[43] The central palace was partly destroyed even in the days of the Assyrians, by a king who wished to make use of its materials. LAYARD (_Nineveh_, ii. p. 19) found more than a hundred sculptured slabs stacked against each other, as if in a warehouse. The architect of Esarhaddon, the author of this spoliation, had not finished his work when it was suddenly interrupted. For a full account of the discoveries in the south-eastern palace, see LAYARD, _Nineveh_, ii. pp. 38–40. [44] Especially from the central palace (LAYARD, _Discoveries_, p. 656). The small rectangles shown on our plan at each side of the wall dividing the rooms marked 2 and 3 from each other, represent slabs lying on the ground at the foot of the wall for whose decoration they were intended. They were never put in place. The bases of circular pedestals, standing very slightly above the ground, are also marked. Sir H. Layard could not divine their use. [45] LAYARD, _Nineveh_, vol. ii. pp. 25, 26, and 29. [46] For an account of the excavations see LAYARD, _Nineveh_, vol. i. pp. 34, 39, 46, 59–62, 347–350; vol. ii. pp. 25–36. [47] LAYARD, _Nineveh_, vol. ii. pp. 14–16. [48] All the passages by ancient writers bearing on the subject will be found collected in the first of those articles of HŒFER, of which we have already had occasion to speak. Its title is: _Textes anciens sur l’Histoire et la Position de Ninive_. It is certain that even in the Roman period its site was not positively known. Lucian, who was born at Samosata, less than a hundred leagues from Nineveh, says: “Nineveh has perished; no trace of it remains, and we cannot say where it stood” (_Charon_, c. xxiii). [49] LAYARD, _Discoveries_, p. 137. [50] The plan in which LAYARD shows the results of his two digging campaigns will be found in the _Discoveries_, facing page 67. For the excavations at Kouyundjik see also his _Nineveh_, vol. ii. chapter xiv, and _Discoveries_, pp. 67–76, 102–120, 135–161, 228–233, 337–347, 438–463, 582–588, and 645–652. Layard attempts to give a general idea of the palace and of its decorations. There is also much detailed information regarding this building in RAWLINSON’S _Five Great Monarchies_, vol. ii. pp. 178–133. [51] The only details that have been given, so far as we know, of the discovery and exhumation of Assurbanipal’s palace, are to be found in an article by Mr. Rassam entitled: _Excavations and Discoveries in Assyria_ (_Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archæology_, vol. vii. pp. 37–58). This paper contains a plan of the northern palace (p. 40).