The five great monarchies of the ancient eastern world; or, The history, geography, and antiquites of Chaldaea, Assyria, Babylon, Media, and Persia . with brokenpottery, so that the real diameter of each drain isas much as four feet.** By these arrangements tlie Juuriiul of the Asiatic Society, vol, xv. pp. 2G8, 2()!).VOL. 1. I 114 THE FIRST MONARCHY. Chap. V. piles have been kept perfectly dry; and the conse-quence is the preservation, to the present day, notonly of the utensils and ornaments placed in thetombs, but of the very skeletons themselves, whichare seen perfect on opening a tomb, th
The five great monarchies of the ancient eastern world; or, The history, geography, and antiquites of Chaldaea, Assyria, Babylon, Media, and Persia . with brokenpottery, so that the real diameter of each drain isas much as four feet.** By these arrangements tlie Juuriiul of the Asiatic Society, vol, xv. pp. 2G8, 2()!).VOL. 1. I 114 THE FIRST MONARCHY. Chap. V. piles have been kept perfectly dry; and the conse-quence is the preservation, to the present day, notonly of the utensils and ornaments placed in thetombs, but of the very skeletons themselves, whichare seen perfect on opening a tomb, though theycrumble to dust at the first touch.^ The skill of the Chaldyeans as potters has receivedconsiderable illustration in the foregoing pages. Noordinary ingenuity was needed to model and bakethe large vases, and still larger covers, which werethe ordinary receptacles of the Chaldasan dead. Therings and top-pieces of the drainage-shafts also ex-hibit much skill and knowledge of , however, the reader has not been broughtinto contact with any specimens of Chakkisan fictileart which can be regarded as exhibiting elegance of. Chaldaean vases of the first period. » Il)i(L p. 272 ; Loftus , p. Taylor, however, qualifies thislatter statement. Directly on open-ing these covers, he says, were Ito attempt to toiich the skulls orbones, they would fall into dustalmost immediately; but I found,on exposing them for a few days tothe air, that they became quite hard, and could be handled with impu-nity. It is to be regretted thatMr. Taylor did not send any of theskulls, when thus hardened, to Eng-land, as their examination wouldhave been imijortant towards deter-miningr the ethnic character of the Chap. V. VASES AND LAMPS, 115 form, or indeed any sense of beauty as distinguishedfrom utility. Such specimens are in fact somewhatscarce, but they are not wholly wanting. Amongthe vases and drinking-vessels with which the Chal-dcean tombs abound, while the majority ar
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