, and the ramp on which they were used may be more justly
compared to an inclined plane, like that of the Seville Giralda or the Mole
of Hadrian, than to a staircase. One might ascend or descend it on
horseback without any difficulty.[242]

By this example we may see that although the Assyrian builder had no
materials at his command equal to those employed by the Greek or Egyptian,
he knew how to make ingenious and skilful use of those he had.

We should be in a better position to appreciate these qualities of
invention and taste had time not entirely deprived us of that part of the
work of the Mesopotamian architects in which they were best served by their
materials. Assyria, like Egypt, practised construction "by assemblage" as
well as the two methods we have already noticed. She had a light form of
architecture in which wood and metal played the principal part. As might
have been expected, however, all that she achieved in that direction has
perished, and the only evidence upon which we can attempt a restoration is
that of the sculptured monuments, and they, unhappily, are much less
communicative in this respect than those of Egypt. In the paintings of the
Theban tombs the kiosks and pavilions of wood and metal are figured in all
the variety and vivacity derived from the brilliant colours with which they
were adorned. Nothing of the kind is to be found in Mesopotamia. Our only
documents are the uncoloured reliefs which, even in the matter of form, are
more reticent than we could have wished. But in spite of their
simplification these representations allow us to perceive clearly enough
the mingled elegance and richness that characterized the structures in
question.

[Illustration: FIG. 67.--Interior of the Royal Tent; from Layard.]

Thus in a bas-relief at Nimroud representing the interior of a fortress, a
central place is occupied by a small pavilion generally supposed to
represent the royal tent (Fig. 67).[243] The artist could not give a
complete representation of it, with all its divisions and the people it
contained. He shows only the apartment in which the high-bred horses that
drew the royal chariot were groomed and fed. Before the door of the
pavilion an eunuch receives a company of prisoners, their hands bound
behind them, and a soldier at their elbow. Higher up on the relief the
sculptor has figured the god with fish's scales whom we have already
encountered (see Fig. 9). To him, perhaps, the king attribut