They are apartments narrow for their length, measuring from three to five times their own width, and thus having always somewhat the appearance of galleries.

The scale upon which they are built is, commonly, magnificent.

In the palace of Asshur-izir-pal at Nimrud, the earliest of the discovered edifices, the great hall was 160 feet long by nearly 40 broad.

In Sargon's palace at Khorsabad the size of no single room was so great; but the number of halls was remarkable, there being no fewer than five of nearly equal dimensions.

The largest was 116 feet long, and 33 wide; the smallest 87 feet long, and 25 wide.