals
I-V. The walls are of rectangular
with thicker piers or buttresses, in a manner perhaps reminiscent of
mud-bricks
earlier reed structures. Next came a sequence of more substantially
built and sophisticated temples (VIII-VI), accounting for the
remainder of the 'Ubaid period. The long central sanctuary was
still entered through a lateral chamber, but it also tended to have
Religion
Having thus already encountered the prototype of Mesopotamian
religious buildings, about which so much will presently have to be
said, some impression should at once be given of the purpose for
which they were built: of the forms of worship and ritual
performance for which they provided a setting, and of their
significance as a primary expression of abstract thought and
spiritual consciousness. At the early stage in their evolution which
43
The Threshold of Written History
which were placed on tables before the divine images'. Their food
included bread in large quantities, the meat of sheep or cattle and
drink in the form of beer, which was greatly favoured by the
Sumerians. Among provisions listed in later times were honey,
ghee, fme oil, milk, dates, figs, salt, cakes, poultry, fish and
vegetables.
The meal of the gods was technically a banquet to which other deities
were invited and at which the human worshippers and even the dead
might be present. The gods themselves received specified parts of the
animals, the remainder going to the king, the priests and the temple staff.
44
The Threshold of Written History
At this
phase
period the
'Ubaidian culture seems to have
spread northwestwards as far as
The Cemetery
on the southwest side
Fifty metres outside the stone retaining wall,
of the raised temple-precinct, a cemetery was found containing
perhaps 1000 graves of the late 'Ubaid period; some 200 of these
were excavated. The burials were made in rectangular shafts, lined
45
The Threshold of Written History
14 Typical small objects and with mud-brick, and their position must have been marked on the
sherds with figured designs from surface, since a secondary interment was often made in the same
an "Ubaid 4' settlement (Tell
shaft as the first. The body of a dog was occasionally laid across the
'Uqair). The former include
sickles, wall-nails, net-weights grave of its master.
and socketed axes (all of baked The Eridu cemetery, which may be dated to the first half of the
clay), polished celts, a hammer 4th millennium bc, represents a fairly advanced stage in the
and digging stones
development of funerary practices. As we shall presently see, earlier
sites have been found where burials are concentrated in particular
areas, often in the vicinity of holy places. But here, for the first time,
the number and uniformity of the graves create the impression of a
genuine necropolis. The location chosen at Eridu seems to have
been just outside the 'Ubaidian settlement and its temple precinct.
No corresponding graveyard of any later period has yet been found
there, though early excavators at this site, having come upon small
deposits of votive pottery within the raised precinct of the Uruk
period, did mistake them for human burials (with the bones
missing). At Ur, WooUey found a dozen or so 'Ubaid burials in the
area which later became the 'Royal Cemetery' - once more, likely
to have been just outside the contemporary temple precinct. He
observed that, as at Eridu, 'the body was placed on its back, fully
extended with its arms by its side or slightly bent so that the hands
could be folded across the pelvis', and he comments that 'this was an
Opposite
15, 16 Baked-clay figurines from attitude peculiar to the 'Ubaid people, never to be adopted by any
'Ubaidian graves at Ur (female) of the subsequent inhabitants of Sumer'. Woolley also recorded the
and Eridu (male). The 'coffee- fact that,
bean eyes', conical headdress and
shoulder ornament (tattoo ?) are In two body was covered with a fine red
graves, the upper part of the
widespread conventions at this powder, and in one by the head a lump of red haematite
case there lay
and earher periods (cf ill. 45) paint. Whether the bodies had been painted it was impossible to say; but
46
there was no doubt that the powder was the same as the paint in the
lump. . . .
47
UrGate
48
The Threshold of Written History
this monumental layout had replaced a more ancient complex of 'Anu Ziggurat'. Beneath it they
found traces of earher temples
religious buildings, dating from the final phases of the pre-dynastic
going back in date to the 'Ubaid
period. We have already seen how the Germans, by means of a period. (From Leacroft, 1974)
'pilot' sounding in the middle of this area, were able tentatively to
49
The Threshold of Written History
;'Mv.^MAV,\
AOVhU tAn
Y *^
'j
i
.-r^aili
50
The Threshold of Written History
a double function.
We shall presently learn that the T-shaped or 'cruciform' sanctu-
ary, as a featureof temple planning, is not restricted to southern
Mesopotamia. Many interesting examples of the same arrangement
have more recently been found at sites in north or east Iraq as well
as in north Syria. Some appear to be contemporary with those
they appear in considerable quantities, displaced from their original resembling the White Temple.
setting, at Eridu, Al 'Ubaid and elsewhere. They have at times been These buildings, the largest of
which measures 80 x 55 m,
thought of as a more primitive form of ornament, for which
emphasize the precocious
terracotta cones were later substituted, in the cause of greater ingenuity of Protoliterate
economy. This seems probable, if one considers the variety and architects. (After Lenzen, 1949)
The Threshold of Written History
21 Architectural components of
a Late Uruk period temple
('Uqair) : prismatic bricks
(riemchen) of clay or gypsum,
elements of cone-mosaic fa(;:ade
Tell 'Uqair
At many sites in lower Mesopotamia, a scatter of these small mosaic
components appears on the surface, and can be recognized as a
reliable testimony to the occupation of such sites during the Uruk
period. One site discovered in this way was Tell 'Uqair, about 50
52
22 Surviving walls and platform
of the Late Uruk period temple
at Tell 'Uqair. Wall-paintings
in the sanctuary are being
recorded. In the foreground are
remnants of the ground-level
chapel of thejemdet Nasr
period, where archaic tablets
were found
53
The Threshold of Written History
paint. Apart from the lime-washed facade which had given the
White Temple at Uruk its name, and a 'Red Temple' in the Eanna
Precinct, of which only a few courses remained standing, this mural
painting at 'Uqair was the only example known in a building of the
pre-dynastic period, and it continues to be remarkable for that
reason.
The Painted Temple at 'Uqair has been provisionally dated to
the fmal phase of theUruk period (c. 3250 bc). Again like the White
Temple, chambers had been packed solid with rather large mud
its
Warka
We should now remind ourselves of the proposal made in 1942,
that the 'Late Uruk period',
which the most impressive buildings
to
in the Eanna Precinct belong, should be combined chronologically
with the Jemdet Nasr period to create a new major phase called
'Protohterate'. Clearly, if this is accepted, no discussion of
Protoliterate architecture would be complete without some further
reference to buildings of Jemdet Nasr times. So far, only one of
these has been mentioned at Uruk itself, namely the fmal rebuilding
of the White Temple; and we should next perhaps glance at
contemporary developments in the Eanna Precinct during that
period. Here, the great temples of Uruk IV were now in ruins and
their sites covered with the confused remains of courtyards and
terraces, whose walls were occasionally enriched with panels of
mosaic ornament. One curious feature of this layout was the
frequent appearance of installations called by the Germans
54
The Threshold of Written History
and showed signs of having been re-used many times. They have
occasionally been recognized at sites other than Uruk at about this
same period. ^^
One actual building, dedicated to some ritual purpose of the
same sort, was the so-called Riemchengebdude,^^ whose foundations
were dug down into the ruins of the earlier 'Stone-Cone-Mosaic'
temple on the west periphery of the Precinct. Its innermost
chamber, to which there was no apparent access, was entirely
surrounded by a corridor, showing signs of some violent
conflagration. Within the building, disposed in great confusion as
though discarded intentionally, was a rich collection of objects,
including 'hundreds of pottery and stone vases, alabaster bowls,
copper vessels, clay cones, gold leaf and nails with heads covered in
gold leaf, weapons, animal bones and broken components of
furniture'. All this was taken by the excavators to imply the ritual
destruction of fittings and sanctified objects belonging to some
earlier building which had to be demolished.
Khafaje
A great deal more, well-published information about the Jemdet
Nasr period was obtained from the earliest remains of the so-called
'Sin Temple', dedicated to the moon-god of that name, excavated
by Americans in the 1930s at Khafaje in the Diyala region, east of
modern Baghdad. ^ ^ This little shrine was a ground-level building,
yet its plan closely approximated to that of the White Temple.
Only the ceremonial doorways at the ends of its sanctuary were
missing. Its five earliest building-levels all fall within the period
with which we are concerned, and something will be said about
their contents if we now discuss aspects of the Protoliterate period,
other than architecture.
55
The Threshold of Written History
Sculpture
In sculpture surviving from the Protoliteratc period, the scenes
depicted are predominantly religious. At this point, therefore, a
56
The Threshold of Written History
These gods had the physical appearance as well as all the qualities
and defects of human beings. 'In brief, as Roux concludes, 'they
represented the best and the worst of human nature on a
superhuman scale'. "^^
Examples of those associated with particular cities, who became
also the objectof a general cult, include the moon-god, Nanna (Sin)
of Ur and his son, the sun-god Utu (Shamash) of Sippar and Larsa;
Ninurta, the warrior-god; Nin-khursag (Nintu), mother and wife
of Enlil; Inanna (Ishtar), goddess of love and her husband Dumuzi
(Tammuz). Inanna is of course the Great Mother, worshipped
throughout the land, to whom the Eanna precinct at Uruk was
dedicated: a female principle of creativity, expressing godhead
through fecundity. As for Dumuzi, Roux points out that, though
undoubtedly associated in the Sumerian mind with productivity in
the vegetable and animal world, so that his union with Inanna must
symbolize fertility, the theory which long associated him with the
'dying and resurrected' god of Frazer's The Golden Bough has more
recently been rejected. Other minor gods and goddesses are too
numerous to mention.
A well-known stone vase from Warka, 90 cm high, has three 23
registers of figures very finely carved in relief. Above, the goddess
Inanna appears in front of two reed bundles terminating in loops 26
and streamers, which are her perpetual symbol, and a ritually naked
priest offers her a basket of fruit. Behind this the relief is damaged,
but a small fragment remains of a figure which may well be that of a
'king' or leader, and an attendant supports the tasselled girdle
which he is perhaps about to present. Inanna is supported by minor
deities, mounted on model temples and appropriate beasts, with
other symbols including a pair of vases like that on which they are
carved. In the second register, naked priests bring further offerings
and in the third, beasts and plants represent her two 'kingdoms'.
Another sacred symbol present here, is the stylized rosette with
57
The Threshold of Written History
25, 26 {Above left) Sculptured eight petals. Again, on the sculptured sides of a stone trough in the
vase of alabaster, found in a
British Museum, sheep and rams from the 'sacred herd' return to
Jemdet Nasr setting at Warka (c.
register. Ht of vase, 90 cm
setting, but dated stylistically to Uruk IV. It is only a component
part of a composite figure, the remainder of which could have been
made from other materials such as wood and bitumen. The eye and
eyebrow inlays are missing, as is the metal-foil covering of the hair.
With these restored, the head looks a little outlandish but the bare
;
58
The Threshold of Written History
relief. Dating from the Jemdet Nasr period at Warka, there are
crudely carved 'king' figures, foreshadowing the ex-voto 'personal'
statues of Early Dynastic times. Nearer still to these is a single
votive statue of a woman from Khafaje. Of the same period are jars
of animal form with an opening on top, usually of dark-coloured
stone.These are often decorated with coloured inlays in geometrical
patterns.
Cylinder-seals
Another innovation which runs parallel to the pictographiC'Writing
of Protoliterate times is the cyhnder-seal, a device used for
establishing ownership or recording an agreement. These small
objects of stone or shell, pierced through the centre for suspension,
were delicately carved on their curved sides with a variety of
devices or designs, to create a tiny frieze of ornament when rolled
over soft clay. They have been found in great numbers and their
"^
'
59
The Threshold of Written History
_\ N ^'r -
60
The Threshold of Written History
Pottery
While tracing successive phases in the evolution of pre-dynastic
culture, mention has frequently been made of pottery, stressing its
significance as stratigraphical evidence. The pottery of the
Protoliterate period is for the most part undecorated. Its technical
have been the subject of much specialized study, which
peculiarities
would not here be possible to summarize. One exception to this
generalization however is the fme painted ware which appeared
towards the end of the Jemdet Nasr period."*^ The commonest 30
form of vessel decorated in this way is a stoutly proportioned jar,
with a broad shoulder and rimmed neck. Geometric ornament in
red and yellow is usually confmed to the shoulder, sometimes
forming panels in which animals, foliage or even human figures
appear. The remaining surface is covered "with plum-coloured
paint, forming a glossy surface. This distinctive ware has provided a
useful criterion for dating, when found in alien settings.
61
The Threshold of Written History
Sumerian Antecedents
62
The Threshold of Written History
SAUDI ARABIA
. RIYADH
63
The Threshold of Written History
64
Chapter Four
Once more then in this case, it may be well to sketch the sequence
Arpachiyah
In Assyria the initial investigation of prehistoric settlements was
undertaken simultaneously by British and American archaeologists
during the early 1930s. As a point-of-departure one would select
the small site called Arpachiyah, 4 miles to the northeast of
Nineveh, excavated by M. E. L. Mallowan in 1933.^^ Here on the
surface Mallowan found a little village composed of rather poor
huts built o£ pise clay. But he noticed that the pottery which they
contained could be recognized as a northern variant of the 'Ubaid
painted wares previously found in Babylonia. There was a wider
variety in the colours used - brown, red and even purple paint
being more common than black; but the designs and the shapes
remained substantially the same. This was confirmed when, outside
the village, a cemetery was found containing more than forty
graves, containing many complete vessels, some of them unbroken.
Also, in the houses themselves were found incised terracotta beads
and bent clay both generally characteristic of 'Ubaid sites in
nails,
65
Pre-literate Peoples of Northern Mesopotamia
iiib
2500
ma Ninevite
l-Q
Five
Gawra
3000 Jemdet Nasr Period IV 'Eye'
VIII-X ii-iii
Temple
Late Uruk
IV I
XI-XII
ARPA-
Early Uruk III CHIYAH
3500
XIII
Late VI-IX
Acropohs 'Ubaid
'Ubaid I
Houses
® :2
r}
xiv-xvi and
Graves
.D
4000 I-IV
Late
'Ubaid
HASSUNA
XVII-XIX
®
'Ubaid
Transition
4500 Hajyi
Muhammad VI-X
Halaf
® Halaf
Halaf
Round
Houses
Endu
5000 . SamarraT
t i
o
Hassuna
Camp-sites
66
Pre-literate Peoples of Northern Mesopotamia
heim, before the First World War, at a site of that name on the
Turko-Syrian frontier. But von Oppenheim had encountered it
while excavating the great Iron Age palace of an Aramaean prince,
in the city called Guzana - piles of painted potsherds, thrown out
when the foundations of the palace were being dug - and he could
find no indication of its age. At Arpachiyah it was for the first time
found both accurately stratified and associated with contemporary
architecture.
More will need to be said later about this beautiful Halaf pottery, 43-4
on which the elaborate designs with an
are executed in glossy paint
overall burnish. Its character is sufficiently distinctive to have
provided an invaluable dating criterion when found at the further
extremities of its distribution in northern Syria and southern
Anatolia. In the same sense, it is important to notice that it has no
exact equivalent anywhere in southern Mesopotamia. At Ar-
pachiyah also, the first examples were found of small objects in
other categories - stylized cult-figurines of terracotta, stamp-seals
with figured designs of men or animals and a variety of beads and
amulets - all of which came soon to be considered representative of
the 'Halaf period'. Yet the feature by which this site has been
primarily remembered are the circular buildings, found in its deeper
levels and known at the time by the Greek word 'tholoi'. Built of j6
pise on stone foundations and apparently domed, they were
sometimes approached through a rectangular ante-room or
'dromos', thus increasing their resemblance to the 'bee-hive' tombs
of a much later age at Mycenae.
Tepe Gawra
While Mallowan was excavating Arpachiyah, an American
expedition had begun work on a much larger mound called Tepe
Gawra, some miles to the northeast. ^ 3 As was usual in those days,
the Americans were more liberally financed than the British, and
their leader, E. A. Speiser, was consequently able to plan an
excavation covering the whole summit of the Gawra mound.
During the years that followed, therefore, its silhouette was
dramatically changed, from an initial height of over 18 m to rather
less than 9 m. The shortcomings till then associated with the
67
Pre-literate Peoples of Northern Mesopotamia
'northern 'Ubaid' painted pottery. Here they were able to study its
68
Pre-literate Peoples of Northern Mesopotamia
KiJYUNJIK
The combined results of excavations so far mentioned constituted
our total knowledge of northern Mesopotamian stratigraphy up to
the outbreak of the Second World War. It remains only to discuss
an immensely deep sounding made by Mallowan beneath the
Assyrian Ishtar Temple in the Kiiyiinjik mound at Nineveh. ^ s This
operation had a number of extremely important results. First, in an
upper level, Mallowan had the good fortune to discover the hfe-
size bronze head of an Akkadian king, now considered one of the
great masterpieces of Mesopotamian art (see chapter 7) ; secondly,
he found textual proof that in Sumerian times Nineveh had been a
city with temples. Thirdly, he was able to confirm the sequence of
prehistoric phases so far known and, more significantly, to prove
the existence of an earlier, pre-Halaf culture. Directly above virgin
m
soil, at a depth of 27 beneath the summit of the mound, he found
an unknown type of pottery with finely scratched incisions which
he provisionally labelled 'Ninevite I'. For ten years after Mallowan
had left Iraq to excavate in Syria, a small bag of these curious
potsherds remained in the Iraq Museum, to represent the earUest
form of pottery as yet found in Mesopotamia.
Hassuna
The next development came in 1943, when inspectors of the Iraq
Antiquities Directorate located a small mound called Hassuna, on
the fringe of the cultivated upland 20 miles due south of Mosul,
whose surface was littered with Ninevite I pottery. The excavation
of Hassuna involved a renewal of the 'Uqair partnership between
the present writer and Fuad Safar: its result far exceeded our
expectations. ^ ^ A new and earliest chapter was added to the history
of Chalcolithic settlements in northern Iraq, beginning with the
arrival of a still-nomadic people, whose camp-sites were almost
immediately overlaid by the primitive houses of a small farming
community. An excavation covering an area about 20 msquare
enabled us to follow the development of this village through six
successive building-levels, and to associate its final occupation with
the arrival of new inhabitants at the site, using an early form of Tell
Halaf painted pottery.
Counting from the bottom upwards, levels III to V represented
what we considered to be the 'Standard' Hassuna culture. The
pottery was all unburnished; some incised with pin-scratched 40
designs, some painted and some combining both forms of
ornament. In the three levels below (II, Ic and lb), a so-called
'Archaic ware' appeared, burnished or decorated with glossy paint.
69
Pre-literate Peoples of Northern Mesopotamia
70
excavation down to virgin soil, and for the excavators the deeper 33 Onagers (wild asses) depicted
levels had a surprise in store. ^ ^ Here they were faced with abundant in a primitive wall-painting from
the pre-Hassuna settlement at
parallels to the earliest occupation (level la) at Hassuna, but, in
Umm Dabaghiyah in the Jazirah
contrast to the nomadic camp-sites of the first arrivals at that site,
(c. 5700 Bc). These animals were
71
Pre-literate Peoples of Northern Mesopotamia
Architecture
72
«P*.W
Yarim Tepe, the size and number of the rooms was considerably 34 Plan of the Umm
Dabaghiyah settlement at level
greater, one single house measuring 14 x6 m. Houses were built
IV, with storage buildings,
in contiguous groups (Umm Dabaghiyah), lining narrow alleys
perhaps for drying onager skins.
