namelling bricks and painting in fresco upon a plaster.
Both involve considerable skill in the preparation of colors, and the
former especially implies much dexterity in the management of several
very delicate processes.

The sculptures of Asshur-izir-pal, besides proving directly the high
condition of mimetic art in Assyria at this time, furnish indirect
evidence of the wonderful progress which had been made in various
important manufactures. The metallurgy which produced the swords,
sword-sheaths, daggers, earrings, necklaces, armlets, and bracelets of
this period, must have been of a very advanced description. The
coach-building which constructed the chariots, the saddlery which made
the harness of the horses, the embroidery which ornamented the robes,
must, similarly, have been of a superior character. The evidence of the
sculptures alone is quite sufficient to show that, in the time of
Asshur-izir-pal, the Assyrians were already a great and luxurious
people, that most of the useful arts not only existed among them, but
were cultivated to a high pitch, and that in dress, furniture, jewelry,
etc., they were not very much behind the moderns.

Besides the magnificent palace which he built at Calah, Asshur-izir-pal
is known also to have erected a certain number of temples. The most
important of these have been already described. They stood at the
north-western corner of the Nimrud platform, and consisted of two
edifices, one exactly at the angle, comprising the higher tower or
_ziggurat_, which stood out as a sort of corner buttress from the great
mound, and a shrine with chambers at the tower's base; the other, a
little further to the east, consisting of a shrine and chambers without
a tower. These temples were richly ornamented both within and without;
and in front of the larger one was an erection which seems to show that
the Assyrian monarchs, either during their lifetime, or at any rate
after their decease, received divine honors from their subjects. On a
plain square pedestal about two feet in height was raised a solid block
of limestone cut into the shape of an arched frame, and within this
frame was carved the monarch in his sacerdotal dress, and with the
sacred collar round his neck, while the five principal divine emblems
were represented above his head. In front of this figure, marking
(apparently) the object of its erection, was a triangular altar with a
circular top, very much resembling the tripod of the