Page:A History of Art in Chaldæa & Assyria Vol 2.djvu/201

On the Representations of Animals. 171 Another composite animal familiar to the imaginations both of Greeks and Mesopotamians was the winged horse, the Hellenic Pegasus (Fig. 89). The example we have chosen is full of grace and nobility. We feel that the wings have given additional lightness and almost a real capacity for leaving the ground. The whole of the fabulous tribe of griffins, by which we mean an animal with the body of a lion or panther and the wings and Fig. 89. — Winged horse. From Layard. head of a bird of prey, is richly represented in Assyrian art. The griffin recurs continually in the embroidery of the royal robes of Assurnazirpal (Fig. 90). The bird with a human head, the prototype of the Greek harpies and sirens, is also to be frequently met with. We find it introduced in those applied pieces which, after being cast and finished with the burin, were Fig. 90. — Griffins seizing a goat. From Layard. used by bronze workers in the decoration of vases of beaten metal. The diameters of the vases may easily be calculated from the inner curve of the applied plaques ; 1 the latter were used to strengthen the vessels at the points where the movable handles, 1 De Longperier, Deux bronzes Antiques de Van (in his Œuvres, vol. i. pp. 275-278).