Part 13
The wall that turned westward protected the palace of the Principal Citadel on the north. Not far from the corner there is a gateway (Fig. 106), which was roofed over at the very moderate height of 1.5 metres with beams of palm wood. Bricks placed upright formed the cavities for inserting the beams, and in them the print of the wood in the asphalt can still be seen; in the middle of the pavement, which is strongly laid in asphalt, a well-shaft led down to the small conduit. This roofed-in space appears to have been only a sort of underground chamber that gave access to the well-shaft; the actual door must have been higher at about the level of the palace. In the outside angle near the bastion Neriglissar constructed a quadrangular well-shaft with his stamped bricks. We have not yet followed up the wall to its western end.
[Illustration:
FIG. 106.—Doorway with drain, in the north wall of the Principal Citadel. ]
[Illustration:
FIG. 107.—Plan of the northern bastions, north-east of the Kasr.
AH Ancient wall of the Principal Citadel. K Canal. MH Wall of the Principal Citadel in the north. MN Wall of the Northern Citadel. ÖH Eastern wing of wall of Principal Citadel. ÖN Eastern wing of wall of Northern Citadel. PS Procession Street. T Ascent by steps or ramps. ]
We have, on the contrary, followed the wall that turns to the east up to the end (Fig. 107). It has a length of about 250 metres, guarded by towers placed closely together, and a door in each mesopyrgion. It represents therefore a site admirably adapted for sorties. The gateway embrasures lie exclusively on the north. At the east the wall turns to the south and joins with one leading from the Procession Street that has not yet been examined in detail. All these eastern walls have been destroyed from the point where they were cut through by the Persian advanced wall down to a great depth, so that it is only with difficulty that a few brick courses could be found above water-level. Above the ruins there lies silt which was evidently formed by water passing over it at some time. On this and immediately below the present level there are remains of later houses either of mud brick or of burnt brick. A little above the ruins, in the line of the northern wall, there was an anthropoid clay coffin (see Fig. 200), the face represented with an Egyptian beard. I believe that the Euphrates, as in Persian times it worked its channel eastwards, thus placing the Kasr on the right bank, first ruined these eastern walls and then formed a muddy peninsula with their ruins, while the actual river flowed still farther east. This is, however, not yet proved.
The position of the double walls that flanked the Procession Street is described in the inscription on a great cylinder that we found on the eastern slope of the Amran hill. It had been used there for some technical purpose, and is much worn. The part that refers to our site runs thus: “At that time I bethought myself to strengthen the stronghold of Babylon. 360 ells of the land the sides (_or_ of the sides) of Nimitti-Bel, the šalḫû of Babylon, I built as a protection from the banks of the Euphrates to the left threshold of the Ištar Gate two mighty walls of asphalt and burnt brick for a dûru like a mountain. Between them I erected a terrace of burnt brick, and upon it a great castle (?) as a dwelling-place of my kingdom. Of asphalt and burnt brick I built high, joined (it) with the palace, which (lay) within the city, and caused the dwelling of my lordship to be glorious. Besides, from the right threshold of the Ištar Gate to the lower turru of Nimitti-Bel in the east 360 ells broadside, (measured) from Nimitti-Bel, for protection, a mighty dûru of asphalt and burnt brick I built mountain high. The stronghold I strengthened with skill. The city of Babylon I protected” (trans. by Weissbach).
As we have seen, the Ishtar Gate had a central door and two side ones. These last are evidently intended for the left- and right-hand thresholds of the Ishtar Gate. The distance from the wall at the threshold to the north side of the bastion on the eastern wall is 192 metres, and on the western wall 196 metres. This gives as measure for Nebuchadnezzar’s ells .533 or .544 metres. These measurements must, however, be taken again more accurately on the completion of the excavations. The length of 490 ells, which is quoted for the same area in the great _Steinplatten_ inscription, includes the northern extension of the wall, to which we shall soon turn.
XXVIII THE NORTHERN CITADEL
The Northern Citadel, as we call the part of the Kasr north of the square 6, is still in process of excavation. Various results have already been gained from it which admit of description, though with some reservations. The work has been on the eastern part, the prolongation of the Procession Street and its termination at the north.
The site, so far as it has been opened up, is on the whole a repetition of what we have seen in the previous chapter. Both the measurements and directions of the walls are entirely analogous with those of the earlier ones. Here again are the two walls flanking the Procession Street, ending in bastions, and then turning off east and west.
