Page:A History of Art in Chaldæa & Assyria Vol 2.djvu/27

The Palace oe Sargon, f / § 2. — The Palace of Sargon. The mound in which the re- mains of Sargon's palace had lain concealed for so many centuries bore on its summit, before the excavations began, a small village called Khorsabad (Fig. 2). It rises about nine miles north- north-east of Mossoul on the eastern bank of the Khausser, an affluent of the Tigris, and in the neighbourhood of the moun- tains which begin to draw in towards the left bank of that river not far above the site of Nineveh. Botta was induced to begin his excavations at this point on account of the numerous fragments of cuneiform inscrip- tions which were found there by the peasants of the village. He sent a number of workmen to Khorsabad under the superinten- dence of his confidential servant, Charles Michel, who, twenty years afterwards, was my drago- man in Asia Minor. 1 How often during our long marches through forests and across barren steppes he entertained me with the story of how he discovered Nineveh, as, like his master Botta, he always called it, my readers may guess. "We arrived at Khorsabad towards evening, and 1 See G. Perrot, Souvenirs d 'un Voyage en Asia Mineure, p. 50. I 11 ft mw m: III y % if %l;p VOL. II.