perhaps when this is not the case, as in one or two of the detached heads, they represent women, divine heroes, or gods.

Next to the statues made of diorite, we have certain basreliefs dating from this early time. Some of these are very rudely carved, apparently with rough tools; others have more finish. One of them, and perhaps the earliest, represents in a naïve way one of the first kings of whom we have any records, and who is called Ur Nina, and his family. The figures are ranged in two rows, and the king is dressed in a royal robe. In one row he is seated and holds a cup; in the other he is standing, and holds a basket on his head. He is attended by his chamberlain. All the figures are clean shaven, and the only distinction is that the robe of the king seems more elaborately made.

Another and larger relief has reached us only in fragments, and its partial destruction is the more to be regretted, as it is the earliest representation of a Mesopotamian battle scene. In it a king, called Eannadu, is triumphing over his enemies. In one scene he is represented at the head of a phalanx of six ranks of his soldiers, the first rank of whom carry rectangular shields. decorated with bosses and are armed with lances. The king carries a lance in one hand and a kind of curved mace in the other. In a second scene he is represented in his chariot, to which a quiver containing javelins, &c., is attached, charging at the head of his men, who carry lances and battle-axes.

The king wears the royal robe, which forms a petticoat about his legs, while a mantle of richer materials hangs on his shoulders and neck. His face is bare, but his abundant hair is fastened into a kind of chignon behind, and is bound with a band in front. The curved weapon already mentioned seems formed of several parallel pieces bound together by rings or knots, and looks like a kind of mace. M. Heuzey points out that a similar weapon is borne by a chief of the Amu, an Asiatic tribe, represented in the tombs at Beni Hassan, and dating from the twelfth dynasty. The helmets, probably made of bronze or beaten copper, worn by the king and his soldiers, are more or less conical in shape, like those of the later Assyrians. Attached to them is a kind of cover to the back of the neck, which does not occur in later Assyrian armour.

Behind the king are a group apparently of princesses; they all wear flowing locks, and the robes called kaunakis by M. Heuzey. On the ground are a number of corpses, arranged symmetrically, heads to heads and feet to feet, over which the phalanx of troops is marching. In front of the whole is apparently represented the battle-field itself, and a flock of

vultures

vultures in the sky carrying with them the trophies of the fight, in the shape of human heads, arms, and legs. On a second fragment are represented a number of corpses piled symmetrically in two rows, and lying with their faces downwards, the heads of the upper row being placed where the feet of the other Attendants, with short skirts, bring fresh corpses.

are.

Another scene represents a pile of five rows of corpses, alternately arranged as in the previous one. Two figures are mounting the heap and steadying themselves by a rope, one end of which is fastened to the ground. They are bare to the waist, and have a piece of fringed stuff round their loins. On their heads they carry baskets, which are apparently full of earth, and which rest on little cushions tied on their heads, round their chins, by strings. It seems plain that these figures are covering the corpses with a mound of earth or tumulus. All the heads are of the same type,-those which the vultures are carrying off, and those of the dead and of their companions who are piling up the tumulus. Close by are represented two oxen, with their muzzles and forefeet pinioned to the ground and lying on their backs, doubtless the victims for the sacrifice; piles of what seems to be hewn wood, and a vase in the form of a horn, from which hang two palm branches, are also represented, together with the remains of a figure dressed in the royal vestment. The whole doubtless represents a sacrifice at the hecatomb, made by the king himself. In the fourth and last scene the king is apparently represented presiding at the execution of the prisoners, and is himself figured beating down a vanquished chief.

On the other face of the stele, which is chiefly occupied by inscriptions, the representation is of a mythological character. There are, first, remains of a colossal figure, which is represented with the divine head-dress, ornamented with two horns, and which wears a long flowing beard, and has its hair fastened with a band and flowing down in curls behind. It carries a mace in one hand, and a curious emblem, consisting of a lion-headed eagle on a lion's back, on the other. This is supposed by M. Heuzey to be a representation of a God, or perhaps of the Chaldean Hercules, Gilgamish. Underneath the right arm of the figure is represented a kind of reticulated pattern, doubtless a net or trellis, in which are contained a number of naked figures mixed pell-mell. It is upon this confused mass of captives that the mace held in the right hand of the figure is about to fall. M. Heuzey suggests that the trellis represents the wicker cages in which were placed victims, like those mentioned in the Bible, when a holocaust

a holocaust to Moloch was being made. It also recalls the allusion in Habakkuk i. 15-17, in which the prophet compares the vanquished nations to the victims which the Chaldean conqueror encloses in his net.

In addition to these and similar sculptures, there have also been recovered several heads of statuettes, carved in limestone, marked, like the larger figures, by bare and shaven heads, and showing the same almost triangular eyes, big ears, thick necks, and, where preserved, strongly hooked noses. In some cases the eye sockets are hollow, and once doubtless contained enamel or stones. There have also been found some larger heads, all represented hairless and bare, except one which wears a kind of turban, the μírpa of the Greeks, and which Herodotus describes as the head-dress of the Babylonians of his day. These rolls of plain or embroidered muslin or cloth are in fact indispensable in such fiercely hot climates. Similar turbans are represented on the cylinders. On one or two statues, and also on some bas-reliefs, the simple robe or toga is replaced by one made in imitation of a skin, with bunches of wool attached in rows, so as to give the effect of a gown made up of a series of starched frills. These warm and expensive mantles were probably the winter dress of the kings and grandees. The cylinders or seals just named were made of hard stone, some of lapis-lazuli, others of white marble, hæmatite, diorite, &c., and engraved with great skill with scenes from the early heroic legends of the country; they abound in the ruins. M. de Sarsec found many of them actually built into the walls and enclosed in mortar, and he argues that they were charms used as preservatives against demons, evil spirits, &c., and appositely quotes a Homeric hymn, where such demons are supposed to have haunted houses and potteries.

