Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1886-07-02
A RARE TREASURE.
An Assyrian Bas-Relief Three Thousand
Nenrs ON

H. Converse Of the class of lSGl This
specimen is in itself the most important
ana valuable specimen which the mu-
scum has ever received and has a very
remarkable history which. may he given
In outline as follows: About forty years
ago an American missionary, Mr.. viii
llahS, visited the site of ancient Niueveh
AT the time when Sir Henry I.ayard
was making his famous excavations and
discoveries and obtained a finely carved
slab, which he presented, by letter. to n
friend in Philadelphia. The letter was
duly received, but several years passed
by and the slab did not come. 1t had
been carefully packed in camels hair and
strongly boxed and delivered to an Arab
shelk, who agreed to see it safely across
the 800 miles of desert which must be
traversed before a sea port could be reach
ep Enquiry showed that it had never
reached this port, AleXandretta, and that
the sheik had in course of his Journey
been able to obtain more profitable
freight and had therefore thrown II aside
near Aleppo. Here u, l,rlrh the. nnxes.
for the slab had been saved into three
pieces for convenience in transportation.
were found by another caravan and finally
sent to Philadelphia. When their desti-
nation was reached the one to whom they
hHd been sent was absent and the boyps
were placed in his store house and for
gotten; Here they lay for IS years until.
after the death of their owner. they were
discovered, opened and the slab temper
arily set up for the benefit of autquarians.
from WhOm 1t attracted much attention
Prot. |. =. Peters of the Episcopal dlvin-
lty school, thus translates the inscription.
which in cuneiform characters reaches
across the middle of the slab "The pal
ace of Assur- nazir-pal, servant of Asiur
servant of the God Belts, the god Mint,
the shining one of Anu and DaROn SEP
want OF the Great Gods. Mighty King.
KING OF hosts, king of the land of Assyra
son OF Bln-nlrari, a strong warrior who in
the service of Assur his Lord. marched
vigorously among the princes Of the four
regions, who had no equal a mighty lead
or who had no rival, king subduinr all
dlsobedlent to him, who rules mutitudes
OF men; crushing all his foes even the
masses OF the rebels The city Of
Caah, which my predecessor, Shalmaue-
ger, king of Assyria had built had fallen
INTO decay. His City rebuilt, palace of
cedar, box, cypress, for the seat of my
royalty, for the fullness of my priucedom.
70 endure Tor generations, | paced upou
It, with plates Of copper rooted it. |
hung in its gates folding door, of cedar
my hands had acquired in the lands which
ruled, / gathered in great Quantities.
and placed them in the midst thereof. D."
The slab as 1t was originally aud as ii is
now set up in our museum is nine
teet nigh and three and half wide. 4
"iana-ier OF sort found in the'
plains Of MesopOtamia. 1t was great
~ desired for the national luUseum
at Washington and by other large mu-
seums' but most happily for Us Mr. Con.
verse succeeded III purchasing and most
In L.ayard's "NlneNeh and its Remains"
vol l. p. GO, we find what appears to be
an account of this identical slab
IN TWO days the Workmen reached the
top OK slab which appeared to he both
well preserved and to he stll standing in
its original position On the south side
discovered, to my great satisfaction, two
human figures considerably ,aboye the ma
tural SIZE, Sculptured in low relief. still
exhibiting all the freshness OF a recent
work. In few hours the earth and rub
blsh mad been completely removed from
! ne lace OF the SLAB no part OF which had
been injured. The ornamout, delicateiy
craven on the robes. the tI,sel, and
irluges, the bracelet, and armIrtS, the
curls OF hair and beard were all
entire. The figures Were back to back and
furnished with wings. They appeared to
season, or over particular religious cere-
monies. The one, whose face was turned
To the East, carried a fallow deer on his
light arm and hls left a branch bearing
live flowers. Around his temple was a
hllet, adorned in front with a rosette. The
other held square vessel, or basket, in
the left hand and an object resembling a
Fir cone IN the right On his head ne wore
Il rounded cap, at the base Of which was a
norm The garments of both consisted of
n stole falling from the shoulders to the
ankles, and short tuuic underneath. de-
scendlng 10 the knee were richly ana taste
fully decorated with embroideres and
tringes. whilst the hair and beard We're
arranged with study and art ;"
In It's original position the slab was
one OF an extensive series which lined a
Il corridor OF the palace, other slabs from
this building being in the BRUSH museum
and the workmanship regarded rs the
most delicate and excellent that have been
discovered IN Assyria. The walls of the
palace We're made of sun-dried bricks and
the slabs formed panels. From the nscrip.
ton We learn that the slab was carved be-
SO H. G. This WAS - years before Isiah.
25O before Cyrus the great, 300 years before
400 years before Socrates and
nearly 45O years before the
Parthenon was built, or Delphi founded,
800 years before the days Of Demosthenes
and Alexander the Great. 1t stood in its
place during the reign of Ahab and JehO-
shaphat and had been there more than %
years when Northumberland destroyed
Solomon temple.
Surely this, one of the finest specimens
of Assyrian sculpture, has had a strange
history. Carved by unknown artists
nearly 5000 years ago it WAS placed in
Ninevehs most spieuIiI palace where for
after century the Woudruus pump
and magnlilcence of lie court passed and