Part 7
It may be advisable at this juncture to consider the stamps used by Nebuchadnezzar’s successors. Of Evil-Merodach we have found only two examples (Fig. 50), one of 3 lines, exactly analogous to the stamps of Nebuchadnezzar. Neriglissar (Fig. 51 G) has 3– and 4–lined stamps, with the text, “Neriglissar, King of Babylon, fosterer of Esagila and Ezida, who accomplishes good deeds.” Of Nabonidus (Fig. 51 H) are 3– and 6–lined stamps, with the text, “Nabonidus, King of Babylon, the chosen one of Nabu and Marduk, son of Nabubalatsuikbi, the wise prince, am I,” and “Nabonidus, King of Babylon, fosterer of Esagila and Ezida, son of Nabubalatsuikbi, the wise prince.” So far no stamp has been found of Labashi-Marduk. All these stamps bear general texts, applicable to any building. In contrast to them are the special stamps, which like the inscribed bricks refer to individual buildings, for which they were exclusively intended. We have such of Nabopolassar, Sardanapalus, Esarhaddon, Sennacherib, and Sargon, and shall speak of them when we come to the buildings to which they refer.
[Illustration:
FIG. 52.—Aramaic addition on Nebuchadnezzar brick. ]
In addition, a fair number of stamps are found in Aramaic, either alone or in conjunction with cuneiform (Fig. 52). Of these no convincing translation has yet reached me; they appear to be names sometimes abbreviated. The name of Nabonidus is easily recognised, as it often occurs in Aramaic in conjunction with his cuneiform stamp. [Illustration1] (Fig. 53) appears to be an abbreviation of the canal name Libil-ḫigalla, and in [Illustration2] we may recognise the initial letters of Nimitti-Bel.
Among other signs more symbolic in character are the lion, the double axe, and the symbol of Marduk, a triangle on a shaft, either alone or combined with other stamps.
The manufacture of these bricks was carried on as it is with us at the present day. The fairly pure clay was well kneaded and pressed into a rectangular wooden frame laid on a rough reed matting. Nebuchadnezzar’s bricks almost invariably show the impress of the matting on one side, while the bricks of the other monarchs appear to have been made without this underlay. The frames were frequently grooved on one or more of their inner sides, which caused corresponding ridges on the narrow edges of the bricks. We can thus distinguish bricks with 1, 2 (see Fig. 71), or even 7 of these ridges. In Nebuchadnezzar’s first building period the bricks had no ridges, then only one, while in his latest buildings, such as the Principal Citadel, there are seven. It thus happens that no 7–ridged brick has a 6–line stamp, as by that time they were disused. Besides their number, the ridges vary in breadth, depth, and position. The sign of early manufacture is that they are placed in the centre of the side, and are of greater breadth, while later they are placed near the corners. Thus we have ample material for dividing them, not only according to the places where they were made but also as to their age. In the course of the 43 years’ reign of Nebuchadnezzar, it is obvious that with the gradual multiplication of brick factories the necessity of being able to distinguish between their several productions increased in like measure. The bricks are not always accurately separated from each other in the buildings, according to their marks, but on the whole the stamps, in addition to the ridges on the sides, enable us to distinguish the relative ages of the various walls.
[Illustration:
FIG. 53.—Aramaic addition on Nebuchadnezzar brick. ]
It is evident from the bricks themselves that the burning was done in ovens, which can scarcely have differed materially from the brick-kilns used to-day both here and in Bagdad. They are built outside the town, where the clay is good and fuel—the low bushes of the desert—is abundant. They form great fantastic groups of buildings, to which the people attach tales of horror. With the Persians it was a favourite method of execution to throw persons into these heated ovens, and when one sees the flickering glare from their mouths rising up against the evening sky of Babylon, one is unconsciously reminded of the striking account in the third chapter of Daniel of the three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, in the fiery furnace. Herodotus states that the manufacture of bricks for the town walls was always carried on close to the site where they were to be used. This may have been done in exceptional cases, but ordinarily the ovens were certainly farther outside.
The whole of the walls of the Southern Citadel have been pillaged by brick robbers even below the pavement, the level to which our excavations usually extend (Fig. 54). Everywhere we have laid the walls bare as far as the bricks still remain in position. Here in the south-east corner we have gone still deeper and have dug down to the foundation fillings, reaching nearly to water-level. The fillings consist almost exclusively of sand and clayey earth, river settlement with occasional patches of ancient building material, rubbish, charcoal and ashes, bones and some broken pottery. Possibly the sediment was taken from the watercourse that flowed past the southern side of the Citadel, and which would then be considerably deepened and widened. The footings are carried down almost to water-level, of the same even thickness without any broadening. At this depth the soil is interspersed with the remains of a very ancient settlement, characterised, as in other quarters of the city, by pipe wells and much pottery. Thus in the foundations everything is avoided that could prevent the settlement of the walls, and they are perfectly free to sink vertically. In laying the foundations the doorways were left open. Hence there are separate blocks of buildings, which doubtless even before the floor-level was reached settled independently of each other during the course of erection. In order to bind these blocks together across the door spaces, beams of poplar wood soaked in tar were inserted at intervals and fixed in the wall head with short transverse pieces, thus forming huge ├──┤-rivets.
