Both externally and in the interior, the palaces were of extraordinary magnificence. The approach to the building was at Khorsabad, and perhaps elsewhere, if Mr. Fergusson's restorations be correct, by way of an outer and lower mound, " on which were situated the great portals of the palace, and the residence of the guards and inferior officers ; and beyond even this, on the plain of the city, a set of interportals are found, from which the great winged bulls. now in the British Museum, were taken." Passing these portals a flight of steps led up to the palace. The building itself was nearly square, with two principal façades, one of which, where the palace was built by the Tigris, usually overlooked the river ' • the other was on the opposite side. Each front had three entrances, the principal being in the centre. The sides, or jambs of the central portals, were formed by slabs, on which were sculptured colossal human-headed and winged bulls, 16 or 18 feet high ; the side doorways being usually guarded by colossal figures of divinities or kings, but in some instances by winged-bulls similar to those of the chief entrance. Between the doorways, pairs of these winged-bulls, of somewhat smaller size, were placed back to back, with sometimes colossal human or symbolical figures between them. The rest of the walls, to the height of about 9 feet, were faced with slabs, on which were carved single figures or groups, of the kind familiar to every one, by the examples in the British Museum or the popular works of Layard, Bonomi, and others. The walls themselves, which were of immense thickness, were built of sun-dried bricks ; the sculptured slabs are chiefly of calcareous stone or ,alabaster. Of the actual buildings, only these lower sculptured walls, with a few feet of the brick surface above, remain.
The character of the upper part of the building is conjectural. But following out the indications on the extant parts, it seems pretty evident that the brick walls were carried up at least to the height of the great bulls, or about 18 feet, the surface being covered with stucco, and painted with various figures of the king and his attendants, mythological subjects, &e., or in conventional patterns.' From large quantities of charred wood being found within the chambers, and no remains of a stone or brick superstructure, it is conjectured that the superstructure, of whatever description it was, was constructed chiefly or wholly of wood. This superstructure, Mr. Fergusson, who has more thoroughly studied the auhject than any other authority, con siders to have consisted of " a gallery or upper story to the palace ; and thus in the heat of the day, the thickness of the walls kept the inner apartments free from glare, while in the evenings and mornings, the galleries formed airy and light apartments, affording a view over the country, and open on every side to the breezes that blow so refreshingly over the plains. It will thus," he adds, " be evident that the direct rays of the sun could never penetrate into the halls them selves, and that rain, or even damp, could easily be excluded by means of curtains or screens." The roof Mr. Fergusson supposes to have been supported on low wooden columns, resembling in style those of stone still standing at Persepolis, and others recently found at Susa ; grounding his opinion on the fact made evident by the discoveries at Nineveh, that the Persians in their architecture imitated that of the Assyrians; repro ducing as well as they could, the winged-bulls and other characteristic sculpture, as well as the general form of the buildings, and, as is highly probable, copying in stone the wooden columns of their pro totypes. No complete column, it must be understood however, has been exhumed among the Assyrian remains, but only fragments of bases, and none of these are of wood. In the relievi which cover the walls of the Assyrian palaces, columns of various kinds occur, including, as it would seem, the original of the Greek Ionic; the open gallery, or — -- upper story is also distinctly indicated. From these, and from the Persepolitan columns, Mr. Ferguason conjectures that the wooden columns of the palaces of Nineveh, were short and thick, with carved shafts, and large capitals. A favourite form of the capital appears from the Assyrian relievi and the existing Peraepolitan examples to have consisted of two bulls set back to back. The columns are often figured as resting on winged bulls and lions placed back to back. The gallery was crowned by a curved cornice, which appears to have been richly adorned with conventional decorations, which are certainly the originals of the well-known Greek guillocho and honeysuckle omaineuts. Surmounting the cornice was a stepped battlementtal parapet of a pattern peculiar to Assyrian architecture.
The roof was of wood and flat, its framework being formed by massive beams which were borne by the columns. Several of these great beams of cedar and other woods have been found at Nineveh, some nearly perfect, but others reduced to charcoal, and crumbling to powder when exposed to the air. The exterior of the roof was probably
composed, as is still usual, of five or six feet of earth,—a plan adapted to keep out alike heat and wet.
