Page:Outlines of European History.djvu/105

 Western Asia: Babylonia, Assyria, and Chaldea 73 with an iron hand, and collected tribute from all the subject peoples. The whole administration centered in the king's busi- ness office, where he received the letters and reports of some ^ ' ^ l¥^^- 3^ l» ^: ^-^ -^W^
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^t.-is- -• -«^. ^^t '^"^^ ^^ k -4| Fig. 43. Restoration of the Palace of S argon II of Assyria (722-705 b.c.) The palace stands partly inside and partly outside of the city wall on a vast elevated platform of brick masonry, to which inclined roadways and stairways rise from the inside of the city wall. The king could thus drive up in his chariot from the streets of the city below to the palace pave- ment above. The rooms and halls are clustered about a number of courts open to the sky. The main entrance (with stairs before it leading down to the city) is adorned with massive towers and arched doorways built of richly colored glazed brick, and embellished with huge human-headed bulls carved of alabaster (see cut, p. 85, also Figs. 44 and 45). The pyramidal tower behind the great court was inherited from Babylonia (p. 63). It is a sacred dwelling place of the god, and his temple (with two others) stands just at the foot of the tower on the left sixty governors, besides many subject kings who were some- Organization times allowed to rule under Assyrian control. The Emperor Assyrian lived in dazzling splendor, surrounded by an imposing array rnihtary state of courtiers and officials who were his assistants in the work of administration.