[Illustration:
FIG. 54.—Excavations in Southern Citadel, from the north. ]
The jointing of the brick courses can be clearly observed at this point. It is very simple, owing to the square shape of the bricks that necessitates two-handed manipulation. The cross-joints run straight through the walls, and if in one course a whole brick—a binder—lies at one corner, the next course has a half brick—a stretcher. At the edges and in the corners the sequence of the series changes. When on occasion the change does not occur owing to some irregularity, a quarter brick was employed at the edge, and in the corner a whole brick with its corner cut out was used, or one wall penetrated to the depth of half a brick into the adjoining wall, with a vertical joint extending from top to bottom. This is to be seen at this part of the Citadel. The care bestowed on applying these building regulations sometimes leaves much to be desired. The vertical joints are of uneven thickness, the walls were patched with inserted fragments, and in thick walls the regularity is frequently broken by small channels that extend transversely or lengthways through the wall, of the height and breadth of a course, and are only closed on the outer surface by an inserted fragment; they appear to have been constructed to secure the dryness of the building. In the Arachtu wall of Nabopolassar, and in his palace, as well as in the ascent on the north-east angle of the Kasr (_t_ 4), an exceptional feature occurs, a border series in which, within the same course, a half brick laid behind a whole one is regularly alternated with a whole brick laid behind a half one, so that the whole mass of the wall is joggled together by this border series. This is another instance of the false principles of construction which are found throughout antiquity far more frequently than enthusiastic admirers would credit.
[Illustration:
FIG. 55.—The six-lined Lebanon inscription from Southern Citadel. ]
[Illustration:
FIG. 56.—The eight-lined standard inscription from Southern Citadel. ]
In the house court, _v_ 27, we found a brick built into the wall low down, bearing a 6–lined inscription (Fig. 55), which ran thus: “Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, son of Nabopolassar, King of Babylon, am I. The palace, the dwelling of my kingship on the soil of Babylon (or “the place Babil” [Delitzsch]), which is in Babylon, I built. Mighty cedars from the mountain of Lebanon the splendid forest, I brought, and for its ceiling I laid them. Marduk the compassionate god who hears my prayer: the house that I built, may it satisfy him by its delights; the Kisu that I constructed, may its decay be renewed; in Babylon may my walks therein be continued to old age; may my posterity for ever rule over the blackheads” (trans. by Weissbach). Thus the palace was ceiled with cedars of Lebanon, and with exceptions to be dwelt on later, it was not vaulted. By the Kisu the king must have meant the strengthening wall that we have already seen on the eastern side, and that we shall see on other parts of the surrounding walls. These 6–lined inscribed bricks, of which we have found 80, were principally in the eastern part of the Southern Citadel, but few are in position. Strewn over the whole of the Southern Citadel, more especially in the central part, was a second kind of inscribed brick, the 8–lined legend on which ran much like the previous one (Fig. 56), but the cedars of Lebanon are not mentioned: “Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon, the fosterer of Esagila and Ezida, son of Nabopolassar, King of Babylon, am I. The palace, the dwelling place of my Majesty I built on the Babil place (irṣit Babil) of Babil. I grounded its foundations firm on the bosom of the underworld, and with asphalt and baked bricks I raised it mountain high. By thy behest, wise one of the gods, Marduk, may I be satisfied with the fullness of the house that I have built, along with my posterity. May my posterity bear rule in it for ever over the blackheads” (trans. by Delitzsch, cf. _K.B._ iii. 2, p. 69). Of these 8–lined bricks we have found altogether 412, many of them in the foundations of the great hall of the Principal Court and of its great gateway. Here they were frequently laid in the same course (Fig. 57), only separated by a few uninscribed bricks. The script is Neo-Babylonian, and always very good and carefully executed. The arrangement of the lines is always the same; they almost convey the impression that a certain rhythmic utterance was intended, which was expressed by the arrangement, for while in some lines the signs are placed so far apart as to produce considerable gaps, in others the signs are crowded together. The lines of inscription are separated by dividing lines which appear to have been made by a 2–ply cord stretched across and pressed into the pottery. Such numerous and monotonous repetitions are very vexatious for the excavator. He would be better pleased if the texts varied on the different bricks, and afforded him an opportunity of acquiring more details of building achievements, and their nomenclature and purpose. But this desire for information on the part of later scholars was evidently not foreseen by the King of Babylon. The principal object was to preserve the name of the king as the promoter of mighty works, and the hundreds of inscribed bricks, and the millions of stamped bricks do in fact form an enduring monument to the king, which it would be difficult to surpass.
