Explorations in Bible lands during the 19th century - H. V. Hilprecht

118 EXPLORATIONS IN BIBLE LANDS
inscriptions, " the subject being frequently confined to one
tablet, and arranged with some attempt at composition, so
as to form a separate picture." Here the four walls of a
chamber were generally adorned " by one series of sculptures,
representing a consecutive history, uninterrupted by
inscriptions, or by the divisions in the alabaster panelling."
Short epigraphs or labels, as a rule placed on the upper part
of the stones, give the names of the conquered country, city,
and even of the principal prisoners and historical events
pictured below. Hundreds of figures cover the face of the
slabs from top to bottom. We become acquainted with
the peculiarities, in type and dress, of foreign nations, and
the characteristic features and products of their lands ; we are
introduced into the very life and occupations of the persons
represented. The sculptor shows us the Babylonian swamps
with their jungles of tall reeds, frequented by wild boars, and
barbarous tribes skimming over the waters in their light boats
of wicker-work, exactly as thev are used to-day by the inhabitants
of the same marshes ; or he takes us into the high
mountains of Kurdistan, covered with trees and crowned with
castles, endeavoring even to convey the idea of a valley by
reversing the trees and mountains on one side of the stream,
which is filled with fishes and crabs and turtles. He indicates
the different headgear worn by female musicians, or
by captive women carried with their husbands and children
to Nineveh. Some wear their hair in long ringlets, some
platted or braided, some confined in a net; others are characterized
by hoods fitting close over their heads, others by
a kind of turban ; Elamite ladies have their hair in curls
falling
on their shoulders, and bound above the temples by
a band or fillet, while those from Syria wear a high conical
headdress, similar to that which is frequently found to-day
in those regions. It is impossible to enter into all the
details so faithfully represented. Without the knowledge
of a single cuneiform character, we learned the principal