front view and four seen from the side view, the object being to supply thereby what was then an imperfection in art. From the hall we passed through a series of apartments on whose walls are described soldiers with round shields and drawn daggers, beasts and birds, beautiful flowers, and garlands elegantly wrought, horses and chariots, with archers therein drawing the bow at a venture, and a priest whose hands are raised in prayer.

Turning from these marvelous works of ancient art, which seemed to echo back the mighty past, we traversed the intervening mounds and ravines, to examine the central palace, wherein had lived in regal splendor two Assyrian kings, whose military expeditions into Syria and Palestine are recorded in the Bible. The earliest of the two was Shalmaneser II., the son of Asshur-izir-pal, who ascended the throne about 860 B.C., and whose reign continued for thirty-five years. His power was felt from Media to the Mediterranean, from the Persian Gulf to the mountains of Armenia. Three of his twenty-seven campaigns were against Syria, when Ben-hadad and Hazael were upon the throne of Damascus, and during the successive reigns of Ahab and Jehu, the kings of Israel. Against their confederated strength, he marched with an army, "in multitudes that were not to be counted," and returned to his capital crowned with victory.

To commemorate his reign, he built for himself a magnificent residence less than five hundred feet from the splendid palace of his father; and, although subsequently despoiled of its rarer specimens of art, to adorn the palace of Esar-haddon, yet enough remains to illustrate its proportions and beauty. Among its ruins were discovered two gigantic winged bulls, covered with inscriptions, and an obelisk of black marble, now in the British Museum. On the four sides of the obelisk are twenty

compartments of bass-reliefs; and in the space above, between and below the figures, is cuneiform writing of two hundred and ten lines, sharply cut and well preserved. It is seven feet high, and twenty-two inches wide on the broad face. The material and the workmanship are su perior. It is a record in marble of the military annals of Shalmaneser II., for thirty-one years, commencing about 860 B.C. The bass-reliefs represent the king on two several occasions, attended with his chief officers of state, receiving the tribute of conquered nations, whose envoys prostrate themselves before the great king, and at his feet lay their offerings of gold, silver, copper in bars and cubes, goblets, shawls, and the tusks of elephants. In addition to such offerings as could be carried in the hand, there are also presented animals, such as the two-humped camels from Bactria, together with monkeys and baboons, lions and antelopes, the elephant and the rhinoceros, emblematic of different countries. Among the nations thereon portrayed are the Jews, whose peculiar features are unmistakable. And among the tributary kings whose names are inscribed on the obelisk is the name of "Jehu, the son of Omri," and Hazael, whom Elijah anointed king of Syria; which furnish an interesting instance of corroborative evidence of the fidelity of the Bible historians.

And other historic facts cluster around these ruins; for on the spot where the marble obelisk was found a subsequent king had his royal abode. It was Tiglathpileser II., the supposed Pul of the Scriptures, who repaired and adorned the palace of Shalmaneser II., and on its walls had caused to be sculptured in relief, but in colossal proportions, winged figures struggling with mys tic animals; and, to delight his high martial spirit, he had also scenes of war portrayed, such as sieges, with mounds

TIGLATH-PILESER IN HIS CHARIOT.

6000

and battering-rams, archers masked by loop-holed screens, and captives impaled alive.

Having ascended the throne in 745 B.C., Tiglath-pileser II. sought to restore the kingdom to its ancient glory and ascendency. His wars were many, long, and bloody. By his energy and unwearied activity he subdued a re