/ NINEVEH. 1 Taking down the great winged bull. NINEVEH; OR, THE BURIED CITY. BY Rev. increase n. tarbox. WRITTEN FOR THE MASS. S. S. SOCIETY, AND APPROVED BY THE COMMITTEE OF PUBLICATION. BOSTON: MASSACHUSETTS SABBATH SCHOOL SOCIETY. Depository, No. 13 Cornhill. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1863, by The Massachusetts Sabbath School Society, In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of Massachusetts. PREFACE. Our aim in preparing this little volume, has been •to bring the wonderful discoveries which have been made within a few years at Nineveh and Babylon, familiarly before the minds of a great number of readers. The large and costly works of Mr. Layard, have been read, we presume, by comparatively few persons. And yet the subject is one of such immense interest and importance, that all people in this Chris- tian land ought to know something of the revelations which have been made, and the strong confirmation of the truth of the Old Testament Scriptures which has thus been furnished. We have sought, in a plain and simple manner, to compass the ^hole subject, and present it in such a form, that it may be read alike by old or young. In preparing the work, we have, of course, made free use of Mr. Layard’s volumes. We are also largely indebted to the works of Mr. George Rawlinson. We (v) vi PREFACE. have had frequent occasion to consult his learned edi- tion of Herodotus, In four volumes, and his work on the 44 Historical Evidences.” In these volumes are embod- ied the great results of the researches of his brother, Sir Henry Rawlinson, who followed in the track of Layard, and brought his remarkable talent as a lin- guist into requisition, in deciphering these ancient monuments. Other standard works have been also freely referred to, as the nature of our inquiries demanded. We have + aimed to be accurate, but a critical eye may discover some mistakes. As it is, we send it forth, hoping that it may both interest and instruct its readers. CONTENTS CHAPTER I. PAG! Many buried cities . 1 CHAPTER II. What is told us of the early history of Nineveh • • 10 CHAPTER III. Grandeur and pride of the Assyrian Em- pire. — Extent of the ancient city. — Prominent historical facts connected WITH ITS HISTORY. — SOME OF THE CAUSES WHICH LED TO ITS DOWNFALL ...... 20 CHAPTER IV. Fulfilment of prophecy in the destruction of Nineveh 50 ( vii ) VI 11 CONTENTS - CHAPTER V. Ages of desolation 64 CHAPTER VI. Explorino the mound of Nimroud .... 86 CHAPTER VII. Second winter’s work at Nimroud . . . 108 CHAPTER VIII. General observations uroN these Asstrian mounds and buildings 136 CHAPTER IX. Connection of Tnis wiiole subject with the Old Testament Scriptures 163 CHAPTER X. Concluding thoughts • 212 NINEVEH; OR, THE BURIED CITY. CHAPTER I. MANY BURIED CITIES. In the changing fortunes of this world, by the decay and ruin which have come over nations and empires, it has happened many times, that cities once great and powerful, have been utterly submerged and lost to human view. Perhaps the expression, “ buried cities,” would first of all awaken in the minds of our ^readers a thought of Herculaneum and Pompeii, two 1 (1) 2 NINEVEH*, OR, ancient cities in southern Italy. These two places were suddenly and completely covered from human sight, in the seventy- ninth year of the Christian era, by the ashes and burning lava thrown out from the neighboring volcano of Vesuvius, in the time of an awful eruption. Most of the inhabitants, seeing the danger that was coming, hastily escaped and saved their lives. But many perished. Poor prison- ers, locked up in dungeons and cells, and, perhaps, chained to the walls, had no chance to escape. Some, also, were so anxious to carry off’ with them their bags of money and other costly articles, that they lingered too long in searching for them, and were caught in the descending clouds of ashes, or overwhelmed by the burning currents of lava. Such quantities of matter, in these two forms, were poured from the crater of the mountain, that the cities were entirely concealed ; and no one THE BURIED CITY. 15 not entirely familiar with the localities, will do well to look upon some map, which will show them at once the relations of the two countries, as also the relations of both to the land of Canaan, which was given to the Jews, and which for many centuries was to be their home and their kingdom. This Assyrian Empire lay around the waters of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, — covering what has since been called Mesopotamia, — a word made up of two Greek words, and meaning “ between the rivers .’ 5 The city of Nineveh, the early capital of the empire, with which we have especially to do, stood far up on the Tigris, on the east side of the river ; while the city of Babylon, the later capital, was situated on both sides of the river Euphra- tes, much further down toward the place where it empties into the Persian Gulf. For a long time, as we were saying, the Jewish history had no direct connection 16 NINEVEIi; OR, with what was going on in this Assyrian Empire, and so the sacred historians tell us almost nothing of it. But by and by, after many centuries had passed away, the two histories become very closely con- nected. These proud Assyrian kings hav- ing obtained dominion and power, were ambitious to conquer all the nations around and hold them in subjection ; and so from time to time they made war upon the Jewish nation, whose capital and great city was Jerusalem. Many battles were fought between the armies of the two nations, in which the Jews were sometimes victorious, but more commonly the victory was on the other side. Hence, according to the fashion of the times, many of the Jews were led into captivity to Nineveh, and in later times to Babylon. Those that remained at home were obliged to pay tribute to the kings of Assyria. The splen- did Temple which Solomon had built at THE B URIED CITY. 17 Jerusalem, at untold expense, and by the labors of hundreds of thousands < f men, employed upon this one work for more than seven years, was torn down and destroyed by these Assyrian, (or Babylo- nians, as they were called in the later ages of the empire). The power of the Jewish nation was at last so shattered and broken by these repeated attacks of the Assyrian armies, that it could never recover its ancient glory, but gradually descended in the scale, — suffering also from other ene- mies, — until at last the Romans came in, and utterly demolished their kingdom, scat- tering the Jewish people to the four winds of heaven. All this is to show that there came a time at length, many centuries after the city of Nineveh was founded, when the history of the Jews and the Assyrians natu- rally ran together, just as the Jewish and Egyptian history had done at an earlier 2 18 NINEVEH; OR, date ; and from that time the sacred writers have occasion to say a great deal about what is going on in this old and powerful empire. Between eight and nine hundred years before the time of Christ, the Scrip- tures begin to throw their clear and steady light upon this subject, and from that time for three or four hundred years, while this great empire is descending in the scale, and rushing rapidly toward utter extinction and ruin, we see plainly what is passing, by the light thrown from the Old Testa- ment Scriptures. We have also, it is true, especially in the latter part of this period, some light from other writers. But, taking the whole course of events, our most valuable information comes from the Old Testament. Now, it is a matter of great importance to find evidence in our own day — new and won- derful evidence — that these Scripture his- tories are exactly true. We may never THE BURIED CITY. 19 have doubted them ourselves, but there are men who have doubted them, and have wickedly tried to make out that very much of this Old Testament history was nothing better than fiction. And for this reason we regard it as a wonderful providence of God, that the remains of this ancient city of Nineveh, which had entirely disappeared from view, so that even the spot where it stood was not certainly known, should in our own day be uncovered and brought to view, that men may see with their own eyes what those Assyrians were thinking of and doing, almost three thousand years ago. And this part of our story we shall come to by and by, but it will be more interest- ing and instructive, when it comes, if we still go on, and tell something more of the ancient city. 20 NINEVEH; OR, CHAPTER III. GRANDEUR AND PRIDE OF THE ASSYRIAN EMPIRE. — EXTENT OF THE ANCIENT CITY. — PROMI- NENT HISTORICAL FACTS CONNECTED WITH ITS HISTORY. — SOME OF THE CAUSES WHICH LED TO ITS DOWNFALL. In the previous chapter, we have said that the early history of Nineveh is wrapt in almost total darkness. One or two writers have attempted to follow out the course of events connected with its progress and growth, but it would serve little pur- pose for us to repeat their statements, some of which perhaps are true, and some not Passing over a long interval of time, more than a thousand years from the first THE BURIED CITY. 21 founding of the city, and coming down to a point little more than eight hundred years before the time of Christ, we find the Assyrian Empire in its full strength, and Nineveh, its capital, at the very height of its splendor and renown. There was, probably, no city in all the earth at that time that could compare with it for mag- nificence and extent. Babylon, which came afterward to equal, and even excel it, had not yet reached its full grandeur. Indeed, Babylon rose not to the full measure of its greatness until Nineveh fell. Jerusalem, adorned with its costly Tem- ple, where the true God was, worshipped, was covered with moral glory which no other city had. But, so far as extent and population were concerned, it could hold no comparison with Nineveh. Tyre, on the eastern shore of the Medi- terranean sea, widely famous for its com- merce — having its connections by trade 22 NINEVEH; OK, with almost all parts of the then known world — filled with a busy and wealthy population, was yet but a village in size, as compared with this^ proud Assyrian capital. Of all the cities of the early world, as •already intimated, Thebes — “ hundred- gated Thebes ” — in Upper Egypt, was probably the largest. But this city seems to have attained the full measure of its greatness somewhat earlier than Nineveh. Thebes is supposed to be spoken of in the Scriptures under the name of No, or No- Ammon. The ^prophet Nahum, who lived between seven and eight hundred years before the time of Christ, when predicting the sudden downfall and extinction of Nineveh, thus refers to the destruction which had already come upon this other famous city : “ Art thou better than popu- lous No, that was situate among the rivers, that had the waters round about it. . . . THE BURIED CITY. 23 Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and was infinite. Yet was she carried away, she went into captivity.” Taking our stand, then, we will say, at Jerusalem, at the point of time above named — a little more than eight hundred years before Christ — and looking out upon the world around us, upon the kingdoms and empires most fitted to attract our attention, and above all lesser states and kingdoms there rise boldly into view two grand and rival centres of power — Egypt on the south, and Assyria on the northeast, and of the two, Assyria is now in the ascendant, and her proud capital is Nine- veh. In her haughty presence, the people around stand trembling. She leads the nations at her chariot wheels. It is hardly possible, in these latter ages of the world, to gain a full idea of the high and swelling pride in which these Assyrian monarchs indulged. So many great na- 24 NINEVEH; OR, tions and empires have since that time gone to destruction, the path of history i$ so strewn with wrecks and ruins, that men have been taught wisdom by the sober lessons of the world’s experience. But these kings of Assyria looked back upon a course of dominion which stretched away almost to the flood. Their empire had been slowly enlarging and strengthen- ing itself, until it stood forth the most con- spicuous power in all the earth. They indulged the fond idea of conquering all nations, and making them minister to their pomp and pleasure. The Old Testament writers, in many glowing passages, describe the haughty pride of Assyria. “ Thou hast said in thine heart, I will . ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne abov^ the stars of God I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.” These are the grapliic words of the prophet Isaiah. THE BURIED CITT. 25 The message which one of these Assy- rian monarchs sent to the Jews in the time of King Hezekiah, as recorded by the same prophet, shows us how vain and self- confident they were, and how they thought to subdue every thing before them. “ Let not Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord, saying, i The Lord shall surely deliver us.’ . . . Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? .... Who are they among all the gods of these lands, that have delivered their land out of my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand ? ” But u pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” During the two hundred years which follow the date above given, there is a quick succession of events tending directly to the overthrow and downfall of this great empire. The various actors move before us so hurriedly 26 NINE VEIi; OR, and confusedly, that it is difficult to fol- low them, or describe the parts in which they acted to bring about the great result. But we see clearly enough that everything is rapidly tending to destruction. First, the old empire is ‘broken by revolt and rebellion — an internal convulsion, chang- ing the old order of things, and consign- ing Nineveh to swift destruction. Baby- lon now becomes the capital of the new empire, which is called Babylonia. Baby- lon had been long in existence, as long certainly as Nineveh, and ages before, it had been the chief city. But for four hun- dred years Nineveh had held this position. Under this new arrangement, Babylon is soon enlarged and carried to its highest splendor. After a time this too falls, and before the time of Christ an awful silence begins to brood over these ancient seats oi empire. It is not our design to attempt to trace THE BURIED CITY. 27 minutely the course of Assyrian history. We have to do more particularly with the city of Nineveh itself ; and it is fit that we should give our readers as clear an account as we can, of the size and extent of this ancient city, as described by the early writers, and also as gathered from the Scriptures. The accounts given us by the ancient historians respecting both Nineveh and Babylon, are not always harmonious one with another, but it seems to be pretty generally agreed that each of these cities was not far from sixty miles in circumfer- ence ; Babylon being in the form of an exact square, while Nineveh was longer one way than the other, or in the form of a parallelogram. This difference in the form of the cities is very well attested. One of the old historians says of the shape of Nineveh, “ Two of its sides were each one hundred and fifty furlongs long, and 28 NINEVEH; OR, the other two ninety furlongs.” Another writer says, “ Whereas Nineveh was in the form of a parallelogram, he (Nebuchad- nezzar) made Babylon in the form of an exact square.” It appears probable from recent discov- eries, that Nineveh was not in the shape of a right-angled parallelogram, but of an irregular one, thus — IS miles. The vt alls which enclosed these ancient cities have always been a wonder among men. Though the stories told respecting the walls of Nineveh do not equal those related of Babylon, yet on the lowest esti- mate those of Nineveh were one hundred THE BURIED CITY. 29 feet in height, and fifty feet thick, with fifteen hundred towers, placed at regular intervals, and rising two hundred feet from the ground, or one hundred feet above the upper line of the walls. If one stops to think of such a wall as this, running on for sixty miles, at first it almost surpasses belief. But we must bear in mind that the old monarchies, such as prevailed in the early ages of the world, had great facilities for enterprises like these. The sovereign, in such an empire as the Assyrian, could by his mere will and pleasure, gather together any number of men, and employ them as he pleased. Under those old oppressive sys- tems, men existed not for themselves, but to serve the monarch, in peace or war as he might choose. At the call of the king, thousands and tens of thousands of men would come trooping from every part of his dominions, to swell his armies or build his cities and palaces. 30 NINEVEH-* OR, Besides, it was the custom in those early empires, to employ the captives taken in war in these hard and wearisome labors. » When an empire was strong like the Assy- rian in the days of its glory, — when its armies were victorious in battle, and were extending their conquests on every side, the number of captives taken in war, and led home in triumph, were almost innumer- able. We know from the Bible that im- mense numbers of the Jews were carried into captivity by the Assyrians. In the time of the great captivity, when the Jews were carried to Babylon under Nebuchad- nezzar, almost the whole nation was thus removed, and in the earlier captivities, when they were taken to Nineveh, the numbers carried thither were immense. And as it was with the Jewish nation, so was it with the other nations around, which were conquered by the Assyrians. Consequently there were men enough to THE BURIED CITY. 31 do almost any work upon which they might be set. Understanding this, we may see that there is nothing really incredible in what is told us of the size and extent and grandeur of Nineveh. It was not probably so great a work to build the walls of Nineveh as to construct all the railroads which have been built in this country during the last thirty years, and yet all this has come about very quietly indeed, under our system of free labor. The walls of this city, it must be remem- bered, were not built of solid stone, but simply of large, square, sun-dried bricks, the material for which was taken out of the earth near at hand. These could be made very rapidly, and when they were placed «r in the walls, they were laid not in mortar, but were stuck together with bitumen, a substance largely found in that part of the earth. The materials were just the same 32 NINEVEH; OR, as the builders of Babel had, as described in the 11th chapter of Genesis. u They had brick for stone, and slime (or bitumen) had they for mortar.” With every thing so near at hand, two or three hundred thou- sand men would go on with such a work as this with great rapidity. The city of Nineveh, thus constructed and fortified, was not, of course, the old city which Assur built just after the flood. As has been already said, that city had been torn down doubtless and rebuilt again and again, as the empire had increased. The city, in the form and extent in which it stood at the time of its destruction, was probably not many hundred years old. A wall running thus for sixty miles in nearly a square form, encloses a vast terri- tory, to be occupied as a city. It is not supposed that this whole space was densely filled with dwellings and inhabitants. There were doubtless wide open spaces, THE BURIED CIT Y. 33 where the land might be cultivated. It was designed, probably, in time of war, if the city were besieged, and the supplies cut off from without, that the people might subsist for a long time upon what might be raised within the walls. We have thus given a mere glance at the size and extent of Nineveh, as the story is told by the early writers. And although the tale, at first thought, seems almost incredible, yet in the form in which we have put it, it is not probably any larger than the truth. Enough has been discov- ered to justify the belief of all that has yet been told, and vastly more. Besides, when we take a look at Nine- veh, by the light of Scripture, we have exactly the same impression of a city of immense size and proportions. The ear- liest view we catch of this place, after it had reached its greatness, by the light of the 3 34 NINEVEH; OR, Scriptures, is in the time of the prophet Jonah. It was not far from eight hundred and fifty years before the time of Christ that this prophet was sent to this city, to proph- esy against it for its exceeding wickedness and corruption. In the book of Jonah we have only two brief sentences designed to give information as to the size of the city; and these are both somewhat indefinite, but they alike serve to reveal a city of vast pro- portions and mighty population. “ Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days’ journey.’ , This is one of the sentences. The jour- ney here spoken of, is not the journey to the city, but the compass of the city, or going round it by the circuit of its walls. A “ day journey” as a technical measure among the Jews, was about twenty-five miles, which would make the city larger THE BURIED CITY. 35 even than has been claimed. But it may not be, that this technical use of the term is here intended, and it is not perhaps meant either, that it was exactly three days’ journey around it, but only that this was in general about the time it would take to make the circuit. This certainly, in what- ever way we look at it, leaves the impres- sion that the city was as large at least as has been stated. The other sentence has reference more particularly to the population of the place, though also indirectly to its size ; this, too, is more or less indefinite, but still keeps up the idea of a vast and mighty city. “ And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern be- tween their right hand and their left hand, and also much cattle. Sixscore thousand, are one hundred and twenty thousand , and these are infants. By 36 NINEVEH; OR, the description, they are very young, and would not probably make up more than a tenth part, at least, of the population of the place. Supposing them to be a tenth part, the city would then contain 1,200,000 in- habitants. This is an immense population, yet not so great as some of the cities of the world now contain, and probably is not greater than the truth. We notice that several of the old writers, in attempting to make a guess at the pop- ulation of Nineveh, using the data given in the passage of. Scripture now before us, say, that those included under the description of persons who “ could not discern between their right hand and their left hand,” would be children under three years of age, and that these would make probably about a fifth part of the inhabitants. As we have met with this same essential statement in two or three different authors, we suppose that one copied it from the other without THE BURIED CITY. 37 much thought about the matter. Accord- ing to this estimate the population of the city would be a little more than 600,000 — a large population it is true, but not large enough to fill out our general impressions of the size of the place. We cannot tell exactly how society in that period of the world would compare with that of our own day in respect to the average age of its members, but taking the present order of things for our guide, and the estimate which we ourselves have made is none too large. One hundred and twenty thousand persons under three years of age in our American society would imply a community of 1,500,000, or thereabouts. The population of Massachusetts at the present time, is somewhat more than a mill- ion. Taking the annual returns of births (about 34,000), and making the necessary deduction for the percentage of deaths under three years of age, and, as we compute, it 38 NINEVEH; OR, it appears that there are in Massachusetts not far from 85,000 persons u that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand,” not so large a number, as in case of Nineveh by 35,000, without any refer- ence to the “ more ” spoken of, which may oe many or few. We see, then, that the Scriptures, though they do not state the matter definitely, abundantly confirm what is told us in an- cient history respecting the immense pro-, portions of Nineveh. Our description of the great temples and palaces of the city, and the manner in which they were built, we shall reserve un- til a later portion of the book. We have a beautiful and graphic picture of some things which were going on in Nineveh during the last century of its ex- istence, in the book of Tobit, — one of the books of the Apocrypha. This book con- tains some strange and extravagant stories. THE BURIED CITY. 39 which are not supposed to be true. But so far as reference is made in it to the public history of the times, there has been no disposition to doubt its correctness, and indeed its truth is confirmed by all other testimony. Tobit was a Jew of the tribe of Naph- thali. He, with his wife Ajma, and his little son Tobias, then only*two years old, was carried captive with a multitude of his countrymen to Nineveh, by Shalmaneser in the year 721 before Christ. Tobit was himself at this time only twenty-one years of age. He remained at Nineveh through a long life, dying at a great age. His death did not occur until the year 641 before Christ, and this brings us almost down to the time of the destruction of Nineveh. He was witness to what was going on in this great and wicked city, for about eighty years, and could we now have a 40 NINEVEH; OR, minute narrative of his life during those years, it would be doubtless a story of marvellous interest. As it is, we may be grateful for the few brief items which he has given us. Tobit was a man of more education and character than most of his fellow-captives, and was promoted to office by the monarch, just as Daniel afterwards was in Babylon; or as Joseph had been centuries before, in Egypt. Holding this prominent position, he says of himself, u I gave many alms to my brethren, and gave my bread to the hungry, and my clothes to the naked ; and if I saw any of my nation dead, or cast about the walls of Nineveh, I buried him. And if the king Sennacherib had slain any, when he was come and fled from Judea, I buried them privily; for in his wrath he killed many. And when one of the Ninevites went and complained to the king that I buried them and hid myself, THE BURIED CITY. 41 understanding that I was sought for to be put to death, I withdrew myself for fear.” There is more that is interesting and in- structive in this brief passage, than may appear at first sight. This Sennacherib is the monarch who sent the haughty mes- sage to Hezekiah, most insulting to him, but still more insulting to the Most High God. This message is contained in the 36th chap- ter of the prophet Isaiah, and a part of it has already been quoted. But it is well that our readers should turn to it in this con- nection and read it, that they may see how proud and vain-glorious he was. He had been conquering the nations around, and % now with a mighty army he had come up and had taken many of the cities of Judea and was drawing near to Jerusalem, and fear and consternation sat upon all the Jews. Rev. Mr. Thomson, missionary in Pales- tine, in his most interesting and valuable 42 NINEVEH; OR, volumes entitled “ The Land and the Book,” makes a beautiful and stirring reference to the suspense and trembling of the Jews, on the approach of this grand army of Sennacherib. He says : “ All those places which you passed without visiting are mentioned in the tenth chapter of Isaiah, with several others to the north of them. The prophet is describ- ing the approach of Sennacherib’s army. ‘ He is come to Aiath, he is passed to Migron; at Michmash he hath laid up his carriages ; they have gone over the pas- sage : they have taken up their lodging at Geba ; Ramah is afraid ; Gibeah of Saul is fled. Lift up thy voice, oh daughter of Gallim, cause it to be heard unto Laish, oh poor Anathoth.’ Thus one can follow, step by step, the invading host of Assyria, until they reach poor Anathoth, and shake their hand against the mount of the daugh- ter of Zion at Nob, which was the north end of the mount o r Olives.” THE BURIED CITY. 43 But God soon after interposed to save his own people, and humble the pride and blasphemy of the haughty monarch. By his miraculous power, in some way he sent death into the camp of the Assyrians, and in one night 185,000 of them were de- stroyed. How many remained alive we are not told, but the army was so utterly shattered and broken by this calamity, that the Assyrian monarch, with those left behind, fled with all haste to his own country, and to his own city, Nineveh. It is to this return that Tobit has refer- ence in his narrative. So enraged was the king at this loss and defeat, that, like a mean, corrupt, and cowardly wretch as he was, he thought to wreak his vengeance upc>n the poor captive Jews in his own city. Tobit found the dead bodies of his countrymen, lying outside the city, either thrown from the walls, or carried out from the gates and left upon the ground, and he 44 NINEVEH; OR, privately had them buried. But as soon as this came to the ears of the king he was filled with wrath, that any one should pre- sume to show pity, even to the dead bodies of the victims of his rage, and so Tobit was to be put to death for manifesting this sympathy ; v but in some way he con- cealed himself until the storm was past. The destruction of the army of Sen- nacherib is the subject of one of the most brilliant and remarkable little poems in our language, by Byron, which we cannot here refrain from quoting, because its meaning will be fully felt at this point in our nar- rative. i. “ The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold, And his cohorts were gleaming with purple and gold, And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea. When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee. 2 . “Like the leaves of the forest whin summer is green, That host, with their banners, at mnset were seen ; THE BURIED CITY. 45 Like the leaves of the forest, whi n autumn hath blown, That host on the morrow lay withered and strown. 3 . “For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast, And breathed in the face of the foe as he passed ; And the eyes of the sleepers waxed deadly ^.nd chill And their hearts but once heaved, and forever grew still ! 4 . * And there lay the steed, with his nostril all wide, But through it there rolled not the breath of his pride ; And the foam of his gasping lay white on the turf. And cold as the spray of the rock-beating surf. 5 . “ And there lay the rider, distorted and pale, With the dew on his brow, and the rust on his mail, And the tents were all silent, the banners alone, The lances unlifted, the trumpets unblown. 6 . “ And the widows of Ashur are loud in their -wail, And the idols are broke in the temple of Baal, And the might of the Gentile, unsmote by the sword. Hath melted like snow in the glance of the Lord.” 46 NINEVEH; OR, But the days of Sennacherib were few, and the city was soon delivered from the fear of his rage. He was murdered by his own sons, not long after his return from Judea. Tobit still remained at Nineveh. But as he grew old, and was almost ready to die, understanding by the prophets of the Lord in his own land that Nineveh was doomed to utter destruction, and that the time of the end drew near, he enjoined upon his son Tobias, with his family, to escape out of the city, and go to Media, a neighboring country, then under Assyrian rule, where Tobias had married his wife. “ Go into Media, my son, for I surely be- lieve those things which Jonas the prophet spake of Nineveh, that it shall be over- thrown.” u Bury me decently, and thy mother with me ; but tarry no longer in Nineveh.” He followed the advice of his father, and w ent to Media, and u died,” as THE BURIED CITY. 47 the narrative tells us, “ in Ecbatana, in Me- dia But before he died he heard of the destruction of Nineveh.” There is some disagreement among the different writers, as to the precise year w hen Nineveh was destroyed, some fixing it in the year 626, some 621, some 612, others, still, 606 before the time of Christ. It may be impossible to tell the precise year, though the last date seems the most prob- able. But the immediate agents of its destruction are well known. There was a combination between the power which had now centered around the city of Babylon, and the power of the neighboring province of Media, to do this work. The Medes had many wrongs to revenge, for the ages of oppression they had endured from the kings of Nineveh. The governor of Baby- lon, appointed to his place by the king of Nineveh, was, nevertheless, desirous that Nineveh should be overthrown and put out 48 NINEVEH; OR, of the way, so that she might no longer stand as a rival to the newer and growing city. Cyaxares led the Medes, and Nabo- pollasar led the Babylonians. Together they laid siege to Nineveh, and, after a long time, effected an entrance into the city, and took it, and when they had taken it, it was their policy to lay it waste as far as possi- ble. They destroyed the proud palaces, and burned them with fire. They carried off its treasures, and stripped it of all its glory. Henceforth time was to waste it away by slow degrees, until, in after ages, men should inquire where the city had stood. Thus was this great city, which had remained for so many hundreds of years as one of the proudest seats of early em- pire, overthrown. Built, at first, by Assur, not far from 150 years after the flood, it had stood, amid many changes, but in some form, almost THE BURIED CITY. 49 1600 years, as the centre of great move- ments, — the treasnre-honse of a mighty empire. But when, at last, the blow fell, it was a most decisive blow, from which there was no recovery. u This is the rejoicing city, that dwelt carelessly, that said in her heart, I am, and there is none beside me ; how is she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down ! ” 4 50 NINEVEH; OR, CHAPTER IV. FULFILMENT OF PROPHECY IN THE DESTRUCTION OF NINEVEH. This sudden and overwhelming destruc- tion, which had come upon the proud capital of Assyria, had ueen long foretold by the Jewish prophets. In fact we no- where find in the Scriptures so many references to Assyria, and to Nineveh and Babylon, her chief cities, as in these books of prophecy. And before going on with our narrative, it will be useful if we briefly notice some of the principal prophecies which foretell the utter overthrow of the Assyrian Empire, and especially the city of Nineveh. THE BUKIED CITY. 51 The earliest recorded prophecy against Nineveh is that contained in the book of Jonah. But this is not exactly of the same character as the others. Jonah was sent to the city itself to prophesy against it, that thereby the people might be alarmed and brought to repentance. He was more like an ordinary preacher sent to warn the people of their sins, and lead them to a better life. The destruction which he was authorized to declare was conditional, and was, in fact, averted by the fear and repent- ance of the people. But the other proph- ets from whom we shall quote, speak of the rain which is to come upon this proud empire, and upon this great city, in abso- lute terms. They are not in the city, but are standing afar off, and God reveals unto them the things which will certainly come to pass. After Jonah, the earliest of these proph- ets who were especially called to prophesy 52 NINEVEH; OR, upon this subject, was Isaiah. The proph- ecies contained in his book were uttered between the years 760 and 698 before Christ. The beginning of his book, there- fore, dates back 148 years before the de- struction of Nineveh, and he died some eighty years before this event. He wrote many prophecies on this general subject, having reference, for the most part, to the Assyrian empire as a whole, though there are many, also, pointing directly to Baby- lon, whose ruin was to be later by more than a hundred years, than that of Nine- veh. We will take but a single prophecy from Isaiah, having reference clearly to the destruction of the Assyrian Empire itself. This may be found in the tenth chapter. “ Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the Lord hath performed his whole work upon Mount Zion, and upon Jeru- salem, I will punish the fruit of the stout * heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks. THE BURIED CITY. 53 u For he saith, by the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom ; for I am prudent ; and I have removed the bounds of the people, and have robbed their treasures, and I have put down the inhabitants like a valiant man. “ And my hand hath found as a nest the riches of the people ; and as one gathereth eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth, and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth or peeped.’’ * * * * * * * “ Therefore shall the Lord, the Lord of hosts, send among his fat ones leanness, and under his glory, he shall kindle a burn- ing like the burning of a fire.” * # * # * * * “ And shall consume the glory of his forest and of his' fruitful field, both soul and body; and they shall be as when a standard-bearer fainteth. i “ And the rest of the trees of his forest shall be few, that a child may write them.” 54 NINEVEH; OR, Here the lofty pride of the Assyrian kings is described, and their utter ruin and overthrow is clearly predicted. But the language is general, as of one standing at quite a distance, in time, from the days when the prophecy should be fulfilled. We shall find that some of the prophets who lived nearer the event, are much more mi- nute and specific in their descriptions. The prophet Nahum seems to have been especially employed of God to foretell the ruin of Nineveh. His book is a very short one, only three chapters, but it is wholly occupied with this subject. He is supposed to have written in the year 713 before Christ, or just about one hundred years before the fall of Nineveh. We will select a few of the most notable passages in this book, though the whole of it should be read, to understand the terrible earnestness of the language. His prophecy is entitled tk The burden of Nineveh.” THE BURIED CITY. 55 “ He that dasheth in pieces is come up before thy face ; keep the munition, watch the way, make thy loins strong, fortify thy power mightily. * * * * * * * “ The chariots shall rage in the streets, they shall jostle one against another in the broad ways ; they shall seem like torches, they shall run like the lightnings. * * * * * * * “ The gates of the rivers shall be opened and the palace shall be dissolved. ******* “ But Nineveh is of old like a pool of water ; yet they shall flee away. Stand, stand, shall they cry, but none shall look back. “ Take ye the spoil of silver, take the spoil of gold : for there is none end of the store and glory out of all the pleasani furniture. * * * * * * * 56 NINEVEH; OR, “ Wo to the bloody city ! it is full of lies and robbery : the prey departeth not, • •••••• “ And it shall come to pass that all they tfiat look upon thee shall flee from thee, and say Nineveh is laid waste : who will bemoan her, whence shall I seek comfort- ers for thee ? • • • • • • • “ There shall the fire devour thee, the sword shall cut thee off, it shall eat thee up like the canker-worm. # # • • • • • u Thy people is scattered upon the moun- tains and no man gathereth them. “ There is no healing of this bruise, thy wound is grievous, all that hear the bruit of thee shall clap their hands over thee, for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually If this prophecy of Nahum, written a hundred years before the event, had been THE BUTtlED CITY 57 a description, by an eye-witness, of what took place when the combined armies of the Medes and Babylonians entered the city in triumph, it could hardly have been more true and graphic than it is now. The whole prophecy is a picture of sudden and wholesale destruction. Generally, when a great city like this is taken by a conquering army, there is a desire to save it from utter ruin, so that it may serve to increase the power and dominion of the victorious nation. But in this instance the king of Babylon wanted to ruin the place — to blot it from existence so far as he could, that it might not stand as a rival of his own city. And the king of the Medes, who had for his principal motive to revenge the awful wrongs of the past, and especially the death of his own father, was entirely will- ing to lend his hand in an enterprise like this. And so the work of destruction went on. Fire and water, and any and every 58 NINEVEn; OR, agent they could employ were used to lay it in a heap of ruins. The prophecy says, “ The gates of the rivers shall be opened.” This refers, prob- ably, to what was a fact in the taking of the city. At a certain spot where the walls of the city ran along by the river Tigris, Ihe water, in a time of -freshet, had under- mined and weakened them, so that they were almost ready to fall. Here, it is said, the invading army made its entrance. That fire was also freely used to insure its destruction, we shall learn by some interesting facte, which will come out at a later portion of our narrative. The prophet Zephaniah wrote in the year 630 before Christ, only a few years before the destruction of the city. He has one very clear and remarkable prophecy touching the utter ruin which should come upon Nineveh. “ And he will stretch out his hand THE BURIED. CITY. 59 against the north and destroy Assyria ; and will make Nineveh a desolation, and dry like a wilderness. “ And flocks shall lie down in the midst of her, and all the beasts of the nations, both the cormorant and bittern shall lodge in the upper lintels of it : their voice shall sing in the windows : desolation shall be in the thresholds : for he shall uncover the cedar work. “ This is the rejoicing citv that dwelt carelessly, that said in her heart, I am and there is none beside me : how is she be- come a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down in : every one that passeth by her shall hiss and wag his hand.” This is a picture of what might have been seen, doubtless, a hundred years after the conquest of the city, when silence brooded over a place that had so long been full of life, and when the old ruins of walls and palaces" were wasting away by a slow decay. 