EXCAVATIONS. The Assyrian cities, soon after the fall of the Empire, fell into decay. In the case of Nineveh, this decay was hastened by the destruction, through fire, of important edifices. After a few' centuries, nothing but huge mounds were left to indicate the site of past glory, and it was reserved for the Nineteenth Century to reveal the remains of Assyria to the world. Ex 4.11vat ion -; were begun by the Frenchman. Paul Emile Botta, in 1842, at a mound at Rhorsabad, not far from Mosul, on the left hank of the Tigris, which proved 1.4) contain the remains of a magnificent palace erected by Saigon II. (n.c. 721-05). Three yeau s wore spent there by Botta. at the end of which time he had un earthed numerous chambers of the palace. re vealing an abundance of sculptural represen tations, covered with inscriptions, statnes, inscribed slabs. and numerous objects. the Englishman, Sir Austen Henry Bayard, was making preparations to begin work at mounds directly opposite Mosul and some miles to the south. In 1845 he began the excava tions, which, continued till 1850. were fraught
with such startling, results. He rediscovered Nineveh, of which Khorsabad to the north and the mound Nint•ud to the south were suburbs. No less than five palaces and several temples were Sound by him, filled with sculptured objects and quantities of inscriptions. A notable find was the discovery of the royal 'brick' library gathered by _Isu•baripal, of which some 30,000 fragments were sent to the British Museum. This collection, being copies of originals be longing to Babylonian temples, forms the chief source for the study of Babylonian literature and religion. After Bayard came Rassam and George Smith, who made still further researches among the mounds opposite Mosul; but during the past four decades the chief activity of explorers has been directed to the mounds in the south, covering the remains of Babylonian cities, whose history carries us back to a far earlier period than that revealed by the discoveries in the mounds of Assyria proper.