Next to the chase of the lion and lioness, the early Assyrian monarchs delighted in that of the wild bull.  It is not quite certain what exact species of animal is sought to be expressed by the representations upon the sculptures; but on the whole it is perhaps most probable that the Aurochs or European bison (Bos urus of naturalists) is the beast intended.  At any rate it was an animal of such strength and courage that, according to the Assyrian belief, it ventured to contend with the lion. [PLATE CXX., Fig. 2.] The Assyrian monarchs chased the wild bull in their chariots without dogs, but with the assistance of horsemen, who turned the animals when they fled, and brought them within the monarch’s reach. [PLATE CXX., Fig. 3.] The king then aimed his arrows at them, and the attendant horsemen, who were provided with bows, seem to have been permitted to do the same.  The bull seldom fell until he had received a number of wounds; and we sometimes see as many as five arrows still fixed in the body of one that has succumbed.  It would seem that the bull, when pushed, would, like the lion, make a rush at the king’s chariot, in which case the monarch seized him by one of the horns and gave him the coup de grace with his sword.

The special zest with which this animal was pursued may have arisen in part from its scarcity.  The Aurochs is wild and shy; it dislikes the neighborhood of man, and has retired before him till it is now found only in the forests of Lithuania, Carpathia, and the Caucasus.  It seems nearly certain that, in the time of the later kings, the species of wild cattle previously limited, whatever it was, had disappeared from Assyria altogether; at least this is the only probable account that can be given of its non-occurrence in the later sculptures, more especially in those of Asshur-bani-pal, the son of Esarhaddon, which seem intended to represent the chase under every aspect known at the time.  We might therefore presume it to have been, even in the early period, already a somewhat rare animal.  And so we find in the Inscriptions that the animal, or animals, which appear to represent wild cattle, were only met with in outlying districts of the empire—­on the borders of Syria and in the country about Harrah; and then in such small numbers as to imply that even there they were not very abundant.

When the chase of the nobler animals—­the lion and the wild bull—­had been conducted to a successful issue, the hunters returned in a grand procession to the capital, carrying with then as trophies of their prowess the bodies of the slain.  These were borne aloft on the shoulders of men, three or four being required to carry each beast.  Having been brought to an appointed spot, they were arranged side by side upon the ground, the heads of all pointing the same way; and the monarch, attended by several of his principal officers, as the Vizier, the Chief Eunuch, the fan-bearers, the bow and mace bearers, and also by a number of musicians, came to the place,