(Yarim Tepe) or facing their own open courtyards (Hassuna). In (After Kirkbride, 1975)
addition to the usual domed bread ovens, many houses were pro-
vided with large circular grain-bins, partly buried in the ground
and lined with gypsum or protected by a coat of bitumen.
In the village at UmmDabaghiyah, domestic quarters were
subordinated to the two great cellular blocks of storage chambers, 34
whose hypothetical association with a trade in hides has already
been mentioned. Their vs^alls were of 'strongly tempered clay',
50 cm thick and unplastered. The individual cells, of which over
seventy were excavated, had an average dimension of
1.50 X 1.75 m and no communicating doorways.
identified as granaries.
73
Pre-literate Peoples of Northern Mesopotamia
35 Tell-es-Sawwan, layout of
the Samarra period settlement at
level III {c. 5350 Bc), with
distinctively planned buildings in
a walled enclosure. (After Abu
al-Soof, 1968)
many as ten of these were found, though no more than two seem to
have existed simultaneously. The earliest are isolated circular
structures, 4 m or so across; but later their diameter increases to
over 6 m, and the thickness of their walls to 1.65 m. They are now
approached through a rectangular 'drOmos', like the 'bee-hive
tombs' at Mycenae, and in one case there is a transverse
antechamber. As a rule only their stone foundations had survived;
but one provided evidence of api5e superstructure- probably a low
dome. Owing to the number of graves and cult-figurines found in
their immediate vicinity, Mallowan was inclined to attribute a
religious purpose to these buildings. But recent excavations in
Sinjar, Syria and Iran have demonstrated that at most Tell Halaf
sites, unlike Arpachiyah, the circular structures are predominantly
74
Pre-literate Peoples of Northern Mesopotamia
round houses are found in some of the earliest settlements in the Levant
from the Natufian period onwards and represent, with rectangular houses,
one of the two simple forms of permanent structure that might have
evolved from different traditions of construction in the temporary
dwellings of a mobile population.
75
There accordingly seems to be little reason for attributing to the
'Round House' in level XI any non-secular function. Indeed, it is
during this same occupation that elsewhere the first example
/ appears of an actual temple, planned in a manner which was to
persist throughout the remainder of the Uruk period. These
peculiar buildings, of a type found until now only at Gawra, have
aroused a good deal of interest. ^^ They consist of a rectangular
sanctuary, approached through an open portico, with two lateral
chambers on either side. One example in level VIII has a free-
37 The heavily buih 'Round
standing altar or offering-table at one end of the cella, while
House, in level XI at Tepe
Gawra : a building of unknown another has facades ornamented all round with doubly recessed
purpose, corresponding in date vertical panels. It is notable that more than one such building was
to the Protohterate period in often found in the same level and that burials seemed to be
southern Mesopotamia. (M. E.
concentrated around them.
Weaver after Tobler, 1950)
Tell Brak
The only other temple building of the Uruk period in this northern
y area of Mesopotamia was found by M. E. L. Mallowan in 1938 at
Tell Brak, a site near the River Khabur beyond the present Syrian
frontier. ^^ This large building (30 x25 m) differed completely
from those at Tepe Gawra described above, having many features
in common with the Uruk temples in the south. The central
sanctuary extended from one side of the building to the other and
38 Projected reconstruction of a
had small transepts at one end, similar to those mentioned earlier in
'Gawra period' temple in level
VIII. Several examples were level IV at Uruk itself A row of lateral chambers on one side was
found of temples built to this balanced by a more complicated arrangement of chambers on the
plan, which is peculiar to the site other, and the whole enclosed in a stout mud-brick wall on stone
and period. A comparison with
foundations. Its decoration, with coloured clay cones and inlaid-
the pre-Greek 'megaron' plan
has been tentatively suggested.
stone rosettes, provided another parallel with the southern temples.
(P. P. Pratt after Speiser, 1935) But most surprismg of all was the elaborate ornament in the
39 An artist's reconstruction of
the main shrine-room in the 'Eye
Temple' at TeU Brak (Jemdet
Nasr period). The altar and wall-
faces were ornamented with rich
mosaic and inlay, partly of gold.
The floor was Httered with hiany
thousands of beads and small >^X
amulets. (Cf. ill. 46). (P. P. Pratt)
76
Pre-literate Peoples of Northern Mesopotamia
Pottery
Pre-Halaf
In northern Iraq, the task of correlating the finds from a dozen
important excavations and of analysing the interplay of successive
cultural changes which they imply has now been prolonged for
almost half a century. It has involved a long process of meticulous
recording, while the patient consideration of logical inferences has
moved from one stage to another. In this milieu, the study of
pottery and small finds has assumed an even greater importance
than was the case in the south, where other forms of evidence were
available and the influence of intrusive cultures from beyond the
frontiers of Mesopotamia less evident. As a result, and particularly
in the realm of pottery, the field of study has assumed a high degree
of complexity and may well appear intimidating to the student or
layman who must approach it through a labyrinth of technical
description and diagrammatic illustration. In the present context,
therefore, a simplified commentary on variants in ceramic practices
and some other artifactual peculiarities may be sufficient to convey
an impression of the varied evidence which has contributed to an
orderly interpretation of prehistoric developments.
At the earliest sites hitherto discussed in this chapter, we have
been largely concerned with the transition from what has been
called Pre-Pottery Neolithic to Chalcolithic cultures. Con-
veniently, this has been found to coincide with the first use of
painted ornament on pottery. The initiative in this respect must be
attributed to the first settlers in the Jazirah and Sinjar districts. At
Umm Dabaghiyah the painted patterns are primitive - spots,
stripes and chevrons - but there are also crude figures of men and
animals in plastic relief. At Hassuna burnished and coarse, straw-
tempered pottery in level la gives way to 'archaic' painted wares
(levels Ib-III), with parallel lines of glossy paint or a burnished
finish. The remainder of the pre-Halaf occupations produced the
77
Pre-literate Peoples of Northern Mesopotamia
78
Pre-literate Peoples of Northern Mesopotamia
in which the painted lines are wider than the spaces between them.
At Hassuna and the main Samarran sites there are also 'face-urns',
like those found at Troy, with the principal features modelled in
relief. The skill and good taste of the Samarran potters is
Tell Halaf
The elaboration of painted designs on pottery reaches its peak in the
polychrome wares of the Tell Halaf period. ^^ The colours used are 43-4
in fact mainly restricted to red, reddish or purplish brown and
black; but when applied for instance to an apricot-coloured slip.
79
Pre-literate Peoples of Northern Mesopotamia
(h
the tones vary greatly and their contrasts are emphasized by the
sparing use of white paint. Where the Samarra patterns contrived
to give an impression of movement, those of the Halaf pottery have
been described as 'static' or 'architectonic'. They cover a larger
proportion of the vessel's surface than is the case v^ith most other
styles, and there is a good deal of rectilinear panelling, checker
patterns with alternating detail like tile- work, dotted areas and fish-
scale ornament. The development of these designs can be traced
through successive stages, of which only the last is truly
characteristic. One individual motif may be taken to illustrate this
process, namely the bull's head or 'bucranium'. In its earliest,
naturalistic form, it appears isolated and empanelled. Later it is
simplified, turned sideways and repeated to make a running
pattern, which is finally stylized to a point at which its original
significance is forgotten. Among the various forms of Halaf pottery
there are also characteristic shapes, of which the most popular is
Northern 'Ubaid
The formative stages of the 'Ubaid culture are still something of a
80
Pre-literate Peoples of Northern Mesopotamia
Post-'Ubaid
Less need perhaps be said about the pottery of the post-' Ubaid
phase, which has logically been taken to correspond with the Uruk
period in the south. Its outstanding characteristics are, first, the
absence of painted ornament, and secondly the fact that, unlike the
'hand-made' pottery of earlier periods, most vessels now showed
tracesof having been turned on a fast-moving wheel. At levels
XI-VIII at Gawra, pottery of brown or buff clay with straw
tempering replaces the fine, greenish-grey fabric of the 'Ubaid
period. The burnished or polished monochrome wares, so
common in the south at this time, are also to be found here and
lightly burnished grey pottery contemporary
predominates at the
site of the Tigris. ^^ As in
called Grai Resh, in the Sinjar district west
the south, however, one of the most distinctive forms of pottery at
these and other northern sites during this period is the 'bevelled-rim
bowl' or glockentopf, a small, very coarsely made vessel, produced in
great numbers and easily broken. In the present writer's opinion, it
was given away free with the food which it contained or was used
for votive offerings.
As a symptom of the great cultural change which can be detected
Tepe Gawra, ceramic innovations are hardly less
in these levels at
conspicuous than the evidence of a sudden interest in metallurgy. A
principal source from which the metal was derived seems to
have been the frequent groupings of richly furnished graves, to
which we must now refer.
81
Burials
The 'Gawra' Period
Where burials are concerned, we have till now mentioned only in
passing those for instance at Tell-es-Sawwan, with their votive
treasure of alabaster vessels or figurines
and the 'Ubaid cemetery at
Arpachiyah which was the source of so much painted pottery. At
other northern sites, the few simple shaft-graves and urn burials
dating from the early periods were of less interest. At Gawra,
however, the sudden multiplication of interments during the final
'Ubaidian occupation (level XII) seemed to anticipate the more
sophisticated funerary practices of the Uruk period. In levels
XI-VIII, burials were of two sorts.
There were no less than 200 simple interments, of which about
80% were infants, buried indiscriminately beneath the floors of
houses or in the vicinity of religious buildings. Some adults were
perhaps buried in a cemetery beyond the limits of the village; but
the more distinguished members of the community were provided
with carefully built tombs, among the buildings on the mound
itself. There were as many as 80 of these structures rectangular :
82
45 Below: a male figurine in
terracotta from level I at Tell-es-
Small Objects
Figurines
Cult objects are comparatively rare among the small fmds at
Chalcolithic sites in northern Iraq. An interesting exception is the
class of female figurines, loosely associated with the term 'mother- Overleaf
goddess'."^^ Unlike the 'lizard-headed', standing figures of the 46 'Eye' or 'spectacle' idols, a
'Ubaid period in the south, these are usually steatopygous creatures, great variety of which were
found in the Jemdet-Nasr-period
seated or squatting, with exaggerated breasts and thighs. In the
temple at Tell Brak. One
earliest examples, for instance from Yarim Tepe, the surviving
particularly large one was
heads have pinched faces on thin necks and are prolonged in a form thought by Mallowan 10 have
which suggests a conical headdress.^' But here also there are stood upon the altar in the main
already traces of the painted ornament characteristic of later times, sanctuary (cf ill. 39). Examples
were also found from the late
when features such as 'trousers' with crossed braces or belts are
'Ubaid period onwards at
represented, and some body ornament which may be tattooing. In Gawra. Their significance is
several beautiful examples from Choga Mami of the Samarra unknown. Ht of tallest, 11 cm
83
84
!
period, heads are modelled and painted in much greater detail,
showing, in addition to the conical hairdress, 'coffee-bean' eyes
with painted eyelashes, and facial ornaments such as nose- or lip-
plugs. "^^ Figurines of this sort of the Halaf period are common to
sites in Syria, such as Chagar Bazar and Tell Halaf itself, ^^ but they
are also found for instance at sites as far apart as Qatal Hiiyiik in
Anatolia and Tepe Sarab in western Iran (Singh 1974, figs. 43 and
63), emphasizing the closer cultural contacts between northern Iraq
and the neighbouring countries from the Neolithic period
onwards. Their precise significance as cult objects has' been
variously interpreted. At Ur and Eridu they were found in graves,
while at Arpachiyah and Tell-es-Sawwan a religious purpose was
tentatively attributed to the buildings in which they were
discovered.
Another of figurine, important for dating purposes, is the
class
symbol, most notably associated with Tell
'spectacle' idol or 'eye'
Brak. Two dozen examples of these, in clay or stone, were found at
Gawra, mostly in levels XI-IX, which should make them
^^?^
contemporary with the earlier building-levels of Mallowan's Eye
Temple.
Seals
Other significant objects, which make an early appearance in the
painted-pottery levels, for instance at Gawra, are personal seals.
Foreign Relations
SUSIANA
It would be out of place, and even impracticable here, to follow or
85
Pre-literate Peoples of Northern Mesopotamia
86
Pre-literate Peoples of Northern Mesopotamia
87
Chapter Five
and among them is one which can be dated (partly by the point
which it stops), to the beginning of the 1 8th century b c. The earlier
part of the same list even reappears in Greek, among the writings of
Berossus, an obscure historian of the Hellenistic age.
Before speaking further about this document, in which the
concept of 'kingship' is at least implicit, it may be well to enlarge a
little upon the titles variously attributed to the rulers of Sumerian
myths, the tales of the behaviour and exploits of the gods, which are
generally thought to reflect the sociology of the times at which
Sumerian society crystallized in the city-state .', probably very
. .
Sacred Marriage upon which the fertiHty of the city state 49 Part of the 'king-list'
89
'
though a governor
in another city.
in his own right, might be subordinate to a lugal 1
The King-list
'before the Flood', and of the cities with which they are believed to
have been associated. 'After the Flood', we are told, 'Kingship was
sent down from on high'. A more
factual chronicle then follows,
introducing us to of city-states, only one of which at
a federation
any given time held supremacy over all the others. A succession of
dynasties is accordingly Hsted, each based upon an individual city,
whose hereditary rulers on such occasions became 'Kings' of 'the
Land' and accepted responsibility for its welfare. Occasionally
genealogical information is given, or mention is made of some
happening which explains the transfer of hegemony from one state
to another. This secondary list, as has often been pointed out, 'was
not composed for the benefit of modern scholars', and from their
point of view has manifest defects. The stated lengths of individual
reigns are, for instance, fanciful and it has long been realized that
certain dynasties in fact ruled concurrently in their own cities. Yet it
does serve to emphasize the Sumerians' overall conception of the
Land as an entity. Also it embodies for the first time a catalogue of
the principal Sumerian cities - Sippar, Shuruppak, Kish, Ur, Adab,
Mari, Akshak, Lagash, Isin, Larsa and others about which less is
known.
The king-list does not of course come under the heading of what
we have 'contemporary documents'. It is rather a re-
called
trospective record, assembled at a later date from traditional
information. The same is true, for instance, of the great Sumerian
epics, like the story of Gilgamesh, which have survived through
repeated recopyings in the Akkadian and other languages of later
ages.^°We should now therefore glance at the actual historical
information gleaned from the increasingly articulate writings of
early Sumerian scribes, and note the extent to which their
prolonged study in more recent times has served to authenticate
some parts of these Mesopotamian classics. ^
90
The Early Sumerian Dynasties
Archaeological Phases
The Flood
91
The Early Sumerian Dynasties
92
The Early Sumerian Dynasties
Between the Flood and Gilgamesh, we are now left with a period
of time (computed by Mallowan at about lOO years), correspond-
ing archaeologically with Early Dynastic II. Many of the kings'
names allotted to this period are either Semitic intrusions or
recognizable divinities; but two of them have proved historical.
The first of these is Enmebaragisi, father to Agga of Kish, whose
name has been significantly found in an Early Dynastic II setting at
one of the Diyala sites. ^ ^ The other is Enmerkar of Erech, ^ ° subject
of a very early Sumerian epic, who appears in the Greek version of
the king-list as grandfather of Gilgamesh. With these two figures
now authenticated, our line of enquiry is rapidly approaching its
Khafaje
We must now return to the archaeological record and enumerate
some of the Sumerian sites which have contributed to our now
very extensive knowledge of the Early Dynastic period. For this
purpose, it may be well to start with the so-called 'Diyala' sites, if
rebuilding at the beginning of the Early Dynastic period (Temple 2750-2650 Bc). Its plan adapted
IS
93
1
latest Sin temples (IX and X) and to recover such objects as the
was perhaps less surprising that, in the course of the first season's
work, a wide area on the lower slope of the mound to the west was
found to be covered by the scanty remains of a vast oval-shaped
temenos which had once provided a setting for a typical 'high
51-3 temple' raised on its artificial platform. The excavation of the 'Oval
Temple' at Khafaje presented Delougaz with a technical problem
which would have daunted many excavators. The area enclosed by
its double line of outer walls had a maximum dimension of almost
exactly 100 m; but neither the outer walls themselves nor those of
the buildings which they enclosed remained standing more than a
few brick-courses high. Delougaz was compelled to adopt a
method of excavation earlier perfected by the Germans at Warka,
53 which involved articulating every individual mud brick and
thereby recreating the pattern of walls which they composed. After
much labour in training Arab workmen to do this, the whole
ground-plan of the complex was eventually recovered.
The plans and reconstructions show three stages of building in
the second and third phases of the Early Dynastic period. First,
there is an almost symmetrical oval enceinte, around which
outbuildings are arranged to form a rectangular inner courtyard.
5 Reconstruction of the Oval
Half filling this space, the outline only could be traced of the temple
Temple at Khafaje, as rebuilt in
the Early Dynastic III period {c.
platform, with a single stairway leading to it. To the first enclosure
2650-2350 BC). Only the wall a second is added, distorted somewhat in shape to allow room
foundations of the temple for an outer courtyard and a roomy dwelling-house, perhaps for a
platform and its oval enclosure
priest. In the second building phase (ED Ilia), the outer wall
walls had survived the ;
appearance of the raised shrine increased in and was strengthened with external
thickness
itself is conjectural. (After buttresses, while in ED lllb a new and pretentious portal was
Darby) added, occupying most of the outer courtyard: A section cut by
Delougaz through the two enclosure walls showed their offset
52 Air photograph of the Oval
foundations beneath pavement level; but it also revealed a
Temple, from the south,
show^ing a later tow^n v^all and phenomenon which has rare parallels in other periods of temple
buildings in the background building. Before the foundations were laid the entire area of the
94
The Early Sumerian Dynasties
^R ^
- '
95
The Early Sumerian Dynasties
IM'
Tell Asmar
In post-Sumerian times, the city whose remains were found at
Khafaje became part of a politically important state called
Eshnunna, the capital of which was at Tell Asmar, 50 miles
northeast of modern Baghdad. Here too there had been a city in
Early Dynastic times, and a small temple was excavated by the
Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago concurrently with
96
; ;
h, courtyard
10m
97
55 A view of the Shara Temple phase, which contrasted interestingly with the more naturahstic
(Early Dynastic II period) after
Early Dynastic III sculpture from Khafaje.
excavation. The main sanctuary,
with its altar and offering-tables,
can be seen in the centre. Secular Tell Agrab
buildings of later times The third of the Diyala sites, and almost the last to be excavated,
accumulated around the once once more dramatically illustrated the capabilities of these
consecrated site, when the
Sumerian temple-builders. This was Tell Agrab, a large city-
temple itself had fallen into ruins
at the end of the Early Dynastic mound far out in the now-empty alluvial desert (chol), 1 5 miles east
period of Tell Asmar.^* The temple here, whose walls appeared directly
beneath the surface, was again square in plan but measured no less
than 60 m from side to side. Part of the building nearest to the city-
wall had been denuded by rainwater, but the surviving half
55 contained not only the impressive main sanctuary, but two
subsidiary shrine-chambers and living accommodation for priests;
their walls survived in some cases up to 2 m
high. The most prolific
source of removable objects was the sanctuary itself and a small
'sacristy' chamber adjoining its high altar. As had been the case in
the Abu Temple at Tell Asmar, discarded or damaged cult-objects
and votive offerings had been buried beneath pavement level, or
even built into the structure of the altar itself. In the sacristy alone,
many weeks were spent in recovering delicate products of
Sumerian craftsmanship, deposited in layers and covered with hard
earth. Among many thousands of beads and small objects,
including carved amulets and seals, were unique art-works in
sculptured stone or bronze and some hundreds of stone maceheads,
perhaps used for processional purposes. More will be said later
about these finds in dealing with the categories to which they
belong. As for the stratigraphy of this temple, apparently dedicated
to Shara, the patron god of Umma, the bulk of the surviving ruins
could be dated to the second Early Dynastic phase; but small
98
The Early Sumerian Dynasties
Ur-of-the-Chaldees
In 1930, when work on the Diyala sites began, Woolley's
excavation Ur-of-the-Chaldees had already been in progress for
at
more than ten years and his spectacular finds there had provided a
great volume of comparative material for the benefit of other
workers in the same field. ^^ From prehistoric times onwards, Ur
had been a great cultural and religious centre of the Sumerian
people, and it continued to be so, long after its political importance
had diminished.
