The five great monarchies of the ancient eastern world; or, The history, geography, and antiquites of Chaldaea, Assyria, Babylon, Media, and Persia . with strong colours—red, blue, yellow, white, andblack ? Or did they, like the Greeks,^ apply paintto certain portions of their sculptures only, as thehair, eyes, beard, and draperies? Or, finally, didthey simply leave the stone in its natural condition,like the Italians and the modern sculptors generally ? The present appearance of the sculptures is most in ?* See page 444. A representationof the whole scene would have beengiven, had this work b
The five great monarchies of the ancient eastern world; or, The history, geography, and antiquites of Chaldaea, Assyria, Babylon, Media, and Persia . with strong colours—red, blue, yellow, white, andblack ? Or did they, like the Greeks,^ apply paintto certain portions of their sculptures only, as thehair, eyes, beard, and draperies? Or, finally, didthey simply leave the stone in its natural condition,like the Italians and the modern sculptors generally ? The present appearance of the sculptures is most in ?* See page 444. A representationof the whole scene would have beengiven, had this work been on a largerscale; but it is impossible to dojustice to the highly-finished sculp-tures of this time within the limitsof an ordinary octavo. The sceneitself may be studied in the BritishMuseum. It occupies a portion ofthe eastern wall in the underground Assyrian apartment. See Wilkinsons Ancient Egyp-tians, 1st Series, vol. iii. p. 300. 2 Ibid. p. 299. Wornum, in SmithsDictionary of Oreeh and Eoman An-tiquities, (ad voc. Pictura), goessomewhat further than Wilkinson;but still maintains that the Greeksdid not colour the flesh of 448 THE SECOND MONAKCHY. Chap. VI. accordance with the last of these three theories, or atany rate with that theory very shghtly modified bythe second. The slabs now oifer only the faintestand most occasional traces of colour. The evidence,however, of the original explorers is distinct, that atthe time of discovery these traces were very much moreabundant. Mr. Layard observed colour at Nimrudon the hair, beard, and eyes of the figures, on thesandals and the bows, on the tongues of the eagle-headed mythological emblems, on a garland roundthe head of a winged priest (?), and on the repre-sentation of fire in the bas-relief of a siege .^ AtKhorsabad, MM. Botta and Flandin found paint onthe fringes of draperies, on fillets, on the mitre of theking, on the flowers carried by the winged figures,on bows and spear-shafts, on the harness of thehors
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