The relative importance and rank of each of these officers of the royal household are intimated by the height of the person of the officer. Each bears his appropriate insignia; and all are armed precisely as in the rilievo before described. The horses in this, and in the second rilievo, have the full complement of legs.

The next slab represents the return of the king from the chase. It is a perfect tableau de genre de haut ton, portraying the manners of the Assyrian court more than 2500 years ago; resembling in so many points the present customs of the East, that it is truly remarkable how little change the lapse of time has effected; and affording a most interesting illustration of the marked and peculiar characteristic of oriental nations, namely, their tenacious regard for the habits and customs of their forefathers. The king wears the usual truncated cap, long-fringed robe, and short highly embroidered tunic, with the cord and tassels suspended from his girdle; his sword is buckled over his sash, and the tassels of his sword-belt are hanging from his shoulders both back and front, the mode of slinging them at this very day in the country whence these sculptures were brought. Similar tassels are suspended from under the hair at the back of the head; and he has rosette clasped bracelets, plain armlets, and a double string of beads round his neck. Fully armed, he stands in the centre of the composition; his bow being still in his left hand, while with his right he raises to his lips the cup which he has just received from the hand of the cup-bearer. At his feet lies the subdued lion. He is followed by two beardless attendants, who have accompanied him in the chase, and who bear a reserve supply of bows and arrows, as well for the king's use as for their own defence. They, as usual, wear no head-dress, and are attired in very richly-embroidered robes reaching down to the ankles. Behind these are the king's bearded attendants, distinguished by their short surcoats,

reaching but little below the knee, and as well as the last two, carrying the sceptre. All these we may fairly presume have accompanied the king in the chase, and have arrived with him at the entrance of his palace, where he is met by the officers of the household. In advance of these latter stands the royal cup-bearer (see fig. 143), the sharbetgee of modern times. This functionary, having presented his lord with the prepared beverage, is occupied in dispersing the flies, which, in hot climates, assail with uncommon avidity all cool and sweetened fluids. The instrument which he holds in his right hand for this purpose will be recognised by all travellers in the East as the minasha-the very same fly-flap

that is used at the present day. It is ordinarily made of the split leaves of the palm, fastened together at the handle, which in this representation appears to terminate in the shape of a ram's head. Over his left shoulder is thrown, exactly as in the present day, and as borne by the young Cyrus at the court of Astyages,' the long handkerchief or napkin (elmárrhama), richly embroidered and fringed at both ends, which he holds in his left hand in readiness to present to the king to wipe his lips. Behind the cup-bearer stand two officers of the king's household in the attitude prescribed by Eastern etiquette-their hands folded quietly one over the other. The bearded person has a fillet round his head, with a double necklace, indicating, as presume, that he is the chief of those who attend upon the king in the lower apartments (the salùmlik) of the palace. The other beardless attendant is the chief of the king's servants (the Kizlar Aga), who superintends the upper apartments (the hareemlik) of his palace. They are both clad in the long dress, richly embroidered and fringed, and wear swords. Their importance in the household again is intimated by the relative height of their figures. Behind stand the royal minstrels 1 Cyropædia, bk. i.

we

U

290

NIMROUD.-MINSTRELS.-MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.

who celebrate the king's prowess in the battle and in the chase, accompanying themselves on instruments of nine strings, held in the left hand and supported by a belt over the left shoulder. These instruments appear to be played like the Nubian harp, the fingers being used sometimes to stop and sometimes to twang the cords; and a plectrum or stick is in the right hand, with which the chords are struck. The plectrum, in this instance, is apparently a stick, instead of a small piece of leather, commonly used at present. From the extremity of the instrument, into which the pegs for the strings are inserted, hang five tasselled cords. The instrument in the hands of the nearest performer terminates in a human hand, probably to indicate that the bearer is the chief musician, or the leader of the chorus: for we apprehend that the two in this sculpture, as in all the representations of battles, sieges, hunts, &c., typify the many. With regard to the capabilities of such an instrument it is difficult to form any notion; for before sufficient tension of the chords to produce sound could be obtained, it would break at the elbow formed by the arm and the body of the instrument. Either the sculptor has omitted the column to resist this tension of the strings, or the angle formed by the body of the instrument and the arm is not faithfully represented. The minstrels are habited in long garments, fringed and embroidered; but they wear no bracelets nor ear-rings. Their height, however, is indicative of considerable rank in the Assyrian court; nevertheless, their efforts to record the deeds of their sovereign have not been so successful, in point of durability at least, as those of the sculptor.

The last scene of this line of illustration (fig. 144) resembles, in most particulars, the subject just described.

The dress of the king is exactly the same, and as in that he raises the drinking-cup to his lips with his right hand, while his left holds his bow. Behind the king is his umbrella-bearer, and following him are two eunuchs of lesser size, bearing sceptres and quivers of arrows. At the feet of the king is the bull which he has subdued, and before him stand the cupbearer with his fly-flap and the Rab Signeen, habited in a short surcoat like that worn by the king. He holds his hands folded one over another, in the conventional attitude of respect.

Behind these is a beardless figure, entirely unarmed, and with his hands folded before him; and after him succeed two musicians, singing and playing on the nine-stringed instrument. The dress of the musicians is a long fringed robe, like those worn by the other actors in the scene, but in addition to it they wear short furred tunics, and their hair is elaborately curled.

Fig. 144.-THE KING RETURNING FROM THE BULL HUNT. Size, 3 ft. in. by 7 ft. 4 in.

This subject brings us to the corner of the room which is occupied by the usual representation of the symbolic tree.

Upon the adjoining wall, forming the end of the hall, we find at each corner a winged figure wearing the egg-shaped threehorned cap, and holding a pine-cone and basket; between them is a group of two winged figures and two kings, before the symbolic tree; in all, six colossal figures, of which four are shown on the centre slab (fig. 145). The large central group shows us the king twice repeated, for uniformity sake, (performing some religious rite before the symbolic tree, in the presence of the chief divinity, which we consider to symbolise Baal. The king holds the sceptre in his left hand, his right being upraised and his fore-finger pointed, as if in conversation with the winged divinity above. Elijah apostrophises the priests of Baal ironically, by telling them to call louder on their god; for, he says," he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked." (1 Kings, xviii. 27.) We may judge

292

NIMROUD.-KING AND DIVINITIES BEFORE BAAL.

now, with these authentic documents of the worshippers of Baal before us, how cuttingly sarcastic was this address of the prophet. Here truly he is talking; elsewhere he is pursuing, as we have seen; or on a journey; or, peradventure sleeping; this is the climax of sarcasm, because sleep, as the priests of Baal well knew, is necessary to the restoration of the faculties

Fig. 145.-KING AND DIVINITIES BEFORE BAAL AND THE SYMBOLIC TREE.
Size, 6ft. by 14f. 2in.

of the mortal, and incompatible with divinity.

"Behold, he

that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep."1

We have given three illustrations of this divinity or emblem. The first (fig. 146) is taken from the most elaborate specimen we have yet seen, that in the above subject, in which the radiating lines within the circle conspicuously typify the rays

of the sun. The second (fig. 147), which we conceive had the same intention, occurs in less elaborated sculptures; and the third (fig. 148) is taken from the well-known figure that appears over the doorways of the most ancient, as well as of the more recent, Egyptian temples, and likewise over tablets. We have little doubt but that the Egyptian design is the original of the Assyrian, and

1 Psalm cxxi. 4.