[Illustration: _Photos. Mansell British Museum_ ASHUR-BANI-PAL POURING OUT A LIBATION OVER DEAD LIONS] Not only however are we indebted to Ashur-bani-pal for the animal masterpieces of Assyrian art, but also for one of the few scenes which give us a glimpse into the private and non-official life of the king (cf. Pl. XXI). The king is reclining on a magnificently carved couch, while his queen sits bolt upright on a chair immediately opposite; the chair is as elaborate in its way as the couch, as is also the stool upon which her feet repose. In spite of the tropical appearance of the garden in which the feast is spread, the king is covered with a rug, while the queen is clad in richly-woven robes which look anything but cool. A table is set by the side of the couch and in front of the queen’s chair, upon which are laid the royal dainties. Both their majesties are about to quaff the ambrosial nectar with which their low but capacious cups are without doubt filled, but the scene of their banquet is in itself an appetizer: the thick palm trees, the rich clusters of grapes, and the hovering birds all adding a stimulus to the royal digestive faculties. Behind the king stand two attendants with fly-flappers, and another richly carved table upon which the royal weapons are laid. The queen is similarly protected by fly-flappers, behind the bearers of which are other servants laden with oriental luxuries, while in the distance the musicians are playing their voluptuous eastern melodies. The instruments are stringed, as are most of the musical instruments portrayed on Babylonian and Assyrian bas-reliefs, though tambourines, double-pipes, cymbals, drums and trumpets were also apparently known.[96] In spite however of all these intoxicating influences, there remained one other item in the programme—an item which doubtless had the most stimulating effect of all upon the appetite of the great king, i.e. the head of Te-umman of Elam, which hangs from a tree in the king’s immediate line of vision, and no doubt was a most gratifying spectacle to his majesty.