60 NINEVEH; OR, The prophets Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel wrote after the time of the over- throw of Nineveh, and though they have abundant prophecies respecting a like de- struction which was to come upon Baby- lon, and upon the whole of this old Assyrian power, their prophecies do not, of course, refer distinctly to the ruin of # Nineveh. But the description given by Ezekiel, in the 31st chapter of his book, of the general ruin of this Assyrian Em- pire, is so full of life and beauty and power, that we will, in cfosing this chapter, quote a few sentences from it. “ Behold, the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon with fair branches, and with a shadowing shroud, and of an high stature ; and his top was among the thick boughs. “ The waters made him great, the deep set him up on high with her rivers running round about his plants, and sent out her little rivers unto all the trees of the field. THE BURIED CITY. 61 “ Therefore his height was exalted above all the trees of the field, and his boughs 'were multiplied, and his branches became long because of the multitude of waters, when he shot forth. u All the fowls of heaven made their nests in his boughs, and under his branches did all the beasts of the field bring forth their young, and under his shadow dwelt all great nations. “ Thus was he fair in his greatness, in the length of his branches : for his root was by great waters. “ The cedars in the garden of God could not hide him : the fir-trees were not like his boughs, and the chestnut-trees were not like his branches ; not any tree in the garden of God was like unto him in his beauty. “ I have made him fair by the multitude of his branches; so that all the trees of 62 NINEVEH; OR, Eden, that were in the garden of God, en- vied him. “ Therefore thus saith the Lord God ; Beciuse thou hast lifted up thyself in height, and he hath shot up his top among the thick boughs, and his heart is lifted up in his height ; u I have therefore delivered him into the hand of the mighty one of the heathen ; he shall surely deal with him: I have driven him out for his wickedness. u And strangers, the terrible of the na- tions, have cut him off, and have left him : upon the mountains and in all the valleys his branches are fallen, and his boughs are broken by all the rivers of the land ; and all the people of the earth are gone down from his shadow^ and have left him. “ Upon his ruin shall all the fowls of the heaven remain, and all the beasts of the field shall be upon his branches.” THE BURIED CITY. 63 And so, almost twenty-five centuries ago, this great and proud city fell, and passed by degrees out of the thought and notice of men. And here we take leave of her in her ancient form, to find her again in our own day in another and stranger form. 64 NINEVEH} OR, CHAPTER V AGES OF DESOLATION. When Nineveh was destroyed, as de- scribed in the former chapters, it is not to be supposed that all the inhabitants were instantly removed, and that the place from that moment was left utterly destitute and forsaken. But its glory was all gone. Its line of kings was at an end. Its proud temples and palaces were overthrown. The body of its people were doubtless carried into captivity. Some, probably, stayed behind, who may have kept their abodes among the ruinous heaps which the con- quering and destroying armies had left. * r t l I I I I 1 < Assyrian Priest. Nineveh. Fa?e 65. THE BURIED CITY. 65 But it was a doomed place. The old life had gone. There was little now to attract or make a motive for staying there, and so the remaining inhabitants would from time to time drop away, leaving the work of de- cay to go on unchecked. It is wonderful how soon Nineveh passed from its state of full splendor into niter silence and forgetfulness. Still, we can understand that when left to itself, with no one to repair its rains, or rebuild its walls, the work of dissolution would go on very rapidly. Had its structures been of solid stone, they would have endured for many centuries the action of the elements. But as the chief part of their walls and build- ings were of sun-dried brick, they could not endure the effects of time. Especially when exposed to the copious and long >con- tinued rains which prevail there every year, during what is called the rainy sea- son, they would gradually be softened and 5 ' 6*5 NINEVEIi; OR, washed down to the level of the earth The only parts of the buildings which could withstand this action, as we shall see, were by degrees covered up by the looser and more perishable materials above, and in a few centuries nothing would reach the eye to show that a city had ever stood there. Herodotus, who is called the father of history, and who wrote about 150 years after the fall of Nineveh, makes mention of it, not at all as a place then existing, but as a vanished city. lie travelled exten- sively through all that part of the world, and had the ruins of Nineveh then re- mained, in any thing like the shape they must have had immediately after its over- throw, he would not have spoken of it as he did. His allusions are wholly to some- thing past and gone, and almost forgotten. Xenophon, who lived some thirty or forty vears later, and who was a historian, THE BURIED CITY. 67 as well as a great military leader, is said to have marched his army, in his expe- dition against Persia, across the very spot where the old Nineveh stood, and, though he saw some remarkable remains of old structures, and makes mention of them in his narrative, he seems not to have had the faintest idea that he was on the site of the ancient Assyrian capital. This was less than two hundred years after Nineveh had fallen, and it shows us how fast the process of decay had gone on. Had he found there any thing like those old walls, sixty miles in circuit, one hundred feet high and fifty feet thick, with fifteen hundred towers, his attention must have been at once ar- rested. But two hundred years would suffice, probably, to wash them down almost to a level with the plain. Two hundred years is not a very long time in the whole history of the world, but it is long enough to make sad work with walls r>8 nineveh; or, and towers, built of no stronger materials than these. Alexander the Great, a hundred years later, in his work of Eastern conquest, inarched his armies through this region of country, and fought one of his great bat- tles only a few miles from the place where the old city stood, but the narrative makes no mention even of ruins, and it is likely that he had no knowledge whatever that a great city had ever stood there. All traces of the place, such as would easily and at once arrest the eye of the passing traveller, had probably perished. It is safe to say, that before the time of Christ all certain knowledge of where Nineveh once stood had apparently died out, and if men thought of the city at all, they thought of it as something vanished and lost. For about two thousand years, there- fore, the old prophecies respecting Nineveh have been literally fulfilled. It has been THE BURIED CITY. 69 “a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down in.” In these later ages of the world, since the revival of learning, and since the work of investigation and discovery in every part of the earth has been pushed forward with such vigor, though it has been a com- mon sentiment among scholars and think- ing men that the place where the ancient city stood could not be certainly told, yet, for two or three hundred years, travellers have been inclined to locate it on the river Tigris, opposite a place called Mosul. They have not asserted this positively, but this has been the theory, and it has now been proved true. To show that this has been the common idea for the last two or three centuries, w^e will give a few brief extracts from differ- ent authors. Colonel Campbell, an English traveller of the last century, says : “ It was early in the evening when the 70 NINEVEH; OR, pointed turrets of the city of Mosul opened on our view, and communicated no very unpleasant sensations to my heart. I found myself on Scripture ground, and could not help feeling some portion of the pride of the traveller, when I reflected that I was now within sight of Nineveii, renowned in Holy Writ. The city (Mosul) is seated in a very barren, sandy plain, on the banks of the river Tigris.” Prideaux, who wrote his great work a hundred and fifty years ago, speaking of this ancient city says : “ It is at this day called Mosul, and is only famous for being the seat of the patriarch of the Nestori- ans.” About one hundred years ago the cele- brated German traveller, Niebuhr, went through this portion of the world. He visited this spot, described what he saw, and came to the conclusion that this was indeed the place where, of old, Nineveh had stood. THE BURIED CITY. 71 These, as will be seen, are compara- tively modern authors. Most of the writers who have held this theory with regard to the site of Nineveh, have lived within two hundred years. From that time, back t< a period before the coming of Christ, ver, little was said upon the subject, and then was no • conception, apparently, as to thf precise spot on which the city had stood. It seems like a special providence of God that a city which had been so long the proudest and grandest city of the early world, — the seat of empire, the abode of famous and haughty kings, the place toward which all the nations around looked with fear and trembling, — should be so quickly and utterly wiped off from the face of the earth. It is a most thorough and complete fulfilment of the ancient prophecies, prophecies uttered at a time when nothing seemed more unlikely, to all human view, than such a result as this. 72 NINEVEH; OR, If a number of men should now predict a like fate to the city of London, it would not seem any more strange and improbable to the people of our day than did these prophecies respecting Nineveh to the men who lived in the times of these ancient prophets. u Nineveh to be utterly de- stroyed ! ” they would say, “ to be a place for the birds of the air and the beasts of the field to inhabit ! ” yea, more than this, to be so utterly consumed and forsaken, that for thousands of years men shall not even know, with certainty, where it stood ! Impossible! Why, Nineveh is the very centre of the world! There is more of power and dominion, of riches and glory, gathered there, than at any other place in all the earth ! How is she to be so com- pletely destroyed? Where is the nation or people to come from, to do this ? ” So men would have reasoned, and, doubt- less, did reason. But God had purposed THE BURIED CITY. 73 her overthrow, and, in His own time, it came, with all the suddenness and earnest- ness which the language of the prophets had indicated. The proud capital of the old Assyrian Empire, which had stood so long, in all its stateliness, in a few centu- ries was out of sight, so that men marched their armies over the spot, and knew not that a city had been there. We have already given a few extracts from writers of the last century, showing that modern travellers had formed an opin- ion as to where the city stood, and, as already intimated, that opinion was correct. Little, however, was said or thought about the subject until the present century. In the year 1820, Mr. Rich, an English gentle- man, agent of the East India company, and resident at Bagdad, on the Tigris, interested himself, in his leisure hours, in searching for antiquities through all the surrounding country. His place of resi- 74 NINEVEH; OR, donee was midway between the sites of ancient Nineveh and Babylon, and he made excursions in all directions to pick up any thing curious which he might find around these early seats of empire. He fixed upon the spot where he believed ancient Babylon stood, for this, also, has been a serious question among scholars. He visited the old foundations of Nineveh, and sent home some specimens of the sun- dried brick used in the Assyrian structures, which he happened to find somewhere, in a good state of preservation. Dr. Robin- son, one of our most eminent American scholars, author of “ Researches in Pales- tine and Mt. Sinai,” says of Mr. Rich, “ He obtained a few square sun-dried bricks, with inscriptions, and some other slight remains ; and we can all remember the profound impression made upon the public mind, even by these cursory memo- rials of Nineveh and Babylon.” THE BURIED CITY. 75 The author of this little volume can bear testimony to the f the buildings, as if to guard the en- trances. They would not, therefore, be exposed to the same degree of heat as the inside marbles. The huge brick walls of the lower portions of the structure, to which these inner marbles were fastened, would protect these outside ornaments from any high degree of heat. This seems to us a more reasonable conclusion, than THE BURIED CITY. 101 to suppose that a part of such a structure was burned, and part not. Fire, when it sets to work upon a building, is not likely to stop, unless it is checked by some agency from without, and in the destruction of Nineveh, the conquering hosts who applied the torch were not disposed to stop the burning, or to allow any one else to do it; but, rather, if it should, by any chance, cease of itself, to set it going again. Moreover, in the excavations which have been made at the great mound of Kouy- unjik, just opposite Mosul, though the first discoveries showed that the buildings had been destroyed by fire, yet, in subsequent researches, portions were found which had not been injured. And, very likely, if Botta had continued his work at Khorsabad, he, too, would at length have come upon marbles which were sound and well pre- served. It is true that some of the build- ings which Layard uncovered showed no 102 NINEVEli; OR, traces whatever of fire, and that for a very particular reason, as we may hereafter see. The earth which now covers these ruins — often to the depth of many feet — is, in part doubtless, made from the very materi- als which formed the upper masses of these great structures, reduced to atoms by the slow change and decay of ages, though in part, also, it has been formed by the growth and decay of vegetation from generation 9 to generation. We have once or twice spoken of the “rainy season ” which prevails in that por- tion of the earth. In fact, Layard had commenced his work at Nimroud about the beginning of the rainy season, and he makes frequent mention of the pouring Hoods. Speaking of the rude huts which had been constructed at the mound, for the accommodation of himself and workmen, he says : “ The roofs not being constructed to exclude the winter rains, now setting in. THE BURIED CITY. 103 it required some exercise of ingenuity to escape the torrent which descended into my apartment. I usually passed the night, on these occasions, crowded up in a corner, or under a rude table which I had con- structed. The latter having been sur- rounded by trenches, to carry off the accumulating water, generally afforded the best shelter.” For many days together the rain came down pouringly and incessantly. This rainy season lasts for three or four months, though it is at its height during December and January. As we have al- ready intimated, such seasons occurring every year, would have a mighty effect, in the course of ages, in washing down the soft walls of these ancient cities, and laying them, at last, even with the ground. In the summer months the heat is exces- sive, and Layard was always obliged to suspend his operations during this hot sea- son. Colonel Campbell, a traveller from 104 NINEVEH; OR, whom we have already quoted, and who was at Mosul in the summer, says of the climate, “ The heat is so intense, that in the middle of the day there is no stirring out, and even at night, the walls of the houses are so heated by the day's sun as to produce a disagreeable heat to the body, at a foot, or even a yard distance from them.” This testimony is abundantly con- firmed by our American missionaries who are stationed at Mosul, and who, during this hot season, have to go north, into the more mountainous regions, until the great heat is overpast. Such heat as this occur- ring every summer, would help the rains in carrying on their work of destruction. But to return from this digression to Mr. Layard, and the monsters which he had discovered. He says of them : “ I used to contemplate, for hours, these mysterious emblems, and muse over their intent and history. What more noble THE BURIED CITY. 105 forms could have ushered the people into the temples of their gods ? What more sublime images could have been borrowed from nature, by men who sought, unaided by the light of revealed religion, to em- body their conception of the wisdom, power, and ubiquity of the Supreme. They could find no better type of intellect and knowledge than the head of the man; of strength, than the body of the lion; of rapidity of motion, than the wings of the bird . These human-headed lions were not idle creatures, the offspring of mere fancy ; their meaning was written upon them. They had awed and instructed races that lived three thousand years ago. Through the portals which they guarded, kings, priests, and warriors had borne sacrifices to their altars, long before the wisdom of the East had penetrated to Greece For twenty-five centuries they ‘had been hidden from the eye of man, and now they stood 106 NINEVEH; OR, forth once more in their ancient majesty But how changed was the scene around them ! The luxury and civilization of a mighty nation had given place to the wretchedness and ignorance of a few half- barbarous tribes.” By the end of March he had exhausted, for the most part, the means which Sir Stratford Canning had placed at his dis- posal, and was obliged nearly to suspend operations. Hoping, however, that he should be able to resume his labors, he did not return home to England, but, leaving two men only at work at the ruins, occupied his time in taking a survey of the various mounds scattered about through that re- gion. During the hot weather of summer he went into the country at the north, where the air was cooler. In the mean time he received a letter from Sir Stratford Canning, authorizing him to go on with the work. His success had, hitherto, been THE BURIED CITY. 107 so wonderful, that his work must not stop now. Before commencing operations, in the following autumn, he received another let- ter from Mr. Canning, saying that the directors of the British Museum had taken the matter in hand, and had appropriated money to carry on the enterprise. This was good news, and he came back to the mound about the 1st of November, organ- ized an efficient band of laborers, and pre- pared to commence the work of the second winter, in good earnest. 108 NINEVEH) OR, CHAPTER VII. 8ECOND WINTER’S WORK AT NIMROUD. As we have already intimated, the ope- rations at the mound had not entirely ceased during these summer months. Two men were left at the work when Mr. Layard took his departure in the spring. After receiving his first letter from Sir Stratford Canning, he had returned to the mound for a short time and increased his working force, giving directions what should be done. These natives of the country, ha- bituated to the heat, could remain at their labor during this burning season, though it would have been utterly unsafe for Layard himself to have done so. THE BURIED CITY. 109 But when he came back, about the 1st of November, in the year 1846, he at once called into his employ between one and two hundred men, and set about the work on a far grander scale than before. He now prepared, also, to send home to England — to the British Museum — the best specimens of the stones which he had taken out. This was a w r ork of no little difficulty. In a country where he could not avail himself, to any large extent, of machinery embodying the great mechanical forces, now in use in all civilized lands, it was hard to devise any plans for conveying down the steep side of the mound such an enormous weight of stone as was contained in one of these human-headed lions. But, by the best contrivances he could make, and with the aid of his whole force of men, and of others called in for this special purpose, he did it. This mound was not far from the River Tigris, and so when the 110 NINEVEH*, OR, huge stones were once down upon the plain, the rest of the work was compara- tively easy. They were loaded on im- mense rafts, and floated down the river, a long distance, then taken on board ships and carried home. As the rooms of the great structures he was uncovering were cleared of their rub- bish, and opened to the view, they were found everywhere finished in the peculiar style which has been already described. These huge marble slabs were fastened to the brick walls behind, and firmly bound to each other with iron clamps. On the face of these slabs were cut these endless fig- ures and representations, accompanied, al- ways, with inscriptions, in a strange lan- guage. Almost every imaginable scene was delineated upon this solid stone, wrought out, stroke by stroke, by the slow toil of the cutter. These figures were cut with great delicacy, following out with THE BURIED CITY. Ill faithful accuracy the folds of a garment, or the borders of a fringe. Usually, the scenes represented could not be put upon a single slab, but ran on from one to another, often occupying a large number. In exhibiting, for example, a triumphal procession, where the king would be repre- sented as coming back with his army, after some successful expedition, bringing spoils, and leading with him long trains of cap- tives, it would require a large number of figures properly to represent it. There must be chariots and horses and many men ; and, to illustrate such an event with dignity and force, much space must be occupied upon the wall. And so it was. It was evident that these cuttings in the stone did not take place until they were set in the wall, because when these long- continued representations passed on and ran over from stone to stone, every thing was just as accurate and well joined at the 112 NINEVEH; OR, seams of the stones as anywhere else, which would not have been had these cut- tings taken place while the stones were lying apart. It was clear that they had first been smoothed and set in the w alls, and then the graver wrought upon them precisely as though he were at work upon one long-continued stone. He paid no re- gard, whatever, to the seams, and they were, in fact, so closely and nicely joined, as to occasion him no trouble. When it is remembered how long a time