esieged
city, Sennacherib is never represented at Kouyunjik otherwise than in
an attitude of triumph, in his chariot or on his throne, receiving the
captives and the spoil. Nor is he ever seen torturing his prisoners,
or putting them to death with his own hand.

There were chambers, however, in the palace of Sennacherib, as well as
in those at Nimroud and Khorsabad, whose walls were simply coated with
plaster, like the walls of Belshazzar's palace at Babylon. Some were
probably richly ornamented in color with figures of men and animals,
as well as with elegant designs; or others may have been paneled with
cedar wainscoting, as the chambers in the temple and palaces of
Solomon, and in the royal edifices of Babylon. Gilding, too, appears
to have been extensively used in decoration, and some of the great
sphinxes may have been overlaid with gold, like the cherubim in
Solomon's temple. The cut on page 445 gives a beautiful representation
of the interior of the palaces. It is taken from the halls of the
palace of Sennacherib.

At Kouyunjik, the pavement slabs were not inscribed as at Nimroud; but
those between the winged bulls, at some of the entrances, were carved
with an elaborate and very elegant pattern. The doors were probably of
wood, gilt, and adorned with precious materials, like the gates of the
temple of Jerusalem, and their hinges appear to have turned in stone
sockets, some of which were found in the ruins. To ward off the glare
of an Eastern sun, hangings or curtains, of gay colors and of rich
materials, were probably suspended to the pillars supporting the
ceiling, or to wooden poles raised for the purpose, as in the palaces
of Babylon and Shushan.

Layard's researches have satisfied him that a very considerable
period elapsed between the earliest and latest buildings discovered
among the mounds of Nimroud. We incline to this opinion, but differ
from the surmise that the ruins of Nimroud and the site of Nineveh
itself are identical. The dimensions of Nineveh, as given by Diodorus
Siculus, were 150 stadia on the two longest sides of the quadrangle,
and 90 on the opposite; the square being 480 stadia, 60 miles; or,
according to some, 74 miles. Layard thinks, that by taking the four
great mounds of Nimroud, Kouyunjik, Khorsabad and Karamles, as the
corners of a square, the four sides will correspond pretty accurately
with the 60 miles of the geographer, and the three days' journey of
the prophet Jonah.

The