FLOOK.] 
NIMROUD GALLERY. 
99 
decorated withfive tiers of bas-reliefs, each continued round the sides; and 
the unsculptured surface is covered with cuneiform inscriptions, which 
record the annals of Shalmaneser II. for thirty-one years, commencing 
about b.c. 860. 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, that on the right being of Shalmaneser, and that on the left of 
Assur-natsir-abla, found at Kurkh ; on the former Ahab is mentioned. 
On the left there is also a fragment of a monument containing a 
bilingual inscription of Khammuragas, a king of Babylonia of the 
Kassite dynasty, who reigned about 1700 b.c. 
The remainder of the Nimroud collection belongs altogether 
to the period of Assur-nazir-pal, or Assur-natsir-abla, the earliest 
Assyrian monarch of whom any large monuments have been 
procured, and who commenced his reign about B.C. 885. The 
sculptures were found by Mr. Layard partly in the ruins of an 
extensive edifice at the North-west quarter of Nimroud, and 
partly in two small adjacent temples of the same date, one of 
which was dedicated to the Assyrian " God of War/' 
Beside the door into the Kouyunjik Gallery is a colossal lion, which, 
with a companion figure, decorated the sides of a doorway in one of 
the small temples just mentioned. It is covered with inscriptions, 
and, like all the figures found iu similar situations, provided with five 
legs, so as to appear perfect both from the front and the side. 
Near this stands a small statue, on its original pedestal, found in 
the same temple with the lion, and representing Assur-natsir-abla. 
Of the remains of the North-west edifice the principal are two colossal 
figures, one a winged and human-headed lion, and the other a bull, not 
originally forming a pair, but taken from two different doorways. 
Though of smaller dimensions than usual, they are, both in delicacy 
of execution and excellence of preservation, amongst the finest speci- 
mens of Assyrian art. 
Over the North door leading into the Kouyunjik Gallery is a lintel 
from the palace at Kouyunjik, representing a vase and two dragons. 
The South door leads into the 
NIMROUD GALLERY. 
This room contains a continuation of the series last de- 
scribed. The bas-reliefs on the West side were all found in one 
chamber of the North-west edifice. Those on the opposite 
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