ur-bani-pal. They were remarkable
for the unusual number and small size of the figures, for the variety
and spirit of the attitudes, and for the careful finish of all the
little details of the scenes represented upon them. Deficient in
grouping, and altogether destitute of any artistic unity, they yet give
probably the best representation that has come down to us of the
confused _melee_ of an Assyrian battle, showing us at one view, as they
do, all the various phases of the flight and pursuit, the capture and
treatment of the prisoners, the gathering of the spoil, and the cutting
off the heads of the slain. These reliefs form now a portion of our
National Collection. A good idea may be formed of them from Mr. Layard's
Second Series of Monuments, where they form the subject of five
elaborate engravings.

Besides his own great palace at Koyun-jik, and his additions to the
palace of his grandfather at the same place, Asshur-bani-pal certainly
constructed some building, or buildings, at Nebbi Yunus, where slabs
inscribed with his name and an account of his wars have been found. If
we may regard him as the real monarch whom the Greeks generally intended
by their Sardanapalus, we may say that, according to some classical
authors, he was the builder of the city of Tarsus in Cilicia, and
likewise of the neighboring city of Anchialus; though writers of more
authority tells us that Tarsus, at any rate, was built by Sennacherib.
It seems further to have been very generally believed by the Greeks that
the tomb of Sardanapalus was in this neighborhood. They describe it as a
monument of some height, crowned by a statue of the monarch, who
appeared to be in the act of snapping his fingers. On the stone base was
an inscription in Assyrian characters, of which they believed the sense
to run as follows:--"Sardanapalus, son of Anacyndaraxes, built Tarsus and
Anchialus in one day. Do thou, O stranger, eat, and drink, and amuse
thyself; for all the rest of human life is not worth so much as
_this_"--"this" meaning the sound which the king was supposed to be
making with his fingers. It appears probable that there was some figure
of this kind, with an Assyrian inscription below it, near Anchialus;
but, as we can scarcely suppose that the Greeks could read the cuneiform
writing, the presumed translation of the inscription would seem to be
valueless. Indeed, the very different versions of the legend which are
given by different writers sufficie