it takes one to cut upon a solid stone even a single figure of a man or animal, what a slow and tedious process it is to form in this way a tassel, or leaf, or flower, or even a single letter, and then, w 7 hen w^e bear in mind that this kind of work covers all these huge slabs of marble, room after room, and through all the passage-ways of the lower stories of these immense Nine- veh palaces, the mind is lost in the magni- 113 THE BURIED CITY. tude of the work. How many hands mast have been kept busy, year after year, to chisel out, so skilfully and accurately, these endless scenes and representations ! To give our readers some faint idea of the immense extent of this work, we will take a single section of wall, in one of the large rooms of what Mr. Layard calls the northwest palace, at the mound Nimroud. It is, in fact, the largest room in the palace, being more than 160 feet long, and thirty feet wide. We take, for our illustration, a part of one side of this room. The slabs here, if we rightly understand the measure- ment, are not far from eleven feet high. In width they are unequal. Some of them are not more than five or six feet, while others are from twelve to fifteen feet wide. Thirteen slabs fill a space about 120 feet long, and consequently they have an aver- age width of between eight and nine feet. It was a matter of no consequence that the 8 114 nineyeh; or, slabs should be of the same width, because, as we have already said, they were nicely joined together, and the scenes represented passed directly over these joinings, as if the whole had been one stone. To pro- duce a sense of harmony and order, how- ever, it was necessary that all the slabs in any one room should be of the same height ; but the width might vary accord- ing to convenience. We have these thirteen slabs, eleven feet high, and reaching on for a distance of 120 feet, firmly bound to the massive brick wall behind, and clamped snugly together, with iron or copper fastenings, presenting a smooth surface for the work of the graver His work consisted in cutting away the general surface of this stone, leaving all the objects and figures which he wished to represent standing out about half an inch from the mass of rock. Having thus a clear view of the nature of this business, THE BUKIED CITY. 115 we may have some conception of the im- mense work to be done, to finish off, accu- rately and completely, this one section now standing before us, ready for the workman. Let us now give, as clearly as we can, a description of the scenes which Mr. Layard found cut, and most perfectly preserved, upon that one section of wall. In the first place, the whole reach of this surface was divided into two sections, the upper and lower, by inscriptions in the strange language before spoken of (the arrow-headed language, as it is called, from the resemblance of the characters, or letters, to the heads of arrows), running across the slabs, about midway from the top and bottom. This would give about five feet above, and five below, for the illus- tration of battles, sieges, or whatever else was to be represented. We will give some idea of what was thus actually represented, sometimes using 116 NINE veii; OR, the language of Mr. Layard, and sometimes our own, when we have not space to give his in full. “ The two upper (above the line of in- scription) bas-reliefs on slabs Nos. 3 and 4, formed one subject — the king followed by warriors, in battle with his enemies, under the walls of a hostile castle. He stands, gorgeously attired, in a chariot, drawn, as usual, by three horses, richly caparisoned. He is discharging an arrow, either against the besieged, who are de- fending the towers and walls, or against a warrior, who, already wounded, is tumbling from his chariot, one of his horses having fallen to the ground. An attendant pro- tects the person of the king with a shield, whilst the second is holding the reins and urging on the horses. A warrior, fallen from the chariot, is almost under the horses’ feet.” ****** ' - 4 ■' ■ ' * - . Nineveh. **n«o 117. THE BURIED CITY. 117 u Behind the king are three chariots, the first, drawn by three horses, one of which is rearing and another falling, is occupied by a warrior already pierced by an arrow, and apparently demanding quarter of the pursuers. In the two other chariots are two warriors, one discharging an arrow, the other guiding the horses, which are at full speed. In each chariot is a standard. * * * * * * =* “ At the bottom of the first bas-relief are wavy lines, which indicate water, or a river, and trees are scattered over both. Groups of men, fighting or slaying the enemy, are introduced in several places, and three headless bodies above the princi- cipal figures in the second bas-relief, repre- sent the dead in the back ground. “ On the next two slabs was the return after victory. In front of the procession are several warriors carrying heads, and throwing them at the feet of the conquer- 118 NINEVEH; OR, ors. .... They are followed by the war- riors who were represented in battle in the previous bas-relief, now unarmed, and holding their standard before them ; above them flies an eagle, with a human head in his talons. Behind them is the king, car- rying in one hand his bow and in the other two arrows probably denoting tri- umph over his enemies.” Several other figures are also described, but we have given enough to indicate the general character of this particular piece. Next after this triumphal procession we have a representation of the “ castle and pavilion ” of the conquering king, nowin a state of rest and enjoyment after the con- quest of his enemies. The castle is “ di- vided into four compartments, and sur- rounded by towers and battlements. In each compartment there are figures, ap- parently engaged in various culinary occu- . pations, and preparing a feast ; one is THE BURIED CITY. 119 holding a sheep, which the other is cutting up. Another is baking bread. Various bowls and utensils are placed on stools, all remarkable for the elegance of their forms.” And then follows a long description of other things in this representation, such as grooms cleaning and rubbing down the horses, horses feeding at their troughs, the canopies and awnings under which the monarch reposed, mythological figures and the like, which we will omit. “ The four following bas-reliefs represent a battle, in which the king and the war- riors, with their standards, .... are rep- resented in chariots ; and four warriors . ... on horses. The enemy are on foot, some wounded and some dead, others dis- charging their arrows against the pursuers. Eagles fly above the victors, and one is already feeding on a dead body These bas-reliefs are executed with great spirit, particularly that containing the horsemen.” 120 NINEVEH; OR, These constitute the upper series of rep- resentations, filling that portion of the stones which is above the inscriptions. “ On the lower series of bas-reliefs are represented three subjects; the siege of a castle, the king receiving his prisoners, and the king with his army crossing a river.” “ The first occupies the under compart- ments of three slabs. The greater part of the castle is in the centre bas-relief. It has three towers, apparently several walls, one behind the other. They are all surmounted by angular battlements. The besiegers have brought a battering ram .... up to the wall, from which many stones have already been dislodged and are falling. One of the besieged has succeeded in catching the ram by a chain, and is endeav- oring to raise or move it from its place, whilst two warriors of the assailing party are holding it down by hooks, to which they are hanging. Another is throwing THE BURIED CITY. 121 fire, from above, upon the engine Three of the besieged are falling from the walls, and upon one of the towers are two women, tearing their hair, and extending their hands as if in the act of asking for mercy. The enemy are already mounting to the assault, and scaling ladders have been placed against the walls.” The description goes on still, at consid- erable length. “ Upon the lower part of the three next slabs is the king receiving captives.” “ The three remaining bas-reliefs are highly interesting and curious. The first represents a boat containing a chariot in which is the king.” The whole is too long for quotation, but is designed to represent the manner of crossing rivers by armies, when they are making their expeditions. Now these representations, containing, as will be seen, a very great number of human figures, in their various costumes, 122 NINEVEH; OR, horses and chariots with their rich and costly equipage, natural objects in great abundance and variety, were all cut upon this one section of wall which we are attempting to describe. And there is more even on this section than we have given, for at one spot the slabs had fallen down and had been so broken by the fall that the representations could not be traced. It is evident, also, from the discoveries made, that it was the custom of the As- syrians, after the cuttings were completed, • to cover the figures with bright red paint, which would make a very strong contrast to the dull brownish stone upon which they stand represented. Traces of this paint were found in many places, though, as a matter of course, it had mostly per- ished. When colored in this way, the fig- ures would stand out with great distinctness, and the effect, on entering these halls, must have been brilliant in the extreme. And THE BURIED CITY. 123 this explains and illustrates a passage in the book of the prophet Ezekiel, in the 23d chapter. “ She saw men portrayed upon the walls, the images of the Chaldeans portrayed with vermilion ; girded with girdles upon their loins, exceeding in dyed attire upon their heads, all of them princes to look to after the manner of the Baby- lonians of Chaldea, the land of their nativity.” The customs of Babylon and Nineveh were doubtless the same in this respect, and this passage is not only most impressive in this connection, but shows us the wonderful truth and accuracy of the Scriptures. Had these discoveries never been made, we might never have known exactly what this passage meant, but now its meaning comes out in all its fulness and beauty. Those who have seen these marble slabs (for there are many of them now in this country) have felt that it was hard to see the figures clearly, except 124 NINEVEH; OR, in a good light. But when covered with this vermilion, as they, probably, all were, they would stand out in great splendor. Now when it is remembered that this section of 120 feet which we have described, is only the merest item of this one build- ing, that is, in fact only a part of one room, which was 160 feet in length, thirty in breadth, and had these sculptured slabs all around it, while the whole palace contained thirty or forty apartments, not, generally, so large, it is true, but still large, which were finished off in the same manner, besides a great central hall 160 by ninety feet, — when these things are borne in mind, our readers may have some conception of the amazing work of constructing even one of these vast buildings. If all the sculptured * walls in this one palace were stretched out in a straight line, it would reach, probably, not much less than a mile in length, and might even exceed a mile. THE BURIED CITY. 125 The impression which such a scene as this was fitted to make upon the mind, is very finely expressed in a letter by a Mr. Longworth, an English gentleman, who visited Mr. Layard while he was at work at Nimroud. He says : “ I took the opportunity, whilst at Mosul, of visiting the excavations of Nimroud. But before I attempt to give a short ac- count of them, I may as well say a few words as to the general impression w T hich these wonderful remains made upon me, on my first visit to them. I should begin by stating that they are all under ground. To get at them, Mr. Layard has excavated the earth to the depth of twelve to fifteen feet, where he has come to a building com- posed of slabs of marble. In this place, which forms the northwestern angle of the mound, he has fallen upon the interior of a large palace, consisting of a labyrinth of halls, chambers, and galleries, the walls of 12(5 NINEVEH; OR, which are covered with bas-reliefs, and inscriptions in the cuneiform (wedge- shaped) character, all ill excellent preser- vation The time of day when I lirst descended into these chambers hap- pened to be toward evening, the shades of which, no doubt, added to the awe and mystery of (lie surrounding objects. It was, of course, with no little excitement that I suddenly found myself in the mag- nificent abode of the old Assyrian kings, where, moreover, it needed not the slightest effort of imagination to conjure up visions of their long-departed power and greatness. The walls themselves were crowded with phantoms of the past. In the words of Byron, i Three thousand years their cloudy wings expand,’ unfolding to view a vivid representation of those who conquered and possessed so large a portion of the earth which we now inhabit My mind was overpowered by the contemplation of THE BURIED CITY 127 so many strange objects, and some of them, the portly forms of kings and viziers, were so life-like, and carved in such fine relief, that they might almost be imagined to be stepping from the walls, to question the rash intruder upon their privacy. Then, mingled with them were other monstrous shapes, the old Assyrian deities, with hu- man bodies, long drooping wings, and the heads and beaks of eagles : or, still faith- fully guarding the portals of the deserted halls, the colossal forms of winged lions and bulls, with gigantic human faces. All these figures, the idols of a religion long since dead and buried like themselves, seemed actually, in the twilight, to be raising their desecrated heads from the sleep of centuries ; certainly, the feeling of awe which they inspired me with must have been something akin to that experi- enced by their heathen votaries of old.” Soon after the return of Mr. Layard to 128 NINEVEH; OR, Nimroud, in the fall of 1846, he despatched his first cargo of Nineveh marbles to Eng- land. Before the end of December he had fitted out and started off another cargo. He says, “ On Christmas day I had the satisfaction of seeing a raft, bearing twenty- three cases, floating down the river. I watched them till they were out of sight, and then galloped in to Mosul to celebrate the festivities of the season.” There is a Christian population at Mosul, as well as Mahometan, and this portion of the people would keep Christmas, and Mr. Layard, as a good Englishman, kept the day with them, having a lively remembrance, no doubt, of England and old times. The superstitious people round about had, by this time, got over, in a measure, their foolish fears, and they used to come to the mound and look on, with a strange and solemn wonder, at what was going forward. The followers of Mahomet, in THE BURIED CITY. 129 spite of their ignorance and stupidity, are as proud and bigoted as any people upon the face of the earth, and it is hard for them, under any circumstances, to confess that the men of another faith can, by any possibility, be wiser than they are. In their visits to the mound, they offered their pro- found and sagacious remarks, to the great amusement of Mr. Layard. An Arab sheikh, the chief of one of the wandering tribes of the country, happening to be present, and to be a witness of the process of taking one of these huge winged lions, already spoken of, down from the mound to the Tigris, to be sent home, was evidently a good deal struck with the power, wisdom, and skill of Mr. Layard, and, after the operation was over, he came up and addressed him as follows : “ Wonderful ! wonderful ! There is surely no god but God, and Mahomet is his prophet. In the name of the Most 9 130 NINEVEH; OR, High, tell me, O Bey, what are you going to do with those stones ? So many thou- sands of purses spent upon such things ! Can it be, as you say, that your people learn wisdom from them ; or is it as his reverence the Cadi declares, that they are to go to the palace of your queen, who, with the rest of the unbelievers, worships these idols? As for wisdom, these figures will not teach you to make any better knives or scissors or chintzes, and it is in the making of these things that the Eng- lish show their wisdom. But God is great ! God is great! Here are stones which have been buried ever since the time of holy Noah — peace be with him ! Perhaps they were under the ground before the deluge. T have lived on these lands for years. My father, and the father of my father pitched their tents here before me, but they never heard of these figures. For twelve hundred years have the true believers (and praise be THE BURIED CITY. 131 to God! all true wisdom is with them alone) been settled in this country, and none of them ever heard of a palace under ground. Neither did they that went before them. But lo ! here comes a Frank (mean- ing a man from Europe), from many days’ journey off, and he walks up to the very place, and he takes a stick (illustrating the description at the same time with the point of his spear), and makes a line here, and makes a line there. Here, says he, is the palace, there, says he, is the gate ; and he shows us what has been all our lives be- neath our feet without our having known anything about it. Wonderful! wonder ful ! Is it by books, is it by magic, or is v. by your prophets, that you have learnec these things ? Speak, O Bey ! tell me the secret of wisdom.” It was new business to these wild Arabs of the desert, who live mainly by hunting and plunder, to be employed, as many of 132 NINEVEIi; OR, them now were, in digging at the mound. One night, when Mr. Layard was returning to Nimroud from a little distance, he came upon a lot of his Arab laborers, in full chase after a flock of sheep, belonging to some one in a neighboring village. They were pursuing them with their wild war- cry, endeavoring, doubtless, to capture them as prey, and bear them off to the mound for cooking. They were somewhat abashed by meeting Mr. Layard, but apologized after this fashion. “ O Bey ! God be praised, we have eaten butter and wheaten bread under your shadow, and are content ; but an Arab is an Arab. It is not for a man to carry about dirt in baskets, and use a spade all his life, he should be with his sword and his mare in the desert. We are sad as we think of the days when we plundered the Anayza, and we must have excitement, or our hearts would break. Let us, then, believe that these are the THE BUKIED CITY. 133 sheep we have taken from the enemy, and that we are driving them to onr tents ? ” The results of this winter’s work were great and important. The whole of this mound Nimroud was so far explored that Layard felt himself in possession of all the substantial secrets which it contained. He found here four great and distinct structures, which he named the “ north- west palace,” the u southwest palace,” the “ central palace,” and the “ southeast edi- fice,” Though this mound Nimroud is not so large as some others in that region, yet the distance across the top of it, in one direction is fully a quarter of a mile, and in the other direction more than an eighth of a mile, so that there was abundant room upon it for these four great structures, with an immense space still unoccupied. There was also, near the “ northwest pal- ace,” a high pyramidal heap, rising much above the general surface of the mound 3 134 NINEVEH; OR, which was examined, to some extent, with- out any great results. This may be the ruinous pile of some lofty tower of brick, to which the possessors of the palaces might resort when they wished to take a look far abroad over the surrounding plain. » Layard also, during this winter, made some examinations at Kouyunjik, and other places. The results obtained were much like those already described, but we have not time to mention them in detail. In Mr. Layard’s second visit to Nineveh, in the year 1848, he operated especially upon this mound Kouyunjik, and found there the great palace of Sennacherib, the largest structure which has yet been uncov- ered in the Assyrian Empire. “ It con- tained at least three spacious halls, one of them 150 feet by 125, and two long gal- leries (one of 200 and one of 185 feet), besides innumerable chambers, and the THE BURIED CITY. 135 excavated portion of it covers an area of nearly 40,000 square yards, or above eight acres.” We shall not, however, attempt to fol- low Mr. Layard through the details of this second expedition, some of which belong to Nineveh and some to Babylon, though, so far as we have occasion, we shall use the results of these researches for the illus- tration of our subject. We purpose, in the next chapter, to make some general observations, touching these mounds and the great structures built upon them. 136 NINEVEH; OR, CHAPTER VIII. GENERAL OBSERVATIONS UPON TTIESE ASSYRIAN MOUNDS AND BUILDINGS. We have already gone sufficiently into the details of what was discovered at Nin- eveh, to prepare the mind for some general inquiries touching the meaning of these great mounds and the immense structures built upon them. Our readers have, with- out doubt, reached the main conclusions to be drawn from the facts given, but it will be well if we state the matter in full, that we may have a clear view of this old Assyrian civilization. % These mounds, then, are vast artificial hills, built up by the slow labor of man, to THE BURIED CITY. 137 serve as the lofty foundations of these great structures. As we have already said, this country about the Euphrates and Ti- gris rivers is a far-reaching