win
some acceptance.

[122] Upon the sacred functions of the king, see LAYARD, _Nineveh_, vol.
ii. p. 474.

[123] 2 Kings xix. 37.

[124] LAYARD, _The Monuments of Nineveh_ (folio, 1849), plates 43-50.

[125] LAYARD, _A Second Series of the Monuments of Nineveh_ (folio, 1853),
plates 26 and 27. The scribes in question seem to be writing upon rolls of
leather.

[126] Throughout this work the words "right" and "left" refer to the right
and left of the cuts, _not_ of the reader. By this system alone can
confusion be avoided in describing statues and compositions with
figures.--ED.

[Illustration]

CHAPTER II.

THE PRINCIPLES AND GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF ASSYRO-CHALDAEAN ARCHITECTURE.

Sec. 1.--_Materials._

Chaldaea was the cradle of the civilization, and consequently of the art,
whose characteristics we have to define. Now the soil of Chaldaea to a great
depth beneath the surface is a fine loose earth, similar to that of the
Nile Delta. At a few points only on the plain, and that near the Persian
Gulf, are there some rocky eminences, the remains of ancient islands which
the gradual encroachment of the two great rivers has joined to the mainland
of Asia. Their importance is so slight that we may fairly ignore their
existence and assert generally that Chaldaea has no stone. Like all great
rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates in the upper and middle parts of their
courses carry down pieces of rock from their native mountains, but after
they enter upon the alluvial ground near the boundary between Assyria and
Chaldaea their streams become sluggish, and these heavy bodies sink to the
bottom and become embedded in the soil; the water no longer carries on with
it anything but the minute particles which with the passage of centuries
form immense banks of clay. In the whole distance between Bagdad and the
sea you may take a spade, and, turn up the soil wherever you please, you
will not find a stone as big as a nut.

In this absence of a natural stone something had to be found to take its
place, and the artificial material we call brick was invented. The human
intellect refuses to give up the contest with nature before the first
obstacles that seem to bar its progress; if it cannot brush them aside it
turns their flank. The least accident is often enough to suggest the
desired expedient. The origin of almost all the great discoveries that are
studded over the history of civilization may be traced to some lucky