Here also we have followed the eastern wall to the end, where it turns southwards until it joins the corner of the earlier wall. There is some indication that the architect intended at least a continuation of this plan towards the east, and in fact at the east end of the inner and older wall there was a groove in the brickwork that points to such an intention. We, however, have not found the slightest trace of any such wall, although we have carefully searched for it both close to the angle of the wall, and also farther east. Nothing has been found in the trenches made for this purpose except the ruins of later houses above and mud with a complete absence of buildings below. Thus from ancient days till its downfall this site remained without any prolongation to the east.
[Illustration:
FIG. 108.—Ascent to the Acropolis. Homera in the background. ]
[Illustration:
FIG. 109.—Stone wall of the Northern Citadel, from west looking east. ]
At the angle of the bastions near the Street smaller towers were added, which strengthened the fortifications that guarded this main entrance to the Acropolis, while the later Persian outer wall appears to have narrowed and thus strengthened the entrance.
An ascent is added at the inner corner of the eastern bastion (Fig. 108) which united the low-lying area between the two parallel walls with the Procession Street, and actually with the crown of the wall and the plateau of the bastion. It was a winding path, which ran round a newel wall, but whether or not it had steps we do not know. In front of the gate that faced eastward there was another defensive building with two exits.
[Illustration:
FIG. 110.—Stone wall of Northern Citadel with inscription. ]
We have excavated the western wall at its junction with the bastion. Its farther course is marked in a deep valley which extends almost as far as the Euphrates on the west (Fig. 109). In the north, immediately in front of the bastion, without any intermediate space, there is a stone wall formed of immense blocks of limestone bound together with dove-tailed wooden clamps laid in asphalt. Four courses of this have so far been laid open above water-level (Fig. 110). In the upper courses a wall of burnt brick overlaps the stone masonry. In the third course of masonry from the top each block has an inscription chiselled out in large Old Babylonian characters (Fig. 111): “Nebuchadnezzar, etc., am I. The dûru of the palace of Babylon I have made with stones of the mountain (followed by a prayer).” With this statement we will compare that part of the great _Steinplatten_ inscription (9, 22) where it says, “Beyond the dûr of burnt brick I built a great dûr of mighty stones, the production of the great mountains, and raised its summit high as a mountain.” Thus it is clear that the previous mention of the Principal Citadel included the Northern Citadel, and in consequence the length there assigned to the wall of 490 ells covers the entire stretch from the Ishtar Gate to the north front of the northern bastion. According to our provisional measurement, this length consisted of 251 metres, which would make an ell of .512 metres. If this result does not agree exactly with that quoted above (p. 174) the reason is probably that we do not know accurately the points to which Nebuchadnezzar measured.
[Illustration:
FIG. 111.—Inscription on the stone wall of the Northern Citadel. ]
Close to the bastion a gateway led through the western wall, which is exactly similar both in plan and construction to the gateway in the wall of the Principal Citadel. The canal that passes through the gateway must certainly have been connected with the canal in the wall of the Principal Citadel. The construction is very plain here; so far as it lies in the burnt brick wall it is covered in with corbelled tiles, and in the stone masonry with large blocks of limestone laid flat (Fig. 112).
In front of the wall to the north there was water, the moat of the fortress, a part of the Euphrates or of the Arachtu. A sudden assault on the fortress by water might easily be accomplished by means of these canals, and to guard against this huge gratings formed of stone blocks were placed across the channel below the water, thus closing the passage. Every part of the defences, wherever they are intersected by a water-channel, is carefully guarded by gratings either of stone or of burnt brick, to safeguard them against invaders.
[Illustration:
FIG. 112.—Doorway with canal in the stone wall. ]
An assault by means of the water-channel must therefore have been feared by the ancient architects, even if the account of the sacking of Babylon in this manner by the Persians is legendary.
[Illustration:
FIG. 113.—Canal in front of the Northern Citadel, on the north. ]
The wall like that of the Principal Citadel was guarded by alternate narrow and wide projecting towers. The principal wall in the north is clad by a later strengthening wall.
The moat, which lay in front of this wall, and which we have also to surmise in front of the eastern wall, was bridged over by a dam which led up to the gentle ascent to the Procession Street. This dam was flanked with sloping walls, of which we have excavated the western one. It bites into the earth with short projecting buttresses. At the northern end a circular cistern was inserted later.
Thus the dam led over the defensive moat, and afforded access to the main entrance to the Acropolis. A narrow roofed-in canal led through the dam (K in Fig. 107) and conducted the water from west to east. The roof is laid sloping with bricks placed edgeways (Fig. 113), and like the rubble walls of Nebuchadnezzar it is laid in mud. The technique is the same as that of the canal on the south of the Kasr. Close to the place where the canal turned off from the principal one a brick with the Arachtu stamp of Nabopolassar has been inserted. The canal itself can scarcely be recognised as Arachtu, but we may perhaps conclude from the reverential reuse of the ancient brick that the channel from which this canal branched off bore the name.
