ed far above
it; but, small as it was, the whole town might be seen from the summit,
with its separate quarters and its belt of gardens; and beyond, the
open country intersected with streams, studded with isolated villages,
patches of wood, pools and weedy marshes left by the retiring
inundation, and in the far distance the lines of trees and bushes which
bordered the banks of the Euphrates and its confluents. Should a troop
of enemies venture within the range of sight, or should a suspicious
tumult arise within the city, the watchers posted on the highest terrace
would immediately give the alarm, and 'through their warning the king
would have time to close his gates, and take measures to resist the
invading enemy or crush the revolt of his subjects.

[Illustration: 255.jpg STONE SOCKET OF ONE OF THE DOORS IN THE PALACE OF
GUDEA.( right)]

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from Heuzey-Sarzec.

The northern apartments of the palace were appropriated to Gudea and his
family. They were placed with their back to the entrance court, and
were divided into two groups; the sovereign, his male children and their
attendants, inhabited the western one, while the women and their slaves
were cloistered, so to speak, in the northern set. The royal dwelling
had an external exit by means of a passage issuing on the north-west of
the enclosure, and it also communicated with the great courtyard by a
vaulted corridor which ran along one side of the base of the ziggurat:
the doors which, closed these two entrances opened wide enough to admit
only one person at a time, and to the right and left were recesses in
the wall which enabled the guards to examine all comers unobserved, and
stab them promptly if there were anything suspicious in their behaviour.
Eight chambers were lighted from the courtyard. In one of them were kept
all the provisions for the day, while another served as a kitchen:
the head, cook carried on his work at a sort of rectangular dresser of
moderate size, on which several fireplaces were marked out by little
dividing walls of burnt bricks, to accommodate as many pots or pans
of various sizes. A well sunk in the corner right down below the
substructure provided the water needed for culinary purposes. The king
and his belongings accommodated themselves in the remaining five or six
rooms as best they could. A corridor, guarded as carefully as the one
previously described, led to his private apartments and to those of his
wive