The former kind of ornamentation is found also in Lower Chaldaea, and has been already represented; the latter is peculiar to this building.

It is suggested that these apartments formed the quarters of the soldiers who kept watch over the royal residence.
About 300 feet from the outer edge of the lower terrace, the upper terrace seems to have commenced.

It was raised probably about ten feet above the lower one.

The mode of access has not been discovered, but is presumed to have been by a flight of steps, not directly opposite the propylaeum, but somewhat to the right, whereby entrance was given to the great court, into which opened the main gateways of the palace itself.
The court was probably 250 feet long by 160 or 170 feet wide.

The visitor, on mounting the steps, perhaps passed through another propylaeum (_b_ in the plan); after which, if his business was with the monarch, he crossed the full length of the court, leaving a magnificent triple entrance, which is thought to have led to the king's _hareem_, on his left and making his way to the public gate of the palace, which fronted him when he mounted the steps.