Page:History of Art in Persia.djvu/400

 378 History of Art in Antiquity. outstretched as if in the act of blessing (Fig. 184). The head is covered, in either instance, with a tight-fitting cap, whence escapes a plait of hair which falls behind on the shoulder, the beard is long and curled in true Assyrian fashion. If, then, certain features are common to both personages, this does not Fig. 183. — Bas-relief from Susiana. After a photograph of M. Hou<.say. extend to the costume, than which nothing could be more unlike. The long, heavily fringed robe, profusely ornamented with rosette borders, of the principal figure (in the first illustration) recalls that of the kings of Nineveh. Most of the minor personages are likewise habited in flowing garments falling low over the ankles ' The feet are bare. Chaldaean cylinders have familiarized us with the peculiar appearance of the flounced petticoat, crossed by horizontal stripes, worn by the figure immediately behind the god, ' Four of the figures wear tunics. — Ed. Google