Bk. II. Ch. III. ASSYRIAN PALACES. 179 variety and picturesqueness of effect, and of which there is little doubt that the builders availed themselves to the fullest extent. This led into a courtyard of considerable dimensions, surrounded by apart- ments, but they are too much destroyed by fire to be intelligible. Another great palace, built, as appears from the inscriptions, by a son of Esarhaddon, has been discovered nearly in the centre of the mound at Koyunjik. Its terrace-wall has been explored for nearly 300 ft. in two directions from the angle near which the principal entrance is placed. This is on a level 20 ft. lower than the palace itself, which is reached by an inclined passage nearly 200 ft. in length, adorned with 70. Haii of South-West Palace, sculpture on both sides. The palace itself, as far as its exploration has been carried, appears similar in its arrange- ments to those already described ; but the sculptures with which it is adorned are more minute and delicate, aijd show a more perfect i , ^ [^'W./mM t^ 71. Central Palace, Koyunjik. Scale 100 ft. to 1 in.
