Page:A History of Art in Chaldæa & Assyria Vol 2.djvu/46

28 A History of Art i t Ciiald.ka and Assyria. consist of a series of chambers to the south-west of the court marked A, and of a whole quarter, larger than the harem, which lies in the south-eastern corner of the mound, and includes several wide quadrangles (B, C, C, D, D , F, G, &C.). 1 We could not describe this part of the plan in detail without giving it more space than we can spare. We must be content with telling our readers that by careful study of their dispositions and of the objects found in them during the excavations, M. Place has succeeded in determining, sometimes with absolute certainty, sometimes with very great probability, the destination of nearly every group of chambers in this part of the palace. The south- west side of the great court was occupied by stores ; the rooms were filled with jars, with enamelled bricks, with things made of iron and copper, with provisions and various utensils for the use of the palace, and with the plunder taken from conquered countries ; it was, in fact, what would now be called the khazneh or treasury. The warehouses did not communicate with each other ; they had but one door, that leading into the great court. But opening out of each there was a small inner room, which served perhaps as the residence of a store-keeper. At the opposite side of the court lay what Place calls the active section of the offices (la partie active des dépendances), the rooms where all those domestic labours were carried on without which the luxurious life of the royal dwelling would have come to a standstill. Kitchens and bakehouses were easily recognized by the contents of the clay vases found in them ; bronze rings let into the wall betrayed the stables — in the East of our own day, horses and camels are picketed to similar rings: Close to the stables a long gallery, in which a large number of chariots and sets of harness could be conveniently arranged, has been recog- nized as a coach-house. There are hut few rooms in which some glimpse of their probable destination has not been caught. In two small chambers between courts A and B, the flooring stones are pierced with round holes leading to square sewers, which, in their turn, join a large brick-vaulted drain. The use of such a contrivance is obvious. 2 We may fairly suppose that the rooms in which no special 1 A minute description of all these offices will be found in Place (Ninwe, vol. iii. pp. 76-105). 2 Place, JVi/iwe, vol. i. pp. 99 and 274.