Part 15

The wall, which is 7.67 metres thick, with its cavalier towers stands on the river bank upon a massive projecting banquette like the older moat wall, the Arachtu wall, and the north wall of the Principal Citadel. This arrangement can thus be clearly recognised as a peculiarity of walls that lie on a water-channel. Towers, alternately broad and narrow, are placed at a distance of about 19 metres from each other. The broad ones are 7.3, the narrow ones 6.3 metres wide. In some of these towers there are fittings for double doors, from which a somewhat steep ramp leads down to the river. The walls are in very bad condition, and it is impossible to say whether there were similar doors in every tower, or, if not, at what length of interval. The pavement is .47 above zero. In the north, a short distance in front of the Southern Citadel, the wall for two mesopyrgia bends somewhat towards the west to unite by a tower with the Western Outworks (p. 144). In this tower was the outflow of the eastern canal that flowed past the Southern Citadel. The bend is obviously contrived in order to include the Western Outworks of the Southern Citadel in the city area.

Not far from the north-western corner of the peribolos we made a cross-cut through the high mounds that cover the wall, and here we found also the Arachtu wall of Nabopolassar and Nebuchadnezzar. The cut has been continued for some length to the north on the other side of the depression caused by the river-bed, and there it yielded walls of burnt-brick buildings of considerable thickness, but the river wall that corresponds with that on the left bank we have not yet uncovered. This excavation is very far from complete. The wall is apparently the same that was called by Herodotus (i. 180) αἱμασιή, which joined on to the wings of the outer city wall, and which Ctesias (Diodorus, ii. 3) called κρηπίς.

XXXIV THE ARACHTU WALLS AT THE PERIBOLOS OF ETEMENANKI

Immediately in front of the northern portion of the west front of the peribolos there lies the Arachtu wall of Nabopolassar, of which we saw the commencement in the north at the Southern Citadel. As soon as we began the cross-cut mentioned above, we came on a length of wall in which was an inscribed brick that explained its purpose. Later on in the farther reaches of the wall we found numerous bricks of the same kind _in situ_. The text is identical with that already quoted on page 138 _et seq._ The wall lies lower than the burnt-brick kisu of the peribolos wall at this point. The Arachtu wall, which stands in water, reaches up only to .33 metres below zero with its ruins, while the kisu of the peribolos extends down to 2.24 metres above zero. The upper level of the river banquette lies without any intermediate space in front of the Nebuchadnezzar wall, which is 6 metres thick, and is exactly at zero level. The Nabopolassar wall consists of unstamped 31–centimetre bricks, the facing wall of 33–centimetre bricks, with the Nebuchadnezzar stamp. The smooth front of both walls faces west, the back is left rough as it was built up against the bank behind.

Both walls extend as far as the northern corner of the peribolos. From there the Nabopolassar wall runs in a straight line northwards to a distance of about 20 metres from the Southern Citadel, where it breaks off in ruins. Its line runs approximately on the western boundary of the additional building, and must therefore originally have made a curve in order to join at its commencement with the Sargon wall. From the Nebuchadnezzar wall a branch turns off at a very sharp angle at the above-mentioned place, and runs exactly in the direction of the ancient moat wall. Another branch joins on here with a doubly-grooved expansion joint, and runs in the direction of the northern part of the Nabonidus wall. Thus there are parts of four walls close together here, all of which belong to four consecutive changes in direction. At the same place a culvert passes through each of the walls, which must have carried off the surface water that collected to the north of the peribolos. Somewhat farther to the north we came upon two descending stairways in the Nabopolassar wall, which were walled up in a second building period. They are similar to those in the gateways in the Nabonidus wall.

The three walls are so near together, and follow so closely in the same direction, that if we prefer to consider the Arachtu to be a canal of the Euphrates, it here lies so close to the Euphrates that its existence is very problematic. The Euphrates wall of Nabonidus has here obviously replaced the Arachtu wall of Nabopolassar, which further argues for the identity of the Euphrates and the Arachtu (see p. 140). That the Nabonidus wall and the stone bridge are buildings on the Euphrates, no systematic investigator can doubt. Otherwise we must assume that besides the two buildings found by us there existed yet a second embankment wall of Nabonidus which lay on the Euphrates, and a second stone bridge that led over the Euphrates. Without wishing to anticipate further research, I am inclined to assume the Arachtu to be, not a canal nor an arm of the Euphrates, but a semicircular widening of the river (see Hommel, _op. cit._ p. 283, note 1, Arach) (moon, fem. Arachtu?), which possessed a special name, and for which the name Arachtu could be used as well as that of Euphrates, as in the case of the Binger Lock on the Rhine. Possibly it was the haven of Babylon.

