[Illustration: PLATE 41]

The platform appears to have been, in general shape, a rectangle, or
where it had different elevations, to have been composed of a
rectangles. The mound of Khorsabad, which is of this latter character,
resembles a gigantic T. [PLATE XLII., Fig. 1.]

[Illustration: PLATE 42]

It must not be supposed, however, that the rectangle was always exact.
Sometimes its outline was broken by angular projections and
indentations, as in the plan [PLATE XLII., Fig. 21.] where the shaded
parts represent actual discoveries. Sometimes it grew to be irregular,
by the addition of fresh portions, as new kings arose who determined on
fresh erections. This is the ease at Nimrud, where the platform broadens
towards its lower or southern end, and still more at Koyunjik and Nebbi
Yunus, where the rectangular idea has been so overlaid as to have almost
wholly disappeared. Palaces were commonly placed near one edge of the
mound--more especially near the river edge probably for the better
enjoyment of the prospect, and of the cool air over the water.

The palace itself was composed of three main elements, courts, grand
halls, and small private apartments. A palace has usually from two to
four courts, which are either square or oblong, and vary in size
according to the general scale of the building. In the north-west palace
at Nimrud, the most ancient of the edifices yet explored, one court only
has been found, the dimensions of which are 120 feet by 90. At
Khorsabad, the palace of Sargon has four courts. [PLATE XLII., Fig. 2.]
Three of them are nearly square, the largest of these measuring 180 feet
each Way, and the smallest about 120 feet; the fourth is oblong, and