Page:History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 1.djvu/208

 176 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE. Pakt I. The gateways for foot-j^assengers were nearly of the same dimen- sions, about 14 or 15 ft. broad, but they were ornamented by winged bulls Avith human heads, between which stood giants strangling lions. In the exami)le illustrated in the annexed woodcut (No. 68), the arch sprang directly from the backs of the bulls, and was ornamented by an archivolt siuiilar to that over the carriage entrances, and which is perliaps as beautiful a mode of ornamenting an arch as is to be found anywhere. Other arches have been found in these Assyrian excavations, but none of such extent as these, and none which show more completely GO. Interior of a Yeziili House at JJu.ika, in Ihu Siiijar. how well the Assyrians in the time of Sargon (721 b. r.) understood not only the construction of the arcli, but also its use as a decorative architectural feature.' arcliitiH'tiiral IxMiofactor they have seen for a very lont; time. It may. liowever, he asked. If tliis is so clear as here assumed, wliy should men put aside a reasoual)le, feasiltje, aud heautifiil mode of rootint:. to propose impossilile arches, and still less feasible flats ? The answer seems easy and oh- vious, but too controversial and personal to be entered upon liere. ' These natcways are extremely Inter- esting to the Bililical student, inasmuch as they are the only examples which en- able us to understand the oateways of the Temple at .hM'usalem, as described by Ezelcii'l. Their dimensions are nearly the same, but the arrangement of the side chambers and of gates generally are al- most identical. These gat^s had been built 100 years, at least, before Ezekiel wrote.