It was certainly usual to remove the images in a reverential manner; and it was the custom to deposit them in some of the principal temples of Assyria.

We may presume that there lay at the root of this practice a real belief in the super-natural power of the in images themselves, and a notion that, with the possession of the images, this power likewise changed sides and passed over from the conquered to the conquerors.
Assyrian idols were in stone, baked clay, or metal.

Some images of Nebo and of Ishtar have been obtained from the ruins.

Those of Nebo are standing figures, of a larger size than the human, though not greatly exceeding it.

They have been much injured by time, and it is difficult to pronounce decidedly on their original workmanship: but, judging by what appears, it would seem to have been of a ruder and coarser character than that of the slabs or of the royal statues.