At the site, whose modern name is Muqayyar, Woolley found
himself dealing with a walled city, roughly oval in shape and
having a maximum dimension of over ^ mile.^^ It was surrounded 35
on its north and west sides by an ancient bed of the Euphrates and had
been served by two harbours for shipping. Near to the surface in the
northwestern quarter were the walls of a very extensive religious
precinct, built by Nebuchadnezzar in the 6th century b c to enclose its
temples, temple-palaces and subsidiary buildings, most of which had
been piously maintained and frequently rebuilt by a long succession
of Mesopotamian kings. It is understandable, therefore, that little 37
remained on the surface of their original foundations, which were by
now for the most part deeply buried beneath the structural accretions
oflater times. This applied equally to the city's great ziggurat, built in
part by kings of the Third Dynasty, lated in the 3rd millennium bc.
Woolley satisfied himself that, somewhere enclosed within its later
fabric, were the remains of a much earlier tower - a modest ziggurat
rather than a mere temple platform - and, deeply buried beneath the
later pavements on either side of it, he found the denuded walls of
other Early Dynastic buildings, clearly associated with it.
But was in another part of the site that Woolley made the
it
99
The Early Sumerian Dynasties
Schematic plan
of Ur
emple
a>Fortress
Houses *
Ziggur (Urilland w
later) V
S»iA>>
\V~'
D\A/elling quarter
(Urlllandlate||^
arter^
Dwelling quartefj
56 The of Ur at the time of
city (Ur III and
its Third Dynasty and later. Ur- \\ Western later
V (Harbour
nammu's city-wall was
Temple"
destroyed by the Elamites in of /
;
deaths had been the occasion for so much ritual lay as a rule on a
wooden bier, surrounded by a great wealth of personal possessions.
The number and variety of these - ornaments, weapons, musical
instruments and other treasures - create an inventory of beautiful
objects, whose archaeological interest even exceeds their intrinsic
value. Many of them have been made familiar to a wide public
through the medium of book illustration and museum display; but
the aptitude of their design and high standard of craftsmanship
remain one of the great marvels of antiquity.
There is space here only to recollect some examples of the more
characteristic burials, and for this purpose one must use the
catalogue numbers by which Woolley distinguished them.
The burial whose contents are perhaps best known of all is that of
'Queen Shubad' (no. 800B), whose name, inscribed on her lapis-
lazuH cylinder-seal, is now read as Pu-abi.
Unlike some others, this
grave had escaped the attention of tomb-robbers, so that both its
stone chamber and shaft, with the retinue of attendants, remained
intact. In the dromos (an extension of the shaft) were 5 soldiers, a
wagon drawn by 2 oxen and 10 court ladies, one of whom was a
harpist."^"^
In the tomb-chamber, the queen was accompanied by
two companions. She wore splendid jewellery, including the
100
The Early Sumerian Dynasties
lOI
The Early Sumerian Dynasties
Mag. N
58 The so-called 'King's Tomb', in gold headdresses and, elsewhere in the shaft, a lyre with an inlaid
no. 789, in the Early Dynastic
sounding-box and the head of a bull in gold and lapis. Despite the
cemetery at Ur, found by
hurried looting of the chamber itself, a silver model of a boat and a
Woolley beneath tomb 800 (ill.
02
The Early Sumerian Dynasties
Woolley of the biblical phrase, 'a ram caught by its horns'. Like the
magnificent 'royal standard' with its inlaid scenes of 'war and
peace', found in a plundered tomb elsewhere (no. 779), the purpose
of these too was uncertain.
In the years since these discoveries were made, some authorities
have questioned Woolley's use of the term 'Royal Tombs',
suggesting an alternative identification of their occupants as
participants in some fertility cult-practice.^^ Today, however, the
evidence in favour of the excavator's own conclusion has come to be
generally accepted. On the seal-cyhnder of Akalamdug he is given
the specific title, 'King of Ur', while that of Meskalamdug similarly
designates him as lugal (king). As for the practice of human sacrifice,
in a passage from the Epic of Gilgamesh a hero is 'accompanied in
death by some of his retainers'. But Mallowan and others have also
pointed out that at least half-a-dozen of these 'royalties' appear to
be members of a single 'Kalam' family, and that they may well
represent a 'dynasty', preceding that associated by the king-list with
Mesannipadda and his successors. In the disturbed strata overlying
Woolley's cemetery, inscriptions have been found, naming these
kings of the canonical 'First Dynasty of Ur', and the circumstances
suggest that their own tombs may have been more effectively
plundered than those beneath. This being the case, the two
dynasties have been respectively associated with the archaeological
phases Early Dynastic Ilia and Illb.
Al 'Ubaid
At this point something should be said about Woolley's earlier
(1922) excavation at the small neighbouring site of Al 'Ubaid,
where H. R. Hall had already discovered a rich deposit of Sumerian
antiquities.^^ Here, the prehistoric settlement to which we have
alluded in a previous chapter seems to have been abandoned at the
beginning of the Protoliterate period. In Early Dynastic times,
however, a temple had been built nearby, probably on the site of a
much earlier religious shrine, and dedicated by King A'annipadda
to the goddess Nin-khursag, mother and wife of Enlil. Its platform,
whose facades were faced with kiln-baked brick, had survived
almost intact, and it was in the angle between this and the stairway
approaching its summit that Hall had made his most striking find.
At some time the temple itself had been dismantled and destroyed,
but much of its architectural ornament had been removed and was
found still lying where it had fallen or been deposited. A great
bronze lintel, with the projecting figure of a lion-headed eagle
between two stags, may have decorated the main doorway and a
pair of columns, encrusted with coloured inlay, perhaps helped to
support it. The wall-faces nearby had also been ornamented with
friezes of animals, modelled in high relief and sheathed in copper,
while others, inlaid with limestone, depicted formal scenes similar
to those on cylinder-seals. The actual form of the building to which
these and other decorations had been applied unfortunately remains
obscure.
In the mid-i930s, when the remnants of a contemporary temple
platform were found at Khafaje, Delougaz suspected a close parallel
with its counterpart at Al 'Ubaid. Further soundings which he was
103
104
then able to make in the vicinity of the Nin-khursag temple 60 ThesiteofTell-ArUbaid.
Plan showing surviving platform
confirmed the fact that it too had once been surrounded by an oval-
°°
of an Early Dynastic temple in
shaped enclosure wall. '
an oval enclosure. It is built on
the outskirts of a prehistoric
KiSH settlement, dating from a
The only examples of temple platforms (described by their thousand years earlier,which the
Sumerians used as a graveyard.
excavators as 'ziggurats'), dating from the Early Dynastic period,
(From Delougaz, 1938)
are those at the site of Kish. It will be remembered that this city, first
in the series capitals mentioned in the king-list, was held
of dynastic 61 The great hntel, now in the
in great respect by the Sumerians; and indeed, the eponymous title BritishMuseum, from the
'King of Kish' was afterwards sometimes assumed by rulers of Temple of Nin-khursag at Al
'Ubaid. Found with other
other cities which attained the hegemony of the Land (Sumer).
architectural ornament, displaced
Today, its site is represented by a wide grouping of mounds, once and lying at the base of the
more bordering an ancient bed of the Euphrates, 9 miles east of platform, it is composed of
Babylon. In the course of the city's history, its principal buildings copper sheeting over a wooden
core and represents Imdugud, the
were alternately concentrated in areas over 2 miles apart which
Uon-headed eagle with two stags
are today known as Uhaimir and Ingharra (ancient Harsagkalama). (c. 2500 Bc). Ht 107 cm
105
The Early Sumerian Dynasties
these levels also, there were many simple graves, dug beneath the
floors of the houses; but there were also a number of so-called
'chariot burials', containing up to three wheeled vehicles, though
the grave-goods which accompanied them - weapons, vases and
even a rein-ring - were mostly of copper. It has been rightly argued
that such burials would require deeper shafts than ordinary graves
and that accordingly these must belong to an occupation above the
main 'flood' level. This could make them contemporary with the
Royal Graves at Ur, with which their contents are comparable.
Lagash
The site called Telloh halfway between the Tigris and
lies
I
Euphrates, near the modern town of Shatra. Ever since the
beginning of the present century, when E. de Sarzec brought from
101-2 it to the Louvre diorite statues of the governors (here called ishakku)
106
The Early Sumerian Dynasties
Nippur
This is another great city of the Sumerian epoch, first excavated by
107
The Early Sumerian Dynasties
Many years later, a very similar find was made by the French at
Mari. Here it was to be expected that remains of the Early Dynastic
period would be found, since in the king-list it is named as one of
the cities from which a dynasty of kings ruled over Sumer. Sure
enough, in a position adjoining one of the principal gates in the
rampart surrounding the town, the excavator, A. Parrot, found a
temple, again dedicated to Ishtar, of which the first three building-
levels (a-c) dated from Pre-Sargonid times. In the years that
followed, other temples of the same period were found nearer to
the centre of the town, and these, like the Ishtar Temple, produced
a rich harvest of sculpture and other objects. Meanwhile, Parrot
The shrines at these two northern sites can now be added to the
category of small Sumerian temples sites and at the Diyala
elsewhere, to whose and other conventions they
architectural
almost exactly conform. Each has one or more rectangular
sanctuaries, with an altar at one end and an entry on the cross-axis.
In each, well-preserved examples of votive statues had survived
and, against the side walls of the sanctuary, clay benches could be
seen upon which they had rested. At Ashur there were other sorts of
votive objects and ritual fixtures in the form of miniature buildings
in terracotta. Fragments of a small painted gypsum plaque,
showing the recumbent figure of the goddess Ishtar in reUef, were
thought by the excavators to suggest the form which the cult statue
might have taken.
108
The Early Sumerian Dynasties
62 A pseudo-Sumerian statue
from Chuera in northern Syria, a
city whose inhabitants 'had
adopted the garb and manners of
the ahen peoples dominant in
their world at the time'
Chuera
A final word should be said about this site, which is remotely placed
in northern Syria, between the Khabur and Balikh rivers, eastern
tributaries of the Euphrates. Excavated since 1958 by Anton
Moortgat, it has revealed a curiously outlandish reflection of
Sumerian civilization, much affected by environmental differences
and alien influences, = Fully occupied, as the excavations appear
'
'
109
The Early Sumerian Dynasties
been Sumerians they need not even have had any Semitic affinities.
;
It may be assumed that they were wealthy natives, who, like many
before them and many after, had adopted the garb and the manners
of the alien peoples dominant in their world at the time.' '^ '
Variants in Terminology
Strommenger calls this the Farah period, and sees in these seals the
'later more naturalistic style' of ED II, perhaps continuing into ED
no
Chapter Six
Sculpture
Statues
It might today seem strange to us that sculpture in stone should
feature so significantly in Mesopotamian art. Perhaps the very
scarcity of the material and the remoteness of the sources from
which it could be obtained themselves invested it with a rarity
value, appropriate to the purposes for which it was generally used.
For a fact that must initially be remembered is that all forms of
hair, both neatly corrugated and painted black. Their eyes are inlaid
with shell and lapis-lazuli. The twelfth sculpture is the kneeling
figure of a priest carved in alabaster, ritually naked and wearing a
toque-like headdress. The two female figures also wear a
conventional garment, passing diagonally across the breast and
draped over the left shoulder. As to their hairstyle, they show two
variations of an arrangement common to both the second and third
Early Dynastic phases: a 'halo-plait' passing vertically over the
crown of the head with a 'chignon' behind. But many other devices
are to be seen at this time. The styHstic peculiarity of these figures
112
Pre-Sargonid Art and Architecture
consists mainly in the distinctive rendering of the human body, by 64 Group of votive statues of the
Early Dynastic II period, found
the reduction of its component shapes to abstract forms. Whatever
in the 'Square Temple' at Tell
the difference between individual statues, the formal principles are Asmar. The tallest pair were at
the same: the sculptor has somehov^ rationalized its combination first thought to be cult statues of
of miscellaneous features into a manageable formula of semi- a god and goddess. They
represent Frankfort's 'earlier
geometric equations. It can of course be contended that the general
style' of carving, with
simplification of forms may have been dictated in part by lack of
formahzed geometric shapes. Ht
technical skill among these early stone-cutters but the artistry with
;
of tallest figure, 76 cm
which it was achieved testifies rather to an interest in design, as
opposed to actual representation. An interesting contrast is
incidentally to be seen in the contemporary figures modelled for
casting in metal. In the Early Dynastic II period metallurgy was
already well understood and some striking works in copper were
among the finds at Khafaje and Tell Agrab. But the designs are
purely naturalistic and show no signs of deliberate formalization.
For the purpose of Frankfort's study, the Early Dynastic III style
of sculpture was represented mostly by votive statuary from the
Temples at Khafaje. But it is also abundantly illustrated by
later Sin
examples from other sites, both in Sumer itself and in the
dependent provinces of upper Mesopotamia (where the distinction
between the two stylistic phases is less clearly defined). The
sculptors of this later period have gained in confidence. They have
discarded the devices of formal simplification and are no longer
of physical appearance.
afraid to interest themselves in the details
The subtler contours of the body are carefully modelled; mouths
and cheeks are shaped to give the face expression; the corrugation
113
Pre-Sargonid Art and Architecture
65 The seated statue of Ebih-il population is predominantly un-Sumerian. It is in fact from the
from Mari, representing the Ishtar Temple and other Early Dynastic shrines at this northern site
'later style'of the Early Dynastic
that some of the fmest and best-preserved Early Dynastic statues are
III period. He wears the
characteristically Sumerian
derived, several of them inscribed with their names and occu-
kaunakes garment with 'petals' of pations. '^^ Some also, like the famous Ebih-il, superintendent of
wool. His beard indicates the use the temple, are shown seated upon a chair or stool: once more a
of a drill: a hallmark of Mari
convention which is to be seen at Khafaje and elsewhere. Only the
sculpture. The figure is dedicated
to the goddess Ishtar. Ht 52.5 cm women in some cases wear a 'polos' headdress, shaped like a biretta,
and one of them has a kaunakes outer garment draped over the top
of it. By contrast, the 'singer', Ur-Nanshe, is seated crosslegged on
a cushion and has straight hair, parted in the middle. ^^ '
Relief Carving
In Early Dynastic times this form of carving is at first best illustrated
by a of wall-plaques in stone or slate. They are square,
class
perforated in the centre and decorated in relief with a variety of
pictorial scenes. Their purpose has been widely discussed and a
number of ingenious suggestions put forward. '^^ The most
obvious inference - that they were affixed to an interior wall-face
by a central peg, perhaps with an ornamental head - is confirmed
by some examples in which flanges of undressed stone at the sides of
the square are clearly intended to be covered by the surrounding
plaster. As for the scenes depicted, they are usually arranged in two
or three registers, showing rows of figures engaged in religious
ritual or ceremonies associated with royalty. Some are intended to
66 Seated statue of an individual
commemorate a particular event and in one well-known example,
;
(or he?) was a singer at the court seen carrying bricks for the construction of a temple, accompanied
of King Iblulil, which may by his sons and But there were other, more standardized
attendants.
account for the unconventional
pictorial compositions,one of which had clearly at this time
hairstyle. (Early Dynastic III
114
Pre-Sargonid Art and Architecture
115
Prt'-Sargonid Art and Architecture
figures are merely drawn with incised lines, whereas they are later
made to project from a recessed background. The designs at this
stage are restricted to simple motifs, reminiscent of cylinder-seals. It
II*
f' is not until the second phase that they are improved by detailed
116
Pre-Sargonid Art and Architectw
drives a chariot at the head of his light infantry and afterwards stand from Tell Agrab (Early
Dynastic II), carved in high relief
presides over the ceremonial burial of the dead. On the reverse side,
with a scene familiar in cyhnder-
the victory is symbolically attributed to his god, Ningirsu, the seals of a 'hero' figure holding
v^arrior-god, son of Enlil, who gathers his victims in a net, sealed spotted lions by their tails. Ht
with the image of Imdugud, the lion-headed eagle. The objective 20 cm
record of a tumultuous event thus culminates in the expression of a
religious abstraction. This monument, with its individual style of
carving and ingenious pictorial composition, may well be
considered one of the great documents of human history.
Returning for a moment to the Early Dynastic II phase, there are
other forms of stone sculpture found in temples vases, for instance,
:
117
Pre-Sargonid Art and Architecture
together with large pieces of the raw material from which they
were being carved. He later located a nearby source from which
chlorite was obtained. ^^'* The excavator was also able to confirm
that later the designs deteriorated into more simple representations
of reed architecture. ^^^ But their symbolic significance and the
talismanic(?) properties which made them so internationally
popular at present remain a mystery.
Architecture
Building Methods
The Sumerians, like other inhabitants of Mesopotamia, constructed
their buildings of mud bricks, shaped in a four-sided mould and
yz dried in the sun. Up to the end of the Protohterate period small
rectangular bricks laid flat in horizontal courses (German, riemchen)
seem to have been the rule but, after a transitional period, covering
;
118
Pre-Sargonid Art and Architecture
Temples
A good deal has already been said about the planning of temples at
this period. We have seen how they can apparently be divided into
two classes: first, the 'high' temples, raised on brick platforms or
actual ziggurats, and secondly those at ground-level, sometimes
enclosed by private dwelling-houses. Unfortunately, for reasons
which have been explained, very little is known about the planning
and appearance of the former, and we are able only to assume some
similarity to their prehistoric prototypes. In the second category,
however, we are now provided with a dozen examples, so widely
distributed among the Sumerian cities and sharing so many
characteristics in common that a general analysis can be made of
their design and function.
periods.
119
Pre-Sargonid Art and Architecture
around a central court in such a way that two minor shrines can be
added to the main sanctuary. This more formal type of design,
unhampered by site restrictions, reaches perfection in the great
74 Shara Temple at Tell Agrab, whose massive outer walls enclose a
number of self-contained units, each with chambers grouped
around a separate courtyard. '"^^ In addition to the generously
proportioned main sanctuary, with its two-tiered altar and ranges
of offering-tables, two minor shrines are again added, together
with elaborate accommodation for resident priests.
