to break through this complex defensive zone, and even after this had
been successfully accomplished and the walls of the capital had been
reached, the sight which would meet the eye was well calculated to
dismay even the most resolute invader. Viewed as a whole, Nineveh
appeared as an irregular quadrilateral figure, no two sides of which
were parallel, lying on the left bank of the Tigris.

[Illustration: 301.jpg MAP OF NINEVEH]

The river came right up to the walls on the west, and the two mounds of
Kouyunjik and Nebi-Yunus, on which stood the palaces of the Sargonides,
were so skilfully fortified that a single wall connecting the two
sufficed to ward off all danger of attack on this side. The south
wall, which was the shortest of the four, being only about 870 yards
in length, was rendered inaccessible by a muddy stream, while the north
wall, some 2150 yards long, was protected by a wide moat which could be
filled from the waters of the Khuzur.

[Illustration: 302.jpg PART OF THE FOSSE AT NINEVEH]

Drawn by Boudier, from a sketch in Layard.

The eastern front had for a long time depended for its safety on
a single wall reinforced by a moat, but Sennacherib, deeming it
insufficiently protected against a sudden attack, had piled up obstacles
in front of it, so that it now presented a truly formidable appearance.
It was skirted throughout its whole length by a main rampart, 5400 yards
long, which described a gentle curve from north to south, and rose to a
height of about 50 feet, being protected by two small forts placed close
to the main gates. The fosse did not run along the foot of the wall, but
at a distance of about fifty yards in front of it, and was at least some
20 feet deep and over 150 feet in width. It was divided into two unequal
segments by the Khuzur: three large sluice-gates built on a level with
the wall and the two escarpments allowed the river to be dammed back, so
that its waters could be diverted into the fosse and thus keep it full
in case of siege. In front of each segment was a kind of demi-lune,
and--as though this was not precaution enough--two walls, each over
4300 yards long, were built in front of the demi-lunes, the ditch which
separated them being connected at one end with the Khuzur, and allowed
to empty itself into a stream on the south. The number of inhabitants
sheltered behind these defences was perhaps 300,000 souls;* each
separate quarter of the city was enclosed by rampar