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The Excavations of the British Museum at Toprak Kale Near Van

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 August 2014

Extract

The objects from Toprak Kale in Armenia are often referred to in archæological literature, but usually in vague terms or with one author contradicting the other. Thus for Perrot and Chipiez (1882) the bronze furniture-ornaments are simply Assyrian products found in Armenia. Heuzey, writing in 1912, was clearly not in favour of their being Assyrian; they belonged to the art of Urartu. This was the deduction to be drawn from Belck and Lehmann-Haupt's excavations at the end of the last century. Lehmann-Haupt's own views were that the culture of the Urartians was “almost wholly western with only minor traces of Assyrian influence,” while its own influence on Etruscan art was very noticeable. Karo and Hertzfeld laid great emphasis on the importance of Urartu as a centre of metal-working, and Hertzfeld asserted that Urartian art was a native, aboriginal creation, which influenced Assyrian art, finally passing into that of Achaemenid Persia, as shown by certain pieces in the Oxus Treasure. Schachermayer declared Urartian art to be a phase of that art of a larger cultural metal-working area embracing Eastern Anatolia and Tabal (Phrygia). Götze expanded this area to include Western Persia.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The British Institute for the Study of Iraq 1950

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References

page 1 note 1 Histoire de l'Art dans l'Antiquité, Vol. 2, pp. 723–5Google Scholar.

page 1 note 2 Les Origines Orientales de l'Art, pp. 231, 241.

page 1 note 3 See below, p. 23.

page 1 note 4 Art. Urartu in Encyclopaedia Britannica, XIVth ed., 1929, summarises sufficiently well his views argued in extenso in his Armenien Einst und Jetzt (1919–1931).

page 1 note 5 Orient und Hellas in archäischer Zeit, Athenische Mitteilungen, 1921Google Scholar.

page 1 note 6 Khattische und Khaldische Bronzen, Janus, Vol. 1 (Lehmann-Haupt Festschrift), 1921Google Scholar.

page 1 note 7 Art. Tuschpa in Ebert's, Reallexikon der Vorgeschichte (1929)Google Scholar.

page 1 note 8 In Ch. IV (Das Reich von Urartu) of his Kleinasien (1933), pp. 182185Google Scholar.

page 1 note 9 op. cit.; appendix to Vol. II, pt. 11, p. 29.

page 2 note 1 B.M., 91147.

page 2 note 2 Asshur and the Land of Nimrod (New York, 1897), p. 61 ffGoogle Scholar.

page 2 note 3 Layard Papers LXXXIV (= B.M. Add. M.S. 39014), 31st Aug., 1877.

page 3 note 1 Layard Papers LXXXV (= B.M. Add. MS. 39015), 20th Oct., 1877.

page 3 note 2 From the appearance of Rassam's book (op. cit.), it would seem that at least he kept a diary on which the book is based. Rassam's achievements deserve some favourable consideration in view of his modest beginnings in Mosul and his education, limited to what the Protestant missionaries there could give him and supplemented by a short residence at Magdalen College, Oxford, 1849–52.

page 3 note 3 They are mentioned in a letter to Birch, Departmental Correspondence, 28th Sept., 1881. They consisted of “plans of palaces and temples at Toprak-Kalaa near Van, Birs Nimrud, Babylon, Tel Ibraheem, Aboo Habba, and Ibraheem Elkhaleel.” Only that of Aboo Habba is now to be found, bound in the Departmental Correspondence (Egyptian and Assyrian Department) for 1896. A portion of it is published in Rassam op. cit., p. 407; that of Birs Nimrud appears ibid, p. 224.

page 3 note 4 As Seton Lloyd points out (Foundations in the Dust, p. 168), Rassam in fact openly boasts he exceeded his original instructions, namely, to seek for tablets at Kouyunjik, and refused to “confine his whole energy on such a tame undertaking” (Asshur and the Land of Nimrod, p. 200). The Trustees evidently acquiesced in his interpretation of their orders.

page 5 note 1 Nimrud is meant, e.g., Layard, , Nineveh and babylon, p. 199Google Scholar.

