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Perrot-Chipiez
place the staircase leading from the
ground-level
to the terrace inside the building--"an
arrangement
which would have the advantage of not
interfering
with the outline of this immense platform, and
would
not detract from the strength and solidity of its
appearance;"
Reber proposes a different combination. At Uru,
the
whole staircase projects in front of the platform and
"loads
up to the edge of the basement of the second story,"
then
continues as an inclined plane from the edge of the
first
story to the terrace of the second, forming one single
staircase,
perhaps of the same width as this second story,
leading
from the base to the summit of the building.
[Illustration:
134.jpg THE TEMPLE OF NANNAR AT URU, APPROXIMATELY
RESTORED.]
Drawn
by Faucher-Gudin. The restoration differs from that
proposed
by Perrot-Chipiez. I have made it by working out
the
description taken down on the spot by Taylor.
The
central mass of crude brick has preserved its casing of red
tiles,
cemented
with bitumen, almost intact up to the top; it is
strengthened
by buttresses--nine on the longer and six on the shorter
sides--projecting
about a foot, which relieve its rather bare surface.
The
second story rises to the height of only 20 feet above, the
first,
and
when intact could not have been more than 26 to 30 feet high.*
Many
bricks
bearing the stamp of Dungi are found among the materials used in
the
latest restoration, which took place about the VIth century
before
our
era; they have a smooth surface, are broken here and there by
air-holes,
and their very simplicity seems to bear witness to the fact
that
Nabonidos confined himself to the task of merely restoring things
to
the state in which the earlier kings of Uru had left them.**
[Illustration:
135.jpg THE TEMPLE OF URU IN ITS PRESENT STATE, ACCORDING
TO
TAYLOR]
Facsimile,
by Faucher-Gudin, of the drawing published by
Taylor.
*
At the present time 14 feet high, plus 5 feet of rubbish,
119
feet long, 75 feet wide (Loftus, _Travels and Researches
in
Olialdsea and Susiana_, p. 129).
**
The cylinders of Nabonidos describing the restoration of
the
temple were found at the four angles of the second story
by
Taylor.
Till
within the last century, traces of a third story to this temple
might
have been distinguished; unlike the lower ones, it was not of
solid
brickwork, but contained at least one chamber: this was the Holy
of
Holies, the sanctuary of Nannar. The external walls were covered
with
pale
blue enamelled tiles, having a polished surface. The interior
was
panelled with cedar or cypress--rare woods procured as articles
of
commerce from the peoples of the North and West; this woodwork
was
inlaid
in parts with thin leaves of gold, alternating with panels of
mosaics
composed of small pieces of white marble, alabaster, onyx, and
agate,
cut and polished.
[Illustration:
136.jpg FURTHER VIEW OF THE TEMPLE OF URU]
In
Its Present State, According To Loftus. Drawn by
Bouchier,
from Loftus.
Here
stood the statue of Nannar, one of those stiff and
conventionalized
figures
in the traditional pose handed down from generation to
generation,
and which lingered even in the Chaldæan statues of Greek
times.
The spirit of the god dwelt within it in the same way as the
double
resided in the Egyptian idols, and from thence he watched over
the
restless movements of the people below, the noise of whose
turmoil
scarcely
reached him at that elevation. The gods of the Euphrates, like
those
of the Nile, constituted a countless multitude of visible and
invisible
beings, distributed into tribes and empires throughout all the
regions
of the universe. A particular function or occupation formed,
so
to speak, the principality of each one, in which he worked with
an
indefatigable
zeal, under the orders of his respective prince or king;
but,
whereas in Egypt they were on the whole friendly to man, or at
the
best
indifferent in regard to him, in Chaldæa they for the most part
pursued
him with an implacable hatred, and only seemed to exist in order
to
destroy him. These monsters of alarming aspect, armed with knives
and
lances,
whom the theologians of Heliopolis and Thebes confined within
the
caverns of Hades in the depths of eternal darkness, were believed
by
the Chaldæans to be let loose in broad daylight over the
earth,--such
were
the "gallu" and the "mas-kim," the "âlu" and the "utukku,"
besides
a
score of other demoniacal tribes bearing curious and mysterious
names.
[Illustration:
137.jpg Lion-headed genius.]
