jambs.
Extreme care was taken by the Assyrian builders in laying the
pavements to ensure their being perfectly level: first a layer of
kiln-burnt bricks was laid on the ordinary sun-dried bricks forming
the terrace; then came a layer of fine sand, upon which the bricks or
slabs of the pavement proper were laid, forming in many cases an
elegant pattern (see Fig. 33).

[Illustration: FIG. 33.--PAVEMENT FROM KHOYUNJIK.]

Great difference of opinion exists as to the manner in which the
various apartments of the palace were lighted. M. Place suggests that
the rooms were all vaulted on the inside, and the spandrels filled in
with earth afterwards to form perfectly flat roofs, and he gives a
restoration of the building on such an arrangement; but if he is
correct, it is impossible to see how any light at all can have
penetrated into the interior of many of the apartments, and as these
apartments are decorated with a profusion of paintings it is very
difficult to believe that artificial light alone was used in them. M.
Place thinks, however, that in some cylindrical terra-cotta vessels
which he found he has hit upon a species of skylight which passed
completely through the vault over the rooms, and thus admitted the
light from above. This, however, can hardly be considered as settled
yet. Mr. Fergusson, on the other hand, suggests that the thick main
walls were carried to a height of about 18 or 19 ft., and that above
this were two rows of dwarf columns, one on the inner and the other on
the outer edge of the wall, these columns supporting a flat terrace
roof, and the walls thus forming galleries all round the apartments.
Then to cover the space occupied by the apartments themselves it is
necessary to assume the existence of rows of columns, the capitals of
which were at the same level as those of the dwarf columns on the
walls. Where one apartment is surrounded on all sides by others, the
roof over it may have been carried up to a higher level, forming a
sort of clerestory. This theory no doubt accounts for many things
which are very hard to explain otherwise, and derives very strong
support from the analogy of Persepolis, where slender stone columns
exist. Such columns of cedar wood would add enormously to the
magnificence and grandeur of the building; and if, as seems likely,
most of these Assyrian palaces were destroyed by fire, the absence of
the remains of columns offers no difficulty. On the other hand, in
many par