* * * * *
If these descriptions will enable the reader to picture to himself the accumulation of masses of towered defensive walls that guarded the entrance to the Citadel, he will realise that it could hardly have been possible to construct a more imposing approach to this ancient gateway than this one, with its gradual ascent between the walls of the Procession Street, decorated with the long multi-coloured rows of lions, up to the Ishtar Gate and through that to the actual Bab-ilani.
XXIX RETROSPECT OF THE KASR
The gradual raising of the buildings on the Kasr and their development into the Acropolis of Babylon may be classified in their principal features under the following periods:
1. The wall of the river bank built by Sargon. Imgur-Bel and Nimitti-Bel, the walls connected with it, no longer exist.
2. Nabopolassar’s palace of mud brick on a foundation of burnt brick, surrounded by an enclosing wall which included the _irṣit Babil_ and to which the arched door belongs. Building of the Arachtu walls in three successive periods.
3. Nebuchadnezzar replaced the mud brick of his father by walls of burnt brick, restored the enclosing wall, built the older moat wall, and renewed the Ninmach temple of Sardanapalus.
4. Building of the two mud walls, which may prove to be Imgur-Bel and Nimitti-Bel, and in which stood the ancient Ishtar Gate, which no longer exists.
5. Building of the east part of the Southern Citadel. Raising of the enclosing wall, of the Ninmach temple, and of the Procession Street.
6. Rebuilding of the Ishtar Gate with the brick reliefs, and heightening of the two mud-brick walls.
7. Construction of the moat wall of Imgur-Bel. Raising of the Nabopolassar palace.
8. Extension of the palace to the west. The whole Southern Citadel now lay on the higher level. Completion of the southern water arm (Libil-ḫigalla?), which also encircled the Southern Citadel in the east.
9. Project for an advanced building in the north, of which the 17–metres-thick wall in the Principal Citadel is part.
10. Building of the Principal Citadel, with the two parallel walls that flank the Procession Street and the two wall lengths that turn east and west. Raising of the Procession Street and stone pavement, of the Ishtar Gate with the enamel reliefs, and of the Ninmach temple.
11. Lengthening of the parallel walls to the north. Building of the flanking walls and the stone wall.
12. Neriglissar’s and Nabonidus’ restorations, of which there are scanty traces.
13. Uniting of the entire Kasr by means of the Persian advanced wall of the Acropolis, after the Euphrates had removed its channel to the east side. Building of a palace on the western Southern Citadel by Artaxerxes Mnemon.
14. In the Parthian period the downfall and demolition began. Houses of burnt brick and brick graves among the ruins. The Euphrates returned to its ancient bed.
15. A large necropolis of late Parthian or Sassanide times in the principal court of the Southern Citadel.
It must be admitted that these epochs cannot be always clearly differentiated. They form only an approximate sketch of the development so far as it has hitherto been possible to recognise it, and for some time to come will require emendation and amplification.
XXX THE PERIBOLOS OF ETEMENANKI
The route from the south-west corner of the Kasr to Amran leads first to a small mound which we have named the south-west building. It consists largely of mud-brick masonry that belongs to the later Parthian (?) period. So far we have done little excavation here. We next pass the long low-lying stretch that now represents a water-channel that once lay here. We then ascend a range of mounds that also extends from east to west. A cross-cut has shown that it consists of the ruins of Babylonian houses of crude brick, lying one above another, as we shall find them later in Merkes. This was the town site of the common people.
On the other side of this range of mounds a somewhat considerable plain of remarkable uniformity stretches away to the hill of Amran Ibn Ali, cut through diagonally by the road that leads from our village of Kweiresh to Hilleh. It is called Sachn, literally “the pan,” a term which in modern days is applied to the open space enclosed by arcades that surrounds the great pilgrimage mosques, such as those of Kerbela or Nedjef. Our Sachn, however, is no other than the modern representation of the ancient sacred precinct in which stood the zikurrat Etemenanki, “the foundation stone of heaven and earth,” the tower of Babylon, surrounded by an enclosing wall against which lay all manner of buildings connected with the cult (Fig. 114).
This enclosing wall forms almost a square, divided by cross walls into separate parts, three of which we have already recognised. All the buildings consisted largely of crude brick, and only, as an exception, the very considerable crude-brick core of the tower in the south-west corner was enclosed in a thick wall of burnt brick, which has been removed deep down by brick robbers. Now only their deep and broad trenches are to be seen, but these enable us to recognise the site of a great open stairway which led up to the tower from the south. The ruin is not yet excavated.
