',0. HIGH HOLLORN, I^onOon. w.r. r l\X 't^ Vffif/nf// I'u ihf .^uififiv Vidt. /utae /// PALMAM QUI MERUIT FEBAT." p^n *»ip ANCIENT ONES OF THE EAETH. BEING TIIE ihiax^ 0f i^t f rimitib^ %l^l^nhd, LATELY DISCOVERED BY THE ArXHOR, CoJW o I o o F=n s/\^\/s/ Sir William Stawell *His Lordship the Catholic Bishop The Very Reverend Dean Macartnky Anderson, J. B. , Malop Street, Geelong Allan, J. W., South Yarra *Bu(lcl, A. H., Inspector General of Schools Bleasdale, Rev. Dr., Catholic Cathedral . . *Bickford, Rev. J,, Sydney *Broadribb, K. E., St. Kilda Bunney, B. F., St. Kilda **Bonwick, J. Biggs, A. B., Hobart Town Bromby, Rev. Dr., Grammar School Buzzard, T. M., Melbourne Beauehamp, H., Melbourne Batten, H., Richmond Grammar School Blair, D., Windsor Bertram, J., Malop Street, Geelong *Browning, J., Elizabeth Street Bindon, J. H., St. Kilda Bay ley T. A., George-street Binks, W. L., Geelong ... . .. Beany, Dr. G. Ballantyne, Rev. J. Barnes, R., Union street, Geelong Carroll, Mrs., Richmond Connebee, Rev. R., Duuedin viii. ■ LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS. Cairns, Rev. Dr. A., Eastern Hill O'Connor, Murtough M'Caul, Melbourne Crouch, J., St. Kilda Clarke, Rev. J., Sandhurst Christie, J., Crown Lands Office Coates, Mrs., Commerei:il Road, Prahran Draper, Rev. D. J., St. Kilda Dickson, S. C, Melbourne Dobson, J., St. Kilda Davis, Rev. J. D., Kew Day, Rev. E., Castleraaine Dickenson, C, Windsor Evans, Dr., Richmond Ellery, Robert J., Government Reserve Fulton, Robert, St. Kilda *Fraser, Alexander, St. Kilda Fraser, H., St. Kilda Eraser, A., St. Kilda Fletcher, Rev. W. R., Sandhurst Fulford, John Flint, Wm. S., Invercargill Flint, Ebenezer, Invercargill Fitzgibbon, Edward, Town Hall Fraser, W., Melbourne Fitch, Mr., St. Kilda Fawkner, Hon. J.P., Collingwood Fawkner, W., Oriental Bank Fergusson and Moore, Melbourne *Glaister, Thomas, North Melbourne O'Grady, M., Kew Gilbertson, Rev. J., Kew Gardener, P., St. Kilda •Gosman, Rev. A., St. Kilda Grant, Hon. J. M., Brighton Griffiths, C, St. Kilda **Heales, Hon. R., St. Kilda *Higinbotham, Hon. F., Brighton *Hearn, Professor, University LIST OF SUBSCRIBERS. IX. COPIES, Hart, W. H., St. Kilda Howitt, G., M.D., Melbourne *Henty, Hon, S. G., Kew ... *Hervey, Hon. M., St, Kilda.,. Hicks, J., Prahran Hamilton, Rev. Robt., Fitzroy *Henty, J., Kew ... Hendy, John *Irving, Professor, University Johnston, J. S., St. Kilda Love, William, Kew Lampriere, Dr., St. Kilda ... Lee, G, W. Lane, Rev. C, Belfast Levitt, S. J., St. Kilda Michie, Hon, A,, St. Kilda Melbourne Public Library ... Mackey, G., LLD., Temple Court ... *McCoy, Professor, University *Moir, Rev. C, St. Kilda ,.. Mackie, Rev. G., South Yarra McCulloch, the Hon. J., Chief Secretary, St. McKeane, Richmond Moss, Rev. "W,, Prahran Middleton, Rev. W., Windsor Merrick, Mrs. , Ladies' College, Richmond *Morrison, Alexander, Scotch College ... •Mackenzie, John, St. Kilda ... McMichael, Rev. J. C, Colling wood ... Neale, Rev. P., Prahran Noel, W, B., Commissioner, Kew Oldham, J., St, Kilda Pohlman, R. W, Parliament Library Poore, Rev. J. L, Paterson, J., Windsor •Peterson, W,, St, Kilda Paul, Rev. A,, St, Kilda Parkin, J., Oxford-street, CoUingwood KiKla LIST OF SUBSCEIBEES. Kolfe, G., St. Kilda Riiinsay, Rev. A. M., Melbourne Ray, Robt. Rintel, Rev. Moses, Nortli Melbourne Smith, J. H., Model Scliools »Seddon, Rev. D., St. Kilda O'Shanassy, Hon. J., Hawthorn Supreme Court Library, Melbourne **Smith, Robt., St. Kilda Smith, A. J., St. Kilda Smith, Professor, Sydney University **Sargood, F. T., St. Kilda Symons, Rev. J. C, Carlton Gardens Tankard, J., Melbourne. ... Taylor, Rev. J., Melbourne Towle, Dr., Geelong Venables, H.,Warrnambool *Wilson, Professor, University, Melbourne Woolcott, R. R., Richmond *Webb, Prout Tbos., Geelong Whitney, J., St. Kilda Wilkie, J., St. Kilda Walker, J. F., Richmond Woolley, M., Melbourne Whitby, A. L., Kew Wilson, E., Argus OfiSce Wilson, R., St. Kilda COPIES. 2 PREFACE It is the object of the present work to direct the attention of those who feel interested in the question — " Which was the primitive alphabet of man? " — to a discovery made by the author in the year 1848. Being an earnest student of subjects tending to illustrate or authenticate the Holy Scriptures, he formed an humble unit amongst the many thousands who flocked to the British Museum to gaze upon the exhumed remains of a mighty empire, inscribed with records written in a dumb Semitic charac- ter, brought to light by Mr. Layard's excavations. It was then he perceived the striking similarity between some of the early Greek letters and the cuneiform characters as exhibited on the Assyrian marbles. He obtained permission from the museum authorities to copy the inscriptions, with a view to their eluci- dation, and he then collected an alphabet of the earliest Greek letters, principally from Eolian tablets, and by comparing these with the cuneiform inscriptions he foun^ that all the various gi'oups of characters, when dissected, were resolvable into the nineteen letters exhibited in his first column of alphabets. {Vide Plate VII.) Subsequent study and investigation have only tended to confirm this first conviction. As soon as he had formed the alphabet, he copied an inscription, and having some slight knowledge of Greek, tried to make it speak in that language; but he could only make out a few names, such as " Assaraoi," xii. PREFACE. " Babiloi," and the name of the god " Bel." Thinking next that it might be Hebrew, he apphed himself to get a knowledge of that tongue; but scarcely had he mastered the Hebrew alphabet when adverse circumstances compelled him to give up the study of Hebrew, Greek, and the cuneiform writings, for the sterner work of seeking his daily bread sixteen thousand miles from his native land. Previously to his embarking for Australia in 1850, he submitted the discovery to the Eev. W. B. Hollis, of Islington, who expressed a quite favourable opinion of it, and kindly offered to get it published in one of the quarterlies; but the hurry of departure from England prevented the preparation of the manu- script for publication. He landed in Jlelbourne in January, 1851, but the confusion of colonial life in those early gold days put a stop to all literary pui-suits, and from that time until 1859 the papers remained upon the shelf. About that time, having some leisure on hand, he directed his attention once more to the subject, and not hearing of the publication of anything certain by the great European philologists, — no literal or perfect trans- lation of any one record, so as to make it quite incontrovertible, having aj^peared, — he was induced to seek some means of making known a discovery so important to the literary world. Since the year 1859, he has been using every means in his power, under very many difficulties, to make known the discovery. He adver- tised several times in the principal paper, stating that he was willing to communicate all the particulars to any person who felt an interest in biblical studies, and who Avould take the trouble of calling upon him. But the only answers he received were from two Hebrew scholars who wanted employment. He sent copies of the alphabet, with particulars, to various learned societies and gentlemen in London, Dublin, and Paris, but he PREFACE. xiii. received only one answer, from IMr. Layard, who tells him that the only plan is to publish the discovery to the world. Nothing, then, remained for him but to bring it before the public in the present shape; and in the following pages he has, he thinks, clearly exhibited the scheme of the primitive alphabet, which is shown to be extremely simple, feasible, and in strict analogy with all the early alphabets both as to the number and the form of the letters. He has only further to hope that this system, in its application by the philologists of Europe, will be found to be the long-wanted desideratum for rightly interpreting the most ancient and interesting records of antiquity. The author feels that the apparent abstruseness of the subject may have the effect of repelling many readers who take up the book merely to glance through it ; but even such readers would find, he hopes, on a little closer examination, that the whole book is quite intelligible to any person of average information. The abstruseness lies rather in the/on?i than in the subject-matter. He has only to add, by way of preface, that he ventures to hope that the simple fact of a work of this nature, being pub- lished in Melbourne, will have the effect of commending it to the attention of many persons, both in the colony and in the mother country, who take an interest in the creation of a local colonial literature. THE AUTHOE. Note. — At the author's request I have read over the MS. of the present work, and have made here and there some revisions in the style ; but I have not thought myself at liberty to alter or strike out any of the author's statements or arguments. DAVID BLAIR. INTKODUCTION. It has been truly said that "in books are preserved and hoarded the treasures of wisdom and knowledge which the world has accumulated ; and it is chiefly by the aid of these they are handed down from one generation to another."* This observation holds good according to the present idea of a hook; but in the ages preceding the Christian era the expression would have been " in rolls are preserved and hoarded," Sec. &c. The earliest of such roUs, we are informed, were composed of goat or sheep skins sewed together. Pliny teUs us that the ancients, before parchment roUs came into use, -wrote upon the leaves of the pahn tree and the inner bark of certain other trees. The Greek word 5<^x«? and the Latin liher both mean the iimer rind of a tree or plant. The former word has been changed into /Sj^Xjov, " a book," whilst liber has remained unchanged. We also find that tablets of wood and of lead were frequently used ; and, going back to a still earlier era, we find records wi'ittcn upon cylinders of baked clay; and then, we come to the original method of recording the history of passing events, viz., upon rocks, pillars, and slabs of stone. In the primeval times it was upon stones that the " treasures of wisdom and knowledge of the world" were preserved and hoarded. This method continued in use from the days of Noah down to the time • Dean Trench, "On the Study of Words." xvi. INTRODUCTION. of Moses, and probably for many ages afterward. Barnes, in his conunents on Job, xix. 23, says: — "The original word, translated, printed ( ppn, hakak), means properly to cut in, to hew, to citt or engrave letters on a tablet of lead or stone." Anciently books were made of materials which allowed of this mode of record. Stone would probably be the first material ; then metal, bark, leaves, skins, &c. istsi (bsphr), in the looTc^ the word iQtj (sapher) is derived from IQD (saphar). In Arabic, the kindred word, means to scrape or scratch — hence, to ivrite, engravcy record; and the idea was originally that of ensculping, or engraving on a stone. Hence the word comes to denote a book of any materials, or made in any form. The art of wi'iting or engraving was known in the time of Job ; but there is no evidence that the art of writing on leaves, bark, or vellum, was yet xmderstood. As books in the form in which they are now were then unknown, and as the records were probably pre- served on tablets of stone ; and as the entire description pertains to something that was engraved, and as this sense was conveyed by the Arabic verb from which word -iqd (book) is derived, the word tablet or some kindred word will better express the sense of the original than " hooh^ We diifer a little from Barnes, as to this last word, sapher. We are rather inclined to think that it is derived from ytiti (sapphire), " a precious stone." What coidd be more precioiis than the sculptured records in the temples and palaces of the East, engraven iipon the most sacred and costly materials imbedded in the walls, and preserved with most religious care? We have a kindred word, in strict analogy with sapphire, in gem. The expression, " a perfect gem," is familiarly applied to many INTJ'.ODUCTION. xvii. things besides precious stones, even to pictures and musical compo- sitions; and in like manner the word sapher might have been used to express stones that contained valuable documents engraven upon them, intended to be preserved and handed doAvii to posterity. In after times, the Hebrews would naturally have adopted the term, and it would become commonly used for a book, roll, volume, register, a writer or scribe, &c., and also for learning and literature in general. If this be the case, how vastly important are the numberless inscrip- tions (or sepharim), found amongst the ruined cities of the East ; and how deeply interesting must be theu* true decipherment! It will be remembered what great excitement was caused through- out the learned world, in the years 1848-49, by the partial resusci- tation of Nineveh's ancient greatness, by means of Mr. Layard's discoveries, and what rivahy there was among the great Oriental scholars of Europe to find out the Jcey or clue to the elucidation of the inscriptions thus brought to light. Yet some of the most learned men of the present day assert that all that has been done {i. e., in the way o£d.eciph.eTm.eiit),isunsatisfactori/, extremely vagtte, and even con- tradictory. The French Academy, indeed, rejects all that has been done, and treats the so-called translations as merely ingenious conjec- ture. Still, it is not reasonable to suppose that the records of a nation so intimately connected with the early history of the world, should remain long unknoA^'n. It is a generally received opinion that in the early ages of the world all the Oriental nations, from Mount Ararat to the banks of the Nile, and from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean Sea, spoke the same language, and used the same alphabetical characters in writing. This opinion is fully borne out by a vast mass of concurrent testimony from ancient and modern a2 xviii. INTRODUCTION. writers, but especially by that of tbe Holy Scriptures themselves ; for we read in the 11th chapter of Genesis, that '■'■the life of the whole earth was of one lip and the same tvords," or of one language and of one speech. It is not unreasonable to suppose that this language was the same as that spoken by the great ancestor, Noah, the tenth in a direct line from Adam. Both Adam and Noah conversed with God himself. Now, Adam lived many years contemporaneously "with Lamech,the father of Noah. There cannot be a doubt, therefore, that Noah spoke the same primitive language as Adam. Thus it descended from father to son to Abram ; and with this language it was that Abram traA'eUed from Ur of the Chaldees, when he fled from their persecutions (for preaching and teaching the worshij) of the tx-ue God, as Josephus tells us) into Canaan, and from thence into Egypt, where he disputed with the priests and learned men of the country. We are informed by the same author that he taught them arithmetic and the science of astronomy : fi-om this it appears that there could be no difficulty of communication between Abram and the Egyptians ; in other words, there must have been an identity of language. The primitive language seems also to have been understood by Melchizedek, king of Salem, and very probably by the kings of Shinar and Ellaser, by Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Gouim (nations). It must, moreover, have been a kindred tongue with that of the inhabitants of Sodom, for Lot dwelt thei-e, and he must have had daily intercourse with its people. The king of Sodom himself had held a conference with Abraham. Further, we find from the sacred writings that the kings and their people just alluded to were descended from the five sons of Shem, the eldest INTKODUCTION. xix. son of Noah. Profane history informs us that Menes, or Mitzraim, grandson of Noah, established himself and reigned in Egj'pt twenty- six years after the flood, and ninety-five years before the building of Babel. He doubtless spoke the language he had been taught in his childhood by his father, Ham, the son of Noah, and made it the national tongue. If so, the fact would account for the facility of intercourse between the Patriarchs and the Egyjitians, and would prove that the language spoken was the same. Jacob communed freely with Pharaoh. It is certain that the Egj-ptians then sj)oke the original language, which we shall call Hebrew ; and it appears from the names of places and persons, and by many other proofs, that wherever Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob wandered, they found the primitive language (or Hebrew) stiU existing. Here it should be remarked, that the rendering which our English trans- lators have given of Genesis xlii. 23, is not quite correct. The passage reads thus : — " And they knew not that Joseph understood them, for he spake imto them by an interpreter ^ The passage thus rendered would lead any one to infer that a, foreign language was spoken ; but the word ^i'dW (Shmaea), which oui- translators have made ''understood" should have been "heard," and this is the rendering of the LXX. The "interpreter" was the V'^on (emlits), the ofiicer of the palace, whose duty it was to iatroduce individuals to the superior or prime minister. The passage, therefore, should read thus : — " And they knew not that Joseph heard them, for the officer (mclitz) stood between them." The 43rd chap., verses 19-23, show that there was no need of an interpreter. As a further proof, we may point to the fact, that when the Israelites retm-ned to Canaan, notwithstanding their XX. INTEODUCTION. intercourse \rith the Egj'ptians for several hundred years, and their sojourning in the wiklerness above forty years, they spoke the same language as all the nations in their jovu'ncjnngs, — as the Chaldeans, the Amalekites, and Canaanites, &c., spoke. In all their wanderings, they did not, so far as appears, require an interpreter. When they came to the borders of Canaan, Joshua sent spies to Jericho, and in the long coUoquy betAveen them and Rahab, it seems perfectly clear that they imderstood each other's language. There was clearly no need of an interpreter. It is one of the objects of the present work to endeavom- to prove that the language here referred to was the ])rimitive language, or Sehreio ; that it was spoken all over the East up to a veiy late historical period ; and that there is every probability to show that the alphabetical characters used in the earliest ages of the world were those here exhibited. It is also sought to be sho'\ATi that in the Assp-ian cuneiform characters are to be found the primitive aljjhabetical character used by man, that oui- present Roman alphabet is essentially the same as that which was used by Abraham, by Noah, and not improbably by Adam himself; and that the Assyrian language is the PRIMITIVE TONGUE, the TRUE ORIGINAL HeBREW, and THE SOURCE OF ALL LANGUAGES ANCIENT AND MODERN. The book is nothing more than a plain statement of facts and argiunents in support of a new theory, entirely antagonistic to any other theoiy hitherto propounded. The author's principal aim and motive is to add his mite of knowledge to the common stock, by elucidating the mysterioiis -WTituigs found inscribed upon the walls of Nineveh's palaces. The world, after many experimental trials in this direc- INTRODUCTION. xxi. tion, is beginning to be awakened to the fact that something new is wanting, at once simple, clear, and self-e\ddent. With this end in view the author has been induced to seek this method of making known a discoveiy, fraught, as he thinks and believes, with much importance to Letters, to Philosophy, and to Religion. At the same time, it is needful to admit that the author feels that it is not for him to carry his theory, or discover^', out to its fiill development — ^neither his time nor eirciunstanccs in life will permit of it. A more perfect knowledge of the ancient languages is requii-ed than he possesses, and he is too far advanced in life to recommence such studies now. But if he can point out the way, if he can give the clue to any whose time and means will enable them to prosecute this work to its full completion, he will feel that he has not lived or laboured wholly in vain. