on consented to surrender itself, the work of demolition,
already begun, was completed. Generally the place was set on fire;
sometimes workmen provided with pickaxes and other tools mounted upon
the ramparts and towers, hurled down the battlements, broke breaches in
the walls, or even levelled the whole building. [PLATE CXII., Fig. 1.]
Vengeance was further taken by the destruction of the valuable trees in
the vicinity, more especially the highly prized date-palms, which were
cut with hatchets half through their stems at the distance of about two
feet from the ground, and then pulled or pushed down. [PLATE CXI., Fig.
2.] Other trees were either treated similarly, or denuded of their
branches. Occasionally the destruction was of a less wanton and vengeful
character. Timber-trees were cut down for transport to Assyria, where
they were used in the construction of the royal-palaces; and fruit-trees
were occasionally taken up by the roots, removed carefully, and planted
in the gardens and orchards of the conquerors. Meanwhile there was a
general plundering of the captured place. The temples were entered, and
the images of the gods, together, with the sacred vessels, which were
often of gold and silver, were seized and carried off in triumph.
[PLATE CXI., Fig. 4.] This was not mere cupidity. It was regarded as of
the utmost importance to show that the gods of the Assyrians were
superior to those of other countries, who were powerless to protect
either their votaries or even themselves from the irresistible might of
the servants of Asshur. The ordinary practice was to convey the images
of the foreign gods from the temples of the captured places to Assyria,
and there to offer then at the shrines of the principal Assyrian
deities. Hence the special force of the proud question, "Where _are_ the
gods of Hanath and of Arpad? _Where are_ the gods of Sepharvaim, Hena,
and Ivah? Where are they but carried captive to Assyria, prisoners and
slaves in the temples of those deities whose power they ventured to
resist?"

The houses of the city were also commonly plundered, and everything of
value in them was carried off. Long files of men, each bearing some
article of furniture out of the gate of a captured town, are frequent
upon the bas-reliefs, where we likewise often observe in the train of a
returning army carts laden with household stuff of every kind,
alternating with long strings of captives. All the spoil seems to have
been first b