onsiderable height, reaching nearly to a
man's chin. Altars of this kind seem to have been carried about by the
Assyrians in their expeditions: we see them occasionally in the
entrenched camps, and observe priests officiating at them in their dress
of office. [PLATE CXLIII., Fig. 3.]

Besides their sacrifices of animals, the Assyrian kings were accustomed
to deposit in the temples of their gods, as thank-offerings, many
precious products from the countries which they overran in their
expeditions. Stones and marbles of various kinds, rare metals, and
images of foreign deities, are particularly mentioned; but it would seem
to be most probable that some portion of all the more valuable articles
was thus dedicated. Silver and gold were certainly used largely in the
adornment of the temples, which are sometimes said to have been made "as
splendid as the sun," by reason of the profuse employment upon them of
these precious metals.

It is difficult to determine how the ordinary worship of the gods was
conducted. The sculptures are for the most part monuments erected by
kings; and when these have a religious character, they represent the
performance by the kings of their own religious duties, from which
little can be concluded as to the religious observances of the people.
The kings seem to have united the priestly with the regal character; and
in the religious scenes representing their acts of worship, no priest
ever intervenes between them and the god, or appears to assume any but a
very subordinate position. The king himself stands and worships in close
proximity to the holy tree; with his own hand he pours libations; and it
is not unlikely that he was entitled with his own arm to sacrifice
victims.

But we can scarcely suppose that the people had these privileges.
Sacerdotal ideas have prevailed in almost all Oriental monarchies, and
it is notorious that they had a strong hold upon the neighboring and
nearly connected kingdom of Babylon. The Assyrians generally, it is
probable, approached the gods through their priests; and it would seem
to be these priests who are represented upon the cylinders as
introducing worshippers to the gods, dressed themselves in long robes,
and with a curious mitre upon their heads. The worshipper seldom comes
empty-handed. He carries commonly in his arms an antelope or young goat,
which we may presume to be an offering intended to propitiate the deity.
[PLATE CXLIV., Fig. 2.]

It is remarka