es, with glass ornaments and statuettes looted from Memphis: his
workers in marble took inspiration from the sphinxes of Egypt to modify
the winged, human-headed lions upon which the columns of their palaces
rested, and the plans of his architects became more comprehensive at the
mere announcement of such a vast amount of spoil. The palace they had
begun to build at Nineveh, on the ruins of an ancient edifice, already
surpassed all previous architectural efforts. The alabaster quarries of
the Assyrian mountains and the forests of Phoenicia had alike been put
under contribution to face the walls of its state apartments;
twenty-two chiefs of the country of the Khati, of Phoenicia, and of the
Mediterranean littoral--among them the Greek kings of Cyprus--had vied
with one another in supplying Esarhaddon with great beams of pine,
cedar, and cypress for its construction. The ceilings were of cedar
supported by pillars of cypress-wood encircled by silver and iron; stone
lions and bulls stood on either side of the gates, and the doors were
made of cedar and cypress, incrusted or overlaid with iron, silver and
ivory. The treasures of Egypt enabled Esarhaddon to complete this palace
and begin a new one at Calah, where the buildings erected somewhat
hurriedly by Tiglath-pileser III. had already fallen into ruin. Some
of the slabs on which the latter conqueror had engraved his Annals,
and recounted the principal episodes of his campaigns, were removed and
transferred to the site selected by Esarhaddon, and one of the surfaces
of each was pared down in order to receive new pictures and fresh
inscriptions. They had, however, hardly been placed in the stonemason's
hands when the work was interrupted.*

* The date of the building of the palace at Calah is
furnished by the inscriptions, in which Esarhaddon assumes
the title of King of Egypt.

[Illustration: 161.jpg ASSYRIAN SPHINX IN EGYPTIAN STYLE SUPPORTING THE
BASE OF A COLUMN]

Drawn by Boudier, from the alabaster sculpture reproduced by
Layard.

It may have been that Esarhaddon had to suspend all his operations while
putting down some conspiracy. At any rate, we know that in 669 B.C. many
high personages of his court were seized and executed. The question of
the succession to the throne was still undecided; Sinidina-bal, the son
whom Esarhaddon had previously designated as his heir presumptive, was
dead, and the people feared lest he should choose from