the Assyrian fashion, while his figure, though short, is strong and muscular.  In front of him are his cattle, mixed up in a confused and tangled mass, some young, but most of them full grown, and amounting to the number of seventeen.  They are in various attitudes, and are drawn with much spirit, recalling groups of cattle in the sculptures of Assyria and Egypt, but surpassing any such group in the vigour of their life and movement.  Above, in an upper field or plain, divided from the under one by a horizontal line, is the triple-headed dog, Orthros, running full speed towards Hercules, and scarcely checked by the arrow which has met him in mid career, and entered his neck at the point of junction between the second and the third head.[724] The bas-relief is three feet two inches in length, and just a little short of two feet in height.  It served to ornament a huge block of stone which formed the pedestal of a colossal statue of Hercules, eight feet nine inches high.[725]

A sarcophagus, on which the relief is low, has been described and figured by Di Cesnola,[726] who discovered it in the same locality as the sculpture which has just engaged our attention.  The sarcophagus, which had a lid guarded by lions at the four corners, was ornamented at both ends and along both sides by reliefs.  The four scenes depicted appear to be distinct and separate.  At one end Perseus, having cut off Medusa’s head and placed it in his wallet, which he carries behind him by means of a stick passed over his shoulder, departs homewards followed by his dog.  Medusa’s body, though sunk upon one knee, is still upright, and from the bleeding neck there spring the forms of Chrysaor and Pegasus.  At the opposite end of the tomb is a biga drawn by two horses, and containing two persons, the charioteer and the owner, who is represented as bearded, and rests his hand upon the chariot-rim.  The horse on the right hand, which can alone be distinctly seen, is well proportioned and spirited.  He is impatient and is held in by the driver, and prevented from proceeding at more than a foot’s pace.  On the longer sides are a hunting scene, and a banqueting scene.  In a wooded country, indicated by three tall trees, a party, consisting of five individuals, engages in the pleasures of the chase.  Four of the five are accoutred like Greek soldiers; they wear crested helmets, cuirasses, belts, and a short tunic ending in a fringe:  the arms which they carry are a spear and a round buckler or shield.  The fifth person is an archer, and has a lighter equipment; he wears a cloth about his loins, a short tunic, and a round cap on his head.  The design forms itself into two groups.  On the right two of the spearmen are engaged with a wild boar, which they are wounding with their lances; on the left the two other spearmen and the archer are attacking a wild bull.  In the middle a cock separates the two groups, while at the two extremities two animal forms, a horse grazing and a dog trying to make out