others. From the flower there springs out a tuft of feathers. The bandelet, which is held by the eunuch in the other hand, grows wider towards the bottom, and terminates in fringe that is painted red; it is folded in two, and the handle thus formed goes round the thumb.

The second eunuch carries weapons: the bow is slung on the left arm, and appears angular rather than curved, its two extremities terminating in birds' heads, emblematic probably of the rapidity of the arrows; in this bas-relief the bow is painted red. The quiver is hung under the left arm, by a band passing over the shoulder, and fixed to two rings. Judging by a detailed sketch of the ornaments with which the quiver is covered, its form appears to have been square. A series of broken lines borders the lower extremity, while at the upper are seen a kind of beading, formed of wires bound together at intervals by other wires, and the feathered shafts of the arrows. The end of the beading or cord extends beyond the feathers of the arrows, and is terminated by a ball surmounted by a little flower, like that on the handle of the fly-flapper. It is difficult to say with certainty what this cord was, but probably it is nothing else than a reserved supply of bowstrings. The ornaments of this quiver and the little tassels which adorn it were painted red. The sceptre has a cylindrical handle; the head is formed by a ball surrounded by a crown and the jaws of a lion; the hilt is thinner than the other part of the handle, and appears to have been encircled with thin cord, in order that it might afford a firmer hold. There is also at this extremity a loop, intended to be passed round the wrist, and thus to prevent the handle escaping from the grasp, an appendage that has induced the belief, that a mace, and not a sceptre, is intended to be represented.

Opposite the king stands a bearded personage, whose right hand is opened and upraised, while his left rests upon his sword-hilt. The hair and beard are precisely like those of the king, but the head is encircled by a band from which two red fillets, terminated by fringes, descend. His dress in other respects is exactly similar to that of the eunuchs; but the sandals resemble those worn by the king, only they are painted blue. His sword-hilt is exceedingly rich; at the top of it is

164

STEWARD OF THE ROYAL HOUSEHOLD..

a hemisphere, and then a ball between two flat dises; lastly, the jaws of a lion embrace the blade, and terminate the hilt at the sheath. Behind this personage is a eunuch, who, as we may judge from the position of his figure, is also in conversation with the king; and next in succession another eunuch and two bearded officers of the court, all standing with their hands folded one over the other, in the prescribed attitude of respect in the East to this day. Then appears a eunuch, who is distinguished from all the other persons of the court by the insignia of office, which consists of a double wand. These last three figures were found in situ, the others were more or less injured, and all thrown face downwards upon the ground. (See plate 40,-Botta's large work.) Then follow two more eunuchs, the last of whom has his left hand elevated, as in the act of introducing a bearded military officer, followed by a eunuch carrying two lion-headed drinking-cups; two bearded officers with spears; and two eunuchs carrying a table. Behind these is another beardless attendant with his hand upraised, followed by three in the attitude of respect, and lastly, by three more eunuchs, one bearing a lion-headed drinking cup, the next a basin, and the third a covered dish. The position of the person who heads this last group, leads us to suggest that he represents - the " Melzar,' or the steward, or dispenser. This officer of the household of Nebuchadnezzar was set over Daniel and his companions by Ashpenaz,1 the prince of the eunuchs, to see that the food they had chosen to eat, instead of the "daily provisions of the king's meat," did not render them less well-favoured than the other young persons who were being brought up to fill offices in the court of Babylon; or who had "ability in them to stand in the king's palace." "And the prince of the eunuchs said unto Daniel, I fear my lord the king, who hath appointed your meat and your drink for why should he see your faces worse liking than the children which are of your sort? then shall ye make me endanger my head to the king."

The custom is still prevalent in Turkey. A number of young men are educated within the walls of the seraglio at Constantinople to wait upon the Sultan and to fill offices in the government of the Turkish empire, according to the ability

1 Dan. i. 3, 5, 8, 10.

they show in the course of training; and their governor would be held responsible for the discharge of the duties of his situation, under the like penalty.

This completes the series of figures on one-half of the southwestern wall of court (n, Fig. 34). We will now turn to examine the adjoining north-western side, the centre portion of which advances beyond the general line of wall, forming a recess on each side. Stationing ourselves opposite the entrance which is guarded by a single pair of bulls looking into the court, we see on our left the king, with his back to the doorway, and attended by a eunuch, in conversation with a bearded dignitary and chief eunuch, followed by one beardless and two bearded persons, in the attitude which, as we have already intimated, is always assumed by inferiors when in the presence of superiors. The last of these is sculptured on the side of the recess, and is therefore not seen in the front view; behind these officers is a eunuch marshalling the procession that follows.

There first appear two persons wearing a costume that we have not yet seen. The head is covered by a closely folded turban or cap, from under which at the back falls a row of short spiral curls; the dress consists of a long tunic, terminating in a tasselled border, an outer garment with short sleeves, and upon the feet boots that lace up in front. They carry in their hands small models of turreted walls (fig. 58). Immediately following are four others in the same costume, the two foremost of whom bear cups of a simple shape, and the others sealed bags (see fig. 79,-Botta, plate 38). The procession is closed by two of the king's grooms leading two richly caparisoned horses. Here ends the wall in the west corner, meeting that first described. In the pavement at the recess, and close to the wall, are inserted two alabaster slabs, one containing four small holes, and the other contiguous to it having nine holes. The use of these holes cannot be well explained, unless, as M. Botta has suggested, they were for the guards to insert the end of their spears.

Still maintaining our position opposite the entrance, we see on our right a repetition of the king and his court as just described, the same order being observed so far as the projection extends; the side of the recess, however, is occupied by a figure of a priest, instead of a bearded officer in the answering

166

KHORSABAD.-COMPARISON OF SHIPS.

side on our left. The slabs on the wall of the recess are devoted to the representation of the building of a port, or the making of a road from the coast up to some important maritime city situated upon an extremely steep and rocky eminence; and large pieces of timber for the work are being

Fig. 50.-PREPARATIONS FOR BUILDING ROAD OR PORT. (BOTTA, pl. 35).

brought by numerous ships and boats manned by a people wearing the same closely folded turban we have noticed among

Fig. 51.-ASSYRIAN SHIP.

the tribute-bearers, but in this instance their tunics are short, and adapted to their occupation of landing and hauling on shore logs of wood (fig. 50).

The vessels employed are of a singular form (see fig. 53), closely resembling some on the walls of Medinet Haboo, at Thebes (see figures 51 and 52), from which

circumstance we conjecture that they may belong to the people

of the coast of the Mediterranean, the sea common to both Egypt and Syria. In the Assyrian sculpture the prow of the vessel

terminates in

the head of a

horse, the emblem of the Phoenicians and the Carthaginians, and the stern in the tail of a fish; whereas in those of Me