page 5 note 2 Layard Papers, LXXXVI (= B.M. Add. MS. 39016), 22nd Oct., 1877.

page 5 note 3 Herzfeld, , Iran and ike Ancient East, p. 214, describes it as a house-facadeGoogle Scholar.

page 6 note 1 See below, p. 18.

page 6 note 2 Remains found in them have been chemically examined and prove to be of charred wood.

page 6 note 3 I am obliged to Mr. Herbert Maryon for explaining the technique to me.

page 7 note 1 91247 and 91248 are illustrated in Schäfer and Andrae, Die Kunst des Alten Orients, Plate 546. 91247 also appears in Bossert, Altanatolien, figs. 1175–6, where 1175 has been reproduced from a negative printed by mistake in reverse.

page 8 note 1 Layard to Birch, 14th July, 1879.

page 8 note 2 Afterwards Lt.-Col. Clayton.

page 8 note 3 This is his correct name, not Reynolds as spelt by Rassam, op. cit., 377. For some account of Raynold's work see Lehmann-Haupt, , Armenien Einst und Jetzt, II, ch. 23Google Scholar, and for his portrait see ibid., p. 195.

page 8 note 4 Rassam, op. cit., p. 378.

page 9 note 1 Layard Papers, Vol. CIII (= B.M. Add. MS. 39055), f. 162.

page 9 note 2 Lehmann-Haupt describes Toprak Kale as a spur of Zimzim Dagh, 60–68 metres broad, 400 long (Armenien …, II, p. 2)Google Scholar.

page 10 note 1 Now B.M. 123889, see below, p.

page 10 note 2 Rassam, op. cit., p. 378, remarks on the blocks being of well-polished black basalt. Raynolds told Lehmann-Haupt, (Verhandlungen der Berlin Anthrop. Gesell. (Zeitschr. f. Ethnol. 1898, p. 582)Google Scholar that the courses were alternately of grey and black stones.

page 10 note 3 Now B.M. 22481. See below, p. 13.

page 11 note 1 This shield seems never to have been brought home. It is probable that some inscribed fragments of rim are surviving parts of it; see below, p. 15, § 6

page 13 note 1 Verhandlungen der B. Anthrop. Gesell. (Zeitseh. f. Ethnol.), 1898, p. 582Google Scholar; “Vor dem Tempel, auf dessen Südwest Front, gerade vor seinem Eingangstor.”

page 13 note 2 According to Bossen, , Altanatolien, p. 89Google Scholar, the area of the temple was 21 × 13 · 50 m.

page 13 note 3 Lehmann (Haupt), Z.A., 1894, p. 82, declared the correct name of this people to be “Haldians”; but Friedrich, , “Chalder oder Urartäer?” in Z.DM.G., 90, 1936, p. 60 ff.Google Scholar, showed this conclusion to be mistaken.

page 13 note 4 Lehmann-Haupt, loc. cit., p. 99.

page 15 note 1 For these patterns see Oppenheim, , “The Golden Garments of the Gods,” J.N.E.S., VIII, 1949Google Scholar.

page 15 note 2 This figure standing on the back of a beast in he Hittite manner recalls Sargon's description of the golden bolts of the Temple of Bagbartu at Musasir, fashioned in the forrr. of the protecting goddesses standing on dogs (Luckenbill, , Annals of Assyria, II, 175Google Scholar).

page 16 note 1 It is noteworthy that the eye-sockets contain traces of blue colouring, plainly suggesting that the Urartians were a blue-eyed race.

page 17 note 1 Cf. the illustration of one, opp. p. 72 in Thureau-Dangin and Dunand, Til-Barsip (from a fresco).

page 17 note 2 Asshur and the Land of Nimrod, p. 378.

page 18 note 1 This is the plan which is in fact omitted from his tact. See above, pp. 3 and 12.

page 18 note 2 Verhandlungen der B. Anthrop. Gesell. (Zeitsehr.f. Ethnol.), 1900, p. 59Google Scholar.

page 19 note 1 Lehmann-Haupt, , Armenien …, II, pp. 488 ff.Google Scholar, and Kunze, Die Kretische Bronzereliefs, Appendix II.

