Page:A History of Art in Chaldæa & Assyria Vol 2.djvu/55

Other Palaces of Mesopotamia. 37 among the ruins of their creations, or to clearly distinguish the work of one date from that of another. 1 It was at Nimroud that this perplexity was chiefly felt, until the decipherment of the inscriptions came to enable different periods and princes to be easily distinguished. This name of Nimroud, handed down by the ancient traditions collected in Genesis, has been given to l a mound which rises about six leagues to the south of Mossoul, on the left bank of the Tigris, and both by its form and elevation attracts the attention of every traveller that descends the stream. The river is now at some distance from the ruins, but as our map shows (Fig. 1), it is easy to trace its ancient bed, which was close to the foot of the mound. The latter is an elongated parallelogram, about 1,300 yards in one direction, and 750 in the other (see Vol. I., Fig. 145). Above its weather-beaten sides, and the flat expanse at their summit, stood, before the excavations began, the apex of the conical mound in which Layard found the lower stones of a staged tower (Fig. 13). Calah seems to have been the first capital of the Assyrian Empire and even to have preserved some considerable importance after the Sargonids had transported the seat of government to Nineveh, and built their most sumptuous buildings in the latter city. Nearly eVery king of any importance, down to the very last years of the monarchy, left the mark of his hand upon Nimroud. 2 1 Layard believes himself to have ascertained that the buildings on one part ot the Nimroud mound were ruined and covered with earth, when those upon another part of the platform were founded. The paved floor of the north-western palace is on a level with the upper part of the walls of the north-eastern and central palaces {Nineveh, vol. iii. p. 202). 2 George Smith, Assyrian Discoveries, (pp. 71-73), gives the following résumé of the monumental history of Calah, from the inscriptions found at Nimroud. " A city was built on this spot by Shalmaneser I., King of Assyria, b.c. 1300, but this afterwards fell into decay, and was destroyed during the subsequent troubles which came on the Assyrian Empire. Assur-nazir-pal, who ascended the Assyrian throne B.c. 885, resolved to rebuild the city ; and bringing numbers of captives taken during his wars, he set them to work to rebuild Calah, and then settled there to inhabit it. The north-west palace" and the temples near the tower were the work of this king, and from these came most of the fine Nimroud sculptures in the British Museum. Shalmaneser IL, King of Assyria, succeeded his father Assur-nazir-pal, b.c. 860. He built the centre palace, and the base at least of the south-eastern palace. Vulnirari III., his grandson, b.c. 812, built the upper chambers and the temple of Nebo : and Tiglath-pileser II., B.c. 745, rebuilt the centre palace. Sargon, King of Assyria, b.c. 722, restored the north-west palace, and his grandson, Esar-haddon,