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. Letters the gift of God — Hebrew the original language — Contradictions of Sir H. Rawlinson throwing a doubt upon the sacred Scriptures — Various opinions of ancient authors as to the antiquity of the Alphabet — Fulfilment of the pro, phecy by Nahum — Cadmus no mythological personage, but a merchant prince of Phcenicia — An ideal picture of the triumphant pageant of Queen Atossa, or Semiramis the second — The author's application of the primitive Alphabet — Probable results. ... ... ... ... Page 1 — 11 CHAPTER n. Confusion of sentiment at Babel — The Western nations peopled from the East — Cadmus copied his Alphabet from the Assyrians — Hebrew the universal lan- guage — Samaritan Pentateuch — Hebrew poetry and language — Job, Moses, Cadmus, Homer, David and Solomon — Moses wrote in the cuneiform character — The two tables of stone in the British Museum. ... Page 12 — 30 CHAPTER ni. Author's opinion of the primitive Alphabet — The cuneiform of the Nimroud Palace the earliest character — Sir H. Rawlinson's opinion of the character and language — Greek manuscripts and system of writing — The Sigean inscription — Change in the form of the letters — The Alphabet. ... Page 31 — 55 CHAPTER IV. System of Trichotomies throughout the ancient world — "Michaud's Caillou" — The true meaning of the " Golden Wedge of Ophir" — The symbol of the Chaldeans' god Anu, and worshipped by the Chaldeans at Babylon— The Logos— The Inefifable Name. ... ... ... Page 56 — 64. xxiv. CONTENTS. CHAPTER y. Recapitulation of the four preceding chapters — Author's system more fully described — Antagonistic to all other theories — Sir H. Rawlinson's conjectures — Author's translation of an inscription found upon a brick — A new hypothesis — Sir H. Eawlinson's Nineveh— The author's translation — Mr. Layard's Sargon — The author's translation — Ancient inscriptions in support of the new hypothesis — Remarkable coincidences between guesses and the author's translations. ... ... .. ... Page 65 — 74 CHAPTER VI. The sun worshipped in Assyria under the form of a bull — Translation of an inscription found on the back of a winged bull — Author's discovery of the Assyrian numerals on the Black Marble Obelisk— Annals of Aalfar, Rawlin- son's Temen Bar — Rawlinson's great errors in the Assyrian numerals — Translation of inscriptions on two marble ducks — Singular coincidences between the author's theory and the conjectures of Rawlinson and others — Critical notice of the Rev. C. Forster's theory. ... ... Page 75 — 84 CHAPTER Vn. Rawlinson's Alphabet— Opinion of it by Dr. Wall — Ideographs a term calculated to mystify — Darkness visible — Rawlinson's theory more fully explained — Discrepancy in the history of his Alphabets — His doubts — Rawlinson's trans- lation of Temen Bar's brick — Coincidences — White is black and Black is ■white — " Pote's Nineveh" — "Bonormi's Nineveh" — Bunsen's opinion of the system of Dr. Hinckes. ... ... ... ... Page 85 -94 CHAPTER VHI. No apology for the contents of this chapter — Author's motive for writing — Brandis on "The Assyrian inscriptions and mode of decipherment" — Rawlin_ Bon's " I am Darius" — Author's translation to test the primitive Alphabet — Rawlinson's "This Phraortes," &c. — Author's translation — Queries respecting Rawlinson's Alphabet — Inconsistencies and errors in his translations from the Black Marble Obelisk. ... ... ... ... Page 95—106 CHAPTER IX. Cylinder of Tiglath Pilezer — Fox Talbot's defence of Sir H. Rawlinson — Author'^ answer — Great inconsistencies in the translation, &c., &c. — Rawlinson's con" fidence in his own woi-ks — Rawlinson's anachronism requiring exi^lanation — Author's translation of Rawlinson's "Invocation to the Assyrian gods" — Author's translation from the winged figure — Conclusion, Page 107 — US THE ANCIENT ONES OF THE EARTH. CHAPTER I. Letters the gift of God — Hebrew the Original Language — Contradictions of Sir H. Rawlinson, throwing a doubt upon the Sacred Scriptures — Various opinions of ancient authors as to the antiquity of the Aljihabet — The fulhlment of the Prophecy by Nahum— Cadmus no mythological personage, but a merchant prince of Phoenicia — An ideal picture of the triumphant pageant of Queen Atossa, or Semiramis the Second — The Author's application of the Primitive Alphabet — Probable results. Perhaps no subject has been involved in greater obscurity, or lias caused a greater diversity of opinion amongst 'Wi-iters of both ancient and modern days, than the origin of the alphabet. Scarcely any two writers agree upon the point. It has been a matter of much controversy whether writing be reaUy a human invention, or whether an art so eminently useful to man is not rather to be attributed to a special Divine revelation. Many writers ascribe the invention of letters to the Phoenicians, but without sufficient evidence. Sanchoniatho, the Phoenician historian, who flourished nearly contemporaneously mth Moses and Cadmus, Avhen the Assyrian empire was in the zenith of its power and greatness, ascribes the invention to Taaut, the son of Misor, who is said to be the Menes of the Egj'ptians, or Mitsraim of the Scriptures. Philo, a learned Jew, who lived about a.d. 40, asserts that the invention must be referred to Abraham, Pliny, who no doubt had consulted B 2 THE ANCIENT ONES OF THE EARTH, that magazine of ancient knowledge, tlic Alexandi-ian libraiy, says, " As for letters, I am of opinion that they were kno"v\Ti in AssjTia time out of mind." There is a tradition amongst the Rabbins that Abraham was instructed in literatiu-e and the sciences by Shem, and that Isaac also went to Shem's school. Other writers have attributed a knowledge of letters to Adam, and amongst these may be mentioned Brian Walton, the editor of the famous Potyglot Bible. In his prolegomena to that Avork, he says that " Seth learned letters from Adam, and that from Seth they descended with the original language to Noah and his posterity, with whom they continued till the confusion at Babel, after which, Avhen new charactei's in progress of time were invented, with new languages, vet the old ivere preserved among those loho had the primitive tongue^ Again — " The truth seems to be that letters were an antediluvian invention preserved among the Assyi'ians or Chaldeans, who were the immediate descendants of Noah, and inhabited those very regions in the neighbourhood where the ark rested, and where that patriarch afterwards resided. This circumstance affords a strong presumption that the use of letters was known before the flood, and afterwards transmitted to the Assyrians and Chaldeans by Noah their progenitor, or, at least, by the immediate ancestors of his family." Mitford, in his history of Greece, speaking of the origin of letters, says — " Nothing appears so probable as that it (the alijhabet) was derived from the antediluvian world, and was lost everywhere in migration for want of convenient materials for its use, but preserved in Chaldea, and hence communicated to Egj^jt, and such other countries as required a settled government. We conclude, then, that the heathen wo-iters of Egypt, Greece, and Rome, who have, like the modern Hindoos, attributed the discovery of letters to the gods, have only recorded a tradition that has its source in historical truth ; for Avhilst there is nothing improbable in the invention of hieroglj'phic writing, the discoA^ery of arbitrary characters, not to denote words or the form of things, but elementary and compormd soimds, seems an iuA'ention so astonishing, as to eclipse all others, HEBREW THE ORIGINAL LANGUAGE. 3 and to lead every devout mind to exclaim, This must be the finger of God! For the man who believes that our Maker intended to elevate the human species by the use of a volume of revelation, must deem it probable that He had provided early methods of securuig the sacred records which were to constitute that volume." The Pentateuch is generally acknowledged to be the most ancient composition extant ; and as that is hejd to have been wiitten or compiled by Moses, it also presupposes, from the nature of its con. tents, that there must have been a vast mass of historical matter written, according to the primitive fashion upon stones, from which Moses either dii-ectly or indirectly di'cw his materials. The dis- coveries of late years, by Layard and others, speak plainly as to this fact. As Nineveh and the Assyrian empu'e had existed for more than 700 years anterior to the Exodus, it is not reasonable to suppose that a nation so far advanced in the arts and sciences should be ignorant of the art of alphabetical wi-iting; and although we have at present no evidence to prove it, still the time may not be far distant when it will be seen that Closes di-ew largely fr-om tht dociunents and records onsD (sphkim), preserved by the descend- ants of Shem in the Assp-ian archives. Josephus, speaking of the early history of man, says that " those who then lived noted down with great accm-acy the bii-ths and deaths of illustiious men;" and ^^Tbiiston adds in a note, " these ancient genealogies were fii'st set down by those who then lived, and from them were transmitted down to posterity; which I suppose to be a true account of that matter; for there is no reason to suppose that men were not taughi to read and write soon after they were taught to speak; and per- haps all by the Messiah MmselJ; Avho under the Father, was the Creator and Governor of mankind, and who frequently in those eai'ly days,' appeared unto them." The Talmudists are of opinion that the Aramean was the primi- tive language, and that Adam and Eve conversed in that language in Paradise. Thus Mars Ibas, the Armenian historian informs us that " Haicus, the son of Togarmah, the grandson of Japhct. being oppressed by Belus king of Babylon (supposed to be Niuu-od, the 4 THE ANCIENT ONES OF THE EARTH. inighty hunter), went forth with his family of 300 persons exclusive of servants, and proceeded northward to the country round about Ararat, and here he incorporated with his followers a number of individuals whom he found living in the most primitive state without form or order. These people spohe the original language of Noah. Here they established themselves and laid the foundation of the Armenian empire. The fifth in descent from Haicus was .\j-am, uj) to whose time the nation and people had been called Hales; Aram, being on strict terms of friendship with Ninus, the reigning king of Nineveh, who not only permitted his reign, but assisted him in the consolidation of his kingdom and the overthrow of his enemies, the chief of whom was Percham of the race of giants, whom they conquered on the plains of Gortouk in AssjTia, and the tjTant was killed upon the field of battle." This is partly confirmed by Diodorus Siculus, who says, " The Assyi'ian king Ninus, assisted by an Ai-abian chief Ariociis, conquered and killed the then reigning king of Babylon, and made himself master of his dominions." May not this Ariceus be the same as is mentioned by Mars Ibas, Arieus, the son of Aram ? Be that as it may, there is much conflicting testi- mony respecting the identity of this Aram and Ninus, which it is not necessary for our purpose to enter into here ; but one thing seems certain — ^that it was Aram and his son Arah who gave rise to the term Aramean, — a name that subsequently became sjTionymous with Syrian and AssjTian, — to the nations extending from the mouths of the Euphrates and Tigris, to the Euxine, the River Halys, and to Palestine. The Greeks called them AssjTians, which is the same as Syrians. The Scriptures inform us that " The beginning of Nimrod's kinffdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calnah, in the land of O 7 7 7 7 Shinar," and that " out of that land went forth Asshur, and built Nineveh, Rehoboth, and Calah, and Resen, a great city between Nineveh and Calah." But Sir H. Rawlinson tells us differently. He says that the Chaldeans appear to have been a branch of the Samitic race of AJcJcad. He does not tell us, by the way, who this Akkad was, neither do we find this name among the ancient CONTRADICTIONS OF SIR H. RAWLINSON. 5 progenitors of the race in the tenth chapter of Genesis. This race, he adds, inhabited Babylonia from the earliest times, and with it originated the art of writing, the building of cities, and all the arts and sciences, and of astronomy in particular. In another place (Assyrian Sistory and Chronology) he states " That which can be established AA-ithout much chance of eiTor is, that at some period anterior to B.C. 2000, probably b.c. 2500 (i.e., 156 years before the Flood), the primitive population of Babylonia was to a certain extent displaced by Tm'anian tribes fi-om the neighboming moim- tains, these immigrant tribes bringing with them the use of letters, and being otherwise far more civilised than the people whom they superseded." Sii* H. Rawlinson, as the reader will observe, here conti-adicts himself, and throws at the same time a doubt upon the Scripture narrative. The presiunption is that the art of wi'iting was equally known to all the Cities of the Plain, and that " out of that land (Babylonia) went forth Asshm'," carrying with him the use of letters, which he made known to the inhabitants of the cities he subsequently built. Again, Sir H. Rawlinson says, " "WTien the Semitic tribes estab- lished an empire in Assyi'ia in the thirteenth century B.C., they adopted the Akkadian alphabet." Now, does Sir H. Rawlinson mean to say that the Assp'ian empii-e was not in existence until 200 years subsequent to the time of Moses ? The Sacred Writings plainly teU us that Asshur built Nineveh, the capital of Assj-ria ; and in the Hebrew copy the word rendered "Assyria" and " Assp-ian" is -oTitten 'itti?« (ashxtr, in the LXX. Aa-a-ovp). This is surely proof sufficient that the Assp-ian empu-e took its name fi-om the foimder of its capital city, 900 years earlier. What can be the meaning of the following passage in Isaiah (xxiii. 13)'? — " Behold the land of the Chaldeans, this people tcan not, till the Assyrian founded it for them that dwell in the wilderness : they set up the towers thereof, they raised up the palaces thereof," — mdess it be that the Assyrian had the priority of the Chaldeans ? The Assyrian Belus, beyond question, founded Babylon about a.m. 1900, or B.C. 2100, nearly 100 years before the bu'th of Abrahixm. 6 THE ANCIENT ONES OF THE EARTH. Dr. Parsons, in his Remains of Japliet, supposes letters to have been known to Adam. The Sabians produce a book which they assert to have been -written by Adam, but concerning which we have no certain account, no guide to direct us any more than we have concerning the supposed Books of Enoch, some of which Origen tells us were foimd in Arabia Felix, in the dominions of the Queen of Saba. The Arabians hold traditionally that they received their original alphabet from Ishmael, their present one being the invention of one Ebn Muklah, about the tenth century of the Cliristian era. They do not appear to have had any alphabet till a short time before Mahomet. Morrah Ben Morrah is said to have introduced an alphabet which was founded on the Syi'iac Estraiigclo character, and in which the Koran was originally written without points, which were, however, added before the end of the first centm-y after the Hegira. This character is called the Cufic. For common piu'poses a running handwriting, knowm under the name of NisTchi, was introduced by Ebn Moklah, and this is the character still in use. When the Koran was first published, there was not a single person in the whole region of Yemen able to read or write Arabic. Sharestan informs us that before Mahomet there were two sects of people, viz., the people of the Book (^.(9., book-learned), who knew letters, the Jews and Christians who inhabited Medina, and the Idiots, who lived in Mecca, and who were ignorant of both reading and wi'iting. Hence, the former called Mahomet the " Illiterate Prophet." Thus we have seen that writing, and of course its elementary characters, the alphabet, were known at a very early period, many ages prior to the birth of Moses ; and though Ave have no direct evidence of their being antediluvian arts, the arguments are so strong, and so nmnerous in support of the view taken by Mitford and others, that we are compelled to conclude that writing and the alphabet were, in fact, the immediate gift of God to man, — the primal characters being perfect in form and eminently superior in their beautiful simplicity to eny that we have now a knowledge of. These original alphabetical characters it is which we are about to FULFILMENT OF PROPHECY. 7 exhibit to the scrutiny of the learned, each character beai'iug the evident impress of its Divine Author. There existed, far back in the mists of antiquity, a mighty empire and people, who were far advanced in civilisation, and in the arts and sciences, yet so far removed from all authentic records that even the site of their immense capital (Nineveh) has remained unknown for upwards of twenty-four centuries. Only within the memory of the present generation have its long-hidden treasures been discovered, and exposed to the view of the astonished world. These discoveries of Layard literally fulfil the prophecy uttered by Nahum (iii. 6) more than 600 years B.C. : — " And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and will make thee \ile, and will set thee as a gazing stock." A grave-yard covered a large section of Nineveh's ancient greatness, and slabs engraved with a pen of iron, and works of art dug from the ruins of her splendid palaces, are placed in the museums of almost all the ci\ilised nations of the world ! Ezekiel speaks of the mighty empire which rose first in the order of time, and which, 4000 years since, formed the basis of Idngly rule : — " Behold the Ass}T.-ian was a cedar in Lebanon with branches and with a shadowing shroud, and of an high stature ; and his top was among the thick boughs, his height was exalted above all the trees of the field, and his boughs wore multi- plied, and his branches became long, because of the multitude of waters, when he shot forth, and under his shadow dwelt all great nations ; thus was he fair in his greatness, the cedars in the gai-den of God could not hide him, nor any tree in the garden of God was like xmto him in his beauty." With such a view of the greatness and glory of this might)'^ empire, can we conceive it possible that it would be wanting in the very essentials of civilisation, and foundation of every science? Or, that its alphabet would fall short, in poAver or form, of ^[that of any subsequent nation, — for example, of Greece or Rome, whose alphabets ai'c demonstrably dex'ived from the AssjTian, and whose glorious literatui-e enshrines some of the brightest emanations of the hximan intellect. Assyria had existed as an empire for more than 700 years, and was in the 8 THE ANCIENT ONES OF THE EARTH. zenitli of its power and greatness, when a mythological personage named Cadmus is said to have introduced letters from Phccnicia into Greece ; and we are also informed by Herodotus that this Cadmus and the Phoenicians he brought with him " introduced many improve- ments among the Greeks, and alphabetical writing too, not kno-tt-n among them before that period," (a.m. 2511, or about the time of the Exodus.) The Ionian Greeks inhabited at that time the parts adjacent to Phoenicia, and they having received from thence the art of alphabetical writing employed it with the alteration of some few characters. They confessed that the art was of Phoenician origin. Now, what docs the legend of Cadmus mean ? Strip him of all his mythological appendages and he will become a merchant prince of Phoenicia, Some ancient writers call him an Egj^tian, but the mythology of his name disproves the statement, for by cutting off the Greek termination, vt;,jve have the letters CDM, forming a Hebrew root (o^ip) meaning " east," or " eastern," " pre- cedency," " priority," or " antiquity ;" and pointing evidently to the locality of his supposed invention, or the source of the alphabet, — eastward of Phoenicia — and as also being the first, taking pre- cedency of all others, or in the Hebrew idiom, being (p«ri mp, or) " the ancient one of the earth.'^ Is not, indeed, the whole history of the Cadmean alphabet simply a myth or legend, expressive of the fact that the sixteen letters introduced into Greece were received from the " ancient ones of the earth ?" But let it be taken for granted that Cadmus was a mere mortal, endowed with the feelings and passions common to hiunanity, (but very much in advance of the age he lived in) ; that living amongst a mercantile commimity, he had imbibed a taste for trade and travelling, and that in the com'se of his commercial peregrinations, he had visited the great metropolis of the then known world, had seen it in all its glory and magnificence — ^had been an eye-witness of the pomp and pageantry of a royal triumph — had seen the stately Queen Atossa, in all the ostentation and pride of oriental splendour, emerge from between the colossal-winged buUs, symbol- ical of the nation's god, that guarded in silent majesty the entrance PAGEANT OF QUEEN ATOSSA. 