Explorations in Bible lands during the 19th century - H. V. Hilprecht

DURING 1DTU CENTURY: ASSYRIA AND BABYLONIA 111
a large building destroyed by fire had been explored. In
consequence of the conflagration most of the bas-reliefs,
about ten feet high and from eight to nine feet wide, and
four pairs of human-headed winged bulls, all of which had
lined the walls, were reduced to lime. Perfect inscriptions
were not very numerous, except on the bricks.
But enough
of the writing remained to show that Layard had discovered
the first Assyrian palace in the long-forgotten and ruined
city of Nineveh. The monuments were too much destroyed
to think of their removal. " A fisherman fishing with hook
and line
in a pond " was almost the only fragment of sculpture
which Layard could send home as a first specimen
of Assyrian art from Sennacherib's palace at Nineveh. Two
more chambers, several other slabs, and a fairly preserved
boundary stone with a long inscription were soon afterwards
discovered by Ross in another wing of the same building.
On the 24th of June, 1847, Layard, accompanied by
Rassam, left Mosul to return to Constantinople and England.
The ruins which he had examined were, to quote his
own words, " very inadequately explored." But with all
his enthusiasm, energy, and constant exposure to dangers,
he could do no better, considering the very small
his disposal and the demands made upon him.
means at
After nearly
two years of solid labor the tangible results were enormous.
He had identified the sites of the Biblical Calah (Nimrud)
and Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian empire (in part
represented by Qoyunjuk), as the inscriptions unearthed
soon taught us. Moreover, he had discovered remains
of no less than eight Assyrian palaces. At Nimrud, he
found the northwest palace constructed by Ashurnasirapal I.
(885-860 b. a), and, in part at least, restored and reoccupied
by Sargon (722-705 b. c.) ; the central palace erected by Shalmaneser
II. (860-825 b. a), and rebuilt almost entirely by
the Biblical Pul or Tiglath-Pileser III. (745-727 b. c.); 1
1
The great inscribed bulls and the black obelisk belonged to the older