pairing its ancient fortifications; later on, when the success of
his earlier campaigns had furnished him with a sufficient supply of
prisoners, he undertook the restoration of the whole city, with its
avenues, streets, canals, quays, gardens, and aqueducts: the labour of
all the captives brought together from different quarters of his empire
was pressed into the execution of his plans--the Kalda, the Aramaeans,
the Mannai, the people of Kui, the Cilicians, the Philistines, and
the iyrians; the provinces vied with each other in furnishing him with
materials without stint,--precious woods were procured from Syria,
marbles from Kapri-dargila, alabaster from Balad, while Bit-Yakin
provided the rushes to be laid between the courses of brickwork. The
river Tebilti, after causing the downfall of the royal mausolea and
"displaying to the light of day the coffins which they concealed," had
sapped the foundations of the palace of Assur-nazir-pal, and caused it
to fall in: a muddy pool now occupied the north-western quarter,
between the court of Ishtar and the lofty ziggurat of Assur. This pool
Sennacherib filled up, and regulated the course of the stream, providing
against the recurrence of such-accidents in future by building a
substructure of masonry, 454 cubits long by 289 wide, formed of large
blocks of stone cemented together by bitumen. On this he erected a
magnificent palace, a Bit-Khilani in the Syrian style, with woodwork of
fragrant cedar and cypress overlaid with gold and silver, panellings
of sculptured marble and alabaster, and friezes and cornices in glazed
tiles of brilliant colouring: inspired by the goddess Nin-kurra, he
caused winged bulls of white alabaster and limestone statues of the gods
to be hewn in the quarries of Balad near Nineveh. He presided in person
at all these operations--at the raising of the soil, the making of the
substructures of the terrace, the transport of the colossal statues or
blocks and their subsequent erection; indeed, he was to be seen at every
turn, standing in Ids ebony and ivory chariot, drawn by a team of men.
When the building was finished, he was so delighted with its beauty that
he named it "the incomparable palace," and his admiration was shared
by his contemporaries; they were never wearied of extolling in glowing
terms the twelve bronze lions, the twelve winged bulls, and the
twenty-four statues of goddesses which kept watch over the entrance,
and for the construction of whi