It is suggested that possibly the fertilisation of the pistil is the subject of the scene. However that may be, we notice that, as in the previous case, the muscles of the arms and legs are strongly shown; the figures, too, are stolid, and the drawing, treatment, and subject are alike strongly Assyrian in feeling, with the exception of the peculiar and distinctive feature of the rosette and crescent. This representation completes the series of sculptures decorating the frontage of the palace, but there are others flanking the entrance on either side. Of these the lion corner-stones come first, and the details of these we have already examined. [Illustration: PLATE LXXX SAKJE-GEUZI: LION AND ADJOINING SCULPTURES (RIGHT SIDE)] The Lions are followed on each side by representations of winged sphinxes, the two sculptures, as in the other cases examined, being practically duplicates of one another. The creatures may be supposed to have the body of a lion, though the general pose is stiff, and the position of the front legs even suggests a bird, corresponding to the wings above; the further details of the monster, however, do not bear out this suggestion. The treatment of the head and details of this sculpture again fails to suggest anything distinctively Hittite, but only here and there the survival of Hittite feeling and tradition. Probably this art corresponds to an early phase of Semitic influence, such as was illustrated with more completeness in the excavations of Sinjerli. The first criterion is to be found in the treatment of the hair, which falls all around the back of the head in ringlets, and does not curl backward in a single bunch, in the fashion characteristic of the Hittite figures of Marash, Carchemish, and Bor. The beard is treated in similar fashion, while upon the cheeks it is represented by little coils or concentric circles. The features of the man are also much softer and less pronounced than those with which we are familiar in Hittite works of Asia Minor. The head-dress is a sort of helmet, a close-fitting rounded hat with a knob on the top. The wings of this creature are folded by the side, extending beyond the tail, and the whole of the breast is covered as it were with down. The hindquarters of the animal are strongly delineated, and the treatment here certainly suggests a lion’s body. The tail is held aloft and comes to an end in the shape of a bird’s head, but whether of a swan or goose is not clear. Though we fail to comprehend the full meaning of the symbolism involved in this detail, it is full of interesting suggestions.[691] This feature is found on each sphinx; and there may also be traced, more clearly on the right than on the left, the design of a horn upon the helmet. On the right-hand side the series of sculptures now terminates, the corner having been disarranged at some time. Two or three loose slabs, with traces of sculpture upon them, were found in the