Internally the great halls, courts, passages, and principal apartments, were, like the exterior, faced with slabs of alabaster, on which were carved the battles and sieges of the great king, the capture of cities and the presentation of captives and hostages ; hunting scenes ; various divinities, the sacred tree, and other mythological and symbolical subjects, &a In some of the secondary buildings, or less important chambers, the walla were covered with stucco, and painted either with figures similar to those of the relievi or with conventional ornament. The pavement was formed of elaborately ornamented alabaster slabs or square tiles or bricks ; both slabs and bricks bearing on their backs the name of the sovereign who erected the building. The ceilings were, as we know from the Scriptures, and as is proved by the remains, "celled with cedar and painted with vermilion," and probably adorned with gilding and inlaid with ivory. Traces Of polychrome decoration are found everywhere. Both the exterior and interior walls, there can be little doubt, were painted with the most brilliant colours. Gold was profusely employed, and the images on the walls were " pourtrayed with vermilion, girded with girdles upon their loins, exceeding in dyed attire upon their heads, all of them princes to look to, after the manner of the Babylonians." (Ezek. xxiii. 14, 15.) The buildings hitherto explored were, as has been said, palace-temples; but they also, as Mr. Layard observes, " appear to have been at the same time public monuments, in which were preserved the records or archives of the nation, carved on stone. In them were represented iu sculpture the exploits of the kings, and the forms of the divinities ; whilst the history of the people, and invocations to their gods, were inscribed in written characters on the walls." These inscriptions, in cuneiform characters, are carried over the surface of the larger relievi, without any regard to the effect of the sculptured design ; and since the learned have succeeded in deciphering the characters they have furnished valuable information respecting the history of the people, as well as the construction of these monuments. [Cessreonu.] Buildings such as those we have been describing, however splendid and imposing in appearance, were ill.calculated to withstand violence and subsequent neglect. Whilst the still older temples of Egypt are, in their great features, as strung and impressive as ever, the preserva tion of any portion of those of Nineveh is due to their being buried beneath the soil. But the very constructive defect which hindered their permanent maintenance may have contributed to the preservation of so much of them as remains. Tho columns and superstructure being of cedar would be an easy prey to the flames, but then the thick roof of earth "would alone suffice to bury the building up to the height of the sculptures. The gradual crumbling of the thick walls consequent on their unprotected exposure to the atmosphere, would add three or four feet to this ; so that it is hardly too much to suppose that green grass might have been growing over the buried palaces of Nineveh before two or three years had elapsed from the time of their destruction and desertion. When once this had taken place, the mounds were far too tempting positions not to be speedily occupied by the villages of the natives; and a few centuries of mud-hut building would complete the process of entombment so completely as to protect the hidden remains perfectly for the many centuries during which they have lain buried, and to enable us now to restore their form almost as certainly as we can those of the temples of Greece or Home, or any of the great nations of antiquity." (Fergusson, ' Handbook of Arch.,' 178.) In the work named below, Mr. Fergusson has, with scrupulous care and rare Ingenuity, endeavoured to exhibit such a restoration. He has also, as our readers well know, given a more tangible shape to his speculations in the actual restorations, both in form and colour, of the Assyrian Court at the Crystal Sydenham. In the main, these restorations have met the sanction of Mr. Layard and other authorities who, like lain. hays made the antiquities of Assyria a special study. Without, therefore, pretending to say that all Mr. Ferguason's views are borne out by our present knowledge of Asayrian remains, and without wishing to be understood as adopting his polychrome theory, we point the reader to these actual restorations, with Mr. LaTard's con venient little ' Guide' descriptive of them, as well as to Mr. kergusson'a larger treatise, as affording the readiest and surest means of acquiring a definite conception of the leading characteristics of Assyrian palatial architecture. It may, however, be convenient to add a chronological list of the palaces discovered nt or about Nineveh, adopting Mr. Layard's names of the founders and date of foundation.