NINEVEH SCULPTURES. 



311 



and marble. The Assyrians had 

 not the means of building in either, 

 else, our author 13 of opinion, they 

 would have rivalled or excelled the 

 Pyramids. They lived upon an 

 alluvial soil, sufficiently tenacious 

 to be formed into bricks, with the 

 addition of a little chopped straw, 

 and which, being dried in the sun, 

 furnished the building materials 

 for their houses and palaces. But 

 a more compact and durable mate- 

 rial was required for their sculp- 

 tures and written characters, and 

 such a substance was found in the 

 coarse alabaster or gypsum occur- 

 ring abundantly in the plains of 

 Mesopotamia, and which was cut 

 into slabs and used for the orna- 

 mental parts of the public build- 

 ings. It is of this material that the 

 monuments brought to this country 

 by Mr. Layard ch iefly consist. The 

 are generally slabs of from nine to 

 twelve feet in height, and of a dark 

 yellowish colour, resembling lime- 

 stone. Some of the monuments are 

 indeed limestone (carbonate of 

 lime), the rock named gypsum oi< 

 alabaster being sulphate of lime. 

 The alabaster slabs, which were 

 covered with cawed figures or in- 

 scriptions, occupied the place of 

 panels in the walls of the palaces. 

 The walls themselves, constructed 

 of sun-dried brick, were from five 

 to fifteen feet in thickness. The 

 slabs stood upright against the 

 walls, and were carved after being 

 placed in their position, as is shown 

 by continuous series of figures and 

 inscriptions. The door-ways were 

 formed of human-headed lions and 

 bulls, from ten to sixteen feet in 

 height, the wall being carried some 

 feet above them. In excavating the 

 ruins, it was observed that the 

 upper wall was built of baked bricks 

 richly coloured, or of sun-dried 

 bricks covered by a thin .coat of 

 plaster, on which were pninlod va- 

 rious ornaments. Those c >l<mrs 

 had lost little of their original 



freshness and brilliancy. It is in- 

 teresting to notice that it is to these 

 upper walls that the complete cover- 

 ing of the building, and the conse- 

 quent preservation of the sculp- 

 tures, is attributed by the excava- 

 tor, who observes that when the 

 edifices had been deserted, they fell 

 in, and the unbaked bricks, having 

 again softened and assumed their 

 original earthy consistency, incased 

 the whole ruin. The structure of 

 the edifices has been so satisfac- 

 torily examined, that no part of 

 them has been left to conjecture 

 except the roof, which is naturally 

 supposed to have been formed of 

 beams supported by the walls. The 

 apartments were long and narrow, 

 one at Nirnroud being 160 feet in 

 length by 35 in breadth ; and it ap- 

 pears that they must have been 

 lighted from above. We conclude 

 by quoting Mr. Layard's descrip- 

 tion (or restoration) of an Assyrian 

 palace, premising that these build- 

 ings were of a monumental charac- 

 ter, in which the chronicles of the 

 empire were inscribed, the achieve- 

 ments of heroes were commemo- 

 rated, and the power and majesty 

 of the nation's deities were cele- 

 brated. The author supposes a 

 stranger ushered for the first time 

 into the palace of the Assyrian, 

 kings : 



"He entered through a portal 

 guarded by colossal lions or bulls, 

 of white alabaster. In the first In 1 1 

 he found himself surrounded by 

 sculptured records of the empire. 

 Battles, sieges, triumphs, exploits 

 of the chase, ceremonies of reli- 

 gion, were portrayed on its walls,* 

 sculptured in alabaster, and painted 

 in gorgeous colours. Under each 

 picture were engraved ia charac- 

 ters filled up with bright copper, 

 inscriptions describing the scenes 

 represented. Above the sculpture 

 were painted othe'r events the 

 king, attended by his eunuchs and 



