Page:History of Architecture in All Countries Vol 1.djvu/211

 Bk. II. Ch. III. ASSYRIAN PALACES. 179 variety and picturesqueness of effect, and of which there is little doubt that the builders availed themselves to the fullest extent. This led into a courtyard of considerable dimensions, surrounded by apart- ments, but they are too much destroyed by fire to be intelligible. Another great palace, built, as appears from the inscriptions, by a son of Esarhaddon, has been discovered nearly in the centre of the mound at Koyunjik. Its terrace-wall has been explored for nearly 300 ft. in two directions from the angle near which the principal entrance is placed. This is on a level 20 ft. lower than the palace itself, which is reached by an inclined passage nearly 200 ft. in length, adorned with 70. Haii of South-West Palace, sculpture on both sides. The palace itself, as far as its exploration has been carried, appears similar in its arrange- ments to those already described ; but the sculptures with which it is adorned are more minute and delicate, aijd show a more perfect i , ^ [^'W./mM t^ 71. Central Palace, Koyunjik. Scale 100 ft. to 1 in.