Page:A History of Art in Chaldæa & Assyria Vol 1.djvu/136

 ii6 A HISTORY OF ART IN CIIALD/KA AND ASSYRIA. of Egypt : their surfaces were from 15^ to 15^ inches square, and their thickness was from 2 to 4 inches. 1 It would seem that these artificial blocks were given this extravagant size to make up for the absence of stone properly speaking ; the only limit of size seems to have been that imposed by difficulties of manufacture and handling. Crude brick never becomes hard enough to resist the action of water. In Greek history we read how Agesipolis, King of Sparta, when besieging Mantinea, directed the stream of the Ophis along the foot of its walls of unburnt brick, and so caused them to crumble away. Cimon, son of Miltiades, attacked the defences of Eion, on the Strymon, in the same fashion. When desiccation was carried far enough, such materials could be used, in interiors at least, so as to fulfil the same functions as stone or burnt brick. Vitruvius tells us that the magistrates who had charge of building operations at Utica would not allow brick to be used until it was five years old. 2 It would seem that neither in Chaklaea nor still less in Assyria was any such lengthy restriction imposed. It is only by exception that crude bricks of which the desiccation has been carried to the farthest possible point have been found in the palaces of Nineveh ; almost the only instance we can give is afforded by the bricks composing the arches of the palace doorways at Khorsabad. They are rectangular, and into the wedge-shaped intervals between their faces a softer clay has been poured to fill up the joints. 3 As a rule things were done in a much less patient fashion. At the end of a few days, or perhaps weeks, as soon, in fact, as the bricks were dry and firm enough to be easily handled, they were carried on to the ground and laid while still soft. This we know from the evidence of M. Place, who cut many exploring shafts through the massive Assyrian buildings, and could judge of the condition in which the bricks had been put in place by the appearance of his excavations. From top to bottom 1 Even these dimensions were sometimes passed. The Louvre possesses an Assyrian brick rather more than iyi inches square. See DE LONGPERIER, Notice des Antiquites Assyriennes (3rd edition, 1854, i2mo), No. 44. 2 VITRUVIUS, 1. ii. ch. 3. 3 PLACE, Ninive et I'Assyrie, vol. i. p. 225. The vault of the gallery discovered by LAYARD in the centre of the tower that occupied a part of the mound of Nimroud was constructed in the same fashion. Discoveries in the Ruins of Nineveh and .Baby Ion, p. 126.