DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5253#0116
84 SCULPTURE IN WESTERN ASIA.
portal guardians were found to have the forms of pure lions (Fig. 43). Their
threatening jaws and defiant attitude must, indeed, have inspired awe in those
who sought to enter the gate ; since, even as one of these figures now stands in
the dim gray of the British Museum, its tremendous form, intense action, and
yawning jaws, suffice to send a shudder over the beholder, and seem a fit sym-
bol of a powerful watch before the dwelling of an Oriental monarch or god.
The stately forms of the composite monsters standing at the gates do not,
like these lions, explain themselves, or hint to us the intention of the ancient
sculptor. Nor do their inscriptions teach us their significance ; although from
other sources it may be gathered, that the adoration of the forces of nature
lies at the root of this symbolism, which, from the prominent part it has played
in the art of other countries, has given a lively interest to these Assyrian mon-
sters. The visions in the first and tenth chapters of Ezekiel seem to have
been written in vivid remembrance of such man, lion, ox, and eagle monsters.
As the symbols of the four evangelists, these elements play an important
part in Christian art. In similar manner, the horns with which the ancient
Chaldacans and Assyrians decorated their sacred cap re-appear in the Hebrew
Scriptures as the emblems of power ; and, even to-day, the peasant in Mesopo-
tamia ascribes to them such virtue, that he puts up a horned skull in his fields
to make them productive, and hangs it over his door to ward off evil.
The union of sculpture in the round and very low relief is most character-
istic in these Nimroud portal-figures. The whole of the head and the strong
paws are carved almost fully in the round ; but the wings cling closely to the
background, filling up the space not already occupied by the arrow-head inscrip-
tions, those stereotyped formulas continually repeated with little variation in
Assur-nazir-pal's sculptures. Thus, while low relief seems to be well rendered,
there is a marked absence of all genuine high relief, the combinations offered
being any thing but agreeable. To one approaching the gate, the older figures
at Nimroud seem to stand motionless, with their front paws firmly set together;
but, on passing within, they appear to be walking out vigorously. This strange
impression is produced by giving them five legs,—three on the side, and two in
front. This desire to represent the winged beast differently from the two
points of view is, however, wanting in the later sculptures at Nimroud and
Nineveh, where the legs have the natural number, four.
Sometimes the doorway, instead of being guarded by these statue-like mon-
sters, was simply faced with thin slabs of alabaster, in which, sculptured in very
low relief, strange symbolical beings appeared. In the north-west building, this
low relief was continued around the walls, lining many chambers and courts.
The museums of Berlin and London are abundantly supplied with specimens of
this sculpture : over one hundred and eighty-three meters of it arc in different
institutions in the United States, and still more was left on the spot where it
was found.121
portal guardians were found to have the forms of pure lions (Fig. 43). Their
threatening jaws and defiant attitude must, indeed, have inspired awe in those
who sought to enter the gate ; since, even as one of these figures now stands in
the dim gray of the British Museum, its tremendous form, intense action, and
yawning jaws, suffice to send a shudder over the beholder, and seem a fit sym-
bol of a powerful watch before the dwelling of an Oriental monarch or god.
The stately forms of the composite monsters standing at the gates do not,
like these lions, explain themselves, or hint to us the intention of the ancient
sculptor. Nor do their inscriptions teach us their significance ; although from
other sources it may be gathered, that the adoration of the forces of nature
lies at the root of this symbolism, which, from the prominent part it has played
in the art of other countries, has given a lively interest to these Assyrian mon-
sters. The visions in the first and tenth chapters of Ezekiel seem to have
been written in vivid remembrance of such man, lion, ox, and eagle monsters.
As the symbols of the four evangelists, these elements play an important
part in Christian art. In similar manner, the horns with which the ancient
Chaldacans and Assyrians decorated their sacred cap re-appear in the Hebrew
Scriptures as the emblems of power ; and, even to-day, the peasant in Mesopo-
tamia ascribes to them such virtue, that he puts up a horned skull in his fields
to make them productive, and hangs it over his door to ward off evil.
The union of sculpture in the round and very low relief is most character-
istic in these Nimroud portal-figures. The whole of the head and the strong
paws are carved almost fully in the round ; but the wings cling closely to the
background, filling up the space not already occupied by the arrow-head inscrip-
tions, those stereotyped formulas continually repeated with little variation in
Assur-nazir-pal's sculptures. Thus, while low relief seems to be well rendered,
there is a marked absence of all genuine high relief, the combinations offered
being any thing but agreeable. To one approaching the gate, the older figures
at Nimroud seem to stand motionless, with their front paws firmly set together;
but, on passing within, they appear to be walking out vigorously. This strange
impression is produced by giving them five legs,—three on the side, and two in
front. This desire to represent the winged beast differently from the two
points of view is, however, wanting in the later sculptures at Nimroud and
Nineveh, where the legs have the natural number, four.
Sometimes the doorway, instead of being guarded by these statue-like mon-
sters, was simply faced with thin slabs of alabaster, in which, sculptured in very
low relief, strange symbolical beings appeared. In the north-west building, this
low relief was continued around the walls, lining many chambers and courts.
The museums of Berlin and London are abundantly supplied with specimens of
this sculpture : over one hundred and eighty-three meters of it arc in different
institutions in the United States, and still more was left on the spot where it
was found.121