9 of her magnificent palace. On she came surrounded by her court, kings, priests and warriors, clothed in rich and gorgeous robes, edged vnth gold and silken fringe of most exquisite colours, and beautifully embroidered in all their parts ; followed by " captains and rulers, clothed in blue most gorgeously, horsemen riding upon horses, all of them desirable young men, girded -n-ith girdles, exceeding in dyed attu'c upon their heads, all of them princes to look to;" mighty men with shields, valiant men in scarlet, chariots, whose sjilendour of appearance, and lightning-like motion, made them seem like flaming meteors in the broadways of the city. He had heard the noise of the whip, the rattling of the wheels, the prancing of the horses, and the shouts of the multitude, as they welcomed the appearance of Semii'amis the Second, and her father Belochus. In the course of his visits to the city of Nineveh he saw the beautiful simplicity and superiority of the primitive AssjTian alphabet over the rough and misshapen characters of the Phoenicians and Pelasgi; and he could also see with true prophetic eye the power it would give him with the people of his ovm nation, if he were to introduce amongst that semi-barbarous race more refined manners, and the Avonderfnl art of alphabetical writing. It has been observed above that, in introducing the alphabet into Phoenicia, some Jhio letters were altered, and this is readily accoimted for by the supposition that the introducer, seeing its adaptability to the wants of his own people for the transmisson of their records from generation to generation, might think of appropriating all the honour of an inventor to himself. To this end he altered some letters, and invented new ones, and thus accommodated his new alphabet to some rude characters already in use. The tablet of alphabets vn\l com-incc even the most sceptical person that all alphabets, ancient and modem, are derived either directly or indirectly fi-om the Assyrian arrow-headed (or cuneiform) characters. The language deduced by means of the primitive alphabet inscribed on the slabs fi-om the Nimi'oud Palace, proves to be no other than Seh7'eto in its most primitive form. The author in his application of the Hebrew language to the Assyrian cmiciform 10 THE ANCIENT ONES OF THE EARTH. writing, lias been very much confirmed in his views by the fact that all that has been attempted in the way of translation, has given a clear, definite, and indisputable result. This fact leaves little doubt for believing that when the present discovery shall be followed up, when the zeal of the archajologist, and the philologist shall be awakened to pursue the clue given in these pages to its ultimate issue, when the ability of the great Oriental scholars of Eui'ope shall have been brought to bear on this highly interesting but necessai-ily occidt subject, the result wiU be its complete and final elucidation as an historical inquiry. Hitherto the Assyi'ian philo- logists have been but groping in darkness visible, with just sufficient light to show them these dim and shadowy outlines of ancient histories, that have lain for more than forty centuries in doubt and gloom. And what may we not expect to result in the way of discovery when the language of this ancient people is fuUy developed? Who can say what treasiu'es of knowledge may not yet lie bui'ied in Nineveh's ancient ruins, and in the mounds around? What ai'ts and sciences long lost to the world may not be brought to light from the archives of her splendid palaces? '\\Tiat precious records, confirming the historical truth of the Sacred Book, may not be found in the mounds of "Nebbe Yunus" and "Nebbe allah Sheth," the tombs of Jonah and Seth, the prophets of God? There is a tradition existing to this day amongst the Orientals that Seth wrote the history and the wisdom of the ages preceding the deluge on both b\imt and unbiu'nt bricks or tablets, so that they might never perish; for if water might destroy the unbvuTit tablets, the burnt ones would still remain ; and if a fire shoidd occur, the baked tablets which had been exposed to heat would only become the more hardened. There is another Eastern tradition, to the efiect that Noah left behind him ten volumes or tablets on which were written the revelations and commands of God. These tablets, if they ever existed, are now lost; but who can tell whether they may not yet be found, or some trace of them, amongst the ruins of the buried cities of the East? Who can tell what memorials of the PROBABLE RESULTS. 11 antediluvian Avorkl, presented from tlie deluge, in the primitive Great Eastern by Noah, and handed do'svn in the family of Shem to the first rulers of this ancient empire, may not stUl be discover- able? Who AviU venture to say what new light may not be thrown upon the historical enigma of the lost ten tribes of Israel, and what influence this may have on the final restoration of God's ancient people to their fatherland, their kingdom, and to the knowledge of the true Messiah? These speculations may appear to some persons as merely the dreams of enthusiasm; but, after all, we have simply indicated here the course of historical investigation and discovery in oiu- own day. Let aU preconceived notions upon the subject be cast aside, and let the reader dispassionately examine the theory now submitted to his attention, and we are persuaded that its simplicity, and self-evident truthfulness will satisfy him of its certainty. He may naturally feel sui*prised that the theory has hitherto escaped the researches and the learning of the scholars of Europe; but the causes of this wiU appear in the sequel. In fine, whilst the author is fiilly aware of the importance of the learning required to cope successfully -with the many difficulties inseparable from so abstruse and occult a subject, he feels that it is cntii'ely worthy of the deepest research and attention of aU Avho are inter- ested in the advancement of science, philosophy, and true religion. 12 THE ANCIENT ONES OF THE EARTH. CHAPTER II. LANGUAGE. Confusion of sentiment at Babel — The Western nations peopled from tlie East — Cadmus copied bis alphabet from the Assyrians — Hebrew the universal language — Samaritan Pentateuch — Hebrew poetry and lan- guage — Job, Moses, Cadmus, Homer, David and Solomon — Moses wrote in the Cuneiform character — The two tables of stone in the British Museum. We sliall not enter into a critical disquisition on the nature of language, or attempt to combat the oj)inions of those Avho assert that man was created in a state of absolute barbarism, and after- wards became self-civilised and invented language. We may, however, state in passing that we hold firmly by the Scriptural doctrine that man was created perfect, with intelligence vastly superior to that of the savage, and fully gifted with the capacity of holding communication with his species. This is the view of the learned Parkhurst, who, in the preface to his " Hebrew Lexicon," says : — " It appears evident from the Mosaic account of the original formation of man, that language was the imme- diate gift^ of God to Adam, or that God either taught oiu* first parents to speak, or which comes to the same thing, inspired them with language; and the language thus communicated to the fii'st man was no other than that Rehrew in which Moses wrote. ''^ In Dr. Leland's "Advantage and Necessity of the Christian Revelation," we find this ^iew supported : — " From the accoimt given by ]Moses of the primeval state of man, it appears that he was not left to ac(iuii'e ideas in the ordinary way, which would have been too tedious and slow as he was cii'cvunstanced ; but was at once CONFUSION OF SENTIMENT. 13 furnished with the knowledge which was then necessary for him. He was immediately endued with the gift of language, which necessarily supposes that he was furnished with a stock of ideas, a specimen of which he gave, in gi\^ng names to the inferior animals which were brought before him for that piirpose." But man fell from his original pm-ity. He "sought out many inventions," and sank morall}- and intellectually. But he did not lose the faculty of speech. God conversed with Adam and Eve, with Cain and Enoch. Enoch Avalked with God, and held com- munion with him. God conversed with Noah, over a period of many years duriag the bmlding of the ark: "And the Loixl said unto Noah, Come thou and all thine house into the ark, for thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation." "And God spake unto Noah, sajing. Go forth of the ark, thou and thy vrife and thy sons, and thy sons' wives with thee." "And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him," when he gave them the token in the heavens, the bow in the cloud. God sjjake also to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob ; and there can scai'cely be a doubt that it was in the same language as that which he addi-essed to Adam and the patriarchs before the flood. This brings us to what is generally termed the confusion of langu.age at Babel. By a careful study of the Hebrew original of Genesis, we find that the Avord nair (rendered "language") wiU undergo considerable modification. Many critics hold that it does not mean language but confession. Yitriuga states and defends this opinion in the first volume of his " Obsers'ationes Sacraj ;" and in the coui'se of his disquisition he shows that Hebrew was the language then spoken, and continued to be the imiversal language long after the event at Babel (noticed in the Introdiiction). The universal language, therefore, in use before that event does not appear to have been afterwards confined to any particiUar family or tribe. (Vide Parkhurst's letter in Gentlematis Magazine, May, 1797.) The learned John Hutchinson, in his " Philosophical Works" (Vol. 4, page 17), also enters fully into the subject. He contends that the word nsu,' (sphe) means literally lip, and should 14 THE ANCIENT ONES OF THE EAETH. be confession, sentiment, or religious opinion. His rendering of the passage is as follows : — " Come, let us go down and confound tlicir confession. So Jehovali scattered theni abroad over the face of all the earth." " I need only say," he adds, " that nam (sphe) is the lip ; and when used for the voice, the indicatioii of the mind, it is never once in the Bible used in any other sense than for con- fession. Before the apostacy at Babel, all men had the same confession and the same words, and one common form ; and, not- withstanding the translation of the Bible, the Jews use the word in that sense in their priyate writings, and where it cannot be in any other sense. This confusion of sentiment was in consequence of the apostates wishing to set up an altar to the NAMES Q'ou? (shmim), and so produce a new object of Avorship ; which was opposed by the true believers. The effect I thinli was, those who had fallen away from the true confession, and were beginning to frame another, instead of agreeing upon a new form for them all, disagreed among themselves about wording it, and the manner and degrees of the sendee. Each principal gained a paiiy^ and each followed the dictates of thefr respective leader. So each party formed themselves into a sect, and each sect set up a particular form of confession to their object. It follows that it produced a separation, and forced each, except the strongest which it is likely Nimi'od headed, to seek a separate settlement and so caused a dispersion. . . . And I think I may assert that there is scarce one eminent mii-acle performed in early times and recorded by Moses, but the latter prophets, nay even apocryphal books, or at least the New Testament refer to it or recite it. I think I may safely affirm that the pretended miracle of the confusion of tongues at Babel is never recited or referred to." The miracle at Babel was, in fact, a confusion or dispersion of religious sentiments, the like of which has been seen even in modem times ; for instance, the dispersion of the Albigenses, of the Huguenots of France, of the English Puritans and the Covenanters of Scotland, numbers of whom were di'iven from their native land, and whose descendants now form a new empire in the WESTERN NATIONS PEOPLED FROM THE EAST. 15 far West. Changes of time and place Avill modify any language, and the simple fact of the dispersion of mankind will sufficiently account for all the alterations which language has since imdcrgone. So we read that, — " Out of that land (Babel) went forth As.shur, and foimded the cities of Nineveh, Rehoboth, Calah, and Rcsen." Out of that land, in historical language, went forth Hycus, the son of Togarmah, the grandson of Japhet. To escape from the tjTanny of the Assyrian Belus (or Nimrod), he went to the North with his followers, and established himself in the region of Ararat, and founded the kingdom of Annenia.* About 100 years prior to the confusion at Babel — iii a.m. 1662 — went forth Mitzraim with his sons and followers, and founded the Egyptian Empire. The early ages of Egypt are so enveloped in the mists of antiquity', that it is almost impossible to tell what to believe respectiug them ; but all accounts tend to prove its Chaldean or Arabian origin. Thus Diodonis Siculus states that the Egj-ptians were a colony of Ethiopians ; and Scaliger informs us that the Ethiopians called themselves Chaldeans. The shepherd warriors, called Hyksos, who put an end to the old kingdom of Egj'jjt, B.C. 2200, are now admitted by all historians to have been of Semitic origin. Manetho says that these shepherds were Arabians ; other authorities call them Phoenicians — a teiTii extended in anti- quity to all the Arabian races. Scaliger also tells us that the most elegant and most beautiful of their sacred and profane books are written in a style resembling the Chaldean or Ass}Tian, and that Egj^tian names of persons and places are for the most part reducible to the Hebrew. A still stronger proof of the origin of the Egj-ptian language is, that the sacred characters of the •Till the be^^inning of the fifth century the Armenians, in their writings, nsed various foreign al[ihabets — the Persian, tlie Greek, and the Syriac — particularly the latter ; but as the number of characters in these alphabets were insufficient to express all the sounds in the Armenian language, Misrob invented for the use of his countrymen a particular ali>habet written from left to right, and originally consisting of thirty-six characters, to which subsequently two more were added. This alphabet, which was introduced in the year a.d. 406, is that which the Armenians still use." — Pen^^y Cyclopedia. 16 THE ANCIENT ONES OF THE EARTH. Egyptians were Chaldaic. Now, Elam, tlie son of Shorn and brother of Asshui*, is considered to have been the founder of the Persian empke. The country where the descendants of Elam settled was denominated Elymais, so late as the beginning of the Christian era; and most of the Persian names, which are to be found in the Grecian histories, may be traced to a Chaldaic, Hebrew, or Phoenician origin. Canaan, again, was the progenitor of the Phoenicians, and that people always asserted that they had formerly dwelt upon the Red Sea, and migrating from thence, stationed themselves on the coast of SjTia, theu* first settlement being named Sidon after Canaan's eldest son. All the states and nations which arose afterwards and spread over the regions of Syria (the land of Canaan) spread outwards from Sidon to the Euphrates on the east, and to the boundary line of Egypt on the south. The Sidonians, who built Tyre, were also called Phoenicians — a term supposed to be derived from the great number of palm trees {(pomKo;) which grew in the country. It was also called Palestine (from PaZi a shepherd, and Sthan country). Out of that land also, we read — " Went the sons of Javan, Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim and Dodanim ; by these were the isles of the Gentiles di\ided in theu* lands," — the many isles of the Grecian Archipelago, the isles of the MediteiTanean Sea, &c. The Greeks believed themselves to be autochthonous, or to have sjDrimg from the earth ; but there is sufficient historical evidence to show that they spriing from the barbarian Pelasgi, who wandered from the shores of the Red Sea and arrived in the Peloponnesus about (b.c.) 1760. The Pelasgian alphabet consisted of only sixteen letters. The Pelasgi were subse- quently driven out of Thessaly by Deucalion, king of that country, in (b.c.) 1529, when they passed into Italy and settled in that part called Etrm-ia. The Etruscan alphabet is certainly Pelasgic, and its characters were the first letters introduced into Italy. We may notice here the strong resemblance existing between the Etruscan and Cadmean alphabets. There is every probabiUty that the Pelasgic letters had suffered great deterioration from the time of the dispersion, a period of 750 years having elapsed since they WESTERN NATIONS PEOPLED FROM THE EAST. 17 had beeu taken from the origiual. One remarkable corroborative fact connected with the Pelasgic alphabet is, that it was written from left to .right, whereas the Cudmean was written both ways, as we know from the Boustrophedon inscription. This fact of itself does away with the theory of the Phoenician origin of the Cadmean alphabet- The Romans would never acknowledge the Pelasgic letters as Grecian ; they knew none older than the Ionic, as aj)pears from the Farnese inscriptions of Ilerodes Atticus. Ionia and EoHa being colonised by refugees driven by the Heraclida) from Boeotia — Avhere Cadmus fii-st introduced the art of wi'iting — and Ijiug adjacent to each other, they may be called the same counti-y ; and Ave may reasonably conclude that they woidd both use the same alphabet. I mention this because the Cadmean letters, as shown in the subsequent table, arc principally copied fr'om Eohan tablets or columns. The beginnings of the history of India, like those of Egypt and Greece, are lost in the mists of remote antiquity. We have no records that can be relied on of the original peopling of India ; but it seems probable that it was fii-st colonised by the descendants of Joktan,forwe read in the 10th chapter of Genesis of the sons of Joktan, " that then- dwelling was from Mesha as thou goest unto Sephar, a mount of the east." Dr. ]Muu' says there is in the Rig Veda an expression from Avhich it would appear that the ancient inhabitants of India ahvays retained some recollection of haA'ing previously liA'ed in a colder countiy; and he adds that in one of the Bramanas there is a tradition that the progenitor of the Hindus ^lanu, descended from the northern mountain after a dchtcje, and in all probability formed the origin of the Ai-ian race, and avIio brought with them the sixteen ror.k-inscription letters, precisely the same number that Cadmus introduced into Greece. In after ages a a people of Japhetic origin certainly settled in India, and brought with them thefr oa\ti dialect, Avith Avhich the language of the first inhabitants gradually blended, and idtimately became what Ave call the Sancrit. It appears from the strong affinity existing betAvcen this language and others of the same region (and it has since been c 18 THE ANCIENT ONES OF THE EARTH. conclusively established by Dr. !Muir), that those forms of speech have all one common origin, and that Sanscrit, Zend, Greek, and Latin are all sisters, the daughters of one mother, or derivations from, and the surA'iA'ing representatives of one older language, which now no longer exists. Moreover, the races of men who spoke those several languages all descended fi-om one common stock, and their ancestors at a very remote period lived together in some coimtiy (out of Hindostan) speaking one language, but afterwards separated to Avander from their primitive abodes at various times and in different dufections. The comparisons that have been made between the Semitic roots, reduced to their simplest form, and the roots of the Arian languages, have made it more than probable that the material elements with which they both started are originally the same. " There are many persons" (says Professor Max MviUer) " who cannot realise the fact that, at a very remote but a very real period in the history of the world, the ancestors of the Homeric poets and of the poets of the Veda must have lived together as members of one and the same race, as speakers of one and the same language." Thus we have seen that all coimtries, north, south, east, and west, had been peopled by tribes wandering from one common centre — the plains of Shinar — cari-jdng with them the alphabet and the art of writing in more or less perfection, according to the period that had elapsed since their first departvire from the land of their birth ; and thus I conclvide that Mitzi-aun, being the first to emi- grate from the land of his fathers, had either been brought up wholly ignorant of letters, or else from the nature of his pursuits in after life had entirely forgotten them ; so that his descendants, the Egj^tians, were obliged to have recom-se to the clumsy expedient of pictures to represent letters, words, and sentences. The Phoenicians appear to be the next in order of time and litera- ture, for in their alphabet we have many traces of the original letters. The Etruscan and Pelasgi, if we may judge from their alphabet, must have left the plains of Shinar with a perfect know- ledge of letters ; but from their wandering life, for a period of 800 CADMUS COPIED HIS ALPHABET. 19 years, many of the characters had suffered great deterioration. Still, there are some points of striking likeness in them to the letters of the primitive alphabet. Mr. Layard is of opinion that the Assj-rian -^Titing (cuneiform) is from left to right ; and he says that " the Assp-ians possessed a highly refined taste in inventing and ornamenting, which the Greeks adopted, with some improvement, in theii- most classic monuments" (alluding to the familiar honeysuckle ornament). Is it any wonder that Cadmus copied his alphabet from so refined a people? Su" H. Rawlinson, while he supports this view of the direction of the writing, draws an inference which, as it seems to me, he cannot support. He says — that " the powers of its elements (the Persepolitan cuneiform) were chiefly borrowed from the Greek alphabet, as no other set of letters known to have been in existence and -within reach of Persian observation were written from left to right." In another place, he states — that "with regard to the cunei- form characters it is important to observe, that the Assyrian alphabet, with all its cumbrous array of homophones, its many imperfections, and its most inconvenient laxity, continued from the time when it was first organised, from its Egj^tian model up to the period probably of Cjtus the Great, to be the one sole, type of wTiting employed by all the nations of Western Asia, from Sp-ia to the heart of Persia ; and what is still more remarkable, the Assyrian alphabet was thus adopted without reference to the language, or even the class of language to Avhich it was required to be ai^plied. There is therefore no doubt but that the alphabets of Assp-ia, Ai-menia, Babylonia, Susiana, and of Eljinais are, so far as essentials are concerned, one and the same." And yet this Asspian alphabet, which must have existed at least 700 years prior to Cadmus' intro- ducing his alphabet into Greece, borrowed its phonetic power from the Greek! How is this to be reconciled? I shall enter more fully into the character of this alphabet sub- sequently ; but my object at present is to show that the eaiiicst languages, whether called Adamic, Noachian, Assp-ian, or Hebrew, 20 THE ANCIENT ONES OF THE EAETH. were essentially one and the same. Nearly all writers on the subject are agreed that Hebrew was spoken all over Ai'abia, Egj^pt, Phoenicia, and Armenia, along the coasts of Africa, amongst the various colonies planted by the Phoenicians to Carthage, and even to the Cassiterides or British Isles."