140 
ASSYRIAN GALLERIES. 
furnish a ^ood point of view for estimating the capabilities and defects 
of Assyrian art. 
The first two groups of consecutive slabs (34, 35) and (36, .37, 
38) present grooms, wearing short tunics fringed with fur, and em¬ 
broidered belts, leading each a horse by a halter twisted round his' 
lower jaw. 
39. Slab returned at a projection in the wall, and bearing on it a 
figure similarly attired to the grooms, but with a small staff in his 
hand,—perhaps a marshal or chamberlain. 
39*. Cast of an inscription at the back of No. 39. 
40. Slab which originally, as here, adjoined No. 39, presenting 
another horse and groom. 
41. Slab from the opposite side of the gallery to the preceding, re¬ 
presenting three attendants or servitors; the first (to the left) bearing in 
each hand a rod fringed with two rows of dried locusts, which are even 
yet consumed as food by the Arabs; the next, carrying two birds; and 
the foremost, two wine-skins. 
42. 43. Two consecutive slabs, with five similar figures, forming two 
couples, and half of a third; each couple bearing betw^een them, on 
their shoulders, trays laden with pomegranates, grapes, apples, and 
other articles of food. 
44. A semicircular-headed slab, with a small mutilated figure stand¬ 
ing, apparently in adoration, before a table of offerings, near which are 
various astrological symbols. Beside, and beneath him, is a long in¬ 
scription, divided in the middle by a broad band. 
At this end of the Room, on the floor, is a fragment from a pave¬ 
ment slab, with flowers, and an ornamental fringe, sculptured in 
relief. 
On the South side of the door is a highly-interesting series of sculp¬ 
tures on six consecutive slabs, which formed the only remaining deco¬ 
rations of Chamber xxxiii. in Mr. Layard’s plan. This Chamber 
was erected by Sennacherib, whose name occurs in the inscriptions at 
the back of the slabs, but the bas-reliefs were only sculptured in the 
time of his grandson, Ashurakhbal, whose victories they represent. 
Although broken into hundreds of minute fragments by fire, yet, from 
the greater hardness of the material, which is a fossiliferous limestone, 
the surface appears in better preservation than that of the alabaster re 
mains, and the outlines of the sculpture are more sharply displayed. 
45—47 represent a battle, which appears, from the inscriptions in- 
'serted in various parts of the scene, to have taken place in Elam, or 
Susiana. The troops of Ashurakhbal are armed with spears, bows, 
daggers, peaked, and sometimes crested, helmets, coats of mail, and 
large shields, generally square at the bottom; in a few instances they 
wield the battle-axe and mace, weapons not found in the earlier bas- 
reliefs. The enemy use merely the bow: many, however, are in 
chariots, which are drawn sometimes by mules, animals for which 
modern Susiana is still famous. They have no defensive armour; 
their hair is worn long, and bound with fillets. According to the 
uniform practice in all these monuments, the Assyrians appear not 
merely victorious, but even exempt from individual injury. The 
number of figures is so great, and the composition so involved, that it 
