In Fig. 65 we have a seal-impression of Ur-Engur, king of Ur about 2400 B.C. The scene depicted is a familiar one: an intermediary god is in the act of introducing a suppliant worshipper to a superior deity seated on a throne. The enthroned god has a lengthy beard and wears a round hat somewhat resembling the turban worn by Gudea (cf. Pl. XXIII). He is resting one arm on the back of his throne, while his right hand is extended in apparent invitation to the slowly approaching worshipper. The throne itself, unlike the box-like seats of earlier days, is provided with a back, and the back legs are fashioned after the legs of an ox. The intermediate deities wear the horned cap with which the gods in Gudea’s time were usually covered, while horns appear to rise also from out of their heads, the horns oddly enough being identical in shape with those on the terra-cotta head discovered during the recent excavations in Babylonia.135 The seated deity is clad in a long simple garment reaching down to the feet, his dress being simpler than that of the attendant deities, or even that of the worshipper himself. The latter wears a long tunic, and a fringed mantle over his left shoulder. Both of the intermediaries are likewise apparelled in lengthy garments, which differ, however, from each other and also from that of the worshipper in being more elaborately worked, the divine introducer wearing the richer robe of the two. The inscription refers to Ur-Engur, king of Ur, who may conceivably be the figure seated on the throne; in support of this theory, it is worth noting that the kings of this dynasty were often deified while yet on earth. Ur-Engur was succeeded by Dungi, the impression of one of whose cylinder-seals is given in Fig. 66. Both of these seals are preserved in the British Museum. A bearded and horn-capped god is standing before an altar shaped like a high standing vase, from which arises a feathered branch which may be intended to represent the ascending flame, while two long bare stalks with tufted heads hang over the altar on either side. The god holds in his left hand a weapon, the upper end of which is provided with a lateral semicircular handle, similar to that found at Tellô by De Sarzec, and also to that represented on the stone vase of Gudea (cf. Fig. 90). In his extended right hand he holds a three-stalked flower, which is an exact replica of that found in the hands of mythical beings on later Assyrian bas-reliefs. On the other side of the altar is the suppliant, clad in the same fringed garment seen in Fig. 65, while his right hand is raised in adoration. Behind him is another worshipper whose dress resembles that of the god, and who is similarly crowned with a horned cap, but in spite of this divine distinction he has both hands raised in worship. Dungi was succeeded by Bur-Sin, one of whose cylinder-seals is seen in Fig. 67. The scene varies little from that found on the seals of his predecessors. A seated god, a worshipper, and another adoring figure wearing a divine head-gear behind. The god wears a turban as in the seal of Ur-Engur (cf. Fig. 65); he reposes on a very thickly upholstered seat, while both his own feet and those of his throne rest on a small low platform. The worshipper here has his hands clasped in front in much the same way as Gudea’s hands are, in the statues from Tellô, but the third figure, whom Ward somewhat humorously describes as a “flounced goddess,” has both hands raised. An impression of a cylinder-seal of Gimil-Sin, the successor of Bur-Sin on the throne of Ur, is reproduced in Fig. 68. The turbaned and long-bearded god is again seated on a richly upholstered divan, and is elevated on a little platform. He holds in his right hand a double-handled vase, while his left hand is concealed in the folds of his flounced robe. The garment of the intermediary is exactly the same as that of the seated god, but a horned cap takes the place of the turban. The worshipper behind has one hand raised like his usher, while the fringed garment hanging from his shoulder is arranged so as to allow his left leg to be seen. A seal of Ibi-Sin, the last of the dynasty (cf. Fig. 69) presents the same subject, while the treatment practically shows no variation. It will have been noticed that the star and crescent find a place on some of these cylinders, while from others they are absent,—from which it may reasonably be inferred that they were mere symbolic accessories, and as such of no vital importance.

All these seals bear inscriptions in contradistinction to those belonging to the earlier period, and a considerable part of the field of the cylinder is occupied with writing instead of scenery. But as time went on this tendency became more pronounced, and during the Kassite period, sometimes nearly the whole of the seal is occupied with an inscription, usually of a religious character. Thus on a cylinder inscribed with the name of Kurigalzu, the Kassite king of Babylonia (circ. 1400 B.C.) (cf. Fig. 70) the pictorial element is reduced to one single figure, that of the worshipper.