^ The Hebrew may thus be traced as a native tongue of the East all roimd the coasts of the ^lediterraneau. When Moses lived, it appears to be the only medium of communication throughout the known world, and it seems to have continued so up to a very late period. There is strong presvunptive evidence that Hebrew was the language spoken by the Assyrians at t]ie time of the preaching of Jonah, who was commanded by God to preach repentance . to the effeminate and Ivixui'ious Kiug Sardanapalus, his nobles, and the people of Niaeveh. Jonah disobeyed the commands, fled to the first seaport, Joppa, paid his fare, and took ship for Tarshish or Tarsus. We are not informed to what country the shipmaster and mariners belonged, but that they were Heathen strangers, speaking the Hebrew tongue, may be gathered fr-om their language to Jonah. " Then said they imto him, ' Tell us ? What is thine occupation ? and whence comest thou ? What is thy country ? and of Avhat people art thou?' And he said imto them, ' I am an Hebrew,' " &c. Joppa, being the only seaport possessed by the Jews, had considerable trade with all parts of the coast of the Mediterranean,, especially with Tarsus, then a rising colony, and subsequently the most celebrated city of Cilicia. It was situated on the banks of the Cydnus, and was a free city of Greece and Rome. It was here that Alexander the Great nearly lost his life, through bathing while heated in the waters of the Cydnus. Here also Cleopatra paid her celebrated visit to Mark Antony, in all the pomp of eastern *A colouial author, Mr. J. J. Thomas, ia a recently published work, "Britannia Autiquissima," contends that all languages are derived from the Welsh, and all alphabets from the Bardic or Welsh alphabet, which he pom[)Ously calls "the mathematically conceived and divinely-formed Cim- merian," for its angular uniqueness of design and style. (See 5th column of alphabets.) There is but little doubt that the Welsh, as well as the Gaelic, is derived, like the Bardic alphabet, from the primitive Hebrew. HEBREW THE UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE. 91 splendoiu-. It was also the native city of the Apostle Paul, and hence he styles himself a free-bom Roman. Jonah's flight took place in the reign of Jehoash king of Judea, Hazacl king of Syria, and about the time of Sardanapalus king of Assyria — that is, A.M. 3142, or B.C. 862. Up to the period when the ten tribes were carried away captive into Assyria, Hebrew was the language of Samai-ia. The characters employed by the ten tribes in waiting Hebrew were, however, totally ditferent from those now in use among the Jews. The Samaritan letters (as they are called) are closely allied to the Phoenician, and appear originally to have been employed by the whole Jewish nation. The Hebrew letters now in use, called the Chaldee or square character, are evidently derived from the Phoenician and Palmyi-ene ; but with regard to the details of the origin of this character, and the time of its introduction, there are great doubts. It has been asserted that the Jews rejected their o-\^Ti di\'inely-formed letters, only because the Samaritans used them. If there be any truth in this assertion, it is also veiy pro- bable that they reversed the order of writing, making it read fr-om right to left. The fii-st intimation we have of a foreign language being spoken in the east is when Rabshakeh was before Jerusalem. Ehakim, and Shebna, and Joah, as we read, said unto Rabshakeh: — "Speak, I pray thee, to thy sen^ants in the Aramean, for we understand it, and talk not with us in the Jews' language in the ears of the people that are on the wall." Here we have a proof that Hebrew was the language of the Assp-ians at the time this happened, or B.C. 710, which was 150 years after Jonah's mission to Nineveh. Again, when Shalmanezer, the conquering king of Assp-ia, brought men from various cities of Assyria and placed them in the cities of Samaria, they also brought with them the manners and customs of those cities, aud -^ATithout doubt their system of wi-iting also, which could not be any other than the primitive or cuneiform. We are nowhere told that the expelled Jews had any, or cared for any sacred records (the Pentateuch and other sacred books were kept in Jerusalem), for they were sunk into the lowest state of heathenism: 23 THE ANCIENT ONES OF THE EAETH. "They set up gi'oves and images on everj'-liigh hill and tinder every green tree, and there they burnt incense in all the high places as did the heathen, and -wi'ought wicked things to provoke the Lord to anger; and they left all the commandments of the Lord their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made a grove, and worshipped all the host of heaven, and sensed Baal." The new colonists fi-om the five cities of Assyria brought Avith them their own gods, and, by worshipping them, brought upon themselves the anger of God; and Josephus informs us that " A plague seized upon them by which they were destroyed; they learned by an oracle which they consulted that they ought to worship the Almighty God as the method for their deliverance, so they sent ambassadors to the king of Ass}Tia, and desired him to send some of those priests of the Israelites whom he had taken captive; and when he sent them, and the people were by them taught the laws and the holy worship of God, they worshipped him in a respectful manner, and the plague ceased immediately ; and indeed they continue to make use of the very same customs to this very day." The date and origin of the Samaritan Pentateuch has been hitherto wTapped in mystery; but I think it may be traced to about this time, for it seems to be the most probable conjecture that when the new colonists had become sufficiently enlightened respecting the laws and religion of the Hebrews, and mshed to imitate their neighboui-s in every respect in letters and religious polity: or, it might be that the priests, having their intellectual and sjiiritual improvement at heart, procui'ed for them a copy of the Pentateuch fi'om the original, which, there can be no doubt, was written in the primitive character. From this time, also, it was, I think, that the Jews began to change then- alphabetical characters, making them approximate more to the Phoenician, from (as before observed) a spirit of opposition to the Samaritans. But to retm-n. We have here a strong confirmation of the identity of the Hebrew langviage and of its being spoken by the colonists fi-om the five cities of Assyria. The Samaritan Pentateuch being pure Hebrew nearly word for word but -oTitten in the HEBKEW THE UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE. 23 Samaritan character, so that any Hebrew scholar having a know- ledge of that character is able to read that ancient document. Bishop Lowth, in his " Lectui-es on the Sacred Poetiy of the Hebrews," states his opinion that " Job was an inhabitant of Idiunea, together with his fi-iends, or at least Ai-abians of the adjacent coimtiy, all origitially of the race of Abram." 'Die language, he adds, is " pure Hebrew, although the author appears to have been an Idumean ; for it is not improbable that all the posterity of Abraham — Israelites, Idumeans, and Arabians, whether of the family of Keturah or Ishmael — spoke for a considerable time one common language." Finally, Gcscnius, the greatest of modem philologists, says in his " Gramnaar " — " As far as we can trace the Hebrew language, Canaan was its home. It was essentially the language of the Canaanitish or Phoenician race by whom Palestine was inhabited before the immigration of Abraham's posterity, and was with them transferred to Egypt and brought back to Canaan." It has thus been showm that the Hebrew tongue must have been the language by which God at the Creation commimicated his will to Adam ; that the same language was spoken by Seth, Enoch, Noah and his immediate descendants ; that it was spread by them north, south, east and west ; and that it continued to be the one prevailing tongue down to the destruction of Nineveh. With aU these facts before us, it does seem astonishing that a people so far advanced in the arts and sciences as the Assyrians, and Avho must have received aH the knowledge they possessed from the putriai-chs who siu'^-ived the Flood, should be so little known : a nation the first and greatest of ancient days, which had floiuished for a period of 1500 years — a people who must have been well acquainted with the patriarchs of old, and with the Hebrew nation subsequently to the time of Moses — and yet of whom there is not one authentic historical record known to us, excepting an. occasional mention of them in the Holy Scriptiu'es. If we take a retrospective glance at the early Hteratm*e of the world, we find that the earliest literary composition we have is the sublime poem of Job. Job is supposed to have lived 184 years 34= THE ANCIENT ONES OF THE EARTH. before Abram, or b.c. 2180. Tbls poem, if it was originallyvsTitten. in tbe ancient Hebrew, has been handed down to us by means of nineteen alphabetical letters only. The next in order of time are the writings of ISIoses, called the Pentateuch, which must also have been written and transmitted down to the present age by the aid of the same nineteen letters. About this period Cadmus intro- duced letters into Greece and the Greeks began to cultiA'ate literature. About 450 years subsequent to Moses, David, the " sweet singer of Israel," gave forth his inspired poems, and those must have been wTitten with the same nineteen letters ; and Avith the same number Solomon has handed down to posterity his invaluable proverbs and lessons of wisdom. About 150 years later Greece gave bii'th to the fathers of heathen poetry. Homer and Hesiod, whose immortal works required only an alphabet of sixteen letters to immortalise them in the w^orld's literatm-e. With these facts before us, is it to be imagined for an instant that the great and mighty people, the Assyrians, the forerunners of all nations, from whom the elegant Greeks copied and adopted the manners and customs, the arts and sciences, modes of warfare, style of archi- tectiu'e, weapons of war, and even their systems of religion, should be so far behind all others in literature as to require no less than 150 letters in their alphabet, with 500 variants to those letters, to make known their wants or to express their ideas ? No ! When the veil that has hithei'to concealed Assyria's brightness is removed there will be no more doubt, no conjectm-e on this subject. The truth will shine forth clear as the noonday sun. Egj^t must yield the pahn to her ancient, refined, and magnificent sister kingdom, Assyria, as being the cradle of the arts and sciences and the pre- server of the gTeatest of all arts and the foundation of every science, THE Art of Alphabetical Wkiting. From the many facts and arguments brought forward to prove the sameness of the lan- guage originally spoken all over the East down, at least, to the time of Moses, is it not reasonable to assume that Moses wrote with the character then prevalent, and that God himself wrote upon the tables of stone in a character vmderstood by the people THE TWO TABLES OF STONE. 25 for -whom they were especially intended, and that that character was no other than the primitive or ancient Hebrew, called the cuneiform ? It may not be amiss to introduce here, by way of episode, a mention of the fact that there are at this moment in the British Museum two stones answering in every respect to the description given of the two stones delivered to Moses at Sinai. They are such stones as a man of ordinary strength could take, one under each arm, and carry a considerable distance. They are written upon both sides, in the earliest cuneiform character, with holes diilled in the thickness of the stone in the lower part, evidently for the purpose of fixing them upon a rod of metal, so that both sides could be seen and read. They arc slightly convex, beautifully cut, the edges of the letters being well defined and looking fresh as from the chisel; and they have in fact every appearance of being w^>ac«Z(7M«7y 'preserved. The sacred record does not state what became of the two tables of the law and the covenant. We read of them in the account of the dedication of the first temple built by Solomon (2 Chron. v. 10), "There was nothing in the ark save the two tables which Moses put therein at Horeb, Avhen the Lord made a covenant with the childi-en of Israel when they came out of Egypt." We think it probable, however, that at the sackijig of the temple by Jehoash, king of Samaiia, they Avere transferred with the ai'k to Samaria (2 Kings, xiv. 14), " And he (Jehoash) took all the gold and silver, and all the vessels that wex-e found in the house of the Lord, and retm-ned to Samaria." This is confirmed by Josephus (Book ix. chap. 9, sec. 3) : " He took away the treasures of God, and carried off aU the gold and silver that was in the king's palace." It is not likely that Jehoash would overlook such precious booty as the ark of the covenant, covered -with gold, independently of its sacred contents. This hypothesis may help us to solve the seeming difficulty of the holes being drilled in the bottom. Thus, we may suppose that the Samaritans had heard and read in their copy of the Pentateuch of the awful wonders of Sinai at the giving of the law; and when Jehoash made his triiuuphant entry into SaiUvaria 26 THE ANCIENT ONES OF THE EARTH. he was uo doubt pressed upon by eager thousands, anxious even to get a glimpse of the precious articles, and to read for themselves the laws of God and his covenant with his ancient people, from the original Sej)harim. To satisfy theii- natui-al curiosity, or even fr-oni some higher motive, he caused the stones to be set up in the temple or some other public place, so that all might read for themselves. Just as, in the early days of the Reformation, when the Scriptm-es were fii-st translated fi-om the original, copies of them were exhibited in the chm'ches chained to the desk, but free for all who chose to come and read. If such was the case, we can easily trace the stones into the capital of the AssjT-ian empii-e, Nineveh: for, 117 yeai'S subsequent to the sacking of Jerusalem by Jehoash, Shalmanezer, the great king of Assyria, invaded Samaria, and after a siege of thi-ee years conquered and sacked the capital, and carried away everything of value into Assp'ia. The Jewish popidation he distributed into the various cities of his empii'e ; but the riches and precious part of the booty he carried with him to Nineveh. Now, in the " Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society" (Vol. 15, page 305) are these remarkable words : — " Beneath these eminences (alluding to the mounds of Nimroud), there yet exist two archaic treasures, which, if excava- tions are continued, must he discovered." Let us look at the position in which these two stones were found, and endeavom* to form some reasonable conjecture for their being placed in such an extraordinary situation. They were discovered behind one of the human-headed Uons*' which formed the entrance to the chamber D * The lion appears to be a type of the reigning monarchs of Assyria. Similarly, the Scriptures speak of the lion of the tribe of Judah ; and "Judah is a lion's whelp ; from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, as an old lion ; who shall rouse him up." And the prophet, Nahum, proclaiming God's severity against his enemies, the inhabitants of Nineveh, says: — "Where is the dwelling of the lions (the monarchs), and the feeding place of the young lions (his children) ? The lion did tear in pieces enough for his whelps, and strangled for his lionesses (wives and concubines), and filled his holes with prey, and his dens with ravin. Behold, 1 am against thee, saith the Lord of Hosts, and the sword shall devour thy young lions, and I will cut off thy prey from the earth, and the voice of thy messengers shall no more be heard." THE TWO TABLES OF STONE. 27 in tlie soutli--west palace of Nimroud. Mr. Layard says: " It is difficult to determine the original site of the small tablets: they appear to me to have been luilt up inside the walls above the slabs, or to have been placed behi7id the slabs themselves; and this con- jecture was confirmed by subsequent discoveries." Let us assume these two tablets to be the original Sinaitic stones, and it is easy to account for their singular position. Tradition had told the Assyrians of the wonders performed by the leader of the Israclitish army in Egj-jit, of their jiassage through the Red Sea, and of the many miracles performed by the God of the HebrcAvs in their transit through the desert. They knew not the God of Abram, of Isaac, and of Jacob, as "the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long- suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgi^-ing iniquitj^ transgression, and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty." They had heard of his ten-ible doings, and their hearts fainted within them. The nations aroimd worshipped gods of wood and stone ; and from sciUp- tm-es foimd at Nineveh it appears that it had been customary for the Assyrians to cany their gods in procession upon the shoulders of men (Isaiah xlvi. 7). As the ark of the Lord had always been borne upon the sho\ildcrs of the Le^-ites in aU their wanderings, there can be no wonder if they ;iscribed all the mii-acles to the ark or to the objects contained in it, as in fact the Ekronites did: — " And it came to pass as the ark of God came to Eki-on, that the Ekronites cried out, saying, They have brought about the ark of the God of Israel to us to slay us and om- people." And (1 Samuel iv., 7 and 8) " the Philistines were afraid, for they said, God is come into the camp. And they said, Woe vmto us ! for there hath not been such a thing heretofore. Woe mito us ! Who shall deliver us out of the hands of these mighty Gods? These are the Gods that smote the Eg}-ptians with all the plagues in the wilderness." The AssjTians we may suppose had hitherto looked upon the ark with awe and di'ead, but when taken at Samaria its glory had departed; the God of Israel had given up his ancient people to their own heart's desire ; and when Shalmanezcr found 28 THE ANCIENT ONES OF THE EAKTH. nothing in the ark save the two stones containing the laws which denoimced his own practices and the customs of his nation, what more reasonable than that in the pride and blasphemy of his heart, he resolved upon placing them where they would be as lost for ever ? At present wc have no dates, but it may perhaps ere long be found that the palace was cither bemg built, or undergoing some extensive repairs, about the time of the Samaritan conquest, or the king may have caused the slab to be removed for the express pui-pose of hiding, w^hat he iuiagined to be the actual God of the IsraeKtes. Fourteen years subsequently to this period we hear the insolent and blasphemous language of Sennacherib before the walls of Jerusalem, with the acts of his predecessor, what he had done to the sm-roxmding nations, fi-esh in his memory : — " Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assp-ia ? "WTiere are the gods of Hamath and Arphad ? Where are the gods of Sephars-aim? and have they delivered Samaeia OUT OF MY HAND ? ^Vho are they among all the gods of these lands, that have delivered their land out of my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand." He thought, in the ignorance of his heart, that the might}- God of Israel was imbedded in the stone walls of his palace, and guarded by the hiunan-headed lion, the genius of his race ! Of com-se, this is but hj'pothesis. The author has not had any opportimity of learning what may be the natvu-e of the inscriptions upon these two remarkable stones ; for, singidarly enough, there is no mention of them in the folio volume of inscriptions published at the expense of the Imperial Government under the superintendence of Sir Henry Rawlinson. There is some allusion to them in the Asiatic Journal where it is stated that they contain the "Standard Inscription." But is it likely they would have been buried in the wall if they contained any of the records of the empire ? As well might we expect to find a genealogical list of kings built up in the wall of a common drain ! But to set this matter at rest and to test this discovery, the author has sent to England a manuscript copy of the Decalogue THE TWO TABLES OF STONE. 