Page:A History of Art in Chaldæa & Assyria Vol 2.djvu/249

 Assyrian Sculpture. 217 that intervened between the sculptors of Assurnazirpal and those of the Sargonids. It is probable that the scheme of this vast composition was due to a single mind ; from one end to the other there is an obvious similarity of thought and style. But several different hands must have been employed upon its execution, which is far from being of equal merit throughout. It is on examining the original that we are struck by these inequalities. Thus, in some of the long rows of captives the handling is timid and without meaning, while in others it has all the firmness and decision of the best among- the alabaster or limestone reliefs ; the muscular forms, the action of the calf and knee, are well understood and frankly reproduced. The passages we have chosen for illustration are among the best in this respect. Taking them all in all these bronze reliefs are among the works that do most honour to Assyrian art. The only monument that has come down to us from the reign of Vulush III., the successor of Samas-vul, is a statue, or rather a pair of statues, of Nebo ; the better of the two is reproduced in Fig. 15 of our first volume. These sacred images are of very slight merit from an art point of view ; we should hardly have referred to them but for their votive inscriptions. From these we learn that they were consecrated in the Temple of Nebo by the prefect of Calah in order to bespeak the protection of that god for the king. But the latter is not named alone ; the faithful subject says that he offers these idols " for his master Vulush and his mistress Sammouramit." In this latter name it is difficult not to recognize the Semiramis of the Greeks, and we are led to ask ourselves whether the queen of Vulush may not have afforded a prototype for that legendary princess. This association of a female name with that of the king is almost without parallel either in Chaldaea or Assyria. In royal documents, as well as in those of a more private character, there is no more mention of the royal wives than if they did not exist. Only one explanation can be given of the apparent anomaly, and that is that Sammouramit, for reasons that may be easily guessed, enjoyed a quite exceptional position. It was in those days that, from one reign to another, the princes of Calah attempted to complete the subjugation of Chaldsea. It may have hap- pened that in order to put an end to a state of never-ending rebellion, Vulush married the heiress of some powerful and popular VOL. II. F F