[Illustration: 414.jpg THE PRINCIPAL ROCK SCULPTURES IN THE GORGE OF THE
GOMEL]
Near Bavian In Assyria.
Considerable progress, however, has recently been made in identifying
and copying these texts, and we may here give a short account of what
has been done and of the information furnished by the inscriptions that
have been examined.
Recently considerable additions have been made to our knowledge of the
ancient empire of Van and of its relation to the later kings of Assyria
by the labours of Prof Lehmann and Dr. Belck on the inscriptions which
the kings of that period caused to be engraved upon the rocks among the
mountains of Armenia.
[Illustration: 415.jpg THE ROCK AND CITADEL OF VAN.]
The flat roofs of the houses of the city of Van may be seen to the left
of the photograph nestling below the rock.
The centre and capital of this empire was the ancient city which stood
on the site of the modern town of Van at the southwest corner of the
lake which bears the same name. The city was built at the foot of a
natural rock which rises precipitously from the plain, and must have
formed an impregnable stronghold against the attack of the foe.
In this citadel at the present day remain the ancient galleries and
staircases and chambers which were cut in the living rock by the kings
who made it their fortress, and their inscriptions, engraved upon the
face of the rock on specially prepared and polished surfaces, enable us
to reconstruct in some degree the history of that ancient empire.
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