396

DRIVING AND SNARING GAME.

lion, to carry which required the strength of six men; whence, as well as from the execution, we infer that the same skilful

and courtly hand was employed on these lions as on those in the hunting-ground before described. The next subject in the order of succession (Fig. 198*) is composed of two slabs, representing the "Driving and snaring game." It was found in the chamber at the lowest end of the ascending passage, where the lion hunts were found. The artist intends to inform us that a considerable space, comprehending rocky hills and wooded valleys, has been enclosed with nets of sufficient height and strength to prevent the escape of animals of the size of the fallow-deer. Two men are shown, the one trying to extricate the deer from the trap in which it has been caught; and the other, at some distance off, setting a trap or gin. Within the great field enclosed, are seen four deer, the foremost of a herd, in rapid flight towards the inevitable boundary; and we no doubt should see the king in chase if we had but the adjoining slabs on the left of the spectator.

We now come to a series of small, highly-finished, cabinetstone pictures, the Gerard Dows, and the Wovermans of the Royal Ninevite collection. From Mr. Loftus' Report, they appear to have fallen from the apartments above the Lion Hunt and adjoining chambers. The slabs on which the subjects are sculptured are about the same height as the others, but they are generally divided into three horizontal compartments, of which the upper and middle have in many instances been destroyed. On three consecutive pieces of the wall of the cabinet, we have in the upper division, the king on foot, killing a succession of lions, which are let out of cages, as we do pigeons. The king is attended by a shield-bearer, who seems to be in mortal fear, and by two armour-bearers, holding in readiness his quiver and arrows; the lion he is immediately engaged with has sprung from the ground, and will be despatched by a deadly shaft from his bow, while a second is running furiously towards him, and a third is being released from his cage.

In the second line, or compartment, the king seizes a rampant lion by the tail, and a second lion is sitting, in the attitude of a sphinx, facing one of the king's equestrian attendants. Whether these be tame lions, or lions of a less ferocious kind, described by the present inhabitants of the soil, or whether they have been drugged or prepared, so as to render them harmless, as are the lions that appear occcasionally at our the

398

KING ON HORSEBACK HUNTING LIONS.

er; and lastly, two beardless equestrian attendants, who have only just dismounted to assist at this religious ceremony, which we may imagine to be a kind of thanksgiving to the god of victory, or chase, for the escape of the royal hunter from the many perilous situations in which we have seen him exposed. Three lines of cuneatic extend over the altar from the king to the musicians.

This inscription has been thus translated by Rawlinson :

"I am Assur-bani-pal, the Supreme monarch, the king of Assyria, who, having been excited by the inscrutable divinities, Assur and Beltis, have slain four lions. I have erected over them an altar sacred to Ishtar (Ashtareth), the goddess of war. I have offered a holocaust over them. I sacrificed a kid (?) over them."

One compartment of the next series of slabs (Fig. 199*) represents the king on horseback, leading a second horse, which is pursued and attacked by a wounded lion, but is defending himself by kicking vigorously. In the mean time, the horse on which the king rides is attacked in front by another lion, whose fate is sufficiently obvious-the king having thrust his spear into the monster's mouth with such force, that it has passed right through the neck and appears under the mane. Two mounted attendants follow at a considerable distance.

In the upper compartment of this slab the king, having dismounted, seizes an infuriated lion by the throat, and thrusts a short sword into its heart. The king is attended by his armour-bearer, and a beardless groom, who holds his horse. It is to be observed that in these two examples the king wears a richly-decorated fillet upon his head, instead of the pointed tiara, which is his usual distinctive head-dress; and we are informed that this is a peculiar feature in all the slabs of the series found in this part of the palace at Kouyunjik.

The lowest line of these slabs shows us gazelles full-grown and young, browsing, some of them pierced with arrows from the king's bow.

On a separate fragment we have the king and one attendant crouching down in a sort of pit made in the sand of the desert, in order to hide themselves from the timid animals, which would otherwise be deterred from coming within range of the The same method is pursued by the easterns of the present day. When an Arab, (or an ibn belled), a son of the

arrows.

400

THE KING FEASTING WITH HIS QUEEN.

town in the vicinity of a desert, has ascertained by the footprints in the sand that a herd of the animals frequents a particular track, he makes a sufficient excavation in the sand to allow of lying down, taking especial care that the surrounding ground shall not appear raised or disturbed, or the quick eye of the gazelle would discern the trap, and flee away. All being prepared, the hunter lies down in his trench to sleep until morning, when the animals come out to browse, and fall an easy prey to the watcher.

The king, attended by horsemen, pursuing the wild horse, occupies several fragments of this smaller series. The horses are run down by dogs, sometimes caught by the lasso, but most frequently killed by the never-erring shaft of the royal hunter.

In another of these smaller compartments the king has dismounted to superintend the dissection of a huge lion, during which ceremony one bearded and three beardless men prostrate themselves before him.

We now arrive at what may be esteemed to be the conclusion of the scenes we have described, when the great king relaxes from his labours, whether of the battle or of the chase. He is represented feasting with his queen in the garden of his palace.

The garden (el genina, el fardous) anciently as at this day in the east, is the locality of kaif or pleasure. Shade, coolness, and repose in the open air, seem always to have been essentials in the oriental mind for anything like an approach to a state of happiness. So here in a garden, "of all kinds of fruits," (Eccles. ii. 5,) under the shade of a vine trained over an avenue of fir-trees, the king and queen of Assyria were wont to repose, during the autumnal months, in the more southern districts of their vast dominions.

High on a richly-carved sofa, and supported by cushions, reclines the great king; while opposite to him, on a chair of state, sits her Assyrian majesty, "in raiment of needle-work" (Psal. xlv. 14), and surrounded by her maidens. The elder woman (the malema), or chiefs of the hareem-known by their richer dress and furrowed cheeks, the beauties of a former reign-fan the king and queen. While some of the younger women are employed in bringing trays laden with delicacies for the table, those skilled in singing advance performing on