in
where they got them. We know, however, that basalt and other rocks of that
kind were found in the upper valleys of the streams that flowed into the
two great rivers.[143]

The Assyrian architect had therefore only to stretch out his hand to win
stone of a sufficiently varied nature from the soil of his own country or
the flanks of its mountains. It was, of course, mediocre in quality but it
had powers of resistance that fitted it for use in certain positions. At
the first glance it is difficult to understand why so little use was made
of it. But in truth stone was for the Assyrian no more than an accessory
and complementary material; the bodies of his structures were never
composed of it; it was mainly confined to plinths, pavements, and the
internal linings of walls.

In spite of its apparent singularity this determined exclusion is to be
easily explained. The Assyrian invented nothing. His language and his
writing, his religion and his science, came from Chaldaea, and so did his
art. When the kings of Resen, of Calech, and Nineveh, took it into their
heads to build palaces, they imported architects, painters, and sculptors,
from the southern kingdom. Why, it may be asked, did those artists remain
so faithful to the traditions in which they had grown up when they found
themselves planted among such different surroundings? The answer is, that
nothing is more tenacious of life than those professional habits that are
transmitted from one generation to another by the practical teaching of
more or less close corporations, besides which we must remember that the
Chaldaean methods were excellently well fitted for the satisfaction of those
impatient princes at whose orders the works were undertaken. For the
quarrying, dressing, and fixing of stone, a special and rather tedious
education was required. The manufacture and laying of bricks was
comparatively easy. A few weeks were sufficient to learn all that was to be
learnt about the kneading and moulding of the earth, its desiccation in the
sun or burning in the kiln. Provided that experienced men were forthcoming
to superintend the latter operation, millions of good bricks could be made
in the year.[144] All this required no lengthy apprenticeship. Their
arrangement in horizontal courses or grouping at stated intervals, into
those lines of battlements with which every wall was crowned, was done by
the men of the _corvee_. Certain parts of the building, such as arches and
v