The excavations subsequently carried on bj' MM, Place and Fresnel at Khorsabad led to the discovery, in the enclosure below the platform, of propylaea, flanked by colossal human-headed bulls, and of other detached buildings forming the approaches to the palace, and also of some of the gateways in the enclosure-waUs, orna- mented with similar mythic figures.
M. Botta's discoveries at Khorsabad were followed by those of Mr. Layard at Nimrud and Kuyunjik, made between the years 1845 and 1850. The mound of Nim- rud was found to contain the ruins of several distinct edifices, erected at different periods — materials for the construction of the latest having been taken from an earlier building. The most ancient stood at the north- west comer of the platform, the most recent at the south-east. In general plan and in construction they resembled the ruins of Khorsabad — consisting of a number of halls, chambers, and galleries, panelled with sculptured and inscribed alabaster slabs, and opening one into the other by doorways generally formed bj' pairs of colossal human-headed winged bulls or lions. The exterior architecture could not be traced. The lofty cone or pyramid of earth adjoining this edifice covered the ruins of a building the basement of which was a square of 1G5 feet, and consisted, to the height of 20 feet, of a solid mass of sun-dried bricks, faced on the four sides b}' blocks of stone carefully squared, bevelled, and adjusted. This stone facing singularly enough co- incides exactly with the height assigned by Xenophon to the stone plinth of the M-alls (A?iab. iii, 4), and is surmounted, as he describes the plinth to have been, by a superstructure of bricks, nearly every kiln-burned brick bearing an inscription. Upon this solid sub- structure there probably rose, as in the Babylonian temples, a succession of platforms or stages, diminishing in size, the highest having a shrine or altar upon it (Layard, Nin. and Bab. ch. v). A vaulted chamber or gallery, 100 feet long. G broad, and 12 high, crossed the centre of the mound on a level with the summit of the stone-masonry. It had evidently been broken into and rifled of its contents at some remote period, and may have been a royal sepulchre — the tomb of Ninus or Sardanapalus, which stood at the entrance of Nineveh. It is the tower described by Xenophon at Larissa as be- ing 1 plethron (100 feet) broad and 2 plcthra high. It appears to have been raised by the son of the king who built the north-west palace, and whose name in the cu- neiform inscriptions is supposed to be identified with that of Sardanapalus. Shalmanubar or Shalmaneser, the builder of this tomb or tower, also erected in the centre of the great mound a second palace, which ap- pears to have been destroyed to furnish materials (or later buildings. The black obelisk now in the British
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Biack Obelisk of Niinrud.
Museum was found among its ruins. On the west face of the mound, and adjoining the centre palace, are the remains of a third edifice, built by the grandson of Shal- manubar, whose name is read Iva-lush, and who is be- lieved to be the Pul of the Hebrew Scriptures. It con- tained some important inscribed slabs, but no sculptures. Esarhaddon raised (about B.C. G80) at the south-west corner of the platform another royal abode of consid- erable extent, but constructed principally of materials brought from his predecessor's palaces. In the opposite or south-east corner are the ruins of a still later palace built by his grandson Asshur-emit-ili, very inferior in size and in splendor to other Assyrian edifices. Its rooms were small ; it appears to have had no great halls, and the chambers were panelled with slabs of common stone, without sculpture or inscriptions. Some impor- tant detached figures, believed to bear the name of the historical Semiramis, were, however, found in its ruins. At the south-west corner of the mound of Kuyunjik stood a palace built by Sennacherib (about B.C. 700), exceeding in size and in magnificence of decoration all others hitherto explored. It occupied nearly 100 acres. Although much of the building yet remains to be ex- amined, and much has altogether perished, about 60 courts, halls (some nearly 150 feet square), rooms, and passages (one 200 feet long) have been discovered, all panelled with sculptured slabs of alabaster. The en- trances to the edifice and to the principal chambers were flanked by groups of winged human-headed lions and bulls of colossal proportions — some nearly 20 feet in height ; 27 portals thus formed were excavated by Mr. Layard. A second palace was erected on the same plat- form by the son of Esarhaddon, the third king of the name of Sardanapalus. In it were discovered sculptures of great interest and beauty, among them the series rep- resenting the lion-hunt now in the British Museum. Owing to the sanctity attributed by ISIohammedans to the supposed tomb of Jonah, great difficulties were ex- perienced in examining the mound upon which it stands. A shaft sunk within the walls of a private house led to the discovery of sculptured slabs; and excavations sub- sequently carried on by agents of the Turkish govern- ment proved that they formed part of a palace erected bj' Esarhaddon. Two entrances or gateways in the great enclosure-walls have been excavated— one (at b on plan) flanked by colossal human-headed bulls and human figures. They, as well as the walls, appear, ac- cording to the inscriptions, to have been constructed by Sennacherib. No propyLca or detached buildings have as yet been discovered within the enclosure. At Sherif