A comparative study of all these buildings and the characteristics
which they share has now made it possible to visualize rather clearly
the appearance and function of a typical place of worship in early
120
;
121
Pre-Sargonid Art and Architecture
the state would surely lead one to expect far larger and more
pretentious buildings than those which we have till now been
describing. Let us, for instance, glance at a brief account given by
H. W. F. Saggs of their status in this respect and the part which they
played in the life of a Sumerian city. Bearing in mind that his views
are not universally accepted, he says:
It isclear that, in early days, the greater part of the land - or perhaps
all of it - belonged to the temple, and it was let out to the people on
a share-cropping basis. The Ensi was the bailiff of the city-deity and
administered the temple estates with a hierarchy of officials to serve
him. Private ownership of property in land continued to be very
rare until the fmal years of the Early Dynasties, when the more
powerful Ensis tended to divert public funds for the aggrandise-
ment of their own families. This led to the rise of a secular power,
distinct from the religious authority (and perhaps to the kind of
confrontation which took place under certain 'governors' of
Lagash). By that time, state rulers had begun to acquire, as we shall
see, large palaces of their own; and these perhaps relieved the
Palaces
Where secular buildings are concerned, those loosely described as
'palaces' form the most obviously important group. And here we
find that any commentary on their architecture is hampered by our
imperfect understanding of their function and practical require-
ments. In the earliest phase of the historical period, the concept of a
'temple' seems to have implied a seat of royalty, as well as the
administrative centre for the ruling hierarchy. Later, however, a
more effective separation must have taken place between church
and state; for the king now had a residence of his own, presumably
of a sort which could meet the requirements of political activity and
ceremonial. It is these characteristics therefore that we should
expect to find in our so-called 'palaces'. There are in fact four
notable examples, of which three only - at Kish, Eridu and Mari -
have sufficient features in common to suggest a conventional
formula for such buildings. The fourth is the Northern Palace at Tell
122
Pre-Sargonid Art and Architecture
(D Early Dynastic
monumental gateway
Ilia period and a
mm U
123
Pre-Sargonid Art and Architecture
shall fmd adopted from now onwards as the basis of the main
'reception-suite' in all Mesopotamian palaces.
This combination of square courtyard and rectangular throne-
room even more strikingly illustrated in the 'Palais Pre-
is
Cylinder-Seals
graphic inscription.
In the third Early Dynastic phase, seal-making finally attains its
124
Pre-Sargonid Art and Architecture
^J^f^ ^
empanelled inscription
a
(previously known
queen whose body occupied
as
as Pu-abi
'Shubad'),
125
\lumiJiliim„„u,u„. ^^, """"" Iff
4
third :
crescentic battle-axes
I
^
f^^
1 '^ \7
I
L\
126
Pre-Sargonid Art and Architecture
massive and are skilfully modelled; lions and 'guardians' alike are
often depicted full-face and more ornamental species of ruminants 80
are introduced; scenes of combat are punctuated by empanelled
inscriptions ;designs are occasionally divided horizontally into two
registers. Perhaps the most intriguing subjects chosen for these
Early Dynastic III seals are the mythological or ceremonial scenes in
which men and gods take part. Their interpretation has always
depended largely on the evidence provided by Sumerian literature,
and since more of this became available, many themes have been
reliably identified. One sees for instance the sun-god, Shamash, 81
voyaging in his boat through the cycle of night and day,
surrounded by symbols which the texts explain. Then there is the
fertility god on a throne, before which priests pour libations or pile
Treasures recovered from Early Dynastic levels at Sumerian sites 83 Copper stand for an incense-
testify to the ability of specialists in several different fields of bowl representing a naked priest.
Ht 55.5 cm. Three were found in
craftsmanship and, in some of the most strikingly beautiful objects,
the Oval Temple at Khafaje
one sees how their skills have been combined. '"^^ In a class by (Early Dynastic III), smaller ones
themselves are the metalsmiths, whose services must at this time at Tell Agrab
have been so greatly in demand at all levels of society. Their
products, in the form of weapons, implements and utensils, have
survived in great numbers, side-by-side with pictorial repre-
sentations of the purposes for which they were used. In a well-
known relief, spears, shields and helmets of copper are to be seen in ;
84 A reconstructed figure in the show something more than mere technical competence. In their
Iraq Museum of Meskalamdug, combination of shape and ornament one recognizes a real talent for
wearing the ceremonial wig-
elegant design. The work of craftsmen in gold and silver is again to
helmet, found in his tomb at Ur.
Beaten from a single sheet of be seen in the ornaments of female attendants in the Ur tombs 'the
:
gold and delicately chased, its gorgeous beech-leaf headdresses, the gold and silver florally
perforations are for attachment decorated combs; the wreaths composed of Httle amulets in the
to a leather linmg. {c. 2500 Bc)
shape of bulls, rams, birds and fish' and the huge boat-shaped
'"^^
earrings.
85 Reconstructed figure in the
Iraq Museum of a court lady In another sphere, the most remarkable accomplishments in
from a royal tomb at Ur, casting must be attributed to the coppersmiths of the Early
wearing an elaborate headdress Dynastic period. Examples of their work are already in evidence at
and jewellery of gold, lapis-lazuH
Tell Agrab during its second phase and they include the remarkable
and carnehan. There were 68
similarly dressed women in the
group in miniature of a chariot drawn by four onagers and driven
'dromos' of a single tomb (no. by a bearded 'king'.'^o Technologically this work is of special
1237), known to the excavators interest because it shows evidence of casting by the so-called cire
as the 'Death
perdue or 'lost-wax' process which now appears for the first time.
Pit'
128
Pre-Sargonid Art and Architecture
buildings to the miniscule enrichment of precious objects. In the Tell Agrab and is the earHest
former case, carved figures of white limestone were set against a known example of the cire perdue
('lost wax') process. Details of
background of grey slate. For small-scale ornament a wide variety the chariot and harness have been
of coloured materials were used to form a surface incrustation, laid reconstructed after careful study.
in bitumen over a wooden core. Of figurative designs executed in Ht 7 cm
this technique, individual features could be carved in shell, bone or
mother-of-pearl, to be fitted into a coloured background. A few
detached figures of this sort were first found in Palace A at Kish.
But the full possibilities of the medium were revealed by the
abundant and often undamaged examples surviving among the
treasures of the Ur tombs. Gaming-boards, toilet boxes and the
sounding-boards of harps were some of the objects decorated in this
way, often with spirited scenes recalling those on cylinder-seals.
Individual figures cut from shell or nacre could be engraved with
additional detail and the incisions filled with red or black paste.
Flakes of lapis-lazuli would then be fitted together to form a
background, and the design enclosed in a formally patterned
29
'
I"
87 The so-called 'royal standard' border of other colours. At Ur, the tour-de-force in this category of
from a tomb Ur: a mosaic of
at
ornament was the famous 'royal standard' with its scores of busy
shell figures on a background of
figures on either side, representing scenes of 'war and peace', and
lapis-lazuli, depicting on this side
a 'peace' scene of banqueting and thought by some to be the sounding-box of some musical
agricultural activity. Ht 20 cm contrivance. '
^
chariots in action. This object registers, a procession of conventionally dressed male figures
may have been the sounding-box
attends a libation ceremony, carrying appropriate vessels; but the
of a musical instrument
scenes beneath them are composed entirely of women, whose dress
and occupation are of unique interest. Above, two figures face each
other at either end of a couch supported by legs resembling those of
a bull, and bend forward to arrange its kaunakes draperies.
Approaching them from behind are other women, wearing the
'polos' headdress and carrying votive vessels. Below them are pairs
of women with unfamiliar coiffures, one of each pair seated on a
three-legged stool while the other assists her in a task for which a
'distaff appears to be changing hands. Without exception, these
130
Pre-Sargonid Art and Architecture
Composite Objects
It remains for us to consider some examples of the composite
objects which figure so conspicuously among Early Dynastic art
treasures. In a category of their own are musical instruments found
in the Ur tombs, which WooUey extracted from the earth with
such meticulous care. In referring to these the word 'harp' is
131
Pre-Sargonid Art and Architecture
lapis and part shell. The stylized plant against which it stands is also
sheathed in gold. This object is one of a pair which were taken to be
llIN
ornamental supports for some sort of vessel or cult-object.
Pottery
some other object. Ht 50 cm these vessels as 'tall fruit-stands with pedestal bases, high-necked
132
Pre-Sargonid Art and Architecture
133
Pre-Sargonid Art and Architecture
134
Chapter Seven
Also, each city had its own patron god, who owned the state; but
these tutelary deities remained unaffected by inter-state conflicts.
They were not held responsible for the rivalry of kings who were
their 'agents', though disputes among themselves were equally
frequent. Finally, although the cities were continually fighting,
either for supremacy or for adjustments of their frontiers, there
remained among their rulers a strong sense of pride in the solidarity
of 'the land' itself. And here one must remember that Sumer was
regarded as a finite entity. The dozen-or-so city-states of which it
was composed occupied a restricted territory (hardly larger than
the modern Irish Republic), with northward extensions reaching
no further than adjacent cities in north Syria, which shared the same
culture. Sumerian ambitions did not reach beyond these limits,
remoter lands being of little interest except where trading was
concerned.
With the foundation of an Akkadian kingdom in the north, all
this was changed. In the dynamic authority and statesmanship of
its first ruler a new factor became apparent. Unhampered by
135
The Dynasty of Akkad and the Sumerian Revival
\\m
Semites in Mesopotamia
First, then, a word must be said about the Semites, whose presence
in Sumer at a much earlier date has already been inferred from the
linguistic peculiarities of certain traditional names of Mesopot-
amian cities. '^9Regarding their country of origin, the one-time
conception of the Syrian desert as a centre of diffusion for nomadic
peoples has first to be discarded - if only because the greater part of
it almost certainly remained uninhabited from the end of the
Palaeolithic period until late in the 2nd millennium bc, when the
camel first came into use for desert transport. Lacking the mobility
of the modern Bedouin, nomadic herdsmen of those early days
must have confined their movements to the peripheral grasslands,
adjoining the territories of more settled agricultural peoples, whose
society they gradually infiltrated. Certainly this was the case on the
Mesopotamian side of the Syrian desert, and here there is some
evidence to indicate the direction from which the infiltration took
place. Semitic personal names appear in written texts throughout
136
The Dynasty of Akkad and the Sumerian Revival
137
The Dynasty of Akkad and the Sumerian Revival
138
The Dynasty of Akkad and the Sumerian Revival
Archaeology
time, it has to be remembered that these sites were some of the first
to be excavated, at a period when the recovery of written texts and
other removable antiquities took precedence over the study of
architectural remains. The shortcomings of these early systems of
excavating no longer need to be emphasized. Their relevance in the
present context may however be illustrated by some selected
examples.
Buildings
H. V. Hilprecht, excavating at Nippur in 1 899-1900, discovered
that the great Third Dynasty ziggurat covered the remains of an
earlier one, founded by Naram-Sin of Akkad, but its investigation
he considered to be impracticable. ^^^ Vincent Scheil, at Sippar
(Abu Habba) in 1893, encountered a great religious temenos,
originally founded by Sargon of Akkad, but could trace and record
only part of the buildings which replaced it a thousand years
later. '^3 £ ^ Banks, at Bismaya (Adab) in 1903-4, during his
139
The Dynasty of Akkad and the Sumerian Revival
140
Tell Asmar 94 Plan of the 'Akkadian Palace'
at Tell Asmar, with its royal
Reference has already been made to the discovery at Tell Asmar in
apartments, elaborate drainage
the Diyala region of a large and well-planned residential building
and separate wing for women.
dating from the Early Dynastic III period. At a slightly later date it The adjoining Abu Temple
had been rebuilt on a much more pretentious scale, with walls over (bottom left) was also rebuilt at
2 m thick and an overall dimension of 73 m. '^^ This so-called this time 2350 bc) with a
{c.
self-contained unit with its own courtyard; and one may recollect
that the contents of its surrounding rooms (mirrors, ornaments and
toilet accessories), implied its occupation by women. Lastly to the
north, and separated from the central by a system of
suite
courtyards leading to the main entrance, there was a third unit with
service accommodation. But perhaps the most curious feature of
this building was a range of variously shaped rooms on the east side,
Mallowan)
I4.I
The Dynasty of Akkad and the Sumerian Revival
ill'M'
the plan could be restored of an approximately square building,
with immensely thick outer walls and a maximum dimension of
over 100 m. The plan itself, as one would expect, consisted largely
of long storage chambers, grouped around a system of open courts.
Plundered after the fall of the Akkadian empire, and destroyed by
fire, it had been replaced by a less substantial building in the time of
Sculpture
Well-preserved examples of Akkadian sculpture are hardly more
plentiful than surviving buildings of the period, a fact which must
be deplored if one considers the remarkably high quality of their
achievement. Outstanding in this respect are two conspicuous
monuments which chance circumstances have preserved for us.
142
143
The Dynasty of Akkad and the Sumerian Revival
Cylinder-seals
Some compensation for the paucity of Akkadian sculpture is
provided by the rich harvest of contemporary cylinder-seals,
recovered from graves and private houses at some of the sites to
which we have referred. The skill of 'Akkadian seal-cutters and
their talent for design set a new standard for glyptic art in
Mesopotamia.'^^ In the first place, some innovations are to be
noticed in their choice of subjects but more important than these is
;
144
45
The Dynasty of Akkad and the Sumerian Revival
war^WfF-^^Ti
146
;
imagery, characteristic of the Indus Valley civilization, established 98 Akkadian cylinder-seal. The
ornamental 'combat' motif is
one of the first chronological links with the contemporary cities of
^^
isolatedbetween vertical reeds
Mohenjo-daro and Harappa. '
and an empanelled inscription.
Both design and modelling here
Gasur reach a high standard
De Sarzec
The modern 'spoils' of Lagash, Louvre, are the
installed in the
results of excavations conducted by the
at the site called Telloh,
French scholar-explorer Ernest de Sarzec during the final quarter of
147
The Dynasty of Akkad and the Sumerian Revival
IHl'
Telloh
Telloh is a very large site, near the Shatt-al-Hai canal, with a
maximum diameter of about 0.9 miles. Of the principal mounds
grouped near its centre (identified by the French alphabetically),
the most productive were Tell A ('Palais'), Tell K ('Maison des
and Tell V ('Tell des Tablettes'). Attracted to the site by the
Fruits')
findsof illicit diggers, de Sarzec's first two seasons of excavation
(1877-8) amply confirmed the importance of Tells A and K, where
he reported the discovery of a 'superb fragment de statue'.
148
The Dynasty of Akkad and the Sumerian Revival
the source (Tell V) from which illicit diggers had been obtaining
large quantities of cuneiform tablets, the French excavators became
primarily occupied in attempts to prevent the total pillage of their
site. Unfortunately, owing to de Sarzec's failing health and other
brought by ship from Magan at the southern end of the Arabian partly dictated by the hardness of
the stone, which will take a high
Gulf. The exposed parts of the body show a refinement of
polish. Ht 105 cm
modelling well suited to this material and the sculptor's treatment
of his subject conveys an impression of strength in repose. Beardless
and sometimes bald, the heads are set low in the shoulders, while 101-2
the eyes profit from the absence of coloured inlay. '^^ While
admiring the masterly design of these sculptures, one is compelled
to regret the loss of the temple in which they stood, and of other
rich furnishings which Gudea records having dedicated to his god
Ningirsu. During his excavations, de Sarzec paid httle attention to
architectural remains. After his death, however, the work at Telloh
was resumed and continued intermittently until 1909 under the
direction of Gaston Cros, who seems rapidly to have acquired the
rudiments of the wall-tracing technique. One gathers from A.
149
The Dynasty of Akkad and the Sumerian Revival
\ V
.
\
• \ AGirsu (Telloh)
— -^
^V
—
A.,
AUruk
^..^^A
<
Larsa
V--^^ik_Lagash (Al-Hiba)
\\ XXANina(Surghul)
V.
^
^
1^
Ebrahim after W. S.
Al-Hiba
of Lagash. (S.
Thomas)
3pm/
sokm
^^'
AEridu
^s^./-^^^^
"X
Parrot's summary of his reports that he did much to clarify the
topography of the site. In Tell A, beneath the ruins of a palace built
by an Aramaean ruler in the 2nd century bc, he located what he
considered to be some remains of the Ningirsu temple and, in Tell
K, a fortification built by Gudea. Among his fmds elsewhere (actu-
ally purchased) was a headless statue, subsequently re-united in the
Louvre with the fragment till then known as the 'Tete-au-Turban'.
Al-Hiba
More than seventy years after de death, in 1972
Sarzec's
extraordinary discoveries were made duringsurvey undertaken
a
by Th. Jacobsen and F. Safar, which led to an excavation sponsored
by the Metropolitan Museum and University of New York, under
the leadership o^V . E. Crawford, at a site called Al-Hiba, 15 miles
southeast of Telloh. A variety of Sumerian inscriptions were found
on tablets,stamped bricks and other objects (some of them
associated with a temple building). Their content provided
103 indisputable proof that Al-Hiba was in fact the site of the ancient
city of Lagash. Further excavations may throw new light on this
paradoxical situation; but for the present it is only possible to
conclude that the city discovered by de Sarzec at Telloh and now
identified by its ancient name, Girsu, '^"^ was a secondary political
or religious centre in the state of Lagash.
century, under this king and his four successors, Ur, like Agade,
150
: :
Buildings at Ur
Woolley published an overall plan of the city of Ur as he found it,
with details of the fortifications partly restored. '^^ Represented
here are of course the city-walls by the Neo-Babylonian
as rebuilt
kings in the 6th century bc; but there no reason to suppose that
is
their outline differs greatly from those built in the time of Ur-
Nammu fifteen centuries earlier. The town which they enclose takes
the form of an irregular oval with a maximum dimension of almost
exactly 1200 m, and in Ur-Nammu's time was already surrounded
by a wall and a rampart. Woolley describes it as follows
The rampart was of mud brick with a steeply sloping outer face the lower
;
part was in fact a revetment against the side of the mound formed by the
older town, but the upper part of it extended inwards over the top of the
ruins to make a solid platform. Along the top of this ran the wall proper
. . .
strengthened by the fact that the river Euphrates (as can be seen from the
line of its old bed), washed the foot of the western rampart, while fifty
yards from the foot of the eastern rampart had been dug a broad canal,
which left the river immediately above the north end of the town. On
three sides therefore Ur was ringed by a moat and only from the south
could it be approached by dry land.
Itwas presumably from this side that the walls were assaulted by an
Elamite army in 2006 bc when the city was destroyed. For
Woolley adds
... of Ur-Nammu's wall not a trace remained. We would come on
examples of very large bricks specially moulded with the king's name and
titles, reused in some later building, but none of them were in situ. Just
because the defences of Ur had been so strong, the victorious enemy had
dismantled them with special care.
The Ziggurat
A second heavily buttressed enclosure wall surrounded the sacred
temenos in the northwest part of the town. In WooUey's plan of
this precinct one sees that it was considerably enlarged in the time of
151
fM"
104 The Third Dynasty with a skin of baked brick, set in bitumen, about 2.4 m thick. The
ziggurat of Ur-Nammu at Ur,
lowest stage, which is best preserved, measures 61 x 45.7 m at
convincingly reconstructed by
Woolley except for the form of ground level and is about 15 m high. The initial approach to the
thesummit temple, which is summit was by a triple stairway, with three converging flights and
hypothetical. The overall squat tower-buttresses in the angles between them. Where they
dimension at ground level is
met, at the first terrace level, the remnants of four brick piers
61 X45.7 m suggested some sort of portico, which Woolley hypothetically
provided with a domed roof. The height and dimensionsof the two
upper stages were ascertainable, but they were also much denuded.
