towards the summit, which is crowned with three low steps, or gradines.  The inscription, which occupies the upper and lower portion of each side, and is also carried along the spaces between the bas-reliefs, consists of 210 clearly cut lines, and is one of the most important documents that has come down to us.  It gives an account of various victories gained by the monarch who set it up, and of the tribute brought him by several princes.  The inscribed lions and bulls are numerous.  They commonly guard the portals of palaces, and are raised in a bold relief on alabaster slabs.  The writing does not often trench upon the sculpture, but covers all those portions of the slabs which are not occupied by the animal.  It is usually a full account of some particular campaign, which was thus specially commemorated, giving in detail what is far more briefly expressed in the obelisk and slab inscriptions.

[Illustration:  PLATE 40]

This review of the various kinds of documents which have been discovered in the ancient cities of Assyria, seems to show that two materials were principally in use among the people for literary purposes, namely, stone and moist clay.  The monarchs used the former most commonly, though sometimes they condescended for some special object to the coarser and more fragile material.  Private persons in their business transactions, literary and scientific men in their compositions, employed the latter, on which it was possible to write rapidly with a triangular instrument, and which was no doubt far cheaper than the slabs of fine stone, which were preferred for the royal inscriptions.  The clay documents, when wanted for instruction or as evidence, were carefully baked; and thus it is that they have come down to us, despite their fragility, often in as legible a condition, with the letters as clear and sharp, as any legend on marble, stone, or metal that we possess belonging to Greek or even to Roman times.  The best clay, skilfully baked, is a material quite as enduring as either stone or metal, resisting many influences better than either of those materials.

It may still be asked, did not the Assyrians use other materials also?  Did they not write with ink of some kind on paper, or leather, or parchment?  It is certain that the Egyptians had invented a kind of thick paper many centuries before the Assyrian power arose; and it is further certain that the later Assyrian kings had a good deal of intercourse with Egypt.  Under such circumstances, can we suppose that they did not import paper from that country?  Again, the Persians, we are told, used parchment for their public records.  Are not the Assyrians a much more ingenious people, likely to have done the same, at any rate to some extent?  There is no direct evidence by which these questions can be determinately answered.  No document on any of the materials suggested has been found.  No ancient author states that the Assyrians or the Babylonians used them.