An extremely interesting seal-impression of the Kassite period is published by Clay in The Museum Journal, University of Pennsylvania (I, 1910, pp. 4-6). It is dated in the fourth year of Nazi-Maruttash, king of Babylon (circ. 1330 B.C.) (cf. Fig. 71). Three bearded men are engaged in ploughing; one is urging on the two humped oxen who are yoked to the ploughshare, the second holds the handles, while the third appears to be pouring grain into a drill attached to the plough.

It has been said that this seal-impression gives us the earliest representation of the Babylonian plough, but that statement must be considerably modified in the light of the early seal-impressions given by Ward (p. 132, Figs. 369, 371, 372). The plough is portrayed on all these three cylinders, and they all antedate the cylinder-seal of Nazi-Maruttash (cf. also the votive-tablet from Nippur, Fig. 25, E).

The Neo-Babylonian Empire (625-538 B.C.) inherited the stereotyped traditions of the long period of Kassite Fig. 71. Fig. 71. supremacy, and though there was a certain reaction in favour of the pictorial as against the literary element in the later cylinder-seals, the style of art remained more or less unchanged, if not unchangeable. A good example of a Neo-Babylonian seal-impression is that found on a tablet dated in the 26th year of Nebuchadnezzar (cf. Fig. 72).136 The worshipper stands before a rectangular box which looks like an altar, but which, according to Ward, is the seat of the gods. It supports two emblems, one a dog and the other a thunderbolt of the storm-god Adad. The posture, attitude and general appearance of the worshipper exactly correspond to those found on the Kassite cylinders of Kurigalzu (cf. Fig. 70), and are a good illustration of the conventionalism to which later Mesopotamian art became so hopelessly enslaved.

The cylinder-seal was employed in Assyria from the earliest periods of her history, Fig. 72. Fig. 72. and continued to be used right down to the time of the Persians, who in turn adopted the same kind of seal. A cylinder-seal belonging to the early Assyrian period, i.e. about 2000 B.C., is shown in Fig. 73. The workmanship is crude, but in the scene itself we see in embryo the military exploits of the late Assyrian bas-reliefs. A warrior, mounted in his two-wheeled war-chariot, is in the act of dispatching an arrow from his drawn bow; his rival, on foot, is doing exactly the same, and it appears to be a question as to which of the two combatants will get his arrow in first. The chariot is drawn by a bull, an indication that the horse was not as yet used for war purposes, while the four-spoked wheels Fig. 73. Fig. 73. are a further archaic touch—the chariot-wheels of the later Assyrians having eight, twelve, or sometimes sixteen spokes. The bull, in his mad career, is trampling over a prostrate foe, a scene which is frequently represented on the bas-reliefs; it is however interesting to see the symbolical star and crescent of the old Babylonians reproduced on this early Assyrian seal.

We have already seen the winged-dragon on an archaic Babylonian seal (cf. Fig. 59), but it was apparently not till the Assyrian era that the conflict between “Bel and the dragon” was represented in Mesopotamian art.137 Fig. 74. Fig. 74. On an early Assyrian cylinder-seal, now preserved in the Metropolitan Museum, New York (cf. Fig. 74), we have a primitive picture of the conquest of Bel-Merodach as the representative and very incarnation of order, system and method, over the dragon—the personification of disorder and tumultuous chaos. The god is drawing his bow—not apparently at a venture, but with the deadly certainty with which the gods can presumably aim. This notwithstanding, the god has taken the precaution of carrying a quiver-full of arrows on his back, while he is further armed with an axe. The winged-dragon of composite character is reared upon his hind legs, his face turned towards his omnipotent adversary, as on the famous Marduk and Tiâmat bas-relief. The god is accompanied by another beast with wings, who is doubtless ready to come to the assistance of his divine lord when called upon. Behind the god we see the winged disc, and what appear to be two eyes, while the Fig. 75. Fig. 75. crescent of Sin, the moon-god, and the star of Ishtar are engraved in front. Behind the dragon is a sacred tree, resembling a palm-tree. The sacred tree played a very important part in Assyrian art, and is one of the most frequently recurring objects on the palace-wall reliefs. It is likewise often to be found on Assyrian seals, a good example of which is afforded by a cylinder-seal in the British Museum reproduced in Fig. 75. The sacred tree in its most conventionalized form occupies the central part of the picture; on either side stands the king with hand raised in adoration; his dress—for an Assyrian king—is comparatively simple, but his head-gear is a replica of the pointed hat so frequently seen upon the heads of Assyrian kings on the palace wall-reliefs. Fig. 76. Fig. 76. Above the sacred tree is the god Ashur with his winged disc, from which two cords descend which seem to form the outward connecting link between the god and his worshipper, and recall the rays which emanate from the disc of Aten, and terminate in hands bearing the Egyptian symbol of life, on the famous stele of Khuenaten, the so-called “heretic king” of the eighteenth dynasty of Egypt. Behind the king is the winged eagle-headed genius so constantly represented on the bas-reliefs. This strange mythical creature has one hand raised while in the other he carries a basket of the ordinary Assyrian type.