Woolley observed three peculiar aspects of the ziggurat
structure, for which he has offered tentative explanations. The
fabric of the tower consisted of sun-dried brickwork, reinforced
with thick layers of woven reeds at intervals of six or eight courses.
Penetrating into its core, he found that bricks and mortar alike were
hardened and discoloured by fire, a phenomenon which he
attributed to the saturation of the structure by damp (perhaps while
temporarily in ruins), and the consequent occurrence of internal
combustion in the decaying vegetable matter. Conversely he was
by the multiplication of 'weeper-holes' penetrating the
surprised
baked-brick outer shell of the lowest stage; and he wondered
whether the terrace above could have been planted with trees
which would have required irrigation. He had in fact found
carbonized tree-trunks near the base of the tower. '^^ Finally he
discovered a slight outward deviation in the line of the main facades
at pavement level. This he was tempted to compare with the subtle
distortion of perspective contrived by the builders of Greek temples
fifteen centuries later. Remembering the great weight of the tower
and the pliable quality of mud brick, others have mistrusted this
explanation.
The Terrace
With the exception of the mausoleum which we have mentioned,
all the major buildings originally founded by the kings of the Third
152
The Dynasty of Akkad and the Sumerian Revival
time. For the most part, they had been so frequently rebuilt, with
adjustments to their planning and arrangements, that the analysis of
their ruins required much skill and patience. Indeed, had it not been
for the convention by which, from Akkadian times onwards,
baked bricks were stamped with royal inscriptions, the task would
have been impossible. Ur-Nammu built his ziggurat on a raised
terrace, surrounded by double walls with intramural chambers ('E-
temen-ni-gur'). To this he added a second courtyard, with a
monumental gateway at temenos level, which he dedicated to
Nannar, patron god of Ur. Southeast of the ziggurat terrace was a
huge and heavily fortified building called 'Gi-par-u', dedicated to
Ningal, the consort of Nannar but also containing several minor
shrines, incorporated during its long and complicated architectural
history. This is probably to be regarded as the tieftempel or ground-
level sanctuary. A smaller, square building ('E-nun-makh'), in the
angle between the two ziggurat courtyards, has been variously
identified as a palace, a temple or a 'treasury'.
The main entrance to the ziggurat terrace in Ur-Nammu's time
was by a rather inconspicuous gateway in the eastern corner,
known as 'E-dub-lal-makh'. Its outer portico, looking southward
over the more public part of the precinct, contained a statue of
Nannar and was used by the king as a 'Seat of Judgment'. Later
rulers separated it from the terrace and made it into a court-of-law,
with its own subsidiary chambers grouped around it. Yet, almost
seven cenruries later, the Kassite king Kurigalzu still referred to it as
'The Great Gate, the \ncient One'. Of the remaining Third
Dynasty buildings, two only survived in their original form. One
of these, in the southeast angle of the old precinct, was 'E-kharsag',
clearly the residential palace of Ur-Nammu and his successors. The
other was the mausoleum, about which there is more to say.^^^
This formidable conglomeration of buildings comprised Ur-
Nammu's own tomb and those of his two immediate successors.
Below the contemporary ground-level were the burial-chambers
themselves with their corbelled brick vaults and long flights of steps
leading down to them. Above these were the remains of elaborate
and formally planned funerary chapels. See ill. 57.
The Mausoleum
One should say at once that the looting of these tombs in antiquity
has to be regarded as a major tragedy. Judging from the astonishing
wealth of the older dynastic tombs, which were otherwise
conceived on a much more modest scale, these first great imperial
monarchs must have been provided with immeasurably richer
grave-deposits and buried with even more elaborate ceremony. All
that is now left is the shell of the buildings with their vaulting
partially intact; and Woolley found no more than fragments of
gold treasure which was removed from them.
leaf, testifying to
153
I /-**
"'
s '-^^
105 Entrance to the brick height of the chambers, WooUey became aware of a curious
tomb-chamber of Ur-
vaulted
circumstance. was evident that, in the case of Ur-nammu's tomb,
It
Nammu in the royal mausoleum
the pavement on which the burial was actually laid out seemed a
atUr
somewhat shoddy affair and left a space between itself and the
vault, in which there was only just room for a man to stand. He
then found that the stairway went down several metres beneath
this, to a proper pavement laid with several courses of baked bricks
set in bitumen. What had apparently happened was that, when the
tomb was actually constructed, the builders had not taken into
account the flood-level of sub-surface water; so that, when the king
died and the time came for the tomb to be used, it was found to be
filled with water to a considerable depth. The only remedy
154
The Dynasty of Akkad and the Sumerian Revival
cardinal sequence of features around which the plan developed Governors' with its private
chapel, in the time of Illushuilia
remained constant from then onwards. As for the cult-statue itself,
(2317-2283 BC). Vaulting over
upon which the liturgy of Sumerian ritual was focused, some clue the 'Great Hall'is not impossible
to its appearance may be sought in relief sculptures where deities are at this period. (Drawing by R.
depicted. A rare example is to be seen in the so-called 'Stela of Ur- Leacroft) 1, sanctuary; 2, altar; j,
palace chapel;
7,
9,
high, divided horizontally to depict scenes connected with the ante-chamber; 10, sanctuary; 11,
building of a temple. In the only undamaged register, the king is toilet
155
The Dynasty of Akkad and the Sumerian Revival
Ur-
(perhaps Nannar and Ningal), before whom he pours a hbation
107 Detail of the Stela of
Nammu found at Ur, over some sort of plant. Fragments of a terracotta vessel, similar to
reconstructed from fragments. that in which the plant grows, were found beside the altar in the
The King is instructed by seated Shu-Sin temple. In contrast to the secular dynamism of the
gods to build temple (perhaps
a
Sargonid reliefs, the tranquility of this religious scene is once more
the ziggurat). The 'Sumerian
owed much characteristically Sumerian. Similar subjects depicted on the seal-
Revival' to his
initiative. Ht 304 cm cylinders of this period have a correspondingly static quality.
!
Mr-
lt\,ul Lirt.,/ r
156
'
Chapter Eight
In the early years of the 2nd millennium, with the Sumerian empire
disintegrating and a number of new states becoming actively
Conflicting States
Of the two peoples who were jointly responsible for the downfall
of Ur's Third Dynasty, the Amorites from Syria settled in Babylon
and other cities to the north, while the Elamites returned eastward
across the Zagros, leaving a governor of their own choosing in the
Diyala state, Eshnunna, to guard their interests in Mesopotamia. In
Sumer itself, meanwhile, throughout the whole of the 20th century
BC, one watches two states, Isin (modern Bahriyat) and Larsa
(modern Sinkara), contending for control of the ancient cities and
their sacred shrines. At first Isin is in the ascendancy, but its enemies
are many, including not only Larsa but Eshnunna with its Elamite
allies. Furthermore, by the end of the century, two formidable new
1933, their first find was an Early Dynastic temple, dedicated like
that at Ashur which it closely resembled, to the goddess Ishtar. By
the beginning of the 2nd millennium bc, the place had acquired a
special importance as a station on the great trade-route which
brought timber and metal from Syria or from the mines of the
Taurus Mountains. At the time when the First Dynasty of Babylon
was founded, its rulers were consequently rich and prosperous.
Their palace, which Parrot had the good fortune to find and the
opportunity to excavate, was an enormous building which will
presently be described, and it contained an archive of more than
20,000 tablets, revealing the city's history prior to its destruction by
Hammurabi in about 1760 bc. '^^
57
The 2nd Millennium BC
contact both with the southern cities and with the sources of raw
I
158
The 2nd Millennium B C
Babylon which put an end to this peaceful interlude. In 1759 bc, the
armies of Hammurabi defeated a coalition consisting of Larsa,
Eshnunna, Elam and Mari. Two year's later Mari revolted, but was
then completely destroyed, while Assyria, now much reduced in
size, became a vassal of Babylon. As in the time of Sargon-of-
Akkad, the whole country was now again united under a single
ruler and an appropriate system of administration devised.
Hammurabi's achievements in this respect are reflected in his
famous law-code, inscribed on a basalt stela 3mhigh, which is to be 10(
seen in the Louvre.
159
The 2nd Millennium BC
Arabian Gulf, encroached upon the old Sumerian cities and created
j
from them a new kingdom. Secondly, from the northeast came a
I
host of Kassites, displaced from their homeland by the same
I
movement of Indo-European peoples which brought the Hittites
I
into Anatolia. And finally, in 1595 bc, the Hittites themselves
i under their king Mursilis I, Carchemish and
after sacking in turn
1 Mari, swept on down Babylon itself, which
the Euphrates as far as
they plundered and burnt, thereby putting an end to Hammurabi's
dynasty.
The Hittite raid on Babylon was one of the stranger phenomena
!
of Near Eastern history; for Mursilis was almost immediately
summoned home, to deal with enemies who were threatening his
own capital in Anatolia. It was accordingly the Kassites who
profited most, because they were thus enabled peacefully to take
over the government of Babylonia. They adopted the religion and
culture of Mesopotamia so thoroughly and unquestionably that,
for the next 360 years, one would hardly be aware that much of that
country was now being ruled by a dynasty of completely alien
kings. To the north, meanwhile, in the hilly country beyond
Nineveh, and west to the Euphrates, much the same situation had
arisen in regard to the Hurrians. Such rulers as they possessed had
now been replaced by a new, Indo-European aristocracy, whose
political acumen enabled them at last to acquire for their people a
national identity. Between Assyria and the Hittites there emerged a
powerful kingdom, thereafter known as Mitanni, with its capital at
Washshukanni (a site to the west of Nisibin which has not yet been
located). ^ = In the early years of the 14th century, one finds its kings
'
160
The 2nd Millennium B C
period, ending with the fall of Babylon in 1 595 b c. For this we have
i6i
109 The Ishtar-Kititum major shrine which stands at an even higher level, and for the three
Temple at Ischali (ancient
towered gateways. An unusual feature is to be seen in one of the
Neribtum in the state of
Eshnunna). Raised above
subsidiary shrines, whose sanctuary is set lengthwise on the main
its
Private Houses
162
mag. N
present century, that they hardly merit description: blank walls no A residential quarter of Ur
in the 20th century BC. A tangle
facing the street, rooms in two storeys opening on to an unroofed
of narrow lanes lead off wider
central court, and in one, of which Woolley drew a well-known roads. The richer houses have
reconstruction, a sheltered wooden gallery at first-floor level, two storeys of rooms, Hghted by
supported on posts. ^^^ Among their few were
distinctive features an open court, and closely
resemble those in the older cities
the graves of their occupants, often buried beneath the ground-
of modern Iraq. (After Woolley)
floor pavements.
163
;
Enlrance
Palace
164
;
whole central suite a non-secular character, and w^e shall see that this
is borne out by the relics of sculpture and mural paintings which are
165
The 2nd Millennium B C
/VWyWY
Mural Paintings
More must now be said about the mural paintings, which have
been the subject of much speciahzed study. ^^'^ As Parrot himself has
observed, they are of special significance, in that they clearly
illustrate 'the spirit of synthesis which animated the artists of the
middle Euphrates at this period': the curious combination of
Sumerian heiraticism, surviving from an earlier age, with the
distinctive naturalism of the Semitic approach to art. As he says,
these influences seem to have contributed to creating a new school
of decoration, which, had it been given time to mature, might have
1 1 3 (
Top) Mural painting on an
outer wall of the throne-room in produced one of the high artistic epochs of Near Eastern history.
Zimrihm's palace at Mari (V in The murals were painted directly upon a thin layer of mud plaster,
ill. III). The 'Investiture' scene in a manner which has been taken to suggest that the true 'fresco'
(above) shouts the King before
technique was understood.
Ishtar, 'taking the oath' with his
hand upon the divine emblem in
The largest and most ambitious composition, LTnvestiture du Roi
the presence of other deities. de Mari, was found, still in place, on an outer wall adjoining the
Below, two figures of the central entrance to the throne-room, in a part of the courtyard
'goddess with flowing vase' are
(c) which was protected from the weather by a roof or awning
in attendance. On either side are
supported on posts. The central design is composed of upper and
and other symbohc
'sacred trees'
The Mari scene has been
figures. lower panels. In the former, the king, draped in an elaborately
compared with the entrance to fringed costume and polos headdress, receives or touches a divine
an Assyrian temple at Khorsabad emblem held by the goddess Ishtar, whose raised foot rests upon the
(above), which again is flanked
back of a lion. Other gods and goddesses are in attendance. In the
by 'flowing-vase' figures and
palm trees. (S. Ebrahim
artificial
lower scene, facing each other, are two identical figures of the
after Parrot, 1958) 'goddess with flowing vase', wearing a flounced dress and holding
166
The 2nd Millennium BC
undulate around the picture. Both scenes are framed on either side
by tall panels with palm and other stylized trees, among which
birds, mythical animals and divinities are to be seen. This
composition has been ingeniously explained by one scholar as a
ceremony taking place in the cella and antecella of a temple, of the
sort which in later, Assyrian times was entered between 'flowing- i ij
vase' statues and artificial palms. ^°5 Whether or not this is so, the
decorative effect of such a design, with its ornamental border and
bright colours, must have been magnificent.
Another such painting adorned a wall of the audience chamber
in the outer courtyard, likewhich it may be of slightly earlier date.
Known to the excavators as Le sacrifice de I'eau by dufeu, it is a scene
of worship and libation, attended by monstrous figures of
Sumerian mythology: Tiamat of the Enuma Elish epic and
Shamash, 'rising behind his mountain to scatter the stars'. The king
(Shamshi-Adad I ?), again in his fringed garment, also appears in the
surviving fragment of a 'sacrificial scene', whose original position
in the building could not be positively determined.
We have noted above that, in the centre of the city at the
southeast approach to the palace, a cluster of minor temples had
already existed in Early Dynastic times, dedicated to such gods as
Nin-khursag, or more local deities like Ishtarat and Ninni-Zaza. ^'^^
Some of these still survived in the 1 8th century but they were now
;
Tell Rimah
During the excavation of buildings to which we have so far
referred, information could be recovered regarding either
little
was approached by a free-standing stair carried on vaults, and from its roof
further stairs or ramps led to a high terrace, perhaps surmounted by a
higher shrine. The whole, three- or four-tiered structure must have
resembled a ziggurat. The temple itself on its platform high above the city,
was laid out on the Babylonian plan and decorated in a style that also has
southern parallels, although as a complete system of ornament it is unique.
All the external and courtyard facades were adorned with engaged
167
5
antechamber; d, courtyard
100 cm
68
The 2nd Millennium B C
columns, set singly or in groups, 277 in all the 50 large columns were built
;
But perhaps the more extraordinary feature of this building was the
prevailing use of mud-brick arches and vaulting, even for trivial 115
purposes where wood could have been substituted. ^°^ Com-
plicated vaulting systems, including the use of 'pitched-brick'
construction and even pendentives, were contrived with such
casual facility that a long and widespread tradition of building in
this manner seemed to be implied.
Sculpture
169
The 2nd Millennium BC
8
fjtn|
s
Museum). These compare interestingly with the statues of two
Eshnunna governors, one of them seated, which were carried as
^^^^^^^
1 1
'
i«
B
Painted terracotta plaque
showing the goddess Lilith,
'Bringer of Death', winged and
booty to Susa. In a world where the crudity of the kaunakes was holding symbols of justice. Her
hardly remembered, these statues are dressed in a toga-like name is associated with owls,
garment, whose fme texture and restrained modelling are both in the Gilgamesh epic and
effectively contrasted with the obtrusive detail of ornamental theOld Testament {Isaiah,
XXXIV, 14). Ht 50 cm
fringes and the pattern of formally dressed beards. They are by no
means lacking in dignity. ^ ° '
119 Guardian Uons in terracotta
Other sculpture of the period is scarce and often of poor quality. from temple gateways at Tell
Where relief carving is concerned, the scene depicted at the head of Harmal (ancient Shaduppum), a
minor walled city in the state of
Hammurabi's 'law-code' stela is perhaps unique. The king, whose
Eshnunna. Reconstructed from
profileand headdress are familiar from fragmentary sculptures in- some hundreds of fragments
the-round, stands facing a seated god, with the emblem of divinity (c. 1900 Bc). Ht c. 63 cm
171
The Kassites
120 Wall ornament from the In view of the fact that the Kassites ruled Babylonia for more than
temple of Karaindash at Uruk: a
four centuries, it is surprising to observe how little their national
rare example of Kassite
characteristics are reflected in the material remains of their
architecture (14th century bc).
Ht of brickwork, 198 cm occupation. These make it abundantly clear that, in religion,
administration and technical practices, they adopted and faithfully
121 The eroded ruin of a great maintained the age-old conventions of Mesopotamia, rebuilding
ziggurat at 'Aqar Quf, west of
temples and honouring the shrines of Sumerian deities. An almost
modern Baghdad and site of the
Dur-
Kassite capital called
unique exception in this respect is the temple of Karaindash at Uruk
Kurigalzu. The mud-brick core which, with its exaggerated corner buttresses, seems at first to be
isreinforced with layers of reeds sharply differentiated from the buildings around it. Even so, its
and heavy cables (Kassite elaborately decorated facade embodies one motif with which we
Dynasty, I5th-i3th centuries bc)
between its projecting pilasters are
are already familiar. Tall niches
filled with the alternating figures of Babylonian gods and
120 goddesses, holding in both hands the traditional 'flowing vase'. For
the rest, they provide us with a very early example of the
'moulded-brick' ornament which was later perfected by Assyrian
and Neo-Babylonian craftsmen, ^ ^ '
172
*'«!
