Except in the case of the kings and the priests, the head on the more ancient sculptures appears without any covering. Herodotus speaks of the head-bands which he saw worn ordinarily by noble Babylonians.
As we learn from the denunciations of the Old-Testament prophets and from the descriptions of Greek writers, the Assyrians and Babylonians were in general given to an excessive care of their bodies. Their costly perfumeries of various kinds are frequently mentioned. They painted, powdered, and adorned themselves profusely with gold and silver, precious stones, and pearls (pl. 16, figs. 14-20. The foot-coverings of the Baby lonians were sandals firmly closed around the heel (fig. 29).
Dwellings.—In the dwellings of the Assyrians we remark the same wide differences as in those of Egypt. The gulf between the ruler and the subject was nowhere more manifest than in the vast superiority of the royal palace over the dwelling of the citizen. Those extensive and colossal structures, the ruins of which have lately been unearthed, origin ally towered over countless rows of small dome-shaped brick huts, which at best were surrounded by a wall enclosing a small court and received light only through the open door. But after security had been and luxury had increased, the condition of the citizen was improved—an advantage, however, that belonged less to Nineveh than to Babylon, which reached its most flourishing condition after the destruction of the former city.
As we cannot suppose that the old Assyrian monarchs were able at once radically to change the character of the subjugated tribes, and, especially at the extremities of the vast dominions, to overcome their inherited nomadic tendencies, we may infer that the country was in great part covered with tents, which extended even into the capital cities. The monuments themselves confirm this supposition, and show at the same time that the tents were constructed and arranged just as they are at present in those regions. .The walled huts mentioned above were really nothing but permanent tents. The old Asiatic house was developed not from them, but from the surrounding wall of the court, which repre sented better than a tent the idea of a house as a private and well-secured As was the custom in Egypt, the wall, where it fronted on the court, was lined on one or more sides with chambers; over these a flat roof was carried, which was occupied during the day in the favorable seasons of the year, and which in the habitations of the wealthy was covered with an awning, and sometimes had an enclosed compartment like that already mentioned (p. 126). Such was the principle of construction in the private
dwellings, and it underwent no change even when the houses became larger and more elaborate. Herodotus saw houses of more than one story in Babylon.
The representations show that the different parts of the houses—for instance, the doors, the cornices, etc.—received architectural decorations; that trees were planted in the courts; that gardens were cultivated adja cently; and that perhaps flowers were already then grown on the roofs. On the exterior the dwelling presented only naked walls, as is still usual in the East, where the people seek to conceal their wealth so as not to excite the cupidity of their despots. However, the light material of which these walls were built—namely, sun-dried brick—was so friable that no remains of the private dwellings have survived the ravages of time.
Royal same principle underlies the construction of the royal palaces, although their more elaborate ornamentation somewhat tends to conceal it. But, instead of being hidden from the exterior world, the palaces were made as imposing as possible, and consequently they were always erected on elevated foundations. The enclosing walls, far from presenting an exterior that might escape observation, sought to attract the eye by architectural divisions and symbolical sculptures, and perhaps also by paintings. 'Vet they retained a heavy, inhospitable, and exclusive cha racter, as they had no openings on the outside for the admission of light. The palace-walls, which often had a thickness of fifteen feet, rose perpen dicularly and were finished in rectangular shape above, though the straight lines were sometimes broken by slender pinnacles.