In a number of seals, one of which is reproduced here (cf. Fig. 76), a man-fish, or a fish-god, resembling the figure found by Layard in sculptured relief at Nimrûd (cf. Pl. IV) occupies the most prominent position. Ashur in his winged disc is again casting the shadow of his divine protection over the sacred tree; on either side stands the Dagan-like worshipper with one hand raised and holding a basket in the other. He is followed by an attendant worshipper, while behind, is a warlike-looking personage—possibly the god Marduk—who is Fig. 77. Fig. 77. about to execute vengeance on an ostrich; with his left hand he firmly grasps the ostrich’s long neck, and in his right he holds a scimitar with which he apparently intends to remove the bird’s head.

The seated deity found on Babylonian seals of all periods is also found on the cylinder-seals of the Assyrians. We have a good specimen of an Assyrian seal of the kind referred to in Fig. 77. A bearded god is seated on a chair with a high back such as is never found on Babylonian cylinders: the legs of the chair are strengthened to support the weighty person of the divine occupant by means of cross-bars, while the back is somewhat grotesquely decorated with balls. In front of the god is a table or stand with double folding legs and covered with a cloth upon which a shallow bowl and two flat cakes of bread are set; above the table is a fish—its head turned towards the god. Behind the enthroned god stands a goddess, from whose body proceed four ray-like projections which terminate in stars, the general appearance of the projections being not unlike that of four starry rockets. Before the loaded table stands the worshipper with one hand raised, while in the field of the cylinder there is an ibex, an eye-shaped design, seven balls and a crescent.

One of the most ancient specimens of the shell-engraver’s art as yet discovered is that reproduced in Fig. 78. This fragment is convex in form and a truncated triangle as regards its shape. A lion is seen in the act of strangling a bull; with one of his fore-legs he is grasping his victim round the neck, and the other is thrown around and over the bull’s back, while he is burying his teeth in the bull’s neck. The general style to which this engraving conforms, the full-face view of the lion, the act in which he is engaged, and the combined vigour and crudeness which characterize this production, vividly recall the mace-head of Mesilim, king of Kish (cf. Fig. 26). The comparison between the two is so striking that we can hardly be wrong in assigning this engraved shell to approximately the same period, i.e. to the time before Ur-Ninâ, the founder of the first dynasty of Lagash. It was discovered at Tellô in the neighbourhood of Eannatum’s well and is just under three inches in height. In Fig. 79138 we have another fragment of a very archaic shell-engraving; a human-headed and streaky-bearded bull is being attacked by a lion-headed eagle; the shell itself is extremely thin, and the engraving very delicate, but the design itself as well as the mode of its execution both testify to its great age. The shell work of the time of Ur-Ninâ and his successors is well illustrated in Fig. 80. We have here a sketch of a man bearing a net; the man is clean-shaven and bald, and his face is of precisely the same type as that so frequently represented on the sculptures of Ur-Ninâ’s time. His only clothing is a short “kaunakes” skirt, the fringe of which is portrayed in the fashion characteristic of the earliest Sumerian works of art. In his right hand he carries a battle-axe, while with his left he holds the ends of two sticks from which is slung the net or basket already referred to. This small relic was found in the same neighbourhood as the preceding, and is just under two inches high. Another interesting specimen of Sumerian shell-engraving is published by Mr. L. W. King in the Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archæology, 1910, pp. 243-5. It represents a bearded hero embracing an ibex. It is worthy of note that the hero’s dress does not consist in the Sumerian skirt, but in a loin-cloth. Probably the finest example of early Babylonian shell-work is that reproduced in Fig. 81; the leaping kid is wonderfully realistic both in form and attitude and has clearly been studied from nature. Of the mother-of-pearl work of a somewhat later date we have a good example in Fig. 82. Here Gilgamesh is depicted in standing posture holding in either hand one of the long “staves” seen elsewhere, and specifically on the famous green steatite vase of Gudea (cf. Fig. 90). Gilgamesh is portrayed full-face and has the long vertically streaked beard so frequently seen on the cylinder-seals. This fragment is just under two and a half inches in height, and emanated from the same place. The engraved oblong mother-of-pearl plaques would appear to have been used for the decoration of the handles of knives or daggers.

