2.] Besides grain, it seems certain that the Assyrians cultivated the vine.
The vine will grow well in many parts of Assyria; and the monuments represent vines, with a great deal of truth, not merely as growing in the countries to which the Assyrians made their expeditions, but as cultivated along the sides of the rivers near Nineveh, and in the gardens belonging to the palaces of the kings.

In the former case they appear to grow without any support, and are seen in orchards intermixed with other fruit-trees, as pomegranates and figs.

In the latter they are trained upon tall trees resembling firs, round whose stems they twine themselves, and from which their rich clusters droop.

Sometimes the long lithe boughs pass across from tree to tree, forming a canopy under which the monarch and his consort sip their wine.
Before concluding this chapter, a few remarks will be added upon the ordinary private life of the Assyrians, so far as the monuments reveal it to us.

Under this head will be included their dress, their food, their houses, furniture, utensils, carriages, etc., their various kinds of labor, and the implements of labor which were known to them.
The ordinary dress of the common people in Assyria was a mere plain tunic, or skirt, reaching from the neck to a little above the knee, with very short sleeves, and confined round the waist by a broad belt or girdle.