Nebuchadnezzar mentions his own wall among others in the Eharsagila cylinder (_K.B._ iii. 2, p. 41, l. 41): “I ... built the embankment walls of the Arachtu of asphalt and burnt brick, and strengthened it by means of the embankment walls that my father had made.”

XXXV ESAGILA, THE TEMPLE OF MARDUK

(A. THE PRINCIPAL BUILDING)

The ancient celebrated temple, Esagila, according to Jastrow “the lofty house” (_Religion of Babylonia_, p. 639), the temple of Marduk, lies beneath the hill of Amran Ibn Ali (Fig. 123) buried to a depth of 21 metres below the upper level of the hill. We have already excavated some part of it, and by means of deep shafts and galleries we have established the ground-plan and the different divisions. There are two buildings adjacent to each other; the principal one on the east is very regularly and magnificently planned, of the Western Annex we have only recovered the outer circuit. We will first survey the principal building.

The temple is almost square, with its northern front of 79.3 metres and its western front of 85.8 metres long. Inside it is a court 31.3 metres broad and 37.6 metres long. On the west of this court, as we learn from the mighty-towered façade, there was the principal cella, that of Marduk. The chambers are not yet excavated. On the south side towards the east there is a smaller cella, which can be recognised as such by the niche in the wall. The cella lies on the east side of a square, which on the west side has a door leading to a small chamber which may also be the remains of a cella.

[Illustration:

FIG. 123.—Plan of the mound Amran. ]

[Illustration:

FIG. 124.—Section through Esagila. ]

A third cella has been excavated on the north side of the court. It is apparently the sanctuary of the god Ea, who in Greek times was identified with Serapis (see _Tempel von Babylon_, p. 43). It was here that the generals of Alexander sought counsel of the god with regard to his illness, whether the king should permit himself to be transported hither in search of healing. Doors lead north to two chambers behind the cella, an arrangement that is not found in any other cella. If my expressed opinion is correct these chambers may have been the dormitories in which oracular dreams could be secured. In the cella, which also had a side chamber at the east end, the postament for the statue still stands in front of the niche. Imprinted on the asphalt covering of its flat top we found traces of a wooden throne, which, during the conflagration, had become charred and broken up. Of the richly carved work some fragments could still be recognised, the figures that supported the throne, holding the water vase with which Ea, god of the abyss of waters, was usually represented, a fine head of a dragon, a fish, and so forth.

The paved floor with its wash of asphalt is slightly dominated by the postament, which has in front of it a shallow step flanked by two small balustrades.

[Illustration:

FIG. 125.—Esagila brick of Sardanapalus. ]

The pavement was repeatedly raised, and with it the mighty door sockets and the postament (Fig. 124). Of the six pavements the two upper ones are Nebuchadnezzar’s, and the two middle ones are of Sardanapalus, who states on the stamps of his brick, 33 × 33 centimetres (Fig. 125), that he made the “bricks of Esagila and Etemenanki.” In this pavement there was one, 40 × 40 centimetres, brick of Esarhaddon, which, according to the stamp, belonged to “the pavement of Esagila” (Fig. 126). The name of the temple is therefore fully established by inscription as Esagila. On bricks found by us in the vicinity, Esagila is often mentioned in conjunction with Etemenanki or with Babylon (Fig. 127). The two lower pavements have no stamps. The walls of the court at this lower and more ancient level are adorned with mouldings, while the walls above are plain.

At the doors, and in front of the wall piers, we again found the brick caskets; in one of these lay a clay figure of a bearded man with bull’s feet, and holding a palm or something of the kind (Fig. 128).

[Illustration:

FIG. 126.—Esagila brick of Esarhaddon. ]

The upper pavement lies on an average 4.5 metres above zero. The enclosing walls, which, including the 2–metres-thick kisu, are 6 metres thick, consist, like the entire building, of mud brick, and the kisu of 32 × 32–centimetre unstamped burnt brick; it must therefore be older than the time of Nebuchadnezzar, who does not appear to have carried out any vigorous restoration here.

The treatment of the walls is similar to that of Emach in an intensified form. Here every tower is placed between two flanking towers, thus forming a unit of three towers. This also occurs in the great temple of Nebo in Borsippa. Exactly in the middle of each side there is a great gateway elaborated with massive projecting towers. Paved ramps, with side balustrades, lead up to the three gateways on the north, west, and south. All is on a larger scale than in other temples. The symmetrical planning which in other temples leaves much to be desired, is here remarkably accurate, and here alone is an entrance to be found on each side.

[Illustration:

FIG. 127.—Esagila and Babylon brick of Esarhaddon. ]

Although from the outside these gateways all appear to be alike, the east gate must have been the principal entrance, as it has a passage through a magnificent vestibule that leads direct to the court, while the entrance through the north and south doors leads first into a small vestibule and then through a corridor that runs by the side of it. On the walls of the court also doorways and towers are symmetrically alternated.