In Fig. 83 we have one of the best preserved and most interesting specimens of later shell-work in Mesopotamia. This fragment was discovered at Warka (Erech), but is clearly Assyrian in style: the elaborately caparisoned horses remind us strikingly of the horses sculptured in relief on the palace walls of Ashur-naṣir-pal at Nimrûd (Calah), while the floral decoration betrays Egyptian influence and recalls the carved ivories which were found amid the débris of that king’s palace. The ruined mounds of Assyria herself have yielded but few specimens of the shell-engraver’s art, and those that have Fig. 83. Fig. 83. (After Layard.) been recovered are for the most part Phœnician in workmanship and Egyptian in conception, sphinxes and lotus-plants assuming the most prominent part in the decoration. The discovery of engraved shells of apparently a yet later date was among the many interesting results attending the German excavations at Babylon; a number of these shells were found on the floor of a building of Nebuchadnezzar, some of which showed Egyptian influence and were decorated with lotus ornaments. Shell was thus used for various decorative purposes, but in early times it sometimes served as a material for the fashioning of even so utilitarian an object as a seal, as we have already had occasion to remark.

Unlike shell, which could be readily picked up on the shores of the Persian Gulf by the inhabitants of the earliest centres of civilization in Lower Mesopotamia, many of which were doubtless seaports in those days, ivory was only procurable elsewhere, and it was not till the dwellers in the valley extended their power outside that they were able to command a supply of this more precious substance, ivory forming one of the principal materials exacted by the later Assyrian kings from their various vassal princes. A large collection of carved ivories discovered in Ashur-naṣir-pal’s palace at Nimrûd (Calah) affords us the desired opportunity for studying the ivory work of the period, and for ascertaining the proficiency to which that art was brought by the artists of that day. What strikes one instantly, and with overwhelming force, about the little group of carved Fig. 84. Fig. 84. ivories in Pl. XXXII is their pronounced Egyptian appearance, a sure and certain indication of the intimate relation which must have subsisted between Egypt and Assyria at this period. In the top right-hand corner we have the head of a woman, represented full-face and with an Egyptian head-gear: the head is set within the frame of a narrow window, from which it looks out over a balcony supported by pillars. In the centre we have the fragment of a similar head, below which there is a bull’s head. In the top left-hand corner we have an ivory plaque upon which is figured an Egyptian king in standing posture, grasping a lotus plant about his own height with his left hand. The plant rests upon a stand, the top of which is shaped volute-wise and resembles the capitals of the columns on the bas-relief from Sippar (cf. Pl. XIV). Below on the left is a carved ivory sphinx, which in style and character is clearly neither Assyrian nor Babylonian. But the most interesting specimen in this group is the carved ivory panel in which two women are seated opposite each other on either side of a cartouche surmounted by a disc and feathers. The cartouche contains Egyptian hieroglyphs which may be read “Uben Shu,” the meaning of which would be “The Sun god riseth,” or the “Rising Sun”: the inside of this cartouche is gilded, and the characters within are inlaid. The feathers, which are likewise inlaid, are the emblem of Maat, the god of truth, and the disc is of course emblematic of the sun. The two women are obviously Egyptian, their head-dresses, the folds in their garments and their general attitude all alike testifying to their Egyptian origin, while beneath their seats, which consist of low-backed chairs, there is the “ankh” sign, the meaning of which is “life.” This sign, misnamed “crux ansata,” or “cross with a handle,” has needless to say nothing whatsoever to do with the Christian symbol; it probably represented a girdle, that which used to be regarded as a handle being that part of the girdle which encircled the waist, the long stem being the loose ends, and a girdle as encircling the vital parts would not unnaturally symbolize life, and in picture-language come to signify it. The two seated figures have one hand raised in token of adoration before the sacred emblems in the middle, while in their other hands they firmly grasp a sceptre. Below we have seven more fragmentary specimens of ivory-work, all of which were discovered amid the ruins of the same palace and betray a strong foreign influence. The deductions which these little ivory carvings justify our making in regard to the foreign affairs of Assyria at this period, are rendered certainties by the evidence afforded by the bronze bowls dealt with in the chapter on Metallurgy.