^.2*'4
.'Hi.
extremity of the alluvial plain to the west of modern Baghdad,
where the eroded core of its great ziggurat (now partially restored)
still creates a conspicuous landmark. Iraq Government excavations
in 1942-5 exposed a complex of temples at the foot of the tower
and, further out on a peninsula extending into the neighbouring
^
flood-basin, the remains of at least four palaces. '
"^
Peculiar features
of the temple area were rectangular platforms faced with baked
brick, supporting the principal shrines. Inscribed pivot-stones and
tablets found in this area were mostly dated to the reign of a king
called Kurigalzu; but the stratification of the palaces, which had
been rebuilt at more frequent intervals, implied the existence of
one king at least bearing the same name.
earlier
One of these palaces ('H'),^'= unfortunately in part denuded
Iliri-
owing to the weathering of the mound, did show some signs of an
architectural arrangement perhaps characteristically Kassite. The
central courtyard was surrounded by multiple doorways, giving on
to long galleries reminiscent of cloisters. The reveals of these
doorways were decorated up to a height of about i with mural m
paintings, depicting processions of court officials.^ '^ They wore a
short-sleeved garment with a fringed girdle and a fez-shaped
headdress over their long hair in the Assyrian manner. It has been
suggested and is entirely possible that this figured ornament,
174
The 2nd Millennium B C
175
Mitanni Nuzi
We have now to deal with the Mitannian occupation of northern
Mesopotamia, which was in part contemporary with the Kassite
dynasty in Babylonia. Mitannian kings reigned from their capital at
Washshukanni, near the headwaters of the River Khabur, from
about 1500 BC until the mid-i4th century, when their kingdom
disintegrated. During that time, one of their southernmost
strongholds was the city now known as Nuzi, 12^ miles to the
southwest of modern Kirkuk (Arrapha), and its site was excavated
by Americans from Pennsylvania, under R. F. S. Starr and others,
during the late 1920s and early 1930s. ^^° To anyone seeking the
criteria of Mitannian culture, the results of this excavation are both
rewarding and disappointing. A palace and temple were found, as
well as a large number of important private dwellings. In the
absence of conspicuous works of art, innumerable small finds give
an impression of a people whose way of life was much enriched by
trade and familiarity with the countries of the Levant and even with
Egypt. But undoubtedly the major discovery of the expedition was
an abundance of tablets: over 5,000 texts in all, including in certain
cases the entire archives of a single family over periods of as much as
five generations.^^'
The main mound was called Yorghan Tepe, and beneath it lay
the actual walled city with its palace and temple ;
^ ^ ^ but there were
also outlying mounds covering the remains of other palatial
residences. To some reference has already been made,
the temple
since was originally founded in the Early Dynastic period, at a
it
king Shaushattar {c. 1460 Bc). One shrine had internal walls faced
with wooden panelling in the form of 'clapper-boards', pegged to
the brickwork. Elsewhere the wall-faces were decorated with nail-
shaped bosses of glazed terracotta and, suspended from these, some
sort of woven fabric enriched with beads. Brightly coloured
glazing, of the sort common in Egypt at this time, was also applied
to other objects, such as small guardian figures of lions and, in one
case, to a wall-ornament in the form of a boar's head. As for
sculpture, the excavators had to be content with the eye-inlay of a
life-size statue.
The palace was built around the usual broad open courtyards. In
the largest of these, at the approach to the main reception suite, the
176
The 2nd Millennium BC
birds and plants. Though this ware has been found as far south as the
Kassite capital Dur-Kurigalzu and to the north at Tell Billa beyond
Mosul, its affinities are with northern Syria, where it has appeared
at such sites as Tell Atchana (Alalakh), and was supposed by
177
The 2nd Millennium BC
I
appears under headings whose variety alone prepares one for the
I wealth of information which they contain.
First then, Nuzi emerges as a walled city, with towers, bastions
and gates whose names are mentioned. The palace is a great
complex of buildings with annexes serving many purposes and a
long architectural history. The temple known to the excavators
was one of several shrines, piously served by the leading families, by
suitable offeringsand the gift of slaves. Accounts of the building or
repair of private houses provide a glossary of architectural terms
and structural details. Streets are frequently mentioned by name,
and the topographical picture is supplemented by much detailed
reference to the distribution of water: a small river serving a
network of canals, reservoirs and bridges, each of them carefully
named. Other landmarks were individual wells. Dealings in real
estate and the transfer of land ownership reveal details of
agricultural practices in a well-irrigated province, surrounded by
uncultivated steppc-land, and there is a precise vocabulary of words
commonly used for such purposes. One learns the relative
popularity of various crops, of which barley once more the most
is
178
The 2nd Millennium B C
and, when Ashur was chosen, it was Walter Andrae who was
entrusted with the new undertaking. From then onwards, until
1 91 3, the two excavations continued simultaneously at sites 350
City of Ashur
We have already mentioned the situation of Ashur, on an outcrop
of limestone rising to a considerable height in the angle formed by
two courses of the River Tigris. This gave the city natural 126-7
protection on two sides and, onlandward side, its defences were
the
completed by a crescent-shaped array of powerful walls, enclosing
an area three-quarters of a mile wide.^^^ Andrae's principal
excavations were carried out in the elevated part of the city to the
north and northwest, where its temples and palaces were situated.
He had assured himself that this was so by the now-standardized
German method of cutting search-trenches (suchgraben) clean across
the site from east to west at intervals of 100 m, corresponding to the
grid-lines of his initial survey. At the same time the full circuit of
the fortifications was traced, exposing the principal gates, river-side
quays and other features. His deepest penetration was the sounding
which revealed the Pre-Sargonid foundation of the Ishtar Temple.
The latest architectural remains he encountered could be dated to
the final phase of the Parthian period, about ad 256.
Andrae and Koldewey were both architects, and at Babylon
their tendency to over-correct the evident faults of earlier
excavators resulted in their concentration on the study of buildings
rather than written texts. ^^^ At Ashur, the function of Andrae's
epigraphical advisers gained in importance for reasons which soon
became obvious. Over a period of some 2,000 years, successive
kings had contributed to the restoration and multiplication of
public buildings or fortifications and the chronological sequence
;
Fortifications
The landward rampart of the inner city was built and rebuilt by a
number of kings, including Shamshi-Adad I in Hammurabi's time.
Tukulti-Ninurta I (i 244-1 208 Bc) provided it with an external
179
The 2nd Millennium BC
180
The 2nd Millennium B C
182
The 2nd Millennium BC
... in the fourteenth century an art emerged which, for all its derivations,
possessed an individual character, not only in style but also in subject
matter. It depicted secular subjects with an interest in actuaHty for which
no incident seemed too trivial. In religious matters on the other hand, it
displayed a cold formalism, which did not allow man to meet the gods face
to face, but only to perform the established rites before their statues and
emblems. ^^'
183
The 2nd Millennium BC
129 An altar of Tukulti-Ninurta An example, frequently quoted, of this last tendency is the carved
I 244-1 208 Bc) from Ashur,
(i
relief on an altar set up by Tukulti-Ninurta I. If one remembers the
with a relief in which homage is
god, in this case Nusku, set upon Hammurabi's famous stela, here is a direct contrast. The Assyrian
an image of the altar itself king is seen to approach and then kneel before an altar similar to
Ht 53 cm that on w^hich the picture is carved, and it is surmounted, not by a
statue but by the traditional symbol of a particular god, in this case
Nusku, one of the three fire-gods manifest in the sacrificial flame.
Perhaps this attitude to divinity is equally reflected in the planning
of Assyrian temples described earlier, where the cult-statue is
withdrawn to the furthest extremity of an elongated sanctuary. As
for the god Ashur himself, he too more often appears as a symbol
rather than in human form. His figure acquires wings, like the sun-
disc of Egyptian Horus, and the disc has a bird's tail.
Another contemporary development can be seen in the carving
of cylinder-seals, which now show a new upsurge of interest in
design. ^3 2 jj^ ,.j^£ Larsa and Old Babylonian periods 'presentation
IJO scenes' had reached such a degree of monotonous uniformity that
an inscription had often to be added giving the owner's name. This
convention was now discarded and replaced by distinctive
compositions in tabloid form. Some traditional 'combat scenes' can
be seen to survive, but new subjects are abundant. A king hunts
131 ostriches ; a winged horse protects its foal from a lion, or stags graze
184
The 2nd Millennium BC
^'Ji
Wiii'm':^^:Jj,r
/
mmm mv'mmMm'^i^^SW^.
'•
185
The 2nd Millennium BC
Building Practices
Our earlier account of buildings at Ashur was, for obvious reasons,
largely confined to variations in their ground-plans. Where fa9ade
ornament and external appearance are concerned, occasional clues
are to be found among contemporary seal designs. This applies in
particular to the parapet treatment of buildings, whether religious
or secular. We suspect that the use of crenellations was introduced
Ilhrl
1^4
at about this time from Egypt; and one 13th-century seal from
186
Chapter Nine
Imperial History
187
The Late Assyrian Period
king to be in continual contact with his provincial governors. The 135 Map of the Assyrian empire.
vassal states which they controlled were further protected by an (S. Ebrahim after Postgate, 1977)
189
The Late Assyrian Period
Lloyd)
190
The Late Assyrian Period
191
The Late Assyrian Period
lifi
192
The Late Assyrian Period
Nimrud (Kalhu)
(883-859 Bc) during the early years of his reign, was approximately
square in shape with a maximum dimension of almost 1.25 139
miles. 2 3*7 was bounded on the west side by the Tigris and to
Its site
the south by a canal, into which water was diverted from the Upper
Zab river. In the southwest corner, a mound created by the remains
193
^he Late Assyrian Period
Palace
1966) itwas in the environs of this building Layard came upon the
that
famous 'Black Obelisk' (now in the British Museum), with its
scenes of tribute-bearers among whom 'Jehu, King of Israel' is
named. Finally, beneath an eminence in the southeast corner of the
mound, he cleared some rooms of a building attributed to a very
late Assyrian king called Ashur-etililani, in which Mallowan, over a
century later, made important finds. In 1847, with Rawlinson in
Baghdad acquiring improved knowledge of cuneiform, Layard
194
The Late Assyrian Period
195
The Late Assyrian Period
was able to satisfy himself that the site he was excavating was
Kalhu, rather than Nineveh.
Layard returned to Nimrud in 1849, after pubHshing his book,
Nineveh and its Remains, and he brought with him an artist (Cooper,
later replaced by Bell), to take over the task of drawing the reliefs
which had been occupying too much of his time. During the
following two years he made further finds in the Northwest Palace,
including some hundreds of bronze objects, with ornaments of
ivory and" even of glass. At the foot of the ziggurat he also
discovered a temple dedicated to Ninurta, with inscribed paving
slabs presenting the annals of Ashur-nasirpal's reign and, in its
sanctuary, an almost undamaged statue of the same king, which has
i
tken its place in the British Museum as a rare example of Assyrian
'•f^ •
sculpture in-the-round. But, during 1850 as we shall presently see,
he had begun a secondary excavation in the palace mound at
Nineveh, where his discovery of Sennacherib's palace brought his
archaeological field-work to an end.
From 1852 to 1854 Layard's work in Assyria was taken over by
his assistant Hormuzd Rassam, brother of the locally born British
Consular representative in Mosul, who from then onwards became
known for the ruthless pragmatism of his archaeological methods
and disregard for the finer points of international ethics. ^^^ At
Nimrud, in the southeast part of the citadel he located the Nabu
Temple complex, more recently and more methodically excavated
by Mallowan's expedition. There he found statues, two of which
were respectively dedicated 'for the life of Adad-nirari III and of
his mother Sammuramat (Semiramis) : also a stela of Shamshi-Adad
V. But he was by now too preoccupied with excavations at
Khorsabad
196
The Late Assyrian Period
to him that we owe the only surviving records of major finds made
by the French expedition during that and the following year. ^^^
The entire plan of the palace was now traced and the better- 143-4
preserved sculptures extracted for transport to Paris, together with
many smaller finds. According to Place's own calculation, at the
end of 1853, he had cleared 209 chambers, grouped around 31
courts, in addition to 3 temples and a small ziggurat. He had traced
the circuit of the city walls - 24 m
thick on stone foundations - and
he had examined 7 gateways, 3 with sculptured portal figures and i
(no. 3 on his plan), with its vaulted archways and archivolts
ornamented in coloured glaze, almost intact. By 1855, with his
records completed, he was ready to return to France, and it was in
that year that the great disaster took place. The story is today
generally well known. The Khorsabad sculptures travelled safely as
far as Baghdad, where the 235 cases were loaded, together with
antiquities from other sources, on to a large country boat and two
kelek rafts, bound for Basrah. Near Kurnah, where the Tigris is
joined by an effluent from the Euphrates, the convoy was attacked
by hostile tribesmen and all five vessels were capsized. Fortunately,
an earlier consignment, shipped to France by Botta in 1847, had
arrived safely, but today this modest collection, together with two
winged-bull figures in the British Museum, represent all that
remains of the French finds at Khorsabad. ^"^^
Nineveh
197
The Late Assyrian Period
198
The Late Assyrian Period
V'-W'
had survived. In the 71 chambers which he investigated, over 2,000 142 Plan of Sennacherib's palace
sculptured slabs were exposed, while two small rooms (numbered atNineveh. Unhappily no
complete record has been kept of
40 and 41 in his plan), were found to contain great quantities of
all the excavations in the
tablets, comprising a part of Sennacherib's library - a prodigious
Kiiyiinjik mound and even the
store-house of contemporary knowledge, with detailed records of relative positionsof some major
contemporary events. ^"^^ At this time, Layard also made a less- buildings are today uncertain.
successful attempt to excavate in the unoccupied part of the Nebi (After Paterson, 19 12)
199
The Late Assyrian Period
CiW Wall
200
The Late Assyrian Period
their ultimate destruction added to the confusion of their surviving Dur Sharrukin by
buildings at
ruins. This was the case at Nimrud, and to an even greater extent at
William Suddaby after Loud and
Altmann. On the left, the raised
Nineveh, where the architectural record has to this day remained
temple of Nabu can be seen,
regrettably incomplete. If, by contrast, we turn to Khorsabad, we connected to the palace platform
fmd a city built, occupied and abandoned in the space of a single by a bridge
201
The Late Assyrian Period
with winged bulls and genii, which led in its turn to the discovery
of an inner citadel, surrounding the palace at ground level. Under
the direction of Gordon Loud, the following years were spent in
exposing the many buildings enclosed by the citadel wall, while at
the same time examining the great 'arsenal' estabhshment in the
southern corner of the city (known to Place as 'Palace F').^4 9
In the course of Loud's work in the citadel, a new survey was
undertaken, which involved checking and correcting Place's palace
plan. - 5 From this a striking inference could be made regarding the
inadequacy of Assyrian building methods in their initial stages.
Even the platform itself proved to be asymmetrically planned, while
the layout of buildings in the citadel appeared haphazard to the
point of inconvenience. At the approach from Gate 'A', a large
temple, dedicated to the god Nabu, was sited at an awkward angle
beside a paved street. This building was raised on a platform of its
own to the level of the palace, from which it could be reached
directly by a bridge over the road. Beyond it there was an open
space from which a broad ramp led up to the main portal of the
palace, and facing this - again off-centre - a secondary citadel
gateway. Elsewhere within these inner walls, Loud excavated five
minor palaces, whose plans had been adapted with obvious
difficulty to the sites available. This curious absence of preliminary
planning would appear to have been characteristic of monumental
building at all periods in Mesopotamian history.
In the main palace, as we have said, the ceremonial apartments
and state-rooms were planned around an inner courtyard,
dominated on one side by sculptural composition of winged bulls
and other figures, guarding the three entrances to the throne-room.
This huge rectangular chamber had walls about 12 high, m
decorated with mural paintings from pavement to ceiling, and at
one end a throne emplacement with relief carvings. At the other, a
vestibule led to a stairway, giving access to the flat roof, and a
doorway near the throne brought one through a long robing-room
to the private courtyard around which the residential apartments
were grouped. This arrangement of a throne-room with subsidiary
chambers and stairway seems to have been an architectural
convention universally adopted in all Assyrian palaces, and here at
Khorsabad it can again be recognized in the 'reception suites' of
minor buildings in the lower citadel. A second convention of the
same sort dictates the composition of an isolated group of state-
rooms on the northwest side of Sargon's palace, where doorways
202
2 3
Building Construction
203
5
145 One ot a pair ot winged and use oi stone was for the thresholds of important doorways, where
human-headed bulls with
huge slabswere laid, carved with designs representing carpets. ^^
attendant genii from the
southwest gate into the citadel at
With regard to roofing, traces were found in the city gates of
Khorsabad (now at the entrance barrel-vaulting in brick, and 'pitched-brick' vaulting was used in
to the Iraq Museum in Baghdad) the drainage system of the palace platform. But in the palace itself
Loud satisfied himself that flat ceilings were the rule, sometimes
with painted beams. For wood was comparatively plentiful. Cedar,
cypress, juniper and maple were among the species recognized, and
from fallen beams he calculated that it was available in scantlings
capable of spanning the widest chambers.
the simple fringed shawl which was the court-dress of Assyria, has an
indisputable dignity. ^ ^ 6
204
:
presses on again.' Variety is obtained by suggesting the geographi- from a quarry in wooded
country. The sculpture has
cal background against which these events take place, and the already been roughly shaped and
national characteristics of Assyria's various enemies. Details of these will be completed in situ.
are carefully and vividly presented, with a reality which is the more Ht 135 cm
\^
\\'^
/('
K
205
;
147 Relief from the 'Central remarkable one remembers the limitations of the medium in
if
Palace' of Tiglath-Pileser III
which these worked, and their ignorance where the
artists
(744-^27 Bc) at Nimrud,
principles of perspective were concerned. Under these circum-
showing an attack on a walled
city. Scaling ladders and a stances, the ingenious devices by which spatial recession could be
battering-ram are used, with suggested, particularly in depicting landscapes, are unparalleled in
covering fire from archers. In a
pre-Greek art.
mountainous setting (below)
enemies are slain and (above)
On the whole, the king's military campaigns took place during
naked captives impaled on stakes fixed seasons of the year. During the intervals between these, he
would seek distraction in hunting, and this was another subject
148 Rehef from the 'Northwest much favoured in the reliefs. It is perhaps best illustrated in the
Palace' of Ashur-nasirpal II (883-
is one good sequence of
carvings of a later historical phase, but there
859 BC) at Nimrud. Figures are
shown of the King, worshipping hunting pictures from the time of Ashur-nasirpal. ^^8 xhese do not
before a 'sacred tree', supported in fact represent an event taking place in open country, but in an
by winged gods, each holding a enclosure formed by the shields of soldiers, within which lions were
cone and situla (metal bucket)
released to be shot at by the king from his chariot. After the hunt he
above, the god Ashur in a winged
is seen pouring libations over the bodies of his prey, attended by
sun-disc (compare the slightly
earher seal design in ill. 133)
courtiers and musicians. Usually at this time, the slabs were about
2 m
high and the pictures arranged in two horizontal registers. But
149 Reliefs from the 'North the culminating scene in this sequence, where the king rests and
Palace' of Ashur-banipal (668-
takes refreshment after the hunt, occupies the full height of the
627 Bc) Nineveh. Above, a
at
Hon-hunt below, a
in progress ;
stone. It is a sort of epilogue, in which we are reminded of the
ceremony in which the king divine protection which he enjoys, by the figures of benevolent
pours libations over his victims genii on either side. Similar figures, facing a 'tree-of-life', appear
again in a great self-contained panel behind the actual throne in the
throne-room of the Northwest Palace at Nimrud. ^^q ^^s the jj-
206
The Late Assyrian Period
207
im tmsi-^g,jH^ Siii mm^'^i-^.r^^m- %mS&»^<^^&Mm
«m
m\ irw«r«.m » » • n
^^
*
F^-ifci JhiiEX-'F z. m 4„
% «
m^
2£ M M •># >. , .gaMtta
T~- -
<
T TT .
1
t 1
T I
f
#
f^^JS
A
'
f'l -
\: «
k
'
!
»
ki-
re i»*t
«- ^
..JH %. %. a ,.,'
'
*T* ••t»
- . -
tl-±\
«*
'%tr%s:iA.
