DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5253#0125
PORTAL-FIGURES AT KHORSABAD.
93
in reality these bulls and winged beings did not bear the arch above, which
was carried by the immensely thick wall against which these forms were ad-
justed merely as decoration. Owing to the addition of a fifth leg, as at Nim-
roud, these bulls from the side seemed most inappropriately to be walking out
from under their load, while from the front they seemed standing motionless.
These portal-figures at Khorsabad are less varied than those at Nimroud, and
were conjectured by M. Place to be portraits of Sargon himself. But recent
study of the language has shown that the colossal lions at the entrance of the
royal palaces represent the god Nergal, " whose non-Semitic name, Nc-cru-gal,
characterizes him as the governor of the great city or the empire of death." ,29
The main difference between these bulls at Khorsabad and the older ones at
Nimroud is their far greater size, their
horned tiaras being likewise taller
and more imposing. We are not a
little surprised to find, that from the
pointed bovine ears are suspended ear-
rings of graceful shape. The careful! v
scrolled mustache and ringlets, the
symmetrical plumage, and amusingly
regular veins and muscles of these
dandy-bulls, witness throughout to
the ruling passion of the Assyrian
sculptor to reduce every detail, how-
ever incongruously, to ornament.
These huge citv guardians at the
"gate of the south" were found by
Place without a feather broken. Color
still shone freshly on eyes and eye-
brows, which were pencilled with
black, giving a calm expression of life. Could we imagine them once more
standing beneath the gayly-colored arches, and surrounded by all the gaudy
splendor of Oriental royalty, then we should be better able to conceive the
true impression of these emphatically decorative sculptures. Several of the
palace-gates were even more luxuriously decorated by the combination of four
bulls (Fig. 47). Where, as in the outer wall of the palace, facing the city, and
in one of its great courts, these gates were near together, a colossal bearded
being (perhaps Izdhubar) filled up the space between the haunches of the outer
bulls, his face and shoulders looking out in full front view, but his feet stand-
ing in'profile. Although holding in his suffocating grasp a struggling lion,
Izdhubar's hair, beard, drapery, and ear-rings are faultlessly regular.
Before the doorways of the harem, which were faced with brilliantly enam-
elled brick, statues were found, apparently taking the place of bulls. Of these
Fig. 46. Gate of the South in the City-wail at Khorsabad.
93
in reality these bulls and winged beings did not bear the arch above, which
was carried by the immensely thick wall against which these forms were ad-
justed merely as decoration. Owing to the addition of a fifth leg, as at Nim-
roud, these bulls from the side seemed most inappropriately to be walking out
from under their load, while from the front they seemed standing motionless.
These portal-figures at Khorsabad are less varied than those at Nimroud, and
were conjectured by M. Place to be portraits of Sargon himself. But recent
study of the language has shown that the colossal lions at the entrance of the
royal palaces represent the god Nergal, " whose non-Semitic name, Nc-cru-gal,
characterizes him as the governor of the great city or the empire of death." ,29
The main difference between these bulls at Khorsabad and the older ones at
Nimroud is their far greater size, their
horned tiaras being likewise taller
and more imposing. We are not a
little surprised to find, that from the
pointed bovine ears are suspended ear-
rings of graceful shape. The careful! v
scrolled mustache and ringlets, the
symmetrical plumage, and amusingly
regular veins and muscles of these
dandy-bulls, witness throughout to
the ruling passion of the Assyrian
sculptor to reduce every detail, how-
ever incongruously, to ornament.
These huge citv guardians at the
"gate of the south" were found by
Place without a feather broken. Color
still shone freshly on eyes and eye-
brows, which were pencilled with
black, giving a calm expression of life. Could we imagine them once more
standing beneath the gayly-colored arches, and surrounded by all the gaudy
splendor of Oriental royalty, then we should be better able to conceive the
true impression of these emphatically decorative sculptures. Several of the
palace-gates were even more luxuriously decorated by the combination of four
bulls (Fig. 47). Where, as in the outer wall of the palace, facing the city, and
in one of its great courts, these gates were near together, a colossal bearded
being (perhaps Izdhubar) filled up the space between the haunches of the outer
bulls, his face and shoulders looking out in full front view, but his feet stand-
ing in'profile. Although holding in his suffocating grasp a struggling lion,
Izdhubar's hair, beard, drapery, and ear-rings are faultlessly regular.
Before the doorways of the harem, which were faced with brilliantly enam-
elled brick, statues were found, apparently taking the place of bulls. Of these
Fig. 46. Gate of the South in the City-wail at Khorsabad.