tion of the god to whom the
building was dedicated. The pediment with which the facade is crowned is
rather low in its proportions. Its tympanum is filled with a kind of
reticulated ornament made up of small lozenges or meshes. There is nothing
to throw light upon the internal arrangements, but by the aid of this
carved sketch the facade may be easily restored, save, of course, in the
matter of size, at which we can only guess.

The type is chiefly interesting on account of its analogy with the Greek
temple. We have already drawn attention to similar points of likeness in
the small buildings in which the column plays such an important part (Figs.
41 and 42). We have seen that some of those little structures resemble the
Egyptian temples, others the Greek temple _in antis_.[490] For the sake of
completeness we may also mention the pavilion we find so often in the
Chaldaean monuments (Fig. 79). It is crowned with the horned mitre we are
accustomed to see upon the heads of the winged bulls. Our interest has been
awakened in these little chapels chiefly on account of the decorative forms
of which they afford such early examples. It is not to them that we must
look for the distinctive features of Mesopotamian temple architecture.
These we must find in the _staged tower_ or _zigguratt_. Why is it that the
whole of those monuments, with the single exception of the so-called
_Observatory_ of Khorsabad, are now mere heaps of formless dust, fulfilling
to the letter the biblical prophecies as to the fate of Nineveh and
Babylon? One traveller tells us how when he approached the Birs-Nimroud he
saw wolves stretched upon its slopes and basking in the sun. Before they
would lazily rise and make up their minds to decamp, the Arabs of his
escort had to ride forward shouting and shaking their lances.

NOTES:

[484] See PLACE, _Ninive_, vol. i. pp. 149-151, and vol. ii. pp. 6-7, and
36-42. This building is at the western angle of the area occupied by the
Khorsabad ruins (vol. iii. plate 3). The restoration will be found in the
plate numbered 37 _bis_.

[485] _Discoveries_, &c., pp. 348-357, 359-362; and _Monuments_, &c.,
second series, plate 5.

[486] This is now in the British Museum.--ED.

[487] The doors are so arranged that in neither temple can the naos be seen
by one standing outside the building.--ED.

[488] This expedition took place in the eighth year of Sargon's reign. The
passage in which the chief events are recounted