Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1854-06-28
New DiscOyerie, AT Nineveh.

ETY. have just issued satisfactory report ol
The progress of their agent in Babylonia.
The following extract is OF interest:
I'm addition 20 the discoveries mentioned
by Mr.. Lotus, the committee have to an
nounce that new palace has been found
at Nineveh in the mound of Konyunjlk,
of which Colonel Rawlinson reports in the
following terms:
"a most beautiful palace has been re-
Gently discovered at Nineveh belonging to
the son of Esar Naddon. The sculptures
are infinitely superior in variety Of subject,
IN artistic treatment and in skill and deli
cacy Of execution to every thing which has
been before found. The palace also is OF
great extent, containing perhaps FIVE hun
dred sculptured slabs, and the marbles are
generally in good state OF preservation
I'm another letter he adds:
1.-The new palace is by far the most
magnificent thing yet discovered in Assyr-
ia. Each hall, room, and passage Is Gevo-
ted t. separate subject, and where the
series is complete and sculpture well pre-
served, as not unfrequenlly happens, is Of
extraordinary interest. In fact, the vari
ETY. Of subject, artistic grouping and treat
ment, high relief, richness Of detail, and
delicacy OF execution entitle the palace to
be reckoned the chiet' d. Guure of Assyr-
ian art. Some OF the pavement slabs are
most superb, and the animals, trees, and
flowers, even the human figures, are much
more natural and free from conventional.
ties than in any of the earlier palaces
There are between two and three hundred
Scuptured slabs already uncovered, and
not above one half Of the palace is yet ex-
pored.
"'Colossal bulls and lions there are none,
but monsters, centaurs. hippogryphs, &C.,
there are as many as you please
"sAt one of the entrances there are pair
of round ornamental pedestals, which cer-
tainly supported columns; but as there are
no oremains of such columns, they must have
been formed, suppose, Of wood
Son one slab there Is city with doub-
lie wall, and within, temple, faced with
row OF columns supported on the backs OF
animals On another there is mound, on
the top of which is castle, and to give
more extent TO the upper platform, CAUSE
way is run out from the top of the mason
nv with sharp pointed arches stretching
down the side of the mound
"Another private letter from a gentle
man residing at Nosul, speaks 10 the same
terms of these new discoveries. and adds
some further particulars regarding the sub
iects of the sculptures. In speaking of the
slab representing the palace or temple al
ludeI to above, he says:
"'It represents very minutely the ex-
terror architecture. The second story Is
built with pillars, which have their bases
on the backs of lions and humanheaded
bulls, with their heads turned like those al
KorSabad.'
He also mentions the representation Of
bridge with three pointed arches, and 9TH
er particulars Illustrative of the archltec'
ture of the period.
.'One of the best executed slabs repre-
sents lion hunt. In this scene, he says,
the king is the principal huntsman, and Is
in the act of striking lance into a lion
SprlhRlnS upon MS Chaiio'' ""'''' '"'S"
others. already pierced by many arrows,
some of which are dead and Others dying,
are most beautifully and naturally portrayed
upon the slabs. On another slab they have
represented park, with an open gate
through which is seen the king bunting IL
ons, executed on very minute scale, as il
they intended tito appear far in the dis
tance.' He conclude by saying that the
art displayed in the treatment OF both men
and animals.ln these bas-reliefs surpasses
every thing discovered in the ruins of As,
syria
"The committee take this opportunity ol
calling the attention OF the subscribers tc
the progress recently made in the decipher-
ing of the inscriptions, which comprise the
Identification of all the Assyrian kings men
lioned in the Bible and of many of those
whose names occur in protane hi,iory.exteE-
ding the chronology of Assyra to period Of
about two thousand years before Christ
An almost perfect series of the names OF
the ancient kings of Assyria has also been
discovered and numerous illustrations Of
the sacred Scriptures of the highest inter
est"