29 writteu in Hebrew, but iii tlic ciuieifonn character according to the primitive alphabet, to be compared with the iuscriptiou on the two stones foimd at Nineveh. If they do not agree, however, the author's theory will not necessarily be disproAX'd ; for they may be inscriptions of another kind. In any case the experiment will be attended with many difficulties. The gentleman to whom the manuscript is consigned knows nothing of the primitive alphabet ; but still the comparison might be worked out, the Decalogue cwn- taining all the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Then, in the new alphabet there is no Q (p). It is indeed probable that when the alphabet was given to man it was as concise as possible, having only one sign for each phonetic power, — the sign for b and p, for example, being the same, as b is but a harder p, and p a softer b. The ancients frequently use one for the other, and the Greeks were often doubtful which letter to use. Again, the s {ov ph) will very likely have to be supplied by i [vau), equivalent to the ancient Greek Digamma/. The q (or p) will be wanting, but suj)plied by 1c (or a) ; and lastly, another formidable obstacle will appear in the comparison, namely, the voluminous natm'e of the inscription. If we take it for granted that the Decalogue alone was Avi-itten iipon the stones — which would take up but a very small portion of them — it >vill be difficidt to accoimt for the fact that the originals M'cre written upoii both sides. I think, however, that it will be found, on a careful examination of the Hebrew copy and fi-om many texts of Scripture, that the two stones contained a law and commandments. Thus, Exod. xxiv. 12 : — " And the Lord said imto Moses, Come up imto me into the moimt, and be there, and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law and commandments which I have wTitten, that thou mayest teach them." These are evidently contained in the twentieth, twenty-first, twenty-second chapters, and continvied mito the nineteenth verse of the twenty-third chapter of Exodus. Moses, as we know, broke the fij-st tn'o tables. But turn to the thirtj-foiu-th chapter of Exodus, verse one, and note that there follows an epitome of what was contained in the passage just cited. The close of this epitome (26 v.) is in precisely 30 THE ANCIENT ONES OF THE EARTH. the same words as the close of the commandments (19 v. 23 ch.) : — " Then the Lord said unto Moses, Write thou (this epitome) these words, for after the tenor of these words, I have made a covenant with thee and \dih. Israel." This " law and command- ments" would require all the space assigned them — i.e., to be written on both sides of the stones ; and in this particular the resemblance would be at once seen between the two stones found at Nineveh and the actual two tables delivered to Moses amidst thimderings and lightnings at Sinai. OPINION OF THE PRIMITIVE ALPHABET. 31 CHAPTER III. Author's Opinion of the Primitive Alphabet — The Cuneiform of the Nim- roud Palace the Earliest Character — Sir H. Rawlinson's Opinion of the Character and Language — Greek Manuscripts and System of Writing — The Sigaean Inscription — Change in the Form of the Letters — The Alphabet. AssiTMixG then that letters are the dii*ect gift of God to man, we cannot imagine an alphabet planned by Infinite Wisdom to fall short of the utmost perfection. It must be an alphabet free from all defects and redundancies — at least as perfect as the Greek or Roman. Now, there have not yet been discovered two alphabets essentially different — alphabets isolated and unrelated. The pro- gress of learned investigation leads rather to the conclusion that the most dissimilar alphabets must all be traced to one common source, viz. : — ^The Assp-ian cmicifonn, foimd in the Nimroud Palace by Mr. Layard, who says that " these characters long pre- ceded those of Korsabad and Koujomjik. This is an important fact, as it proves that the most simple were the earliest, and that there was a gradual progression towards the most intricate." It was jfrom one of the slabs from the Nimroud Palace the author foraied the alphabet seen in the tablet which follows. Sir H. Rawlinson, after expressing an opinion that all alphabets in the East (cimeifonn alphabets) were originally one and the same, goes on to say that " there are peculiarities of foiTn, a limitation of usage, an affection for certain characters incidental to the localities, but miquestionably the alphabets are in the main point identical ; but it must be remembered, that not only is the system of Assyrian writing in the last degree obscxire, and the language in which the A^Titing is 33 THE ANCIENT ONES OF THE EARTH. expressed unintelligible, except through the imperfect key of the Behustau inscriptions and the faint analogies of other Semitic tongues (mark this;) but that even if all the tablets hitherto discovered were as certainly to be understood as the memorials of Greece or Rome, we should stiU be very far from a connected history of the Assjaian Empire." But what can this mean? How can Sir H. Rawlinson imdertake to assert this of a people whose language, according to his own account, is unintelliyihle and in the last degree obscm'e? The earliest Greek inscriptions we possess show not only many of the forms of the primitive Hebrew alphabet, but also the ancient mode of writing fi-om the left hand to the right. The most ancient of them that has come down to us exhibits both methods, and is contained on a tablet which was disinterred upon the promontory of Sigeum, a headland of the SjTian coast, near the site of ancient Troy. This inscription must have been engraved as early as the time of Solomon, or at least 3000 years ago. The inscription begins on the left hand side of the tablet and proceeds to the right, but the next line begins at the right hand and proceeds to the left; and thus it is carried on, each succeeding line begiiming where the preceding one finished — a mode of writing which was shortly after superseded by the present one of writing from left to right. In tracing the Greek characters up to the time of Cadmus, and comparing them with the primitive or cmieiform, it is highly interestiag and convincing to see the strong likeness existing between the two, and to notice the change that took place as time advanced. (See Plate I.) Figm-e 1 represents the name of Agesilaiis the Spartan king, in the primitive or ancient Hebrew character. Figure 2, the same name in the early Greek or Cad- mean ; the dotted Hnes show the alterations supposed to be made by Cadmu.s — the Awleph or Alpha having its right point obliqued to the right, and a left leg or support given to it. Figm*e 3 gives the name of the Spartan king in the character of his own time, 500 years subsequent to the introduction of letters by Cadmus. Now, we find that the Awleph or Alpha has a right leg or support added to it ; the Gimel or Gamma has a perpendicular line given, which THE ALPHABET. 33 forms the Tc ; and the Lamed or Lambda is turned upon its two points, and altered from an obtuse to an acute angle. Several of the ancient alphabets will show that they were formed from recollection or conjecture ; and it seems that, a few ages after the Confusion, as that part of the earth became over-peopled, the multitudes, in order to escape from the tyraimy and oppression of the great ones of the earth, emigrated in large bodies, and settled for a time at various distances from their native land. There might be some among these emigrants who would retain a knowledge of writing, but the common people would in time so confuse the form of the letters, that they would be scarcely recognisable as the same characters. That this in fact took place is e^•ident, from the form of the Pelasgic or Etruscan letters : some of which are erect, some oblique, some tm-ned to the right, and some to the left, but all alike plainly derived from the primitive alphabet. The descendants of Shem however, retained not only the original principle upon which an alphabet was constructed (the triangle), but its proi)er application in the formation of an alphabet. They took up their dwelling-place not far from the locality of the supposed miracle of the Confusion of tongues. We have already given it as om- opinion that long before, God had taught man an alphabetic system of writ- ing. And though very Avidely diffused, writing is an art which, when once lost, man never again recovers. No tribe or race of man Avith which we in modern times have become acquainted, has ever succeeded in regaining the art when lost. There are some philo- logists who assert that the letters of the ancient alphabets ai-e pictorial representations of the sounds or names of the letters ; and in the pages that will immediately follow, we shall endeavom- to show that this principle is only true Avith respect to the primitive alj)habet. These theorisers do not go back far enough ; they go only to the ancient Hebrew, which is a compoimd of Samaritan and Phoenician; and sometimes to eke out their theories, they bring in the modern Hebrew. In treating of the primitive ali)habet, we shall see that all the letters are composed, with but a single excep- D 34 THE ANCIENT ONES OF THE EARTH. tion, of one, two or tlirce triangles, each M-itli a name significant of its figure. AWLEPH, Alpha, or A. The names of the letters commence with the somids they severally signify, which are also Hebrew names of visible objects. The ancient alphabets in use among the Hebrews and the whole race of Shem appear to have been constructed upon this principle, ^-iz., — the form of a physical object was made the sign of the soimd with which its name commenced. It will be seen as we proceed through the alphabet, that this principle vnR be clearly traceable in the primitive alphabet in nearly every one of the nineteen letters; while in the present or modern Hebrew there is only one, the Vau, which has any resemblance to the object which its soimd is supposed to represent, viz., the nail or hook-pin, \ The first letter is called Awleph, which signifies the chief or head, as, the head or chief of a family or tribe; and in this sense may be taken as the head of a family or tribe of letters. It also signifies an ox — not from any resemblance between the letter and the figm-e of an ox, bixt from the latter being the chief or leading animal of the brute creation in its general utility when alive, and also in its forming the principal article of food to man when dead. Awleph also denotes " heginninfj or origin^'' — not only because it is in that position from a natiu-al right of precedence, but from its having been the first articulate sound uttered by Adam, being a mere breathing, composed of !Tik (aue), " a breath, desire, or wish proceeding from the heart or soul," and 'rth (lxtfh), " to be joined to any one," "to adhere to any one," "to accompany," &:c. kc. So that the veiy name of the first letter is expres- sive of its meaning. The first breath is to be accompanied and joined with others in communicating and making kno^vn oxir wants to om- fellow-men. This is the first letter that Cadmus took the liberty of altering; he retained the original THE ALPHABET. 35 figure, but slightly inclined it to the right, and gave it the addition of a left leg (as seen No. 2), We find this form of the letter upon the earliest Greek monuments ; and, as corroborative proof of its origin, the Greeks gave it the name of Alpha, which is only a transposition of the letters. About 500 years subsequent to the introduction of letters into Greece by Cadmus, in the reign of Agesilaus the Spartan king, ^ye find the Alpha assuming or approximating to its present figm-e by the addition of a right leg (No. 3); and finally, imperial Rome gave it a little ornamentation, and laxmched it forth to the world to be used in its present fonn (No. 4). From an examination of the first letter (see the Tablet of Alphabets) of the Pelasgic, Bardic, ancient Hebrew, and Samaritan, it will be clearly seen that they are deteriorations or departm'es fi'om the primitive simple Awleph, which is nothing more than an equilateral triangle with its apex to the right. The Pha?nicians began to be a little fanciful, the Palmp'enes a little more so, from whom the modern Hebrews have e^-idently copied their first letter, Awleph. p. c. I". I'll. s. ' Beth, Blta, or B, which signi- fies " House." In the modern 1. 2. 3. 4. &. Hebrcskv cha- racter there is not anj- resemblance to its name : but if we take the Primitive No. 1, and look at it from one point of view, we have the exact representation of the primitive house or tent, ^^ith Dawleth the door, and Gesenius, in his Lexicon, says that "its original figure was the Phoenician B (No. 4), and that it more properly represented a tent, as Dawleth did a tent door." It is evident Gesenius never saw the Primitive B, as represented on the AssATian slabs (No. 1), or he woidd not have said that the Phoenician was its primitive figm-e ; the fact appears to be, that there was a gradual departiu'c from the original simplicity of the primitive alphabet by the Hamitic tribes, as they wandered from the plains of Shiuar. By looking at the Tablet of Alphabets it ^^all be perceived that the C. I". I'll. s. ^6 THE ANCIENT ONES OF THE EARTH. Phoenician and ancient Hebrew are botli alike, and there is every probabihty that the Hebrews, living in close proximity to the Phoenicians, had adopted in some measiu'C the fonn of their letters. Gradually they merged from the primitive character into the Samaritan, and so continued for ages, until some individual, whose name has not come do-\ATi to us, blended the Palmp-ene and the Phoenician, and gave the Hebrew alphabet its present form. In the Etruscan B (No. 3), we obscn-e a stQl further departm-e from the primitive form. There is much obscm-ity and mji;h as to the origin of the Etruscans and Pelasgii, but from their alphabet (rude as it is) Asia must claim them as her o^^ai ; and I take them to be an oifshoot of some Hamitic tribe, who wandered from the plains of Shinar to the eastern part of the Red Sea, or northern part of Arabia, at some prehistoric period, and first became kno^^^l as a wandering people who inhabited a comitry since called Ai-golis, about 1700, B.C., imtil di-iven out by Deucalion, king of Thessaly, 1529, B.C., when they passed into Italy and settled in that part called Etruria. The Etruscan letters are nearly the same as the Pelasgic, both clearly derived from one common origin, and those were the first letters introduced into Italy ; and the Etruscan and Pelasgic alphabet are both characteristic of a wandering, illiterate, and imsettled people. The Cadmean, or early Greek B (No. 2), is precisely the same in figure as the primitive No. 1, and if we look do^vn the second column of letters in the Tablet of Alphabets which I have named the Cadmean, and which I take to be the one which Avas intro- duced by Cadmus iato Greece, but whether Cadmus or not, one thing appears certain, from the remarkable resemblance between the Cadmean and the primitive, that the one was taken from the Assyrian or primitive, and with some slight alterations (which shall be noticed in their proper places) adopted by the Greeks. In ancient times h and p were frequently written one for the other, {or p is only a softer h, and h a harder p. In progress of time, as langiiage and ideas became more refined, they gave the softer sound, half the form of h, which forms our present p. The ph THE ALPHABET. 37 was also supplied by Vau, y or v, and in the Hebrew language the 1 or h is frequently sounded as v, and as we find fr6ui ancient word* — from bosco, comes pasco ; from laboui', comes lapsus ; scribe, scripsi ; also, sebum, scsimi. Therefore, as I have not been able to find in the primitive writing any character, either in fonn or phonetic power, like ourp, I conclude that, in the infancy of days, b was used for both. E '.r P. also B. 1. 2. 3 or 4. 0. C or Roman G, Gimel, Gamma, or G. The name of this letter (according to Gesenius) is to be seen from its Phoenician figiu'c (No. 5), " a rude representation of a camel's neck" (veiy rude and far-fetched indeed). In oiu* opinion the primitive letter is more pro- bable to be a personification or sjmbohcal representation of ^oj (gml), "retribution or return," "to yield or retmTi the fruits," and in this sense applied to the breast of the mother that yields or returns the noiu'ishment she has received to her infant, and who continues to supply it mitil the child is of suflficient strength to be weaned. Parkhurst says, " when used as a verb active iu this sense, it is always applied to the mother or the nm'se who suckles the child." If we are to believe that the sounds of the letters represent visible objects, here we have then, the true figiu'c of the breast of a woman, the agent that retimis in a life-giving stream the nomish- ment she had prcAiously received. This idea appeal's to have been adopted and carried out by the Greeks in the worship given by them to Diana of the Ephcsians, as the magna mater, or the great mother, who is represented with many breasts, which sig- nified the earth, or Cybele, intimating that the earth gives or returns nourishment to every liWug crcatm-e for the labour bestowed upon her. ^oJ, GML, also means '■'■mature or ripe," and in this sense also the breast of woman is the emblem or spubol of matmity, for, when 38 THE ANCIENT ONES OF THE EARTH. the breast of the female is fiilly developed, then is she considered mature, or in a state of puberty. This letter is the forerunner of the Greek Gamma and the Latin c. It ^^'ill be observed that the primitive (No. 1), Cadmean (No. 2), Etruscan (reversed No. 3), and Bardic (No. 4), are alike; the Roman (No. 5) has degen- erated into a semicircle, and the position it holds in the Roman alphabet, answering to that of Gamma in the Greek, is a proof of its derivation from the Gimel of the Hebrew, as also the ancient Hebrew and Samaritan Gimel {vide the Tablet of Alphabets) fi-om the Assyrian or primitive. The Greeks, in translating from the Latin, wherever they found the letter c changed it for g or k, for Cajus, writing Taoi^; Ctcsar, Kai- c-ao. &c. &c. The Romans also used c and g indifferently, as Cajus, CnoGus or Gajus, Gnccus, acnom, agnom. And on the pillar of Duilius, erected to commemorate the first naval factory gained by the Romans over the Carthaginians, we read " Lecio 'p'^cnan- docl exfociont^^ Sec. &:c., for " Legio pugnando effugiunt.^^ The ancient Hebrew and the Phoenician Gimel are both alike ; the Samaritan is the same as the modern Greek, only turned to the left. All e-vidently derived from the Assp-ian or primitive. This character is also the primitive numeral ten (X.), as seen upon the Black Marble Obelisk and the Bidl inscription. p. C. E. S.ctPn. l\r. G. K. 1. 2. 3. 4. i.. f. D.vwLETH, Delta, or D, represents what its name signifies — "A door of a primitive house or tent." In the earliest figui'cs (No. 2) of this letter which are to be seen on Eolian tablets in the British Museimi, and in the famous Boustrophedon inscrijDtion, the angles of this letter are unequal and come nearer to the primitive (No. 1) than the modem Delta (No. 5). The Etruscan (No. 3), nearly preserves its original figure. The ancient Hebrew-, the Phoenician, and the Samaritan are all like the primitive, with the addition of THE ALPHABET. 39 a leg, which is found sometimes to the right and sometimes to the left, according to the direction of the writing. The Latins began to change the form of this letter about 100 B.C., as we find in the celebrated Farnese inscriptions by Ilerodes Atticus, by leaving the left angle as it was and circumflecting the other two, for the greater ease in wi-iting. Subsequently they placed it upright, con- verting the two angles into a semicircle, forming our present d. He, Epsilon, or slender E, answering to the n of the ^H^^ Hebrews, or g, Ei^Aov of the Greeks. This is one of the ^^^^^ letters of which there is some doubt, and of which all the Hebrew grammarians fail to give any meaning to its name. We think it answers to the power and form of slender E or Etto-iXov, and for which, some ages subsequent, the Greeks had the character g to distinguish it from theii* long E or Ileta. Aiiisworth tells us that this letter (the 5th) was used both long and short among the ancient Greeks. It is our opinion that in the primitive times the Assp-ians used both long and short E or He, (^ and Cheth n), which is partly corroborated by what Gesenius says in speaking of Cheth (which is no other than the long E. or Hcta of the Greeks): — " 'NVhile the Hebrew was a living language this letter had two grades of sound, being uttered feebly in some words and more strongly in others." This opinion of a^ duality of somid as weU as of form is greatly strengthened by the close resemblance existing between the letters He and Cheth in the ancient and modem Hebrew, Samaritan, and Phoenician (see Tablet). At the time of the introduction of letters into Greece by Cadmus, only one was used (the 8th), answering to the Cheth of the Hebrew. It is wanting in the Etruscan and Pelasgic alphabets: the nearest approach to it in form is the PabnjTene. p. C. F. and P. B. VaV, DiGAMMA, F or V. The primitive ^'au answers to the modern Hebrew in form and meaning, viz., nail, peg, or hook; and this is the p. u. i'. ana r. li. VFVYA 40 THE ANCIENT ONES OP THE EARTH. only letter in the modern Hebrew alphabet whose form is sig- nificant of its name. No. 2 is the Greek Digamma : the Etruscan and Pelasgic (3 and 4) arc precisely the same as the primitive, wanting the top outline. The Bardic is the same in shape as the Greek Digamma, and was, no doxibt, copied from it; the Greeks turned it first to the right, then to the left. The Eolians used it the latter way, bvit turned it upside down J. Ainsworth tells us the old Latins received this letter from the Eolians, and sometimes txu'ned it into V, instead of ofis WTiting ovis; thereby showing its relationship to the Hebrew Vau, and consequently, to the primitive No. 1. In fact, the Latins made it their twentieth letter V. The Hebrews also gave this character the phonetic power of U ; thus we see whence om- double U ( W) is derived W. The remaining alphabets have all a strong family likeness. This sixth letter of the primitive and HebreAv alphabets is a most mj'sterious character. It appears that when " the ancient ones of the earth" had depai'ted from the Avorship of the true and living God, they retained this character as a threefold sjnnbolical representation of the Deity: 1st., as the element of that God-like gift to man — the alphabet — for through it God spake to man, and man speaks to God in prayer, praise, and meditation ; also, as the niimbcr 1 . — the first or the heqinning — this character forming the primitive numeral I. as seen upon the Black INIarble Obelisk, and the Bvdl inscription from Nineveh. Among the primitive races of men, numbers were considered to have mystic powers, and with this view it was thought the system of notation had some reference to the m}i;hology of the ancients, for in " Rawlinson's Herodotus " we read that " the single wedge. No. 1, was an emblem of the Chaldean's god. Ana or Anu, the head of the First Triad." This single character also is the primitive Vau or V, the initial of " The Word," in many of the earhest Oriental languages, and the name of the cha- racter retained in each language, viz., — Sanscrit, F«-kyam; Tu- lugu, Fb-kyamu ; Old Canarese, Va-keaxem. ; New Canarese, T^o-kyavu; andTamul, Fa-rtie. Lastly, the figure in its horizontal position (as seen upon Michaud's Caillou : — see Vignette on the THE ALPHABET. 