t it was one of the original hieroglyphs whence the
later letters were derived. Another comb is of lapis lazuli, and has
only a single row of teeth. [PLATE CXXXVII., Fig. 1.] The small vases of
alabaster or fine clay, and the small glass bottles which have been
discovered in tolerable abundance, were also in all probability intended
chiefly for the toilet. They would hold the perfumed unguents which the
Assyrians, like other Orientals, were doubtless in the habit of using,
and the dyes wherewith they sought to increase the beauty of the
countenance.

[Illustration: PLATE 137]

No doubt the luxury of the Assyrian women in these and other respects
was great and excessive. They are not likely to have fallen short of
their Jewish sisters either in the refinements or in the corruptions of
civilization. When then we hear of the "tinkling ornaments" of the Jewish
women in Isaiah's time, "their combs, and round tires like the moon,"
their "chains and bracelets and mufflers," their "bonnets, and ornaments
of the legs, and head-bands, and tablets and ear-rings," their "rings
and nose-jewels," their "changeable suits of apparel, and mantles, and
wimples, and crisping-pins," their "glasses, and fine linen, and hoods,
and veils," their "sweet smells, and girdles, and well-set hair, and
stomachers," we may be sure that in Assyria too these various
refinements, or others similar to them, were in use, and consequently
that the art of the toilet was tolerably well advanced under the second
great Asiatic Empire. That the monuments contain little evidence on the
point need not cause any surprise; since it is the natural consequence
of the spirit of jealous reserve common to the Oriental nations, which
makes them rarely either represent women in their mimetic art or speak
of them in their public documents.

If various kinds of grain were cultivated in Assyria, such as wheat,
barley, sesame, and millet, we may assume that the food of the
inhabitants, like that of other agricultural nations, consisted in part
of bread. Sesame was no doubt used, as it is at the present day,
principally for making oil; while wheat, barley, and millet were
employed for food, and were made into cakes or loaves. The grain used,
whatever it was, would be ground between two stones, according to the
universal Oriental practice even at the present day. It would then he
moistened with water, kneaded in a dish or bowl, and either rolled into
thin cakes, or pressed b