aph by Hogarth. It
will be remarked that both altars are in the form of a
female without a head, but draped in the Assyrian robe.

All the various races settled between the Halys and the Orontes were
more or less imbued with this foreign civilization, and their monuments,
though not nearly so numerous as those of the Pharaohs and Ninevite
kings, bear, nevertheless, an equally striking evidence of its power.
Examples of it have been pointed out in a score of different places in
the valleys of the Taurus and on the plains of Cappadocia, in
bas-reliefs, steke, seals, and intaglios, several of which must be
nearly contemporaneous with the first Assyrian conquest.

[Illustration: 223.jpg THE BAS-RELIEF OF IBRIZ]

Drawn by Faucher-Gudin, from a photograph by Hogarth.

One instance of it appears on the rocks at Ibriz, where a king stands in
a devout attitude before a jovial giant whose hands are full of grapes
and wheat-ears, while in another bas-relief near Frakhtin we have a
double scene of sacrifice. The rock-carving at Ibriz is, perhaps, of all
the relics of a forgotten world, that which impresses the spectator most
favourably. The concept of the scene is peculiarly naive; indeed, the
two figures are clumsily brought together, though each of them, when
examined separately, is remarkable for its style and execution. The king
has a dignified bearing in spite of his large head, round eyes, and the
unskilful way in which his arms are set on his body. The figure of the
god is not standing firmly on both feet, but the sculptor has managed
to invest him with an air of grandeur and an expression of vigour and
_bonhomie,_ which reminds us of certain types of the Greek Hercules.

Tiglath-pileser was probably attracted to Asia Minor as much by
considerations of mercantile interest as by the love of conquest or
desire for spoil. It would, indeed, have been an incomparable gain for
him had he been able, if not to seize the mines themselves, at least
to come into such close proximity to them that he would be able to
monopolise their entire output, and at the same time to lay hands on the
great commercial highway to the trade centres of the west. The eastern
terminus of this route lay already within his domains, namely, that
which led to Assur by way of Amid, Nisibe, Singar, and the valley of the
Upper Tigris; he was now desirous of acquiring that portion of it
which wound its way from the fords of the Euphrates at Mal