Fig. 13.—Arm-chair or Throne.
Khorsabad.
The castings in relief were used to ornament thrones, furniture, and perhaps chariots. They were fastened in their places by means of small nails. They had no great merit. The embossed or hammered work, on the contrary, is artistic and very curious. Large numbers of embossed bowls and dishes have been found, and this work was used for the end of sword-sheaths, the sides of chairs and stools, and various other ornamental purposes. It is probable that the main part of the tables, chairs, and so on were of wood, with the ornaments in embossed metals. All this shows the Assyrians to have been an artistic people, and to have reached an interesting stage in their arts, though their works are coarse and imperfect when judged by Greek standards or by our own idea of what is beautiful. If we had the space to consider all the various designs of the bas-reliefs in detail, you would learn from them a great many interesting facts concerning the domestic life of this ancient and interesting people. From them we can learn all about the costumes worn by the king and those of lesser rank; can see how their wars were carried on, and what their chariots, weapons, and equipments were. Their games, amusements, musical instruments, agricultural pursuits, food, and, in short, everything connected with their daily life is plainly shown in these sculptures, and, as I have said before, the whole history of Assyria is better studied from them than from any other one source. For this reason their great value cannot be over-estimated (Fig. 13).
Other very ancient nations had sculptors, and a few remains of their arts still exist. This is true of the Medes, Babylonians, and Persians; but the general features of their arts resembled those of the Assyrians, though they were less advanced than that nation, and have left nothing as interesting as the Egyptian and Assyrian remains which we have considered. I shall therefore leave them and pass to the sculpture of Greece.
Fig. 14.—Mode of Drawing the Bow.
Koyunjik.
