at right angles. The
houses on either side of them seem, for the most part, to have consisted
of a single story. They were built of bricks, either baked or
unbaked, the outer surfaces of which were covered with white or tinted
rough-casting. The high and narrow doors were nearly always hidden
away in a corner of the front; the bare monotony of the walls was only
relieved here and there at long intervals by tiny windows, but often
instead of a flat roof the building was surmounted by a conical dome
or by semi-cupolas, the concave sides of which were turned inwards. The
inhabitants varied greatly in race and language: Sargon had filled his
city with prisoners collected from all the four quarters of his empire,
from Elam, Chaldaea, and Media, from Urartu and Tabal, Syria and
Palestine, and in order to keep these incongruous elements in check he
added a number of Assyrians, of the mercantile, official, or priestly
classes. He could overlook the whole city from the palace which he had
built on both sides the north-eastern wall of the town, half within
and half without the ramparts. Like all palaces built on the Euphratean
model, this royal castle stood on an artificial eminence of bricks
formed of two rectangles joined together in the shape of the letter
T. The only entrance to it was on the city side, foot-passengers being
admitted by a double flight of steps built out in front of the ramparts,
horsemen and chariots by means of an inclined plane which rose in
a gentle gradient along the right flank of the masonry work, and
terminated on its eastern front. Two main gates corresponded to these
two means of approach; the one on the north-east led straight to the
royal apartments, the other faced the city and opened on to the double
staircase. It was readily distinguishable from a distance by its two
flagstaffs bearing the royal standard, and its two towers, at the base
of which were winged bulls and colossal figures of Gilgames crushing the
lion.

[Illustration: 402.jpg bird's eye view of sargon's palace at
dur-sharrukin]

Drawn by Boudier, from the restoration by Thomas in Place.

Two bulls of still more monstrous size stood sentry on either side of
the gate, the arch was outlined by a course of enamelled bricks, while
higher up, immediately beneath the battlements, was an enamelled mosaic
showing the king in all his glory. This triumphal arch was reserved for
his special use, the common people being admitted by two s