DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5253#0128
96 SCULPTURE IN WESTERN ASIA.
representations of animals on the slabs are admirable. The horses and lions
are better drawn than those of Nimroud, and show a keen eye for nature in
the sculptor.
Besides these, we see on the walls convivial scenes. Eunuchs dip wine
out of graceful basins with still more graceful vases, ending in lions' heads,
and pass the beverage to feasters seated on elaborate thrones.
As at Nimroud, these sculptures were touched up with color, the back-
ground and nude being left the natural tone ; but the hair and features, the
jewels, weapons, and sandals, received black, red, and blue, as the case required.
Much of the color faded on exposure, but was brilliant when first discovered.
How graphic now seems the description of these images by Ezekiel, as por-
trayed on the walls with vermilion, girded with girdles, and altogether too
seductive for his own people, the Hebrews !
The last period of Assyrian history included the reigns of several powerful
monarchs, — Sargon's son Sennacherib (705-681 B.C.), who was followed by
Esarhaddon (681-668 B.C.), Assur-bani-pal (668-626 B.C.), and Assur-ebil-ili
(625-605 B.C.),—each of whom was a builder, and consequently a patron of
the sculptor's art. At the close of this brilliant century, Assyria's power
succumbed to that of its younger, more vigorous rival, Persia. Nineveh, the
capital, was now completely destroyed ; and its palaces, consumed by fire, were
left to rapid decay.
The ruins which harbor the principal monuments of this last period in
Assyria were found at Koyunjik, opposite modern Mosul, and at Nimroud. On
the former site, that of ancient Nineveh, were spread out the regal structures
of Sennacherib and his grandson, Assur-bani-pal. At Nimroud were the palace
of Esarhaddon, adorned with sculptures from an older building by Tiglath
Pileser; and the unpretending palace of Assur-ebil-ili, the last-known Assyrian
monument.
From all these buildings, excavated at different times by Layard, Rawlinson,
Rassam, and Smith, many sculptures have been -removed, and are now in the
British Museum. Those from Koyunjik, ancient Nineveh, showed the wasting
effects of fire ; many slabs having reached England in three or four hundred
fragments, which were afterwards re-adjusted. The material of these later
monuments continues, in Sennacherib's buildings, to be coarse, soft alabaster ;
but in the palace of Assur-bani-pal it is supplanted by a hard limestone, in
which, on account of its compact grain, sculptural details could be more vigor-
ously expressed.
While in general the subjects treated remain about the same, — the pomp,
wars, victories, chase, and religious services of the king, always burdening the
sculptor's fancy,-—still, within this range, acceptable variations are introduced,
and a livelier, more elegant form of recounting history is evident. In Sen-
representations of animals on the slabs are admirable. The horses and lions
are better drawn than those of Nimroud, and show a keen eye for nature in
the sculptor.
Besides these, we see on the walls convivial scenes. Eunuchs dip wine
out of graceful basins with still more graceful vases, ending in lions' heads,
and pass the beverage to feasters seated on elaborate thrones.
As at Nimroud, these sculptures were touched up with color, the back-
ground and nude being left the natural tone ; but the hair and features, the
jewels, weapons, and sandals, received black, red, and blue, as the case required.
Much of the color faded on exposure, but was brilliant when first discovered.
How graphic now seems the description of these images by Ezekiel, as por-
trayed on the walls with vermilion, girded with girdles, and altogether too
seductive for his own people, the Hebrews !
The last period of Assyrian history included the reigns of several powerful
monarchs, — Sargon's son Sennacherib (705-681 B.C.), who was followed by
Esarhaddon (681-668 B.C.), Assur-bani-pal (668-626 B.C.), and Assur-ebil-ili
(625-605 B.C.),—each of whom was a builder, and consequently a patron of
the sculptor's art. At the close of this brilliant century, Assyria's power
succumbed to that of its younger, more vigorous rival, Persia. Nineveh, the
capital, was now completely destroyed ; and its palaces, consumed by fire, were
left to rapid decay.
The ruins which harbor the principal monuments of this last period in
Assyria were found at Koyunjik, opposite modern Mosul, and at Nimroud. On
the former site, that of ancient Nineveh, were spread out the regal structures
of Sennacherib and his grandson, Assur-bani-pal. At Nimroud were the palace
of Esarhaddon, adorned with sculptures from an older building by Tiglath
Pileser; and the unpretending palace of Assur-ebil-ili, the last-known Assyrian
monument.
From all these buildings, excavated at different times by Layard, Rawlinson,
Rassam, and Smith, many sculptures have been -removed, and are now in the
British Museum. Those from Koyunjik, ancient Nineveh, showed the wasting
effects of fire ; many slabs having reached England in three or four hundred
fragments, which were afterwards re-adjusted. The material of these later
monuments continues, in Sennacherib's buildings, to be coarse, soft alabaster ;
but in the palace of Assur-bani-pal it is supplanted by a hard limestone, in
which, on account of its compact grain, sculptural details could be more vigor-
ously expressed.
While in general the subjects treated remain about the same, — the pomp,
wars, victories, chase, and religious services of the king, always burdening the
sculptor's fancy,-—still, within this range, acceptable variations are introduced,
and a livelier, more elegant form of recounting history is evident. In Sen-