It must not however be supposed that all the ivories discovered in Assyria are the work of Egyptian or Phœnician artists. Some, of which a good specimen is seen in Fig. 84, are as Assyrian in style and conception as any palace bas-relief. The ivory panel here reproduced is just five inches high. The subject is a familiar one—a four-winged mythological being crowned with a horned cap, with the right hand extended in the performance of some religious ceremony, and carrying a basket in the left hand. Not only is the motif entirely Assyrian in character, but the workmanship and manner of execution bears the unmistakable hall-mark of Assyria. The aggressive masculinity of the arms and legs, the folds, arrangement and style of the garments as well as the hair and strongly depicted beard, are all exactly paralleled in the figures so often seen on the stone sculptures of the period. On either side of the panel in which this mythological creature is enshrined there is a scroll-work device which was employed in Babylonia as early at all events as the time of Entemena of Lagash, while his feet stand upon a line of the rosettes which appear so frequently as a decorative accessory in Assyrian works of art. The lower part of this panel is filled in with circular and volute-shaped devices, and at the bottom of all we have another line of rosettes. Among the various subjects carved on the other ivory panels emanating from the ruins of the same palace the following may be mentioned as of especial interest: a hero slaying a lion, some Assyrians gathering fruit, and Ashur-naṣir-pal accompanied by deities and attendants.

These ivory panels from Nimrûd were as we have seen, in many cases inlaid139 with lapis lazuli and gilded, and they were probably used to decorate and embellish thrones, or other stately articles of furniture, and in this connection we not unnaturally think of the great throne which Solomon built for himself, which is said to have been made of ivory and overlaid with the best gold (cf. 1 Kings x. 18) as also of the ivory palace erected by Ahab.

IT were indeed paradoxical if the Babylonian artists had not invoked the aid of the clay, which they employed so readily and extensively not only in their building operations but also for all ordinary writing purposes, in their attempts to represent human and animal life. Undoubtedly this material was not employed for these purposes so frequently as might have been expected, but this is probably due to the comparative fragility of this substance and its consequent inability to withstand the disintegrating effects of time and climate; as most of the objects fashioned by Babylonian artists would appear to be of a votive character, it is obvious that durability was one of the most important considerations in their production. Notwithstanding this fact however, a sufficiently large number of terra-cotta figures, some of which belong to the earliest periods of Sumerian civilization, have fortunately been preserved. The most ancient of these terra-cotta models are extremely small in size and crude in workmanship. We have a very archaic example in Fig. 85, A. The eyes of this small figure are the most noticeable features; they consist of flattened balls; the bodies of these primitive little models are as unfinished as they can be, sometimes being fashioned merely triangular-wise. In Fig. 85, B, we have another example of the same type and belonging to the same period, though it shows a slight advancement on the preceding figure. A thick head-gear or wig, crowns the head, and in its hands it holds an object of uncertain character, either a child or an instrument of music according to M. Heuzey. The clay, though moulded in the hand, is incised with a number of delicate lines, which are probably due to the application of a sharp and finely pointed tool. These curious figures are about one and a half or two inches high.

The next illustration (Fig. 85, C.) transfers us from the early Sumerian period to that of Gudea. The comparative proficiency attained through long cultivation of the art is sufficiently obvious. The figure is that of a god, his head-gear being characteristically furnished with four pairs of horns, and unlike the copper votive statuettes of Gudea the god here has bull’s ears. The upper part of the body is left bare, but the lower part, which unfortunately is not preserved, was evidently covered by a garment fastened round the waist by a girdle. The god’s left hand has hold of a stick or weapon inserted in the girdle, the upper portion of which is seen in the illustration. As usual, the god wears a heavy beard represented by a series of vertical streaks, but the arrangement of his hair in two long tails hanging down over his chest and curled at the ends, is somewhat peculiar. This little plaque is between two and a half and three inches in height.

The Sumerians of early times did not however confine themselves to a portrayal of single figures in their clay reliefs, but sometimes aspired to complete scenes; thus in the fragment reproduced in Fig. 85, D, we see a standing woman; her hands are raised in a devotional manner, and doubtless were the remainder of this clay relief preserved we should see her accompanied by her husband, as so frequently on the cylinder-seals. Her thick, wavy hair hangs plait-wise down her back, and a raised fillet surrounds her head. The relief in which the woman’s figure is raised is high, and the workmanship, though crude is not without life. This little fragment is about five inches high and is made of grey-coloured clay. Occasionally these terra-cotta figures were painted, as was the case with the little male statuettes discovered at Babylon in 1910.140

Ever faithful in the art of imitation, the Assyrians also turned their attention to the artistic possibilities inherent in the clay which they used alike for the construction of their houses and for writing purposes. Some of the clay figures, or little clay reliefs discovered in Assyria belong without doubt to Assyrian times, but by far the larger half of the terra-cotta figures, lamps and other objects discovered are as certainly post-Assyrian.

