. Travels and researches in Chaldæa and Susiana; with an account of excavations at Warka, the "Erech" of Nimrod, and Shúsh, "Shushan the Palace" of Esther, in 1849-52 .. . , erected by the kings ofAssyria to perpetuate their own exploits and greatness;but the people are only shewn as subservient to the willof their monarch. In the little tablets from Sinkara isdepicted the everyday life of the people, modelled bythemselves, without any royal influence to produce thebest works of the best artists. Kude as they are, thesedesigns prove that the Chaldseans—if they had pos- * The calculation is mad
. Travels and researches in Chaldæa and Susiana; with an account of excavations at Warka, the "Erech" of Nimrod, and Shúsh, "Shushan the Palace" of Esther, in 1849-52 .. . , erected by the kings ofAssyria to perpetuate their own exploits and greatness;but the people are only shewn as subservient to the willof their monarch. In the little tablets from Sinkara isdepicted the everyday life of the people, modelled bythemselves, without any royal influence to produce thebest works of the best artists. Kude as they are, thesedesigns prove that the Chaldseans—if they had pos- * The calculation is made thus :—50 Soss. x 60 + 25 = 3025, or 55?It should be mentioned that 60 units = 1 Sossua. 60 Sossi = 1 Sarus. PICTORIAL TABLETS—THE BOXERS. 25^ sessed stone for the purpose — could have executedsculptures equal, if not superior, to those of the Assyrians;and that the palaces and temples of the Chaldsean kingswere, undoubtedly, as highly ornamented as either thoseof Egypt or Assyria—not, perhaps, with bas-reliefs, butwith figures portrayed upon the walls in colouredplaster. The following tablets may be mentioned as havingbeen found over the same vaidt:—. 0/i iJ/v^t!/f/i- Clay Tablet from a Tomb at Sinkara. 1. Two figures, apparently boys, boxing, in the mostapproved fashion of the ring—a proof that thepugilistic art was practised and understood in themarshes of Chaldsea centuries before England was knownto the world ! The positions taken by the figures areadmirable. They are either stripped for the purpose, orthey wear a costume similar to the Madan tribes of thepresent day—an abba, or cloak, tied round the waist,the rest of the body being bare. On their heads areskull-caps. A third figure, standing with his back to the * The tablet representing a man and Indian dog, obtained in I5abyioniaby Sir Henry Rawlinson, and figured at page 527 of Layards Ninevehand Babylon, much resembles these Sinkara tablets, and was probablyprocured by the Arabs from an ancient gra
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1850, bookidtravelsresea, bookyear1857
