FLOOE.] 
ASSYRIAN SIDE EOOM. 
101 
slitigers ; the besieged lowering grappling-irons from a bastion to catcir 
the ram, and hurling firebrands to ignite tlie machine ; the besiegers 
playing water on the flames ; and each side discharging arrows and stones. 
No. 16(2. Upper part of a male figure, with the eyes and hair tinted 
black, exhibiting a greater amount of artificial colour than any other 
Assyrian sculpture yet discovered. 
In the middle of the room are four Table Cases, containing 
miscellaneous small objects found at Nimroud, chiefly in the 
ruins of the North-west edifice, and probably therefore of 
the age of Assur-izir-pal, about B.C. 880. 
Case No. 42 contains several bronze bowls, with embossed and- 
engraved ornaments of great beauty and curiosity, some of distinctly- 
Egyptian style, such as winged gryphons, scarabsei, &c. 
Case No. 43 has some more bowls, and a remarkable collection of 
bronze weights, in the form of recumbent lions, on some of which are 
engraved bilingual inscriptions, in the Phoenician, and cuneiform of 
Assyrian characters. 
Case No. 44 has several miscellaneous bronze objects, small bells>. 
weapons, and articles of furniture, parts of thrones, chariots, and vases; 
Case No. 45 contains some of the most interesting articles in the 
collection. The principal are a series of ivory-carvings from the North- 
west edifice, one having an Egyptian name within a hieroglyphical 
cartouche, and many others exhibiting Egyptian figures or deco- 
rations, — a conclusive proof of an intimate connection between • 
Egypt and Assyria at a very early period ; a large variety of ivory- 
carvings of more purely Assyrian character, one with Phoenician in-- 
scription, found in the South-east edifice. 
Case No. 67 has some miscellaneous antiquities obtained or exca-- 
vated by Mr. G. Smith, in Assyria and Babylonia, and presented by the 
proprietors of the Daily Telegraph. Amongst them a stone tablet of 
Vulnirari I. recording the conquests of Assyrian kings and repairs, 
from Kalah Shergat, a brick of Shalmaneser I. ; another of Assur- 
bani-pal, and some contract tablets, dated in the reigns of the later 
Babylonian kings. 
Case B. contains fragments of terracotta tablets and miscellaneous! 
articles from the same collection. Amongst them are figures of deities, 
and a cone with Cyprian inscription from Nimroud. 
At the North-west angle of this Gallery is a door leading 
into the 
ASSYRIAN SIDE-ROOM. 
In this room, and in the basement room with which it is 
connected by a staircase, are placed some of the sculptm'es 
and other objects procured by Mr. Rassam and Mr. Loftus, 
after the collection obtained by Mr. La3'ard had been already 