Some very interesting terra-cotta figures representing the Fish-god, Dagan, are preserved in the British Museum (cf. Fig. 86, A, B). These small images are only a few inches high, but the humanly conceived face of the god is treated with less conventionalism than is the case with the sculptured portraits of human beings during the Assyrian period, a fact which of course may possibly be due to the plasticity of clay as compared with stone. These little figures are probably Assyrian and not Babylonian in workmanship; at all events, a fish-god sculptured in relief was discovered at the entrance to a small Assyrian temple at Nimrûd, which, apart from other evidence,141 is a clear indication that the fish-god was venerated in Assyria as well as in Babylonia. It would seem reasonable to suppose that the Dagan-cult would naturally find its origin in the alluvial centres of Sumerian civilization in the extreme south of Babylonia, where the water was an all-important factor for good or ill, but according to Jastrow142 it was imported from the north to the south, though the name of a king of Isin, Ishme-Dagan, who reigned about 2200 B.C., shows that the god was known and revered in Babylonia at least as early as his time. On the other hand it is equally noteworthy that one of the earliest known Assyrian kings, whose reign must probably be assigned to the nineteenth century B.C., also bore that name. These clay images of the gods were usually buried as amulets in the foundations of buildings. Another terra-cotta image of a god belonging to the Assyrian period, and the work of an Assyrian artist, is seen in Fig. 86, C.143 This little image was found, together with two other terra-cotta figures, beneath the floor of the court of Sargon’s palace at Khorsabad. Each had been enclosed in a brick capsule as a foundation-amulet, where they remained undisturbed until the spade of Botta brought them once more to light. The figure here reproduced is that of an Assyrian god, while one of the other two was a mythical creature, and the third was a demon, but all three must have been buried for much the same purpose, the god to take care of the positive welfare of the inmates of the palace, the demon to act negatively in warding off evil influences, while they all have their stone counterparts in the bas-reliefs recovered from the ruins of Assyrian palaces. This little image is eight inches high and is made of a greyish clay. The god is clothed in a long robe reaching down to his feet; his head is crowned with a cap encircled by two pairs of horns, and his beard conforms to the usual Assyrian type.144

Various terra-cotta figures of nude women or goddesses have been recovered from different Babylonian and Assyrian sites, but they are for the most part not earlier than the Parthian period, and their consideration does not therefore fall within the scope of the present volume. There are however exceptions to this generalization, one of the most remarkable being that of a terra-cotta figure also preserved in the Louvre and reproduced in Fig. 86, E.145 This little model is reported to have been found at Hillah, near Babylon; the place of its discovery was a Greek grave, but it was found in the company of seals and amulets belonging to a much earlier period. The woman, in a standing position, is seen suckling her infant at her breast. The bodies of the mother and her child both exhibit the characteristic fullness of Eastern art, but in spite of this fact, there is a delicacy and refinement, as well as an insight into the charms of human nature such as is seldom seen in the statues and figures of Oriental antiquity. Various terra-cotta figures of nude women were also discovered at Nippur in the strata of Shar-Gâni-sharri and Ur-Engur, while another interesting example of a nude woman or goddess is seen in Fig. 86, D.146 This little clay figure was discovered during the course of the German excavations at Babylon, a site which has yielded numerous terra-cotta figures of nude women with and without a child; the lower part of the body does not apparently belong to the upper part represented here, but is the broken half of another clay figure; it enables us however to form a better idea of the general appearance of these terra-cottas when complete. Both fragments were recovered in the ruins of the temple of the goddess Nin-Makh, and doubtless formed part of clay miniatures of a stone statue of the goddess, which unfortunately has not yet been brought to light. The figure exhibits a certain heaviness, which the thick tresses of hair only tend to accentuate. The hair itself appears to be carefully waved and curled; the woman’s hands are clasped below her breasts, while she wears bracelets on her wrists and anklets on her legs.

