A constant and striking feature of the Assyrian palaces was afforded by the great, winged, human-headed bulls, which flanked the principal doorways.  The one herewith given (Fig. 19) is from Sargon’s palace at Khorsabad.  The peculiar methods of Assyrian sculpture are not ill suited to this fantastic creature, an embodiment of force and intelligence.  One special peculiarity will not escape the attentive observer.  Like all his kind, except in Sennacherib’s palace, this bull has five legs.  He was designed to be looked at from directly in front or from the side, not from an intermediate point of view.

Assyrian art was not wholly without capacity for improvement.  Under Asshur-bam-pal (668-626), the Sardanapalus of the Greeks, it reached a distinctly higher level than ever before.  It is from his palace at Nineveh that the slab partially shown in Fig. 20 was obtained.  Two demons, with human bodies, arms, and legs, but with lions’ heads, asses’ ears, and eagles’ talons, confront one another angrily, brandishing daggers in their right hands.  Mesopotamian art was fond of such creatures, but we do not know precisely what meaning was attached to the present scene.  We need therefore consider only stylistic qualities.  As the two demons wear only short skirts reaching from the waist to the knees, their bodies are more exposed than those of men usually are.  We note the inaccurate anatomy of breast, abdomen, and back, in dealing with which the sculptor had little experience to guide him.  A marked difference is made between the outer and the inner view of the leg, the former being treated in the same style as the arms in Fig. 17.  The arms are here better, because less exaggerated.  The junction of human shoulders and animal necks is managed with no sort of verisimilitude.  But the heads, conventionalized though they are, are full of vigor.  One can almost hear the angry snarl and see the lightning flash from the eyes.

It is, in fact, in the rendering of animals that Assyrian art attains to its highest level.  In Asshur-bam-pal’s palace extensive hunting scenes give occasion for introducing horses, dogs, wild asses, lions, and lionesses, and these are portrayed with a keen eye for characteristic forms and movements.  One of the most famous of these animal figures is the lioness shown in Fig. 21.  The creature has been shot through with three great arrows.  Blood gushes from her wounds.  Her hind legs are paralyzed and drag helplessly behind her.  Yet she still moves forward on her fore-feet and howls with rage and agony.  Praise of this admirable figure can hardly be too strong.  This and others, of equal merit redeem Assyrian art.

As has been already intimated, these bas-reliefs were always colored, though, it would seem, only partially, whereas Egyptian bas-reliefs were completely covered with color.