Monuments of both these

middle of the seventh century B.C. kings are included in the collection. Those of Sennacherib are sculptured generally in gypsum or alabaster, those of Assur-bani-abla in a harder limestone. Most of the sculptures were split and shattered by the action of fire, the palace having apparently been burnt, probably at the destruction of Nineveh indeed, many single slabs reached this country in 300 or 400 pieces. These have been simply rejoined, without attempt at restoration. To the left on entering is

No. 1. A cast from a bas-relief cut in the rock, at the mouth of the Nahr-el-Kelb River, near Beyrout, in Syria, close to the immemorial highway between Egypt and Asia Minor. It represents Esarhaddon standing in the conventional attitude of worship, with sacred or symbolical emblems of deities above him, and is covered with a cuneiform inscription. In the rock, adjoining the original relief, are six similar Assyrian tablets, and three Egyptian bas-reliefs, with hieroglyphic inscriptions, bearing the name of Rameses II., who at an earlier period is supposed to have passed through Palestine.

The sculptures on the left, or West side of the Gallery, are all of the period of Sennacherib, and illustrate the wars he carried on, and the tributes he received. They are, for the most part, fragments of more extensive works. The most interesting subjects are as follows:

No. 2. A galley, with a beak, propelled by two banks of rowers.

Nos. 4-8. A series of slabs, mutilated in the upper part, which commemorate apparently the expedition of Sennacherib into Southern Babylonia against Merodach Baladan, the same king, probably, who is mentioned in Scripture as having sent letters and a present to Hezekiah, and to whose messengers the Jewish monarch exhibited all the treasures of his house. The campaign is represented in the basrelief as occurring in a marshy district; a stream, probably that of the Euphrates, is seen filled with islands overgrown with reeds, or jungle; in the water appear numerous fish and crabs; upon the islands many of the enemy have taken refuge, whilst the Assyrians pursue them in boats; and to the right (Nos. 6, 7, 8), on the banks of the stream, are collected the prisoners and spoil.

Nos. 15, 16, 17. A series, of which the upper portion is lost, representing the return from a battle.

Nos. 20-29. Part of a series, representing the siege of a fortified city by the Assyrians. The city is seen on Slab No. 25, planted on a high dome-shaped hill, whilst the assailants advance on each side to scale the walls with ladders. On Nos. 27-29 are represented the results of the contest, the triumph of the besiegers, and the col

lection of prisoners, apparently Jews, and spoil. The whole of this series is blackened by fire.

Nos. 34-43. Part of a series of sculptures which originally lined the two walls of a long narrow gallery, leading, by an inclined plane, from Kouyunjik towards the Tigris. On the one side, descending the slope, were fourteen horses, led by grooms; on the other, ascending into the palace, were servitors bearing food for a banquet. The figures are somewhat smaller than life, designed with much freedom and truth ; and by comparison with the Panathenaic frieze in the Elgin Room, they may furnish a good point of view for estimating the capabilities and defects of Assyrian art. No. 39, on which is seen a marshal or chamberlain with a staff, was originally placed, as here, at a projection in the wall. Amongst the attendants or servitors, represented on Nos. 41-43, is one bearing in each hand a rod with two rows of dried locusts, which are to this day used as food by the Arabs. The other attendants carry wine-skins, birds, pomegranates, and other fruit.

No. 44. A semicircular-headed slab, with a small mutilated figure, standing before a table of offerings, near which are various symbols. The lower part of the slab contains an inscription relating to the buildings of Sennacherib.

Next follow six slabs (Nos. 45-50), of a hard, fossiliferous limestone, and of which the surface is in high preservation. They were sculptured under Assur-bani-abla, or Assurbanipal, and represent the victories of that monarch over the Elamites, or inhabitants of Susiana.

The first three slabs, Nos. 45-47, represent a battle between the forces of Assur-bani-abla and Te-umman, King of Elam, on the plain between the river Eulæus and the city of Shushan. The successive scenes of the battle are depicted with great spirit; the rout of the Elamites; the overturning of the chariot of Te-umman, who falls to the ground wounded by an arrow; the attempt of Te-umman to escape by the aid of Parritu, his son; Parritu defending his father; he draws a bow, and Te-umman calls to him to shoot the arrow; the Assyrians cutting off the head of Te-umman; Assyrian warriors in a chariot, carrying the head of Te-umman to Assur-bani-abla.

