Page:A History of Art in Chaldæa & Assyria Vol 2.djvu/240

 2io A History of Art in Chald/Ea and Assyria. up in great numbers. We find them represented in the reliefs (Vol. I. Figs. 42 and 112, and Plate XII.) and upon cylinders (*#, Fig. 69). They were raised as a sign of annexation in conquered countries, and an invocation engraved upon the stone put them under the protection of the Assyrian gods, who were charged with the punishment of any who might lay hands upon them. 1 In the British Museum there are fragments of a sculptured obelisk on which the wars and hunts of Assurnazirpal are figured. It is taller than that of his son Shalmaneser II., being nearly ten feet high, but as the material is a soft limestone, it is in far worse preservation ; we only mention it to show that Assyrian art was in possession of all its resources in the time of this king. Under none of the princes who reigned at Calah did sculpture show any sensible change of style ; but yet, perhaps, in certain passages of the Balawat gates we may recognize the first signs of a tendency that was to become strongly marked under the Sargonids. The field of the relief there contains a far greater number of picturesque and explanatory details than the great bas-reliefs of Nimroud. The campaigns and victories of Shal- maneser II. was the theme put before the sculptor. In order to do it justice he had to carry the spectator into countries of various aspects, and to give their true character to military struggles whose conditions were incessantly changing. He did not think success was to be attained by confining himself to figuring the cities and fortresses besieged and taken by the Assryian army ; he introduced features for the purpose of determining the seat of war. Such accessories were better placed among figures on a small scale than among those surpassing or even approaching life size ; and without knowing exactly why, the artist seems to have been warned of this by a secret and delicate instinct. These strips of bronze are ten inches high ; each is divided into two horizontal divisions by a narrow band of rosettes, which is also repeated at the top and bottom of each strip. The figures are on an average about three and a half inches high (see Fig. 1 1 7 and Plate XII.). 1 We have round-headed steles of Assurnazirpal, of Shalmaneser II., of Samas-vul II., and of Sargon. Those of other princes are figured in the reliefs. In the lialawat gates we find Shalmaneser erecting them wherever his conquests led him (plate 12).