XVII.—Observations on Two Bas Reliefs of Assyrian Sculpture removed from Khorsabad. By Samuel Birch, Esq. F.S.A. Assistant Keeper of the Antiquities in the British Museum

Samuel Birch Esq.

doi:10.1017/S0261340900003544

XVII.—Observations on Two Bas Reliefs of Assyrian Sculpture removed from Khorsabad. By Samuel Birch, Esq. F.S.A. Assistant Keeper of the Antiquities in the British Museum

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 June 2012

Samuel Birch Esq.

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I have the honour to lay before the Society of Antiquaries to-night the drawing of two heads in bas-relief, and of heroic size, forming a portion of the recent discoveries of Mr. Botta at Khorsabad. They were sent by Mr. Rassam, Her Majesty's Consul at Mossul, to Sir Stratford Canning, and by him to Sir Robert Peel, who has sent them to the British Museum for examination and inspection.

Type: Research Article
Information: Archaeologia , Volume 32 , Issue 1 , 1847 , pp. 168 - 182

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261340900003544 [Opens in a new window]
Copyright: Copyright © The Society of Antiquaries of London 1847

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^{page 168 note a} A people called in Egyptian texts the Ruten, who are supposed by some to be the Lud-im, and, by others the Ar-vad-im, or Arvadites, (a people with red hair and blue eyes, and, probably the Leuco-Syri,) wear the same cap. Cf. Hoskin's Travels in Æthiopia.

^{page 168 note b} Sir R. Ker Porter's Travels.

^{page 168 note c} These heads were first conjectured to be those of women.

^{page 168 note d} I say resembling,, for they differ much on the subject of this portion of the crux ansata. See Letronne, Revue Archælogique, vol. I. p. 483.. Annales de l'Inst. Arch. 8vo. Par. tom. XV.

^{page 169 note a} Revue Archæologique, Fevrier, 1846.

^{page 169 note b} Revue Archæol. loc. cit. Cf. Journal Asiatique, 8vo. Pars Fevrier et Mars, 1845, p. 201.

^{page 169 note c} Journal Asiatique, Sept. et Oct. 1843, pp. 201–214, pl. XVII.

^{page 169 note d} Journal Asiatique, 1843, pl. XVII. Longperier in the Revue Archæol. Juillet, 1844, p. 9.

^{page 169 note e} Revue Archæologique, Juillet, 1844, pp. 1–24. I regret that I have been unable to see the Nineve e le scoperte di Botta, par Gotto Calvi, 8vo. Milan, 1845.

^{page 169 note f} For Botta's Letters, cf. Journal Asiatique, 14 Juillet, 1843, pp. 61–72; Sept. et Oct., 201–210; Fevr. 1844, p. 91, and foll.; Sept. et Oct. 1844, p. 301 and following.

^{page 170 note a} The layers of these bricks had been cemented by a layer of reeds and bitumen.

^{page 170 note b} These two are engraved in Journ. Asiat. Juillet, 1843, pp. 61—72, pl. II.

^{page 170 note c} Given in Journ. Asiat. Jan. et Fev. 1844, pl. XXIV.

^{page 170 note d} Journ. Asiat. Juillet, 1843, pl. III.

^{page 170 note e} Journ. Asiat. Juillet, 1843, pl. IV.

^{page 171 note a} Journ. Asiat. loc. cit. pl. V.

^{page 171 note b} In certain slabs this divinity appears, as Journ. Asiat. Sept. et Oct. 1843, pl. XVI. Cf. also the conical gem of chalcedony found in the excavations. Longperier, Rev. Arch. p. 8.

^{page 171 note c} Journal Asiat. Juillet et Août, 1843, pl. VI.

^{page 171 note d} Edited in Journ. Asiat. loc. cit. pl. IX.

^{page 171 note e} Ibid. pl. VIII.

^{page 171 note f} Ibid. pl. X.

^{page 171 note g} Ibid. pl. XI.

^{page 171 note h} Ibid. pl. XII.

^{page 171 note i} Journ. Asiat. Sept. et Oct. 1843, pl. XIII.–XV.

^{page 171 note k} Journ. Asiat. Septr. et Oct. 1843, pl. XVI.

^{page 171 note l} Ibid. pl. XIX.

^{page 172 note a} Journ. Asiat. Sept. et Oct. 1843, pl. XVIII.

^{page 172 note b} Ibid. pl. XVIII.

^{page 172 note c} Journ. Asiat. Jan., Fevr., 1844, pl. XVII.

