[45] Layard, Nineveh, vol. ii. pp. 25, 26, and 29.
[46] For an account of the excavations see Layard, Nineveh, vol. i. pp. 34, 39, 46, 59–62, 347–350; vol. ii. pp. 25–36.
[47] Layard, Nineveh, vol. ii. pp. 14–16.
[48] All the passages by ancient writers bearing on the subject will be found collected in the first of those articles of Hœfer, of which we have already had occasion to speak. Its title is: Textes anciens sur l’Histoire et la Position de Ninive. It is certain that even in the Roman period its site was not positively known. Lucian, who was born at Samosata, less than a hundred leagues from Nineveh, says: “Nineveh has perished; no trace of it remains, and we cannot say where it stood” (Charon, c. xxiii).
[49] Layard, Discoveries, p. 137.
[50] The plan in which Layard shows the results of his two digging campaigns will be found in the Discoveries, facing page 67. For the excavations at Kouyundjik see also his Nineveh, vol. ii. chapter xiv, and Discoveries, pp. 67–76, 102–120, 135–161, 228–233, 337–347, 438–463, 582–588, and 645–652. Layard attempts to give a general idea of the palace and of its decorations. There is also much detailed information regarding this building in Rawlinson’s Five Great Monarchies, vol. ii. pp. 178–133.
[51] The only details that have been given, so far as we know, of the discovery and exhumation of Assurbanipal’s palace, are to be found in an article by Mr. Rassam entitled: Excavations and Discoveries in Assyria (Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archæology, vol. vii. pp. 37–58). This paper contains a plan of the northern palace (p. 40).
[52] “Ervil is the site of the Assyrian city of Arbela, and in the plains outside it was fought the great battle between Alexander and Darius. I had no time to examine the place, but I saw in passing that there were mounds rivalling in size those of the Assyrian capital. Over the principal mound a Turkish fortress is built, which would make it difficult to excavate here; but as Arbela was a great city, much may be expected here whenever it is explored.” George Smith, Assyrian Discoveries, p. 67.
[53] See the article by Mr. Rassam quoted on the last page. The plan (p. 52) he gives does not tell us much.
[54] See Layard, Nineveh, vol. ii. pp. 45–63; and Discoveries, p. 581.