Page:History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 1.djvu/194

 162 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE. Paht I. of panelling was used for the adornment of external walls from the earliest ages down at least to the destruction of Babylon. It was probably used with well-marked characteristics in progression of style; but these Ave have yet to ascertain. Externally the Wuswus is a ])arallelogram 256 ft. by 173. Like almost every building in the Euphrates valley in those ancient times, instead of the sides facing the cardinal points of the compass, as was the case in Egypt in the Pyramid age, the angles point towards them. In this case the entrance is in the north-east face. The centre apparently was occupied by a court ; and opposite the entrance were two larger and several smaller apartments, the larger being 57 ft. by 30. The great interest of the building lies in the mode in which the external walls were ornamented (Woodcuts Nos. 56 and 57). These were plastered and covered by II J t M. Elcvaliou of a portion ot the external Wall of Wuswus, at Wuika. ^Fl■ulu Loftus.) m^^-r^m'ymi. / '// / T^^TM -12.Si 19 O- TgRRfiCC 10 S I I I ■ I I 1 I I I 30 ! 40 L_ 50 FI _1 57. Plan of portion of Wuswus. an elaborate series of rcedings and square sinkings, forming a beauti- ful and very appro])riate mode of adorning the wall of a building that Ii.kI no external openings. This system is carried still further in a fragment of a wall in the same city, but of uncertain date. In this instance these reedings — there are no panels in the smaller fragment — and the plain surfaces are ornamented by an elaborate mosaic of small cones about 3 or 3^ in. long. The l)utt, or thicker end of these, is dipped in color, and they are then built uj) into patterns as shown in the woodcut Nb. 58. It is probable that the walls of the Wuswus were adorned with similar patterns in colors, but being executed in less durable materials, have perished. Indeed, from the- accounts which we have, as well as from