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CHAPTER VI.

ARCHITECTURE AND OTHER ARTS.

"Architecti multarum artium solertes."--Mos. CHOR. (De Assyriis) i. 15.

The luxury and magnificence of the Assyrians, and the advanced condition
of the arts among them which such words imply, were matters familiar to
the Greeks and Romans, who, however, had little ocular evidence of the
fact, but accepted it upon the strength of a very clear and uniform
tradition. More fortunate than the nations of classical antiquity, whose
comparative proximity to the time proved no advantage to them, we
possess in the exhumed remains of this interesting people a mass of
evidence upon the point, which, although in many respects sadly
incomplete, still enables us to form a judgment for ourselves upon the
subject, and to believe--on better grounds than they possessed--the
artistic genius and multiform ingenuity of the Assyrians. As architects,
as designers, as sculptors, as metallurgists, as engravers, as