Mesopotamian Archaeology: An introduction to the archaeology of Mesopotamia and AssyriaHandcock, Percy S. P. (Percy Stuart Peache)
History
Mesopotamian Archaeology: An introduction to the archaeology of Mesopotamia and Assyria
Handcock, Percy S. P. (Percy Stuart Peache)
Iraq -- Antiquities
But yet other columns were found at Nippur, some rectangular and oblong
in shape, others assuming an oval form, both kinds however being made of
brick like the columns in the court. In one room in a building close to
the court, two columns were found built into the wall, and two more
round columns on square bases, the latter being composed of four courses
of bricks, and resting on a foundation of mud-brick. The circumference
of these round columns is over twelve feet. On the south-east of the
court the remains of another pair of round columns of gigantic size were
discovered; the base of one of these was found still in its original
position, while the remains of the shafts lay strewn about
promiscuously. The diameter of these columns at the base must have been
between six and seven feet, that is to say more than double the size of
the columns in the court itself.
Tellô and Nippur are however not the only sites which have yielded
evidence of the use of the column in the Babylonia of antiquity. Loftus
in his excavations at the Wuswas mound at Warka (Erech) came across the
remains of seven half-columns repeated seven times,[75] and used for the
decoration of a façade; these half-columns were made of semicircular
bricks. There is no trace of capital, base, cornice or any of the
features which columns generally exhibit, they therefore occupy an early
place in the development of columnar architecture, and Loftus assigns
the building in which they were discovered to the second millennium
B.C.,—not later than 1500 B.C. The excavations at Abû Adham, a mound
situated near Tellô, revealed a building with brick columns exactly like
those found by Peters at Nippur, while at Abû Shahrein (Eridu) Taylor
discovered the remains of a column[76] consisting, in contradistinction
to those mentioned above, of “slabs of sandstone twenty inches square
and four inches thick, which disposed in a circular form, and joined
together by lime, formed the chief material; between each layer were
cylindrical pieces of marble, and the whole had a thick coating of lime;
successive layers of which, mixed with small stone and pebbles, were
laid on till it had attained the desired size and thickness. Its base
was shaped like a bowl, and rested upon a layer of sun-dried bricks,
under which again was fine sand.” No doubt the column was used in
Babylonia more frequently than might be inferred from the paucity of the
cases in which the excavations have actually produced tangible evidence
of its employment, and the fact that Nebuchadnezzar represented columns
with great voluted capitals on coloured tiles in the Ḳasr shows that
they must have been a comparatively familiar architectural feature in
his day, in spite of the fact that, as Koldewey points out, their
pictorial representation on coloured tiles was probably an artistic
substitute for the real things, for which there was apparently neither
place nor use, as in every place where one might expect them, simple
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account