The Mystery of the Hanging Garden of Babylon: An Elusive World Wonder Traced
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Fig. 43 Sennacherib presiding over the capture of Lachish, south of Jerusalem, detail. His face was chiselled out deliberately after the fall of Assyria. Max. Ht. 178 cm.
Some of the symbolism embodied in these sculptures can be inferred. The use of horizontal registers and captions, reminiscent of cylinder seal design, implies the stamp of legal authority, the imposition of law and order which was one of the great benefits of Assyrian rule. The throne-room sculptures show seven different campaigns successfully conducted in different parts of the empire, symbolizing Sennacherib’s right to the top title, claimed no sooner than his eighth year, namely ‘king of the world’.16 As we have seen, the word for ‘world’, kiššatu, was equated with seven, the significant number which represented completion to the Assyrians. The winged bull-colossi represented the aeons of time when creation was still young and the forms of living things had not yet settled into their modern species; when unusual combinations including the scorpion-man, the fish-man, the bull-headed man and the man-headed bull still roamed the earth until they were subdued by a later generation of gods in human form, and were sentenced to serve them. At the entrances to royal suites within the palace they are a reminder that the king lived apart from lower beings as if in another realm where he and his family were guarded by fantastic creatures from the past. Those creatures, after their subjugation, were designated by the great gods to protect the forces of justice and order.
In other rooms Sennacherib was keen to record his innovations in architecture and garden planning. His artists composed scenes which broke free from the monotony of severely horizontal registers, showing how huge stone slabs were dragged from quarries for new buildings, and they displayed in great detail the labours of his workforce. Just as important as the depiction of triumph in war, the sculptures of building works and the garden show his pride as patron of the arts, brilliantly devising departures from tradition in which a focal point, such as the siege of Lachish in Palestine, transformed the field to give a complex, triangular arrangement, allowing the action to take up the whole surface of the stone from top to bottom (see Figure 44). Some changes from earlier tradition suggest insights into Sennacherib’s own character. Unlike his father and his grandson, he seems not to have taken a part in hunting, although it is possible that there are hunting scenes in parts of the palace that have not been excavated.
Fig. 44 Drawing showing the innovative triangular design for the sculpture of the siege when Sennacherib captured Lachish. Length of central panel 190.5 cm.
The royal throne took the form of a high-backed chair with lion’s claw feet, decorated with panels of carved ivory on which the motifs signified divine support for the king’s reign. The ivories were coloured with inlays of enamel-like coloured glass and with gold leaf.17 A footstool matched the throne in its design, and both were raised upon a carved stone throne-base which had scenes of royal triumphs around the side, and a floral or geometric pattern on the top, perhaps plated with silver like the threshold slabs. The remains of Sennacherib’s throne were discovered by George Smith:
There was part of a crystal18 throne, a most magnificent article of furniture, in too mutilated condition to copy, but as far as it is preserved closely resembling in shape the bronze one discovered by Mr. Layard at Nimrud.19
Over the throne was erected a canopy, a baldachin hung with fabulous textiles, embroidery and tassels. Some of the wall sculptures show details of the king’s clothing, clearly elaborate and heavy, but details of workmanship and colour can only be guessed at, for the textiles themselves are never preserved. We know that there were knotted carpets at this time, from evidence of a much earlier period.20 Tiny coloured glass beads were sewn in patterns on to leather and textiles, especially favoured for ceremonial occasions, shining and resistant to rain and dust, and the man in charge of such work was a top courtier.21 Another decorative use of glass took the form of very thin rectangular plaques, each roughly 4.2 × 3.5 cm, with a slightly concave surface painted with Phoenician-style sphinxes, or a tree-of-life, or a winged figure. The transparency of the glass would have produced the effect of a shining, multicoloured surface, with some addition of gold leaf.22
Glass inlays, beaded fabrics and leather, glass plaques and glazed brick panels, all had the advantage of staying clean, colourful and bright in a dusty place, but only the most miserable fragments have been found to give us a glimpse of former glory.