^{page 172 note d} Revue Archæol. loc. cit.

^{page 172 note e} See Cullimore, Oriental Cylinders, pl. XXX. p. 187; pl. IV. No. 20, generally with Sabæan types, as the Sun, Moon, Pleiads, &c.

^{page 173 note a} Numism. Chron. 1845, p. 14. Mionnet, tom. iii. p. 626. Supp. vi. 550, No. 545.

^{page 173 note b} Journal Asiatique, Lettre III., Jan. et Fevr., 1844, pl. XXII. 2.

^{page 173 note c} Ibid. Juin, 1844, pl. XXXIX.

^{page 173 note d} Ibid. Jan. et Fevr., 1844, pl. XXV.

^{page 174 note a} Journal Asiatique, pl. XXXIX.

^{page 174 note b} Journal Asiatique, Juin, 1844, pl. XXXII. XXXIII. XXXIV. The poles of the chariot have at their termination a figure of the bird-headed divinity, holding the ♀, crux ansata, or symbol of life.

^{page 174 note c} The figure at the Nahr El Kelb has been hitherto generally called Persian, but it is Assyrian; the era when executed, probably, was when Tartan, general of Sargon, marched upon Ashdod. The inscription is given in Journal Asiatique, Jan. et Fevr. 1844, pl. XXVIII.

^{page 174 note d} These are given in Journal Asiatique, pl. XXVII.

^{page 175 note a} Journ. Asiat. Juin, 1844, pl. XXXV.

^{page 175 note b} Ibid. Juin, 1844, pl. XXXVI.

^{page 175 note c} Ibid. pl. XXXVIII.

^{page 176 note a} Isaiah xxxvi. l. 2 Kings xvii. 14–16.

^{page 177 note a} Lepsius, Auswahl der wichtigsten Urkunden des Ægyptischen Alterthums. Fol. Leipzig, 1842; taf. XIV. A.

^{page 177 note b} A brick, with an inscription in the Ninevite hand, thus sealed, is in possession of R. Steuart, Esq.

^{page 180 note a} See M. Longperier, Revue Archæol. loc. cit.

^{page 180 note b} Löwenstern Isidore, Essai de dechiffrement de l'Ecriture Assyrienne, pour servir à l'explication de Monument de Khorsabad, 8vo. Paris, 1845. Dublin University Magazine, Jan. 1847. Some passages in the Life of King Darius, written by himself.

^{page 180 note c} Mr. Bonomi informs me that some of the prisoners, in a drawing not yet published by M. Botta, have rings in their mouths, to which is attached a cord: this he compares with 2 Kings, xix. 28, “And my bridle in thy lips.”

^{page 181 note a} Lib. i. 195.

^{page 181 note b} Cf. Strab. lib. xvi. p. 1058. Ed. Fale.

^{page 181 note c} Ch. xxii. 6–12. Ezechiel was made captive B.C. 595.

^{page 181 note d} Ch. vi. 29.

^{page 181 note e} The name Νάναβ%ος, I suspect, is Νινὸς Ἅβ%ος, the effeminate Νινὸς as ' Αρταῖος the Mede is for' Ἀ%βακὴς.

^{page 181 note f} Nicolaus Damascenus, 1805, p. 229, 230, κατεξυ%ήμενος.

^{page 181 note g} Ezechiel, loc. cit. and Ctesias in Diodor. ii, 23; Nicol. Damasc. loc. cit.

^{page 181 note h} Nicol. loc. cit. also καθύπεστι βισμένος τὼ ὀɸθαλ, which cf. with Heliodor. 121.

^{page 181 note i} Job, xlii. 14.

^{page 181 note k} 2 Kings, ix. 10.

^{page 181 note l} Jer. iv. 30.

^{page 182 note a} Loc. cit.

^{page 182 note b} Archæologia, vol. XXIX. pl. XIV. p. 112. Lepsius, Auswahl der wichtigsten Urkunden des Ægyptischen Alterthums. Fol. Leipzig, 1842, taf. VIII. A.

^{page 182 note c} Catalogue Raisonnée, p. 115.

^{page 182 note d} Bell. Jud. v. c. 9.

^{page 182 note e} Tanta est decoris affectatio, ut tingatur oculi quoque.

^{page 182 note f} Cf. Tertullian and St. Cyprian, De Discipl. et Cultu Virgin.

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XVII.—Observations on Two Bas Reliefs of Assyrian Sculpture removed from Khorsabad. By Samuel Birch, Esq. F.S.A. Assistant Keeper of the Antiquities in the British Museum

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