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Show 112 THE NATIONS OF THE arc connected with Mesopotamia; inasmuch as tho names of OsonKON, (Sargon) TAKELO'rll (Tigla':h), NIMROD, and KERO~AMA (Semiramis,) arc altogether un-Egypt1an, and strongly ..A.ssynan. About this time (!Jtb and lOth century D. o.) ivory combs, and decorative sculptures of Assyrjan design became fashionable in Egypt,132 and show that tho Assyrian style of art was already fnlly dovclopocl. Tho cclobt·atod black marble obelisk of king DrvANUBAR (Deleboras ?), in tho British Museum, b longs to about the same period, b ing synchronic with king Jehu of Israel (abont 820 D.o.), and bears no peculiar traces of archaism. Tho archaic human-headed bull and lion of Arb an, published by La yard, 133 must therefore be placed by several centuries before tho obelisk, and may perhaps belong to the time of the fu'st contact of Mesopotamia and Egypt under the conquering kings of the XVITth and XVIDth dynasties. " Their outline and treatment," says La yard, "arc bold and angular, with an archaic fooling conveying the impression of great antiquity. They boar tho same relation to tho more dolicntoly finished and highly ornamented sculptures of Nhm-oucl as the earliest specimens of Grook art do to tho exquisite monuments of Phidias and Praxitolos. l'ho burnan features aro, unfortunately, much injured, but such parts as remain are sufficient to show that tho countcnanco had a peculiar ohamcter, differing from tho Assyrian typo. Tho nose was f!t1t and largo, and the lips thick and overhanging, like those of o. negro." To judg11 by the drawing of Dr. Laya1·d, knowing the correctness of his designs, we must observe that the head of tho Arb an bull has as little of nigritian characters as the head of the colossal sphinx l'l& before the second Pyramid; which had formerly likewise often been compared to a N ogro, exclusively on account of the fulncss of the lips, and the defacement of its nose by Arab iconoclasts. 135 The face, however, on both these monuments, has no particular projection of m DE Rouoll, Notice, p. 16:- established also by Dmorr, "On two Egyptian oartouohes found nt Nimroud," 1848, pp. 168-60; abundantly figured in LA YARn's folio .Monuments of Nineveh, 1840. 133 Nineveh and Babylon, p. 276 & f. ta. [Sinoo the studies of LJJNomrANT (Muste des A11tiquites E!JJJplicnnes, p. 44), and of LET!tONNE (Recueil des Ji1scriptions Grecques et Latines, II, 1848, pp. 460-86), the opooh heretofore attributed to the Groat Sphinx, viz: to AMoaxs (Aalimes) of XVIIth dynttaty, has also boon carried to tho more ancient period of tho Old Empire, through the suoceasivo explorations of LJ:I'sJus (Brieje, 1852, pp. 42-5), Dnuosou (Reiscbericlite, 1855, pp. 10-84), and more than all by MAUIETTE, who ro-unoovorod tl1ia rock-colossus in 1858. The enigma of the "Sphinx," through the latter's researches, has vanished likewise I It is but "Honus of tho horizon," i. e. tho utting sun. (DE SAULOY, "Fouillcs du S6rap6um do Mom phis" Le Oonstilutionel, Paris, 9 Doc. 181:.4: -MAURY, Dtcouvertes en JJ}gyple, p. 1074) -G. R. G.] 1116 [MhKREl!ZFll!l narrates how tho nose of tho Sphinx was chiselled away by a frmatioal muslim saint, about 1878:-Cf. FIALIN DE PERSIONY, thou "d6tonu il. la maiaon do aant6 do Doulons," (De la Destination et del' Utilitt permanence des Pyramides de l'Egypte et de la Nubie eontre les Irruptions Sablonneusu du Dtsert, Paris, Svo. 1846).- G. R. G.] CUNEIFORM WRITING. 143 tho jaws, and the facial angle is open. The fulnoss of the lips peculiar Lo the Egyptian, or negroid typo, reminds the man of science only of l~gypt, not of negroes; who, in spite of Count DE GoniNEAu's ingenious hypothc os,13a could not have been tho ancestors of tho Arian monarchs of Mesopotamia. Though all tho human-beaded bulls of Assyr·ia arc royal portraits, just as sphinxes of Egypt were likenesses of tho Pharaohs,137 still, we arc scarcely authorized to draw any conclusion about an Egyptian origin of Assyrian art fi·om tho negroid (perhaps Arab-Gushite) cast of features of tho Arban king; for, in all other respects, the colossus exhibits the marked characteristics of Assyrian art; for instance, in the elaborate arrangement of the curls and beard, the architectural peculiarity of tho five foot of tho bull, instead of four, together with tho exaggeration of tho muscles. Assyrin.n art, in its earliest known remains, appears entirely national and i nclopcndent of Egypt; and it maintains its peculiar typ through tbo vicissitudes of several centuries down to the destruction of the empire. We do not mean to say that Egypt exerted no influence whatever on Assyria; on tho contrary, tlJorc arc some bronze cnps and ivory ornaments and statuettes, in tho l3ritish Museum, ovid ntly imitated from Egyptian models; still, the Egyptian exerted but a temporary intlucnco on the decorative clement of the Assyrian style, without modi(ying the art of AsRyria, which can best be d sicmatcd by tho epithet of" princely." Tho kinrr, according to thor licis, sums up tho whole national life of Ninevol1. Wherever wo lool', we moot exclusively with his representation , surrounded her wiLh his court, thoro with his army, receiving tribute and concltlding treaties, leading his troops and fighting battles, besieging fortresses ancl punishing tho prisoners, hunting the wild bnll and the lion of tbc clcsort, foasLinrr in his royal balls and drinking wino from costly nps. Evon tho pantheon of Assyria is mostly known by the worship, oblations, and sacrifices ofthe king. Tho scones of domestic life, and of the sports ancl occupations of the people, which, in Egyptian reliefs, occupy ncal'ly as much place as tho representations conn ctcd with royalLy, arc altog thor wanting at Nineveh. 1'here arc a f w slabs that represent domestic occupations-a servant currycombing a horse, a cool superintending tho boilers, and tho butchers 1na DN QontNI•:Au, in hial11fgalilt des races humaines, 1\ttributos t.ho artistic faculties of o.ny mcc to 11.11 11dmixture of Negro or Mongol blood, although ho 1\cknowlodges that pure Nogroos aro unn rtislic. 131 'L'ho union of a human head to a lion in F.gypt, and to 1\ bnll in Assyria, implies an Rpothoosis; sinco tho lion and tho bull were tho symbols of Gods, tho terrestrial imngos ot colostit1l beings. |