At the outset it may be noticed that the motive of these sculptures seems to be commemorative or emblematic rather than decorative: they are also extremely weathered, being protected only from the violence of the wind from certain quarters, and not at all from the rain; so that little need be said as to the artistic composition of the whole, or the details of its execution. The design, in brief, represents two processions of beings which meet in the middle (on the inner wall facing the entrance south). On the right the figures, with two exceptions, are those of robed females. On the left the persons represented are chiefly male,[501] but include two females, and are interspersed with certain winged beings of mythological character, and a group of two monstrosities which have not been explained. Hittite hieroglyphs and emblems accompany many of the figures, which are further identified by certain recognisable details of dress and weapons. Our chief interest centres naturally in the significance or symbolism of the leading figures of these processions—those which are carved on the short wall opposite to the opening: the relative importance of these is made clearer by a preliminary glance at those which follow in their trains.[502] The main figures on the left hand are forty-three in number, of which the first stands upon the shoulders of two others, bringing the total number on that side to forty-five. The leader is a godlike figure nearly seven feet high, clad in short tunic and shoes with turned-up toes. His left leg is forward and his left arm is advanced; the right arm is drawn back, and, the face being in profile to the left, we have here an illustration of the convention familiar also in Egyptian drawing, whereby the front view of the upper part of the body is seen, while the head and limbs are reproduced in profile. Only in the sculptures before us we see, whether as an illusion caused by the softening hand of Time, or whether by the deliberate treatment of the Hittite sculptor, an infinitely greater freedom, fulness, and suggestion of life imparted to the figure than we are wont to find in Egyptian funereal sculptures and temple decorations, notwithstanding the masterly skill with which the latter may have been executed. The right hand of this figure grasps the handle of a large round mace which rests upon his shoulder, and a dirk with crescent-shaped handle hangs at his left side, presumably from a girdle. Upon his head there is the tall conical head-dress of the Hittite peoples, though differing slightly from the ordinary representations in that the vertical ribs or flutings of this hat are connected by rings, in suggestion of metal work.[503] In the treatment of this feature the sculptor has realised our own convention of perspective, never adopted by the Egyptians, in the diminishing distances between the ribs receding round the sides. The hair at the back was dressed in a long pigtail, the