41 title-page) is the primitive Lamed, the initial of the Logos, the emblem of the Invisible God by whom all things were created. Therefore, I think we may reasonably conclude that the early Chaldeans worshipped darkly imder this mysterious form : — 1st. The element of the primitive alphabet. 2ndly. The ti-ue figure of the nmneral I. — the first, the Alpha, "I am Alpha;" and 3rdly. The symbolical representation of the Divine Logos — "Ev apX''! ''5*' * Ao'yo^, Kai o Aoyo? riv icpoi rov Qeov, Kai Qeo; yjv 'o Aoyo<;. —"Thy Word is Truth." — " Tmth is the personification of the Di^•ine essence." And lastly, in its totality, as their chief god, Ana or Anu. This figure also, in its triple character, is the Star of the East, worshipped by the ancient Magi, and proves to be the sacred pentagram, or triple triangle, blending one into the other — the grand arcanum of the Cabalists, discovered according to tradition, to Moses on Mount Sinai, and has been handed down from father to son mthout interruption, without the use of letters, for they were not permitted to write them down. The study of this pentagram leads all tnie !Magi or wise men to the knowledge of the Lnefable Name, which is above every name, and to whom every knee shall bow. Again, in this figiu-e we behold the clement or foundation of Freemasonry. E. S. Pii. R, MH. ^T'/^Z ]. 2. •"!. -1. 5. 0. 7. Zain, Zeta, or Zed. Some Hebraists contend that the character Zain, T, is a representation of a loeapon or sword, amongst whom is Gescnius, who fiu-ther adds " which this letter resembles in form in all the more ancient alphabets." Others again, say it is the picture of armom-. Now, with respect to the former likeness, cer- tainly the modern Zain bears a tolerable resemblance to a weapon of some sort, but this vrill not hold good with any of the more ancient alphabets. The ancient Hebrew character appears to have been lost, unless we allow the Samaritan (Xo. 4) or the Phoenician 43 THE ANCIENT ONES OF THE EARTH. (No. 5) to be the archaic form of the Hebrew letter Zain; in those cases we can see, that they are derived immediately from the primitive (No. 1) as to the signification. I know of no word under the letter Zain in all the lexicons I have consulted, that can give any satisfactory meaning; but as the sibilants Zain, Samech, and Sin commute with Tsade, under the root pv, znn, (or zanain pho- netically), " to be sharj)," " to prick," I think we shall yet find its original meaning. Again, as the letter Tsade or Zain interchanges with Gimel, we have pj, gnn, or ganain, " to protect." Now we can see how the primitive letter, with its sJiarp, pricTcly chevaux- de-£rise figure has degenerated into a weapon of defence, or sword. Again, as to its original figure resembling armour : whether they mean, by the " original," the Samaritan or Phoenician, I am at a loss to know ; but this I know for certain, that I haA'e seen in a collection of ancient annoui", a casque and cuirass very much resembling the primitive character, Zain (No. 1); and this meaning we can trace to the original ganain, " to protect" — i.e., a protection for the body. This point is not of very gi'eat consequence, yet so far I think the argument is on om* side. The Cadmean (No. 2) is formed from No. 1 by talcing away the back and bottom outline and placing the remaining figure upright, which forms our present Z. The Etruscan (No. 3), the Samaritan (No. 4), and Phoenician (No. 5), are all derived from the primitive (No. 1). The Roman (No. 6) is taken from the Cadmean. 1. 2. 3. i. a. 6. Cheth n, Cn, Heta, H, or E. This letter is the parent of h, and it appears to me that the phonetic power of this j)rimitive character was the long e, but the more modern Greeks were not contented that this letter should retain both the long and short sound, there- fore they gave the long soimd the form of the ancient Hebrew Cheth (No. 5), Avhich is also the form (with a slight modification) of the THE ALPHABET. 43 Samaritan, Phceiucian, and -was copied by the Romans, from wliom we have received it in the form of ii, all evidently derived from the pruuitive No. 1. It is, in fixct, no other than a hard aspirate invested with the phonetic power of the Hebrew Cheth, and the same as the Greek %, Chi, i.e., a hard aspirate ; and in many Latin words borrowed fi-om the Gi-eck, it is plauily substituted for it, as XaXw, for halo ; %««, for hio ; jc^V'' humi, &cc. And in Latin, michil, nichil for nihi, nihil. Gesenius says that rrn Cheth simpli- fies " an enclosure." "WTiere he gets the word I know not. It is not to be found in his " Lexicon," neither is it in " Buxtorf;" but Parkhm-st has it with a veiy different meaning. He says that n»n chaith, singular, in regimine, fi'om the root 'n "to live" or "Hfe," seems used for the " animal appetite." The nearest approach to in Gesenius is ^'n, chail, where he says — " In the Tahnudical writers it denotes a space of ten cubits broad round the wall of the temple." In this case, then, it would be something like the figure of the letter (5), " an enclosm-e." But whether this is the original word from which chaith is derived I wiU not take upon myself to decide. It seems probable. p. c. To. K. 1'.. YoD, Iota, or I, i>, which fH H B ng" signifies " hand," as the I S B a hand of man is the chief H B B B organ or instniment of 1. -. . i 5. his power and operations. Hence the Hebrew Yod is used in a very extensive manner for power, abihty, agency, possession, dominion, and the like. Gesenius says, "that it probably sig-nifies hand, and that it had reference to the Samaritan Yod, a rude representation of three fiugers stretched out." We should think it more probable that it had reference to the primitive figm-e L The wedge was used, jierhaps, as the symbol of physical and intellectual power : as the wedge is of great importance as a powerful mechanical agent, so the hand appears to be the representative of power, ability, and dominion. In ancient times pillars were erected with the Yod or hand cut or cars'cd upon them to commemorate some particular event, or as a 44 THE ANCIENT ONES OF THE EARTH. trophy or monument of victory, as can be seen in Gesenius's monuments of Phoenicia : and in various parts of the Old Testament sciiptm-es avc find, that it was customary to erect similar structures with the figm-e of the land cut upon them, emblematical of power and dominion.* And to this day in the East Indies the picture of a hand is the emblem of power and authority. The Yod is also the initial of the Ineffable Name, the source of all power, might, majesty, and dominion. This vowel is often compounded with e in the Latin ; in Arabic it is also used for e, i, and y, and its initial character is nearly the same as the Hebrew Yod. The Samaritan and the Phoenician Yods are evident wanderings from the original, being the largest in all the ancient alphabets ; and this is shown by the allusion to the Yot or Yod, MatthcAv v. 18: "Verily, I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled." A pre- sumptive proof that the Yod was or had been the smallest letter in the Hebrew alphabet, as it is in the SjTiac, Zend (which is the ancient Persian), and the Palmyrene, from which the modern Hebrew is derived. With the above-named exceptions, the form of the primitive letter Yod or I is carried through all the ancient alphabets do^\'n to the present Roman. The ancients frequently changed their I into U to strengthen the sound, as for optimus, optimius, maximus, maxwmus, &c. The AssjTians also used their Yod or I, as well as their Vau or U, frequently as the same character, as seen on the Black Marble Obelisk, where both are used as the numeral I. f^'D, KaPH, Kappa, or Kae, K. Kaph, ac- 1. 2. 3. 4. &• cording to the general acceptation of the word, signifies "a hand bent," or, "the hollow of the hand;" but, whatever the word means, * See Samuel xv. 12. Literally, "the piUar of the hand." 2 Samuel, viii. 3, " to cut out or carvz the hand ;" also, 1 Chroniclea xviii. 3. THE ALPHABET. 45 our lexicon-makers seem to forget that tlis present Kapli is a modem invention, and that the farther we go back to the primitive age, the less is it like "the hand bent," or "the hollow of the hand." Gesenius says that it also signifies " a«yf7im_^ croolced ;'^ and this appears to be the right thing in the right place, for if we look at the Tablet of Alphabets we shall find that all the Kaphs are crooked only on one side until Ave come to the primitive (No. 1); then we see that it is crooked in the fullest sense of the word, for it is crooked on both sides. This primitive letter Kaph, sup- plies the redundant Koph or Q. It is often commuted for Chcth or Ch, Gimel or C, the third letter. The Latin C answers in phonetic power to K, as Claudius Cajsar, (Klaudios Kaisar). C. E. andPc. AH. WG. E. nob, Lmd, Lamed, Lambda, or L. Ainsworth says that Lthe modern Hebrew character signifies " a goad or spit, which the figui-e resembles." Ainsworth certainly must 7. have had an obliquity of vision, rendering crooked things straight, and vice versa, to say it resembled such an article. If he had said it had the likeness of a reaping-hook, he would have been nearer the mark. Gesenius, a little more modest, says, " It signifies, perhaps, an ox-goad." no?, Lmd, signifies " to teach or to train cattle," and M-ith the prefix o, M, " by," " by reason of," — i.e., " by means of, teaching." Therefore, it appears very probable, that the Great Teacher of the alphabet to man, knowing in His infinite wisdom, that the letter No. 1 would form the model of the instrument, that woidd be used by him in after ages for teaching, and training the ox in its duties, for procuring the food necessary for man's existence, gave it the name nobo, ^Malamed ; or, as the Hebrews have rendered- it, "an ox-goad;" or as Aquila renders it, '" 2M or A.M. 5. .: (i. D'o, Mem., Mu or Em, seems to be derived from the root a* im., signifying "tumidt or tumultuous motion," hence the sea is called Im, in consequence one would suppose of its liability to be i-uffled and raised into timniltuous motion by the action of the wind upon its siu-face, and hence the y,a\j character of this letter M. As cor- roborative proof, the descendants of ^Mitsraim seem to ha^-e had a faint recollection of the principle upon which the primitive alphabet had been constructed, for they have adopted precisely the same figm-e to represent water. It is possible that the sons of Mitsraim lost the knowledge of an ' alphabet on their dispersion from the plains of Shinai-, and diiven to exert theii' ingenuity, they resorted to the clumsy expedient of hierogljnohical writing to record the facts of theii- early history. This hjqDothesis is borne out by a work recently pubKshed by M. Frederick Portal, "Les Symboles des Egjqitiens compares a ceux des Hebreux," Avherein he clearly shows that the significations of the Egj^itian signs are nearly the same as the initial, of the corresponding word in Hebrew. A THE ALPHABET. 47 glance at the Table of Comparative Alphabets "wdll convince the most sceptical that all the ancient and modern Ems are derived from this primitive letter No. 1. The Cadmcan, No. 2, has been deprived of its top and left side outline. The Etruscan and Pclasgii being the same people, I look upon No. 4 as the true character, copied fi-om the Cadmean (but reversed). The other (No. 3) seems to be an iuterjDolation. The Samaritan and ancient Hebrew (Nos. 5 and 6) are alike, differing somewhat from the original, still bearing the family likeness. The Bardic and Phoenician (see Table of Alphabets), still bear the primitive characteristics — ^the three points. The only one that does not show any resemblance to the original is the modem Hebrew o. Gesenius says, that " the signification of the name is doubtful." He thought so no doubt, fr-om the non-resemblance of the modem character to its name, ■s'iz., water. This character also forms the AssjTian numeral three (HI.) as seen upon the Black Marble Obelisk. pj, Nun, Nu, or En. The modern Hebrew al- 1- 2. 3 i. 5. 6. phabet has two forms of this letter — the one used at the bcgiiuiing and the middle of words, the other at the end ; hence the reason (accord- ing to some Hebraists) of calling it pa Nun, i.e., "prolonged, drawn out, or perpetuated." Others, again, say it is called Nun, from another signification, i.e., " a child or son," as beino- the offspring of its mother, Mem. If we take the primitive as the foimdation, we shall find there is more truth in the latter si Sin, and vmdcr the word "nii? Sadad, we find the meaning "to shatter to pieces, to break all to pieces;" and secondly, "to break or to shatter to pieces the clods of dry ground." And in Gesenius, under the corresjjonding word Sadad, we find it to signify " to harrow,'^ and niti> Sade " afield or cvdti- vated piece of ground that had undergone the process of harrowing." This last mentioned word appears to be a denominative noun, formed from the primitive noun nm Sad, which can mean nothing else than the harrow itself, and the true figm-e of the primitive letter Tsadhe (No. 1 ). The Etruscan (No. 3), ancient Hebrew (No. 4), and Samaritan (No. 5) are modifications of the same figure. The Greeks used the letter Z as an ecpiivalent for the Hebrew letter Tsade. p. C. E. Pc. & Pn. 1. -^. i. i. 5. C u>'i, Raesh, Eho, or E.. This letter, according to Gesenius, denotes '■'■the liead^'' and has reference to the Phoenician (No. 5 — reversed), from Avhich, with the head tiu-ned back, comes the Greek figui'e " P, Rho, or E, ; but the great German scholai' forgot that its most archaic form (No. 2) was more like the primitive in shape, subject to the transfonnation it underwent by the hands of Cachuus. It will be seen (by referring to the Tablet) that the Pha?nicians, and some of the early Greeks gave the Rho precisely the same form as the Alpha ; also the Phccnician, Samaritan, and ancient Hebrew Dawleth takes the same form ; therefore Cadmus displa^•ed his wisdom in adding a right leg (as seen figure No. 2), to distinguish it from the above-named letters. Ainsworth, speaking of the two 52 THE ANCIENT ONES OF THE EARTH. forms given to this letter by the early Greeks, says : " It seems probable to me that the Latins, observing that the Greeks had two characters for one somid, which they had not in the rest of the alphabet, \-iz., P and R (Rho), took the former of them into their alphabet for their Pe, judging this figm-e to be the most significant of the power of half the B, as P is" (see article B). As to its figure, Dr. A. Littleton, Ainswoi-th, Geseniiis, and a host of modem philologists, may strain all theii* mental and ocular poAvers to no piu-pose to make the modem Hebrew letter Raesh significant of its name, " a Jiead;^' but its primitive form, it seems to me, at once solves the difficulty; for as the fii-st letter in the primitive alphabet (Awleph) is in figure an equilateral triangle, so Raesh also, being in form the same — the symbol of the triune Diety, the great First Cause — the first or highest of its kind in figm-e, in reference to the primitive Awleph ; the Raesh, being obliqued to the right, will be the first change from the original, the Daivletli being the second, and He the thii-d. By a reference to the Tablet, it wiU be seen there are four characters in the primitive alphabet which we may call equilateral triangles, but in difierent positions, for instance — 1. 2. 3. 4. I will not take ^^^ ^^j^ J^^"^^ ^^^ hidden meaning in the combina- tion of these four characters, but will just give the meaning of each letter in order, and then collectively, and let the reader judge for himself. Awleph, or A (No. 1), signifies either the article "the" or the initial of AL, " the mighty one ;" Raesh, or R (No. 2), " the head, first, or heginning ;" Dawleth, or D (No. 3), "a door or entrance;" and HE, H or E (No. 4), though of imcertain meaning, yet it seems to be derived fi'om rrn. Math a mutable or omissible n, signifiying "■to 5e" or ''to exists Therefore, in taldng the letters seriatim with their meanings, it would 4. 3. 2. 1. n "I 1 H H or E. D. E. A. THE ALPHABET. 53 seem to read, " The miglity one, the highest or beginning, (is) the door by which we enter into life ;" or, taking the last three letters or one word (the Trinity in Unity), \\7.., R D H, it will be " ruler" and -n-ith the Awleph prefix A, " the ruler" or "mighty ruler:" ergo, " the mysterious Three in One, the Almighty Buler" p. AH. S. I'n. I'hI. w 1. 2. i. 4. 5. {♦ly. Shin or Sh. We have no double con-esponding letters either in the Cadmean, Etruscan, or Pelasgic ; but we have a close resem- blance to it in the ancient Hebrew (No. 2), and carried thi'ough the Samaritan (No. 3), Phoenician (No. 4), and Palmp-ene (No. 5), to the modem Hebrew. There are two characters alike in form in the modern Hebrew alphabet — \\z., u>, Sh, Shin, and m, Sin, distin- guished only by the diacritic point. Sin differed little or nothing from (t3) Samech in phonetic power; neither is it in accordance with the simpUcity of the primitive alphabets to have two letters Avith one sound. Again, as I have endeavoured to show, every primitive letter has a meaning significant of its form; and there cannot be seen, with aU the arbiti'ary straining p9ssible, the least affinity or likeness between the character '^, Sin, and the meaning its name gives us, — -viz., '■'■mud or mire." The ^ia-abians have no Samech, but use Sin instead, and the Syrians use their Semka for both. Gesenius (who is considered the greatest authority in these matters) says, " that Shin and Sin were originally the same letter, pronounced without doubt as Sh, and in unpointed Hebrew this is still the same." In the course of time, when the Hebrew alpha- bet underwent some considerable change from the ancient Hebrew form to the present modern figure, the Hebrews thought it neces- sary to adopt Sin into their alphabet, for no other reason it would seem than that the Arabians used it as well as the Sj-rians. From these premises, it must be evident that Sin is a letter redimdant, and consequently was not to be fomid in the primitive alphabet. 54 THE ANCIEiS"T ONES OF THE EARTH. Shin ^, signifies tooth or teeth, which, says Gesenius " is derived from the pronged form of the letter in all the Shemitish alphabets," and which can be seen from the five ancient letters at the head of this article (from 2 to 5), all evidently derived from the primitive No. 1, the hieroglyiihical representation of five teeth, three upper and two lower, closely locked in each other. This character is also used as the Assyrian or primitive muneral IV. consisting of four elements, as seen upon the Black Marble Obelisk. 3. i. in, Tatjv, Taxi, or Te, sig- nifying " a mark or si^n," or in Arabic, a mark in the form of a cross, 5- ''■ which was branded upon the flanlvs and necks of horses and camels. Hence, probably (says Gesenius), the name of the letter Tauv, or T, which in the ancient Hebrew, Samai'itan, and Phoenician, has the foi-m of a cross (see figm-es 5 and 6), and fi-om which the Greeks and Romans took the form of their T, and as the Latins from the Greeks, so the Greeks from the ancient Hebrew : or, more properly speaking, the eai-ly Greek, by means of Cadmus, borrowed the foi-m of their letter T from the foimtain-head — the Assj-rian or primitive (see figm-es 1 and 2). The word Tauv is also used in a final sense, as " an extremity," " bound or finish." Being the last letter in the Hebrew and early Greek alphabets, it was used as a subscription or final mark to writings or documents ; — even to the present day the Uliterate who cannot sign their name make their mark or sign the X cross. May not this letter be a tj-pe or sign prepared and designed by God to prefigure some future thing or event, or to be, as St. Paul says, "a shadow of tilings to co7ne ?" It is generally allowed, and THE ALPHABET. 65 proved by the New Testament Scriptures, that the whole of the Mosaic ceremonial law was a typical institution. Is it too much to say that many, if not all the letters of the primi- tive alphabet partake of this typical character? In the Reve- lation by St. John we have our Lord saying, " I am Alpha and Omega — the beginning and the ending." Again, " I am Alpha and Omega — the fii'st and the last." This was addi-essed to the Greek church ; and in that age. Omega was the last letter in the Greek alphabet. If it had been addi-cssed to the Jewish nation, when Hebrew was the almost miiversul language, there would have been much more significance in the words, I am Aioleph and Tauv — the first and tlie last : the fii'st and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet signifying " the beginning and finish^'' which latter sense is not conveyed in the Greek Omega, which means nothing more than great O ; and as I have endeavoured to show that every pi-imitive letter has a significant or symbolical meaning, may not this letter I say, be tj^ical of the completion of that great and glorious work, the redemption of man, when we find its Divine Author, the Lord of Light and Glory, the mighty God, the myste- rious Word, signing the Divine compact between God and man Avith his own precious blood, upon the Tauv or Cross, and exclaiming with his expiring breath; '■'•It is finished !" 