plain, — the old plain of Shinar, — and no such formations as these mounds are at all natural to it. Some of our readers may have thought that these mounds were nothing more than the ruinous heaps of the old structures themselves ; that the buildings, as they fell, and mouldered back to dust, left these huge piles of matter. Large as these structures were, they were not large enough for that. We shall gain a fuller conception of the size of these formations as we go on. But it is sufficient to say, that the ruins of the greatest buildings yet discov- ered in that part of the world could make no approach, in size, to the immensity of these mounds. But we need not argue the point in this way. The very foundations of these 138 NINEVEH; OR. buildings are on the top, or near the top, of the mounds. Layard was at work, of course, among the very foundations. All the upper portions of the structures had perished, and in their ruin had helped to make the rubbish which covered the lower story. When this rubbish was cleared away to the depth of twelve or fifteen feet, the foundation relics of the buildings ap- peared. The mound itself, where he prin- cipally worked, was some fifty or sixty feet high. So that the very lowest stones of these palaces must have been some forty or fifty feet above the surrounding plain. The mound, then, was first built up to give this proud and stately height for the building to stand upon. The grandeur of the palace or temple, or whatever great edifice was to be constructed, would shine out far more clearly from such an elevated basis. These mounds were built up only for the great and costly buildings, — the THE BURIED CITY. 139 palaces of the kings, the temples of the gods, or the treasure-houses of the empire. The buildings where the people lived, — the swarming multitudes that dwelt within the vast enclosure of the walls, — were made, doubtless, of the sun-dried brick of the country, — quickly built, and quick to perish and disappear when left to them- selves. Layard tells us, that the dwellings of many of the people in that part of the world are still built in the same way, and that when deserted, and left to the action of the elements, they are soon crumbled and washed down. In a few years, com- paratively, the spot where they stood would hardly be known from any otheY place, and this is the reason why the great city of Nineveh, the city of “ three days’ journey,” the city in which u were more than six- score thousand persons that could not dis- cern between their right hand and their left hand,” — so suddenly disappeared from the 140 NINEVEH; OR, face of the earth, and men could not tell where it had stood. The walls of the city and the innumerable dwellings of the com- mon people had all been washed away, and made level with the ground. The proud palaces and temples on these artificial hills had been burned with fire, and what remained of them, and was to remain till our day, had been covered with the mould- ering ruins, so that the grass grew over them, and the sheep and goats pastured upon them. But to return to these mounds. Nothing can give us a more impressive idea of the pride of these Assyrian monarchs, of the state and grandeur in which they aspired to live, using the toiling millions only for their own pleasure and exaltation, than to think of the work of building one of these artificial hills. We have already hinted at the immensity of these heaps. Those at Nineveh, even the largest of them, are not THE BURIED CITY. 141 so large as some that are found on the old site of the city of Babylon, for Babylon was later in history than Nineveh, and it would be the natural ambition of every one of these proud monarchs, long as their dominion lasted, to outdo all that had gone before them. We will, perhaps, refer to some of these Babylonian relics by and by. But let us now confine ourselves to Nineveh. We will take the largest of the four great mounds that stand upon the old site of the city, the mound Kouyunjik, opposite Mosul. Khorsabad, Karamles, and Nimroud, are the other three, and besides, there are many smaller ones, but Kouyunjik exceeds them all. This mound, as measured, is said to be forty-three feet in perpendicular height, and 7,691 feet, or as near as may be one mile and a half, \ in circumference. Its sides are steep, and its top is level like a plain. We suppose that the distance about Boston 142 NINEVEH; OR, Common may be three fourths of a mile, or it may be a little more. Those who are familiar with the Common may take that as a kind of guide to the surface covered by this one mound, and those who are not familiar with Boston, may mark out in their own minds any spot which shall be a little less than half a mile square. Think of the work of covering that spot, to the height of forty-three feet, with earth brought from a distance, simply to serve as a grand foundation for one of these lofty structures. Many people have watched, with no little interest, the operation of filling the Back- bay in Boston, which has been going on some two years, or more, and have thought, considering the nature of the work, that it progressed very rapidly. A gang of men, with huge steam-shovels, loading a car in half a minute, with powerful engines, which drag at once thirty or forty loaded cars swiftly to the spot where they are THE BURIED CITY. 143 emptied, with relays of hands, so that this process may be kept going day and night, have succeeded in building up, to the depth of ten, fifteen, or twenty feet, quite a little spot of ground. But they have not yet covered a greater space than that occu- pied by this mound of Kouyunjik, and they have not carried their work to more than one third the height of that. Now these Assyrians had no steam-shovels, or engines, or dirt-cars. The earth that made iiat mound was, probably, all brought in baskets on the shoulders of men; not, per- haps, from a very great distance, but not less than half a mile. Some of the repre- sentations on the walls of Assyrian and Egyptian cities (for Egypt and Assyria belonged to the same period of the world, and their methods of labor and general style of civilization were the same) show us how this work was done. Each man that wrought in this labor had two. small 144 NINEVEn; OR, baskets or buckets, suspended from the ends of a small wooden bar. This timber was placed on his shoulder, and one of these baskets was before him and one be- hind. After depositing his load, he returned to the place where the earth was dug. There was, probably, a division of labor, to this extent; that some men filled the baskets, and others carried them. Each carrier, as he returned, would leave his empty baskets and take up a pair that were full* This was, of course, a very slow opera- tion, if only a few men were employed upon it* But in those old empires, they made up by numbers what was wanting in power. Fifty thousand men, working even in this way, would pile up a great heap of earth in a few days, and when their labors were extended through years, it is easy to see that even such mounds as this could be built Assyrian Figure. Nineveh. Page 145. THE BURIED CITY. 145 The captives taken in war, of which the Assyrians, in the days of their pride and glory, had an uncounted multitude, were largely employed in such labors. The ten tribes of Israel, which Shalmaneser, king of Nineveh, carried captive, of whom Tobit was one, may have helped to build some of the very mounds which are now found on the site of this haughty old city. Under that old empire men did not live as we do now in this free land. They were not left, each one to build his own house, or till his own farm, or otherwise enjoy the fruit of his labor and industry. They were at the call of the monarch, and must do his pleasure. If even half of the men of Massachusetts could be summoned together at the mere will of one man, and set upon such works as these, what enter- prise so vast that it could not be soon ac- complished. Though Kouyunjik is the largest mound 10 146 NINEVEH; OR, among the ruins of Nineveh, it is not the largest, as has been already suggested, in the region covered by this old Assyrian civilization. Some thirty or forty miles below, on the Tigris, is a mound almost three miles in circuit, which has not been thoroughly explored, but has been suffi- ciently examined to reveal traces of old sculpture and bricks, and show that it is an artificial mound, constructed for the same general purpose as the others. It is not known whether it marks the spot where some old city stood, or whether it may have been a foundation for a grand and magnificent palace, built by one of the kings of Nineveh, as a place to which he might retire from the noise of the city, or to gratify his pride and pleasure. The mound called Babil ; on the site of ancient Babylon, is not larger in circuit than the mound Nimroud, where Layard excavated, but is remarkable for its great THE BURIED CITY. 147 height, 140 feet. This is supposed to be the foundation of the famous temple of Belus, or Bel. A mile south of this mound Babil, begins a succession of these high mounds, reaching on, almost continuously, for two miles, along the River Euphrates. In some proud palace, built on these lofty artificial heights, doubtless Nebuchadnez- zar walked, his eye ranging far abroad over the city, and the surrounding country, when he said, in the swelling pride of his heart, “ Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom, by the might of my power, and for the honor of my majesty ? ” At different places throughout the lands occupied by the Assyrian and Babylonian empires, these mounds remain, to show us at this day the pomp and grandeur of these ancient monarchs, and to prove true what the Bible has told us of their pride and lust of dominion. Vast as these 148 NINEVEH; OR, mounds are, rising as they do, many of them, to the proportions of mountains, no one who has given the subject any exam- ination, now doubts that they were actu- ally built up in this way by the hand of man, in slow and toilsome labor. At some places, not far off from them, the depres- sions in the plain are yet distinctly visible, showing the spots whence the earth was taken. We come, now, to the great structures erected upon these mounds. The course of our narrative, in previous chapters, has led us to say much more of these than of the mounds themselves ; but the subject is fruitful, and much more remains to be said. It seems to us, that some of the conclu- sions drawn by Mr. Layard from the facts which he has given, fall far short of the truth. He has not exaggerated, but, from the best opinions we can form on the sub- THE BURIED CITY. 149 ject, he does not come nearly up to the reality, as respects the probable height and splendor of these great structures. He has given us the facts in the case, and it is allowable for us, though far distant from the scenes of his magnificent discoveries, to reason upon these facts. He seems to suppose that these buildings which he uncovered were not, probably, carried up very far above these sculptured stones ; that a roof was thrown across, and light admitted probably through the roof ; that he found no traces of windows in these sculptured walls, the only breaks which occurred in them being doors and passage-ways. Now we cannot for one moment believe that the Assyrian monarchs, who under- stood so well the majesty of height and grand proportions, would first build up, with such immense labor and expense, a lofty mound, as the basis of the palace, — 150 NINEVEH; OR, construct the foundations on such a scale of grandeur and extent, and then end the whole affair, and bring it to a summary conclusion, just above, by throwing a flat roof across, thus making a building, which had first been lifted up so high in the air, and occupying a space on the ground of some three hundred to four hundred feet square, not more than fifteen or twenty feet high. Our idea is, that these palaces rose proudly into the air, to the height of a hundred feet or more. This heavy stone work, the only part preserved, is on the ground floor, where it would naturally be. But what should hinder a people who built the walls of their cities hundreds of feet high, from carrying up this structure, with brick and timber, so as to give it a proud and lofty proportion. Mr. Layard found no windows in the stonewalls, and we should expect none. This lower story THE BURIED CITY. 151 may have been twenty-five or thirty feet high, and there was space enough between the upper line of these slabs and the floor above for all the windows they might' choose to have. Had these windows been low down, among the slabs, they would have been out of place to the eye, they would have interfered with the representa- tions upon the walls, and, what is more, the light would not have come in properly to reveal the figures. It should have come from above. Every thing has perished, of course, down to the upper line of these heavy slabs. They make the first point of effectual resistance to this ruin and decay. The fact, there- fore, that he found no windows, is of no consequence whatever. It was not to be supposed that he would find any. He did, however, find such heaps of matter lying above these slabs, as would seem to indicate that the upper portions of 152 NINEVEH; OR, these structures must have been huge and massive, for these overlying heaps must, as it seems to us, have been formed, mainly, out of the perished materials of the build- ings themselves. The silent growth and decay of vegetation would add something to the pile in the slow course of ages. But there would also be a loss all the while. These mounds, rising high up in the air, blown upon by the winds of heaven, would continually yield some portion of their loose dust to the plains below. The pour- ing rains would also wash the upper sur- face, and carry more or less matter down the sides. From the very circumstances of the case, from the way these mounds would be acted upon continually by the winds and the rains, there would, on the whole, be a loss, rather than a gain, in this overlying substance. Had these buildings stood upon the plain, like the old mins of Thebes, then the THE BURIED CITY. 153 tendency would have been exactly the other way. The wind, thrown into eddies as it played around the mins, would be forever dropping its particles of dust, until, in the course of ages, the ruins themselves would be partly, or wholly covered, by matter brought from a distance. But the heaps lying above the palaces of Nineveh would seem to be formed mainly out of the perished materials of the buildings themselves, showing that they were massive and lofty. As has been already stated, Layard had to excavate to the depth of twelve or fifteen feet to come at these ruins. We judge that something like this con- clusion must have impressed itself upon other minds, as well as upon our own. In an article ir the North American Review upon the Assyrian Empire, recently pub- lished, the writer, speaking upon this gen- eral subject, refers to a work which we have 154 NINEYEIi; OR, not seen, and uses the following language respecting it : “ Ferguson, an English architect, has paralleled, in his department, the feats of the naturalist who, from a bone or a scale, constructs the form of some extinct animal. From the ruins of the great palace he has reconstructed their former dazzling gran- deur. In the midst of the level landscape, rose, in the first place, an immense artificial hill. The excavations from which the soil came may still be distinctly traced in de- pressions and vast swamps. On all sides this elevation was faced with walls of solid masonry. Upon the lofty platform, on its summit, was built the palace. Fortification- like cliffs rose near it, a hundred feet high, and wide enough at the top for three char- iots abreast. At frequent intervals towers shot up to a still loftier elevation. The platform was ascended by a stately flight of steps. The foot of the visitor trod upon THE BURIED CITY. 155 slabs covered or inlaid with handsome de- * signs Upward, tier above tier, into the blue heavens, ran lines of colonnades, pillars of costly cedar, cornices glittering with gold, capitals blazing with vermilion, and between them voluminous silk cur- tains, interwoven with threads of gold. The wind from Media came breathing through those aerial pavilions, and, far down to the alabaster lions and the plumed divinities, they whispered of the glory of the Great King.” Now this conception seems to us far more natural and probable than the ideas of Mr. Layard. We cannot think that the Assyrian monarchs, after so grand a begin- ning, would come to so “ lame and impo- tent a conclusion.” The picture which the writer from whom we have just quoted draws of the splen- dors of the finished palace, and the view opened from its height to the proud and 156 NINEVEH; OR, aspiring monarch who takes his survey from the roof, is so graphic and beautiful, and at the same time so true to the spirit and genius of the Assyrian royalty, that we cannot forbear quoting it. “ Let us ascend with the possessor of all this pomp to the roof of the towering pal- ace where altars stand for sacrifice. Hun- dreds of feet below, the Tigris washes the foundations, and shoots its waters into the artificial channels winding everywhere through the land. From an unfinished temple near at hand comes the hum of unwonted captives. In the distance, along the river, in gay barges, approaches the train of some subjugated prince, bearing offerings The great king turns his haughty, branded face to the southward, where the messengers of Hezekiah ap- proach, bringing thrones and couches. These are the camel-trains of Ezion-Geber, with the wealth of Ophir, from Southern THE BURIED CITY. 157 Arabia, with spice, frankincense, and myrrh, train after train, until all the robber winds of the desert, from rifling the bales fling perfumes everywhere through the wilder- ness. He turns his face to the east, and in his dark Assyrian eye there is a light, as he thinks of the intractable Mede scourged into servitude. Northward rise peaks covered with snow He looks west- ward, long and thoughtfully. His breast heaves under its covering of gems, and new pride sits in his haughty face. Was it not there, with the dash of the Mediter- ranean in his ear, that he pressed his foot upon the necks of the great Phenician princes, lords of the continuous city stretch- ing northward from Acre two hundred miles to Aradus ? . . . . By the side of the king, on the altar, burns the eternal fire, — kindled in Chaldea by sages who had seen Noah. Well may he bow and wor- ship Nineveh, his god, who had set bis favored son on such a pinnacle.” 158 NINEVEH; OR, These mounds and palaces, found so numerously in all that quarter of the world, are by no means the work of one man or one age. They were built under the care and direction of the several monarchs who reigned in Assyria, for hundreds of years. Some of these monarchs would, undoubt- edly, be of a more quiet and contented turn of mind, and would rest satisfied with the splendid edifices which they found already prepared for them, without troubling them- selves to add to the stately structures of the empire. Others would be full of am- bition, burning to set their glory as palace or temple builders, above all that had gone before them. Esar-haddon, the son of that Sennacherib who came back defeated from Judea, and whose rage and madness could not long be endured, seems to have been one of the prominent builders. An in- scription, somewhere found on these old monuments, says of him, “ In Assyria and THE BUB I ED CITY. 159 Mesopotamia he built no fewer than thirty temples, shining with silver and gold, and splendid as the sun.” On the mound Nimroud, which Layard uncovered, he found clear evidence that the process of rebuilding was actually going on in one of those structures at the time the city was destroyed. He found a place where a large quantity of slabs had been taken down from the walls, and laid ready for removal, and another place where they were setting up these same slabs, turning their faces to the back wall, preparatory to new cutting upon the other side. The immense labor, therefore, which must have been expended upon the mounds, palaces, and temples of ancient Nineveh, reached through a course of many hundred years, while the empire was coming up to its height. Bricks, which entered so largely into this Assyrian architecture, were of two kinds, 160 NINEVEH; OR, the sun-dried and the kiln-burnt, and the manner of making them among the As- syrians was doubtless essentially the same as with the Egyptians. This was the labor in which the lives of the children of Israel were made hard, u in mortar and in brick,” during their sore bondage under the Pha- raohs of Egypt. In the sun-dried brick only was the straw used. This was trod into the mortar before the brick was shaped, and helped to give firmness and consistency by tying the whole mass together, as with threads. With the Egyptians, to make a certain number of these bricks was a day’s work, the straw being furnished. But when the children of Israel began to grow uneasy in their hard servitude, Pharaoh, reasoning as wicked and hard-hearted ty- rants generally do, thought that he could cure them of their uneasiness, by taking away this straw, and still requiring them to return the same number of brick at the THE BURIED CITY. 161 end of the day. To do this, they must go great distances, and gather for themselves the coarse stubble left upon the fields, often consuming their time in fruitless efforts to find it, making it almost impossible to fin- ish their allotted tasks. A haughty tyranny like this almost always uses itself up in this world, by becoming so arrogant and unreasonable that it is no longer possible for God or man to endure it. Could it only keep itself in a moderate and some- what reasonable state, its dominion might last. But it grows violent and overbearing by what it feeds upon, and is, at length, no longer to be borne. So it was in Egypt, so it was in Assyria, so it was in Rome, and so it will be with every system of des- potism where one man makes multitudes of his fellow-men the mere instruments of his pleasure and pride, with no pity for their sorrows, and no mercy for them in their toils. 