Another curious confirmation of the ordinary belief is to be found in the physical characteristics of the people, as revealed to us by the sculptures.  Few persons in any way familiar with these works of art can have failed to remark the striking resemblance to the Jewish physiognomy which is presented by the sculptured effigies of the Assyrians.  The forehead straight but not high, the full brow, the eye large and almond-shaped, the aquiline nose, a little coarse at the end, and unduly depressed, the strong, firm mouth, with lips somewhat over thick, the well-formed chin—­best seen in the representation of eunuchs—­the abundant hair and ample beard, both colored as black—­all these recall the chief peculiarities of the Jew more especially as he appears in southern countries. [Plate XXXIII., Fig. 3.] They are less like the traits of the Arab, though to them also they bear a considerable resemblance.  Chateaubriand’s description of the Bedouin—­“la tete ovale, le front haut et argue, le nez aquilia, les yeux grandes et coupe en amandes, le regard humide et singulierement doux” would serve in many respects equally well for a description of the physiognomy of the Assyrians, as they appear upon the monuments.  The traits, in fact, are for the most part common to the Semitic race generally, and not distinctive of any particular subdivision of it.  They are seen now alike in the Arab, the Jew, and the Chalaedeans of Kurdistan, while anciently they not only characterized the Assyrians, but probably belonged also to the Phoenicians, the Syrians, and other minor Semetic races.  It is evident, even from the mannered and conventional sculptures of Egypt, that the physiognomy was regarded as characteristic of the western Asiatic races.  Three captives on the monuments of Amenophis III., represented as belonging to the Patana (people of Bashan?), the Asuru (Assyrians), and the Karukamishi (people of Carchemish), present to us the sane style of face, only slightly modified by Egyptian ideas. [PLATE.  XXXIV., Fig. 1.]

[Illustration:  PLATE 34]

White in face the Assyrians appear thus to have borne a most close resemblance to the Jews, in shape and make they are perhaps more nearly represented by their descendants, the Chaldaeans of Kurdistan.  While the Oriental Jew has a spare form and a weak muscular development, the Assyrian, like the modern Chaldaean, is robust, broad-shouldered, and large-limbed.  Nowhere have we a race represented to us monumentally of a stronger or more muscular type than the ancient Assyrian.  The great brawny limbs are too large for beauty; but they indicate a physical power which we may well believe to have belonged to this nation—­the Romans of Asia—­the resolute and sturdy people which succeeded in imposing its yoke upon all its neighbors. [PLATE XXXIV., Fig, 2.]