Rich in symbolism and magic properties, various types of stone were used purposefully in different parts of the palace. Two texts illustrate this, the first of which refers directly to the palace:
Fossiliferous limestone, … a charm-stone efficacious for winning acceptance (from the gods) when speaking, for making bad weather pass by (without damage), and for keeping diseases from attacking a person … breccia, which looks like dragonflies’ wings (i.e. with iridescent inclusions), efficacious for assuaging throbbing in the brow, and which brings joy of heart and happiness of mind as a charm-stone … girimhilibû-stone, beautiful and pleasing to behold, and with the ability to prevent plagues infecting a person …23
The other text was inscribed on horse-troughs made by Sennacherib and found at Nineveh:
Horse-troughs of white limestone which will not deteriorate in times to come: I had them made, and I filled the area in front of these horse-troughs, to go beneath my horses’ hooves, with pieces of agate, banded agate and onyx, including chippings from precious stones, of jasper, breccia, … fossil-iferous limestone, alallum-stone, girimhilibû-stone, engisu-stone, alabaster, sabu-stone, haltu-stone, trimmings from the steps of my palace.24
From this extraordinary text we learn that the steps of Sennacherib’s palace were made with many different semi-precious stones, probably inlaid (as they were in contemporary Urartian palaces), reminiscent of a description in the Hebrew Book of Esther: ‘a pavement of red and blue and white and black marble.’25 Some of the great internal courtyards were carefully paved; in provincial palaces there was a fashion for patterned flooring using black and white river pebbles. The choice of materials was made not just on aesthetic grounds, but to ensure the health of the king and his family was protected. Where vents or air ducts came down into rooms, a panel of bas-relief showing a protective demonic demigod would be placed purposefully to prevent evil forces making an unauthorized entry (see Figure 45).
Fig. 45 Demonic gods who guarded palace entrances, windows, and air-shafts from snakes, sneak-thieves, and sicknesses.
Occasionally the excavators of Nineveh have found stone pedestals for sculptures of stone or bronze, or for columns of timber that would have been overlaid with bronze. The statues have almost all gone; but Sennacherib was proud of their lifelike quality and their personal charm: ‘22 colossal female sphinxes invested with joyous allure, plentifully endowed with sexual attraction’ which he cast, some in bronze and coated with electrum, others in a special alloy with a high tin content so that they would have a very shiny surface. His description reminds us of the legendary Pygmalion, king of Cyprus, who fell in love with the statue of a woman which then came to life and bore him a child, or the tale of the lover who left a stain on the thigh of Aphrodite of Cnidos, sculpted by the incomparable Praxiteles. Those attractive sphinxes were probably restricted to the private wings designed for Sennacherib’s immediate family, recognizable as groups of chambers forming an architectural unit within the overall building, each unit within the whole building being referred to as a palace, which gives a certain ambiguity to parts of his inscription. In Sennacherib’s own words:
I increased the outline of the palace to 700 large cubits at the side, and 440 large cubits at the front, and enlarged its dwelling space. I built other palatial pavilions of gold, silver, bronze, carnelian breccia, alabaster, elephant tusk, ebony, boxwood, rosewood, cedar, cypress, pine, elammaku-wood, and Indian wood (sandalwood?) for my royal abodes, and I constructed ‘a building with a pillared portico’ (bīthilāni) like a North Syrian palace, opposite the gates. I laid over it bea
ms of cedar and cypress whose fragrance is sweet, grown on the mountains of Amanus and Sirara. I bound door-leaves of cedar, cypress, pine and Indian wood with bands of silver and copper, and fix(ed) them in the door-frames. In the upper rooms within the private apartments I open(ed) up latticed (?) windows. I placed feminine protective statues in their doors, fashioned from alabaster and ivory, carrying flowers and holding hands (?), they radiate poise and charm, they are so beautiful that I have made of them a wonder. As for the ceilings inside the main rooms (?), I lightened their darkness and made them as bright as day. I made silver and copper pegs with knobs encircle their interiors. I decorated with baked brick glazed with blue the arches (?), friezes, and all of their cornices (?), in order to make the work in my palace splendid, and to perfect the touch of my hands.
