on whose
decoration he was at work? We are inclined to say yes to the latter
question. But even if we look upon this relief as a faithful sketch from an
Armenian temple we shall still believe that it reproduces a type not
unknown to Assyrian art. Everything combines to prove that the inhabitants
of the mountainous countries situated to the east and north of Assyria had
no original and well-marked civilization of their own during any part of
the period with which we are now concerned. Just as Ethiopia borrowed
everything from Egypt, so the Medes and Armenians drew both their arts and
their written character from Chaldaea, by way of Assyria. All the objects
found in the neighbourhood of Lake Van are purely Assyrian in character,
and no question is raised as to the fitness of their place in our museums
side by side with objects from Nimroud and Khorsabad. It is, however, of
little importance whether the temple shown in our woodcut was or was not
copied from nature; if there were such buildings in Armenia it was because
similar ones had previously existed in Assyria, from which the architects
of the semi-barbarous people, who were in turn the enemies, the vassals and
the subjects of the Ninevite monarchs, had borrowed their leading features.

Moreover, we find one of the most characteristic features of Assyrian
architecture occurring in this Armenian monument. The entrance is flanked
by lions similar to those which guard the temples at Nimroud.[489] The
other features of the composition are quite new to us. In front of the
temple two large vases are supported on tripods, of bronze no doubt. They
contained the water required for purifications; we shall encounter them
again in Syria. They remind us of the "molten sea" of Solomon's temple. The
temple stands upon a high plinth, to which access must have been given by
steps omitted by the sculptor. At each side of the door stands a
lance-headed pole, indicating, perhaps, that the temple was dedicated to a
god of war. In front of these lances stand two people in attitudes of
adoration; statues, perhaps, or figures in relief. The facade is formed of
pilasters divided horizontally by narrow bands; upon these pilasters, and
on the wall between them, hang shields or targets, that accord well with
the lances flanking the entrance. From two of the pilasters on the left of
the doorway lions' heads and shoulders seem to issue; these, too, may be
taken as symbolical of the bellicose disposi