56 THE ANCIENT ONES OF THE EARTH. CHAPTER IV. A sj'stem of Trichotomies throughout the ancient ■s^'orkl — " Michaiid's Caillou" — The true meaning of the "Golden Wedge of Ophir " — The symbol of the Chaldeans' god Anu, and worshipped by the Chaldeans at Babylon — The Logos — The luefiable Name. From the earliest ages tliere lias been in the human mind an idea of a tripHcity, or triadism, or (as some caU it) a trichotomy, and hence the nmnber three has become a sacred number, and almost eveiy nation retains the idea of a triadism in its religious rites. The origin of this idea is involved in great obscurity, but all writers ascribe to it the greatest antiquity. The most ancient symbol used by the Jews in writiug the mysterious Ineffable Name was by tlu-ee yods in a circle (Plate I., fig. 4), but. this was relinquished in conse- quence of Chi'istians having used it in demonstrating the doctrine of the Trinity. The Cabalists use a triangular form of the same great and holy Name, applicable to the Being who was, and is, and ever will be, — the essence existing (PI. 1, fig. 6, and also in. the form of fig. 5). In the book .of Job there is exhibited throughout a regular and all-pervading series of Trichotomies. The Neoplatonists asserted that triadism was a theology given by Di\ine Revelation. It seems, therefore, to have been adopted by the earliest races of men ; in Phoenicia, in theu- Cronos, Jupiter Belus and ApoUo ; ia India, in Brahma, Vishnu and Seeva. And not only in the systems of religion, but the idea was retained in their temples and tombs. Thus, Herodotus informs us that the temple of Belus at Babylon was p}Tamidal, and it is well known that pagan nations in aU parts of the world used the same form in their sacred buildings ; for instance, the pyramids of Egy^Dt, and the tombs of Etruria. Even SYSTEM OF TRICHOTOMIES. 57 the architectm-al remains of Mexico, from their resemblance to the pyramidal structm-es of the East, give to the antiquary an idea of a common origin with them. The inhabitants of Thebes, Lemnos, Macedonia, but more particularly the islands of Samothracia and Imbros, worshipped a trinity of deities imder the name of the Cabiri. It is micei-tain where their worship was first established ; but it appears from Faber's " Mysteries of the Cabiri," that it took its rise in Babylonia. He says : — " The attempt of Nimi-od to force his abominations upon the reluctant consciences of manlcind, produced a war between his followers and those who still persevered in commemorating the event of the deluge, and who rejected with horror the profane reveries of Sabeanism ;* the ark festival was converted into a superstitious idolatiy, and was for ever miited Avith the worship of the heavenly bodies. The mysteries of the Cabiri are, in fact, nothing more than a mj-thological accomit of these events ; and they will be found throughout to refer at once to the catastrophe of the Deluge, and to the impious rites of that Sabeanism which was imited by Ninirod with the arkite superstition." Diodorus Siculus informs us that the Samothracians had a peculiar dialect of their OAvn which prevailed in their sacred rites; and Jamblichus, in his work on the "Mysteries of the Egj-ptians," tells us plainly that " the language iised in the * The term Sabeanism is derived from the Hebrew word «1V Zaba, " a host," and is employed to express what was probably the earliest form of Polytheism, which consisted in the worship of the sun, moon, and stars, — called the host of heaven. It is probable that the worship of the heavenly bodies originated partly in an indistinct tradition of a primitive revelation, and partly in a kind of rude natural theology of the human mind. It requires no stretch of faith to believe that, on the assumption of a primeval revelation, some broken traditions would be handed down by the ante- diluvian patriarchs, and by the immediate descendants of Noah, about the rule of the sun by day, and the moon by night, and about the sun being the "greater light," and the moon "a lesser light." The tradition of such a power and influence being given to the sun and moon, w hen it came to work upon the fervid and corrupt imaginations of Oriental people, would be very likely to incline them to ascribe divinity to those creatures whose majesty appeared so glorious and whose influence was so extensive and' benign. Sabeanism, therefore, first arose in Chaldea, was soon introduced into Egypt, and thence carried into Greece. 68' THE ANCIENT ONES OF THE EARTH. mysteries of the Cabiri was not that of Greece, but of Egj-pt and AssjTia ; that the language of the mysteries -svas the language of the gods, — the first and most ancient language that was spoken upon earth, — and that this language was the Chaldee or Hebrew." According to Sanchoniatho, the mysteries Avere adopted by the Phoenicians, fi'om whence they were carried into Greece by the Pelasgi. But perhaps the strongest of all argument will be foimd in the remarkable stone altar found amongst the ruins of Babylon, and now preserved in the BibKotheqvie Nationale at Paiis. (See Vignette, title page). From this altar it is seen that this figure had been worshipped in Chaldea as a sacred object, either as the basis or element of the primitive ■written diaracter, or of some emblematical meaning attached to its form. Mr. Layai-d seems to have anticipated the employment of this interesting reHc, as an argument in favoiir of some new theory of this kind, for he says in a note — "ItAvould not be difiicidt for those who are apt at discover- ing the hidden meaning of ancient sjnnbols to invest the arrow- head or wedge of the Assj^-ian characters, assuming, as it fi-equently does, the form of an equilateral triangle, vdih sacred and mj-thic properties, and to find in it a dii-ect illustration of the sacred triad, the basis of Chaldean worship and theogony, or of another well- known Eastern object of worship." This anticipation has now been realised ; and in proof, let the reader attend to the folloA^ing rendering of the 12th verse of the 13th chapter of Isaiah, especially the latter part of the verse, where mention is made of " The golden wedge of Opliir." The original word is anno (Mikkethem), ren- dered, "than the golden wedge." Let us analyse and see what it means. » (M) is a particle prefix, signifying " more than;" and nns (KeTHcM) is rendered by some Hebraists " golden," which it cannot be, since there is no form to which the adjective can apply. Parkhurst says it means " to mark with a graver, impression, stamp, or the like." And if we commute the M for B (which is commonly done) we have iriD (KeTHeB), which is a " Song of praise, a poem, a writing," something WTitten, a book, a word, a letter (litercB elementum). Hence, the meaning will be, THE GOLDEN WEDGE OF OPHIR. 59 "More than the letter (or Avorcl) of Ophii-." The whole verse in the original is — 1'Q>i« onso nnNi tti-o u>iJ« i»p« — " I will purify man more than fine gold, even men more that the letter (or word) of Ophir." The Hebrew scholar will perceive that there is no word in the pas- sage qvioted that could possibly be rendered "wedge." In Joshua (chap. vii. 21-24), where the cupidity of Achan is discovered, the ingot of gold is called lashon zeeb, or the "tongue of gold," which our translators have rendered " wedge of gold," from the tongue being of a wedge-Kke shape. Now, had the passage in Isaiah been LASHOis" ZEEB AOPHiE, or " the golden tongue of Ophir," it might have been properly rendered, " The golden wedge of Opliii*," but it is not so. Midland's stone was found at Babylon, or in its ncigh- bovirhood. Upon the altar is the single wedge, evidently for the pur- pose of being worshipped. This single wedge is the s^Tubol of the Chaldean god Ani or Axu ; and, according to Rawhnson in his " Five Ancient Monarchies," is manifestly iuA-ested with a phonetic power corresponding to the name of the god. In this sense it is " the Word," and this word Ani is the name of the God of Israel, revealed to Moses on the moimtain of Horeb — the great " I am." Again, the single wedge is the true figure of the nxuneral I, as dis- covered by the author on the Black Marble Obelisk, and as it is well kno-wn that niunbers, amongst the early Chaldeans, were sujiposed to be invested with mystic powers, this nimieral I. comes into imme- diate contact with the Chaldean mythology, as being the representa- tive of the god Ani or Anu — the first of the Chaldean sacred triad.* * I do not adopt the opinions of Eawlinson as my own with respect to the god Anu. I mention them only as singular coincidences, and strong collateral evidences of the truth of my own theory. Whenever the Messrs. Rawlinsons have recourse to the cuneiform they seem to get into a maze, from which they can only escape by attributing all the difficulties to the ignorance, the carelessness, and laxity of the ancients. For instance, they think they have determined the name of the god Anu, as the first of the triad ; but they add, "The phonetic reading of the second god of the triad is a matter of specixlation, — BiL Xipkit, — but through the many inconsistencies in the employment of cuneiform groups for Bil, &c., with or without any adjuncts, which make it most difficult to distinguish between one and the other. From this we infer that the mythological system itself, as well as its mode of expression, was to the last degree lax and fluctuating." 60 THE ANCIENT ONES OF THE EAETH. It is C's'ident that the passage quoted above has reference to something very precious in Ophir, The original object wor- shipped in the days of Isaiah might have been made of the purest gold, (like the golden calf of the Israelites), and worshipped as " The word." Perhaps, moreover, this golden " word " was lost or carried away through the incursion of some neighboiu-ing king, and the people of Ophir, to supply its place, made a similar object in stone that it might not awaken the cupidity of any subsequent conqueror. This opinion is partly confirmed by the rendering of the passage in Isaiah by the LXX : — " MaXXov evn/xoi tarai ^ o Xidoq o ev 2ow/up. " More precious will be than the stone in Ophir." This rendering also seems to confirm the idea that the original " word or letter " had reference to the Trinity. Else why not have rendered it according to the original, " The word ?" We all know how verj' careful the Jews were in exjomiging or mistranslating anything that had reference to the Glorious Three in One. The Babylonians worshipped signs, images, or representations of ideas or powers of their various gods ; and as the things are mentioned we have only to guess at theii" ideas, as to how those signs were like the things, or powers, or actions they imagined those signs represented. We find they used images, carved, molten, or engraved ; some of them borne on carriages, some by beasts, some by men ; and some small images which were light and portable in a small compass ; and sometimes they made the creatures themselves signs of the things or powers they worshipped. Philostratus, a Grecian philosopher, who lived in the early part of the third centmy, says : — " There was in the Eoyal Palace at Babylon, a room vaulted like a heaven, yxiih. representations of gods placed aloft, and appearing as it were in the air, that the king was wont to give judgment there ; and that there were fom- golden wedge-shaped Ivyyes or charms hanging down from the roof, prepared by the magicians or wise men, and called ©ewv yXurrai or tongues of the gods, and by means of those tongues of gold the judgments of the king would become Divine oracles, and be so esteemed by their subjects." THE LOGOS. 61 The Avord " tongue " often occurs in the Scriptures to denote language or speech ; and the peculiar appearance of cloven tongues on the day of Pentecost, -was emblematical of the diversity of langviages which the apostles Avere about to be able to utter. In the monument of antiquity before us, we have the symbol of the Chaldeans' god ani, or anu ; the true figui-e of the niuneral I., the first, the Alpha, and also the emblem of the tongue, the organ of speech, or the tvord ; and what is more remarkable, it is the Vau in the primitive alphabet, the initial letter of " The icord'' in several of the primitive languages. (See article Vau in the Histoiy of the Alphabet, chap. III.) Another singular coincidence is that the figm'C in its horizontal position is the Lamed or Lambda, the initial of the DiATiie word the Logos. There is an inscription upon this altar which I regret that I have not been able to obtain a copy of ; no doubt it would tend to enlighten this mysterious subject. I shall add here some extracts from various authors on the Di^Tue Logos, and the Ineifable name, which may thi'ow additional hght upon this interesting subject: — " Philo, the Alexandi-iau Jew, speaks of ' the most holy " Word" [Logos] as the image of the absolutely existing Being, as the first begotten Son, who like the "s-iceroy of a great king was to be charged with the government of the Avhole creation; as the ISIan of God immortal and incorruptible ; and as the agent in the creation of the world.' Philo used many more expressions with regard to the '"Word,' often dark and mystical, and mingled with notions borrowed from the Platonic philosophy, but yet such as we cannot read without something even of wonder. Thus : ' The Di-sTue Word discerns most acutely, who is sufiicient to see into all things, by whom we may see whatever is worth seeing. What is more rcfidgent or more radiant than the Word of God ?' ' The Word of God is also superior to the \miversal world, more ancient and general than all creatiu-es. But his Angel, who is the Word, is i-epreseuted as the Physician of oiu- diseases, and that very natm-ally.' ' As the darkness vanishes at the rising of the light, and everj-thing is enlightened, jxist so it is where the Di>ine ,62 THE ANCIENT ONES OF THE EARTH. Word illuiiunates the soul.' Another Alexandrian Jew likewise speaks of the ' All-powerful Woed as the agent in the world's creation, as the guide and healer of the childi-en of Israel in their wilderness journey, and the destroyer of the first-born of their oppressors.' All that there was of tmth in this remarkable language of the Alexandiians, St. John seems to gather up in opening this passage of his Gospel, and to apply to Christ the Savioui". In this passage he seems to say to the Gnostics that true it was, as they asserted, there was a Word, but to affii-m that this Word was in the begimiing, that the Word was God, and that all things were made by him, each of which truths was a refutation of part of the Gnostic scheme of doctrine. And lastly, tliis passage of St. John seems to challenge and appropriate to the despised and crucified Jew, all these dark and half-understood sayings of the Grecian philosophers, in which they had spoken of a Word — sometimes as the Supreme reason and Guide of ISIan, sometimes as the Spirit and Ruler of the World." — Barnes on St. John. " Heathendom was not without its ' unconscious prophecies,' and of its bards and philosophers it has been said, mth no less truth than beauty, as 'little childi-en Lisp and tell of heaven, so thoughts beyond their thoughts to those high bards were given.' Again, it is scarcely, we think, to be supposed that St. John wTote what he did without some knowledge of and reference to Philo. So that, in this indirect Avay, we may with great probabihty, regard the language of the Greeks about the Word as illustrating the passage of the New Testament iu which that epithet is appHed to Christ." — Barnes, ibid. To the stoical writers, the name of the Word was very familiar to express the Deity or all-pervading Soul of the World. This term Avas also used by the Jews as applicable to the Messiah. Thus, in their Targimi on Deuteronomy xxvi. 17, 18, it is said: — "Ye have appointed the Word of God as king over you this day, that he may be your God." The term MiiiRA, or The Word, was used by the Jcavs who Avere scattered among the Gentiles, and especially those who were conversant Avith the Greek philosophy. THE INEFFABLE NAME. 63 The mind of man, indeed, seems bewildered and lost in contem- plating the greatness of that Being, whose very name is -wTapped lip in impenetrable mystery. Josephus says, that the name was never kno%m till the time that God told it to Moses in the wilder- ness, and that he himself did not dare to mention it, for that it was forbidden to be used, except once in the year, by the high- priest alone, when he appeared before the mercy-seat on the day of expiation. He adds, that it was lost thi-ough the wickedness of man ; and hence has arisen a difference of opinion — some supposing the word itself lost, others the import or meaning only, and many the manner of deHvery only, and the latter contend that Moses did not ask the Almighty for his name to carry to his brethren, but only for the tiaie delivery or pronxmciation. It is certain that the ti*ue mode of delivery cannot now be proved from any MTitten record : 1st, because it is capable of so many variations from the manner of annexing the Masoretic points, which points were not extant in the days of Moses; and 2ndly, becaiLse the language noAV in use among the Jews is so corrupt and altered from that in which Moses ■s\TOte, that none of them — except a few of the verj' learned — understood anj-thiug of it, for which reason the Jews call it Shem Emmtteeth — the Unutterable Word. Philo tells us not only that the word was lost, but also the time, and the reason for the loss. But amidst all these leai-ned disjiutes, one thing is clear, namely, that the Name or Word is expressive of selp-existexce AXD ETEKNiTY, and that this title can be applicable only to that Great Being who was, and is, and ever will be. 1. 2. a. 4. This figure is composed of foua* letters, ■» VHf and represents ^iiM' Jehovah. It frequently ^^H S^hI occiU'S on the slabs found at Nineveh. May ■4 ^ it not be the famous quarternion or the r\ ^ n > Tetragrammaton of P5i;hagoras? The Jews 4- 3. 2. 1. were afraid the heathens would get pos- session of the name of Jehovah, and therefore in their copies of the Scriptures they wrote it in the Samaritan character instead of in the ancient Hebrew or Chaldee. Thcv beheved 64 THE ANCIENT ONES OF THE EARTH. it, moreover, capable of Avorking miracles, and tliey licld that the wonders in Egj^ot were performed by Moses, in virtue of this name being engraven on his rod ; and that any person, who knew the true pronunciation would be able to do all that Moses did. It was commanded in the Jewish laAV, that sentences from the Scriptui'cs should be inscribed on the door- posts of their dwellings, and therefore the Jews had a custom of -svi'itiug the Decalogue on a square piece of parchment, which they rolled up and put into a case, and after inscribing the name of God within a circle on the outside, they affixed it to the door-posts of their houses or apartments, and con- sidered it a talisman of safety. AUTHOES SYSTEM MORE FULLY DESCRIBED. • 65 CHAPTER V. Kecapifculation of the four preceding chapters — Author's system more fully described — Antagonistic to all other theories — Sir H. Eawlinson's con- jectures, and Author's translation of an inscription found miou a brick — A new hypothesis — Sir H. Rawlinsou's Nineveh — The Author's translation — Mr. Layard's Sargon — The Author's translation — Ancient inscriptions in support of the new hypothesis — Remarkable coincidences between guesses and the Author's translations. In the preceding chapters, I have endeavoui-ed to show that letters were the gift of God, and that the primitive language is the Plebrew tongue in all its essential points. I have stated my reasons for supposing letters to have been copied by Cadmus from Nineveh ; that the most ancient wi'itten documents have been handed down to us in an alphabet remarkable for its brevity ; that Moses wrote in the cuneiform character ; and that this character is the earliest of all. I have given the history of the alphabet, and have showTi that its formation is in strict accordance not only with the symbols used for the Divine Trinity, but also with a system of triads in use throughout the ancient world. I shall now proceed to enter a little more fully into the ancient system of wi-iting. It is acknowledged by aU the Assp-ian philologists that the cuneiform writing is from left to right. The groups of characters which Rawlinson calls letters are each composed of from two to five elements ; but accorcUng to my system each element is a letter, and has its omti individual phonetic power. Thus, referring to Rawlinson's Alphabet No. 1, (Plate S.) we find that the fii-st letter is composed of four elements, one placed horizontally over three perpendicidar ones ; but on looking at the primitive alphabet we see that the four elements change thentselves into two primitive 66 THE ANCIENT ONES OF THE EAETH. letters, L and M, L being placed over M, Lm, or Lam, whicli word in the Persian language signifies " mercy, forgiveness," See. Again, Rawlinson's, second letter B (No. 21,) is composed of three elements, and in tlie primitive alphabet it has also three, but it is two letters, B and Vau (Nos. 2 and 6) — Vau with the phonetic power of ou-Bou, signifpng, " to go in and out," or " to reign." And so on through the whole alphabet, everj^ Rawlinsonian letter resohing itself into a Persian, Arabic, or Hebrew word. Some persons may object to this system as being too complicated, for many of the groups have from ten to thirteen elements, and the numerals have even more ; but then many of our own Enghsh words are composed of fourteen or sixteen letters. Then, to account for some of the letters being placed one over the other (see Plate V., No. 6, figure 2, and No. 5, figure 3), we must recollect that in the very earliest times stone was the only material used to write upon, and consequently the scribes would be very economical of space. We find this to be the case, for example, with the Lameds, which are sometimes double and sometimes treble. For instance, if we take the eighth letter in Rawlinson's alphabet, and place the elements in that cluster one after the other, we see what large space is required (Plate III., figure 1), and the consequent necessity for condensing them by placing them one above another. The group just referred to forms, according to my system, the word GAALL, " to redeem or buy back." I generally take the elements or letters in order, beginning at the top where there is more than one Lamed ; but sometimes the word begins with L, and then the next or second letter will be over the L to the left, and the suc- ceeding letters following on to the right (as in Plate III., figure 2). Sometimes the double L will be preceded by a letter, say Gimel or G, and then, from its pecidiar figure, it wiU embrace both the upper and lower L and form the word gll, " to roll over and over." (Plate III., figure 3.) Sometimes the upper L stands alone, and the lower wiU have a letter above on the left if there are more than one ; or, if only one, it w^ill be in the centre of the lower L (Plate III., figure 4); and in that case I take the INSCRIPTION FOUND ON A BRICK. 