The low ruin heaps of Nineveh (Kuyundshik, Nebbi Yunus, and Khorsabad), of Chalah (Nimrud), and Asshur (Kileh Shergat), washed down as they are by streams of rain, have yet preserved for us the remains of the buildings and palaces of the kings of Asshur, from the days of Samsi-Bin I., Tiglath Pilesar I., Shalmanesar I., down to Assur-idil-ili. Set on fire at the time of destruction, the wooden roofs of the palaces were reduced to cinders, and fell in upon the floor of the chambers, where portions of them are still to be found. The upper parts of the brick-walls were then washed down by wind and rain, and covered the lower part of the rooms. Even where the fire did not spread, the beams of the roofs at length broke down, the upper layers of the bricks on the walls were gradually washed down, and raised the floors of the chambers, as well as the ground immediately surrounding them. By this process the palaces of Nineveh, Chalah, and Dur Sarrukin, were changed into heaps of earth. But while the upper part of the buildings buried the lower in their ruins, the lower part, with all the inscriptions and sculptures contained in it, was saved from further destruction; and these unsightly heaps have preserved to us the civilisation and the characteristics of the Assyrians, as truly as the lofty monuments and rock tombs on the Nile have preserved the picture of ancient Egypt, though they do not present the same breadth, and extend in the same way to every side of life. FOOTNOTES: [514] Nicol. Dam. Frag. 9, ed. Müller. Athenæus, p. 529. Diod. 2, 24. [515] Athenæus, p. 528. [516] Diod. 2, 24-27. [517] Athenæus, p. 529. [518] Diod. 2, 28. [519] Diod. 2, 32-34. [520] Herod. 1, 95, 96. [521] Herod. 4, 1-4. [522] Herod. 1, 73, 74. [523] Herod. 1, 130. [524] Or, as in Ctesias the victory of Cyrus over Astyages is placed in 564 B.C.--even in the year 883 B.C. Cf. Vol. II., p. 26. [525] Aristoph. Aves, 102. [526] Hellan. Frag. 158. Callisth. Frag. 32, ed. Müller. [527] Movers, "Relig. der Phoeniker," s. 154. 394, 465, 496, 612. The pyre which Alexander caused to be erected in Babylon to Hephæstion, after the Semitic pattern, was four stades in circuit and 200 feet in height. Diod. 17, 115. [528] Aristob. Frag. 6, ed. Müller. Cf. above, p. 145, 146. [529] _e.g._ Diod. 2, 24; Amyntas in Athenæus, p. 529. [530] If we assume that the 28 years of the Scythian dominion have already been deducted from the 128 years, and must therefore be added to them, 714 B.C. (= 558 + 156) is the beginning of the Median dominion. In the other case this must have commenced in the year 658 (558 + 100) B.C. Since Herodotus represents Phraortes as first conquering Asia, and represents him as ascending the throne in 655 B.C., the duration of the Median empire is not even 100, but only 79 years. We shall soon see that it was even shorter. [531] Deioces reigned 53 years, Phraortes 22, Cyaxares 40, Astyages 35. Each pair of rulers makes up a total of 75 years.