The exact time when the Mesopotamians acquired and practised the art of adding a percentage of tin to the copper, thereby making it bronze—a metal possessed of greater strength than copper—is not known, but a judgment based on the evidence afforded by the cases which have been actually chemically analysed, would indicate that the artificial combination of copper and tin was not known till the Assyrian era, and that any percentage of tin or antimony found in the copper objects of earlier date is a natural and not an artificial alloy. It is however worthy of note that apparently as early as the time of Bur-Sin, king of Ur (_circ._ 2400 B.C.), the art of mixing metals was not unknown. At all events a copper statuette of the Kanephorous order, and bearing an inscription of this king, contains an alloy of lead, the percentage of lead being as much as eighteen per cent. But with the rise of Assyrian power, bronze gradually supplanted copper; copper was indeed still used, and Esarhaddon, for example, informs us that he made the doors of one of the palaces which he erected for himself, of cypress wood, and that he further overlaid them with silver and copper; it was also used for subordinate purposes, as for example in the manufacture of colour,[111] but it ceased to occupy an important place in the life of the people, though of course as the principal contributor to the artificially composed bronze it was still used extensively, though in a less conspicuous manner. A good example of the use of bronze in the early Assyrian period is to be found in a scimitar (cf. Fig. 41, A) bearing an inscription of Adad-nirari I, king of Assyria about 1325 B.C. The whole length of the sword is just over twenty-one inches, the length of the blade being sixteen inches, and that of the hilt about five, while its width varies from just over one to just under two inches. The sword was evidently a ceremonial one, and possibly was at one time placed in the hand of a god’s statue; its hilt was apparently jewelled and inlaid with ivory,[112] and it resembles that found by Macalister at Gezer in Southern Palestine. It is interesting to compare the scimitar of Adad-nirari with the sword found by Andrae at Ashur (cf. Fig. 41, B) from which it differs entirely in character and design, the latter being perfectly straight. Another interesting discovery made by Andrae on the same site is a bronze axe (cf. Fig. 41, C), which is quite modern in its appearance, and is not unlike a short-handled ice-axe. [Illustration: FIG. 41.—A (cf. _T. S. B. A._, vol. IV, Pl. 2, p. 347). B (cf. Andrae, _Der Anu-Adad Tempel_, p. 53).] _PLATE XXVIII_ [Illustration: _Photo. Mansell_ _British Museum_ BRONZE OBJECTS, FROM NIMRÛD]