Drawn
by Faucher-Gudin, from a small terra-cotta figure of
the
Assyrian period, and now in the Louvre. It was one of
the
figures buried under the threshold of one of the gates
of
the town at Khorsabad, to keep off baleful influences.
Some
floated in the air and presided over the unhealthy winds. The
South-West
Wind, the most cruel of them all, stalked over the solitudes
of
Arabia, whence he suddenly issued during the most oppressive
months
of
the year: he collected round him as he passed the malarial
vapours
given
off by the marshes under the heat of the sun, and he spread them
over
the country, striking down in his violence not only man and
beast,
but
destroying harvests, pasturage, and even trees.
[Illustration:
138.jpg THE SOUTH-WEST WIND]
Drawn
by Faucher-Gudin, from the bronze original now in the
Louvre.
The latter museum and the British Museum possess
several
other figures of the same demon.
The
genii of fevers and madness crept in silently everywhere,
insidious
and
traitorous as they were. The plague alternately slumbered or made
furious
onslaughts among crowded populations. Imps haunted the houses,
goblins
wandered about the water's edge, ghouls lay in wait for
travellers
in unfrequented places, and the dead quitting their tombs in
the
night stole stealthily among the living to satiate themselves
with
their
blood. The material shapes attributed to these murderous beings
were
supposed to convey to the eye their perverse and ferocious
characters.
They were represented as composite creatures in whom the
body
of a man would be joined grotesquely to the limbs of animals in
the
most
unexpected combinations. They worked in as best they could,
birds'
claws,
fishes' scales, a bull's tail, several pairs of wings, the head
of
a lion, vulture, hyaena, or wolf; when they left the creature a
human
head,
they made it as hideous and distorted as possible. The South-West
Wind
was distinguished from all the rest by the multiplicity of the
incongruous
elements of which his person was composed. His dog-like body
was
supported upon two legs terminating in eagle's claws; in addition
to
his
arms, which were furnished with sharp talons, he had four
outspread
wings,
two of which fell behind him, while the other two rose up and
surrounded
his head; he had a scorpion's tail, a human face with large
goggle-eyes,
bushy eyebrows, fleshless cheeks, and retreating lips,
showing
a formidable row of threatening teeth, while from his flattened
skull
protruded the horns of a goat: the entire combination was so
hideous,
that it even alarmed the god and put him to flight, when he was
unexpectedly
confronted with his own portrait. There was no lack of
good
genii to combat this deformed and vicious band. They too
were
represented as monsters, but monsters of a fine and noble
bearing,--griffins,
winged lions, lion-headed men, and more especially
those
splendid human-headed bulls, those "lamassi" crowned with mitres,
whose
gigantic statues kept watch before the palace and temple gates.
Between
these two races hostility was constantly displayed: restrained
at
one point, it broke out afresh at another, and the evil genii,
invariably
beaten, as invariably refused to accept their defeat. Man,
less
securely armed against them than were the gods, was ever meeting
with
them. "Up there, they are howling, here they lie in wait,--they
are
great
worms let loose by heaven--powerful ones whose clamour rises
above
the
city--who pour water in torrents from heaven, sons who have come
out
of the bosom of the earth.--They twine around the high rafters,
the
great rafters, like a crown;--they take their way from house to
house,--for
the door cannot stop them, nor bar the way, nor repulse
them,--for
they creep like a serpent under the door--they insinuate
themselves
like the air between the folding doors,--they separate the
bride
from the embraces of the bridegroom,--they snatch the child from
between
the knees of the man,--they entice the unwary from out of his
fruitful
house,--they are the threatening voice which pursues him from
behind."
Their malice extended even to animals: "They force the raven
to
fly away on the wing,--and they make the swallow to escape from
its
nest;--they
cause the bull to flee, they cause the lamb to flee--they,
the
bad demons who lay snares."
The
most audacious among them did not fear at times to attack the
gods
of
light; on one occasion, in the infancy of the world, they had
sought
to
dispossess them and reign in their stead. Without any warning
they
had
climbed the heavens, and fallen upon Sin, the moon-god; they had
repulsed
Shamash, the Sun, and Eamman, both of whom had come to the
rescue;
they had driven Ishtar and Anu from their thrones: the whole
firmament
would have become a prey to them, had not Bel and Nusku, Ea
and
Merodach, intervened at the eleventh hour, and succeeded in
hurling
them
down to the earth, after a terrible battle. They never completely
recovered
from this reverse, and the gods raised up as rivals to them a
class
of friendly genii--the "Igigi," who were governed by five
heavenly
Anunnas.