page 19 note 2 Bossert, Altanatolien, fig. 1194.

page 19 note 3 This text has not been identified.

page 19 note 4 Letters of 15 th April and 31st May, 1880.

page 19 note 5 Verhandlungen der B. Anthrop. Gesell., 1898 p. 580Google Scholar. (Zeitschr. f. Ethnol.

page 20 note 1 Raynolds to Birch, 27th Feb., 1884, from Van.

page 20 note 2 The “griffin,” VA 775, had originally inlaid eyes and eyebrows. On its head is a socket to receive another member. One of the forefeet is missing and has been restored. The tail is also missing. Originally covered with gold foil. Height to top, 21.7 cms., width, 28 cms.

The “eunuch,” VA 774, wears a long dress, and over it a fleece like that worn by Urartians in sculptures of Sargon at Khorsabad (e.g., Botta, Monuments de Ninive, Plate 119 bis.). He holds in one hand a feather fan, in the other a cloth thrown over his shoulder similar to that carried by Assyrian palace-attendants (e.g., Hall, Assyrian Sculptures in the British Museum Plate 31). Height, 37.5 cms., breadth 10.5 cms. The face is of a different substance, of white soft stone. Both figures were cast and then engraved, and originally gilt.

page 20 note 3 Raynolds to Birch, 20th June, 1884, from Van (Departmental Correspondence)

page 21 note 1 Heuzey, , Les Origines Orientales de l'art (1891), Plate 9 and p. 234Google Scholar. Height 15 cms., length 14 cms.

page 21 note 2 Perrot, and Chipiez, , Histoire de l'art dans l'antiquité, II (1884), p. 725, f. 383Google Scholar. I am allowed to publish the present photographs by courtesy of M. le Vicomte de Vogüé, to whom my thanks are due; they are also due to M. Parrot and Mme. M.-T. Barrelet, of the Louvre, for assisting me to obtain the photographs.

page 22 note 1 Perrot and Chipiez, op. cit., II, p. 725, fig. 584.

page 22 note 2 Katalog Sobranya Drevanostei, Moscow (1887)Google Scholar. Nos. 497 and 498. The height of the first is 8.75 in. That of the second is not stated, but if the photograph is life-size, as it appears, it is 21.5 cms. high × 16.5 cms. wide. Their present whereabouts are unknown to me; but Professor Sir Ellis Minns kindly informs me that he believes all the Uvarov collections were transferred to the Historical Museum at Moscow.

page 22 note 3 Thureau-Dangin, and others, Arslan Tash, p. 130, n. 4Google Scholar.

page 22 note 4 Lehmann-Haupt, , Materialien zur Kultur und zur Herkunft der Chalder, vornehmlich aus den Ausgrabungen auf Toprak. Kale bei Van (Abh. der Kön Gesell der Wiss. zu Göttingen, N.F. 9, 1907, ph.-hist. klasse, p. 97, No. 36; diam., 2.65 m.)Google Scholar

page 22 note 5 Id., Armenien …, p. 500; diam. 5 m.

page 23 note 1 A number of small bronzes, representing winged Siren-like figures with women's heads, also appeared in Europe from the seventies onwards. But owing to their somewhat different character from the pieces above described, and the fact that they cannot be proved to have come from Toprak Kale except for one found by Lehmann-Haupt, discussion of them is here omitted, except for some remarks below, p. 39.

page 23 note 2 Budge, , By Nile and Tigris, II, p. 146Google Scholar.

page 23 note 3 For accounts of these excavations, see Lehmann, and Belck, , Verhandlungen der B. Anthrop. Gesell. (Zeitsdr. für Ethnol.), 1898, Vol. XXX, pp. 588590Google Scholar, and 1900 op. cit., Vol. XXXII), pp. 44–62; Lehmann-Haupt, , Armenien …, II, 1, pp. 453510Google Scholar; and for a summary, art. Tuschpa, by Schachcrmeyr, in Reallexikon der Vorgeschichte. A number of objects, mainly of iron and clay, from these excavations were acquired by the British Museum in 1931 from Lehmann-Haupt, see below p. 34.