Among the most interesting of the Assyrian terra-cotta models must be mentioned those of the favourite hunting-dogs of Ashur-bani-pal (cf. Fig. 87) found in his palace at Nineveh; these same dogs can however be so much more readily studied from the stone bas-reliefs of this same king, that it will be best to forgo any detailed consideration of them here. Unfortunately it is impossible to speak with any confidence as regards the date of the vast majority of clay figures yielded by the excavations in Babylonia and Assyria; they comprise figures of gods and goddesses, as well as of dogs, lions and other animals. Some of these are fashioned in the round, others are portrayed in relief upon small plaques. One of the best preserved of these plaques is reproduced in Fig. 88. This little clay relief was discovered by Sir Henry Rawlinson at Birs-Nimrûd. A clean-shaven and semi-nude attendant is in charge of a large hound which he is leading by means of a strap. The attendant, who is armed with a stick, is more life-like than the attendants on the bas-reliefs of Ashur-bani-pal, but the dog, though spirited, cannot compare with those sculptured in hard stone on the palace walls of that same king. The innumerable terra-cotta lamps which have been excavated from time to time for the most part belong to a late period, it is however interesting to note that clay lamps were apparently in use at a very early period, even as early as the time of Bur-Sin, king of Ur (circ. 2350 B.C.), one of whose clay lamps was discovered at Nippur. We have already remarked that clay was probably used extensively for making moulds for casting metal objects, and it is certain that it was sometimes used by the sculptor as a material for rough sketches (cf. p. 118). The clay figures or statuettes of the earlier period were either fashioned by hand, or else stamped in a mould, but in either case they were solid, in contradistinction to the Babylonian terra-cottas of the later Greek and Roman times which were generally hollow in the interior, their outside being coated with a kind of paste by means of which the artist endeavoured to work out the details of hair, clothing, and other externalities, while they were not infrequently covered with a vitreous glaze, the colours used being blue and green. But a consideration of this later work lies beyond the scope of our volume, which is confined to a consideration of the Babylonian and Assyrian period.

STONE and clay were the two materials from which the Babylonians and Assyrians as a rule manufactured their vases, pots and bowls, though, as we have seen (cf. Fig. 45), metal was occasionally used for the purpose. Unfortunately the study of Babylonian and Assyrian pottery has never received the attention which it deserves, while in the earlier excavations carried on in Mesopotamia the importance of these uninscribed relics of the past was not realized, and the omission to observe the particular strata of the mounds in which they were respectively discovered, as well as in some cases the failure to note even the sites where they were unearthed, has made anything like a systematic study of Babylonian and Assyrian pottery a virtual impossibility.

Various kinds of stone were used as materials for making bowls and vases from the earliest periods of Mesopotamian civilization. Thus at Nippur the American excavators unearthed a vase made of sandstone, bearing an inscription of Utug, patesi or priest-king of Kish, the writing of which was even more archaic than that on the mace-head of Mesilim, king of Kish (cf. p. 185, Fig. 26) and, therefore, presumably of an earlier date; it seems to have been dedicated to En-lil as a thank-offering, an incidental testimony to the important place which the god of Nippur must have occupied even at this extremely remote period. So, too, a vase of white calcite stalagmite, bearing an inscription of Urzage, a king of Kish belonging to about the same period, was dedicated to En-lil and his spouse Nin-lil.

