bulls, they are standing, and, to judge from the Hathorian locks which
fall on each side of their countenances, they must have been intended
to represent a protecting goddess rather than a male deity. A remarkable
emblem is carved on the side of the upright to which their bodies are
attached; it is none other than the double-headed eagle, the prototype
of which is not infrequently found at Telloh in Lower Chaldaea, among
remains dating from the time of the kings and vicegerents of Lagash.

[Illustration: 218.jpg TWO BLOCKS COVERED WITH BAS-RELIEFS IN THE EUYUK
PALACE]

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph.

The court or hall to which this gate gave access was decorated with
bas-reliefs, which exhibit a glaring imitation of Babylonian art; we can
still see on these the king, vested in his long flowing robes, praying
before an altar, while further on is a procession of dignitaries
following a troop of rams led by a priest to be sacrificed; another
scene represents two individuals in the attitude of worship, wearing
short loin-cloths, and climbing a ladder whose upper end has an
uncertain termination, while a third person applies his hands to his
mouth in the performance of some mysterious ceremony; beyond these are
priests and priestesses moving in solemn file as if in the measured
tread of some sacred dance, while in one corner we find the figure of a
woman, probably a goddess, seated, holding in one hand a flower, perhaps
the full-blown lotus, and in the other a cup from which she is about to
drink. The costume of all these figures is that which Chaldaean fashion
had imposed upon the whole of Western Asia, and consisted of the long
heavy robe, falling from the shoulders to the feet, drawn in at the
waist by a girdle; but it is to be noted that both sexes are shod with
the turned-up shoes of the Hittites, and that the women wear high peaked
caps.

[Illustration: 219.jpg MYSTIC SCENE AT EUYUK]

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph.

The composition of the scenes is rude, the drawing incorrect, and the
general technique reminds us rather of the low reliefs of the Memphite
or Theban sculptors than of the high projection characteristic of the
artists of the Lower Euphrates. These slabs of sculptured stone formed
a facing at the base of the now crumbling brick walls, the upper
surface of which was covered with rough plastering. Here and there a
few inscriptions reveal the name, titles, and parentage