Unlike shell, which could be readily picked up on the shores of the Persian Gulf by the inhabitants of the earliest centres of civilization in Lower Mesopotamia, many of which were doubtless seaports in those days, ivory was only procurable elsewhere, and it was not till the dwellers in the valley extended their power outside that they were able to command a supply of this more precious substance, ivory forming one of the principal materials exacted by the later Assyrian kings from their various vassal princes. A large collection of carved ivories discovered in Ashur-naṣir-pal’s palace at Nimrûd (Calah) affords us the desired opportunity for studying the ivory work of the period, and for ascertaining the proficiency to which that art was brought by the artists of that day. What strikes one instantly, and with overwhelming force, about the little group of carved ivories in Pl. XXXII is their pronounced Egyptian appearance, a sure and certain indication of the intimate relation which must have subsisted between Egypt and Assyria at this period. In the top right-hand corner we have the head of a woman, represented full-face and with an Egyptian head-gear: the head is set within the frame of a narrow window, from which it looks out over a balcony supported by pillars. In the centre we have the fragment of a similar head, below which there is a bull’s head. In the top left-hand corner we have an ivory plaque upon which is figured an Egyptian king in standing posture, grasping a lotus plant about his own height with his left hand. The plant rests upon a stand, the top of which is shaped volute-wise and resembles the capitals of the columns on the bas-relief from Sippar (cf. Pl. XIV). Below on the left is a carved ivory sphinx, which in style and character is clearly neither Assyrian nor Babylonian. But the most interesting specimen in this group is the carved ivory panel in which two women are seated opposite each other on either side of a cartouche surmounted by a disc and feathers. The cartouche contains Egyptian hieroglyphs which may be read “Uben Shu,” the meaning of which would be “The Sun god riseth,” or the “Rising Sun”: the inside of this cartouche is gilded, and the characters within are inlaid. The feathers, which are likewise inlaid, are the emblem of Maat, the god of truth, and the disc is of course emblematic of the sun. The two women are obviously Egyptian, their head-dresses, the folds in their garments and their general attitude all alike testifying to their Egyptian origin, while beneath their seats, which consist of low-backed chairs, there is the “ankh” sign, the meaning of which is “life.” This sign, misnamed “crux ansata,” or “cross with a handle,” has needless to say nothing whatsoever to do with the Christian symbol; it probably represented a girdle, that which used to be regarded as a handle being that part of the girdle which encircled the waist, the long stem being