The occurrence of the scarab has been just noticed.

It appears on the bowls frequently, as do sphinxes of an Egyptian type; while sometimes heads and head-dresses purely Egyptian are found, as in [PLATE LXXVI., Fig.

2], which are well-known forms, and have nothing Assyrian about them and in one or two instances we meet with hieroglyphics, the _onk_ (or symbol of life), [Illustration: _onk_ on page 223] the ibis, etc.

These facts may seem at first sight to raise a great question namely, whether, afterall, the art of the Assyrians was really of home growth, or was not rather imported from the Egyptians, either directly or by way of Phoenicia.

Such a view has been sometimes taken; but the most cursory study of the Assyrian remains _in chronological order_, is sufficient to disprove the theory, since it will at once show that the earliest specimens of Assyrian art are the most un-Egyptian in character.