page 24 note 1 See below, p. 17.

page 24 note 2 Verhandlungen (Zeitschr. Ethnol.), 1898, p. 580Google Scholar.

page 24 note 3 Ibid., p. 585.

page 24 note 4 Materialien …, p. 69; Z.Z., IX, p. 356Google Scholar.

page 24 note 5 As the human bones did not include skulls, Lfhmann-Haupt concluded that these were the remains of decapitated prisoners of war sacrificed to Haldis, a practice which seems to be referred to in the Haldian inscriptions.

page 24 note 6 Later acquired by the Hamburg Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe. Ht. 136.5 cm., Bossen, Altanatolien, fig. 1179.

page 25 note 1 Mentioned by Farmakovski, in Materiali po Arkeologi Rusii, 1912, Vol. 34Google Scholar; see Armenien …, II, Plate II, p. 750.

page 26 note 1 Farmakovski, loc. cit., Plate XVII and XVIII.

page 26 note 2 A very brief description of the work done by this expedition will be found in Zapiski Vostochnago Otdjlenya Imperatorskago Russkago Archeologischeskago Ochschetva, 19111912, pp. lxxviilxxixGoogle Scholar.

page 27 note 1 Armenien …, II, Appendix, p. 29.

page 27 note 2 Khattische und Khaldische Bronzen, Janus, Vol. I (Lehmann-Haupt Festschrift), 1921Google Scholar.

page 28 note 1 From an unpublished sketch by C. Hodder in the Egyptian and Assyrian Department, British Museum. Cf. Bachmann, Felsreliefs in Assyrien (W.D.O.G., No. 52), Plates 26, 28, 29.

page 28 note 2 It is to be noted that the throne at Maltai of Ishtar differs from that of mortal rulers like Sennacherib in that at Maltai throne and stool are all made in one piece, whereas Sennacherib's consists of two distinct pieces of furniture.

page 29 note 1 It is described as “ 1 ivory couch, a repose for his divine majesty, a bed of silver covered with jewels and gold.”

page 29 note 2 Lehmann-Haupt, , Armenien …, II, 1, p. 265Google Scholar; Materialien …, Fig. 56.

page 29 note 3 e.g., throne of Darius, Persepolis, and tomb of Xerxes at Naqsh-i-Rustam. Herzfeld, Iran in the Ancient East, Plates LXVIII and XXXVII.

page 29 note 4 Monuments de Ninive, Plate 19.

page 31 note 1 Illustrated by Bossert, Altanatolien, figs. 1181–2, Schafer-Andrae, Plate 511. It may be doubted strongly whether this piece of furniture as illustrated there is correctly restored, as the sculptures of Assurnazirpal at Nimrud which represent similar chairs never show them with a lion foot under the frill of palm-leaves.

page 31 note 2 Verhandlungen (Zeitschr.. f. Ethnol), 1898, p. 587Google Scholar.

page 31 note 3 Armenien …, II, ii, p. 686Google Scholar.

page 32 note 1 Zeitschr.f. Ethnol., 1892, p. 141Google Scholar; Sayce, , J.R.A.S., 1893, p. 18, no. LXXIXGoogle Scholar; to be no. 145 in the as yet unfinished C.I.Ch.; Lehmann-Haupt, , Armenien …, II, p. 40 ffGoogle Scholar. But the translation of this inscription is not free from much doubt. See Götze, A., Kleinasien, p. 183, n. 2Google Scholar.

page 32 note 2 Lehmann-Haupt, , Z.A., XXIII (1921)Google Scholar, Der Urartäisch chaldische Herrscherhaus.

page 32 note 3 Huitième Campagne de Sargon, p. xviii, p. 2.

page 33 note 1 Z.A., XXXIII, p. 42–3Google Scholar.

page 33 note 2 See above, p. 7. It is important to note that greater knowledge of the Urartian language has removed a misconception affecting the date of foundation of the Haldis Temple. It is now seen that the words on the shields ini aše (see above, pp, 6, 7) do not mean as Lehmann-Haupt believed (Z.A., 1894) “(sc. built) this templte” but “(sc. dedicated) this shield.” See Friedrich, , A.f.O. IV, p. 56Google Scholar, and M.V.A.G. 38, p. 56Google Scholar.

