Note 265 — Chapter II · SCULPTURE. (continued 3)

In the valley of the Nahr-el-Kelb, there are five or six Assyrian reliefs mingled with those of Egyptian origin. They may at once be distinguished from the works of the Rameses by their arched tops. The only one of which the inscriptions are still legible, is that of Esarhaddon (see Monuments inédits de l’Institut de Correspondance archéologique, 1858, plate 51, fig. F, and especially Lepsius, Ægyptische Denkmæler, part iii. plate 197, fig. D). Judging from their style and the historical information we possess, these steles may be attributed to Tiglath-Pilezer, Assurnazirpal, Shalmaneser II., and Sennacherib. The remaining figures must be referred to other princes. Quite lately Mr. Boscawen has published an interesting article (The Monuments and Inscriptions on the Rocks at Nahr-el-Kelb) in the seventh volume of the Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archæology (pp. 331–352). It is accompanied by a general view of the site, and a very careful plan of that part of the valley in which the Egyptian and Assyrian inscriptions are to be found. Professor Lortet has also paid a recent visit to the valley. We are indebted to one of his photographs for our fig. 122 (Tour du Monde, 1882, p. 415). We should have expected to find traces of these Assyrian rock-sculptures on the shores of Lake Van, where the princes of Nineveh so often appeared as conquerors: so far, however, nothing beyond cuneiform inscriptions has been found. There are no royal effigies (Schulze, Mémoire sur le Lac de Van, in the Journal Asiatique for April-June, 1840, and Layard, Discoveries, chapter xviii.).