[Illustration:
FIG. 114.—Plan of Esagila and Etemenanki.
AE Ancient bed of Euphrates. AR Arachtu wall. Ä Earlier building. B Bridge over the Euphrates. ES E-Sagila, the temple of Marduk. ET E-Temenanki, the tower of Babylon. HH Principal Citadel. N Nabonidus wall. NH Northern court. NR Nebuchadnezzar wall. ÖA Eastern annex. P Procession Street of Marduk. S Later Parthian (?) buildings. U Urash(?) Gate. WH Western court. 1–12. The doorways in the peribolos of Etemenanki. ]
[Illustration:
FIG. 115.—East side of the peribolos of Etemenanki. ]
[Illustration:
FIG. 116.—Esarhaddon’s Etemenanki inscription. ]
[Illustration:
FIG. 117.—Sardanapalus’ Etemenanki inscription. ]
Many additions and restorations were carried out in connection with these buildings, and they can clearly be distinguished, especially in the enclosing wall itself. The east end of the northern front is very instructive in this respect. We can distinguish the original building and a strengthening wall, the kisu, in front of it. Here it is of crude brick, but on the west front, like the kisu of Emach, it is of burnt brick. On the original building three periods lie superposed, as also on the kisu. Of each of these building periods slightly projecting towers are placed on the walls close together, and differently distributed, which considerably aids us in distinguishing the periods, as the mud-brick courses are frequently placed immediately over each other (Fig. 115). Inside the lowest kisu, somewhat farther to the west, there is a vertical gutter of the kind we have already observed in the inner city walls. In this were inscribed bricks of Esarhaddon (Fig. 116), with the statement that he built the zikurrat of Etemenanki. The two upper portions of the kisu must therefore belong to a later period, and the lower part of the main building to an earlier period, than that of Esarhaddon. The other excavations have produced in addition 12 stamped bricks of Sardanapalus (Fig. 117) and 4 inscribed bricks of Nebuchadnezzar (Fig. 118), all of which refer to the building of Etemenanki. Even if these bricks were not intended for the peribolos, but for the tower itself, their occasional use for the former is in no way surprising. All that we have been able to excavate so far is connected with the original building, of which the later repairing and rebuilding carefully follow the ancient line of wall. We need not therefore lay too much stress on the various periods.
[Illustration:
FIG. 118.—Nebuchadnezzar’s Etemenanki inscription. ]
The surrounding wall is for the greater part a double wall, in which uniform broad chambers are constructed by means of cross walls. The ornamental towers on the inner walls are always placed between two doors of these chambers, while on the outside, where the two ornamental grooves that used to decorate both the towers and the intermediate spaces still exist in places, both towers and spaces are of the same breadth.
There are buildings at other points of the encircling walls always joined to the outer wall. Large as they are, they have none of the characteristics of temples. Two large buildings lay on the east side, each with a large court surrounded by deep chambers uniform in size. In the corner there is a dwelling grouped round a courtyard, and on the south side there are four similar ones, which, although smaller, are very large and dignified mansions. At the east of the northern part the usual small private houses form an independent line of street.
[Illustration:
FIG. 119.—Reconstruction of the peribolos, with the tower of Babylon, the temple Esagila, the quay wall of Nabonidus, and the Euphrates bridge. The tower is shown incomplete. (B) Bridge. (ET) Etemenanki. ]
Two doors in the north and ten elaborate gateways with an inner court and towered façade afforded access to the interior. The two eastern of these and the four at the south are placed at the end of deep recesses formed by the outer wall being carried back, thus forming roomy forecourts. The four southern gateways have the typical towered façade also on the side that faces inwards. The southern gate on the east side, which was the largest, is destroyed, but we can reconstruct it without difficulty.
Very little remains of the south-east corner. Near the south-west corner a chambered wall projects to the north, and with the outer wall forms a long narrow court in which there were no other chambers than those formed in the wall. Apparently this narrow court extended as far as the northern gateway in the western wall, and here apparently it joined at right angles another wall which extended here in the same line as the northern front of the great building on the east side; of this wall, however, only the western end now exists. It skirted a northern area, in which the above-mentioned private houses lay.
We have thus three divisions inside the peribolos: the northern court (NH on Fig. 114) with the small houses, the long narrow western court (WH), and the principal court (HH) which contained the zikurrat of Etemenanki (ET) and all the other monumental buildings (Fig. 119).
Low down on the north, close to the zikurrat, there were ancient buildings orientated in an entirely different direction, and on the east front, also at a great depth, there lay a large ancient building (Ä), over which the main building of the peribolos was carried. Neither of these had anything to do with the sanctuary as such.