11 162 NINEVEH; OR, The Kiln-burn brick were used where greater strength was needed, or where open exposure to the weather would quickly use up those of the other kind. It is probable that the top of these great mounds were levelled, and covered with these burnt brick. The sides of the mounds, around almost their whole extent, are supposed to have been faced with solid perpendicular walls, of the sun-dried brick. Nothing was spared which could give these great works pomp and majesty, but of the upper finish and decorations we know comparatively little, and we will not, therefore, at temp 1, to describe it THE BURIED CITY. 163 CHAPTER IX. CONNECTION OF THIS WHOLE SUBJECT WITH THE OLD TESTAMENT SCRIPTURES. The most important feature of these grand discoveries at Nineveh, as well as those which have since been made at Baby- lon, is the strong and irresistible testimony they bear to the truth of the Old Testament Scriptures. We have already had frequent occasion to refer to this point in the course of this volume, but for the proper illus- tration of the subject it is needful that we give it a separate chapter, and that not a brief one. The quotations which we have already made may serve to show how frequent the 164 NINEVEH; OR, references are in Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, in Daniel, Nahum, and Zephaniah, and other prophets, to what was going on through a long period of time in the As- syrian Empire in general, and in the cities of Nineveh and Babylon in particular. The subject is also largely referred to in the books of Kings, the two books of Chronicles, and the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. But we prefer to confine our^ remarks mainly to the prophets, using the other books, as may be convenient, for illus- tration. These men, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Dan- iel, and the others, claim to have lived while these Assyrian and Babylonian Empires were in their glory — to have looked on as living witnesses, standing sometimes in the neighboring land of Judea, and sometimes as captives, living in the very midst of the scenes which they describe. They claim, (not by any formal declaration, lor that itself would be suspicious), but by a THE BURIED CITY. 1G5 straight-forward story of what they saw and heard, and what was revealed unto them, to have lived and written their books, at different times, between eight hundred and five hundred years before Christ, while these Assyrian and Babylonian monarchies were in the height of their glory, though destined soon to fall. They claim this just as absolutely as a man, sit- ting down to write his ^own biography, claims to have lived during the years over which his narrative runs. It would not be necessary for him to tell his readers, that he lived during those years, because that is all the while presupposed by the very condi- tions of the case. Isaiah then claims to have lived one hundred and fifty years be- fore Nineveh fell, and the old Assyrian Empire perished. Nahum claims to have lived one hundred years before this same event. Amos and Joel, and some other of the minor prophets, were a little earlier, 1GG nine veh; or, and Zephaniah a little later ; but all these men are set before us as having lived and written their books before the destruction of Nineveh. „ Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, were later, though Jeremiah was born before the de- struction of Nineveh. As a writer, how- ever, he falls in just after that time. But they claim to have lived while Babylon was in all its glory and pride, and to have had knowledge of much that was going on in that city. Are these men deceivers, or, as some are foolish enough to believe, have certain per- sons to us unknown, for the purpose of de- ceiving mankind, taken these names, and written these books, pretending that they lived from five hundred to eight hundred years before the time of Christ, though in reality they lived much later, and after all these prophecies were fulfilled ? Some, as has been said, are foolish enough to believe THE BURIED CITY. 167 that. Many men find it so very hard to believe the truth, that they can believe a lie, which has not only no foundation in truth, but not the slightest probability. Let us see the folly of supposing that these men did not live at the time when it is said they did — the folly of believing that some comparatively modern impostors have concocted these books, in the name of these old prophets. Will any one tell how these writers happened to know more about the old Assyrian and Babylonian Empires — their kings and armies — their cities and palaces — their customs and habits, than any one else ? Supposing these writers lived, just before the time of Christ, or just after, in the first or second century, for no man, who is not utterly gone mad with unbelief, can pretend that these books have not been in existence from that time down to the present. If any one chooses to make the origin of these lfi« NINEVEH; OR, books still later, he is perfectly at liberty to do so — the later the better, so far as our object is concerned. But we will suppose that the concocters of this deception lived just before the time of Christ. How hap- pened they to have this great mass of knowledge about these old empires? No- body gIsc had it. The empires themselves had vanished. The proud old cities which had been their capitals, had disappeared from the face of the earth, and been buried in the great tomb of the past. Men did not know even where they had stood. Herodotus and Ctesias, and some other writers, had indeed told the story of them after their fashion, and there was some truth in their narrative, but a great deal that was false. How happened it that these deceivers of mankind should alone, of all the world, be able to go back, and walk in thought the streets of Nineveh and Babylon, and gather a thousand little inci- THE BURIED CITY. 169 * dents of the strange life of these cities the succession of events year by year — the names of the monarchs who ruled in them, and the chief incidents of their reigns ? Re- cent discoveries show that these writers, whoever they were, and whenever they lived, did indeed know more of Nineveh and Babylon than any other writers. Yea, more than this, their writings have been tested in a great multitude of points, by these recent discoveries, and as yet they have not been convicted of a single serious mistake, while the writings of Herodotus, Ctesias, Diodorus Siculus, and others, as might be expected, are found true enough in some things, and in many others, far enough from true. Who will tell us how these impostors, writing after these old empires were dead and buried, should alone, of all men, have been possessed of these little secrets ? The whole thing is too preposterous and absurd, 170 NINEVEH; OR, for any but an infidel to believe. The meaning of the word “ infidel ” is, a man who does not believe. But the definition, if given to suit the facts, in very many cases, would be, “ a man who is ready to believe, and who does believe any thing and every thing, except the simple, plain, transparent truth.” In order to show how close and intimate was the knowledge which these Scripture writers had of what was going on in this old empire of the Assyrians, as revealed in the discoveries which Mr. Layard and oth- ers have recently made, we propose to give a few facts and illustrations. This arrow- headed, or cuneiform language of which we have often spoken, and which was found almost everywhere inscribed upon these Assyrian walls, has been deciphered, and its meaning so found out, that many of these inscriptions have already been read. The work is still going on, and far more THE BURIED CITY. 171 wonderful results may be obtained in the future. But enough has been already made out to reveal some curious facts and coin- cidences. We have already, in the previous narra- tive, made some references to Sennacherib, and to his hostile attitude toward the Jews — both the people of Israel and Judah, the two sections into which the Jewish nation vvas now divided. On the monuments of Nineveh is found, not only a general confirma- tion of all the Scripture had said of this, but a confirmation so minute and particular, that the testimony is of the very strongest character. In the eighteenth chapter of the second book of Kings, we read as follows : u Now in the fourteenth year of King Hezekiah, did Sennacherib, king of As- syria, come up against all the fenced cities of Judah, and took them. “ And Hezekiah, king of Judah, sent to 172 nineveit; or, the king of Assyria to Lachish, saying : 1 have offended; return from me: that which thou puttest on me I will bear. And the king of Assyria appointed unto Hezekiah, three hundred talents of silver and thirty talents of gold. “ And Hezekiah gave him all the silver that was found in the house of the Lord, and in the treasures of the king’s house. “ At that time did Hezekiah cut off the gold from the doors of the temple of the Lord, and from the pillars which Hezekiah, king of Judah, had overlaid, and gave it to the king of Assyria.” The prophet Isaiah mentions the same event, in the opening of the thirty-sixth hapter of his book, but without mention- h g all these particulars. Isaiah passes on very quickly to another event, which fol- lowed soon after — the sudden destruction of the army of Sennacherib, already no- ticed. But now we have to do, with what THE BURIED CITY. 173 goes before, concerning which we have quoted the passage from the book of Kings. This was in the fourteenth year of the reign of Hezekiah, seven hundred and eleven years before Christ, and a little more than one hundred years before the destruction of Nineveh. Now among the records of the reign of Sennacherib, found inscribed upon these monuments of Nineveh, buried from human sight for twenty-five centuries, and first opened to the eye of man in the year 1846, we have the following remarkable inscrip- tion : “ And because Hezekiah, king of Judah, would not submit to my yoke, I came up against him, and by force of arms, and by the might of my power, I took forty-six of his strong fenced cities ; and of the smaller towns which were scattered about, I took and plundered a countless lumber. And 174 NINE VEIi; OR, from those places, I captured and carried as spoil, two hundred thousand one hun dred and fifty old and young, male and female, together with horses and mares, asses and camels, oxen and sheep, a count- less multitude. And Hezekiah himself, I shut up in Jerusalem, his capital city, like a bird in a cage, building towers round the city to hem him in, and raising banks of earth against the gates, so as to prevent escape Then upon this Hezekiah there fell the fear of the power of my arms, and he sent out to me the chiefs and the elders of Jerusalem, with thirty talents of gold, and eight hundred talents of silver, and divers treasures, a rich and immense booty All these things were brought to me at Nineveh, the seat of my govern- ment; Hezekiah having sent them by way of tribute, and as a token of his submission to my power.” The only real disagreement between this THE B URIED CITY. 175 record and the Scripture account, is in reference to the quantity of silver. The Scriptures say three hundred talents , while the record at TNmeveh says, eight hundred talents . But very likely Sennacherib counted in the value of all his spoil, so as to make the record as magnificent as he could, and it would be no very violent sup- position to infer, that such a tyrannical wretch as he was, might lie, without much difficulty, for his own boasting and glory. This discrepancy is a matter of not the slightest importance. The great fact is what we are after — the wonderful coinci- dence between the Scriptures and these monuments, touching the expedition of this Assyrian king, in his war against Judah. Supposing now that these Old Testa- ment books were not written by the men whose names they bear, nor at the times stated, but concocted hundreds of years 176 NINEVEH; OR, afterwards, by a set of impostors, how were these deceivers of mankind to know any thing about these minute transactions ? These details are stated nowliere in all the world, except on these monuments of Nin- eveh, and in these Old Testament books ; and according to our present supposition, when these deceivers sit down to write, these books of course do not exist, and these monuments have been hundreds of years buried up in the depths of the earth. The utter folly of any such supposition, must be at once apparent to every mind. From the account which Sennacherib gives of this transaction, we have a glimpse of the habits of these Assyrian monarchs, in the taking and carrying away of captives. He says that in this one expedition he led away 200,150. It was only ten years be- fore that his predecessor, Shalmaneser, came up against Hoshea, king of Israel, who reigned in Samaria, took the city of 1 I THE BURIED CITY. 177 Samaria, and carried away an uncounted host of the ten tribes into captivity. When the neighboring nations were depopulated after this fashion, we can see that there would be no difficulty in building great mounds or walls, out of the labor of these captives alone. But it may be asked, do the walls of Nineveh, also, bear upon them the record of the subsequent defeat of Sennacherib — the awful destruction of his army in a sin- gle night, and his inglorious and hasty retreat to his own capital ? By no means. These Assyrian and Babylonian kings do not record any thing except what they deem to be for their own glory. They do not tell the disasters and calamities which befall them in their warlike expeditions, but only their conquests and victories. There is only one remarkable exception to this, in all the records which have been yet translated, and that is a truly remarkable 12 178 NINEVEH; OR, one, which we shall soon have occasion to notice. It is said that no record has yet been found, which even makes mention of the death of one of these monarchs. So proud and haughty were they, that it was contrary to their spirit and fashion to ac- knowledge any submission even to the king of terrors. The new monarch tells the time of the beginning of his own reign, and records his own illustrious achieve- ments, but he makes no record of the death of his predecessor. It is the courtesy which he shows to the buried king, and in his turn he expects the same courtesy from those who shall come after him. It is too humiliating for these august monarchs to confess in words, that any power, in heaven or on earth, can subdue them. We have then no mention of the strange and miraculous overthrow of the army of Sennacherib, but we have the fact con- firmed in another w ty, almost equally curi- THE BURIED CITY. 170 ous and strange, and for the proper under standing of it, a brief explanation may bi needed. Hezekiah, king of Judah, had paid hh costly tribute, and bought himself off foi the time being, from the terrible incursions of these Assyrian armies. But the tax had been so heavy upon him, and upon his peo- ple — so many of his cities and towns had been laid waste, and so many of his people led into captivity, that he found himself in a humbled, weak, and impoverished state, ready to turn almost any way to find relief. Just at this time, Sennacherib was engaged also in a war with Egypt, and Hezekiah thought that by making common cause with Egypt, the two nations, by their united energy, might subdue this proud Assyrian, and so reduce him, that he in his turn would be obliged to yield, and restore the spoil which he had taken. It ISO NINEVEH; OR, was because Sennacherib had discovered this project of union between the two nations^ that he returned so suddenly, and with such fury, to punish the Jewish king. He was at this very time operating against Egypt, and was moving in that direction with his army, at the time of its destruc- tion. He was at Libnah, a place south of Jerusalem, and about half way from that city to the borders of Egypt. At the time he received the tribute, shortly before, his armies were under the very walls of Jeru- salem, but now, he was some twenty miles to the south. These facts will serve as an explanation for what follows. The old Egyptians have a record in their annals of this sudden and terrible overthrow of Sennacherib and his army. The Egyptians were very much of the same spirit as the Assyrians, and while they did not like to tell of their own defeats and disasters, they ai so were very careful THE B JRIED CITY. 181 to make a note of every thing, which was thought to turn to their own glory. And this sudden defeat of Sennacherib, break- ing up for the time the war which he was making upon themselves, was just the event for them to record. And there is this strange and peculiar circumstance about this record. The Egyp- tians do not pretend to say that Sennach- erib was conquered by the force of their arms, but the story was, that their gods miraculously sent into the camp of the Assyrians, one night, an innumerable num- ber of rats, which eat up all the Assyrian bow-strings, so that when they rose in the morning, their armor was in such a condi- tion that it could not be used, and the army had to flee home as fast as possible. Now this is just about such a story, as a people like the Egyptians would be likely to make up. They did not acknowledge the true God -—the God of Israel, and they were dis- 182 NINEVEH; OR, posed to think that any disaster happening to Sennacherib, happened for their benefit: and so they took the favor to themselves, and ascribed to their own gods the honor of. Some of the early historians found this strange story among the Egyptians, and recorded it, and in this round-about way it is a wonderful confirmation of the Scripture record of the destruction of the Assyrian army. We have dwelt upon this one point in the coincidences of Jewish and Assyrian history, longer than we had intended, but in order to make it clear and plain, it was needful that it should be set forth in its fulness ; and thus exhibited, I think no one can resist the impression, that it is a most remarkable testimony to the truth of the Scripture records. In treating this point, we have hinted of one remarkable exception to the general rule of these Assyrian and Babylonian THE BURIED CITY. 183 monarchs, not to record any thing against themselves, and though this instance be- longs not to Nineveh, but to Babylon, we may as well turn to it at this time while the subject is fresh upon the mind. One of the records or inscriptions found at Babylon, is called the “ standard inscrip- tion ” by Nebuchadnezzar. This has been translated, at length, by Sir Henry Rawlin- son, and is a truly remarkable document. In it the monarch records almost all his great deeds, especially in the way of build- ing splendid structures, and fortifying the city of Babylon. In the course of this inscription, occurs the following very re- markable passage. Some few of the words are wanting, or could not be made out. We give the passage precisely as it stands in the translation of Mr. Rawlinson : “ Four years(?) the seat of my kingdom in the city .... which .... did not re- joice mj/ heart. In all my dominions I did 184 NINEVEIi; OR, not build a high place of power; the pre- cious treasures of my kingdom I did not lay up. In Babylon, buildings for myself and the honor of my kingdom I did not lay out. In the worship of Merodach my lord, the joy of my heart(?), in Babylon, the city of his sovereignty, and the seat of my empire, I did not sing his praises, (?) and I did not furnish his altars (i. e. with victims), nor did I clear out the canals.” This is all of the passage which is given, but it is said to run on still further, in the same general style, telling other things which he did not do. This is said to be the only instance yet found, in which one of these monarchs puts on "these public records of the empire, any thing against himself, and, in this case, the self-reproof is of the very mildest kind. He does not tell us what he did do — or what was the reason for this state of inac- tion. He simply tells us what he did not THE BURIED CITY. 185 do. But the attention is at once arrested by the strange peculiarity of the language. He seems to have been driven to this kind of public confession, by some remarkable experiences. He feels, apparently, that so much as this, at least, he must thus pub- licly acknowledge in order to find pros- perity and peace. Can this refer to any thing else than that scene in the life of Nebuchadnezzar, so graphically described by the prophet Daniel. “ At the end of twelve months he walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon. “ The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honor of my majesty ? “ While the word was in the king’s mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, say- ing, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken; The kingdom is departed from thee : 186 NINEVEH; OR, “ And they shall drive thee from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field : they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and givelh it to whomsoever he will. u The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar: and he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles’ feathers, and his nails like birds’ claws. “ And at the end of the days I Nebu- chadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the Most High, and I praised and honored him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from genera- tion to generation : “ And all the inhabitants of the earth are THE BURIED CITY. 187 reputed as nothing : and he doeth accord- ing to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth : and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou ? “ At the same time my reason returned unto me : and for the glory of my king- dom, mine honor and brightness returned unto me ; and my counsellors and my lords sought unto me ; and I was established in my kingdom, and excellent majesty was added unto me. “ Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judg- ment : and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.” Among the many wonderful things re- lated in the book of Daniel, this has always been regarded as one of the most strange and improbable. And it is certainly a peculiar providence of God, that even this MS » i n e v o h; or, .