having been raised into an upright position, is conveyed along the
surface of the platform to the exact site which it is to occupy. This
portion of the operation has been represented in one of the
illustrations in an earlier part of this volume. From the representation
there given the reader may form a notion of the minuteness and
elaboration of this entire series of bas-reliefs.

Besides constructing this new palace at Nineveh, Sennacherib seems also
to have restored the ancient residence of the kings at the sane place, a
building which will probably be found whenever the mound of Nebbi-Yunus
is submitted to careful examination. He confined the Tigris to its
channel by an embankment of bricks. He constructed a number of canals or
aqueducts for the purpose of bringing good water to the capital. He
improved the defences of Nineveh, erecting towers of a vast size at some
of the gates. And, finally, he built a temple to the god Nergal at
Tarbisi (now Sherif khan), about three miles from Nineveh up the Tigris.

In the construction of these great works he made use chiefly, of the
forced labor with which his triumphant expeditions into foreign
countries had so abundantly supplied him. Chaldaeans, Aramaeans,
Armenians, Cilicianns and probably also Egyptians, Ethiopians,
Elamites, and Jews, were employed by thousands in the formation of the
vast mounds, in the transport and elevation of the colossal bulls, in
the moulding of the bricks, and the erection of the walls of the various
edifices, in the excavation of the canals, and the construction of the
embankments. They wrought in gangs, each gang having a costume peculiar
to it, which probably marked its nation. Over each was placed a number
of taskmasters, armed with staves, who urged on the work with blows, and
severely punished any neglect or remissness. Assyrian foremen had the
general direction of the works, and were entrusted with all such
portions as required skill or judgment. The forced laborers often worked
in fetters, which were sometimes supported by a bar fastened to the
waist, while sometimes they consisted merely of shackles round the
ankles. The king himself often witnessed the labors, standing in his
chariot, which on these occasions was drawn by some of his attendants.

The Assyrian monuments throw but little light on the circumstances which
led to the assassination of Sennacherib; and we are reduced to
conjecture the causes of so strange an event. Our vari