Herodotus was struck by the fact that in Babylonia each man carried a bâton or mace and a seal, a fact which is confirmed by the immense number of these seals which have reached us. The oldest of them are apparently on natural pebbles. Eventually they were beautifully cut into the shape of cylinders and pierced. They were excellently adapted to their purpose, which was to be rolled over the damp clay of the tablets, and thus leave an impression of their owner's name, &c. Among the poor people, who could not afford such luxuries, it was customary to impress the finger-nails on the clay. The oldest cylinders seem to have been the largest. In early times they were often tied to the arm with thread and attached to the wrist, and are still found in the tombs on the old sites of Warka and Mugheir, resting close to the bones of the dead. They are all

engraved

engraved in intaglio. The oldest cylinders are for the most part made of porphyry, basalt, ferruginous marbles, serpentine, syenite, and hæmatite. Another form of art practised by the early Chaldeans was the representation in incised lines of various scenes carved on the shell of the Tridacma squamosa, pearl oysters, and similar substances.

The art of the potter had not developed very far, but everyone will admire the graceful shapes and simple curved lines of the different vessels, which are made of simply baked clay, without glaze or enamel. These early potters excelled, however, in modelling and moulding figures in terra-cotta, many of which have been recovered by M. de Sarsec, as have also a large series of gracefully shaped and smoothed bowls and basins, many of them inscribed and made of different kinds of stone, such as alabaster, various kinds of marble, and diorite.

The greater part of the tools and weapons in use at this time were still made of stone, and a great many of them have been found by M. de Sarsec; notably some pierced, polished, pear-shaped mace-heads, or similar weapons, ornamented with clusters of lions' heads, &c., such as we see the Assyrians using in the later sculptures. While the great proportion of the implements were made of stone, metals were well known and skilfully worked. Among the metal objects are specially noteworthy the votive figures in copper, terminating below in cones or projecting nail-like terminations. These were found in many cases on the ground, or enclosed in small brick chambers, sometimes with inscribed plaques of limestone upon them. They generally bear dedications to the gods, and represent kings or deities. The most frequent subject is that of a kneeling man, wearing a turban ornamented with four rows of horns, and holding in front of him a conical object with its point downwards. This has been explained rationally and ingeniously as a 'firestick,' and the hero, or god-for he was probably the latter-as engaged in the primeval operation of producing fire. In other cases we have bald-headed and beardless figures of kings carrying baskets on their heads, and in the attitude of canephori, doubtless implying some act of humility and subservience to the god to whom the figure is dedicated. Another type again consists of a simply turbaned figure, while a fourth represents a reclining bull. These figures, occurring in the very earliest times, show great artistic sense and powers of modelling, and prove how advanced the art of metallurgy then was. A similar proof is exhibited in the remains of bronze weapons, notably of a colossal votive, a copper lance, with a long handle, three mètres long, with remains of the rivets by which it was

fastened,

fastened, recently discovered, and which is apparently the weapon continually represented as used by the Chaldean Hercules, the hero Gilgamish, and which is figured on some of the cylinders as fixed on the ground in front of a temple. Inter alia, a bronze inscribed sword was also found by M. de Sarsec. A still more remarkable and unexpected discovery is that of a silver vase, mounted on four feet of copper, decorated in pounced work with four lion-headed eagles planting their claws in the backs of lions, which alternate with deer and ibexes, showing great artistic power, and inscribed with the name of Entéména, one of the very earliest kings. This is now at Constantinople. It is curious to find on this, the earliest known work of the silversmith, a decoration recalling the forms of animals on the early vases of Greece and on the later Assyrian and Phœnician metal cups. It should be remarked that the proportion of tin and copper in the bronze objects already mentioned is very much the same as that employed in later times.

Having surveyed the artistic and material surroundings of the early Chaldees, let us now say a very few words about the difficult question of their religion. The Pantheon of Chaldea, like that of some other countries, was more complicated in appearance than in reality; the fact is, a good many of the Gods and Goddesses were the same deities under different names and with different attributes. In Greece, in Rome, and in medieval times, Zeus, or Apollo, or 'Our Lady' became famous for different virtues and different powers at their different shrines, and gradually acquired fresh names, the Apollo of Delos being treated as a different personage to the Apollo of Delphi, and our Lady of Loreto to our Lady of Montserrat. The same process was at work in Chaldea. As far as we can discover, the people in all parts of it recognized a supreme god and a supreme goddess, the father and mother of gods and men, but this supreme god and goddess were worshipped in different towns for special powers and associated with certain functions, and thus acquired different names and were presently treated as different gods.

Thus, at Nunki, otherwise called Eridu, the supreme god was called Enki or Ea, and the supreme goddess Davkina. As Eridu was situated on or near the sea, Ea became the great water-god; but he is distinctly identified with their supreme god, Bel, by the Babylonians. Again, at Erech, the supreme god was called Anna, and especially identified with the sky: his wife was called Gatumdug. At Niffer, the supreme god, also identified by the Babylonians with Bel, was Ellil, or Enlil, whose special functions were to look after the land of ghosts

and