The remaining three slabs, Nos. 48-50, exhibit, first, the reception at Arbela, by Assur-bani-abla, of two ambassadors from the King of Armenia; while the officers of the Assyrian king point out to the Armenian envoys the tortures inflicted on the Elamite prisoners. Second, a general of Assur-bani-abla conducts Ummanigas, nephew of Te-umman, to be installed as King of Elam; the Elamites come out to pay homage to the new king; in the distance is the city of Madaktu, presenting a curious general view of an Asiatic town. Two small slabs, placed, for want of room, on the other side of the gallery, show other incidents in connection with Assur-bani-abla's wars against the Elamites...

The remaining bas-reliefs in this room all belong to he period of Sennacherib.

The next six (Nos. 51-56) fcrmed originally part of a series illustrating the architectural works of that king, including, probably, the construction of the very edifice from which the slabs were obtained. On Nos. 51 and 52 is seen the conveyance of a colossal human-headed bull, lying sideways on a sledge, which is propelled, over wooden rollers, partly by ropes in front, partly by a lever behind. On one side is a lofty mound, which labourers are erecting with stones or earth, and which is perhaps designed for the platform of the future palace. The workmen are guarded by soldiers, and superintended by Sennacherib himself, in a chariot drawn by two men. A similar mound is represented on Slab No. 53, with an adjoining stone-quarry or clay-pit, where the materials of construction are prepared. On No. 54 is a portion of a group moving some weighty object; on No. 55 another colossal bull, represented as before; and on No. 56 the monarch, in his chariot, directing some operation sculptured on a lost portion of the series. The background of the slabs exhibits men carrying axes, saws, ropes, and other implements; and along the top are representations of the natural scenery of the country, water filled with fish, anglers floating on inflated skins, boats, banks lined with trees, and a jungle of reeds, in which are deer, and a wild sow with her young.

Nos. 57-59. Across the middle of these slabs a broad river is represented as passing. On its further bank, nearly insulated by a smaller stream, is a city, besieged by the army of Sennacherib, whilst on the right is seen a long procession of captives, with cattle and other spoil. On the nearer bank appears the king in a chariot, amidst officers and attendants, with a large collection of trophies and booty.

No. 60. A human figure, with a lion's head, of uncertain meaning. In the centre of the room is an obelisk of white calcareous stone, discovered at Kouyunjik by Mr. Rassam, originally executed for Assur-natsir-abla, or Assur-nazir-pal, an Assyrian king who reigned about two centuries before Sennacherib, and whose principal monuments are to be seen in the Nimroud collection. It is covered with small bas-reliefs, representing the various exploits of the monarch. Towards the North end of the room is the upper part of an obelisk of Tiglath-Pileser II., also discovered by Mr. Rassam.

Towards the South end, a circular bowl in limestone, procured by Mr. Layard, and sculptured with bas-reliefs of men and lions.

Six Table Cases in the middle of the room contain small objects discovered in various excavations.

Cases A-B. Objects in iron and bronze-bracelets, fetters, and swords.

Case C. Terracotta tablets with cuneiform inscriptions: amongst them are the Assyrian canon of names of Eponymous officers, from B.C. 911 to B.C. 660; the record of the Egyptian campaigns of Assur

bani-abla, B.C. 668, in which are mentioned Gyges, Necho, and Tirhaka; sale tablets with Phoenician inscriptions, dated in the 6th and 7th centuries B.C,; and a series of clay impressions of seals, two with the name of the Egyptian monarch Sabaco.

Case D. This case contains on one side a portion of the antiquities excavated by Mr. Smith for the proprietors of the Daily Telegraph, and presented by them to the British Museum. Among these are fragments of the creation and flood legends, and a fragment containing a portion of the fable of the horse and the ox; a tablet containing warnings to kings against injustice; aud some fragments of cylinders, joined to fragments of the old collections, of Sargon, Assur-bani-abla, and Bel-zikir-iskun, one of the last kings of Assyria. On the other side are some of the antiquities obtained by Mr. Rassam in the years 1878-9. The principal are: some fragments of cylinders of Tiglathpileser I. and Assur-bani-abla, one of which contains a list of the kings of Cyprus, and mentions Menasseh, king of Judah; names of early Babylonian kings; some fragments of the creation series, two tablets containing epigraphs for placing over the sculptured scenes of the palace walls; and a model of an ox's hoof in baked clay, inscribed with omens.

