The whole of the fabulous tribe of griffins, by which we mean an animal with the body of a lion or panther and the wings and head of a bird of prey, is richly represented in Assyrian art. The griffin recurs continually in the embroidery of the royal robes of Assurnazirpal (Fig. 90). The bird with a human head, the prototype of the Greek harpies and sirens, is also to be frequently met with. We find it introduced in those applied pieces which, after being cast and finished with the burin, were used by bronze workers in the decoration of vases of beaten metal. The diameters of the vases may easily be calculated from the inner curve of the applied plaques;[197] the latter were used to strengthen the vessels at the points where the movable handles, like those of a modern bucket, were attached. These handles were hooked to a ring or fastened to the back of the figure on the plaque.[198] The head of the figure gave something to catch hold of when the vessel was upon the table, with its handle down. The form in question (see Fig. 91) was chosen by the artist on account of its fitness for the work to be done; the tail and wings embrace the swelling sides very happily; but yet it would never have been so employed had it not belonged to the ordinary repertory of the ornamentist. Of all these types the only one that does not seem to have been invented by those who made use of it is that of the winged sphinxes used as supports in the palace of Esarhaddon (Vol. I., Fig. 85). The human-headed lion is certainly found long before, but it is not until the later reigns that he takes the couchant attitude and something of the physiognomy of the Egyptian sphinx. [Illustration: FIG. 91.--Human-headed bird. From De Longperier. One-third of the actual size.] Under the Sargonids communication with Egypt became so frequent that certain motives from the Nile valley were introduced into the Assyrian system of ornament, but the part they played was always a subordinate one. In creations such as those we have just been studying Chaldæa and Assyria certainly displayed more inventive power than was ever shown by Egypt. Speaking broadly, there was no possible combination they did not attempt. It was from Chaldæo-Assyrian artists that Syria, Judæa, and Phœnicia, as well as Asia Minor, borrowed their imaginary animals; and, thanks to these middle-men, it was also to the artists of the double valley that the early ceramists and modellers of Greece owed not a few of the motives they transmitted to the great periods of classic art, and, through the latter, to the art of the Renaissance and of our own day. § 5. _Chaldæan Sculpture._