In building a bīt hilāni type of palace, Sennacherib once again followed his father’s lead. The architectural feature that Assyrian kings admired during their expeditions to the Amanus mountains in North Syria was one characterized by a pillared portico leading into a wide entrance hall.26 This type of entrance connects the outer landscape with the interior of the building, in sharp contrast to the traditional Mesopotamian palace with its forbidding exterior, and its internal courtyard gardens secluded from the outside world. Sennacherib’s South-West Palace is thought to have had that type of entrance, with pillars resting on lions cast in bronze. The entrance, perhaps set out as a terrace, presumably faced the famous garden, so as to give a direct connection between the royal palace and the royal garden, as if the palace was a villa out in the countryside (see Figure 46).27
The pillars were marvellous too. From inscriptions of Sargon we know that eight colossal lions, cast in bright copper, each weighing some 17 tons, guarded in pairs the entrance to his palace doors.28 They served as bases for pillars, as shown on a panel of sculpture. If there was an upper storey, a staircase to the left of the entrance hall would have led up to private rooms with windows such as are depicted on ivories, set in a triple frame, fronted by a balustrade which allowed the person looking out to stand at the very edge and lean upon it (see Figure 47). Alternatively window openings may have contained a panel of lattice-work, of a kind known from Syria, where they were occasionally represented in carved stone. Sometimes the panels were solid though carved with the pattern of a window grille, allowing no light or air to pass through, so as to bar demons of disease and pollution.29
Fig. 46 Plan of the bīt hilāni, a palace with pillared portico at Tell Halaf in N. Syria. The city became an Assyrian provincial capital.
Fig. 47 (a) Ivory furniture ornament showing a woman at a window with a balustrade, from Nimrud, 9th/8th century BC. Ht. 8.2 cm. (b) Drawing from a sculptured panel showing architectural details including windows with balustrades.
The apartments within the palace must have been well lit even on the ground floor, to allow the decoration to show to advantage. There would have been clerestory light from the great internal courtyards, when these were adjacent, and the upper storeys may have had framed and balconied windows. Very tall and elaborate lamp-stands radiated artificial light, as well as plainer, little lamps placed upon furniture or stone ‘altars’, sufficient to justify the king’s boast: ‘As for the ceilings inside the main rooms, I lightened their darkness and made them as bright as day.’ The timbered ceilings were almost certainly painted and perhaps also carved. Braziers of elaborate bronze work provided movable heating in cold weather,30 and men with sprinklers kept the dust down in hot weather (see Figure 48). It is likely that the king and queen could walk on to the uppermost tier of the garden from one of the rooms of the top storey of the palace, an arrangement that is hinted at in the reconstruction drawing.
There are several places in the prism text where the careful reader notices that the natural flow of words is disjointed. One of the clearest examples of this contains the reference to ‘pavilions’ in the following passage:
Fig. 48 Reconstruction drawing of a portable hearth with wheels, made of iron and bronze, for heating a palace at Nimrud. Width c.80 cm.
In order to draw water up all day long I had ropes, bronze wires and bronze chains made, and instead of a shaduf I set up the great cylinders and alamittu-palms over cisterns. I made those royal pavilions look just right. I raised the height of the surroundings of the palace to be a wonder for all peoples. I gave it the name ‘Unrivalled Palace’.
There is nothing in the sentence preceding the reference to the pavilions that informs us what ‘those pavilions’ were. There is, to put it in a grammarian’s terms, no antecedent. An explanation is needed, not least because we need to know whether to connect the water-raising machinery and the pavilions.
