Facade and Main Entrance Palace of Sargon II at Khorsabad - Iraq


An exellent idea may be had of Assyrian splendour from these two restorations by Felix Thomas of the Palace of Sargon of Khorsabad. Top, the south-eastern facade and main entrance, where the disposition of the human-headed bulls is well shown; below, the court of the harem. Polygamy was not universal in Assyria, but in the houses of the wealthy the establishment of cocubines might be very large. They were practically prisoners, unlike the women of the lower classes, who enjoyed a freedom comparable with that of their contemporaries in Egypt.

From Wonders of the Past