NIMROUD CENTRAL SALOON. 
147 
Against the North wall, by the door, are two slabs; on the upper is 
a horseman, wearing a crested helmet, pursued by two Assyrian horse¬ 
men, who are wounding his horse with their spears. 
Below this is a fragment of a subject representing the siege of a 
city; a bucket, lowered by a pulley, is seen through the walls; one of 
the besiegers is cutting its rope. 
Over the slabs is a head from a small statue, apparently of an 
eunuch ; the nose, which was originally a separate piece let in, has 
been lost. 
On the adjoining wall is a large bas-relief, divided horizontally into 
two tiers, the upper of which bears a representation of a strong city 
on a mound or hill, having walls with battlements and towers, and 
from which sheep, and captives bearing spoil, are being driven by 
Assyrian warriors. The lower scene represents a king in his chariot 
moving in procession, part of another chariot appearing before him. 
The king is attended by a parasol-bearer and a charioteer, and his 
horses are led by two ushers. Between the tiers is part of an inscrip¬ 
tion, originally extending over several adjoining slabs, upon one of 
which is mentioned the receipt of tribute from Menahem, King of 
Israel. This sculpture must therefore have been executed either for 
Pul, who invaded Samaria about 769 B.c., and is stated, in 2 Kings 
xv. 19, to have levied tribute from Menahem ; or perhaps for his suc¬ 
cessor, Tiglathpileser, with whose history, in the opinion of Dr. 
Hincks, the account more nearly tallies. 
Above this slab is another, on which are two horsemen in conical 
helmets pursuing a third, and thrusting him from his horse with their 
spears. Behind is a vulture, bearing off the intestines of a fallen 
warrior. 
In front of these is a colossal head, in a triple-horned tiara, of a 
winged and human-headed bull, on a larger scale than any yet brought 
to Europe, and executed in a style which seems to prove that, unlike 
the slabs just described, it belongs to the time of Essarhaddon himself. 
The remaining sculptures in this room, together with those of the 
succeeding gallery, belong to the period of the earlier dynasty of 
Nineveh. Of these, the bas-reliefs on the West wall of the room, 
which were discovered in the central ruin of the mound of Nimroud, 
are supposed to be the latest in date. 
Commencing on the Southern, or left-hand side of the passage 
to the Phigaleian Saloon, the lowest bas-relief represents the eva¬ 
cuation of a captured city. Beneath the walls stand two battering en¬ 
gines, unemployed. Two carts, each containing two females and a 
child, and drawn by a pair of bullocks, are leaving the city. In the 
distance are eunuchs driving away the captured cattle, and scribes 
making an inventory of the spoil. 
Above, to the left, is a slab, on which is represented an eunuch 
followed by two pairs of prisoners, with their hands bound behind them. 
To the right of this is a slab, having sculptured upon it a flock of 
sheep and goats, gnd a driver, whose figure is nearly effaced. 
Over these is a slab, having on it two horsemen with spears pursuing 
a flying figure on a camel. Beneath their feet are three dead men. 
Continuing along the Western Wall, on the other side of the 
