KOUYUNJIK SIDE-GALLERY. 
109 
rations of Chamber xxxm. in Mr. Layard’s plan. This Chamber 
was erected by Sennacherib, whose name occurs in the inscriptions at 
the back o f ‘ 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 wdiich 
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 
is impossible to distinguish more than the principal incidents in the 
ensuing description. 
45. To the left is seen the side of a high arched mound, down which 
the invaders are driving the Elamites in confused rout. To the right 
the figures are disposed in four horizontal tiers. The highest, which is 
greatly mutilated, represents some of the victors torturing or slaying 
their prisoners. In the next tier below is a chariot, apparently taken 
from the enemy, as it differs in construction from the Assyrian; four 
of the conquering party, seated within it, are galloping from the field. 
Above this is a mutilated inscription, containing originally the name of 
the vanquished king; but this is now lost. Behind the chariot is a 
tent, the sides of which are supported by cords, but the covering is 
lost: within it are three captives, and two Assyrians receiving the 
heads of the slain. Other battle scenes occupy the tw ? o lower tiers, 
with the usual incidents of rout and slaughter. 
46. The tiers of sculpture are continued, but the uppermost is 
entirely lost. In the highest which remains, amongst heaps of the 
slain, is a chariot, from which the occupants have fallen, and with 
which the horses are entangled. Around and below appear trees, 
amongst which the slaughter is continued. In the middle of the slab 
is a mutilated inscription. 
47. Portions here remain of two upper tiers, presenting trains of 
captives, driven by soldiers; amongst them are women and children, 
the latter generally naked. Below 7 , the same battle-scene is continued, 
in a mass of confusion, up to the banks of a river, probably the 
Eulaeus, which bounds the sculpture to the right, washing down men, 
horses, bows and quivers, amidst shoals of fish and crabs. The plain 
is strewn throughout with the dead and dying; on the upper part of 
the slab birds of prey are fastening on their remains. In the middle 
are tw 7 o inscriptions. 
The next three slabs are a continuation of the series, which, in the 