page 33 note 3 Materialien …, p. 105.

page 34 note 1 Materialien …, p. 104, no ff., 116; Armenien …, II, p. 563 ffGoogle Scholar.

page 34 note 2 Otto, , Die Amerikanischen Ausgrabungen am Burgfelsen von Van, A.f.O. XIV, 1941-1944, p. 90Google Scholar.

page 34 note 3 Ghirshman, , Siyalk, Plate xliii, S. 523AGoogle Scholar; and Plate IV, 4.

page 34 note 4 Stein, Old Routes of Ancient Iran, Plate xxiv, 11.

page 34 note 5 Contenau and Ghirshman, Tepe Giyan, Plate 1.

page 34 note 6 Materialien …, pp. 84–92.

page 34 note 7 e1199 and e1162, der Osten, von, The Alishar Hüyük, 1930-1932 Season, Pt. II, fig. 502Google Scholar.

page 35 note 1 Przeworski, , Die Metallindustrie Anatoliens, 139Google Scholar; Godard, , Gazette des Beaux Arts, 10Google Scholar.

page 35 note 2 Materialien …, fig. 7, 2; Armenien …, II, II, p. 507, fig.

page 35 note 3 Lehmann-Haupt, Materialien …, fig. 61.

page 35 note 4 Op. cit., Plate X, 7.

page 35 note 5 Carchemish, II, Plate A 16 e; Bossert, Altanatolien fig. 966 illustrates one from Assur.

page 35 note 6 Przeworski illustrates a “sacrificial car” said by Lehmann-Haupt, (Materialien …, p. 93, n. 3)Google Scholar to be from Toprak Kale, preserved in a nearby monastery. A similar object, apparently a movable hearth, was found at Tell Halaf (Oppenheim, Der Tell Halaf, Plate 58) and may be of the 9th century. Similar objects were also used in Assyrian palaces, (see Orientalia, XIX, 1948, p. 511Google Scholar, review of Bulle, , Geleisestrassen des Altertums in Sitzungsb. der Bayr. Akad. Wiss. ph hist. kl. 1947Google Scholar. Przeworski also describes a sleeved axe with figures of a lion and dogs (B.M. 123269) as being from Toprak Kale, but there is no proof of this. It was found “near Van.” (Greenwell, , Archaeologia, vol. 58, p. 9.Google Scholar)

page 35 note 7 Perrot and Chipiez, op. cit., II, fig. 730; Schäfer-Andrae, op. cit., Plate 495.

page 36 note 1 Farbige Keramik, aus Assur, 32, Plate 33.

page 36 note 2 From the Upper Chambers, Nimrud, Layard, Monuments of Nineveh.

page 36 note 3 Thureau Dangin and others, Til Barsip, Plate XLVII. The authors consider these paintings of the “first style” to be of the time of Tiglath pileser III, but for several reasons I think this dating too high, and believe they are of the time of Sargon.

page 36 note 4 Bossert, Altanatolien, fig. n56; Lehmann-Haupt, , Armenien …, II, 1, fig., p. 125Google Scholar.

page 36 note 5 Roes, , Het Symbol der gefleugele Zon in Voorazie, Jaarbericht EOL, XVIIIGoogle Scholar; Pering, B., Die Gefiügete Scheibe in Assyrien, A.f.O., VIIGoogle Scholar; Werbrouck, M., A propos du disque ailé, Chronique d'Egypte, 07 1944Google Scholar. See also van Buren, Cylinder Seals in the biblical Pontifical Institute, No. 82.

page 36 note 6 A similar griffin with belching mouth is seen mounted by a bearded god holding an axe and other weapons, Frankfort, Cylinder Seals, pl. XXII d, ascribed to the 9th century, B.C.

page 36 note 7 Thureau Dangin and others, op. cit., pl. XVIII.

page 36 note 8 George Smith, Assyrian Discoveries. Not from Nimrud, as asserted in Schäfer-Andrae, pl. 545.