[Illustration:
FIG. 57.—Inscribed bricks _in situ_, Southern Citadel. ]
According to these inscriptions the Southern Citadel stands on the “Babil place,” and in my opinion that is the site of the earliest settlement, which was named Babilu or Babilani, the gate of god or gate of the gods. At that time Esagila was separate from Babylon. It was later, though at a very early date, that both were united in one great Babylon. Later on, however, Esarhaddon, on one of the bricks found by us, says (No. 38940) that he built “Babylon and Esagila” anew, and on the numerous bricks of his Arachtu wall (No. 30522) Nabopolassar calls himself “the restorer of Esagila and Babylon.” The measurements of 190 metres broad by 300 metres long are amply sufficient for those very ancient cities. The acropolis of Tiryns, with its length of 150 metres and breadth of 50 metres, could be placed inside the eastern part of the Southern Citadel, which comprises the eastern court with its two gateways, and stretches from the northern to the southern wall. The 6th level of Troy, the Mycenaean level, is also considerably smaller than the southern acropolis, with its 130 × 180 metres; its two ancient encircling walls measure only 80 × 110 metres and 100 × 110 metres. Thus on the _irṣit_ of Babylon there is certainly sufficient room for an ancient settlement of the size usual at that very remote period. Esagila lay 800 metres away, and therefore we must not imagine that from the beginning Babylon and Esagila formed a combined township. On the other hand, it is quite possible that when they were first founded, the entrance to the sacred place Esagila was completely dominated by the fortress Babil, and that it was only through this _god’s door_ that access could be obtained to Esagila.
These conditions may have been modified quite early, possibly by the beginning of the historical times. In Merkes, as far back as Hammurabi, we certainly find fully developed houses in straight streets, which we have excavated and which show a remarkably wide expansion of the town. The Hammurabi period, the 3rd millennium, is the oldest so far attained by our excavation. Of the prehistoric existence of Babylon we only find the evidence of flints and other stone implements, which owing to the continuous occupation of this site and the frequent disturbance of the soil, have been raised to the levels accessible to us.
We will once more return to the Southern Citadel and examine the Eastern Court. It is paved with Nebuchadnezzar’s bricks, which became chipped and damaged, and was then restored. The level was slightly raised above the old pavement, which was covered with an even wash of asphalt, and on the piled-up material a new flooring was laid of fine tiles almost exactly 50 centimetres square, that bear Nebuchadnezzar’s stamps on one edge. The vertical joints are filled with gypsum mortar and no asphalt is used. Thus the pavement could be sprinkled and kept pleasantly moist, for the burnt tiles absorb the moisture readily while the underlying wash of asphalt prevented its penetrating to the foundations.
Whether the walls of the court were left uncovered, or whether they had a coat of plaster, we do not know. We know that the gateways at any rate were decorated with the coloured enamelled bricks with lions, which are found in all the courts. The inner chambers were covered with a fine plaster of pure gypsum laid on over a thicker coating of gypsum. In the chamber of the eastern gateway there is still a piece of this remaining, where the ancient wall is protected by the accumulated earth of the raised level of the floor.
[Illustration:
FIG. 58.—Base of column, Southern Citadel. ]
In the court we found the base of a column (Fig. 58) and a capital of fine white limestone. The base has the same bowl-shaped form and the circular leaf ornament, with a contour of fillets, as the base of Kalach (Nimrud). The capital is severely damaged, but the circular drum can still be recognised, as well as two projecting masses which appear to be the remains of two bulls’ heads, similar to those on the capitals of Persepolis. The fragments lay on a pile of rubbish 1 metre high, and must therefore have been removed here after the palace was destroyed. It is possible that the base belonged to the round circular pedestal in front of the Ishtar Gate near the north-west bastion. In the court itself there is no place whatever for a column. It is in the vaulted building (see p. 99) alone that we can imagine columns to have been used.
XIII THE CENTRAL COURT OF THE SOUTHERN CITADEL
The central court (M on Fig. 46) is entered by a doorway, similar to the eastern gate. Here, however, both the adjoining rooms have a side-chamber connected with them by a wide opening without any door, and with the large adjoining houses by a door. Here we see clearly the idea of a government bureau. These gateway chambers I am disposed to regard as courts of justice, where the judge occupied the side-chambers, which could only be reached from the house, while the litigants made use of the gateway chambers, which could be reached both from the courts and from the gateways. In the Old Testament the gateways are represented as places for administering justice. We have no proof, however, of a similar use of our gateway chambers.
