As in the case of the sphinx upon the flanking wall, the breast of this creature is covered with down as though partaking of the scheme completed by the wings, which as in the former case are folded by the side. These cover the upper half of the body only, below which the belly and hindquarters of the animal may be seen, strongly though somewhat conventionally delineated. As in the former cases of lion sculptures there is copious hair under the belly, which in this instance recurs also behind the forepaws and on the hinderquarters. The tail descends between the hind legs, curling forward towards the ground, where with a short backward curl its bushy end may be traced. The two sphinxes are similar in all respects to one another, but the head of one was found to have been broken away. The whole composition of this sculpture is so complex that it may be readily believed that it was not designed from an architectural point of view alone, as the mere support for a plain column. The excavators indeed found reason to believe that in some secondary use of the site, after the upper walling of this palace had been destroyed, the flat top of this pedestal had served as an altar or its equivalent, and by the side of it they found numerous burnt bones and cinders. It is clear, however, that in its original inception the palace doorway must have required a column to help the broad span between the wing-towers, which amounted to more than twenty-three feet. We are inclined to believe that possibly such a column, in conformity with the general design of the building, may have been in the form of a great statue, similar for example to that of Panammu found at Gerdschein near to Sinjerli,[697] and more particularly to the round column-figure found at Palanga.[698] This conclusion is, however, merely hypothetical, based purely on the elaborate nature of the pedestal, and on the rounded nature of the statues in question. It would however, be well accordant with the phase of oriental art to which the sculptures pertain. [Illustration: PLATE LXXXII SAKJE-GEUZI: SPHINX-PEDESTAL TO CENTRAL COLUMN OF PORTICO] Before passing from the subject of this portico, we must mention also two broad steps which obviously formed part of the same building. They are decorated chiefly with rosettes, and seem to have given access to an inner chamber, the connection of which with the threshold is not yet clear. In regard to the art illustrated by these subjects in general they lead us, after careful comparison with other Hittite monuments and with the ‘Aramaic’ monuments of Sinjerli,[699] to the conclusion that they represent an intermediate stage between the one and the other.[700] We cannot, from the internal evidence, decide whether this appearance is due to the influence of Hittite dominion over an Aramæan population, or to the supersession of a Hittite stronghold by Semitic rulers.