. Nineveh and Babylon : a narrative of a second expedition to Assyria during the years 1849, 1850, & 1851. Fallen Rock-SculiJtvires. (Bavian.) pletely over them.* They still bear the remains of has been broken by the fall into two pieces. On itis the Assyrian Hercules strangling the lion between twowinged human-headed bulls, back to back, as at the grandentrances of the palaces of Kouyunjik and Khorsabad. * It was at this spot that Mr. Pell, the youthful artist sent out by theTrustees of the British Museum, was unfortunately drowned when l)ath-ing, in the month of July, 1^51, sho
. Nineveh and Babylon : a narrative of a second expedition to Assyria during the years 1849, 1850, & 1851. Fallen Rock-SculiJtvires. (Bavian.) pletely over them.* They still bear the remains of has been broken by the fall into two pieces. On itis the Assyrian Hercules strangling the lion between twowinged human-headed bulls, back to back, as at the grandentrances of the palaces of Kouyunjik and Khorsabad. * It was at this spot that Mr. Pell, the youthful artist sent out by theTrustees of the British Museum, was unfortunately drowned when l)ath-ing, in the month of July, 1^51, shortly after my departure from Mosul. III.] SCULPTURES AT BAVIAN. 73 Above this group is the king, worshipping between twodeities, who stand on mythic animals with the heads ofeagles, the bodies and fore feet of lions, and hind legsarmed with the talons of a bird of prey. Near the entrance to the ravine the face of the cliff hasbeen scarped for some yards to the level of the bed of the. Assyrian Fountain. (Bavian.) torrent. A party of Kurds were hired to excavate at thisspot, as well as in other parts of the narrow valley. Remainsand foundations of buildings in hewn stone were up the gorge, on removing the earth, I found a seriesof basins cut in the rock, and descending in steps to thestream. The water had originally been led from one to theother through small conduits, the lowest of which was orna- 74 NINEVEH AND BABYLON. [Chap. mented at its mouth with two rampant lions in relief. Theseoutlets \vere choked up, but we cleared them, and by pouringwater into the upper basin restored the fountain as it hadbeen in the time of the Assyrians. From the nature and number of the monuments at Bavian,it would seem that this ravine was a sacred spot, devoted toreligious ceremonies and to national sacrifices. When thebuildings, whose remains still exist, were used for these pur-poses, the waters must have been pent up between quaysor embankments. They now occas
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