“tumid find smell a strong ami emphatic confirmation in the ruins of the old citv of • Babylon, uncovered and brought to light in this nineteenth century of the Christian era. So almost miraculous did it seem for a time, that this strange language of the A Syrians, should l>e read and found to w contain these strong and unequivocal proofs and attestations to the truth of Scripture, that scholars doubted whether llawlinson had, indeed, translated the passages from these old monuments — whether he might not be deceiving him- self, and deceiving others in supposing that he had found the true meaning of these inscriptions. But as the years pass on, and his work remains uncontradicted, it is to be presumed that he is on the track of truth. Ilis character is too high and honorable to allow the thought that he is intentionally deceiving the world, and there is no way of making these old char- THE BURIED CITY. 189 acters give anj intelligent utterance, unless it is the utterance of truth. In the very beginning of the work, indeed, he might fancy that he had found meaning where there was none. But any long application of a false theory to such a subject, must inevitably prove its falsity, and we are driven therefore to the conclusion, that after such a lapse of time, as has now transpired, if Rawlinson is honest, then he must be essentially on the path of truth. Besides he is not the only one engaged in these researches. Others also have made discoveries. If our impression is right, another scholar, Dr. Hincks, did some of the most important elementary work in this department. “ In the multitude of counsellors there is safety,” and such is the natural pride of scholarship among men, that we may be very sure, that one man could not well impose upon the world by a 190 NINEVEH OR, false theory, when there are so many watchful eyes to detect his. There is another very remarkable coinci- dence, which we will mention. In the thirty-third chapter of the second book of Chronicles, we have this passage : “ And the Lord spake to Manasseh, and to his people, but they would not hearken. “ Wherefore the Lord brought upon them the captains of the host of the king of Assyria, which took Manasseh among the thorns and bound him with fetters and carried him to Babylon Manasseh was the King of Judah, the son of Hezekiah, and his immediate suc- cessor upon the throne. Esarhaddon was the son of Sennacherib, and was also his successor on the throne of Assyria. Esar- haddon and Manasseh therefore were contemporary, as Sennacherib and Heze- kiah had been a few years before. It was THE BURIED CITY. 191 under Esarhaddon, then, that Manasseh was carried into captivity. Now a sceptical reader of the Bible, having a somewhat critical knowledge of historical facts, on coming to the passage which we have quoted, might stop and say, “ There is a mistake evidently. Why should Manasseh be carried to Babylon, The old Assyrian empire, of which Nine- veh was the capital, is not yet at end. This is in the year six hundred and sev- enty-seven before Christ, and Nineveh did not fall for many years after this. If car- ried away at all, he would be carried to Nineveh, where Esarhaddon had his gov- ernment.” Now these old monuments not only ex- pressly confirm the fact that Manasseh was % carried captive, but they also furnish the reason why he was carried to Babylon in- stead of Nineveh. Up to the time of the destruction of 1.92 nineyed; or, Nineveh, Babylon was a dependent prov- ince. The rulers of that province, received authority to rule from the king of Nine- veh. They received their appointment from him, and owed allegiance to him. But Esarhaddon, for some reason, took a fancy, that instead of ruling at Babylon by a deputy or governor, he would rule there in his own person. He built himself a palace in Babylon, and sometimes resided there, and held his court there, and sometimes at Nineveh. He was the only one of all the Assyrian monarchs that did this. All the others kept their court at Nineveh, and ruled at Babylon, through others. This, then, was the reason why Manasseh was earned to Babylon instead of Nine- veh, so that even in such a little unimpor- tant, incidental matter as this, the Scrip- tures are exactly right. In all the other captivities among the Jews, so long as the old city of Nineveh stood, the train of cap- THE B URIED CITY. 193 tives was led away to the city — the capi- tal of the empire. But in the case of Manasseh it was otherwise, and the reason of this singular fact, now clearly and beau- tifully appears. Take another instance equally remark- able. Daniel, in his book of prophecy, gives a very graphic account of the great feast of Belshazzar, and of the taking of the city of Babylon, on the night of this feast, by the army of the Medes and Per- sians, when Belshazzar was put to death. It has puzzled scholars very much to ascer- tain who this Belshazzar was. His name does not appear in any of the writings of the old historians, and there was nothing except the simple story of Daniel to show that a man of that name had ever been king of Babylon. Many, therefore, thought that the story of Daniel was a pure inven- tion. Moreover, the real king of Babylon, Nabonadius, was not killed it was said, at 13 194 NINEVEH; OR. the time the city was taken, but was absent from the city, and escaped. Now here was a point in the history of those times, that had never been satisfactorily ex- plained. Recent investigations have found the explanation of this, and established the truth of Daniel’s narrative. It appears, that this Nabonadius, who was really king of Babylon, at the time it was taken, had a son named Bil-sharuzur (as the name stands in the inscription), and during the last two years of his reign, he had associated this son with him, on the throne, allowing him the royal title. This son, it was, without doubt, who held the feast, and who perished in the attack upon the city. As the father was not yet dead, Belshazzar would not stand in the list of kings proper, and that is the reason why his name is not found in the old Babylon- ian records. This discovery was made by THE BURIED CITY. 195 Mr. Rawlinson, in deciphering these old inscriptions. Moreover, the time of the captivity in Babylon, seventy years , accords almost per- fectly with the years of the reigns of the several kings named on these monuments. Daniel, with his brethren, was carried into captivity in the very beginning of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, and by adding together the length of his reign, and those that fol- lowed, up to the taking of the city, and we have the length of the captivity as stated by Daniel, almost exactly. We have thus taken a few prominent instances to illustrate the close and inti- mate knowledge, which these Jewish writers had of what was going on in the Assyrian Empire. We cannot, however, by two or three prominent instances of this kind, reveal the full strength of this argument. The great and massive weight of an argument of this 1 % n ineveh; or, kind, is made up of ten thousand little, shadowy, almost intangible things. When a writer or a speaker is discoursing of matters which he perfectly understands, — matters of which he has a perfect fulness of knowledge, he is sure to be right all the time, not in the great points alone, but in till the little points, — the things that come in incidentally, and of which at the time lie takes no special thought. Paley, in his “ Hone Paulina',” has con- structed an argument, on this basis, to prove the truth of the New Testament, lie takes the “ Acts of the Apostles,” and compares the narratives therein contained with Paul’s Epistles, in order to show the nice, delicate, unt bought of coincidences between them — coincidences so remote and shadowy, that there could by no possi- bility have been any plan or concerted arrangement in the writers to produce them. The more faint and unnoticeable THE BURIED CITY. 197 the coincidence, all the better, provided it be a real one ; because so much greater is the evidence, that it could not have been the result of contrivance, but must spring alone from truth and reality. Now, just such an argument as this might be constructed, showing just the same kind, and almost an endless number of this class of coincidences between the Old Testament books, and the facts of Assyrian history and custom. These coin- cidences extend almost to every thing — great historical events — style and manners of the people — general spirit and character of the empire — nature of its idolatry, names of the gods, and methods of worship — in short all that helped to make up the sum total of Assyrian life. These Jewish prophets and historians write as if they perfectly understood this subject, and the discoveries now made, prove most conclu- sively that they did understand it. While 198 NINEVEH; OR, many idle stories in Herodotus, in Ctesias, and in other ancient writers, shrink and vanish into thin air, in the light of these discoveries, the Scriptures stand all the more firmly and securely for this investiga- tion. Mr. George Rawlinson, brother of Sir Henry Rawlinson, and author of a work on “ The Historical Evidences of the Truth of the Scripture Records,” after going over a large section of this Old Testament history, * in the light of modern discovery, and after referring to all the sources of information we have upon this general subject, says, — “ All these sources have been examined, and all have combined to confirm and illus- trate the Scriptural narrative at almost every point where it was possible — or at any rate where it was probable — that they would have a bearing upon it. The result is a general confirmation of the entire body of leading facts — minute con- THE B URIED CITY. 199 firrnation occasionally — and a complete absence of any thing that can be reasonably viewed as serious discrepancy. A few dif- ficulties — chiefly chronological — meet us; but they are fewer in proportion, than are found in the profane history of almost any remote period ; and the faith must be weak, indeed, to which they would prove a stum- bling-block. Generally throughout this whole period, there is that ‘ admirable agreement ’ which Niebuhr observes upon toward its close, between the profane records and the accounts of Scripture. . . . The monarchs themselves, the order of their names, their relationship where it is indicated, their actions so far as they come under notice, are the same in both the Jewish and the native histories ; which present likewise, here as elsewhere, nume- rous points of agreement, connected with the geography, religion, and customs of the various nations. As discovery proceeds. 200 .NINEYEn; OR, these points of agreement are multiplied ; obscurities clear up ; difficulties are solved ; doubts vanish. It is only where profane records are wanting or scanty, that the sacred narrative is unconfirmed, and rests solely upon its own basis. Perhaps a time may come, when through the recovery of the complete annals of Egypt, Assyria, and Babylon, we may obtain for the whole of the Sacred History, that sort of illustra- tion, which is now confined to certain por- tions of it. God who disposes all things according to the counsel of his own will, and who has given to the present age such treasures of long-buried knowledge, may have yet greater things in store for us, to be brought to light in His own good time. When the voice of men grows faint and feeble, then the very ‘ stones ’ are made to * cry out.’ ‘ Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever, for wisdom and might are his He revealeth the deep and THE BURIED CITY. 201 secret things ; He knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with Him.’ ” Again we ask, How could these Old Tes- tament writers have known these things unless they lived at the time they claim to have lived ? Who can be made to believe after this, that a set of impostors, living long after this time, and when Nineveh and Babylon had both been buried in the earth, and all close and familiar knowledge of them had perished from the memory of men — who will believe that under such circumstances, a company of deceivers could incorporate into their books these facts and incidents of Assyrian life, which nobody else, at least, knew ? On the sup- position we are now making, as we have before said, these Old Testament books have no existence whatever at the time these men sit down to write. Every thing is to be done by them, and the Assyrian 202 NINEVEli; OR, empire itself has perished and disappeared from human view. That man surely must have a most monstrous kind of faith who can believe that this could be done, but cannot or will not believe that Isaial^ wrote his book of prophecy between seven and eight hundred years before the time of Christ, — who cannot or will not believe that Daniel wrote his book after a living experience in the city of Babylon, where he saw with his own eyes the things which he describes. Great infidels have almost always exhibited these monstrosities of faith, believing things a thousand times more improbable than any which they are required to believe. A man who cannot think that the Holy Spirit ever moves upon the soul of man, turning him from sin unto holiness, will very readily believe that the spirits of departed men upset tables and chairs, and do a thousand other strange and marvellous tricks. THE BURIED CITY. 203 And when we concede, as we must, that these books were written at the time when they purport to have been written, then there is another still more important point which we must concede, namely, that through some power granted unto them, they could accurately foretell things which were to come to pass centuries after their day. These men not only described with per- fect accuracy what was going on in Nine- veh and Babylon, in their own times, but they foretell, in the most absolute and un- equivocal terms, the utter ruin and destruc- tion which awaited these cities. When we sit here, so long after these events, and think loosely on the subject of prophecy, we may fancy that somehow it was not very difficult to foretell these things. But it was just as hard for the human mind to foretell any event then as it is now — yea, harder, because the long experience of the world has, in a measure, established certain 204 NINEVEH; OR, laws and probabilities touching the course of nations and empires, which laws were not then so well known. Yet let us try our hand at prophecy, in order that we may understand just what it is to look into the future. Let any one of our readers venture to tell exactly, and with an air of authority, what will happen to the city of Constantinople, for example, for the next two hundred years. Let him say whether it will, at the end of that time, be the property of the Turkish empire, of which it is now the capital, or whether the Russians, the French, or the English will then have possession of it, — let him even say, if he feels bold enough to make the declaration, that the city will not then exist as a city; that it will be only a ruinous heap ; that “ flocks shall lie down in the midst of her, all the beasts of the nations ; both the cormorant and the bittern” (crea- tures that love solitude and desolation) THE BURIED CITY. 205 “ shal] lodge in the upper lintels of it ; their voice shall sing in the windows, desolation shall be in the thresholds.” Is there any reason known to man, why a prophecy like this should not seem as natural, and as likely to be fulfilled, in case of Constantinople, as did the ancient pro- phecies respecting Nineveh and Babylon at the time they were uttered ? In fact, so far as human wisdom is concerned, the probability of great and sudden changes, if not of absolute ruin, is far stronger in case of Constantinople than it was in respect to these ancient cities, at the time Isaiah and Nahum and Zephaniah wrote. The Turk- ish empire, of which Constantinople is the capital, is in a very weak and crazy condi- tion, and men are expecting great changes of some kind at no distant day. The Turks themselves expect change. They feel that a kind of doom rests upon them? They have lost all their old invading, conquering 206 NINEVEH; OR, spirit, and seem silently and hopelessly waiting till their end shall come. On the other hand, when these ancient prophets wrote, the Assyrian empire was in the fulness of its strength. No power on earth could stand before it. It seemed nearing the point of absolute and universal dominion, such as the Roman empire at- tained in a later age. The nations far around paid tribute to it. The swelling pride of these Assyrian monarchs was that of men who, by a long experience, had learned to think of themselves as the abso- lute lords and masters of all surrounding peoples. It was not likely, then, to a mere human judgment, that this empire was suddenly to fall — that these proud cities were sud- denly to disappear from the earth. But to come back to our own work of prophecy. We are to tell, for two hundred years to come, the fortunes of the city of THE BURIED CITY. 207 Constantinople. Under the easier condi- tions and stronger probabilities of this modern case, we are to foretell (not guess > but foretell absolutely) what is to come upon this city. Let any man try his hand at this business, and he will understand what it is to prophesy. Isaiah foretold events, without any roundabout mystifica- tion and process of guessing. He asserted what should come to pass, in the most positive and unequivocal terms. Nahum foretold the destruction of Nineveh, in language as true and graphic as any histo- rian could have used, in describing the scenes afterwards. God was working through their minds, and revealing to them things which in the future should come to pass. There is no other explanation of it. No man can de- vise any explanation which is not a thou- sand times more improbable than this. And with a single interesting fact which 208 NINEVEIIJ OR, has happened to come to our knowledge, and which has probably never been before published, we close this chapter. Before Mr. Layard engaged in this work among the ruins of Nineveh, he had no very settled belief in the Scriptures, espe- cially in what may be called the super- natural elements of them. He accepted them, doubtless, as a general record of facts, but in respect to miracles and pro- phecy he was where a great many men are, in a kind of cloud-land, with a half-way feeling that to believe in such things is superstition. He was once dining in Constantinople at the table of Sir Stratford Canning, after- wards his great patron and assistant. He had at that time been travelling through Palestine, but had not begun his work at Nineveh. At the table, also, was another Englishman, Mr. Keith, author of the work 44 On the Prophecies.” Several of our THE BURIED CITY. 209 American missionaries were present, as well as other individuals. % In the course of the sitting, conversation turned upon the subject of prophecy, and Mr. Keith, who was full of information on this point, talked earnestly a‘nd enthusias- tically. At length Mb*. Layard ventured a remark designed to show a kind of con- tempt for this whole subject, implying that he did not believe in prophecy at all. Mr. Keith turned to him, when the following incident occurred : “ Mr. Layard,” said he, “ did you, when in Palestine, pass along the road leading from to ” (naming the places). “ Yes, I did.” “ Well, what was the most remarkable thing you saw on the road ? What was it that left the strongest impression on your mind at the end of the journey?” “ Oh,” replied Layard, 66 there was noth- ing there of the least interest. It was a n 210 NINEVEH; OR, lonely and desolate road. The only thing I remember was, that I could not sleep nights for the everlasting bleating of the sheep.” Said Mr. Keith, “ And Sharon shall be a fold of flocks, and the valley of Achor a place for the herds to lie down in.” Isa. 65 : 10 . This incident was told us by one of the American missionaries present, and he said that he never saw a man more completely non-plussed than Mr. Layard was by this reply. This incident is given to show the state of Mr. Layard’s mind before he began these wonderful excavations. But when we read his books, we see very plainly that this doubt and unbelief have most effectually given way, in the presence of those astounding facts and proofs by which he has since been confronted. And no man, we think, who is ruled by reason, THE BURIED CITY. 211 and a love of truth, and not by prejudice, <^an look at the wonderful revelations which have thus been made, and not feel, as he never felt before, that the hand of God was in these Old Testament Scriptures. 