[Illustration:

FIG. 128.—Terra-cotta figure from brick casket at Esagila. ]

A considerable similarity exists between our temple and the description of the “temples” that lay near the zikurrat given in Smith’s summary of an inscription (see p. 192 _et seq._). Smith was not then aware of the difference between Esagila and the Bel sanctuary of Herodotus. His “temples” have measurements and proportions which, on account of their disproportionate length, are entirely impossible as such. For enclosed chambers they are far too widely spanned. They can therefore only be measurements of the area of separate parts of the temples, including the adjacent walls. If all of these are added together we find that they amount almost exactly to the occupied area of Esagila. Furthermore, these areas can with ease be arranged so as to fill in the ground plan of Esagila with very few discrepancies.

Then again the principal cellae are here, that of Marduk and of Zarpanit in the west, and that of Ea in the north, while that of Anu and Bel may at least find its counterpart in the double cella in the south of Esagila. Thus the measurements of Smith’s “temples” must have been taken either directly from Esagila or perhaps from the temple on the top of the zikurrat, which must then have had much the same dimensions and arrangements as Esagila. It is to be expected that the further excavations of Esagila will throw light on these most interesting questions.

Allusions to Esagila, and information regarding its rebuilding and endowment, are, of course, very frequent in Babylonian inscriptions, especially in those of Nebuchadnezzar, who calls himself the “fosterer of Esagila” on every one of his millions of bricks. In the _Steinplatten_ inscription he says (col. 2, 30, _K.B._ iii. 2, p. 15): “Silver, gold, costly precious stones, bronze, mismakannu—and cedar wood, all conceivable valuables, great (?) superabundance, the product of the mountains, the wealth of the sea, a heavy burden, a sumptuous gift, I brought to my city of Babil before him, and deposited in Esagila, the palace of his lordship, a gigantic abundance. Ekua, the chamber of Marduk, lord of the gods, I made to gleam like the sun. Its walls I clothed with solid (?) gold instead of clay (?) or chalk (?), with lapis and alabaster the temple area. Kaḫilisir, or the ‘door of state,’ as also the Ezida gate of Esagila, I caused to be made bright as the sun—Du-azag, the place of the naming of destiny, that is Ub-šu-ukkenna, the chamber of destiny, in which at Zakmuk or the New Year, on the 8th and 11th day, the ‘King of the gods of heaven and of earth’ the lord of the gods takes up his abode, while the gods of heaven and of earth, reverentially awaiting him, bow before him, at the place where he allotteth the destiny of eternal duration as the lot of my life:—the same chamber, the chamber of majesty, the chamber of the lordship of the wise one among the gods, the exalted Marduk, that an earlier king had furnished with silver, I clothed with shining gold, a magnificent adornment. The outfit of the temple of Esagila I beautified with solid (?) gold, the Kua-ship with sarîr and stones like unto the stars of heaven.—The temples of Babil I caused to be re-established and I took care of them. I covered the top of Etemenanki with blue glazed burnt brick.—My heart impels me to build Esagila, I keep it perpetually before mine eyes. The best of my cedars, that I brought from Lebanon, the noble forest, I sought out for the roofing over of Ekua, the chamber of his lordship, with deliberate care, the mightiest cedars I covered with gleaming gold for the roofing of Ekua. The šîbi below the roofing cedars I decorated with gold and precious stones. For the restoration of Esagila I make supplication every morning to the king of gods, the lord of lords” (trans. by Delitzsch).

The four doors of Esagila are mentioned by Neriglissar in his cylinder inscription (_K.B._ iii. 2, p. 73): “Esagila and Ezida I beautified. The temples I placed in order, noble worship (?) I adhered to (?) perpetually. The bronze serpents ... (?) on the face of the walls (i-na ki-si-i) of the doorways of Esagila which ... are placed standing at the ‘door of the Rising Sun,’ at the ‘door of the Setting Sun,’ at the ‘door of Abundance,’ at the ‘door of ...’ (which) no earlier king had erected, I the humble, the submissive, who am learned in the worship of the gods, have erected. Eight serpents standing upright (sirruš) ... (?) which hiss deadly poison against the nefarious and the foe, I have clothed with a covering of shining silver; and at the door of the Rising Sun, at the door of the Setting Sun, at the door of Abundance, and at the door of ... on the walls of these self-same doors according to ancient custom ... silver ... in accordance with its exalted destiny, set up in ...” (trans. by Bezold). The eight sirrush were undoubtedly on the balustrades of the entrance ramps, two at each gate.

Herodotus calls the temple the κατω νηος, in which, according to him, there was a great seated statue of Zeus, that like the throne, the footstool, and table was formed of gold of the weight of 800 talents.

