FLOOR.] 
NIMROUD CENTRAL SALOON. 
85 
the god Nebo, and bearing an inscription to the effect that it was made 
by a sculptor of Nimroud at the order of Phalukha (or Pul, a king who 
reigned about b.c. 770), and of his wife Sammuramit, who is supposed 
to be the original of the somewhat mythical Semiramis of the Greek 
and Roman writers. 
On the opposite, or Western side of the room, are some 
bas-reliefs discovered by Mr. Layard in the ruins of the Central 
edifice at Nimroud, which are supposed to be intermediate in 
date between the ruins already referred to and those of the 
great edifice at the North-west quarter of the mound. The 
subjects are chiefly military. 
To the left, or Southern side of the passage from the Hellenic 
Room, is seen the evacuation of a captured city, in which (as well as 
in the bas-relief immediately above) the various quadrupeds introduced 
are portrayed with great fidelity and spirit, the sculptor, as usual in 
Assyrian art, exhibiting greater power in the treatment of animal sub- 
jects than of the human form. 
On the other side of the passage are three representations of sieges, 
in which the mounds thrown up by the besiegers, their battering-rams, 
and archers masked by loop-holed screens, evince their military skill, 
whilst the three impaled captives, on one of the slabs, give equal 
evidence of their cruelty. 
Above these are two heads, known from the inscription on the left- 
hand slab to represent Tiglath-Pileser II. and an attendant. 
In the centre of the room stands one of the most important his- 
torical monuments which have been recovered from Assyria, an obelisk 
in black marble, found near the centre of the great mound. It is 
decorated with five tiers of bas-reliefs, each continued round the sides ; 
and the unsculptured surface is covered with cuneiform inscriptions, 
which appear, from the interpretation of Sir Henry Rawlinson and 
Dr. Hincks, to contain a complete record of the reign of Shalmaneser 
King of Assyria, who reigned about b.c. 850. The bas-reliefs illustrate 
the presentation of offerings to the king by his numerous tributaries, 
and the inscriptions record the names of the donors, amongst whom 
are Jehu " of the house of Omri," the Israelitish king, and Hazael, the 
contemporary king of Syria. 
Against the columns are placed two tablets, with figures and inscrip- 
tions of Shalmaneser and Ashur-izir-pal, found at Kurkh; on one Ahab 
is mentioned. 
The remainder of the Nimroud collection belongs altogether 
to the period of Asshur-izir-pal, or Sardanapalus the Great, 
the earliest Assyrian monarch of whom any large monuments 
have been procured, and who is believed to have reigned about 
B.C. 930-902. The sculptures were found by Mr. Layard 
partly in the ruins of an extensive edifice at the North-west 
