Page:A History of Art in Chaldæa & Assyria Vol 1.djvu/384

 362 A HISTORY OF ART IN CHALD^A AND ASSYRIA. to the middle of the plain, near the Euphrates, 1 the funerary mound was conspicuous at many stades' distance like an acropolis; they tell me that it still exists although Nineveh was overthrown by the Medes when they destroyed the Assyrian empire." The exaggerations in which Ctesias indulged may here be recognized. It is impossible to take seriously statements ,, 600^ FIG. 167. Map of the ruins of Mugheir ; fronl Taylor. H, H, H, H, circumference of 2,946 yards ; a, platform of house ; b, pavement at edge of platform ; c, tomb mound ; d, e, g, h, k, /, m, points at which excavations were made ',f,f,f,f, comparatively open space with very low mounds;, n, graves ; o, the great two-storied ruin. which make the tomb of Ninus some 5,500 feet high and 6, 100 in diameter. The history of Ninus and Semiramis as Ctesias tells it, is no more than a romantic tale like those of the Shah-Natneh. All that we may surely gather from the passage in question is 1 DIODORUS, ii. 7, 1-2.