be protected by an accumulation of obstacles. In the case of fortresses
built on a plain, where the plan was not modified by the nature of the
site, the enclosing wall was generally round or oval in shape, and free
from useless angles which might detract from its strength. The walls
were surmounted by battlements, and flanked at short intervals by round
or square towers, the tops of which rose but little, if indeed at all,
above the level of the curtain. In front of this main wall was a second
lower one, also furnished with towers and battlements, which followed
the outline of the first all the way round at an interval of some yards,
thus acting as a sort of continuous screen to it. The gates were little
less than miniature citadels built into each line of ramparts; the gate
of the outer wall was often surrounded by lower outworks, two square
bastions and walls enclosing an outer quadrangle which had to be crossed
before the real gate was reached.

[Illustration: 226a.jpg PLAN OF THE ANCIENT CITY OF ZINJIRLI.]

A reproduction by Faucher-Gudin of the first plan published
by Luschan.

When a breach had been made in this double enclosure, though the town
itself might be taken, the labours of the attacking force were not yet
over. In the very centre of the place, on a sort of artificial mound
or knoll, stood the royal castle, and resistance on the part of its
garrison would make it necessary for the enemy to undertake a second
siege no less deadly and protracted than the first. The keep of Zinjirli
had only a single gate approached by a narrow causeway.

[Illustration: 226b.jpg ONE OF THE GATES OF ZINJIRLI RESTORED]

Reproduction by Faucher-Gudin of the sketch published by
Luschan.

Within, it was divided by walls into five compartments, each of which
was independent of the rest, and had to be attacked separately. Ma-tilu
knew he could hope for no mercy at the hands of the Assyrians; he
therefore struggled on to the last, and when at length obliged to
surrender, in the year 740 B.C., he paid for his obstinacy by the loss
of his throne, and perhaps also of his life.*

* Our knowledge of these events is imperfect, our only
information being derived from the very scanty details given
in the _Eponym Canon_; up to the present we can do no more
than trace the general course of events.

[Illustration: 227.jpg BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE ROYAL CASTLE OF ZINJIRLI
AS RESTORED]

Draw