67 upper L to be the preposition "to," aud the lower, the word ln, "to dwell or abide." As the reader wlU. now, I hope, understand my method of reading the inscriptions, I shall proceed to give the residts of the application of my alphabet to the Cuneiatic wTiting. There is an inscription upon a brick (see Plate IV.), which Sir H. Rawlinson reads doubtfully as Letekh, the name of a city, which he supposes to be the CalneTi of Genesis, or the Halah of Kings. He says: "The form is one, unfortunately, regarding which I entertain some dotiht; its complete syllabic power is, I think, L-V, or, which woidd be same thing, in Assp-ian R-M ; but it also appears very frequently to represent one of these sounds, and whether this curtailment may be the effect of that resolution of the syllable into its component natural powers to which I have alluded, or whether it may be owing to the homogenity of the L and V, is a point Avhich I cannot yet venture to decide. Such, indeed, is the laxity of expression in Assyi-ian, that even if the true power of No. 3, Plate IV., were proved to be L-V, I could stiU imderstand Nos. 3 and 4, Plate IV., being pronounced Halukh." I shall make no conxment upon the above, but as this is the first inscription I attempted after I suspected the language to be Hebrew, I shall submit it to the opinion of those who may possibly be better acquainted with the Hebrew language than myself. Tlie Hebrew scholar will perceive that there is, in my interpretation, no ai'bitrary distorting of the meaning, no substitution of ideas for sounds, no mystical homophones or ideographs, but a simple following out of the principle subsequently (though imperfectly) adopted by the Rev. C. Forster, the principle, namely, of giving to known alpha- betical forms the same knoAvn alphabetical powers. With this key I fovmd the inscription to read thus: "Thy son will be built up like a rock." By referring to Plate IV., the reader will find the gi-oups in. the Hebrew, Assyrian, and Cadmean numbered 1, 2, 3, 4; and by comparing the Ass3^ian with the Cadmean, or the second and third line of groups, he will see the principle of " like forms with like powers" carried out. I M'ill subject this inscription to a 68 THE ANCIENT ONES OF THE EARTH. critical analysis, in order to convince the reader of its tiiith and simplicity. I will take the gronps in order: ii bn, the root of Mil (bne) with a radical, but mutable or omissible n (e) "to build up," &c., and also "the yomi» (esse), "being," and hence " to be," — future " will he " (p, BN) " built up, made, or hecomey 3 (K), a prefix particle of similitude, " like;" ^•^ (TSR), INSCRIPTION FOUND ON A BRICK. 69 *' rock or fliat,"=^" Thy son wiR be built up like rock." And this rendering is quite in accordance with what Herodotus tells us, in his description of Babylon, that the bricks, soon after they are made, become as hard as stone or flint. The Rawlinsons, Layard, and others, imagine that most, if not all the inscriptions fomid on bricks consist either of the names of cities or of kings, and it so happens that the majority of the names actually thus discovered ai*e those of well-known persons in sacred or profane history. Now, systems of decipherment which profess to recover names of kings, cities, and events previously known, from Scriptuj-e or from ancient authors, naturally give rise to much doubt, for, as Mr. Forster justly remai-ks, the natui-al bent of most men engaged in such piu'suits is to Jind ivhat they seek, and to see what they look for. From the experience I have had in deciphering the ancient Hebrew inscriptions found upon bricks, I ventm'C to start the hypothesis, that the majority of the inscriptions foimd upon bricks are not the names of kings or cities, but are merely the passing thoughts of the brickmaker, stamped or marked down at a moment of leisure while the clay was soft. This could veiy easily be done with two sticks, the ends being made of a wedge shape (see Plate v., fig. 1), and with thi-ee sticks of this kind every combination or group coxdd be formed.*' The translations from various bricks, by means of the new alphabet, strongly favour this opinion. Take, for instance, the brick figured on Plate IV. : — " Thy son will be built up (made or become) like (to, or as solid as, a) rock." "WTiat can be conceived more natiu'al than for the brickmaker, while thinking of the dui-able natm-e of the materials he was working up, to mark do^^Ti at the moment his thoughts, with the tools he had by him for marking some important order ? There is no doubt but that some bricks have been or will be found with names of kings or cities written upon them ; but it * In Rawlinson's " Five Ancient Monarchies, " vol. i., I find the following remarkable statement corroborative of this suggestion: — "Tools with a triangular point made in ivory, apjurently for cuneiform writing, have been found at Babylon." 70 THE ANCIENT ONES OF THE EARTH. is hardly reasonable to expect to find bricks iuscribed witli genealo- gical lists of kings. There is another inscription read by Sir H. Rawlinson as "Nineveh" — (see Plate V., fig. 2) — whether from a brick or not I cannot say; but from the fact that the sense eliminated is confirmatory of the new hj'pothesis, I should infer it was so. This inscription is composed of five groiips of characters, consisting of twenty-one letters, forming nine words, according to the new theory ; whereas Sir H. Rawlinson has but one word of seven letters. I "will give the English with the Hebrew just as it occurs in the inscription, word for word and letter for letter, so that any Hebrew scholar can test its accuracy : — *' To rest, nothing (so) desirable, and at the time (of) 1^^ rb "IM "1 3 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. ■efi'eshmi ent always to take my log* coming in, ;bi bD 11 'Jb n ! 6. r. 8. 9. 10. ; in 'ib "a h^ and again, the Zain will assume the perpendicidar and become the Beth. Now, all these changes are looked upon as non-essentials, and may be tolerated on the imperfect Behustan system; but with the primitive system, where every clement is a letter, it would greatly, if not fatally interfere with the truth of the translation. Therefore, although it was at first my intention to make a transla- tion of the whole of the inscription on the Black Marble Obelisk, I shall be obliged to defer it for the present. I have made an attempt of the first three gradines, subject to the above disad^-an- tages. I will not say anji^hing in its favour, only this much, that I can follow the sense, and I do not thinh I can perceive any of the names of the Assyrian mythology. It begins with a proclamation from the supreme king, Gillirri,* appointing one Tsaallni to be governor over the conquered people of Lailirou,\ and stating that their king will be cared for: — " Gillirri entered the city and took captive the king; but fearful and mystic cries foimd favour or pleased the feeble monarch, Gillirri appoints the friend of * In the third vohime of the Journal of Sacred Literature, page 476, there is a paper by Mr. VV. H. Ormsby, wherein the writer states that, " Gimirad, or chief bowman or chief of the Gimir, had settled in Shinar and founded a Scythic kingdom." May not this be the same individual as the one men- tioned above ? We know that the liquids L and M interchange one with the other ; therefore Gillirri might have become Gimmirri or Gimir, or vice versd. t Can this be the name mentioned in Genesis xvi. 14, with a slight alteration in the orthography ? It is well known that people in ancient as well as in modern days congregate and take up their dwelling-place near a spring or well of water (as is proved in Genesis xxv. 11, " And Isaac dwelt by the well Lahairoi, ") and possibly became the founder of a township or city afterwards called Lailirou, TRANSLATION FROM WINGED FIGURE. 115 Tsaallni, chief who will not fail by firmness of mind to collect the tribute. Second gradine: — "And make it known that throu"-h the intercession of Tsaalbii I will not fail to save some approved and selected Lien, Auszits, and the chief; and thou Tsaallni pre- serve from trouble Lalagees,* who brought in the tribute. Auszits fought fearfully to prevent the entering of iVi-am. I will confine him securely with Blaal, Ligirr, and Ahhligron theii- chief, whom if the people had assisted him (no) trouble would have entered Lailirou. Proclaim! Nothing shall distress the land durint"- the sojourn of the king, Gillirri the triumphant!" Third gradine: "(Obliteration, Proclamation to the town) and the city! And I, the supreme king, will imprison all rebellious to my authority, and compel them to accept the new governor. Assuredly the towns (obliteration, will submit as well as) the city. Be it known imto all that the chief governor of the people of Lailirou will rebuild the walls or fortifications, and lo! they will behold them (oblitera- tion, like as a) friend seen in the time of trouble. The chief Tsaallni will compel the governor by the fom-teenth day of the month Zou to abide (his Avord,) &cc. Sec." Thus it will be seen that whatever I attempt I can elicit sense, and in this last case a contiuuoixs narrative. "What remains it is impossible for me to say at present; but I shall be most anxious to resume my studies when I know I can do so with certainty. Tliere is another subject alluded to in page 73, which I must say something about, viz., a slab with a representation of a winged figure, or Assyrian priest, bearing on his left arm a kid o& the capra oegagrus (a goat inhabiting the European Alps as well as the Asiatic ranges,) and, it will be observed, an animal of the same species as is seen on the Black Marble Obelisk. The figiu-e bears something in his right hand not clearly defined, but having some resemblance to * Has tins nanae any connection with the Leleges we read of in ancient history, a collection of people of different nations, deris-ed from Aryw, "to gather," as its name imports, so named from Lelex, an Egyptian who came with a colony to ]\regara, where he reigned 200 years before the Trojan war, about a.m. 2650, or about the time of Joshua? 116 THE ANCIENT ONES OF THE EARTH. a large ear of corn ; he ■wearing a robe reaching down to the heels, beautifully embroidered and fringed, with large tassels hanging from the waist, and a similar under-di'ess reaching to the knees, and with bracelets on the \\Tists with rosette clasps. The inscription of sixteen lines are cut or engraved across the lower part of the dress, tlirough the interstices and sinuosities of the fringe, which made some portions of the inscription very difficult to copy. The inscription begins with the usual formula: — "Proclamation! Palace, together with Aashoik, the wrath of God abidcth in and around, and will destroy them; but I will dweU among my kindi-ed. O that thou wouldst cry aloud and scatter (or break to pieces) the midtitude of stone gods, and show me the extreme beauty of the true God, and the manifestations of his gloiy. Hasten my desires. Light! shine (forth) and spread arovmd the eternal and imchangeable Supreme." Second line: — "And thine altar shall be covered with that which covereth the top'^" (with the glory of Him who is above aU.) that thou wouldst attend to my prayer, if thy wrath covereth with confusion, if thou art He that dwelt, and that spread around that which covereth the top (goodness, and mercy, and truth,) many of thy desolate ones will be sw'iftly taken away (by him) who covereth the top. Repent! the wrath of Him, the eternal, cometh quickly, and will assuredly cui'se and destroy the rock, my god." This is the substance of two lines only, and the legend applicable to the device ; and so it is in every instance, on the application of the nineteen letters of tBe primitive alphabet, without monograms, ideographs, or variants. Those inconsistencies and contradictions * Does not this appear to" be an allusiou to the altar and mercy-seat of the Israelites, taken by the Assyrians, in all probability at the sacking of Samaria, and preserved, perhaps, in the palace of which this slab formed a part: — "And the cherubim shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy-seat with their wings." "And thou shalt put the mercy -seat above upon the ark, and there I will meet with thee, from above the mercy-seat, from between the two cherubim." Or has it rather reference to a remarkable imitation of the Divine presence mentioned by Philostratus, and noticed (page 60.) CONCLUSION. 117 which I have pointed out, might be multiplied ad infinitum, but I think I have said enough to con\ince the candid reader that the systems hitherto propounded cannot be true, and I may add, without egotism, that the theoiy submitted in the present work is at once simple, practicable, and carries on it the face of truth. Let not the gi'eat philologists throw it aside as unworthy of notice, or -wdth the feeling that no good can come out of Nazareth. Let them rather condescend to test this new theory Avith the same zeal as they have shown \\T.th their self-acknowledged imperfect key, and possibly they may find that the conjectm-es of many scholars wdll turn out to be true, — " That the earliest of the three orders of cuneifonn. character imprisons a captive and dumb Semitic speech;^' and may also be able to answer an important question put by an eminent writer: "Where may lie the tomb of the mother of the Semitic family, so soft and artless in her expressions, so unsophisticated in her ways, who utters no word but bm-ns Avith life, who is too earnest to smile, too impassioned to argue, too confiding to reason, whose passions seem exhaustless, and her intellect scarcely appreciable, the woman, par excellence, of human languages? Like the grave of her greatest prophet, it lies concealed from human eyes by the marge of some brook, on some Armenian hill, by some Mesopo- tamian watercom'se. All that we know leads us to believe m one ■primitive Semitic speech.''^ This fact has, in oiu' opinion, been brought fuU into the light of day by the indefatigable researches of Layard, but still awaits the magic wand of the true philologist to bring it into Kfe. The modem interpreters have been trying their various systems now for more than sixty years, and they are as far off from any certain and definite result as when they began. It is sm^ely high time they essayed a trial of some other system. I have noticed in a former part of this work that I discovered the numerals while fonning a lexicon for facilitating the translating the whole of the inscription on the Black Marble ObeHsk. I had completed the sixtieth Avord of the letter A when the numerals put a stop for a time to my lexicon-making; and the subsequent dis- 118 THE ANCIENT ONES OF THE EARTH. covery that through the inaccuracy of the authorised copy I could not depend upon any word, has caused me to give it up until a more favoiu-ablc opportiuiity. In Plate III. the reader will see nine simple words from the lexicon, letter A, and the method of reading the more complicated groups in the adjoining column. This diagram (Plate III.) shows the truth-spealc'mg sinipUeiiy of the system. ^Miat is the conclusion, then, that we must perforce come to ? All ages and all nations, ancient and modern, point to the east, of which Nineveh formed the centre, and from which radiated to north, south, east, and west all the knowledge of the arts, sciences, and literature which have made man " a little loAver than the angels, and crowned him with glory and honoiu\" Can there be a doubt that Nineveh was the recipient of the primitive alphabet and the art of writing from the patriarch Shem, who, in his tm-n, received it from his father, Noah, and whose grandfather, Lamech, lived many years contemporaneously with Adam, tvho received it directly from God? In this age of marvellous discoveries what may we expect if men of such profoimd learning as Sir H. Rawlinson, Dr. Hinckes, and IVIr. Fox Talbot, concentrating their abilities upon this interesting subject, and with the aid of this new alphabet, may not bring out of those ancient inscriptions ? Who can tell what new and important historical truths may be brought to light respecting the early history of the world, in corroboration and fidl elucidation of the inspired narrative in the Old Testament? In conclusion, I hope that the subject matter of the present treatise will be apology sufficient for any errors that may be foimd in it. Nothing could have induced the author to have wi-itten this work but a deep conviction of the truth of the system he propounds, and fr-om an almost overwhelming sense of its great impoi-tance. It has been carried on through difficulties almost unparalleled; but faith in the truth of his tlicory, and hope in its final residts, has cheered him on to its completion. F I X I s. Ffaic r'. X Fu/.'I Front k.U.2.mt't ■ty-U'^/'a^^irt e ^ -y. ^y AI 1 r ■t'?^ X>C-^^?t6/;',{>l- T^P %. / ^ L OU^ 6^/M^ i^Ln^/ii^c^^^/. Fiqure 1^ 1\ F,g2. Vr *\ folc^u^S' 3^ D AA /\A AA AA /\ ^ >^ ^ ' V N C?\4 "^-^ ^> ^^ ^ IV A- A" A- Y fcii «4) 5V, ^'A ^i ^ s ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ sS X ^' :i ^ \ .N-^ fSN ^ pq < u- y2 ^ < < < < < < ^ < ^ A A A I>- A A \ >^ ^ ^> "^ ^ ^. IN, Os ^ <1 Si c/2 t 1^^^ AApq s^ '^ § 6 s s 5N |M S .^W ^ f AA AA I ^- V ^ Ai == p ^is A> t§ «N» Ci.t^ K A Howsd ^ -J ^ B Gr- 1 H rO G DoT Urn A A ^ n k J ^ iK.I^ n 1^ 1 Foo 11 7 -1 F..V z7 ^7 A y 1 Z — t Ch ^ X Tl CH r "?y •) % I H V r) K..0 LcT orOa LX ^ b T. "H M P M Wait . "1 4 ;•<•/ ^ N Sat r) d S ^itL o y y Tis/i \ yy r ii TS AA \^ — , H To M/ V U2 SH n A 41. t Jx r T L, ., ,. .i-P -f^h/J V/7 k/Ii / /•n,,„/„, Oii/mcdit Bm.,ra„ Pda.tgu Barilttj JnanlHtfrr f.Mfnariliii riwiiuaan Palmyrftu- Modern Sfi>m Plait • Bmnan an OXtrlMiJir .■■^■.^■ A f\ n A yt.\ A }^.X- (^.^ K A Jidh Hoiut orTfni ^ ^ ^ a I. ^ E ^ :d :n B Camel. << < > c.< ^ n 1 "< J G Thtt Dmr. K A ■<■■ > ^A A A.^ ^ n D m ^,.. 3 ... C?/^ t/r/g . . . s/ 3 B. ^ 'A.O. n E l-au V h V V A \ -^ 7.? 7 1 E.V ZtuJi A Z s ::^ /^ y 1 Z r-^rilutu r. ChetA. ^ § x<^ b B ^ ^ K T\ CH };,/. 7 ^ 1 i 1 Z trt -^ •) s I A' A'ofth . 1 K >l K y :i H .V D K.0 6> Ox aead t=^- f=~ ^ s/ A L 2 Z.4 ^ h T- inUrr. vvv AN III \A/\ W ^ u,.^ ^ ,A^ P M w N NA \A v\ •J '^■> "1 ;•<•/ ] N r,.,.: Xi 1 ^ ^ ^ Y s 4 o tD S .-tin. lye V V <> Oo o y y ^ 6^ / y\A/v ■tT< \^ X ii TS Rej/i . Hmd. A A A A \ V S-H ^ ^•A ^ n B VioUl. yjzy w UJ Y V m SH Civss. -4- f /■ T X.H- 75 H^.t >L ;n T Pidlis/ud /fl //A/ ,«■/////>. 'T/if .Jiicient 0/u.s of the Earik'.' r. 7S36 3^^^/, S^Marlm .BcrnoiiS. Lasstii . Rau^inspn . R JS B B 3 2 _ ^ 7/1 m ?ny 1 m .5 < ^ ^ /^. ^^ ^;^ T/l'^M./l A 7 f^ ^t' y (^ aA ,^4 ;5^ /P 71^ 71- ^ 7?y' # . - • .... 71^ ?P ^ /l^'/K/iZ/i c/^ 7 < .... .... C^Tw/u ATI ^ 71 <^< f^ ^ y y- i^ y^ ^ r r r R. ' 1^ ^ tf^' r' ^ R /^ i>^ //■ >'_ Y J^ V V V V ^ -P w w w w y^ t^ S s ^>nai. '^ly s u- S 13 \ U f ./?i^' -c^ ^^ J/^ ^si. - V ■if'. z z Z Z z u 1 /& 1 ^^^ Oy >^ A A ^ /7 t 1 /■ i(?nff// /^ ff /^<| 7... h aaA /^ • Am/i/ 20 ^ ^^ '^jMncli cyjv ^/ni' vt^i4^^ a/l(y^ w. PlaJ, S Cr^a/ind. me -39^ S^Mci rhn.Berrufuf Zasst ru -4^ yf.^„.„ Groieftnd •J-'.J&rfr fS36 39. - w Bau^f,>^on - / '^. /^a tf- a a ^ ^. a . ?/ ^V V ^ JS B B B i W. tp. .V {?. / /^ i^. i^. .'? >V7? i^ a m m m /%" 771 ^ < w. ^ ^ew. ^r i^y ■a-. ^ ^. &" ?<^ H € ^ Afn M m 777„m77 4 y^. ^. €. ^ >€: /t. ^ ^ 2^ ^- K.^ ^ ^i y oA aA ^«w M M. M. M. M. ;^/i( ^ ^.r ^< AkA 7?l /I 91 n 71 n ^ ^%. ^ ? ^A. y ^ .^ ^• 30 >« ik;A eA ^ j^A r R R // >y< ^ ? i. ?t: /^. ^ ^ 31 ^ f V ^ V V V V /. ^VvY. m t 4. ^' t A. ^ 32 -Y^ €- ^ ^ w w w W 13 yvY"" ^ di. er ^ ^ iAA ^ 33 V^ s s s 4^^C^ty s u-s « KV. I ^- ^ K ^. ^ ^ 3^ 'X< JeA cA -oi- i^ jA ^Si. '^' mw m- i ji a: ^^ ^^. iJ Y^t^y ^. e. Z z z z z >^ I. TV n. M. ^ ^ A .^. 36 9 <:^^ AifrnM .. v« fo^/M S f .f J" J io- ^ ^. . , , \ ^ ^ •.^^TlcAl&TV.^I'nt'Vt^UULSt aai^'te/. Cj .Y/i-) , OLS secTh o/L //i€ Ji///c/i' m(/rl'//L 06disk. F/aie'S. 1 2 >Y 3 > »t-yi, t»i »>^^ 4 > 6 i>t>i>-Y^ >N>>¥^ Face } } 1^ 1 \7X^ b>^^57V [layaraifMA ^ ) I t>^^>«=-yi|l^«: ^ /.acfiirds.V.A. 'nun i£/iJs ^/i/u 1/6' y? 39 700 W2 /OJ, ^d a/'ovc . arc a^s seen, r/i Sir H . Fdwli/u^ojis' co.'ii/ ^■J-c.fl/ rf r/ // w X(/ //I c fa /'f Y !>ffi|«^^ >WW vw vv t>vvv s V X KW k ><\ K^ K^ K^ i»i>=Y^ >t>{>^^ >«>-y^ «»=?^K« ^>t=-yz^^< ^?iv^ =??, ^e?,. BY?, es?? 1>1>0-%1 «>>^^ »>^^K« >^^K« W ^ ISY? K« m m ^Y? BY^ 51 ><' ><; ^< K< >«^ >« K<« K«V >»J?^|K« »i>^^f«< >w>-y^ «>i>-Y'^ K« i»t>=-Y^ >«>^1, j((/yu T^i j/uin enis ^^^^^} i»t>Yl>-Y^ >^m:^^\K- /J^ ^^FM;^? »^-^iY«li/i6on s c A 000 062 822 2 Us, iA1 C^ > m il: kZL?i>i?ailE>k