ANCIENT MEDITERRANEAN CATTLE 139 
stalls, where they are often depicted, arranged, and 
tied to rings as in modern cattle-stables, attended by 
men who often feed them by hand." It is added 
that a large portion of the fodder of these cattle 
consisted of lush and succulent aquatic plants, and 
particularly lotus and papyrus, the sweet pulp of 
the latter being highly nutritious. In some of the 
frescoes cattle are represented feeding on the flags in 
the marshes of the Nile valley, while others show the 
harvesting of the same plants for the purpose of 
stall-feeding. 
Mention has been made in an earlier chapter of 
the occurrence of the wild aurochs in Mesopotamia 
during the Assyrian period ; and there is evidence of 
the existence of a long-horned domesticated breed 
apparently derived from that species at the same 
epoch. The best evidence of this is derived from 
a carving in ivory found in the north-west palace of 
Assurnassirpal, at Nimroud, dating from about 880 to 
860 B.c.^ It represents the head of a cow, and shows 
the characteristic long, conical head of the aurochs 
type, with the eyes directed somewhat forwards. The 
horns, too, are essentially aurochs-like, being about as 
long as the head, and directed at first outwards, then 
forwards, and finally again outwards. As further 
evidence of the existence of the same type is afforded 
by Dr. H. Schliemann's researches in Hissarlik, it 
seems practically certain that the aurochs was 
domesticated in Asia Minor. 
In addition to these aurochs-like tame cattle in 
Mesopotamia, there were others in the time of 
Sennacherib (704-681 B.C.) identical with the long- 
horned type of zebu, as is well shown in the annexed 
^ See Durst, op. cit. p. 12, pi. i. fig. i. 