Using examples from various other royal inscriptions, scholars have deduced that ‘cut and paste’ is an ancient technique in writing a text. Initially Assyrian scribes would write a long, detailed and coherent inscription to be displayed in the most public and prestigious location such as a throne-room, using passages from more detailed inscriptions elsewhere. Then they would make other shorter versions for less public and less prestigious places, and they might swap one passage for another that was particularly suitable for a subsequent location. Conversely, they would incorporate short texts or extracts into a longer or more general narrative.31 During the course of a king’s reign new deeds had to be accommodated by including them in earlier texts that were modified. Different reports had to be compacted into a single text.32 The method is observable from a draft of a long text of Esarhaddon, in which gaps of up to eight lines were left at several places, to be filled in at a later stage.33 A caption inscribed on a stone panel with bas-relief of Ashurbanipal reads: ‘Mr (blank) and Mr (blank) spoke great insults against Ashur the god my creator’.34 Such gaps were not always filled appropriately. In an inscription of Nebuchadnezzar II the phrase ‘I surrounded the city with mighty waters like the expanse of the sea’ was extracted from an inscription concerning building the outermost city wall of Babylon, which had a moat, and was transferred inappropriately to an inscription about building two cross-country walls, in which no water was involved.35 In a few instances a grammatical error occurred because the insertion was not harmonized with the surrounding words: the Assyrian scribe who composed Sennacherib’s Walters Art Gallery Inscription failed ‘to add subordinated markers to passages imported from other sources as required by the new grammatical context’.36
Thus there would have been an inscription tailored for display in the queen’s suite, with its dedication to her, and another for the bīt hilāni describing its special design. At Bavian, from a very long and detailed rock-cut inscription—describing the construction of all the engineering works of canal, bridge, weir and aqueduct—sentences or passages might be re-used in composing more general accounts such as the one we have found on the prisms. As the rebuilding of Nineveh progressed, updated versions were written, to celebrate and record each stage of the project. As far as the palace garden is concerned, the most detailed and coherent description of the garden may have been put in room XXII of the South-West Palace containing the bas-relief from which we now have only the Original Drawing IV 77 (see Figure 13), or at an appropriate location in the garden itself.37 Excerpts from it would have been pasted into the prism inscription. Some of the passages quoted are known from more than one text, occasionally with details modified. With such procedures for producing a myriad of similar texts, each adapted for its particular location, it is hardly surprising that some disjunctions were not ironed out.
Assyrian royal inscriptions are of two kinds: for immediate display, such as on internal wall-panels, and for concealment. The prisms are the concealed kind: they were bricked up within the walls of the palace so that one day in the distant future, when the walls crumbled, the fame of the king would be known once again. How excellently our two prisms—one in Iraq, the other in Chicago—have fulfilled their purpose!
One of Sennacherib’s own inscriptions confirmed that a part of the palace was lovingly ded
icated to his first wife Tashmetu-sharrat, mother of his favoured eldest son Ashur-nadin-shumi who became king of Babylon. Following a North Syrian custom, Sennacherib broke with the normal Assyrian tradition of near-anonymity for queens and dedicated to his chief consort the queen’s private apartments, leaving us with a strong sense of a happy first marriage, with these words only recently retrieved from the basement of the British Museum:
And for Tashmetu-sharrat the palace woman, my beloved wife, whose features the Mistress of the Gods has made perfect above all other women, I had a palace of loveliness, delight and joy built, and I set female sphinxes of white limestone in its doorways. At the command of Ashur, Father of the Gods, and of Ishtar the Queen, may we be granted days of health and happiness together within these palaces, may we have our fill of well-being, may the favourable protecting deities šēdu and lamassu turn to these palaces and never leave them.38
It was not to be. Sennacherib abandoned this wonderful building and built a new one, the North Palace, presumably when Tashmetu-sharrat was supplanted by Naqia who ensured that her own son Esarhaddon ousted the crown prince, son of her displaced rival in love.
Although this inscription, proclaiming the king’s love, is unparalleled in Assyria, precedents are found from other countries adjacent to Assyria. In the 9th century a king of Carchemish had recorded his dedication of a building, perhaps the queen’s private apartments, to his wife: ‘for Anas my beloved wife’;39 and around the same time the Urartian king Menua had written a formal dedication of a vineyard to his wife, queen Tariria.40 The dedicatory inscriptions of Carchemish and Urartu may have passed into oblivion as those countries became vassals of Assyria, but that of Sennacherib, attached to the finest palace in the world, would have coloured the gossip and enriched the legendary fame of 7th-century Nineveh.