Page:A History of Art in Chaldæa & Assyria Vol 1.djvu/261

SECONDARY FORMS. 239 probability in the palaces of Sargon and of other kings, and in the sacred buildings. Elsewhere, however, we find a pavement constructed with the most scrupulous care, and consisting of three distinct parts, two layers of large bricks with a thick bed of sand interposed between them. The lower course of bricks is set in a bed of bitumen which separates it from the earth and prevents any dampness passing either up or down. This system of paving was used in most of the harem chambers at Khorsabad as well as in the open courts and upon the terraces. Lastly, in certain rooms of the seraglio and harem, in a few of the courts, in the vestibules, before the gates of the city, and in paths across wide open spaces, a lime- stone pavement has been found. Wherever this pavement exists, the stones are of the same kind and placed in the same manner. The limestone is exactly similar to that in the retaining walls described on page 147. The stones are often more than three feet square, and from two feet six inches to two feet ten inches thick. Their shape is not that of a regular solid ; it is more like a reversed cone, the base forming the pavement and the narrow end being buried in the ground. These stones are simply placed side by side without the use of mortar or cement of any kind, but their weight and peculiar shape gave a singular durability to the pavement for which they were used. Most of the sills belong to this class. And in Assyria where doorways were several yards deep and two or three wide, these sills were in reality the pavements of passages or even chambers. 1 The materials for these pavements were always different from those of the floors on each side of them. In the entrances to the brick-paved courts large stones were used ; in the passages be- tween rooms floored with beaten earth bricks were introduced. The stone thresholds were mostly alabaster like the sculptured slabs upon the chamber walls. As a rule they were of a single piece, the great extent of surface, sometimes as much as ten or eleven square yards, notwithstanding. In the entries flanked by the winged bulls the sills were carved with inscriptions, which were comparatively rare elsewhere. Sometimes we find a rich and elaborate ornamentation in place of the wedges ; it is made up of geometrical forms and conventional foliage and flowers ; the figures of men and animals are never introduced. Such an 1 PLACE, Ninive, vol. i. pp. 302, 303.