HELLENIC ROOM.

(Undergoing alteration.)

The following marbles are exhibited in this room :—

First in importance is a collection of marbles discovered in 1812 among the ruins of the temple of Apollo Epicurius near the ancient Phigalia in Arcadia. This edifice was erected by Iktinos, the architect of the Parthenon at Athens, in commemoration of the delivery of the Phigalians from the plague, B.C. 430.

The most important part of this collection consists of twenty-three sculptured slabs, originally belonging to a frieze in the interior of the cella of the temple, Eleven of them (Nos. 1-11) represent, in high relief, the contest between the Centaurs and Lapiths, which has been noticed in describing the metopes of the Parthenon. The other twelve represent the invasion of Greece by the Amazons.

Underneath the frieze are several architectural and sculptured fragments from the same temple, including part of a Doric capital from the outer colonnade, and part of an Ionic capital from one of the columns within the cella, the external and internal architecture of the building having been of different orders.

In the Southern half of the room is a colossal torso from Elaea, the port of Pergamus, and a head of Hera, from Agrigentum.

In the Northern half of the room are (1) a statue of a youth, and (2-3) two statues representing an athlete winding a diadem round his head. It is probable that the original from which both these figures were derived was the celebrated Diadumenos by Polykleitos, the contemporary of Pheidias. (4) A statue of a disk-thrower. A copy made in Roman times from a Greek original, possibly, from the Diskobolos of Alkamenes. (5) An oblong sculptured monument of uncertain use, with a relief representing apparently an offering to the goddess of childbirth, Eileithyia. From Cape Sigeum, near Troy. (6) Head of Euripides, and (7) a head of Perseus or Hermes wearing winged petasos. Against the South wall are fragments of sculpture and architecture, chiefly from the Greek islands.

On the East side is a mutilated figure of a Triton, in high relief, from Delos; a statue of a youth, probably Eros, from Athens, an Iconic female figure from the temenos of Demeter, Knidos; also a bust or Perikles, terminal head of Hermes, bust of youth, and a bust of Hercules.

On one side of the Western door a bust of Æschines; on the oppo. site side, the bust of an unknown philosopher.

C. T. NEWTON.

The East side of the Hellenic Room opens into the

ASSYRIAN GALLERIES.

A suite of three long and narrow apartments, running North and South to a length exceeding 300 feet, with an additional room or transept, crossing from their Southern extremity, contains the collection of sculptures excavated, chiefly by Mr. Layard, in the years 1847-1850, on the site, or in the vicinity, of ancient Nineveh. To these have been added a further collection from the same region, excavated in 1853-55, by Mr. Hormuzd Rassam and Mr. W. K. Loftus, under the direction of Sir H. C. Rawlinson, K.C.B., at that time Her Majesty's Consul-General at Baghdad, and three other collections excavated or obtained by Mr. G. Smith, the first in a mission to Mesopotamia in the year 1873 undertaken by the proprietors of the Daily Telegraph, and presented by them to the Museum, and the two last under the direction of the Trustees of the British Museum, in the years 1874 and 1876. Further collections were also excavated by Mr. Hormuzd Rassam in 1878, 1879, 1880 and 1881.

These discoveries were for the most part made in extensive mounds, formed by the natural accumulation of the soil over the debris of ruined edifices, in the three following localities:1. Nimroud, believed to be the ancient Calah of Scripture, on the banks of the Tigris, about twenty miles below the modern Mosul. 2. Khorsabad, a site about ten miles to the Northeast of Mosul, which was excavated for the French Government by M, Botta, and from which was procured the greater part of the valuable collection now in the Louvre, though a few specimens of sculpture have also been obtained for the British Museum. 3. Kouyunjik, still indicated by local tradition as the site of Nineveh, nearly opposite Mosul, on the Tigris.

This classification of the localities, which correspond broadly with three successive periods in Assyrian history, forms the basis of the arrangement adopted for the sculptures.

(1.) The monuments from Nimroud, which may be approximately described as ranging from B.C. 885 to B.C. 630, occupy the Nimroud Central Saloon, in which the visitor, entering from

the Greek Galleries, first finds himself; the long apartment immediately to the South, called the Nimroud Gallery; and the western compartment of the adjoining Assyrian Transept.

(2.) The sculptures from Khorsabad, executed under Sargon, a king of Assyria, who reigned about B.C. 722, are collected in the eastern compartment of the Assyrian Transept, a position not properly corresponding with their chronological sequence, but unavoidably adopted from the deficiency of space in apartments not originally constructed for this class of antiquities.

(3.) The monuments obtained by Mr. Layard from Kouyunjik, the date of which may be placed between B.C. 721 and B.C. 625-the supposed era of the destruction of Ninevehare arranged in the long room distinguished as the Kouyunjik Gallery. The additional collections excavated by Mr. Rassam and Mr. Loftus, principally at Kouyunjik, and placed in the Assyrian basement, may be regarded as supplementary to that contained in the last-mentioned gallery.

Besides the series of sculptures, the Assyrian collection includes a variety of smaller, but highly curious and instructive objects, discovered at Nimroud and Kouyunjik. These are now exhibited in Table Cases in the galleries.

Babylonia and Susiana have yielded as yet few large sculptured monuments or artistic remains commensurate with the wealth and power of the Empires of which they were the seat. The principal Babylonian sites which have hitherto been more or less explored are-1. The scattered mounds of Warka, Tel-Sifr near Sinkara, Abu-Shahrein, and Muqueyer, all dating from the most remote antiquity, and the last supposed to represent the Biblical "Ur of the Chaldees." 2. The Birs-i-Nimrúd, the site of the ancient fortress of Borsippa, commonly regarded as the remains of the Tower of Babel, the earliest portion of which was erected by an ancient king of Babylonia, though it was entirely rebuilt by Nebuchadnezzar. 3. The mounds of Babylon itself.

In accordance with the system here pursued, under which the visitor to the Sculpture Galleries is conducted, as far as possible, continuously from the later monuments to the earlier, it

is necessary, after quitting the Greek collection, to pass through the Nimroud Central Saloon, by its North door, to the

KOUYUNJIK GALLERY.

The Collection of bas-reliefs in this room was procured by Mr. Layard, in 1849 and 1850, from the remains of a very extensive Assyrian edifice at Kouyunjik, which appears, from the inscriptions remaining on many of its sculptures, to have been the palace of Sennacherib, who commenced his reign B.C. 705. It was subsequently occupied by his grandson, Assur-banî-apli, or Assurbanipal, who reigned towards the middle of the seventh century B.C. Monuments of both these kings are included in the collection. Those of Sennacherib

are sculptured generally in gypsum or alabaster, those of Assur-banî-apli 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 mutilated 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. No. 3. Pursuit of an enemy by Assyrians, on the banks of a river overgrown with reeds. Evidently part of the next series.

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 the city

.-al-ammu* by the Assyrians. The city is seen on Slab No. 25, planted on a high dome-shaped hill, and the assailants advance on each side to scale the walls with ladders, whilst others, on the tops of the houses around, discharge arrows into the city. On Nos. 27-29 are represented the results of the contest, the triumph of the besiegers, and the collection of prisoners, apparently Jews, and spoil. The whole of this series is blackened by fire.

No. 26a. A small slab representing the cooking of food in the Assyrian camp.

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, in front of which are various symbols supposed to represent the signs of the zodiac. 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-banî-apli, or Assurbanipal and represent the victories of that monarch over the Elamites or inhabitants of Susiana.

* The beginning of the name is lost.

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