Discoveries Among the Ruins of Nineveh and BabylonLayard, Austen Henry
History
Discoveries Among the Ruins of Nineveh and Babylon
Layard, Austen Henry
Babylon (Extinct city); Middle East -- Description and travel; Nineveh (Extinct city); Scientific expeditions
Mohammed Emin, the Sheikh of the Jebours, was a good-natured portly Arab,
in intelligence inferior to Suttum, and wanting many of the qualities of
the pure Bedouin. During our intercourse I had every reason to be
satisfied with his hospitality and the cordial aid he afforded me. The
Jebour chief was a complete patriarch in his tribe, having no less than
sixteen children, of whom six sons were horsemen and the owners of mares.
The youngest, a boy of four years old, named Sultan, was as handsome and
dirty as the best of Arab children. His mother, who had recently died, was
the beautiful sister of Abd-rubbou. I chanced to be her brother's guest
when the news of her death was brought to him. An Arab of the tribe, weary
and wayworn, entered the tent and seated himself without giving the usual
salutation; all present knew that he had come from the Khabour and from
distant friends. His silence argued evil tidings. By an indirect remark,
immediately understood, he told his errand to one who sat next him, and
who in turn whispered it to Sheikh Ibrahim, the chief's uncle. The old man
said aloud, with a sigh, "It is the will and mercy of God; she is not dead
but released!" Abd-rubbou at once understood of whom he spake. He arose
and went forth, and the wailing of the mother and of the women soon issued
from the inner recesses of the tent.
My first care, after crossing to Arban, was to examine the sculptures
described by the Arabs. The river having gradually worn away the mound
had, during the recent floods, left uncovered a pair of winged
human-headed bulls, some six feet above the water's edge, and full fifty
beneath the level of the ruin. Only the forepart of these figures had been
exposed to view, and Mohammed Emin would not allow any of the soil to be
removed before my arrival. The earth was soon cleared away, and I found
them to be of a coarse limestone, not exceeding 5-1/2 feet in height by
4-1/2 in length. Between them was a pavement slab of the same material.
They resembled in general form the well-known winged bulls of Nineveh, but
in the style of art they differed considerably from them. The outline and
treatment was bold and angular, with an archaic feeling conveying the
impression of great antiquity. They bore the same relation to the more
delicately finished and highly ornamented sculptures of Nimroud, as the
earliest remains of Greek art do to the exquisite monuments of Phidias and
Praxiteles. The human features were unfortunately much injured, but such
parts as remained were sufficient to show that the countenance had a
peculiar character, differing from the Assyrian type. The sockets of the
eyes were deeply sunk, probably to receive the white and the ball of the
eye in ivory or glass. The nose was flat and large, and the lips thick and
overhanging like those of a negro. Human ears were attached to the head,
and bull's ears to the horned cap, which was low and square at the top,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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