page 37 note 1 Akurgal, Späthettitische Kunt, Plates XXVII–XXX.

page 37 note 2 A. J. A., liii (1949), p. 55Google Scholar and liv (1950), pp. 70–72, contain an important account of new Russian excavations at Karmir-Blur, near Erivan. Here Piotrovskii has discovered a palace-fortress built by Rusas II and called Teišebaina. Among many valuable finds a bronze helmet decorated with embossed scenes is particularly noteworthy.

page 38 note 1 Lehmann-Haupt, , Materialien …, p. 8, figs 3a, bGoogle Scholar.

page 38 note 2 See reproductions in Schaeffer, Stratigraphie comparée et chronologie de l'Asie Occidentale, Plates 286–292.

page 38 note 3 Encyclopédie photographique de l'Art “TEL” Vol. I, Plates 271–3, circa 1500 B.C.

page 38 note 4 Iran in the Ancient East, p. 221.

page 38 note 5 It is rather tempting to see in a fragmentary clay relief from a Hittite vase found at Alishar, a female figure with extended wings which might have formed a prototype for the winged female figures attached to bowls from Van. (Osten, von der, The Alishar HHüyük, 19301932, d. 2935, fig. 154 and Plates 1, 3)Google Scholar.

page 38 note 6 On Hurrian influences upon Urartu see Gelb, , Hurrians & Subarians, pp. 82, 89 ffGoogle Scholar. and Adontz, . Histoire de l'Arménie, pp. 268–9Google Scholar.

page 38 note 7 Ménant, Catalogue des Cylindres Orientaux du Cabinet Royal des Médailles (The Hague), Plate VII, no. 32.

page 39 note 1 Herzfeld, op. cit., fig. 353. The illustration in his book is wrongly described by him. That on the left of his figure is the bull at Adelyevas, not Toprak Kale. That on the right is from Toprak Kale.

page 39 note 2 Armenien …, II, 2Google Scholar.

page 39 note 3 Die Kretischen Bronzereliefs, Anhang II.

page 39 note 4 Armenien …, II, 2, pp. 922–3, figsGoogle Scholar.

page 39 note 5 Kunze, Die Kretischen Bronzereliefs, Plate 49.

page 39 note 6 J.H.S., LXVIII, 1948Google Scholar.

page 40 note 1 Craig, , Religious Texts, p. 76Google Scholar; Langdon, , Penitential Psalms, p. 7072Google Scholar; Luckenbill, , Annals of Assyria, p. 387 ffGoogle Scholar; Sidersky, , Assyrian Prayers, J.R.A.S., 1929, p. 767Google Scholar; Bauer, , Das Inschriftenwerk. Assurbanipals, p. 50Google Scholar.

page 40 note 2 Bauer reads a-ma-r[u; but this is not confirmed by the remaining traces.

page 40 note 3 Bauer restores [ša] (i[ṣ) ir]si.

page 40 note 4 Bauer reads (aban) UD.[AS.

page 40 note 5 Perhaps read š-rib-bu-.

page 40 note 6 Perhaps read šumelu.

page 40 note 7 Confirmed from K.8664.

page 41 note 1 The word nalbanate, also written nalbatt (for nalbante) is obviously connected with nalbanum, from labanu, “to make bricks.” Nalbanum is translated “Ziegelbehälter,” “a mould for making bricks,” by Soden, von, Z.A., 45, 1939, pp. 6268Google Scholar; cf. Neugebauer, and Sachs, , Mathematical Cuneiform Texts, p. 133Google Scholar. Nalbanate must be tiles or bricks cast in a nalbanum.

page 41 note 2 gisu is taken as the same as gi-sa, which Sachs, , B.A.S.O.R., p. 36Google Scholar, shows to mean a truncated cone.

page 42 note 1 Schmidt, , The Treasury of Persepolis, O.I.C., 21, p. 42, Fig. 26Google Scholar.

page 42 note 2 Jestin, , Un rite sumérien de fécondité, Archiv. Orientalia, XVII (1949) (Sacred marriage of Ningirsu and Baba)Google Scholar.