Here, again, the southern house is exceptionally spacious, with its two courts (21 and 22) and a large hall opening on the central court. It must certainly have belonged to the highest state officials. Behind the great hall there are three chambers, much like courts, which with their respective side-chambers may have served for the administration of public business. From here, as well as from the adjoining house, which also comprised a number of rooms round 23, there was direct communication, only interrupted by many doors, with the royal private offices on the western side.
On the north was a house with two courts (13 and 14) and two business offices opening on to the central court, and six one-court houses (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20). Unfortunately we do not know the purpose of the long large chamber near court 13. In the adjoining office there is a walled well, an unusual feature in a house.
The paving of the court is similar to that already described, even to the repaving by Nabonidus, who covered the older flooring with his stamped paving blocks 50 centimetres broad.
XIV THE VAULTED BUILDING
From the north-east corner of the central court a wide passage leads to a building in the north-east corner of the Southern Citadel, which from every point of view occupies an exceptional place among the buildings of the Citadel and even of the whole city—one might almost say of the entire country.
Fourteen cells, similar in size and shape, balance each other on the two sides of a central passage, and are surrounded by a strong wall. Round this slightly irregular quadrangle runs a narrow corridor, of which the far side to the north and east is in large measure formed of the outer wall of the Citadel, while other ranges of similar cells abut on it to the west and south. In one of these western cells there is a well which differs from all other wells known either in Babylon or elsewhere in the ancient world. It has three shafts placed close to each other, a square one in the centre and oblong ones on each side, an arrangement for which I can see no other explanation than that a mechanical hydraulic machine stood here, which worked on the same principle as our chain pump, where buckets attached to a chain work on a wheel placed over the well. A whim works the wheel in endless rotation. This contrivance, which is used to-day in this neighbourhood, and is called a _dolab_ (water bucket), would provide a continuous flow of water. We will speak later of the use to which we presume it to have been put.
The ruin (Fig. 59) lies completely below the level of the palace floor, and is the only crypt found in Babylon. It was approached from the upper passage by steps of crude brick faced with burnt brick that led into one of the southern chambers.
[Illustration:
FIG. 59.—The Vaulted Building, from the south-west. ]
All the chambers were vaulted with circular arches (Fig. 60). The arches consist of numerous ring courses, separated from each other by level courses (Fig. 61), exactly as in the eastern door of the Citadel.
[Illustration:
FIG. 60.—Arches of the Vaulted Building. ]
We must here observe the difference that exists between arches, underground vaulting, and outstanding vaulting. The wall in which the arch is placed provides it with the necessary abutments; there are no difficulties to encounter in its construction, and we meet with it in the earliest times, at Nippur and Fara as early as the invention of writing. In Fara there is an underground canal which consists of actual arches placed close together; in Babylon and Assur there are underground vaults which certainly date back to the year 1000. Such vaultings are easily constructed, for the earth in which they are buried affords the necessary abutments. But the case is very different when the vaulting has to be carried from one free standing wall to another. Then the building has to be so constructed that the thrust of the vaulting is counterbalanced by the walls themselves. This distinct advance appears to have been first attempted, or at any rate planned, in Mesopotamia by Nebuchadnezzar. Certainly, no house vaulting older than ours on the Southern Citadel has been found in Mesopotamia, roofing as it does a huge connected complex of chambers. The vaultings asserted by Place to be over the chambers at Khorsabad are, without exception, absolute inventions. Sargon was only acquainted with the arch in the wall, which, as we have already seen, is not a noteworthy achievement, and with the sloping courses employed in forming the arched roofing of a canal. Those Assyrian-Babylonian palaces were entirely roofed with wooden beams, like the cedars of Lebanon of our Southern Citadel. It is possible that the throne-room of the principal court was vaulted, but that is not certain. The vaulted building shows clear signs of tentative and inexperienced work in the arrangement of the vaulting. It consists merely of simple barrel-vaults, and there is, of course, no cross vaulting, cupola, or any arrangement of the kind. The thrust of the central chambers is on the north against the strong Citadel wall, and on the south against the outer row of chambers vaulted in the other direction (Fig. 62).
[Illustration:
FIG. 61.—Abutments of arches of the Vaulted Building. ]
Further observation of the ground-plan shows that the central chambers with the same span as the outside row have thicker walls. The only explanation for this must be that the former were more heavily weighted than the latter, a supposition which is corroborated by the expansion joints that surround them, by which the vaulting itself is disconnected from the wall surrounding it on all four sides. Owing to this the whole of the 14 barrel-vaultings could move as freely upwards or downwards within the enclosing quadrangle as the joint of a telescope. In this respect the vaulted building is unique among the buildings of Babylon, and in another respect also it is exceptional. Stone was used in the building, as is proved by the numerous fragments, shapeless though they now are, that are found in the ruins. In excavating this makes a far deeper impression than the mere report can do.
[Illustration:
FIG. 62.—Section through the Vaulted Building. ]