DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5625#0093
74 Survey of the Ancient World
of their builders. In the hands of the Assyrian architects the
arch, inherited from Babylonia, for the first time became an
imposing monumental feature of architecture. The impressive
triple arches of the Assyrian palace entrance (Fig. 43, D) were
the ancestor of the Roman triumphal arches (Fig. 112). They
were faced with glazed brick in gorgeous colors, and on either
side were vast human-headed bulls wrought in alabaster. The
Fig. 45. An Assyrian King hunting Lions
The king stands in the chariot, while his driver urges the horses (notice
loose reins and whip) at full gallop. The king draws his bow to the
arrowhead and discharges arrows full into the face of an enraged lion
just leaping into the chariot. Three foot soldiers follow behind, and an-
other lion with body full of arrows sinks down to die. A fine example
of the Assyrian sculptor's skill in drawing animals. Such scenes as this
and Fig. 44 (also headpiece, p. 54) were carved on large slabs of stone (ala-
baster), and in long bands they stretched for hundreds of feet along the
base of the walls of halls and corridors of an Assyrian palace (Fig. 43)
Assyrian palaces were the first buildings to employ great monu-
mental stairways at the entrance (Fig. 43,^4). Thus the archi-
tects of the Assyrian emperors produced the first magnificent
monumental buildings that appeared in Asia.
Within the palace, as a dado running along the lower portion
of the walls, were hundreds of feet of relief pictures cut in
alabaster (see Figs. 44 and 45, and headpiece of Chapter III,
p. 54). They display especially the great deeds of the em-
peror in war and hunting wild beasts. The human figures are
125. Civili-
zation of the
Assyrian
Empire:
sculpture
of their builders. In the hands of the Assyrian architects the
arch, inherited from Babylonia, for the first time became an
imposing monumental feature of architecture. The impressive
triple arches of the Assyrian palace entrance (Fig. 43, D) were
the ancestor of the Roman triumphal arches (Fig. 112). They
were faced with glazed brick in gorgeous colors, and on either
side were vast human-headed bulls wrought in alabaster. The
Fig. 45. An Assyrian King hunting Lions
The king stands in the chariot, while his driver urges the horses (notice
loose reins and whip) at full gallop. The king draws his bow to the
arrowhead and discharges arrows full into the face of an enraged lion
just leaping into the chariot. Three foot soldiers follow behind, and an-
other lion with body full of arrows sinks down to die. A fine example
of the Assyrian sculptor's skill in drawing animals. Such scenes as this
and Fig. 44 (also headpiece, p. 54) were carved on large slabs of stone (ala-
baster), and in long bands they stretched for hundreds of feet along the
base of the walls of halls and corridors of an Assyrian palace (Fig. 43)
Assyrian palaces were the first buildings to employ great monu-
mental stairways at the entrance (Fig. 43,^4). Thus the archi-
tects of the Assyrian emperors produced the first magnificent
monumental buildings that appeared in Asia.
Within the palace, as a dado running along the lower portion
of the walls, were hundreds of feet of relief pictures cut in
alabaster (see Figs. 44 and 45, and headpiece of Chapter III,
p. 54). They display especially the great deeds of the em-
peror in war and hunting wild beasts. The human figures are
125. Civili-
zation of the
Assyrian
Empire:
sculpture