Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XII.djvu/472

 4:58 NINEVEH from 8 to 10 ft. high, from 3 to 4 ft. broad, and about 18 in. thick. On the sculptured figures were inscriptions recording the ex- ploits of the king by whom the building was erected. The apartments were high, and the spaces above the slabs were plastered and painted, or were faced with bricks coated with enamel of elegant de- signs and brilliant colors. Ivory, bronze, and cedar from Mt. Lebanon were also used for decoration, which was heightened by gild- ing and painting. The principle of the arch was understood by the Assyrians. In some 31ft. From Entrance of Palace at Koyunjik. of the palaces that have been discovered the panelling of sculptured slabs is nearly a mile in length. The principal and favorite sub- jects of these representations are war abroad and state at home. There are separate sculp- tured histories of each campaign of the king, and delineations of the taking of all the con- siderable cities that resisted him. These sieges and the treatment of the captives, which was barbarous in the extreme, as they were sometimes flayed alive, and representations of the king or his officers receiving tribute or homage from the conquered people, form the most common scenes of the bass reliefs. Many of the sculptures, however, are of a purely religious nature ; some are wholly occupied by scenes of the chase ; some are actually land- scapes ; and many represent thrones, chariots, or domestic furniture and utensils. No Assy- rian women ever appear in the sculptures, though women are sometimes represented as captives or as begging for mercy from the walls of a falling city. As only the lower parts of the walls of the palaces of Nineveh have been found, it is uncertain what was the nature and arrangement of the upper parts. The absence of windows makes it difficult to comprehend how the apartments could have been lighted. Mr. Layard at first supposed them to have con- sisted of only a single story with apertures in the ceiling to admit light ; but he afterward inclined to a plausible theory advanced with great ability and ingenuity by Mr. Fergusson, who maintains that there was an upper story supported by columns and open at the sides to admit light to the rooms below, from which the sunshine could be excluded at pleasure by means of curtains. This open upper story was used in fine weather, and as a balcony from which the king could show himself to his subjects or review his troops. The columns which supported its roof stood some of them on the floor of the lower story, and other shorter ones on the walls of the lower story, whose immense thickness is thus accounted for. These edifices, though not equalling those of the Greeks in elegance and artistic taste, nor those of the Egyptians in solid magnificence and strength, must have been exceedingly gor- geous and beautiful structures. They were in part temples as well as palaces, the king being not only political chief but high priest of the nation, as was the case at one period in Egypt. u The interior of the Assyrian palace," says Mr. Layard, " must have been as magnificent as imposing. I have led the reader through its ruins, and he may judge of the impression its halls were calculated to make upon the stranger who, in the days of old, entered for the first time the abode of the Assyrian kings. He was ushered in through the portal guarded by the colossal lions or bulls of white alabas- ter. In the first hall he found himself sur- rounded by the sculptured records of the em- pire. Battles, sieges, triumphs, the exploits of the chase, the ceremonies of religion, were portrayed on the walls, sculptured in alabaster and painted in gorgeous colors. Under each picture were engraved, in characters filled up with bright copper, inscriptions describing the scenes represented. Above the sculptures were painted other events the king, attend- ed by his eunuchs and warriors, receiving his prisoners, entering into alliances with other monarchs, or performing some sacred duty. These representations were enclosed in col- ored borders of elaborate and elegant design. The emblematic tree, winged bulls, and mon- strous animals were conspicuous among the ornaments. At the upper end of the hall was the colossal figure of the king in adora- tion before the supreme deity, or receiving