Page:A History of Art in Chaldæa & Assyria Vol 2.djvu/66

4$ A History of Art in Ciiald^a and Assyria. average size of the rooms here is about one-third more than in the palace of Sargon, suggesting that the art of building vaults and timber ceilings made sensible progress during the reign of that king. As in the case of the Khorsabad palace, the explorers believed they could distinguish between the seraglio and the harem ; but the plan given by Layard has too many blanks and leaves too many points uncertain for the various quarters to be distinguished with such ease and certainty as at Khorsabad. 1 The walls were everywhere covered with rich series of reliefs, from which we have already taken some of our illustrations (Vol. I.. Figs. 151 and 152), and shall have to take more. The military promenade figured upon page 49 will give a good idea of their general character (Fig. 21). Assurbanipal, the grandson of Sennacherib, built his palace towards the north of the mound. The excavations of Mr. Rassam have been the means of recovering many precious bas-reliefs from it, but we may see from the plan (Fig. 19) that a very small part of the building has been cleared. Much more must remain of a palace so richly decorated and with rooms so large as some of those explored in the quarter we have called the sélamlik. One of these saloons is 145 feet long and 29 wide. The plan of its walls suggests a very large building, with spacious courts and a great number of rooms. 2 In many other mounds of Assyria, such as those oî Arvil? oi 1 The plan in which Layard shows the results of his two digging campaigns will be found in the Discoveries, facing page 67. For the excavations at Kouyundjik see also his Nineveh, vol. ii. chapter xiv, and Discoveries, pp. 67-76, 102-120, 135-161, 228-233, 337-347. 438-463, 5 82 "5 88 , and 645-652. Layard attempts to give a general idea of the palace and of its decorations. There is also much detailed information regarding this building in Rawlin son's Five Great Monarchies, vol. ii. pp. 178-183. 2 The only details that have been given, so far as we know, of the discovery and exhumation of Assurbanipal' s palace, are to be found in an article by Mr. Rassam entitled : Excavations and Discoveries in Assyria ( Transactio?is of the Society of Biblical Archceology, vol. vii. pp. 37-58). This paper contains a plan of the northern palace (p. 40). 3 " Ervil is the site of the Assyrian city of Arbela, and in the plains outside it was fought the great battle between Alexander and Darius. I had no time to examine the place, but I saw in passing that there were mounds rivalling in size those of the Assyrian capital. Over the principal mound a Turkish fortress is built, which would make it difficult to excavate here ; but as Arbela was a great city, much may be expected here whenever it is explored." George Smith, Assyrian Discoveries, p. 67.