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When Babylon began to decline, it was eventually conquered by Assyria, one of its former colonies. Assyria inherited its arts, as well as its empire.

At first, Assyrian architects and artists copied Babylonian styles and materials. Later, Assyrians began to shake themselves free of Babylonian influences. The walls of the Assyrian palaces were lined with slabs of stone instead of brick, and were coloured instead of painted as in Chaldea. In place of the bas relief we have sculpted figures, the earliest examples being the statues from Girsu.

No remarkable specimens of metallurgic art from early Assyria have been found, but at a later epoch great excellence was attained in the manufacture of such jewellery as earrings and bracelets of gold. Copper pieces were also crated with great skill.

Assyrian pottery and porcelain were graceful. Transparent glass seems to have been first introduced in the reign of Sargon II, like the glass discovered in the palaces of Nineveh - derived from Egyptian originals. Stone, clay, and glass were employed in the manufacture of vases. Vases of hard stone have been disinterred at Tello, similar to those of the early dynastic period of Egypt.

Ashurbanipal had promoted art and culture and had a vast library of cuneiform tablets at Nineveh.