aterial, and less perfect
in workmanship, been adopted, the buildings of Egypt might have all
disappeared ere this.

[Illustration: FIG. 30.--PAINTED DECORATION FROM THEBES.]

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Some Egyptologists incline to the opinion that the pyramid of
Saqqara is the most ancient, while others think it much more recent
than those of Gizeh.

[2] Strictly speaking, the base is not an exact square, the four sides
measuring, according to the Royal Engineers, north, 760 ft. 7.5 in.;
south, 761 ft. 8.5 in.; east, 760 ft. 9.5 in.; and west, 764 ft. 1 in.

[3] Conventionalising may be described as representing a part only of
the visible qualities or features of an object, omitting the remainder
or very slightly indicating them. A black silhouette portrait is an
extreme instance of convention, as it displays absolutely nothing but
the outline of a profile. For decorative purposes it is almost always
necessary to conventionalise to a greater or less extent whatever is
represented.

[Illustration: FIG. 31.--SCULPTURED ORNAMENT AT NINEVEH.]

CHAPTER III.

WEST ASIATIC ARCHITECTURE.

The architectural styles of the ancient nations which ruled over the
countries of Western Asia watered by the Tigris and the Euphrates,
from a period about 2200 B.C. down to 330 B.C., are so intimately
connected one with another, and so dependent one upon the other, that
it is almost impossible to attempt an accurate discrimination between
the Babylonian, or ancient Chaldaean, the Assyrian and the Persian. A
more intelligible idea of the architecture of this long period will be
gained by regarding the three styles as modifications and developments
of one original style, than by endeavouring to separate them.[4] Their
sequence can, however, be accurately determined. First comes the old
Chaldaean period, next the Assyrian, during which the great city of
Nineveh was built, and finally the Persian, after Cyrus had subdued
the older monarchies; and remains exist of all these periods. As to
the origin of the Chaldaean Kingdom, however, all is obscure; and the
earliest date which can be fixed with the slightest approach to
probability is 2234 B.C., when Nimrod is supposed to have founded the
old Chaldaean dynasty. This seems to have lasted about 700 years, and
was then overthrown by a conquering nation of which no record or even
tradition remains, the next two and a half centuries being a complete
blank till the rise of the gre