[253] This inscription is published in full in the _Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia_, vol. v. part ii. [254] The names of these three deities are furnished by the inscription which runs beneath the canopy of the pavilion (see Fig. 71). [255] The disk upon the table is enough by itself to betray the identity of the god, but as if to render assurance doubly sure, the artist has taken the trouble to cut on the bed of the relief under the three small figures, an inscription which has been thus translated by MM. OPPERT and MENANT: "Image of the Sun, the Great Lord, who dwells in the temple of Bit-para, in the city of Sippara." [256] See our _History of Art in Ancient Egypt_, vol. ii. chap. 1, Sec. 1. [257] PLACE, _Ninive_, vol. i. pp. 120-122, and vol. iii. plate 73. [258] In this connection Sir H. LAYARD makes an observation to which the attention of the artist should be drawn. Whenever pictures of _Belshazzar's Feast_ and the _Last Night of Babylon_ are painted massive Egyptian pillars are introduced: nothing could be more contrary to the facts (_Discoveries_, p. 581). [259] M. PLACE, indeed, encountered an octagonal column on the mound of Karamles, but the general character of the objects found in that excavation led him to conclude positively that the column in question was a relic from the Parthian or Sassanide epoch (_Ninive_, vol. ii. pp. 169, 170). [260] _History of Art in Ancient Egypt_, vol. ii. p. 95. [261] _Ibid._ vol. i. p. 397, fig. 230; and vol. ii. p. 105, fig. 84. [262] The profiles of the capitals in this gallery led Sir H. LAYARD to speak of "small pillars with capitals in the form of the Ionic volute" (_Discoveries_, p. 119) (?). [263] A similar arrangement of volutes may be found on the rough columns engraved upon one of the ivory plaques found at Nimroud (LAYARD, _Monuments_, &c., first series, plate 88, fig. 3). [264] We reproduce this capital from RAWLINSON'S _Five Great Monarchies_ (vol. i. p. 333); but we should have liked to be able to refer either to the relief in which it occurs, or to the original design which must have been made in the case of those slabs which had to be left at Nineveh. We have succeeded in finding neither the relief nor the drawing, so that we cannot guarantee the fidelity of the image. [265] See _Art in Ancient Egypt_, vol. ii. p. 120, fig. 95. [266] LAYARD forgets to give the height of this base: he is content to tell us that its greatest diameter is 2 feet 7 inches, and its smallest 11-1/2 inches. This latter measurement must have been taken at the junction with the shaft (_Discoveries_, p. 590). [267] George SMITH, _Assyrian Discoveries_, sixth edition, 8vo. 1876, p. 431.