ts
did not extend to the whole edifice, but were confined to the shrine
itself--the actual abode of the god--the chamber which crowned the whole,
and was alone, strictly speaking, "the temple." Even here there is no
reason to believe that the building had externally much beauty. No
fragments of architraves or capitals, no sculptured ornaments of any
kind, have been found among the heaps of rubbish in which Chaldaean
monuments are three-parts buried.

The ornaments which have been actually discovered, are such as suggest
the idea of internal rather than external decoration; and they render it
probable that such decoration was, at least in some cases, extremely
rich. The copper nails and blue enamelled tiles found high up in the
Mugheir mound, have been already noticed. At Abu-Shahrein the ground
about the basement of the second story was covered with small pieces of
agate, alabaster, and marble, finely cut and polished, from half an inch
to two inches long, and half an inch (or somewhat less) in breadth, each
with a hole drilled through its back, containing often a fragment of a
copper bolt.

[Illustration: PAGE 56]

It was strewn less thickly with small plates of pure gold, and with a
number of gold-headed or gilt, headed nails, used apparently to attach
the gold plates to the internal plaster or wood-work. These fragments
seem to attest the high ornamentation of the shrine in this instance,
which we have no reason to regard is singular or in any way exceptional.

The Chaldaean remains which throw light upon the domestic architecture of
the people are few and scanty. A small house was disinterred by Mr.
Taylor at Mugheir, and the plan of some chambers was made out at
Abu-Shahrein; but these are hitherto the only specimens which can be
confidently assigned to the Chaldaean period. The house stood on a
platform of sundried bricks, paved on the top with burnt bricks. It was
built in the form of a cross, but with a good deal of irregularity, every
wall being somewhat longer or shorter than the others. The material used
in its construction was burnt brick, the outer layer imbedded in bitumen,
and the remainder in a cement of mud. Externally the house was
ornamented with perpendicular stepped recesses, while internally the
bricks had often a thin coating of gypsum or enamel, upon which
characters were inscribed. The floors of the chambers were paved with
burnt brick, laid in bitumen. Two of the doorways were a