1 ^jm-miy-^
'^'i* tl"^ ''^'.^A'%
ITS
n 1^4
mi
• •• «r-<
150 Reconstruction of the are double doors of wood, with each 'leaf measuring 1.8 wide m
Balawat Gates (lower half shown
only) in the British Museum
by 6. 1 m high, and each
is supported at the side by a circular pivot-
151 of Tyre is captured and the tribute of its ruler brought ashore in
boats to the Assyrian camp in southern Urartu, the army's advance ;
208
The Late Assyrian Period
-^<^^S?»*«««^^s!S£!r''»"
209
The Late Assyrian Period
^F^ ,
3^ . -'^^^
i i f
7 \
Wl — L/.^~>
,^:•,^•- r
:-
1
n
210
The Late Assyrian Period
blue and black on a background of white plaster, and their subjects 153 Relief carvings of a winged
god and gift-bearers from the
very similar to those of the stone reliefs. Episodes in the king's
Palace of Sargon II at Khorsabad.
military campaigns alternated with hunting scenes, and paintings of In this case the orthostat slabs are
winged genii took the place of portal sculptures. Reconstructed in over 3 m high
the Louvre, these murals were not reproduced in colour for
pubhcation until comparatively recently. ^^^
Stone reliefs from palaces of Tiglath-pileser's successors in the
8th and yth centuries show changing characteristics. In the state-
rooms at Khorsabad, narrative is replaced by static compositions, 153
representing court ceremonial. The huge figures of the king and his
courtiers, some 2.75 m high, follow or confront each other in
hierarchical formality, and one notices the coloured paint which is
sparingly applied to their hair, beards and the exposed parts of their
bodies. The possibilities offered by these larger slabs were later to be
exploited by the artists of Sennacherib's time for pictorial 154 (Right) Part of a sculptured
compositions of another sort. Historical episodes could now be scenefrom Sennacherib's palace
elaborated on a much less restricted scale and concurrent incidents at Nineveh, identified from
inscriptions as the capitulation of
added to a central theme. For this purpose, the division of a picture
Lakish in Palestine. In a hilly
into horizontal registers was often abandoned. A single design
landscape w^ith vines and olives,
might now extend to the full height of the slabs, while new the King, seated on an elaborate
formulae could be devised to imply relative distance or dramatic throne before his tent, receives
priority. New details of landscape added to the panoramic effect of his commanders while Jewish
prisoners bow before him. His
these compositions.
chariot awaits him below
It would be impossible here to enumerate the many and various (Left) The captive people of
subjects chosen by the artists of this period. ^^^ Almost all are Lakish are tortured or deported,
concerned with violence and the destructive effects of punitive together with their families and
belongings. Early in the yth
warfare. Some are lent special interest by their accompanying
century BC attempts of this sort
inscriptions, which identify historical events and even individual
were made to evoke pictorially
personalities. After the capitulation of Lakish in Palestine, the setting in which events took
Sennacherib may be seen receiving his officers and their suppliant place
211
The Late Assyrian Period
Elam
arbour of vines. ^^"^
156 Sandstone stela of Ashur- In this last phase of Assyrian relief carving, the drawing of
nasirpal II, whose portrait animals receives particular care and attention. It reaches a peak of
appears inset beneath the accomplishment in the time of Ashur-banipal, when hunting
symbols of his gods. Sin, Ashur,
scenes, depicting lions, wild asses or gazelles, became popular
Shamash etc. Around this figure
subjects. For here - perhaps deliberately - a note of pathos is
are 153 lines of inscription
celebrating the completion of his introduced, and one's sympathy is aroused for the 'dying lioness' or
Nimrud, in 879 BC and
capital, for the 'onager mare' who is compelled to abandon her foal.
recording the attendant festivities The more practical value of the reliefs, from an archaeological
viewpoint, is the wealth of detailed evidence which they provide
about the appearance and characteristics, not only of the Assyrians
but of neighbouring peoples with whom warfare brought them
into contact. Painstaking study of these pictorial records has by
now acquainted us with every smallest detail of military
equipment, and of common practices in its use which the written
texts alone could never have made clear. ^^^ Regarding those
aspects of Assyrian life which the reliefs illustrate, little remains to
be learnt.
212
The Late Assyrian Period
213
The Late Assyrian Period
board was 33.8 x 15.6 cm. (From 16 X 13.3 cm, the ivory of which it was made had matured to a
Mallowan, 1966) warm brown colour and the features, lightly stained with
214
The Late Assyrian Period
process by which they are decorated has been closely studied in the Ht 10.5 cm
British Museum. ^"^^
Other buildings of the citadel which Mallowan excavated
included the northern wing or Chancery of the Northwest Palace,
and the Ninurta Temple at the foot of the ziggurat; the southwest
complex, consisting of Loftus' Burnt Palace and the Nabu Temple
(Ezida) with the neighbouring Governor's Palace; a large group of
private dwellings and the great Quay Wall, supporting the western
or river-side of the citadel platform. All these building remains
were methodically recorded and successive phases in their
architectural history distinguished. During these years, Mallowan
215
The Late Assyrian Period
i6o Projected plan of the 'Burnt was not primarily searching for large statues or reliefs, but his work
Palace' at Nimrud {c. 612 bc),
was amply rewarded by fmds on a smaller scale bronze vessels or
:
divided into long magazines, one Buildings answering tothis description have been found to exist
of which was the main Source of in all three of the Late Assyrian capitals. The arsenal at Nineveh
ivory. Separated from these by a
remains buried beneath the modern buildings of Nebi Yunus; but
parade ground is the king's
residence, composed of a throne- an inscribed prism from that quarter gives a description of its
room and standard suites of royal reconstruction in the reign of Esarhaddon.^^^ Another passage
apartments. defines the purpose served by such a building, stating that it was 'for
the ordinance of the camp, for the maintenance of the stallions,
mules, chariots, weapons, equipment of war and spoils of the foe of
every kind'. It also records how, annually at the time of the New
Year's Festival, the establishment was subject to inspection by the
king himself, for whom residential quarters were provided.
The Arsenal at Nimrud, known to the excavators as Fort
Idl Shalmaneser, occupied a rectangular site measuring 300 x 200 m,
enclosed on the east and south sides by the city wall and elsewhere
by its own massive fortifications. David Oates, who took charge of
216
217
The Late Assyrian Period
handshake Marduk-Zakir-
Shumi, King of Babylon
218
The Nimrud Ivories
219
The Late Assyrian Period
164 Ivory figure, carved in the Barnett's Nimrud was eventually published in 1957 and
Ivories
round, of a Nubian leading an
during the years that followed, as we have seen, a great volume of
oryx while carrying a live
monkey and a leopard-skin. A new material became available. Mallowan, in the study of his own
'luxury object' from Fort fmds which appeared nine years later, was able to confirm many
Shalmaneser earlier conclusions; but he was cautious in accepting Barnett's firm
distinction between Phoenician and 'Syrian' work, on the grounds
165 Another motif, popular
that a free interchange of craftsmen may have taken place at that
among Phoenician ivory-carvers
over a period of several centuries time in markets west of the Euphrates. On the other hand, he
all
and with Egyptian overtones, is also was able to detect a whole school of imported artists and
the 'cow suckUng its calf. This indigenous carvers, owing little except their technique to foreign
ajoure (open-work) example is
influence. Regarding the purpose and setting of the ivories,
from Fort Shalmaneser {c. 700
BC)
Mallowan gained the impression that this highly prized, luxury
material was applied as a veneer to every conceivable form of
furniture. One room at Fort Shalmaneser (no. SW7) contained a
great number of panels, juxtaposed in their original setting, and
these at least could be identified as the elaborate ornamental backs
166 of beds, couches and chairs. In this connection, he could point to
the furniture so carefully depicted in a relief, already mentioned,
in which Ashur-banipal and his wife are resting after the capture
of Susa.He lists some of the other purposes and classes of objects
164 for which ivory carving was used, and makes an interesting com-
parison with a surviving inventory of spoil, brought back by
Sargon II from the cities of Urartu, where ivory was as popular
as in Assyria itself.
220
The Late Assyrian Period
perfected were renowned, even in the Old Testament, for their skill
and ingenuity. Nevertheless, where design was concerned, one also
notices that they lacked any authentically native tradition. Just as in
Europe the artists of the Renaissance turned to ancient Greece for
their inspiration, so for the Phoenicians, Egyptian art provided the
source of a ready-made idiom. Egyptian art, however, was based
on religious imagery and on a huge repertory of symbolic and
mythical forms. For the Phoenicians neither the religion nor the
symbolism was their own, and little attempt was made to
understand them. Their adaptation of Egyptian imagery .was
accordingly often incorrect and occasionally clumsy. Surprisingly,
^^'
its visual effect remained unimpaired.
221
Chapter Ten
A Dynastic Revival
222
Babylon : The Last Mesopotamian Monarchy
soon overrun, and within days the city of Babylon itself was
peacefully occupied, almost without opposition, by the Persian
army.^^^ On instructions from Cyrus, violence was avoided and
where possible the inhabitants persuaded to accept their new ruler
as some sort of 'liberator'. Three thousand years of self-rule in
Mesopotamia thus ended in a curious anti-climax.
We have three different sources of information regarding the
city of Babylon as it existed during these fmal years of
independence. One is to be found in the writings of the Neo-
Babylonian rulers themselves, which include (in a document
known as the Steinplatten inscription), Nebuchadnezzar's own
account of how he built the city. But at this time in the 6th century
BC there is another form of evidence which would not previously
have been available namely the eye-witness accounts, written by
:
223
Babylon : The Last Mesopotamian Monarchy
The City
The old 'Inner City' can be seen on the right bank of the Euphrates,
making an irregular square, with sides rather more than a mile
224
Babylon : The Last Mesopotamian Monarchy
Babylon
J
long. In Nebuchadnezzar's time these walls were extended to 168 Plan of the old Inner City of
Babylon, with the western
enclose a further large area on the western side of the river, and the
suburb, showing the Procession
square thus became a rectangle with a longest dimension of i^
and principal buildings.
Street
miles. In the western sector the excavations were restricted to (From Hawkes, 1974)
soundings, whereby it was possible to establish the extent of the
walls and to obtain some idea of the street planning. For the rest, the
work was concentrated on the older part of the town to the east;
and here a very careful study was made of the fortifications. They
consisted of a double line of walls, the innermost of which had a 168
thickness of 6.5 m and was probably higher than the outer one,
which measured no more than 3.7 m. Both were built of sun-dried
bricks and strengthened at intervals by projecting towers, doubtless
with turrets projecting above the crenellated battlements. The
space between them, as Herodotus had recorded, gave room for a
protected military roadway at parapet level. At the foot of the
outer wall there was a moat, which varied from 20 m to 80 m wide,
leaving and returning to the river at either end. The 'scarp' or inner
face of the moat was strengthened by a wall of kiln-baked bricks,
set in bitumen. Koldewey also confirmed the testimony of
Herodotus, that 'there was free passage for boats and craft of all
kinds around the moat', and one is left to assume that it must
225
;
Buildings
The northern highway rises steeply before reaching the Ishtar Gate
so that the gate itselfand the Procession Street are paved at a level
several metres higher than the surrounding buildings. The
pavement itself was of limestone slabs, over one metre square, and
bordered with flags of red breccia. Beneath this, the Germans were
able to expose the foundations of the gate and street-walls and they ;
226
Babylon : The Last Mesopotamian Monarchy
:
'
f;^;.~r
"^
1^=.^;^:"'
-^
.1 ,. '::'^ : # Xy 'M (From Koldewey, 1926)
70 Relief figure of a
,, "mr, :
•
f: ^-v-^..'r 1
dragon in
sirrush
moulded brickwork,
BiW^^^-^i-r^B^^BII^BBBBI^WBI^^BMBBl from the facade of the Ishtar
Gate at Babyloii. The rehefs
^^HBI^B^^^fei^^- ,-':.^. '^j^y:^^^^^^^^!^^^^^^^ were covered with brightly
coloured glaze brown and
Bf
^f^^^^^K"' j, ;
yellow on a background of
:
^:~^^^«-Ti.^' K-#-"I^
"'-!»V.
j^*-#:"^
"•
i:»~^"~^
;
~-^i[^ '^'\^>^'-A
l--''' :
- 1 - T - f-l
Now,regarding the facade ornament for which these buildings
are so justly famous: thewhole of the gate itself and the adjoining
walls of the Procession Street had outer faces ornamented with
designs in brightly coloured glazed brickwork. Repeated at regular
intervalswere the figures of Hons, bulls and sirrush dragons, 170
sometimes represented in flat glaze - at others in glazed rehef The
reconstruction of these designs was made possible by the survival of
a small section which remained standing at the base of one tower.
As to the process by which this brick ornament was glazed and
227
^4!
m^-.?^
171 Reconstructions in the assembled, Koldewey in his report speculates at great length, but
Berlin Museum of (left) the with a certain lack of clarity. One is left to suppose that it resembled
ornamental fac^ades of the Ishtar
in most respects that used at Khorsabad and in Fort
by the Assyrians
Gate, and (right) a glazed brick
panel from the outer face of the Shalmaneser Nimrud.
at
great throne-room, facing the The same form of facade ornament seems to have been used in
thirdand largest courtyard in certain parts of the royal palace ('Southern Citadel', as the Germans
Nebuchadnezzar's palace
refer to it). A tall panel recovered from a wall outside the throne-
room is of special interest, in that classical motifs are adapted to the
design, suggesting that some contact now existed between Babylon
and Greece. Otherwise, the planning and architecture of this
building show no departure from Mesopotamian tradition except
for its colossal size. There were five successive courtyards, arranged
on a single axis, and the largest of these (63 x 58 m) in the centre of
the building, was entered through a sort of 'Sublime Porte'. On its
south side, and occupying rather more than its complete width, was
the principal throne-room, which, Hke all the other important
reception rooms, was thus given a northward exposure for the sake
of coolness in summer. The remaining space was filled with
domestic and administrative offices. One other feature, in the
northeast corner of the building, aroused special interest. Here was
a self-contained group of subterranean store-chambers, heavily
vaulted and containing much fallen stonework. It was thought by
the excavators that this curious structure might represent an
emplacement on which the famous 'Hanging Gardens' could have
been built, as described by Herodotus. Their theory was given
228
Babylon : The Last Mesopotamian Monarchy
ground - today a deep, marshy pit. Based on Herodotus and other portals and dependent suite of
apartments, faces the great
ancient writers, a variety of reconstructions have been proposed, of
courtyard, which is approached
which the most convincing are those which most closely resemble from the through a 'sublime
east
the Third Dynasty tower at Ur.^^^ Esagila, on the other hand, porte'. The group of vaulted
presented a different problem. Its ruins were buried beneath 21m store-houses, once thought to
of later debris, topped by the Islamic shrine of Hajji Amran, have supported the 'Hanging
Gardens', is located in the
and its excavation, which involved the removal of 30,000 cubic
northeast corner of the building.
metres of earth, could be achieved only by tunnelling along the (After Koldewey, 1925). a, Ishtar
base of the walls. At least it was possible to determine the size of the Gate; b, Ninmakh Temple
/. - *- .--, V% -
229
building, which measured 86 x 78 m. But conflicting conclusions
about its planning become apparent when one observes that the
reconstruction in the final report and the great scale-model in the
Berlin Museum disagree, even in regard to the position of the main
sanctuary. As to its traditionally rich fiarnishings, one must once
more be content with the stories, among other marvels, of a seated
statue of gold, 6 m high, and a throne of gold, weighing i8y tons.
In addition to the Ninmakh Temple adjoining the Ishtar Gate,
which has already been mentioned, a number of other minor
shrineswere excavated. They can all be seen to conform to the now
generally accepted arrangement of entry, courtyard and sanctuary,
all on the same axis, but with variously developed subsidiary
Shown by foundation deposits to whose walls still remain standing many metres high. At almost
be the work of Nebuchadnezzar every other Sumerian city derelict stacks of kiln-baked bricks.
^ %iȴl
Babylon : The Last Mesopotamian Monarchy
Postscript
the ruins have beenfound of the ancient city of Ebla, some of whose
rulers in the 3rd millennium bc were already known by name.
At a slightly later period, contemporary with the Larsa and
Amorite dynasties of Babylon, architecture and sculpture have
been found, which rivals in interest and accomplishment that cur-
rently known in Mesopotamia. But an even greater discovery has
now been added to these: an archive of 3rd millennium tablets
numbering many thousands, some of them each with over a
thousand lines of writing. Here then is a completely new field of
philological study. Written in a hitherto unfamiliar language of
the West Semitic type, their transcription has been facilitated by
the inclusion among them of plentiful vocabularies with Sumerian
equivalents. But, quite apart from their linguistic significance, the
archaeological setting in which they were found may in itself sug-
gest a genuine 'breakthrough' into a new realm of discovery. The
point which they serve to make clear is, in the excavator's own
words - that 'south Mesopotamia was not the sole progenitor of
literacy and civilization for the whole Near East similar processes;
231
Postscript
232
Notes on the Text
1 The best commentary on the 21 An analysis and discussion of 36 Riemchen in German, meaning
geography of Iraq is in Brice all these soundings is presented 'prismatic', is the name used
(1966, chs. II and 21). in Perkins (1949), and by A. by the excavators for the
Porada in Ehrich (1965). small, rectangular mud bricks
2 But see Roux (i960, pp.
characteristic of the Uruk
20-31). 22 The German reports have
period.
been published at great length,
3 Lees and Falcon (1952, pp.
mostly in the series Uruk Vor- 37 Delougaz and Lloyd (1942).
24-39).
I'dujige Berichte (titles vary),
38 Mostly accounts and in-
4 Jacobsen (i960), pp. 174-83). and Abhandlungen der Deutsche
ventories.
His theory is at present sub Orient Gesellschaft, in progress
judice. since 1929. An almost up-to- 39 A full discussion of this script
date summary in English is to will be found in Falkenstein
5 See Adams (1958, pp. 101-4).
be found in Mallowan (1970, (1936).
6 See Jacobsen (1958a, p. 1251). ch. 8/1, p. 360 ff.), and in
Frankfort and Davies (1971, 39a See Schmandt-Besserat (1977).
7 See Oates, D. (1968, fig. 2, p.
ch. 12). But note also the more 40 Roux
14). (1964, p. 82).
recent find of a level IVa-b
8 See chronological table in So- palace, in Lenzen (1974, p. 41 General reference books for
lecki (1971, fig. 8, p. 182). III). cylinder-seals are Frankfort
(1939), Porada (1948) and
9 See Van Zeist (1977) and 23 Mackay (193 1) and elsewhere. Amiet (1961).
(1982).
24 See Lloyd and Safar (1947, p.
42 Some fine examples are illus-
9a Subsequent excavations at 84 ff. and 1948, p. 115 ff.); also
trated in Frankfort (1955, pi. i
Zarzi are reported in Wahida Lloyd (1947 and 1948).
ff.).
(1981).
25 Delougaz and Lloyd (1942).
10 Garrod (1930,
42a A basic work on the subject is
p. 8).
26 These and other proposed Porada (1948).
11 Solecki (1971); note in parti- changes in stratigraphical ter-
cular map on minology are well shown 43 Well illustrated in Delougaz
2, p. 17.
diagrammatically by E. Porada (1952).
12 Their work is fully reported in in Ehrich (1965, p. 176).
Braidwood and Howe (i960). 44 E.g. in Frankfort (1951).
27 Heinrich (1957).
45 See Falkenstein (1965, p. 269
13 Childe (1950), quoted in
28 Safar (1950, p. 27 ff).
ff.).
Singh (1974, p. 4).
29 Van Buren (1972). 46 See Lamberg-Karlovsky
14 ^ambel and Braidwood
30 Ziegler (1953)- (1974)-
(1980).
