al line, is the most striking
feature of this dress, which is also remarkable for the manner in which
it confines and conceals the left arm, while the right is left free and
exposed to view. A representation of a king thus apparelled will be
found in an earlier part of this work, taken from a statue now in the
British Museum. It is peculiar in having the head uncovered, and in the
form of the implement borne in the right hand. It is also incomplete as
a representation, from the fact that all the front of the breast is
occupied by an inscription. Other examples show that the tiara was
commonly worn as a part of the sacerdotal costume; that the sacred
collar adorned the breast, necklaces the neck, and bracelets the two
arms; while in the belt, which was generally to some extent knotted,
were borne two or three daggers. The mace seems to have been a necessary
appendage to the costume, and was always grasped just below its head by
the left hand.

We have but one representation of an Assyrian queen. Despite the
well-known stories of Semiramis and her manifold exploits, it would seem
that the Assyrians secluded their females with as rigid and watchful a
jealousy as modern Turks or Persians. The care taken with respect to the
direction of the passages in the royal hareem has been noticed already.
It is quite in accordance with the spirit thus indicated, and with the
general tenor of Oriental habits, that neither in inscriptions nor in
sculptured representations do the Assyrians allow their women to make
more than a most rare and occasional appearance. Fortunately for us,
their jealousy was sometimes relaxed to a certain extent; and in one
scene, recovered from the _debris_ of an Assyrian palace we are enabled
to contemplate at once the domestic life of the monarch and the attire
and even the features of his consort.

It appears that in the private apartments, while the king, like the
Romans and the modern Orientals, reclined upon a couch leaning his
weight partly upon his left elbow, and having his right arm free and
disposable, her majesty the queen sat in a chair of state by the couch's
side, near its foot, and facing her lord. [PLATE CXV., Fig. 1.] Two
eunuchs provided with large fans were in attendance upon the monarch,
and the same number waited upon the queen, standing behind her chair.
Her majesty, whose hair was arranged nearly like that of her royal
consort, wore upon her head a band or fillet having something of the