Page:History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 1.djvu/199

 Bk. II. Ch. III. PALACE AT KIIORSABAD. 167 Khorsabad.^ The city of Khorsabad was situated about fifteen miles from Nineveh, in a northerly direction, and was nearly square in plan, measuring about an Englisli mile each way. Nearly in the centre of the north- western wall was a gap, in which was situated the mound on which the palace stood. It seems to have been a ])eculiarity common to all Assyrian palaces to be so situated. Their builders wisely objected to being surrounded on all sides by houses and walls, and at the same time sought the })rotection of a walled enclosure to cover the gateways and entrances to their palaces. At Koyunjik and Nimroud the outer face of the palace was covered and protected by the river Tigris ; and here the small brook Kausser flows past the fort, and, though now an insignificant stream, it is by no means improbable that it was dammed up so as to form a lake in front of the palace when inhab- ited. This piece of water may have been further deepened by excavating from it the earth necessary to raise the mound on which the palace stood. That part of the mound in this instance which projected between the walls, was a square of about 650 ft. each way, raised about 30 ft. above the level of the plain, and protected on every side by a supporting wall cased with stone of very beautiful masonry (Woodcut No. 61). Behind this, and inside the city, was a somewhat lower mound, about 61. Terrace Wall at Khorsabad. 300 ft. in width and 1300 or 1400 ft in length, on which were situated the great portals of the palace, together with the stables and offices, and, outside the walls of the palace properly so-called, the Hareem. All the principal apartments of the palace properly so-called were 1 The whole of the information regard- i tinuation, " Ninive et TAssyrie," by M. ing Khorsabad is taken fromM. Botta's 1 Victor Place, great work on the subject, and its con- I