Small objects found on the pavement show that this must have remained open as late as the Seleucid period. Thus the building existed long unroofed, and crumbled into an accumulation of rubbish amounting to 4 or 5 metres high. Then the mud walls fell down flat, and in this position we found them (Fig. 129), and over them rubbish of all sorts was accumulated for a long period, which, during our excavations, appeared in most unpleasant guise as a horrible, black, powdery mass. At a height of 14 metres above zero mud-brick houses begin once more, which become poorer in the higher parts of the midden, until at last they almost entirely disappear. The upper layer certainly contains traces of habitation, and among them many Arabic glazed sherds, but scarcely walls, and the Babylon of that period, whose inhabited area was confined to this mound, must have presented a somewhat miserable aspect. As Hilleh was founded in the eleventh century A.D., we may assume that Babylon ceased to be inhabited at that time. The sacred tomb of Amran Ibn Ali (Fig. 130), somewhat to the south of the temple, consists of two cupolas inside the walls of a court, against which various halls and secondary buildings are placed. It is the latest building on the town site of Babylon, for the Euphrates flowed previously where the village of Kweiresh now lies.

[Illustration:

FIG. 129.—The excavation of Esagila. ]

[Illustration:

FIG. 130.—Tomb of Amran Ibn Ali. ]

XXXVI THE EASTERN ANNEX (B) OF ESAGILA

On the east front of Esagila there lies an annex, of which so far we have only excavated the external ground-plan by means of underground galleries. The quadrangle projects at the south beyond the line of the principal temple. Like it, it consists of mud brick with a kisu of burnt brick. The north front measures 89.4, the east front 116 metres. In addition to several doors there are four gateways that lead into the interior, two close to the principal building on the north and on the south, and two at the east, of which the northern one, placed in a shallow recess of the enclosing wall, may be regarded as the main entrance. They all have the usual towered façade, and the walls have the closely placed grooved towers.

The method of excavation was as follows. We dug out narrow galleries following the wall lines deep down, and rendered them accessible from the hill level by means of narrow shafts. On one side of these shafts stepped recesses were constructed, of a man’s height, each of which afforded standing room for a workman. As many as twelve men could stand in these recesses one above another, who could reach the baskets of earth and pass them on to the next man in succession without changing their place. Above-ground the earth was carried off in trucks and thrown somewhat to the side, thus preventing the accumulation of heaps near the opening of the shaft.

Our first digging, by which we ascertained the existence of Esagila at this place, was an open excavation. We cut a trench half-way up the hill from the north, thus making a road for our tramway. At the end of this trench, which lay at about the centre of the hill, we marked out a square space about 40 metres each way, which we contracted slightly as we descended deeper. After much toil and difficulty, and notwithstanding incessant reiterated assertions both from Europeans and Arabs that we were working in an entirely wrong direction, the pavement of Esagila was at length reached, and on the 23rd November 1900 the inscribed bricks of Sardanapalus and Esarhaddon were found. To accomplish this eight months’ work was necessary, and the removal of about 30,000 cubic metres of earth.

XXXVII THE LATER BUILDINGS ON THE NORTHERN EDGE OF AMRAN

Immediately at the entrance to the hill Amran, the above-mentioned tramway trench cut through some buildings of later—apparently Parthian—times, which would be well worthy of being completely excavated. We have hitherto only been able, however, to widen the trench slightly to east and west. A pillared hall can be seen, a peristyle with several chambers, the walls of crude brick still standing to a considerable height in the mass of the hill (Fig. 131). The pillars consist of brick rubble laid in mud and plastered over with gypsum, a method of building which is characteristic of the later Grecian and Parthian periods. By the walls there were peculiar small mud constructions thickly covered with gypsum; flat shallow pans supported by tiny columns sharply contracted half way up their height. What they were intended for I do not know.

Somewhat farther to the north there lies a Stoa built in the same way, of coupled semi-columns, of which we have excavated 23 transoms without arriving at the end. A similar series is near the Bridge Gateway. Several pillars of the peristyle of a house also came to light on the east side of the Eastern Annex. All these remains lie at about the same height of 10 metres above zero, which is about 6 metres higher than the Nebuchadnezzar pavement of Esagila. At Amran it is hardly possible to dig at this level without coming upon such pillars. A similar unmistakable introduction of Greek pillared architecture can be observed in all ruined sites which flourished at the time of the Neo-Babylonian kings, as at Nippur, where the great palace belongs to this period, but which Fisher has strangely ascribed to the Mycenaean period (_Journal of the Archaeological Institute of America_, vol. viii. 1904, No. 4, p. 403). Meanwhile it appears that the Babylonian house grouped round a courtyard was also at this period still in use by the autochthonous population, while the Greek insisted on having his pillars even in this land, the climate of which was so unpropitious to columnar art.

[Illustration:

FIG. 131.—Later buildings on northern slope of Amran. ]