C., down to about 900 B.C., and in art
showing a great profusion of bas-reliefs. The second closed about 625
B.C., and in art produced much glazed-tile work and a more elaborate
sculpture and painting. After this the Chaldaean provinces gained the
ascendency again, and Babylon, under Nebuchadnezzar, became the first
city of Asia. But the new Babylon did not last long. It fell before
Cyrus and the Persians 536 B.C. Again, as in Egypt, the earliest art
appears the purest and the simplest, and the years of Chaldaeo-Assyrian
history known to us carry a record of change rather than of progress in
art.
ART REMAINS: The most valuable collections of
Chaldaeo-Assyrian art are to be found in the Louvre and the
British Museum. The other large museums of Europe have
collections in this department, but all of them combined are
little compared with the treasures that still lie buried in
the mounds of the Tigris-Euphrates valley. Excavations have
been made at Mugheir, Warka, Khorsabad, Kouyunjik, and
elsewhere, but many difficulties have thus far rendered
systematic work impossible.
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