Case E. Terracotta tablets with cuneiform inscriptions: amongst them an Assyrian planisphere; the names of the months; a syllabary; tablet of Akkadian laws; hieroglyphic forms of cuneiform characters; a list of square roots; a tablet, giving an account of the descent of Istar, the Assyrian Venus, to Hades, and the principal fragments of the tablets giving the Chaldean account of the Deluge, Creation, and Tower of Babel.

Case F are seals, engraved stones, and cylinders of hard stone: amongst them are a cylinder of Dungi, King of Babylonia, about, B.C. 2000; a cylinder of Hashamir, an officer of Ur-Bagas, about B c. 2100; a fragment, with the name of Durigalzu, a king of Babylon, about B.c. 1400; and a stone, with the name of Nebuchadnezzar, B.C. 600; cylinder of Sennacherib, about B.C. 700; and one of Darius I., B.C. 520, containing the words "I am Darius the great king," in Persian, Median, and Assyrian.

NIMROUD CENTRAL SALOON.

With this room commences the series of sculptures excavated by Mr. Layard in 1847 and 1850, in different parts of the great mound at Nimroud; with which have been placed one or two sculptures since obtained by Mr. Rassam from the same locality.

To the left of the door, on entering from the Kouyunjik Gallery, is a small group of slabs in relief, consisting of sculptures discovered in the South-western edifice of the great mound, which is believed to have been constructed by Esar

haddon, the son and successor of Sennacherib, towards the beginning of the seventh century B.C., with materials obtained, in a great measure, from the spoliation of the palaces erected in other parts of Nimroud by the earlier Assyrian dynasty.

The most important object in this group is a large bas-relief, divided horizontally into two tiers, the upper representing the evacuation of a city, and the lower an Assyrian monarch in his chariot. The inscription, of which a part exists on this slab, and the remainder was upon others adjoining it, recorded the receipt of tribute from Menahem, King of Israel, and thus indicates that this sculpture was executed for Tiglath-pileser II., though subsequently transferred by Esar-haddon to his own palace.

Adjoining this is a colossal head of a human-headed bull, on a larger scale than any yet brought to Europe, and supposed to be of the time of Esar-haddon himself.

Between the two central pilasters stands one of the most important historical monuments which have been recovered from Assyria, an obelisk in black marble, found near the centre of the great mound. It is decorated with five tiers of bas-reliefs, each continued round the sides; and the unsculptured surface is covered with cuneiform inscriptions, which record the annals of Shalmaneser II. for thirty-one years, commencing about B.C. 860. The bas-reliefs illustrate the presentation of offerings to the king by his numerous tributaries, and the inscriptions record the names of the donors, amongst whom are Jehu "of the house of Omri," the Israelitish king, and Hazael, the contemporary king of Syria.

Against the two pilasters stand two statues excavated by Mr. Rassam in the South-eastern edifice of Nimroud, each representing the god Nebo, and bearing an inscription to the effect that it was made by a sculptor of Nimroud by the order of Rimmon-nirari (a king who reigned about B.C. 780), and of his wife Sammuramat, who is supposed to be the original of the somewhat mythical Semiramis of the Greek and Roman writers. Here, too, are placed some of the larger antiquities discovered by Mr. Rassam in 1878-1879. One is an altar from the temple at Nimroud, and the other is a cylindrical object inscribed with the genealogy of Rimmon-nirari. On the other side of the pilasters stand portions of inscribed slabs from Karkemish, excavated by Consul Henderson in 1879.

On the opposite, or Western side of the room, are some bas-reliefs discovered by Mr. Layard in the ruins of the Central edifice at Nimroud, which are supposed to be intermediate in date between the ruins already referred to and those of the great edifice at the North-west quarter of the mound. The subjects are chiefly military.

To the left, or Southern side of the passage from the Hellenic Room, is seen the evacuation of a captured city, in which (as well as