The doors are of two kinds, square at the top, and arched; they are placed commonly towards the sides of the houses.

The houses themselves seem to stand separate, though in close juxtaposition.
[Illustration: PLATE 56] The only other buildings of the Assyrians which appear to require some notice are the fortified enceintes of their towns.

The simplest of these consisted of a single battlemented wall, carried in lines nearly or quite straight along the four sides of the place, pierced with gates, and guarded at the angles, at the gates, and at intervals along the curtain with projecting towers, raised not very much higher than the walls, and (apparently) square in shape.

[PLATE LVII., Fig 1.] In the sculptures we sometimes find the battlemented wall repeated twice or thrice in lines placed one above the other, the intention being to represent the defence of a city by two or three walls, such as we have seen existed on one side of Nineveh.
[Illustration: PLATE 57] The walls were often, if not always, guarded by moats.

Internally they were, in every case, constructed of crude brick; while externally it was common to face them with hewn stone, either from top to bottom, or at any rate to a certain height.