Page:History of Art in Sardinia, Judæa, Syria and Asia Minor Vol 1.djvu/346

 3 1 6 A History of Art in Sardinia and Jub. Khorsabad ; where the passage or tunnel which connected the palace with the storied tower has been uncovered. 1 It is impossible to give even an approximate estimate of the surface occupied by the house of Lebanon. But we may assume that it was carried on the north as far as the site covered by the mosque El-Aksa. Here, at the south-east angle of the supporting wall, ancient remains are supposed to have been found. 2 The space available for Solomon's architect was exceedingly narrow when compared with the area over which extended Assyrian palaces. The Jerusalem house, with its annexes, would have found ample room in any one court at Khorsabad. Nevertheless, the main divisions, as we have seen, were the same as at Nineveh, Kalah, and those of modern Oriental residences ; for in the East, manners and customs, as well as forms of buildings, have existed unchanged from the earliest times to the present day, frequently enabling us to understand and reconstruct what would utterly have faded away and been obliterated in the West. If accommo- dation for menials, stores, baths, stables, and all the appurtenances of a regal establishment found no place in the text, it was not because of their non-existence, but because the compiler deemed them unworthy to figure in his pages. On the other hand, we may wonder at having so few particulars in respect to the furniture of the palace ; for though the historio- grapher was unacquainted with the art-objects of the harem, he must have known those that adorned the other parts of the house, which we may conceive as having been among Hiram Abu's choicest works. Such reticence on the part of the writer may be accounted for by narrowness of mind ; which made him indifferent to everything that was not directly connected with the temple. Once only, in describing the throne, he infringes on his self-imposed rule: "Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with the best gold. The throne had six steps, and the top of the throne was round behind : and there were stays on either side of the seat, and two lions stood beside the stays. And twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other upon the six steps : there was not the like made in any kingdom " (i Kings x. 18-20). 1 Hist, of Art, torn. iii. p. 436, Fig. 196. 2 De Saulcy, Voyage, torn. ii. pp. 201, 202, Plate XXIII. figs. AandB; Recovery, p. 324, Plans, Elevations, and Sections, Plate XIX. It exhibits a double window, which supported a balcony. But from what we know of Herod's mode of construe tion, this window may belong to the third temple.