. The story of architecture: an outline of the styles in all countries. hin the palace the walls weredecorated in the usual Assyrian fash-ion, with alabaster bas-reliefs and in-scriptions reaching to a height of aboutten feet, while the space above blazedwith enamelled tiles, multiplying thesunlight a thousandfold after the manner of gravengems. But all this beauty was somewhat impaired bythe disproportionate figures flanking the doorways,for the species of Assyrian sphinx mentioned aboveguarded nearly every portal and towered to such aheight as to throw the rest of the room quite out ofscale.
. The story of architecture: an outline of the styles in all countries. hin the palace the walls weredecorated in the usual Assyrian fash-ion, with alabaster bas-reliefs and in-scriptions reaching to a height of aboutten feet, while the space above blazedwith enamelled tiles, multiplying thesunlight a thousandfold after the manner of gravengems. But all this beauty was somewhat impaired bythe disproportionate figures flanking the doorways,for the species of Assyrian sphinx mentioned aboveguarded nearly every portal and towered to such aheight as to throw the rest of the room quite out ofscale. On the other hand, these monsters must havebeen very effective when used on the outside of an vym y Fig. 32.—AnAssyrian sphinx. f28 ASSYRIAN STYLE AND WESTERN ASIA. edifice, and arc more typical of Assyrian work thanalmost any other form of decoration. A peculiarityto be noticed concerning them is that the forefeetare always placed side by side, which would natu-rally give the creature an appearance of having onlythree legs when viewed laterally. Hence, the enter-. I [<;. 33.—An Assyrian sphinx. prising sculptor has added another leg for the sakeof the side view, making five legs in all (see Figs. 32and 33). The palace of Sennacherib, Sargons son, wassituated in the oldest pari of Nineveh, correspondingto La Cite in Paris, and called to-day Koyunjik. It was the largest of all the palaces, requiring thework of twenty thousand men during a period ol six irs to raise the mound alone. Nevertheless there PALACE OF KOYUXJIK. i2g is little architectural interest connected with it afterKhorsabad, though the interior wall decorationswere very elaborate, and the floor shone with mar-ble, inlaid with metal arabesques. The historical value of Koyunjik is well-nighpriceless, since its walls bear a continuous and beau-tifully illustrated chronicle of Assyrian history fromthe earliest times. How bloody that history wasmay be judged by the bas-reliefs, one of which rep-resents the king
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