Page:History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 1.djvu/187

 Bk. II. Ch. II. CHALDEAN TEMPLES. 155 below, as was done by M. Place, as shown in the annexed woodcut. According to him, it was an observatory, and had no cella on its 50. Observatory at Khorsabad, from Place's " Ninive et I'Assyrie." Scale 50 ft. to 1 iu. y lAr ^VVVW^ A/y^A/^/^J/v^n,■^/^ A^rv r. ^„ summit. If this was the case it was a Semitic temple, and belongs to a quite different religion from that whose temples we have been describing. But unfortunately there is no direct evidence to deter- mine whether it had such a chamber or not. My own impressions on the subject are decidedly at variance with those of M. Place, but until some bas-reliefs are discovered con- taining representations of these tem- ples and of their cells, we shall probably hardly ever know exactly what the form of the crowning member really was. From the imi- tations in modern times we seem to see dimly that it was conical, and I?ossibly curvilinear. The dimen- sions of this tower at Khorsabad were 150 feet square at the base, and 135 high from the pavement to the platform on its summit. Its base, however, Avas at a considerable elevation above the plain, so that when seen from below it must have been an imposing object. The inscriptions at Borsippa and elsewhere, mention other temples 51. Plan of Observatory, Khorsabad. 100 ft. to 1 ill. Scale