33 Lloyd and Safar (1943, p. 131 50 Oates, Joan (1976, pp. 20-31),
17 Lamberg-Karlovski (1974).
ff.).
with map, fig. i, p. 23, and
18 Braidwood (1974b). Burkholder (1972, pp. 264-9).
34 Heinrich (1957).
Mortensen (1964,
The writer is indebted to Dr
19 p. 32 ff.).
35 Van Buren (1952, p. 76 ff.). Oates for the further infor-
20 Braidwood (i960, p. 173). Also see Moorey (1975). mation which follows.
233
1
234
Notes on the Text
105 See Crawford (1974, P- 29 ff-)- 122 Illustrated in Frankfort (i954» 138 Delougaz and Lloyd (1942, pi.
115 See Moortgat (1959 et seq.). 132 Hansen (1963, pi. VI). See also shown here, ill. 85. See also
The results are discussed in below, p. 131. Maxwell-Hyslop (i960).
Mallowan (1966a) and Mal- Illustrated in detail in Strom- 150 Frankfort (1954, pi. 20a).
133
lowan (1971, ch. 16).
menger (1964, pis. 66-9)
151 Best illustrated in Strom-
116 Mallowan (1971, ch. 16). 134 Lamberg-Karlovsky (1974, p. menger pi. and
(1964, 72,
136 The making and use of these 153 Compare the top left-hand
119 Cf Frankfort (1954, p. 23 ff.).
figure in the 'Peace Scene' of
All Early Dynastic sculpture bricks is explained in De-
the 'royal standard', ill. 87.
from the Diyala sites is pub- lougaz (1933)-
lished by the same writer in 137 E.g. in Sin Temple VIII at 154 Barnett (1969). The anatomy
Frankfort (1939 and 1943). Khafaje, in level VIII of the of these instruments, in re-
120 Andrae (1922).
Inanna Temple at Nippur and, lation to the known principles
most notably, in Palace 'A' at of Sumerian music, was first
121 SeeFrankfort (1939 and 1943). Kish. discussed in Galpin (1929). A
235
Notes on the Text
more up-to-date commentary 169 Delougaz, Hill and Lloyd 185 Woolley 's preliminary re-
on them is to be found in (1967, pi. 64). been said, were
ports, as has
Rimmer (i960). pubhshed immediately after
170 Delougaz, Hill and Lloyd the end of each season's
155 Strommenger (1964, pi. XIV (1967, p. 54 ff. and pi. 20).
!
in colour).
digging. Mallowan, in his '
p. 403).
death in i960, recalls how
painted wares, at this and
these articles were often 'writ-
earlier periods, may be found 172 Mallowan (1932, pi. L), also on board
ten ship as he travel-
in Delougaz (1952). See also (1936), p. 104 ff. and pis.
led home'. For the titles of
Strommenger (1964, pis. VIII V-VII. Illustrated in colour in
volumes in the final publi-
and IX). Strommenger (1964, pis.
cation {Ur Excavations), see
XXII-XXIII).
157 SeeMalIowan(i964, p. I42ff.). Bibliography.
173 Originally pubhshed in
158 Strommenger (1964, pi. 41). 186 See Woolley (1974, pis. 53
Memoires du Delegation en
and 61).
159 George Roux (1964) com- Perse, vol. I, 1900, pi. X.
petently summarizes earlier 187 See Woolley (1939).
information on 174 E.g. two fragments published Woolley's several perspective
this subject.
Further evidence is now avail-
in Strommenger (1964, pis. restorations have been widely
236
Notes on the Text
201 See Woolley (1954, fig- 12, p. cation (Starr 1938, vol. I, p. 528 238 Layard's two principal books
176). ff.). are Layard (1950 and 1953).
202 E.g. in Woolley (1935. pl- 222 Starr (1938, general plan in 239 Rassam's excavations are re-
12).
folder). corded, as a rule rather briefly,
in Iraq, 27-34 (1965-72). and summarized by him in 244 An early survey was pubhshed
208 See Oates, D. (1967, p. 70 ff.).
Andrae (1938). in Jones (1857).
He refers to similar facade 227 Andrae's site plan is repro-
ornament at Ur, 'flanking the 245 See Finch (1948, p. 9 ff.) and
duced in Strommenger (1964,
entrance to the bastion of Madhloum (1967 or 1968).
fig. 46, p. 434).
Warad-Sin, which was built
246 See plan in Layard (1853, vol.
228 Earlier excavators at Ashur
c. 1830 Bc'. Cf Woolley (1939, I, facing p. 67).
had included Rich, Layard,
P- 42-3).
Place, Rassam and finally 247 See plan of Ashurbanipal's
209 See Oates, D. (1973, p. 183). George Smith of the British palace in Rassam (1897, facing
Museum. See Lloyd (1955). p. 8); Balawat, King
for
210 All these sculptures are well
illustrated in Strommenger 229 Reproduced in Strommenger (191 5), also Barnett (1973) and
(1954, figs. 148-54). But see (1964, fig. 47, p. 435), from D. Oates on more recent ex-
R. Kupper in Revue Andrae (1938).
cavations in Iraq, 36 (1974).
J.
d'Assyriologie, 15 (1971), p.
230 Andrae (1925). Examples il- 248 See Loud (1936).
113 ff.
lustrated in Frankfort (1954,
211 The 'Burney Plaque', illus-
249 SeeLoudand Altmann (1938).
pis. 74 A-B).
trated here, ill. 118, and in
Loud and Altmann
250 Since
Frankfort (1954, fig. 56). 231 Frankfort (1954, p. 65).
(1938) is a heavy volume,
212 Strommenger (1964, pl. 232 See Frankfort (i939) and Loud's plans may more con-
xxvii). Porada (1948). veniently be consulted in e.g.
Strommenger (1964, pp.
213 Strommenger (1964, fig. 170).
233 Weber (1920, p. 105, no. 531). 445-7)-
214 Baqir (1944, 1945 and 1946a).
234 Moortgat (1944, P- 43, figs. 251 See Turner (1970, P- I77 ff-)-
219 Frankfort (1954, pis. 70b and 254 See Loud and Altmann (1938,
236 Lloyd (1947 with illustrations,
70c). p. 19)-
and 1955).
220 Starr (1938). 255 Reproduced in Frankfort
237 For the site of Nimrud and its
237
Notes on the Text
257 The pair of bulls from Gate 1963. Finally pubhshed in this sort did in fact happen.
'A', now at the entrance to the Mallowan (1966, vol. 2). Others have doubted it.
238
Bibliography
General Recommendations
Other References
239
Bibliography
25 (1970).
Burney, C. a. 'Yanik Tepe', Iraq, 23, pt 2 (1961) and 26, pt i (1964).
^AMBEL, H. and Braidwood, R.J. Prehistoric Research in Southeastern Asia
Minor, Istanbul 1980.
Ceccini,J. M. La Ceramica di Nuzi, Rome 1965.
Childe, Gordon. 'The Urban Revolution', in Town Planning Review, 21
(1950), 3-17-
Coon, Carleton. The Origin of Races, London 1963.
CoRBiEAU, S. 'Indus Parallels', Iraq, 4, (1937), i ff.
240
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241
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19(1957)-
Lees, G. N. and Falcon, N. L. 'The Geographical History of the
Mesopotamian Plains', The Geographical Journal, 118 (1952).
Lenzen, H.J. 'Die Architecktur in Eanna in der Uruk IV Period', Iraq, 36,
pt 1/2 (1974), P- III ff-
LoFTUS, W. K. Travels and researches in Chaldaea and Susiana, London 1857
(republished 1971).
Loud, Gordon. Khorsabad, vol. i. Oriental Institute PubHcations, no. 38,
Chicago 1936.
Loud, Gordon and Altmann, C. B. Khorsabad, vol. 2, Oriental Institute
PubHcations, no. 40, Chicago 1938.
Lloyd, S. 'Some ancient sites in the Jebel Sinjar District', Iraq, 5 (1938).
'The Oldest City: A Pre-Sumerian Temple at Eridu', Illustrated
London News, 31 May 1947.
'The Oldest City of Sumeria The Origin of Eridu', Illustrated London
:
section 4, 'Iran'; vol. i, pt 2, 197 1, ch. 16, 'The Early Dynastic Period in
Mesopotamia'.
Mallowan, M. E. L. and Rose, J. C. 'The Excavations of Tell
242
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Baghdad 1983.
Sandars, N. K. (transl.) The Epic of Gilgamesh, Harmondsworth i960.
De Sarzec, E. and Heuzey, L. Decouvertes en Chaldee, Paris 1 884-1912.
ScHEiL, v., 'Une Saison de Fouilles a Sippar', in Memoires Publiees par les
243
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1902.
Schmandt-Besserat, D. 'Some Characteristics of the Early Tablets', Syro-
Mesopotamian Studies, i, no. 2 (1977).
Singh, P. Neolithic Cultures of Western Asia, London 1974.
Smith, Sidney. 'Diniktim', Sumer, 2, no. 2 (1946), p. i9ff.
SoLECKi, Ralph S. Shanidar: The Humanity of Neanderthal Man, London
1971.
SoLLBERGER, E. 'Sur la Chronique des Rois d'Ur et Quelque Problemes
Annexes', In Archives fur Orientforschung, no. 17, 1954.
'Notes on the Early Inscriptions from Ur and Al 'Ubaid', Iraq, 22
(i960).
Speiser, E. a. Excavations at Tepe Gawra, vol. i, Philadelphia 1935.
Starr, R. F. S. Nuzi (2 vols.), London 1938.
Strommenger, E. 'Akkadian Sculpture', in Baghdader Mitteilungen no. , 2,
pt I, 1936.
Thompson, R. Campbell, and Mallowan, M. E. L. 'The British Museum
Excavations at Nineveh, 193 1-32', in Liverpool Annals of Archaeology and
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,
244
Photographic Acknowledgments
89, 102, 108; Metropolitan Museum of Art, Rogers Fund (i960), 164; Dr
Moortgat-Correns, 62 Dr Joan Oates, 45 Director, Oriental Institute,
; ;
University of Chicago, 49, 53, 55, 63; Professor Andre Parrot, 112;
Trustees of the Pierpont Morgan Library, 131; Sotheby's, 118; University
Museum, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, 107; Visual Publi-
cations Ltd, 109, 144.
245
;
Index
246
;
Index
Chicago, Oriental Institute of, 91, 33, 34 fish, 19; offerings, 16,55
93,96 doors, 119, 208, 130, 131 Flandin, E., 196, 197
Childe, Gordon, 26 Dumuzi, 57 'Flood', the, 90-2, 106; floods,
Choga Mami, 66, 72, 73, 83, 43 Dur-Kurigalzu, 160, 172, iSj see river, 16
Choga Mish, 87 'Aqar Quf 'Flowing-vase goddess', 166, 113,
Chuera, 109, 62 Dur-Sharrukin, see Khorsabad 167, 169, 120, 172, 203
Cilicia, 188 'Fort Shalmaneser', 161, 216;
cire perdue, 86, 128 throne-base, 162, 218; glazed
city-states, 135 Eanna Precinct, see Uruk brick, 218
'Cliff, the', 12 Eannatum, 106, 116, 149 foundation deposits, 124
climate, 17 Early Bronze Age, 65 foundations, sand, 94, 33, 96;
coastline, 15 Early Dynastic period, 36, 66, 88, Babylon, 169
composite objects, 131 99, 107, 108, no; pottery, 132, Frazer, Sir James, 57
'cone-mosaic', 50-2, 21, 54, 129 133, 92; sculpture, 112, 113, French excavations, 86, 105, 108,
continuity (rehgious beliefs), 63 passim, 64 passim; seals, 124, 124, 147, 157, 192, 193, 138
Coon, Carleton, 24 78-81 ; sites, 92ff. ; terminology,
copper, 25, 30 91, no
Crawford, V. E., 150 Ebih-il, 114 Gadd, C.J., 88
Crete, 138, 177 Ebla, 231 gaming-boards, 129
Crimean War, 192 E-dub-lal-makh, 153 Ganj Dareh Tepe, 32
crop-yields, 18 Egypt, 62, 184, 188, 191, 221, 222 Garrod, A. E., 21-3, 25, 26
Cros, G., 149 einkorn, 30 Gasur, 147
Ctesias, 223 ekal masharti, 216, 161 Gawra, Tepe, 66, 67; 'acropolis',
Ctesiphon, Arch of, 115 Elam, 85, 138, 142, 147, 151, 67, 75, 32; 'round house', 75, 37
cult statues, 108, 112, 114 157-9, 191, 155 'Gawra period', 67, 75, 38, 76, 81,
Cyaxares, 191 elephant, Syrian, 221 82, 85, 47
cylinder-seals, 59; ProtoHterate, Elazig, 16 gazelles, 29, 35
59,60, 28, 29; ED II and III, En, 88, 89 German excavators, 38, 108, no,
124, 125, 78-81, 127; Akkadian, Enki, 57 178, 193, 223
144, g8; Mitannian, 177; Enlil, 57, 103, 107, 117 Gilgamesh, 48, 49, 90, 91, 92, 93
Middle Assyrian, 184, 130-j Enmeberagisi, 93 Epic, 103
Cyprus, 138, 218 Enmerkar, 93 Gi-par-u, 153
Cyrus, 222 ensi, 88, 89, 122 Girsu, 107, 103, 150
Cambel, H., 30 Enuma Elish, Epic of Creation, 167 glazed ornament, 183, 218, 227,
Catal Hiiyiik, 27, 30, 6 E-nun-makh, 153 170, 171
Cayonii, 27, 30 Erech, 45 glockentopf, 81
Eridu, 15, 39ff., 57, 66, 81; Godin Tepe, 87
cemetery, 45-7; palaces, 122, Grai Resh, 66, 81
Dagan, 138; Temple of, 167 123, 77; temples, 39, 8, 10, 43, Gravettian, 21-3, 25
Dalma, 33 32,7s; pottery, 36, 39, 12,
11, Greek art, 221, 228, 230; writers, 88
Damascus, 188, 221 44,45 Gudea, 147, 101, 102, 149, 150
Darband-i-Gawr, 138 Eshnunna (Tell Asmar), 96, 157-9 Gula, 186
date-palms, 19 Etana, 144 Guran, Tepe, 27, 32, 34
Deh Luran, 33 E-temen-anki, 226, 229 Gutians, 139, 147
Delougaz, P., 94, 103, 114 Ethiopia, 191 Guzan, see Halaf
'Deluge' text, 201 Euphrates, 12, 16, 19, 72, 99,
democracy, Sumerian, 88, 89 105-7, 114, 138, 158, 222, 230;
de Morgan, J., 86, 142 crossings, 80 Hacilar, 27
Dilmun, 188 'extensive' cultivation, 18 Haines, R. C, 107
247
Index
pottery, 66-8, 43, 79, 44, 80, 81 ivory, 215, 2i9ff. 142; sounding at, 69, 198, 141
142, 144, 203, 208; northern, 19 Kish, 36, 38, 90, 92, 105, 120, 139, 136, 157; archives, 158; Ishtar
Iron Age, 188 230, 174 Temple, 108, 157; inlays, 130,
irrigation, 16, 17, 31, 33, 72 Koldewey, R., 10, 90, 188, 223ff. 8g, 131; murals, 116, 113;
Ischali, 160, 161, log kudurru, 122, 175 palace, 122, 124, i64ff., 111,
ishakku, 106 Kufah, 13 112; 'Palais Presargonique', 124
Ishtar, 49, 108, 100 Kiiltepe, 158 marsh-dwellers, 25, 41, 58
Ishtar Gate, 226, i6g, iji Kurdistan (Iraq), 19, 21, 25, 26, 32 Matarrah, 71
248
Index
mausoleum (Ur III), 15 1-3, 105, New Year's Festival, 127, 182, pottery, Halaf, 66-8, 43, 79, 44,
155 183, 187, 226 80, 81; Eridu, 36, 39, 12, 44,
Medes, 191, 222 New York University, 106 45; S. 'Ubaid, 37-9, 44, 12, 13,
megaron, 38, 76, 109 Nippur
Niffer, see 45, 47; N. 'Ubaid, 65-7, 75, 80,
Mellaart, J., 30, 31 Nimrud, 16, 188, 192, I93ff., 139, 81; Protoliterate, 61, 10, 132;
Meluhha, 138 140, 141 ; buildings, 2i2ff. ED I and II, 132, 92; ED III,
Meskalamdug, 102, 103, 107, 6g, sounding at, 66, 69 private houses, 141, 162, 110, 230
117, 127, 90, 142; style, no Nin-gal, 153, 156' Procession Street, 226, 1 68, 227,
Mesolithic, 27 Ningirsu, 117, 127, 147, 149, 150 172
Mesopotamia, 12, 2; northern, 65, Nin-khursag, 57, 103, 167 Proto-Elamite script, 87
67, 107, 108 Ninmakh Temple, 230, 173 ProtoHterate period, 40, 54, 55,
metal, 65, 81, 113, 82, 83, 127, Ninni-Zaza, 167 67, 82, 103, 118, 124
128, 86 Nintu, 57, 114 Proto-NeoHthic, 28
Metropolitan Museum, 106, 150 Ninurta, 57, 196 Pu-abi, 125
Mitanni, 160, I76ff., 186 Nippur, 36, 57, 91, 107, 137, 139 Puzur-Ishtar, 169
M'lefaat, 22 Nisibin, 160
Mohenjo-daro, 118, 147 Noah, Babylonian, 92
'Mona Lisa', 214, 158 Noldeke, N., 38
Moorey, P. R. S., 105 nomads, 26, 29 Qal'at Sharqat, 107
249
Index
n
Samarra, period, 70, 71, 73 ;
Sippar, 57, 90, 139, 142 Thomas, Felix, 197
250
Index
36, 17, 18, 52, 54; Pillar Hall, tracing, 94; wall-plaques, 114, Yorghan Tepe, 176
50, ig, 52; Riemchengebdude, 55: 67, 68
Stone-cone-mosaic Temple, 51, Warka, see Uruk Zab, Greater, 19, 118
55 Washshukanni, 160, 176 Zab, Lesser, 19, 193
Utnapishtim, 92 Watelin, C. H., 139 Zagros Mountains, 13, 17, 20, 22
Utu, 57 weapons, 82, 127, 177 Zarzi, 22, 23, 5, 25
Utu-hegal, 150 wheeled vehicles, 106, 128, 86, 8 Zawi Chemi, 22
178 ziggurats, 39, 49, 203 ; Ur, 99,
windows, 119 107, 139, 151, 152, 104, 156,
winged bulls, 202, 145, 146 157; Kish, 105, 106; Ashur,
Van, Lake, 16, 25, 188
wooden vessels, 3 181, 126; 'Aqar Quf, 121, 174;
van Loon, M., 29
Woolley, C. L., 25, 99ff. and Babylon, 226, 229
vaulting, 115, 169, 204
passim Zigi, 177
Wright, H. E., 25 Zimrilim, 124, 158; Palace of,
writing, 55, 24, 87, 90, iii, 137 i64ff.
j
Wadi-al-Natuf, 26 Ziusudra, 92
walls, enclosure and defensive, 72, Yahya, Tepe, 33, 37, 118 ^ zone sacre, 124
i
151, 179, i^i, 224; wall- Yarim Tepe, 70, 72, 83 Zu, 144
251
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