The most ancient bas-reliefs that the excavations in Assyria have brought to light come from the palace of Assur-nasir-pal (B.C. 882-857) at Calah (Nimroud). What a distance there is between this epoch and that of the ruins of Tello! But from the reign of this prince to the fall of Nineveh, towards the end of the seventh century--that is to say, during three centuries--there is an abundance of documents for the history of sculpture; they have been disinterred principally from the palaces of Assur-nasir-pal, Shalmaneser, Samsi-Rammanu, Rammanu-nirari, Tiglath-Pileser, Sargon, Sennacherib, Esarhaddon and Assurbanipal,--palaces which these princes had built in order to immortalise their fame, and the walls of which they covered with the scenes of their valour and the narrative of their exploits. [Illustration: Fig. 67.--Genius with the beak of an eagle (Bas-relief at the Louvre).] [Illustration: Fig. 68.--Two-winged genius (Bas-relief at the British Museum).] Besides the interior walls of the chambers, no bas-reliefs were found in the palaces except on the principal façade. These sculptures on the façade have peculiar characteristics upon which we must lay stress. In the first place, they are exclusively devoted to religious and mythological subjects: not the smallest allusion is found to the exploits of the prince. They represent especially divine heroes, winged genii with human bodies and eagles’ claws and beaks, winged lions and bulls which guard the royal residence and defend the approaches to it, whether against evil spirits or against [Illustration: Fig. 69.--Four-winged genius, Khorsabad (Louvre, 9 ft. 10 in. high).]