We might perhaps have imagined that this was a mere fanciful or mythological device of the artist's, on a par with the representations at Bavian, where figures, supposed to be Assyrian deities, stand upon the backs of animals resembling dogs.

But one of M.Place's architectural discoveries seems to make it possible, or even probable, that a real feature in Assyrian building is here represented M.Place found the arch of the town gateway which he exhumed at Khorsabad to spring from the backs of the two bulls which guarded it on either side.

Thus the lions at the base of the pillars may be real architectural forms, as well as the winged bulls which support the pilasters.

The lion was undoubtedly a sacred animal, emblematic of divine power, and especially assigned to Nergal, the Assyrian Mars, the god at once of war and of hunting.

His introduction on the exteriors of buildings was common in Asia Minor but no other example occurs of his being made to support a pillar, excepting in the so-called Byzantine architecture of Northern Italy.
[Illustration: PLATE 49] [Illustration: PLATE 50] [Illustration: PLATE 51] [Illustration: PLATE 52] No.VII._a_ [PLATE LII., Fig.