class. And in Assyria where doorways were
several yards deep and two or three wide, these sills were in reality the
pavements of passages or even chambers.[298]

The materials for these pavements were always different from those of the
floors on each side of them. In the entrances to the brick-paved courts
large stones were used; in the passages between rooms floored with beaten
earth bricks were introduced. The stone thresholds were mostly alabaster
like the sculptured slabs upon the chamber walls. As a rule they were of a
single piece, the great extent of surface, sometimes as much as ten or
eleven square yards, notwithstanding. In the entries flanked by the winged
bulls the sills were carved with inscriptions, which were comparatively
rare elsewhere. Sometimes we find a rich and elaborate ornamentation in
place of the wedges; it is made up of geometrical forms and conventional
foliage and flowers; the figures of men and animals are never introduced.
Such an arrangement was in better taste than the mosaic thresholds of the
Romans where men were shown in pictures destined to be trodden under foot.
The Assyrian carver doubtless took his designs from the carpets in the
adjoining chambers.

[Illustration: FIG. 96.--Sill of a door, from Khorsabad. Louvre. Length 40
inches. Drawn by Bourgoin.[299]]

A good idea of these designs may be formed from the slab figured below. The
centre is occupied by a number of interlacing circles, betraying no little
skill on the part of the ornamentist. The "knop and flower" border of
alternately closed and shut lotus flowers is separated from the centre by a
band of rosettes. The whole is distinguished by thought and a severe taste.
The indented corners, where the pivots of the doors were placed, and the
slot for the lower bolt of the door near the centre, should be noticed.
These details prove that in this instance the door was a double one. In
other cases the absence of the slot and the presence of only one pivot hole
show that single doors were also used.[300] The doors always opened
inwards, being folded back either against the sides of the entry itself or
against the walls of the chamber.

Many of these sills or thresholds show no sign of a pivot at either
corner, whence we may conclude that many of the openings were left without
doors, and could only have been closed by those suspended carpets or mats
of which such ready use is made in hot countries.

In very magnificent buildings