[Illustration:
141.jpg SIN DELIVERED BY MERODACH FROM THE ASSAULT OF THE
SEVEN
EVIL SPIRITS.]
Drawn
by Faucher-Gudin, from an Assyrian intaglio published
by
Layard.
The
earthly Anunnas, the Anunnaki, had as their chiefs seven sons
of
Bel, with bodies of lions, tigers, and serpents: "the sixth was a
tempestuous
wind which obeyed neither god nor king,--the seventh, a
whirlwind,
a desolating storm which destroys everything,"--"Seven,
seven,--in
the depth of the abyss of waters they are seven,--and
destroyers
of heaven they are seven.--They have grown up in the depths
of
the abyss, in the palace;--males they are not, females they are
not,--they
are storms which pass quickly.--They take no wife, they give
birth
to no child,--they know neither compassion nor kindness,--they
listen
to no prayer nor supplication.--As wild horses they are born in
the
mountains,--they are the enemies of Ba,--they are the agents of
the
gods;--they
are evil, they are evil--and they are seven, they are seven,
they
are twice seven." Man, if reduced to his own resources, could
have
no
chance of success in struggling against beings who had almost
reduced
the
gods to submission. He invoked in his defence the help of the
whole
universe,
the spirits of heaven and earth, the spirit of Bel and of
Belit,
that of Ninib and of Nebo, those of Sin, of Ishtar, and of
Bamman;
but Gibir or Gibil, the Lord of Fire, was the most powerful
auxiliary
in this incessant warfare. The offspring of night and of dark
waters,
the Anunnaki had no greater enemy than fire; whether kindled
on
the household hearth or upon the altars, its appearance put them
to
flight
and dispelled their power.
[Illustration:
142.jpg STRUGGLE BETWEEN A GOOD AND AN EVIL GENIUS.]
Drawn
by Faucher-Gudin, from Layard.
"Gibil,
renowned hero in the land,--valiant, son of the Abyss, exalted
in
the land,--Gibil, thy clear flame, breaking forth,--when it
lightens
up
the darkness,--assigns to all that bears a name its own destiny.
--The
copper and tin, it is thou who dost mix them,--gold and silver,
it
is thou who meltest them,--thou art the companion of the goddess
Ninkasi--thou
art he who exposes his breast to the nightly enemy!--Cause
then
the limbs of man, son of his god, to shine,--make him to be
bright
like
the sky,--may he shine like the earth,--may he be bright like the
interior
of the heavens,--may the evil word be kept far from him," and
with
it the malignant spirits. The very insistence with which help is
claimed
against the Anunnaki shows how much their power was dreaded.
The
Chaldean felt them everywhere about him, and could not move
without
incurring
the danger of coming into contact with them. He did not fear
them
so much during the day, as the presence of the luminary deities
in
the
heavens reassured him; but the night belonged to them, and he was
open
to their attacks. If he lingered in the country at dusk, they
were
there,
under the hedges, behind walls and trunks of trees, ready to
rush
out upon him at every turn. If he ventured after sundown into the
streets
of his village or town, he again met with them quarrelling with
dogs
over the offal on a rubbish heap, crouched in the shelter of a
doorway,
lying hidden in corners where the shadows were darkest. Even
when
barricaded within his house, under the immediate protection of
his
domestic idols, these genii still threatened him and left him not
a
moment's
repose.* The number of them was so great that he was unable to
protect
himself adequately from all of them: when he had disarmed the
greater
portion of them, there were always several remaining against
whom
he had forgotten to take necessary precautions. What must have
been
the total of the subordinate genii, when, towards the IXth
century
before
our era, the official census of the invisible beings stated
the
number of the great gods in heaven and earth to be sixty-five
thousand!**
*
The presence of the evil spirits everywhere is shown,
among
other magical formulas, by the incantation in
Rawlinson,
_Cun, Ins. W. As._, vol. ii. pi. 18, where we
find
enumerated at length the places from which they are to
be
kept out. The magician closes the house to them, the
hedge
which surrounds the house, the yoke laid upon
the
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