212 NINEVEH; OR, CHAPTER X. CONCLUDING THOUGHTS. In this closing chapter it is convenient to bring together a few thoughts, which, if they are not very closely connected one with another, will all have a general con- nection with what has gone before. And what impresses us most in the re- view we have taken, is the wonderful care and providence of God, in keeping all these treasures of ancient art so carefully locked up and concealed from the view of man, until these latter ages of the world. It was not long, as we have seen, after the fall of this proud city of Nineveh, before all outward traces of its existence had disap- THE BURIED CITY. 213 peared. For twenty-five centuries it has been buried from human sight. The wan- dering tribes of the desert have roamed over it, and pitched their tents upon it, — the armies of the West, in their work of con- quest, have marched around it and across it, but it was to them only a scene of wide- spread desolation. Travellers have searched for the spot where the city stood, and their search has ended in doubt and uncertainty. Yet through all these slow-moving cen- turies God has held the secret of its exist- ence. The generations of men have been coming and going. Mighty empires, during the time, have risen and fallen, and this secret has slumbered in the Divine Mind. “ It is the glory of God to conceal a thing.” And this was not an idle concealment. From this store-house of wonders, in the latter days were to come facts and proofs, which should confound the scoffer, and put to confusion the hosts of infidelity. It is a 214 NINEVEH; OR, record such as cannot be gainsaid or re- sisted. It shows us the exact truth of the Old Testament narrative, in a way to con- vince the most obstinate. Can we doubt that God had this in view during all these ages of silence ? u His eye seeth every precious thing, and that which is hidden, bringeth He forth to light.” From generation to generation, men are constantly rising up, whose strong desire is to overthrow the word of God, and make it, if possible, of none effect. From the earliest days of Christianity these men have been busy at their work, and their constant boast has been, that they have accomplished their task. But somehow it happens that in spite of all their boasts, the record stands. Whatever these particular indi- viduals may think, the mass of mankind have a growing confidence in the Scripture, record, and are ready to say, “ Thy testi- monies are very sure.” It is less than a THE BURIED CITY. 215 hundred years ago that the great infidel, Thomas Paine, made his famous boast, that he had utterly overthrown the Bible as a book of authority. After he had finished his examination of the Old Testament, he breaks out in this haughty and exultant strain : “ I have now gone through the Old Testament, as a man would go through a wood with an axe on his shoulder and fell trees. Here they lie, and the priests may, if they can, reset them. They may possi- bly stick them in the ground, but they can never make them grow. I pass on to the New Testament.” Since Paine uttered this * insolent boast, more copies of the Bible have been printed and circulated among the na- tions, than were ever circulated before in all the ages that had preceded. And it is to confound such audacity, and put to shame these infidel prophesiers, that God, from time to time, opens some new store-house of 216 NINEVEH; OR, wonders, like those contained in this buried city of the early world. It is, of course, only a very small part of the Old Testament that has any thing to do directly with this ancient city. The references in the Old Testament to the city itself are few in number. But all allusions to Assyria, and to the Assyrian kings, are in one sense allusions to Nineveh, since this was the house of these kings, and the capi- tal of the empire. Yet on the widest view possible, it is not contended that any large part of the ancient Scriptures have to do with this subject. Still, when a historical book is found absolutely correct in one de- partment, — when no mistake whatever can be discovered in its narrative, — and that, too, when the severest tests are suddenly brought to bear upon it, — it is fair to pre- sume — men, if they are honest, will pre- sume — that the other parts of the narra- 217 THE BURIED CITY. \ tive are true also. u He that is faithful in the least, is faithful also in much.” And this principle can nowhere be more safely applied than to the Scripture writers. It has already been intimated that the effect of these discoveries was most marked upon the mind of Layard himself. When he entered upon this work of un- covering the ruins of Nineveh, he had little reverence for the Scriptures, and was accus- tomed to speak of these books of ancient history and prophecy, if not with contempt, certainly with indifference and trifling. But after he had confronted these buried memo- rials ; after he had penetrated these abodes of the old Assyrian monarchs, and had seen with his own eyes the records engraven upon stone, which showed that the men of whom the Old Testament speaks so fa- miliarly did really live, and act their part upon the earth, and that they lived the life, and were characterized by the manners and 218 NINEVEH; OR, customs there ascribed to them, he could no longer trifle. He was awed into silence and reverence. Those who saw and knew him before, and have seen him since this work was done, say that there is the most manifest change of sentiment and conviction touching the truth of these ancient records. And what was thus wrought upon his mind, must be wrought upon every mind that yields itself fairly to the influences thus brought to bear upon it. As one wanders through the lands once occupied by these haughty monarchies, he is painfully impressed with the strange con- trasts that time has brought about. Here, for. many hundred years, were the old seats of empire, and all the great interests of the race seemed to centre here. But the star of empire has been slowly moving west- ward. The great volume of human history has been steadily unfolding. These early empires had their place and part in the 219 yT HE BUEIED CITY. universal scheme. They stand related, in ways that we can now trace out, and in ways also that we cannot trace, to the great work of the world’s redemption. But having filled their part in the general plan, they were long ago laid aside, and new empires rose into view, which have also in their turn been overwhelmed and sub- merged in the advancing tide of time. And the omnipotent God, who rules in heaven and does according to his pleasure, “ will overturn, and overturn, until He shall come whose right it is,” and reign king among the nations. Silence and desolation now brood over the lands that were once the scene of this amazing stir and activity. Layard, in his second expedition, standing on one of the mounds in Upper Mesopotamia, beautifully describes the scene around him : “ As the evening crept on,” he says, u I watched from the highest mound the sun 220 NINEVEH; OR, as it gradually sunk in unclouded splendor below the sea-like expanse before me. On all sides, as far as the eye could reach, rose the grass-covered heaps marking the site of ancient habitations. The great tide of civilization had long since ebbed, leaving these scattered wrecks upon the solitary shore. Are those waters to flow again, bearing back the seeds of knowledge and of wealth that they have wafted to the West ? We wanderers were seeking what they had left behind, as children gather up the colored shells on the deserted sands. At my feet there was a busy scene, making more lovely the unbroken solitude which reigned in the vast plain around, where the only things having life or motion were the shadows of the lofty mounds as they lengthened before the declining sun. Above three years before, when watching the ap- proach of night from the old castle of Tel Afer, I had counted nearly one hundred 1 THE BURIED CITY. 221 mins ; now, when in the midst of them, no less than double that number were seen from Tel Temal” This was the view presented from a sin- gle point ; and in the light of this descrip- tion we may gather some faint idea of the wonders of old Assyrian enterprise, and how much yet remains to be explored. Many persons reading these stories of what was done in these ancient days, at once leap to the conclusion that the people of that time must have had knowledge of mechanical powers and processes — of pon- derous systems of machinery now unknown. But we are not to draw any such inference as this from the facts before us. There is a single principle, already adverted to, which helps to solve the whole difficulty, namely, that millions were made to toil to execute the will, and gratify the pride, of one man. Some of these great works, like the artificial lanes spoken of, were works of real utility ooo ^ w NINEVEH; OR, and beneficence, and we can look upon them with real satisfaction. But the groat majority were idle displays of pomp and power. It is now very generally believed, that the pyramids of Egypt, which were so long a puzzle to mankind, were simply the tombs of Egyptian kings. One of these old mon- arch* did not scruple to employ the labors, and exhaust the strength, of hundreds of thou mds of his subjects, in the sole pur- pose of providing for himself a colossal monument which should perpetuate his name to remotest generations. It is some comfort to know that the old tyrant failed after all — that for thousands of years he has slept under his massive pile, as un- known, as uncared for, as the meanest laborer who toiled to build it. His grave has been as utterly unknown to men as though he had been buried under the shift- ing sands of the Lybian desert. Had it THE BURIED CITY. 223 been his dog, instead of himself, for which such a costly sepulchre was prepared, it would have been all the same. But with what mingled pity and indig- nation must we look upon these vast dis- plays of power, put forth for the glory of one man, when we contrast with them the widely scattered and beneficent results of our modem industry. A little more than two hundred years ago, this broad land which we inhabit was an unbroken wilder- ness. Now, throughout all its wide extent, it presents a scene of boundless activity. It numbers many cities, great and populous, — its valleys resound with the cheerful hum of machinery, — its countless rivers and lakes are alive with internal commerce — thousands of fleet ships are spreading their white sails in our harbors, and dropping down from their anchorage bound to every part of the habitable globe — countless railroad trains are speeding along their non 224 NINEVEH; OR, tracks, making the hills vocal with the echoes of their majestic march — and more impressive than all, there is that steady, silent labor of the lonely tillers of the soil, which hews down the forest, breaks up the rough and rocky earth, builds fences and walls and bridges, busies itself a little here and a little there, and shows us at length a vast continent subdued and reduced from its original wdldness into order and beauty, into green fields, smiling farms, and waving harvests. A work has thus been going on, not under the eye of some haughty mon- arch, but prompted by free hearts, and car- ried forward by willing hands, conducing all the while to individual happiness and prosperity, — a work so vast, that could the strength and skill employed upon it be all concentrated, they would build Babylons at the rate of a score every year. This, therefore, is the grand characteristic of modern industry, as compared with the THE BURIED CITY. 225 ancient. It looks primarily to the good of the individual citizen, and not to the ag- grandizement of some bloated tyrant. It * is diffusive in its aims, rather than consoli- dated upon a few great enterprises. And yet it works, by the very law of nature, to- ward a grand harmony and unity. It was not, then, because the ancients were men of greater conceptions, or had more science and skill and mechanical in- genuity than we have, that they built these great structures. Every thing goes to show that we are, in general, far superior to them in these respects. They had knowledge, undoubtedly, of some of the great mechan- ical powers now in use, but there is nothing which goes to show that they understood how to combine these powers to produce the great results which we can reach through them. The one grand principle on which these old monarchs acted, in constructing their 15 226 NINEVEH; OR, great works, was to employ an immense multitude of men, and keep them at their work under task-masters till it was done. If twenty men can move a stone that weighs a ton, four or five hundred, with ropes attached, and with simple rollers for it to rest upon, can move a very much larger one. ^ If this stone has to be raised high in the air, and they have no other way to do it, they must bring earth and make a long inclined plane, and draw it up the plane with ropes. We are always to keep in mind, that in these early monarchies there are men enough to be had at the call of the king. History tells us, that it took 360,000 men twenty years to build the great pyramid of Egypt. We know, by the direct testimony of Scripture, that between two and three hundred thousand men were em- ployed for more than seven years in build- ing the temple of Solomon at Jerusalem, which was a comparatively small structure, THE BURIED CITY. 227 though wonderful for the costliness and delicacy of its finish. One of the early queens of Babylon is said to have had two millions of men employed on the great works which she was constructing during her reign. All our habits of mind, and all the methods of our modem industry, are* so utterly diverse from those which prevailed in those early empires, that we find it hard to believe that such great numbers were actually employed upon these works. But let us reflect upon this for a moment. At the time the children of Israel went out of Egypt, there were of them 600,000 men capable of bearing arms. Now this race had been in bondage in Egypt for four hundred years, and they had been kept at hard labor all the while. They belonged to the monarch. Every thing in the sacred narrative goes to show, that they were not parcelled out in little companies* owned 228 NINEVEHJ OK, and worked by individuals, as are the slaves on our Southern plantations. They were the property of the monarch, to be em- ployed in his service. Now what work so great that it could not be accomplished by such a number of working men as we have in this one company, without reference to any others. If the king of Egypt wanted to dig the Lake Moeris — a most stupen- dous undertaking — he had only to set such a body of men as this upon the work, and keep them at it long enough, and it would be done. i We need not deny that the ancients had a knowledge of some things which we do not possess -r- that they had skill and power to do some things which we cannot do — that there are, in short, “ lost arts ” which the race may never recover. And it is, perhaps, of little consequence whether we ever regain them or not. It is quite likely, that in those departments which minister THE BURIED CITY. 229 to luxury and self-indulgence, or even to the elegancies of life, they had inventions, the secret of which has perished with them. But in all matters of substantial utility, — in all the arts which minister really to the comfort and happiness of men, we stand without doubt immeasurably in advance of them. Those arts which were lost, were lost, doubtless, because they were of use to a select few. We may rest very confident that no great mechanical power has ever been lost ; but, on the other hand, in this department, we have an immense advan- tage over any previous age, and we execute great works with a promptness and energy which would have been for the wonder and admiration of these early nations. They did their work by the slowest and hardest , but they did it. We have thus endeavored to give our readers some conception of the character of these ancient cities, and the wonderful 230 NINEVEH} OR, lessons which, in the providence of God, they have been made to teach us. The effect wrought upon the mind in following Mr. Layard, step by step, as he penetrates into these old palaces of Nine- veh — these abodes of ancient splendor so long buried and forgotten — is nothing less than that produced by the most highly ex- citing romance. These halls, for ages hid- den under earth and rubbish, once echoed with all the stir, and shone with all the gayety, of Assyrian life. Here kings and nobles congregated, and formed their plans of conquest and dominion. In these spa- cious courts the royal feast was spread, lavish and costly as that to which Belshaz- zar called the nobles, captains, and mighty men of Babylon ; and as the hours of night wore away, these halls resounded with mirth and revelry. What multitudes of men toiled to rear these temples and palaces ! How many 231 THE BURIED CITY. lives were u made hard in mortar and in brick ! ” How many used np the years of their strength in cutting these huge stones from the quarry and bringing them to their places ! How many artists wrought ambi- tiously and laboriously with the chisel, slowly to bring out from the solid stone these countless forms and figures, in all their finished workmanship ! In tracing out the great variety of scenes which the ancient Assyrians caused to be inscribed upon their walls, one cannot but be struck with the fact, how every thing seems to be subordinated to the one grand ruling idea of war. We know, indeed, from history, that war was the leading business of all the early world. But in these sculptured stories, we behold the ruling thought of a nation graven, as Job prayed his words might be, “ graven with an iron pen and lead in the rock forever.” It needs but a glance to convince us, that a # 1 232 NiNEVEn; or, people whose palaces and temples were covered with such figures as we here be- hold, had no higher ambition than to ac- quire fame in the brutal pursuits of war. Here, in long succession, are pictures of battles and sieges — towers and castles bristling with armed men — warriors on foot, on horses, and in chariots — battering rams beating down the walls of cities — trains of captives with heads bowed and hands bound behind them — spearmen transfixing their foes — bodies with heads cut off scattered over the ground — women wringing their hands in grief, in the face of pressing dangers — trains of soldiers bring- ing the heads of the slain together, and throwing them down at the feet of the scribe to be numbered, — these, and such as these, are the scenes endlessly portrayed upon these walls of Nineveh. And yet the day of reckoning at last came. These Assyrian monarchs, after THE BURIED CITY. 233 lording it for centuries over surrounding nations, and exulting in their defeat, humil- iation, and sorrow, — after indulging in their dreams of universal conquest and dominion, are suddenly stopped short in their career. The august structures which they had reared, yea, even the mighty Nin- eveh itself, through which the tide of life had long swept so tumultuously and tri- umphantly, by one turn in the wonder- working providence of God, is covered with perpetual desolation. There is something profoundly impres- sive in noticing how sudden, and yet how complete, was the downfall and extinction of this old Assyrian empire. There was no long and slow decay, like that which came over the Roman empire, and which made her a thousand years in dying. This an- cient kingdom seemed rather to break and vanish, like a cloud, which, while we are looking at it, melts into thin air. At one NINEVEH; OR, p;u time we behold this august empire stretch- ing her haughty sway over the conquered nations, and shaking the earth with the noise of her chariots and the tread of her armed hosts. We look again after a little time, and the silence of death has settled over her cities and all her chief places of concourse, and men are inquiring one of another, u Where is he that did make the earth to tremble, and did shake kingdoms ; that made the world like a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof ? ” As when a ship sailing proudly upon the open sea, with all her sails set, suddenly strikes a rock, staggers a moment, and sinks into the bottomless abyss, so was this proudest monarchy of the early world shattered and engulfed. It is the full justification of that remark- able prophecy of Isaiah already quoted, but which may stand as the fitting close of this volume. THE BURIED CITY. 235 “ Behold the Assyrian was a cedar in Lebanon, with fair branches and with a shadowing shroud and of a high stature, and his top was among the thick boughs. .... Therefore saith the Lord, because thou hast lifted thyself up in height, and he hath shot up his top among the thick boughs, and his heart is lifted up in his height, I have therefore delivered him into the hand of the mighty one of the heathen, he shall surely deal with him. I have driven him out for his wickedness. And strangers, the terrible of the nations, have cut him off and have left him ; upon the mountains and in all the valleys his branches are fallen, . . . and all the people of the earth have gone down from his shadow and have left him. Thus saith the Lord, In the day when he went down to the grave, I caused a mourning, ... I made the nations to shake at the sound of his fall ” I - -