il or at a determined
height; the draughtsman in all probability wished to give an idea of the
height of the flanking towers. His representation is an ideal _projection_
similar to those of which we find so many examples in Egypt, only that here
we have the towers laid flat outside the fortification to which they belong
in such a fashion that their summits are as far as possible from the centre
of the structure. We shall see this better in another plan of the same kind
in which the details are more carefully made out (Fig. 155). It comes from
a bas-relief, on which a circular fortress, divided into four equal parts
by walls radiating from its centre, is portrayed.

In this relief we find another favourite process of the Egyptians employed,
namely, that in which a vertical section is combined with a projection, so
that the interior of the building and its arrangements may be laid open to
the spectator. In this instance we can see what is passing in the four
principal chambers of the castle. In each chamber one or two persons are
occupied over what appear to be religious rites.

[Illustration: FIG. 156.--Plan, section, and elevation of a fortified city;
from Layard.]

In another Nimroud bas-relief we find a still greater variety of processes
used upon a single work (Fig. 156). The picture shows the king enthroned in
the centre of a fortified city which he has just captured. Prisoners are
being brought before him; his victorious troops have erected their tents in
the city itself. Beside these tents three houses of unequal size represent
the dwellings of the conquered. The _enceinte_ with its towers is
projected on the soil in the fashion above noticed; a longitudinal section
lays bare the interiors of the tents and shows us the soldiers at their
various occupations. As for the houses, they are represented by their
principal facades, which are drawn in elevation.

[Illustration: FIG. 157.--Plan and elevation of a fortified city; from
Layard.]

When he had to deal with more complicated images, as in the reliefs at
Kouyundjik representing the conquests and expeditions of Assurbanipal, the
artist modified his processes at will so as to combine in the narrow space
at his disposal all the information that he thought fit to give. See for
instance the relief in which the Assyrians celebrate their capture of
Madaktu, an important city of Susiana, by a sort of triumph (Fig. 157).
The town itself, with its towered walls and its s