whole is covered by an ample garment fringed and embroidered, which reaches to the ancle, leaving bare the right leg. It is especially to be noticed, that the same eagle-headed divinity in the palace of Khorsabad has not this long ample garment, because, as we hope to show, this particular divinity had not acquired that celebrity which it attained to in a subsequent age. The feet of the figure are covered with sandals, in every respect like those worn by the king and his attendants; and the remains of colouring matter are visible upon them. With the right hand, which is elevated, he presents a pine-cone; and in the left hand, which is advanced across the body, is a basket, or bag with a handle. His wrists are decorated with the rosette-shaped bracelet; and on his right arm, at the insertion of the biceps, is a plain massive ring lapping over. The handles of two daggers appear on his breast, just above the mantle; and a double cord, knotted and terminating with tassels, is suspended in front of the advanced leg,there being a similar one behind the leg, both cords apparently issuing from the girdle. The whole figure is less agreeable in its proportions than the divinity we shall presently describe; and the muscles of the advanced leg are more harsh and globular than in that sculpture.

Several lines of cuneiform writing are engraved over the lower portion of the figure, entirely regardless of the hand, basket, and embroidered garment. The characters are so clear and sharp as to induce a belief that they are considerably less ancient than the figures; but the other divinities in this collection, and the Nahr el Kelb figure, as well as that recently discovered on the coast of Cyprus, have inscriptions beginning at about the same part of the figure, and likewise carried all across the work, whence we infer that this, which seems to us a barbarous defacement of the sculptor's work, was not so regarded by the Assyrians at any period, for the examples cited comprehend such widely differing epochs and such distant localities, as to include the very epoch and place of the sculptures before us.

To return to the main point,-the question as to what the Assyrians may have meant by this winged man with an eagle's head? We answer, they meant to portray the god of victory or conquest, and that this sculpture is a representation of that very Assyrian Divinity in whose house, and before whose

254

NIM ROUD.-KING IN HIS CHARIOT.

altar, Sennacherib was murdered by his sons, Adramelech and Sharezer. Our reasons for entertaining this belief are chiefly derived from the word (Nisroch), the name of that divinity, as recorded in the Second Book of Kings, chapter xix., and 27th verse. The meaning of the root (nisr or niser), from which the name of the divinity is derived, is to lacerate and tear, as birds of the eagle class do their prey; from which circumstance the same word, by a natural succession of ideas, came also to signify victory or conquest in the Arabic, and some of the cognate dialects of the Hebrew. Hence when we dig up an eagle-headed and winged figure out of the ruins of an Assyrian palace, the conclusion is forced upon us that it represents the divinity of conquest or victory -the particular god of the ambitious, conquest-seeking Sen

nacherib, the god to which he most frequently sacrificed, and which is therefore called, in the sacred text, x (aleioo), his god. The (k or ch) at the end of the word Nisroch we take to be analogous to the same letter in the Chaldee masculine plural noun (sarochin), which occurs several times, signifying, in the Book of Daniel, overseers, presidents, or inferior governors. Thus the whole word would signify eagle chief, eagle lord. Or it may be considered not opposed to the

1 See Tattam's Dictionary of the Coptic for the word ik, signifying chief in that language.

genius of the Hebrew to regard the as a suffix, in which case the word would mean "thy eagle," thus denying or repelling as it were all participation in the worship of the idol.1

Passing the figure of Nisroch, we arrive at the corner, which is occupied by a symbolic tree; the adjoining wall. is divided into two lines of illustration, between which is a broad band of cuneatic inscription. The first subject on the upper line (fig. 107) represents the king, in front of the battle, in his chariot with his charioteer and shield-bearer, who are both without helmets. The chariot closely resembles the Egyptian. (See figs. 108 and 109.)

1 The Nisr of the ancient Arabs is said to have been worshipped under the form of an eagle.-Sale's Prelim. Disc., sec. i. p. 19.

The Nisroch of the Assyrians has been thought to have been also represented by the same bird; and the Mithras of the Persians had the wings of an eagle.-Beyer, Addit. in Selden de Diis Syria, synt. ii. c. 10, p. 325; and Montfaucon, Ant., vol. ii. p. 363; Xenoph. Cyrop., lib. vii. p. 300.

256

NIMROUD.-ASSYRIAN CHARIOT.

To the sides are attached, crossing each other, two quivers full of arrows. Each quiver contains a small bow, and is likewise furnished with a hatchet. Proceeding from the front of the chariot, over or between the horses, is a richly-em

broidered appendage, which seems to be an apparatus like that used in India, for preventing the horses coming together. The bossed shield of the king is placed at the back of the chariot, serving for farther security: in front is the brass or iron bar fixed to the pole, as in the chariots of Egypt, and the pole terminates in the head of a swan; in the Egyptian example the termination is a ball. The spear is inserted behind the chariot in a place appointed for it, decorated with a human head. The harness and trappings of the horses are

precisely like the Egyptian. Pendant at the side of the horse. is a circular ornament terminating in tassels analogous to that divided into thongs at the side of the Egyptian horse, which, we may presume, may be intended to accelerate the pace of the animal, as in the case of the spiked balls fastened to the trappings of the race horses of the Corso in Rome. In both examples several bands pass over the chest, and, lapping over the shoulders of the horses, join the ligaments attached to the pole or yoke. A remarkable band and thong, through the upper end of which passes a single rein, is the same in both harnesses. The tails of the Assyrian horses are fancifully compressed in the centre, while the Egyptian horses have a band round the upper part or root. Around the necks of the Assyrian horses is a string of alternately large and small beads, which appear to have cuneiform characters cut upon them-possibly a chaplet of amulets, according to the custom of the oriental nations of the present day. The shieldbearer extends the bossed shield to protect his sovereign.

The king's surcoat is richly embroidered. He has bracelets with rosette-shaped clasps upon his wrists; and his bow arm is protected, as are those of his officers, from the recoil of the string by a close-fitting shield fastened to the forearm at the elbow and wrist. Above the royal chariot is the winged divinity wearing the double-horned cap. He directs his arrows against the enemies of the king. A broad flat ring encircles this figure, passing just above the feathery termination of his person, and behind and above his shoulders. Directly before the king, one of the enemy-perhaps the chief-is falling from the back of his chariot; while his charioteer, unable to guide the horses, precipitates himself in front. Behind, one of the king's soldiers has seized a flying enemy, and is about to kill him, notwithstanding the efforts of his companion to drag him off to the security of the city. Another of the enemy lies dead; and others are rapidly flying for refuge towards the outworks of the city, which reach to the shores of a shallow stream running through a woody country. The victorious king has pursued the enemy up to the very confines of the city; which is protected by a ditch and double wall-from behind which the enemy are discharging their arrows. The city is represented with embattled towers and arched gateway. From the towers the enemy are shooting

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