The jointing of the brick courses can be clearly observed at this point. It is very simple, owing to the square shape of the bricks that necessitates two-handed manipulation. The cross-joints run straight through the walls, and if in one course a whole brick—a binder—lies at one corner, the next course has a half brick—a stretcher. At the edges and in the corners the sequence of the series changes. When on occasion the change does not occur owing to some irregularity, a quarter brick was employed at the edge, and in the corner a whole brick with its corner cut out was used, or one wall penetrated to the depth of half a brick into the adjoining wall, with a vertical joint extending from top to bottom. This is to be seen at this part of the Citadel. The care bestowed on applying these building regulations sometimes leaves much to be desired. The vertical joints are of uneven thickness, the walls were patched with inserted fragments, and in thick walls the regularity is frequently broken by small channels that extend transversely or lengthways through the wall, of the height and breadth of a course, and are only closed on the outer surface by an inserted fragment; they appear to have been constructed to secure the dryness of the building. In the Arachtu wall of Nabopolassar, and in his palace, as well as in the ascent on the north-east angle of the Kasr (_t_ 4), an exceptional feature occurs, a border series in which, within the same course, a half brick laid behind a whole one is regularly alternated with a whole brick laid behind a half one, so that the whole mass of the wall is joggled together by this border series. This is another instance of the false principles of construction which are found throughout antiquity far more frequently than enthusiastic admirers would credit. [Illustration: FIG. 55.—The six-lined Lebanon inscription from Southern Citadel. ] [Illustration: FIG. 56.—The eight-lined standard inscription from Southern Citadel. ]