Stone vases have similarly been found at Tellô, while the fragments of a number of stone vases made of white calcite stalagmite and bearing an inscription of Lugal-zaggisi, the king of Umma who sacked Lagash in the reign of Urukagina the last king of the first dynasty, were found on the same site, and we learn from the inscriptions on these vase-fragments that they were dedicated by Lugal-zaggisi to En-lil at E-kur. A fragment of an alabaster vase bearing the name of Urukagina is now preserved in the British Museum, and an onyx vase, dedicated to the goddess Bau, was discovered in the neighbourhood of Ur-Ninâ’s building, while a large basalt bowl of Eannatum was found on the same site, and the fragments of a limestone vase, bearing an inscription of Entemena, a later king of Lagash, were discovered beneath the temple of En-lil at Nippur. So also at Jôkha, the site of the ancient city of Umma, fragments of vases and objects made of stone were brought to light, while at Fâra, the ruined mounds of which represent one of the earliest sites of Sumerian civilization in the Babylonian plain, vases and cups made of various stones including marble were recovered. These were generally of a simple character, though sometimes they were decorated. But Bismâya, thanks to the scientific excavations carried on by Harper and Banks for the University of Chicago, has probably yielded a richer and more varied harvest of stone pots than any other site in Babylonia. They comprise bowls, phials, dishes, cups, mugs, and vessels of every conceivable shape, the tallest measuring about twelve inches in height, and the largest about twelve inches in diameter, while the thickness of the walls varies from an eighth of an inch to just under an inch and a quarter.147 The stones from which they are made vary almost as much as their dimensions, and include white marble, yellow marble, alabaster, yellow limestone, pinkish onyx, porphyry, green porphyry, blue freestone, soft limestone, and grey sandstone. Hardly any of these manifold vessels were found complete, but Banks was able to reconstruct a large number from the fragments that remained. They were all polished; some were engraved with a comparatively simple design, while others were elaborately decorated with the figures of men and animals, and some were inlaid with ivory and precious stones. The inscriptions were few and fragmentary, the name of the king or the temple mentioned being otherwise unknown, while the writing is extremely archaic. That part of the mound in which these stone vase fragments were discovered contains only the plano-convex bricks characteristic of the old Sumerian period, which further indicates the extreme antiquity of this large collection of stone-ware, and indeed stone-ware seems to have been to a great extent supplanted by the more economical and more easily wrought clay pottery, at a comparatively early date, as was the case in ancient Egypt. Most of the vases from Bismâya are circular in shape, though examples of oval, oblong, square, and shell-shaped vases were also found. The stone most commonly used was marble, due no doubt to its comparative softness and adaptability to the chisel. The curvature and general symmetry of these vases is so perfect that, according to Banks, a lathe or something answering the same purpose as a lathe, must have been used. The softer stones at this period were doubtless worked with flint instruments, as in the case of the earliest cylinder-seals. The purposes which these vases served must have been as diversified as the vases themselves. Some appear to have been lamps, others drinking-cups; some were probably used as water, wine, or oil jars, while others may have been used as wash-basins; some were used for articles of toilet, and in one vessel traces of henna148 were still visible in one compartment and traces of kohl in the other.

Of the stone-ware of the early period of Semitic supremacy in the Euphrates valley, a gracefully curved vase of white marble belonging to Urumush149 king of Kish, which was discovered at Nippur during the course of the excavations carried on by the University of Pennsylvania, and is now preserved in the Pennsylvania Museum, affords us a good example; while of the stone-ware of the somewhat later period of Shar-Gâni-sharri and Narâm-Sin, the Semitic kings of Agade, a white alabaster “phial” (cf. Fig. 89) discovered at Tellô and bearing the name of Narâm-Sin is an excellent specimen. It consists in a well-rounded flask or phial seven and a half inches high, and is inscribed with the words “Narâm-Sin, King of the four regions.” Another small stone vase of this king made of marble was acquired by Oppert during the ill-fated expedition of 1855, the inscription upon which gave the additional information that the stone from which the vase was made came from Magan, but this valuable relic shared the fate of the other monuments and tablets recovered by Fresnel and Oppert, and went down in the Tigris on May 23rd, 1855.150

Many stone vases of the late period of Sumerian supremacy have been brought to light, but none so interesting or so illuminating as that of Gudea, patesi of Lagash (cf. Figs. 90 a, b). This unique vase of dark green steatite is between eight and nine inches high, and rests upon a narrow circular base. It is furnished with a very small spout which could only allow but a small quantity of liquid to pass at a time. The decoration is of the most elaborate order: two entwined serpents occupy the central part of the design, their sinuous coils encircled round a long staff traversing the whole height of the vase, while their tongues are seen touching the edge of the vase near the embryonic spout. The serpents are flanked by two strangely composite and highly mythical creatures which face each other; in the grasp of each is a long spear provided with a semicircular lateral handle, an exact replica of the copper weapon discovered by De Sarzec at Tellô,151 the site where this vase was also found. These winged monsters have the body and head of a serpent, and are provided with claws and talons, while their tails find their fitting termination in the sting of a scorpion; their necks are encircled with twisted tails, and their head-gears consist in a kind of horned cap, an indication of the supernatural powers of these extraordinary monstrosities. But in spite of the highly mythical character of these creatures, the artist has not lost sight of the general appearance of the serpent that has, as it were supplied the material and natural foundation for the unnatural additions which his imaginative mind has superimposed, the scaly skin of the snake being portrayed by means of inlaid fragments of marble. The inscription informs us that this vase was dedicated to the god Nin-gish-zi-da by Gudea for the prolongation of his life.

Another stone vessel of a somewhat unique character is the dark alabaster bowl in the Nimrûd Central Saloon of the British Museum; it is sculptured in relief with a scene of Gilgamesh and Ea-bani wrestling with lions, but unfortunately it is in a very poor state of preservation.