Page:Outlines of European History.djvu/95

 Wester7i Asia : Babylonia, Assyria, and Chaldea 63 dwelling of Enlil, their great god of the air. It is an artificial mountain, built in memory of an ancient temple on a hilltop in their former mountain home. It was such a temple-tower in Babylon which later gave rise to the story of the " Tower of Babel " among the Hebrews. Such " nature gods " as Enlil form the center of their life ; the temple in each community Fig. 39. A Sumerian Line of Battle The troops of a Sumerian city-king, marching into battle, about 2900 B.C. The king himself, whose face is broken' off from the stone, marches at the right, heading his troops, who follow in a close phalanx, with spears set for the charge. Tall shields cover their entire bodies, and they wear close-fitting helmets, probably of leather. They are marching over dead bodies (syrhbolical of the overthrow of the enemy). The scene is carved in stone. It is a good example of the rude Sume- rian sculpture in Babylonia in the days of the Great Pyramid in Egypt (contrast with Figs. 23 and 40) is the center of the town, around which the sun-baked brick houses (Fig. 38) of the townsmen spread out for a few hun- dred feet. These houses, of which only the foundations now Society remain, tell us little of the life which once moved in these streets, and the meager stor)^ is not enlivened by beautiful scenes on the walls of tomb-chapels, such as we find in Egypt.